1. The Birth of the School for Workers . Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin School for Workers, University of Wisconsin-Extension; 2005. 1 videodisc (20 min); b&w ; 4 – 3/4 in. Notes: This video documentary traces the history, not only of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers, but of organized labor in the United States, from the 1920s through the mid-20th century. Accompanied by both historic and original music by the noted labor and folk musician Anne Feeney and narrated by David Newby, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, this twenty-minute dvd/video is available for purchase, via either e-mail to the school for workers@uwex.edu, or by telephone at 608/262-2112.
  1. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin; Wisconsin and Workers’ Education; Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. Via, Emory F., [editor]. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin ; [1960]. 101 p. Notes: “This volume brings together the papers and less formal presentations delivered to the conference that marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the School for Workers of The University of Wisconsin in November of 1959.”–p. [5].CONTENTS: Section [1], “Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin : “The Wisconsin Heritage and the Study of Labor: Words and Deeds of John R. Commons” / by David J. Saposs (p. 7-14) l “Professor Perlman’s Ideas and Activities” / by Philip Taft (p. 15-31). — Section [2], “Wisconsin and Workers’ Education”: “The Early Years of the School for Workers” / by Alice Shoemaker (p. 32-35) ; “Labor Education and the Changing Labor Movement” / by Edwin E. Witte (p. 36-40) ; “The Wisconsin Idea in Workers’ Education” / by Robert Ozanne (p. 41-49). — Section [3], “Problems and Prospects in Labor Education”: “Recent Trends in Labor Education” / by Joseph Mire (p. 50-61) ; “The Status of Labor Education Programs within Universities” / by Phillips [sic] Garman (p. 62-68) ; “Achieving Excellence in Labor Education” [sic] / by Emery F. Bacon (p. 69-78) ; “Achieving Excellence in Labor Education” [sic] / by Brendan Sexton (p. 79-83) ; “Goals for Workers’ Education” / by Jack London [associate professor of Adult Education, University of California] (p. 84-101).
  1. Beilke, Dustin and Micklos, Chris. Wisconsin Education Association Council: A History. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Education Association Council; 2001. 102 p. Notes: This history traces the development of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), a union which today represents public school teachers, educational support personnel, student teachers, Wisconsin Technical College System employees, state of Wisconsin education and information professionals and WEAC retired members. The organization began in Madison, Wisconsin in 1853 when eight educators met to form the Wisconsin Teachers Association (WTA). The organization re-named itself in 1935 to the Wisconsin Education Association (WEA) and, finally, in 1972 to the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). In a letter tipped in to this history one of the authors explains that this book “is intended to commemorate and celebrate the work done by veteran WEAC members and staffers who are retiring or close to retirement as we also look toward communicating this history to new young members who may not know it otherwise.” If only more unions ensured that their history was captured to be transferred to those who follow!
  1. Channing, Alice. Employed Boys and Girls in Milwaukee. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office; v, 71 p. (United State Department of Labor. Children’s Bureau. / Bureau publication; no. 213). Notes: U.S. SuDocs #: L 5.20:213; fulltext available in PDF at URL: http://www.archive.org details/employedboysgirl00chan.At the time of the preparation of this report for the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, children in Wisconsin were permitted to be regularly employed during the hours when school was in session, if they had reached the minimum age of 14 years; children between 14 and 16 years of age could be employed only when they had completed the eigthth grade or had attended school for nine years. Wisconsin law allowed a child who had reached 14, the legal age for employment, to drop out of the regular full-time day school if he or she had completed the eighth grade, even if not employed. Wisconsin at this time had a higher age than most states for employed children to have a required work certificate, except for indentured apprentices and those employed in certain exempted occupations, as in agriculture. The requirements for continuation-school attendance in Wisconsin were also relatively high, as it is one of the few states which required all boys and girls who were not attending full-time day school (except those who had graduated from high school) to attend continuation school at least eight hours a week up to the end of the term in which they became 18 years of age. Like other employed minors, apprentices who under the apprenticeship law could be indentured between the ages of 16 and 21 had to attend continuation school during the first two years of their apprenticeship, regardless of their age when indentured, but the apprentices attended for only four hours a week.This study made an attempt to analyze the employment of “all the employed minors, including all the minors who, at the time of the study, in conformity with the requirements of the Wisconsin continuation school law, were enrolled as part-time day-school pupils in the continuation school, locally called the Milwaukee Vocational School,” and “the high-school graduates under 18 who were or had been employed were located through the high schools they had last attended and were interviewed”; the author also made “an effort was made to find through the school census the boys and girls who were employed but were not attending continuation school as they were legally required to do” (p. 2). Additionally, “in order to find out to what extent nonworking eighth-grade graduates between 14 and 16 and unemployed minors between 16 and 18 were using their legal privilege of being excused from regular day school attendance, information was also obtained concerning minors between the ages of 14 and 18 who had not been employed but had left regular school and who, as they were not high-school graduates, were required to attend continuation school.” (p. 2)

