The papers document Alexander Cance's distinguished career as professor and Head of the Agricultural Economics Department at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. They include biographical material, a small amount of correspondence (largely professional), addresses, typescripts of articles, an annotated typescript of his book Agricultural Marketing (1916), publications, book reviews, lectures, press notices, research material, lectures and articles by others on agricultural cooperation and economics, and newsclippings.

Well-documented and representing the bulk of the collection are Cance's writings. They include a substantial number of addresses (1925-1934; n.d.), articles both in typescript (1912-1926; n.d.) and published (1911-1925), lectures (n.d.), book reviews (1912-1932), and the Carnegie Study of Factors in Agricultural Economics (1914).

Other materials include: a Senate Report of the American Commission Investigating Cooperative Agriculture in Europe, entitled "Agricultural Cooperation and Rural Credit in Europe" (1914); a small amount of correspondence concerning Cance's role in the agricultural cooperative movement; and some miscellaneous research material.

Largely absent from this collection, with the exception of a few of his lectures, are materials related to his role as a teacher. In addition, these papers include no documentation of Cance's activities as a delegate to the Hoover Conference on Economic Crisis (1920), or his position as Supervisor of Market Research with the United States Department of Agriculture (1922).

This collection is organized into two series:

• Series 1. Writings, 1910-1948, n.d.
• Series 2. Research Files, 1909-1949