1. 25th Anniversary of Merrill Central Labor Council, 1937-1962. [Merrill, Wis.]: Merrill Labor Leader; 1962. 44 p.Notes: Commemorative volume in honor of the twentieth-five anniversary of the Merrill Central Labor Council in Merrill, Wisconsin, which had at that time fourteen affiliated union locals, plus their Merrill Union Auxiliary; short histories are provided for several of the affiliates in this publication. Half of all the pages in the volume contain congratulatory advertisements. Three essays are also included: “Democracy in the Workplace” by Robert B. Cooney (assistant editor, AFL-CIO News); “The Road Ahead” by James A. Sulfridge (editor of the Retail Clerks Advocate); “Union Members are Top Employees in Their Fields” (no authorship or source provided).
  2. “Bay View Labor Riot of 1886: The Only Real Labor Troubles in Milwaukee’s History, Exciting Times During the Administration of Mayor Emil Wallber, Graphic Description of the Rolling Mill Fight and the Milwaukee Garden Demonstration”. Milwaukee Free Press. Milwaukee, Wis.; 1910 Jul 3. Notes: The recollections of Emil Wallber, mayor of Milwaukee at the time of the 1886 Bay View Massacre; includes several contemporary photographs.N.B. A complete run of the Milwaukee Free Press (June 18, 1901-December 1, 1918) is available on microfilm at the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin with this article being located their microfilm reel P24668.
  3. The Bayview Massacre of 1886. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin Labor History Society; 1987. 1 VHS videocassette (15:50 minutes).Notes: Tells the story of how agitation nationally to win the Eight-Hour Day led to the seven tragic deaths in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 5, 1886, killed by state militia ordered to fire upon a parade of striking workers–still to this day the bloodiest day in Wisconsin labor history.CREDITS: Produced by David Thomas. Voices by Melinda Macdonald; Dan Mooney, AFTRA/SAG. “8 Hours” [sung] by Pete Seeger, used with permission. Guitar music of John Fahey, courtesy of Vanguard Records, Welk Record Group. Videotape produced through the facilities of Milwaukee Access Telecommunications Authority. Thanks to Milwaukee County Historical Society, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Library. Special Thanks to the Wisconsin Labor History Society.This video continues to be available for sale (at a cost of $15.00); to purchase a copy, write to: Wisconsin Labor History Society, 6333 West Blue Mound Road, Milwaukee, WI 53213
  1. The Bayview Massacre of 1886. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin Labor History Society; 2009. 1 DVD (15:50 minutes) : sd., b&w ; 4-3/4 in.Notes: Tells the story of how agitation nationally to win the Eight-Hour Day led to the seven tragic deaths in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on May 5, 1886, killed by state militia ordered to fire upon a parade of striking workers–still to this day the bloodiest day in Wisconsin labor history.CREDITS: Produced by David Thomas. Voices by Melinda Macdonald; Dan Mooney, AFTRA/SAG. “8 Hours” [sung] by Pete Seeger, used with permission. Guitar music of John Fahey, courtesy of Vanguard Records, Welk Record Group. Videotape produced through the facilities of Milwaukee Access Telecommunications Authority. Thanks to Milwaukee County Historical Society, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Library. Special Thanks to the Wisconsin Labor History Society.This DVD continues to be available for sale (at a cost of $8.00 per copy) either via the society’s website at www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org or by e-mailing info@wisconsinlaborhistory.org.
  2. Great Lakes Maritime History Project: Wisconsin Maritime History Website [Web Page]. Available at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.GreatLakes.
    Notes: This well-designed Internet website focuses on all aspects of the maritime history of the Great Lakes with emphasis on that of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and the many smaller lakes in Wisconsin, in addition to the network of rivers throughout Wisconsin, and especially the Mississippi River on Wisconsin’s western border. The primary arrangement of this visual archive is into eight broad categories: Barges; Cargo Ships; Lake Steamers; Lighthouses; Passenger Ships; River Steamers; Schooners; and, Shipwrecks. All of the approximately 1,800 images currently in the website can be searched by any keyword or combination of keywords appearing in the descriptive record accompanying each image, including names of vessels or company (e.g., S.S. Lakeland, Superior Shipbuilding Company), topical element (e.g., crew, ice), geographic place names (e.g., Duluth-Superior Harbor), etc. Any kind of image or item related to maritime history may be found here–photographs, postcards, tickets, blueprints, shipping forms, underwater video, etc.This collaborative project contains visual images selected from several significant maritime history collections located in Wisconsin, including those held at the following institutions: the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; the Special Collections Department of the Murphy Library at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; the Jim Dan Hill Library at the University of Wisconsin-Superior; the Milwaukee Public Library; the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society; and, the Door County Maritime Historical Society. Contact information is provided for each of the contributing collections–in case one doesn’t find what is wanted among the images available through the website, be sure to ask the participating libraries to consult their substantial ship files consisting of many thousands more of images.Update (December 2006): This website has now become part of The State of Wisconsin Collection at http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/
  3.  Her Daily Bread: History of Working Women in Wisconsin [videorecording]. Madison, Wis.: School for Workers-UWEX Madison; 1980. 1 VHS videocassette (20 minutes), sd., b&w-stop action; 1/2. Notes: “Describes a history of the working conditions and progress of women in the labor force in Wisconsin.”–OCLC #13649701.CREDITS: Producer/Director, Barbara Morford. Contributor, Barbara Morford. Photography and music consultant, Lewis Rock. Script, F. O’Sullivan. With support from the Wisconsin Humanities Committee on behalf of the National Endorwment for the Humanities.