    Information for the study “was sought concerning the ages of young workers at leaving the regular full-time school, the grades they had completed, the types of occupations in which they were employed when they first started to work and at the time the study was made, their wages, the number of positions they had held, the amount of their unemployment,and the relation of their education and their ages to the kinds of occupations they they entered and to the wages they received.” (p. 2)

    “The vocational-school records furnished information regarding the school history of the young workers in both full-time and part-time schools, including the age and date at which they had left full-time school and entered part-time school, and also some information regarding their work histories, such as the date they had first started work and the kind of work in which they were employed. For those under 17 years of age this information was supplemented from records of the Milwaukee work-certificate office of the Wisconsin Industrial Commision” (p. 3) Since Wisconsin law at the time required a minor to have an employment certificate for each job until the age of 17, except in certain occupations such as farm work, “these records furnished information about all the jobs for which work certificates were required and in which the child had been legally employed” and “included the date the certificate was issued and the date it was returned, the name of the occupation, and the wages received” (p. 3). Interviews were done with the young workers where the records were incomplete, either at the school, in their homes, or at their places of employment, although there were a number who could not be found because they were no longer in attendance at the vocational school or because the address of their homes or places of employment could not be found” (p. 3).

    A total of 10,320 boys and girls were included in this study with 9,207 of them having been employed and of those, 231 were apprentices, while 46 were high-school graduates. Interviews were held with 3,819 of the employed boys and girls and the work records were obtained for 4,807 of the 5,388 who had not been interviewed. No girls were among the group of 231 apprentices.

