1. Glaab, Charles N. and Larsen, Lawrence H. “Neenah-Menasha in the 1870’s: The Development of Flour Milling and Papermaking”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1968 Autumn; 52(1):19-34.
  2. Gunderson, Ralph O. “Reversals in Industrial Fortune: A Tale of the Fox Cities and Oshkosh”. Essays in Economic and Business History: The Journal of the Economic and Business Historical Society. 2000; 18:43-57. Notes: A comparative treatment of the relative industrial fortunes of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and the four cities known collectively as the Fox Cities (Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, and Kaukauna, Wisconsin) and how the differences in their geography, as well as economic developments in the nineteenth century in these cities, determined their industrial specializations and relative economic situations in the twentieth century, especially regarding the lumber, flour, and paper-making industries.
  1. Jamieson, Stuart. Labor Unionism in American Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics; 1945. 457 p. (Bulletin; no. 836). Notes: A detailed report describing unionization efforts in agriculture throughout the entire United States from about 1910 to 1940; for details on the situation in Wisconsin, see Chapter 21, “Farm-Labor Unionism in the Great Lakes Region” (p. 373-395).The author reports on “the combinations of circumstances that gave rise to organized labor-employer conflicts in agriculture; the types of farming and the changes in farm structure and labor relations that tended to generate such conflict; the issues over which the labor disputes on farms occurred, and the tactics of group pressure and combat employed by the contending parties; the reactions of nominally neutral or disinterested groups in rural communities to farm labor unions and strikes, and the degree to which their reactions were influenced or governed by economic interest, social status, cultural tradition, or politico-legal considerations” (p. 1). The organizing efforts by the American Federation of Labor, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the Congress of Industrial Organization are all examined.
  1. Koeller, Paul D. and DeLano, David H. Brewed with Style: The Story of the House of Heileman. La Crosse, Wis.: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Foundation; 2004. v, 265 p. Notes: An overview history of the well-known La Crosse brewery; see Chapter 31, “Let’s Get Organized: Union Roots Go Deep at Heileman, 1902-2004” (p. 231-246) for details about the labor unions which represented the workers at the Heileman brewery with the first union charter having been granted to the International Brotherhood of Brewery Workers Local 81 on October 14, 1902.
  1. Obenauer, Marie L. Working Hours of Women in the Pea Canneries of Wisconsin. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office; 1913. 54 p. ((Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics ; whole number 119) ; (Women in Industry Series ; no. 2). Notes: This detailed study was undertaken to explore the claim of cannery owners that, due to the exigencies of the weather and the high perishability of harvested fruits and vegetables, the canning industry could not be subjected to any restrictions on the working hours of cannery employees, including women. Undertaken with the extensive cooperation of the owners of many of the state’s canneries, this study explores possible alternatives to the “violent and extreme fluctuation of working hours” presently being experienced by the women employed in the pea canneries of Wisconsin.For this study the author conducted an analysis of the business records of 35 Wisconsin canneries for four recent years (1908, 1909, 1910 and 1911). The author also collected data from fifty of the 78 canneries engaged in packing peas in Wisconsin as of 1912 and which were listed as members of the National Canners’ Association; data collected from these fifty firms included: cannery payrolls (showing hours actually worked and the rate of pay for women); amounts of acreage planted and the yield per acre; and, the mechanical equipment used in the operation. Additionally, to verify the labor supply and any operating problems, interviews were conducted with managers, proprietors, or superintendents of all the establishments which were part of the study.A major conclusion of the study was that most of the canners contributed to the labor difficulties they faced since they planted far more acreage than could be serviced by the canning equipment available to can their crop. An appendix (p. 53-54) is included of the text of the Wisconsin Annotated Statutes covering the employment of women and their hours of labor in general, plus the five specific orders applying to the employment of women in pea canning factories, which were issued in June 1913 by the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin.

    A PDF of the fulltext of this bulletin is available in the Women Working, 1800-1930 database (part of the “Harvard University Library Open Collections Program”); to access the Women Working, 1800-1930 database, go to the following URL: http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww search.html.

  1. Smith, Alice E. Millstone and Saw: The Origins of Neenah-Menasha. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1966. 208 p. Notes: This volume explores the process of change in the Neenah and Menasha, ‘Twin Cities’ of the Fox River in Wisconsin, from their initial specialization in flour milling to a switch over to paper making by the early years of the twentieth century and the dreams of the cities’ leaders to become major metropolitan centers. Of particular interest in this study is its substantial Chapter 5, “The Workingmen” (p. 83-101). Please note that the narrative of the history of these two cities is continued in the 1969 book, Factories in the Valley: Neenah-Menasha, 1870-1915, by Charles Glaab and Lawrence Larsen.
  1. Stare, Fred A. The Story of Wisconsin’s Great Canning Industry. Madison, Wis.: published for the Wisconsin Canners Association by The Canning Trade; 1949. 630 p. Notes: Written by an insider of the Wisconsin canning trade, this book is included here because of the reference value of its three hundred pages of histories of individual Wisconsin canning companies from their earliest days in the late 1880s up to the late 1940s. There is also an extensive year-by-year history of the development of the canning trade in Wisconsin from 1887 through 1948–all the improvements in machinery step by step, all the weather conditions season by season, all the management changes. But no mention of the employees in the industry (except for an occasional mention in an individual company’s history regarding the number of employees involved with its operations.