  1. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office; 1927. 316 p. (Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau, United States Department of Labor; no. 60).
  2. Janesville Labor Movement, GM and UAW: Janesville Bicentennial Oral History Project. 1976. 66 audio cassette tapes (1-7/8 ips, mono) + 16 guides .Notes: This oral history collection consists of interviews done by Clem Imhoff in 1976 (?) with 15 members (?) of the United Auto Workers Local 121, which represents workers at the General Motors Corporation plant in Janesville, Wisconsin; this local union took part in the 1936-1937 sit-down strike movement in the United States.CONTENTS: v. 1-2, Eugene Osmond. — v. 3-4, Ralph Hilkin. — v. 5, Don Dooley. — v. 6, Harry Johnson. — v. 7, Hugo Preuss. — v. 8, Lou Adkins. — v. 9, John Scott. — v. 10-11, Jack Johnson. — v. 12, Glenn Swinbank. — v. 13, James Wells. — v. 14, Wes Van Horn. — v. 15, Gerald Litney. — v. 16, Guidebook.Location: Hedberg Public Library, Janesville, Wisconsin (call number CAS 977.587 JANES LOCKED CAB [i.e., Cassette 977.587, Janesville Room, Locked Cabinet]).
  3. “A Job Well Done …”: Sturgeon Bay in World War II, As Told by the Workers Themselves. Sturgeon Bay, Wis.: Door County Maritime Museum, [in partnership with The History Company]; 2000. 1 VHS videocassette (15:00 minutes)(THC [i.e., The History Company] ; 1). Notes: Prepared to accompany an exhibit at the Door County Maritime Museum (located in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin), this fifteen-minute video tells the story of the four shipyards in Sturgeon Bay which altogether produced two hundred fifty-eight new ships for the World War II effort, including cargo ships, supply ships, and war ships.In less than five years, the total employment at these four Sturgeon Bay shipyards grew from less than a handful to over 7,000 workers (including many women welders), transforming the small town of Sturgeon Bay into a boom town. Two government housing projects provided living quarters for six hundred families and five hundred individual workers, as well as a city bus service was set up to shuttle employees between work and home.All the ships from the Sturgeon Bay yards were built to fit through the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Mississippi River. Peterson Boatworks produced thirty-seven motor launches, aircraft rescue vessels and one-hundred-ten-foot-long submarine chasers. Sturgeon Bay Boatworks (now known as the Palmer Johnson company) produced forty-three freight and aircraft rescue boats for the U.S. Army. Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding & Drydocks produced eighty-five tugs, tenders, and cargo, supply and retrieving vessels. L.D. Smith Shipbuilding produced ninety-three frigates, net tenders, tankers, cargo vessels, and gun boats, including thirty-eight submarine chasers one-hundred-seventy-three-feet-long (known as “PC’s”).
    To purchase a copy of this video, contact the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, either by telephone at 920/743-2766 or through their website at http://dcmm.org.CREDITS: Producer, Molly Hauser Natwick. Writer & Director, Patrick Gary. Executive producers: Jon Gast, Christine Randall, June Larson. Videography: James Parish, Patrick Gary, Gary Edelburg. Production: John Thenell, Robert Wolter. County Martitime Museum.

    Shawn Erickson, Carl Romey. Historical footage: Mike Kelsey,

    Still photography: The W.C. Schroeder Collection, The Door Background information: Jacinda Duffin, Laurie Flanigan, Cleida Galligan, Arnold Geitner, Mike Kelsey, Henry King, George Oram, Gerhard C.F. Miller, Eunice Schlintz, Frank Schneider, Arnold Schwartz, Violet Vieau. Very special thanks to John Enigl, Jim Evans, Betty Krueger, Dorothy Mosgaller, Betty Peterson, Bob Solomon, Don Townsend, Gordon Weber. Editor, Patrick Gary. Editing facilities: Big Creek Productions, a company of Fox Road Communications.