  1. Dubow, Rose Rebecca. “I Attended a Workers’ School”. Wisconsin Labor: Annual Publication of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor. 1936; 35 & 37. Notes: Written by a member of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union Local 187, who had attended a recent six-weeks-long Summer School for Workers in Industry held at the University of Wisconsin School for Workers, this article is reprinted from an issue of the labor paper, The Emancipator (which was published in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, Local 188).
  1. Fink, Leon. “A Memoir of Selig Perlman and His Life at the University of Wisconsin: Based on an Interview of Mark Perlman, conducted and edited by Leon Fink”. Labor History. 1991; 32(4):503-525. Notes: Selig Perlman, one of the key members of the Wisconsin School of labor historians, is here recalled by his son, Mark Perlman, himself a professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh; the author conducted this interview on January 29, 1989.
  1. Hansen, Maurice W. “Development and Status of the Apprenticeship System in Wisconsin”; 1931??? Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1931.
  1. Hanson, Maurice M. “Progress in Apprenticeship”. Wisconsin Labor: Annual Publication of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor. 1936; 27, 29, 31, & 33. Notes: The author, a field representative for the Federal Committee on Apprentice Training, reviews trends in the apprenticeship training provided in the various trades, including the recent adoption by the national master and journeymen plumbers associations of the ‘Wisconsin plan’ of apprenticeship training.
  1. Hart, Agnes Ellen. “A Proposed Plan of Guidance for the Girls’ Trades and Technical High School of Milwaukee, Wisconsin”; 1933. Notes: M. A. thesis, Marquette University, 1933. 140 leaves Cited in Anderson, Byron, ed., A Bibliography of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations on Milwaukee Topics, p. 36.
  2. Hourwich, Andria T. and Palmer, Gladys L. I Am a Woman Worker: A Scrapbook of Autobiographies. New York: The Affiliated Schools for Workers, Inc.; 1936. 152 p.
  3. Jorgensen, Chris W. “Labor Educates Itself”. Wisconsin Labor: Annual Publication of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor. 1937; 117, 121, 125, & 129.
  4. Jozwiak, Elizabeth. “Politics in Play: Socialism, Free Speech and Social Centers in Milwaukee”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 2003 Spring; 86(3):10-21.
  5. Kroening, Henry Fred. “Nonacademic Employee Unionism at the University of Wisconsin”; 1952. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1952. 400 p.
  6. Malone, Bobbie. Celebrating Everyday Life in Wisconsin History: A Classroom Exhibit Resource andPlanning Guide. Madison, Wis.: Office of School Services, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1997. 52 p. Notes: This wonderfully accessible guide was prepared in anticipation of the celebration of the sesquicentennial of the statehood of Wisconsin and is designed to assist fourth-grade teachers in creating classroom exhibits about state history through the use of local history resources readily available in the teacher’s own area of the state.The first third or so of the book takes the teacher step-by-step through the manageable process of creating a good exhibit, while the rest of the book uses five major exhibit themes to help structure the history gathering activities of the students. The exhibit themes, based on major aspects of daily living, are: 1) “Seasons–Wisconsin’s seasonal environment and people’s adaptations to it”; 2) “Changes in Work–technology, jobs, and work environments”; 3) “Changes in Foodways–the food that people ate, its growth, preservation, and preparation, recipes, family traditions”; 4) “Childhood–including, but not limited to, clothing, toys, recreation, and education”; 5) “The Built Environment–buildings and monuments, roads, neighborhoods, main streets, and town planning”.After it has been decided which of the exhibit themes will be explored by a class, the curriculum guide also breaks each exhibit theme down into three separate exhibit topics from which a class can select. To guide the students’ exploration of their exhibit topic, each of the fifteen exhibit topics is provided with a chapter which includes a statement of the thesis of an exhibit on that topic, exploratory questions on that topic for the teachers and students to explore together, a list of historical items the student can find related to that topic and where to look for those items, and possible interview questions for oral history related to the topic.

    To obtain a copy of this guide, contact the Office of School Services at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison.

  7. Miller, Spencer Jr. “Summer Schools for Workers”. American Federationist: Official Magazine of the American Federation of Labor. 1925 Jul; 32:569-571.
