Guide to the Alvin Howard Sanders Papers,
circa 1839-1925.

Alvin Howard Sanders (1860-1948) was the son of James Harvey Sanders, a renowned livestock author and founder of the leading livestock journal, The Breeder's Gazette.

Alvin attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York from 1878 to 1879. His father, then editor of the National Livestock Journal in Chicago called upon his son to help him in the editorial office. In 1881, Alvin graduated from the Union College of Law and received his license from the state of Illinois in 1882.

James Sanders founded The Breeder's Gazette in Chicago on December 1, 1881. Alvin decided to join his father in his new endeavor and was employed on the staff as co-editor. He married Elizabeth A. Hildebrand of Chicago on April 25, 1882. By 1892, Alvin had become editor and owner of The Breeder's Gazette.

On February 20, 1900, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Alvin Sanders as a member of the American delegation to the Paris Exposition.

Atter the Union Stock Yards opened in Chicago, Arthur G. Leonard, Robert Ogilvie, and Alvin Sanders formed the Saddle and Sirloin Club located at the Stockyard Inn in 1903. On the club walls were portraits of the important persons in the livestock movement. In Alvin's book, At the Sign of the Stock Yard Inn, he wrote about the lives of Robert Bakewell, Thomas Bates, Amos Cruickshank and others.

On August 16, 1905, a convention was held at the Illinois Theater in Chicago which was attended by leading commercial and agricultural organizations. It was here that the American Reciprocal Tariff League was formed. Alvin was elected chairman and held this position until 1909. During his service, he corresponded with President Theodore Roosevelt regarding foreign trade agreements with the United States.

President William Taft appointed a Tariff Board in September 1909 which included Henry C. Emery, professor at Yale; James B. Reynolds, Assistant Secretary of Treasury; and Alvin Sanders.

Alvin wrote many livestock books which included such works as A History of Aberdeen- Angus Cattle, Red White and Roan, Short-Horn Cattle, and The Story of the Herefords. In 1917, he published in collaboration with Wayne Dinsmore, A History of the Percheron Horse. The French government awarded him with the Cross of Officer Merite Agricole in appreciation for his work.

Over the years, he was awarded many awards and honors. He received the degree of Doctor of Agriculture from the University of Illinois in 1906. In 1911, he was presented with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from Kenyon College. Alvin was also awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Leopold from the King of Belgium for his contribution in promoting interest in scientific stock breeding.

He was a member of many different agricultural organizations. He was made president of the Saddle and Sirloin Club in 1915. Governor Frank O. Lowden appointed him a member of the Illinois Board of Agricultural Advisors in 1917.

Alvin Sanders retired from The Breeder's Gazette journal in 1927. The livestock journal continued to be published by different editors until it went out of business in 1964.

Photographs, correspondence, drawings, clippings, reports, financial records, awards, journals, articles, and other material pertaining to and deriving from Sanders' editorship of The Breeder's Gazette, his work in livestock breeding, and his authorship of several books on agricultural persons and subjects.