  4. Kenosha Retrospective: A Biographical Approach. Burckel, Nicholas C. and John A. Neuenschwander, eds. Kenosha, Wis.: Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1981. xvi, 384 p.Notes: PARTIAL CONTENTS: “C. Fred Stemm: Labor’s Political Outsider” / by Don Jensen, p. [62]-108. — “Felix Olkives: Labor Enterpreneur” / by Leon Applebaum, p. [170]-202. — “George Molinaro: Labor-Ethnic Politician” / by John D. Buenker, p.[242]-294. — “UAW Local 72: Assertive Union” / by Angela Howard Zophy, p. [296]-331.N.B. Labor leader C. Fred Stemm, a blacksmith with the Bain Wagon works forge, was a member of the Knights of Labor and active in Kenosha city politics from 1882 to through 1913, serving on the city council and also, for part of those years, as mayor of the city; Olkives was president of the Kenosha Trades and Labor Council from the late 1920s through World War II; George Molinaro worked on the assembly line for forty-five years, first at Nash Motors and then at American Motors after the company later changed hands, while also having a prominent career in the Wisconsin State Assembly, upon which political activities this article concentrates–he was also one of the older brothers of the actor, Al Molinaro); United Auto Workers Local 72 represented the unionized workers at the Nash Motors plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
  1. Madison Labor: Building a City–Building a Movement. Madison, Wis.: Madison Federation of Labor; 1985. 1 VHS videorecording (30:00 minutes).
    Notes: Tells the story of the first one hundred years of the modern labor movement in Madison, Wisconsin, beginning with the founding in 1893 of the Federated Trades Council, the precursor of the current South Central Federation of Labor.CREDITS: Produced by … Thanks to …
  2. The Madison Labor News. Madison, Wis.: J.A. Aalberg. 1913-1914. Notes: OCLC 29971675.Official organ of: Madison Federated Trades Council, December 19, 1913-January 30, 1914; Madison Federation of Labor, February 6, 1914- .Continued by The Wisconsin Labor News.N.B. Available on microfilm at the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin–see their Microfilm P30450 (containing December 19, 1913-July 31, 1914).
  3. Marathon Runner. Rothschild, Wis.: Employes [sic] of the Marathon Paper Mills Co. Vol. v. 7, no. 1-v. 20,no. 2, 1920-1931.
    Notes: A company-sponsored newsletter for their workforce; each issue is typically 16-20 pages in length. The contents generally contain portraits and biographies of various employees; news from within the paper mill plant and from the national paper industry; paper mill safety information, accident records of this plant, and exhortations to work safely; local community news of Rothschild, Schofield, and Wausau, Wisconsin; reviews of entertainers, sports events and other recreation of the area; general articles about health; messages from the company’s administration. [Description based on a bound volume containing v.10 (1923)-17 (1928), in possession of this bibliography’s compiler]
  4. Patrick Cudahy Strike and Plant Closing of 1987-1989 Oral History Project. 1994. 37 audio cassette tapes . Notes: This oral history collection consists of interviews done in 1994 with participants in the bitter two-year-long labor strike during 1987-1989 at the Patrick Cudahy meatpacking plant in Cudahy, Wisconsin, a small town just south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; interviewees included the company’s president and its human relations director, as well as the president of the local union involved (United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-40) and fifteen other striking workers, including several women workers.Location: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Manuscript Collection (control number UWM Manuscript Collection 123), Division of Archives and Special Collections, Golda Meir Library, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
  5. “Program–‘Not on My Life’: Labor Skits”. [Milwaukee, Wis.]: Milwaukee County Industrial Union Council, C.I.O.; 1941. 11 leaves .Notes: The mimeographed program for a performance by the Chicago Repertory Group theater company on Saturday, March 1, 1941, at the South Side Armory, located at 1620 South 6th Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  6. 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).
  7. “Snapshots From the Family Album: Milwaukee Labor After World War II” [Special Issue]. Milwaukee History: The Magazine of the Milwaukee County Historical Society. Milwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee County Historical Society. Vol. 22 (3 & 4), p. 77-124, 1999(Autumn/Winter).