  8. Ozanne, Robert. “The Wisconsin Idea in Workers’ Education” . IN: Via, Emory F., [editor]. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Workers’ Education, Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]; pp. 41-49.
  9. Palmer, Gladys L. The Industrial Experience of Women Workers at the Summer Schools, 1928 to 1930 . Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office; 1931. 62 p. (Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau, United States Department of Labor; no. 89). Notes: This study, undertaken for the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, thoroughly analyses the work experience and living circumstances of the 609 women in total who attended four summer schools provided for women employed in industrial jobs in the U.S. during 1928 through 1930; the four schools studied were: the Wisconsin Summer School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin; the Barnard Summer School at Barnard College in New York, New York; the Bryn Mawr Summer School at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; and, the Southern Summer School in Arden, North Carolina. The attendees at these special summer schools for women were each sponsored by a local committee, based on the student having “shown some qualities of leadership and interest in workers’ education or other community activities” (p. 2); scholarship money was raised to defray their costs. The women’s jobs were concentrated in the following fields: clothing trades; textile trades; domestic and personal service trades; and, miscellaneous trades (for instance, retail trades, factory assembly, metal trades, printing, upholstery, munitions, packing candy, etcetera). This study made use of detailed surveys which covered every economic aspect of the women’s lives, such as the age at which they entered industrial work, how much money they save each year, what deductions are made from their pay, etc. Twenty-eight tables of data are provided with many reporting the data down to the level of each of the four schools; numerous autobiographies collected from the students are quoted extensively.
  10. Perry, Charles F. “The Milwaukee School of Trades”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 1909 Jan-1909 Jun 30; 33:78-84. Notes: Explains how the Milwaukee School of Trades came to be created in 1906 through private support and how state law was changed to permit the school’s transfer in 1907 to the local public school system. The range of programs offered at the school is also described, as well as how the students are instructed.
  11. Reese, William J. “‘Partisans of the Proletariat’: The Socialist Working Class and the Milwaukee Schools, 1890-1920”. History of Education Quarterly. 1981 Spring; 21(1):3-50. Notes: You won’t want to miss this fascinating look at how the Socialist working class in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, brought about changes in the public school system in Milwaukee during the Progressive era in the United States. In this award-winning article, by using “a social analysis of organized labor, socialism, and the Milwaukee schools during the Progressive era” (p. 3), the author argues against the generally-accepted academic interpretation that most early twentieth-century school reforms during the Progressive period were largely imposed upon the public schools through the mechanism of a new “professional” group of conservative and middle-class school officials.Instead, Reese explores the relationship between the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council (founded in 1887 to represent the skilled trade uniontists in the city) and Branch One of the Social Democratic Party of America (founded in Milwaukee in 1897 after the Socialists in Milwaukee had been forced out of Wisconsin’s Populist Party due to their more leftist political orientation) and how the two groups worked together to effect changes in the local schools. Included in the first platform of Milwaukee’s Social Democratic Party (SDP) was a demand for free textbooks for poor children and by 1909 the SDP had elected a member to the school board in Milwaukee.The author also details how the Socialist workers allied themselves over time in a fruitful coalition with various Milwaukee voluntary associations and civic groups, mostly composed of middle-class women who had been inspired by the social activism of the Progressive era. Reese explains how such civic associations campaigned for school reforms as an over-all strategy to bring about improvements in the lives of those living in poverty; examples of some of their programs include distribution of free clothes and food to school children, better sanitation in the schools, smaller class sizes, provision of school libraries, opening up the school buildings as community centers, direct election of school board members, and encouraging better environmental conditions about school buildings. Eventually, this willingness to partner with such middle-class groups to achieve such concrete improvements led to the Milwaukee Socialists being given the approbation of “Sewer Socialists” by Socialists in other parts of the country.

