Working, Daniel Webster, 1862-

The Papers of Daniel W. Working consists of documents dated 1852 to 1937, with the bulk falling from 1919 to 1925. The majority of the collection is comprised of correspondence and research notes gathered by D. W. Working for the creation of the History of Agriculture in Colorado. In addition to Working's typed or handwritten copies of older documents such as county records and newspaper articles, the collection includes news clippings and photostats of correspondence and deeds.

From the description of Papers of Daniel W. Working, 1852-1937. (Poudre River Public Library District). WorldCat record id: 66906232

Daniel Webster Working served as a Colorado State Grange lecturer during the 1890s and early 1900s and as Grange master from 1892-1894. He wrote numerous articles and speeches concerning agriculture and Grange history, and created a large file of research notes utilized by Alvin T. Steinel in writing the History of Agriculture in Colorado (1926).

Born in Scott County, Minnesota, on May 9, 1862, Working graduated from the Kansas State Agricultural College in 1888. He relocated to Denver, Colorado, after his graduation and found work as an editor of the Colorado Farmer and then of the Fancier and Farm Herald . He was appointed to a committee that reported on the work of the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station in 1889 and 1890. He earned a master's degree from the University of Denver in 1907.

In addition to his work with the Grange, Working served as secretary of the State Board of Agriculture from 1893 to 1897 and superintendent of the Arapahoe County School System from 1905 to 1907. After four years as director of Agricultural Extension at the University of West Virginia, he worked in Washington, D.C., for the Office of Farm Management and the States Relations Service of the United States Department of Agriculture from 1911 to 1919. During this time, Working organized the Extension county agent work in Colorado. He left Washington to serve as Dean of Agriculture and Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1919 until 1922. In anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of Colorado statehood, in 1923 the Colorado State Board of Agriculture authorized the preparation of a history of Colorado agriculture and hired Working to gather research materials for the book.

In 1892 Working married Ella Grace Booth, daughter of Colorado Grange pioneer Levi Booth, and they had three sons: Holbrook, Earl, and Elmer. At the age of 81, Daniel W. Working died of heart failure while digging post holes on his farm near Denver in April 1944.

From the guide to the Papers of Daniel W. Working, 1852-1937, 1919-1925, (Colorado State University, Colorado Agricultural Archive)