    Notes: “Special issue based upon the exhibition Snapshots from the Family Album: Milwaukee Labor After World War II, organized and presented by the Wisconsin Historical Society”–table of contents page.”This issue sponsored by the Wisconsin Labor History Society and the Milwaukee County Labor Council”–table of contents page.CONTENTS: “Snapshots from the Family Album: Constructing a Public History Exhibition” / by David B. Driscoll (p. 78-94). — “Milwaukee Labor After World War II” / by Darryl Holter (p.95-108). — “Viewer Responses to the Exhibition” / introduction by Robert T. Teske (p. 109-110). — “Contributors” (p. 110-112). — “Smith Steel Workers” / by Paul C. Blackman (p. 113-114). — “UAW Local 75 Christmas Party” / by Carol Casamento (p. 115). — “Labor Day Parade” / by David Driscoll (p. 116). — “Streetcars, Socials and Strikes” / by Ken Germanson (p. 117-119). — “Chipping Castings at Crucible Steel” / by John Goldstein (p. 120). — “UE Local 1131 Officer Installation” / by Helen Hensler (p. 121). — “Bronzeville Bombers Bowlers” / by Nellie Wilson (p. 122). — “Janitors Picket at City Hall” / by Frank Zeidler (p. 123-124). — “Authors” (p. 124).
  8. UAW 50 Years: [Janesville, Wisconsin]. Milbrandt, Howard A. ed. & co-author; Richard Costerisan, co-author, and John O Meara, co-author.[Beloit, Wis.]: [Vance Printing]; [1985?]. [240] p.Notes: Except for ten pages in the beginning of this volume, the rest of its many pages are devoted to the history of the union movement of the automobile workers in Janesville, Wisconsin.During the earliest years of union activity in the area, three local unions were organized to represent the workers at the Chevrolet and Fisher Body plants in the city–these were directly affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and were known as Federal Labor Union (F.L.U.) No. 19059, F.L.U. No. 19324, and F.L.U. No. 19660. Then in 1940, these directly-affiliated local unions were re-chartered within the Congress of Industrial Organizations as United Automobile Workers (U.A.W.) Local 95 (March 15), representing the workers at the Chevrolet plant and U.A.W. Local 121 (on March 1), representing the workers at the Fisher Body plant. Finally, in consequence of the formation of the General Motors Automobile Division, which folded together the administration of both the Chevrolet and Fisher Body operations, the two separate U.A.W. locals merged together as U.A.W. Local 95, as the result of a special referendum on December 11, 1968.Many photographs are included, as well as reproduction of numerous documents.
  9. La Voz Mexicana. Wisconsin: Obreros Unidos. 1965-1969.Notes: The news publication of Obreros Unidos, the migrant farm workers’ union active in Waushara, Marquette and Portage counties of Wisconsin in the 1960s; edited by David Giffey; a full run of the paper has been deposited with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, located in Madison, Wisconsin.
  10. Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Timeline History: 1883-2004 [Web Page]. 2004. Available at: http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/dwd/dwdhistory/.
    Notes: This website, created by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, provides a detailed timeline identifying the many national ‘firsts’ achieved by Wisconsin in the area of laws protecting workers, documenting the state’s national reputation in this area.Known as the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development since 1996, the department from 1967 to 1996 was called the Wisconsin Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations (DILHR); from 1911 to 1966, it was known as the Wisconsin Industrial Commission and from 1883 to 1911 as the Wisconsin Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  11. Wisconsin Labor. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin State Federation of Labor. 1924-1980. Notes: “Annual publication of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor.”None published: 1928, 1933-1934. OCLC 01585653.
  12. The Wisconsin Labor News. Madison, Wis.: J.A. Aalberg. 1914-1915. Notes: OCLC 29971683.Official organ of: Madison Federation of Labor (Wisconsin). Continues The Madison Labor News.
    N.B. Available on microfilm at the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin–see their Microfilm P30450 (containing August 7, 1914-March 5, 1915).
  13. Women of Wisconsin Labor Oral History Project, 1988-1995. 1988. 88 tape recordings .
    Notes: This oral history collection consists of interviews done from 1988 through 1995 with thirty-seven women active in the labor movement in Wisconsin; the interviewees had been chosen to ensure a balanced representation of different union affiliations, of the various employment sectors that exist (such as public employment, service industries, manufacturing, etc.), and also of the different geographic regions around the state.
    Location: Archives Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison; consult the online catalog, ArCat (the Archives Computer Catalog), to find the exact control numbers for the various portions of this collection.
  14. Workers in Wisconsin History: Commemorating the Contributions and Acknowledging the Struggles of Working People Toward Making Wisconsin a Great State, A Labor History Sesquicentennial Project of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Education and Training Center, Inc. Germanson, Kenneth A., editor. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Education and Training Center, Inc.; [1999]. 24 p.