    It is impossible to innumerate all of the interesting points of discussion in this article ranging from the effective political use of “indignation meetings” as a protest technique (p. 26); the news that Milwaukee had a Girl’s Trade School (p. 32); and, that during the World War I period, even the local school children were pressured to sign “loyalty oaths” in their classes (p. 36).

    “This paper received the Henry Barnard Prize of The History of Education Society (1978-79).”–p. 3.

  12. Schwarztrauber, Ernest E. The University of Wisconsin School for Workers: Its First Twenty-five Years. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin School for Workers; 1949. 40 p. Notes: The primary objectives of the efforts of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers at the time of the publication of this volume were clearly focused by a lofty vision of the role for organized labor in the society of the United States: “The function, then, of the School for Workers is first the implementation of organized labor in its aspirations toward the substitution of industrial government for industrial warfare. But in that primary function are implicit others of equal if not ultimately greater importance. One of these is to help organized labor come to recognize that its place in our industrial society must become an ever growing one. Labor must take its place in every aspect of modern economic and social life. In the community, workers must learn to function as members of city councils, school boards and every other activity in which citizens are engaged. In the state and nation, workers have the right and must assume the responsibilities of a working citizenship. Workers must become, therefore, completely integrated into the working bodies, national and international, that effect direction of world affairs. These citizenship relations have to date been largely the monopoly function of middle and upper class members of society. This situation cannot continue if democracy is to grow in meaning and if it is to endure as the working force in a dynamic social order. Hence, the School for Workers raises its sights to a program as vital as life itself for there is no real life for the individuals of any society unless each individual in it is given a place of dignity and respect equal to any other.” (p. 21-22)The author of this history was the director of the School for Workers at the time of its publication (and had been since 1937), and writes in the preface to the work: “As author of the small volume, entitled, Workers’ Education, a Wisconsin Experiment, and printed in 1942 by the University Press, I have tried to transplant the essentials in that work to this pamphlet with additions to take care of the intervening years. I realize that this constitutes an incomplete story of what is now no longer an experiment but a permanent institution in the University and an ever increasing source of service to trade unionists of the state and a growing factor in development of stable industrial relations. But it does cover the essential facts in the School’s twenty-five years of existence.” (p. 3)CONTENTS: Wisconsin, Pioneer in Workers’ Education (p. 6-9). — The Early History of Workers’ Education in Wisconsin (p. 10-18). — Workers’ Education–Basis, Content and Techniques (p. 19-29). — The Year-Round Program (p. 30-37).
  13. Schwarztrauber, Ernest Edward. “Workers’ Education: A Wisconsin Experiment”; 1941. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1941. 319 p.
  14. Workers’ Education: A Wisconsin Experiment. Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1942. 182 p. Notes: An essentially unchanged publication of his 1941 Ph.D. dissertation (University of Wisconsin) of the same title, except only for a few new chapter headings and for being dedicated to a different individual.CONTENTS: PART I. Years of Experimentation, 1922-36. — 1. INTRODUCTION. — 2. WISCONSIN, A FERTILE FIELD FOR WORKERS’ EDUCATION. The University; Organized Labor. — 3. ORGANIZED LABOR TRIES ITS HAND. Awakening Interest; Milwaukee Workers’ College; State Developments. — THE UNIVERSITY OPENS A SUMMER SCHOOL FOR WORKERS. Introduction; Personalities and Groups Concerned with the School. (Young Women’s Christian Association; Organized Labor; Business and Professional Groups and Individuals; University Faculty and Administration); Aims and Objectives (Theoretical, Idealistic Approach; The Practical Functioning of the School); Content and Techniques of Teaching (Trends in Content; Teaching Technique); Administration and Finance (Administration; Financing the School: the University; Financing Students: Local Scholarships); Student Response in Terms of Enrollment (Enrollment Analaysis; Evaluation of Results). — 5. A WINTER EXTENSION SERVICE. The Labor Institute; The Federal Program. — PART II. Toward Maturity, 1937-41. — 6. A GOAL ATTAINED. Toward a State-Wide Program (Germination; A Plan Adopted; Legislation; Administration); The Winter Extension Program (Budget and Instructional Services; Extent of Service as Expressed in Class attendance; Assessing the Costs; The Organizations Served; Content of the Winter Extension Program); The summer Sessions, 1937-41 (Short Sessions; Fluctuating Housing and Staff Requirements; Some Trends; Assessing Values); Summary. — 7. OBJECTIVES OF THE SCHOOL FOR WORKERS. The Wisconsin School for Workers (Some Working Premises; Statement of Objectives). — 8. ADMINISTERING WORKERS’ EDUCATION IN WISCONSIN. Introduction; A Labor-Administered Program (Administrative Structure; Some Practices and Problems); A University-Labor-Administered Program (The Structure; Practices and Problems; Conclusion). — 9. THE TEACHER OF WORKERS. The Teacher and His Job (Selection of Teachers; Criteria for Selection of teachers; Teacher Appointments; The Teacher in the Community); Freedom of Teaching. — 10. CONCLUSION. — APPENDIX.
  15. Shoemaker, Alice. “The Early Years of the School for Workers”. IN: Via, Emory F., [editor]. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Workers’ Education, Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]; pp. 32-35.
  16. Simon, Walter. “Historical Sketch of Wisconsin Apprenticeship”. Bulletin (Wisconsin Industrial Commission). 1948 Jan 1; no. 35:???
  17. Somers, Gerald and Roomkin, Myron. Training and Skill Acquisition: A Pilot Case Study. Madison, Wis.: Manpower and Training Research Unit, affiliated with the Industrial Relations Research Institute and the Center for Studies in Vocational and Technical Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison; 1972. [273] p. Notes: This study was done as Contract 81-55-71-04 for the Manpower Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (with copies available through the National Technical Information Service) and used the Gisholt Machine Company, of Madison, Wisconsin, as a case study of company training programs and the costs and benefits of the acquired skills. Because the study occurred during the time of the shutdown of this important Madison, Wisconsin company, it has much to tell about the laid-off employees and their subsequent employment in new workplaces. The Gisholt Machine Company had been founded in Wisconsin in 1889 and at its height in 1970 had over 2,000 employees and was nationally one of the fourteen largest firms in its specialty of machine tool production; only four other Madison companies at that time employed over 1,000 employees. In 1966, the company had been purchased by another Wisconsin machine tool manufacturer, Giddings and Lewis, which announced in January 1971 its decision to close the Gisholt company. United Steelworkers of America Local 1401 had represented all hourly employees at Gisholt since 1955, except those working in the areas of computer programming and data processing.
  18. State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Office of School Services. The Changing Workforce: Teaching Labor History with City and County Directories. Madison, Wis.: Office of School Services, State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1996. 1 kit (1 folder with 11 photographs on card stock + teachers’ guide (20 p.)) (Teaching History with Community Resources. Notes: A curriculum guide demonstrating the interesting technique of using city and county directories to teach high school students about data gathering techniques used by historians. The activities are designed for students to learn how to analyze the information provided in their area’s city or county directory to chart changes in the area’s occupations, neighborhoods, etc. brought about during the period of rapid industrialization in the United States from the mid-1890s up to the mid-1920s. Although the teacher’s guide and sample handouts use the city of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin for a representative lesson, the eleven individual 8-1/2 x 11″ photographs included with the kit represent a variety of men’s and women’s occupations at locations throughout Wisconsin during the industrialization time period. The teacher’s guide offers lots of ideas on customizing the curriculum to meet varying teaching needs. To obtain a copy of the kit, contact the Office of School Services at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison.
  19. Troxell, John P. “Wisconsin’s Summer School for Working Women”. American Federationist: Official Magazine of the American Federation of Labor. 1925 Oct; v. 32(no. 10):[943]-945. Notes: An account of the first Wisconsin Summer School for Working Women, which was held in 1925 at the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin school was only the second such summer training program for women working at industrial jobs, with the first having been held at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania (although the Wisconsin school is the first such program at a state university). The instruction lasted for six weeks during the regular summer sessions at the university; forty women from nine Midwestern states attended and instruction was given in three areas: English, economics, and physical education. Some detail is provided about the topics studied and mention is made of production of a publication, “‘The Script,’ a mimeographed class-book edited by the students” (p. 945).
  20. Wisconsin. Department of Public Instruction. Lessons in Labor History. Benson, John T. State Superintendent; Fortier, John D. Assistant State Superintendent Division for Learning Support–Instructional Services; Grady, Susan M. Director Content and Learning Team; Salveson,Connie J. Consultant Content and Learning Team; Prepared in collaboration with the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO; the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers, AFT AFL-CIO; the Wisconsin Education Association Council, NEA, and and the Wisconsin Labor History SocietyMadison, Wis.: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; 2001. 95 p. Notes: “Pursuing the following study suggestions will be extremely helpful in gaining a better understanding of what unions are, how they developed in this country, what they have done in the past, and what they do today. The study suggestions provide a series of topics around which student and teacher investigation, research, and discussion can be instituted. The study suggestions relate to a number of Wisconsin Model Academic Standards in various academic areas, ranging from social studies to English to the arts.”–Section 1, “Introduction” (p. 1).The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction provided the following description of their publication, no. 2220, Lessons in Labor History, on their website:“The history of the American labor union is the history of America. It is the study of the enormous social and economic forces that swept our great land in the last three centuries.

    “The collection of study suggestions, background material, performance tasks, and lesson plans included in Lessons in Labor History is offered to you as a guide for incorporating the rich history of the American workers into what you already do in the classroom. Use of these materials will lead to an expanded labor history knowledge base and a greater appreciation of the role of organized labor in this country’s growth.

    “Since most students move from school to the work environment at some point in their lives, it is our hope that this material will help them learn critical lessons about the unions’ contributions to society.”

  21. Witte, Edwin E. “Labor Education and the Changing Labor Movement”. IN: Via, Emory F., [editor]. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Workers’ Education, Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]; pp. 36-40.
  22. Wright, Carroll D. “The Work of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 1909(January-June); 33:13-22. Notes: Explains how the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education was established in 1906 to promote the establishment of trade schools and how it began by setting up state committees to organize to achieve the organization’s goals; included are brief mentions of those people from Wisconsin who were involved with the society and two achievements of the Wisconsin state committee: the speedy creation of the Milwaukee School of Trades and passage of state enabling legislation to allow for public taxation in support of trade schools established by localities (p.15).