    Notes: “This booklet highlights presentations made at six events which were held throughout the state as part of the ‘Workers in Wisconsin History’ Project during 1998–Wisconsin’s Sesquicentennial Year. The contents … include excerpts from speeches, writings or other presentations made at the events.”–inside front cover.CONTENTS: “The Bay View Tragedy of May 5, 1886: A Look at Milwaukee’s 8-Hour March, Killings from the Workers’ Point of View” / by Howard Zinn, p. 3-5. — “The Great Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike of 1898: Women Played Heroic Role in Citywide Struggle that had National Significance” / by Virginia Crane, p. 6-8. — “The 1940s and the Union Movement in Wisconsin: Wartime Saw Unions Grow in Numbers, Enter into New Areas, Like Politics” / by Darryl Holter, p. 9-12. — “Labor in the Upper Wisconsin River Valley: From Paternalism to Cooperation, Workers, Companies Built Prosperity” / by James Lorence, p. 13-15. — “Labor in Stevens Point, 1880-1998: From $1 a Day for 12 Hours, Unions Made a Difference in Area” / by George Rogers, p. 16-20. — “Superior’s Labor History Hall of Fame: A Century of Labor’s Struggles Told in the Stories of Five Leaders” / by Joel Sipress, p. 21-23.Another edition: Also available on the web at URL http://my.execpc.com/~blake/table.htm.
  1. Addison, Douglass D. Sr. Great Northern Railway Ore Docks of Lake Superior Photo Archive. Hudson, Wis.: Iconografix; 2002. 126 p.Notes: Using primarily photographs and engineering drawings, this book documents the operation of the world’s largest iron ore docks, which are located in Superior, Wisconsin. Over time the Great Northern Railway Company, headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, built altogether four docks in the Superior harbor for the transfer first of iron ore (up through 1969) and later of taconite (beginning in 1969) from railroad cars to ocean-going ships. Ore Dock One was built in 1892 of timber, Ore Dock Two in 1899-1900 of timber, Ore Dock Three in 1902-1903 of timber, and, Ore Dock Four in 1911 of concrete and steel; the improvements made over the years to all four docks are carefully detailed. The Superior ore docks were featured in the April 1925 issue of the Great Northern Semaphore and that article is reprinted here in its entirety as the “Introduction” to this book (p. 6-10).A nearby, related attraction in Superior is the S.S. Meteor Maritime Museum, which preserves the last surviving example of the cigar-shaped “whaleback” ore boats built in the 1890s, one of the early style of ships to use Superior’s iron ore docks. The S.S. Meteor was built in the Superior harbor and since 1972 has been permanently berthed there, with guided tours being offered by the museum from Memorial Day to Labor Day. On the tours one gets to see the operational sections of the ship (the pilot house, captain’s and crew’s quarters, galley, and engine room), in addition to thousands of Great Lakes shipping artifacts on display in the hold of the ship, as well as a history of ship building in the area; for information about the museum, see their web site, available at www.visitsuperior.com/ssmeteor/index.html.
  2. Alanen, Arnold. “The Development and Distribution of Finnish Consumers’ Cooperatives in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1903-1973”. IN: Karni, Michael G.; Kaups, Matti E., and Ollila, Douglas J. Jr., editors. The Finnish Experience in the Western Great Lakes Region: New Perspectives. Turku, Finland: Institute for Migration; in cooperation with the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota; 1975; pp. 103-130.Notes: A paper “originally presented at a conference on “The Finnish Experience in the Western Great Lakes Region: New Perspectives” held at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in April of 1974″ (editors’ introduction, p. 1). Alanen dates “the first actual Finnish-sponsored cooperative” in the United States to 1903 “when thirteen farm families near Menahga, Minnesota contributed a total of $170 to start a cooperative store” (p. 110)–seventy years later this store was still going strong with annual sales of about $2 million. By 1907 several more “Finnish stores or buying clubs” had been established throughout the upper peninsula of Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and primarily northern Minnesota and by 1917 the number had grown to over a hundred Finnish consumer cooperatives throughout the northern area of the three states and the network had their own wholesale outlet, the Cooperative Central Exchange, headquartered in Superior, Wisconsin. Many of these cooperatives had been started during mining strikes in the region, while others grew from “buying circles” set up by Finnish farmers of the area. Between 1904 and 1907 the communities of Brantwood, Wisconsin and Clifford, Wisconsin became Wisconsin’s first two locations to establish a Finnish-sponsored store or buying club; by 1917 nine were scattered across northern Wisconsin alone and by 1929 that number had grown to sixteen. This paper provides an overview of the history of the Finnish-sponsored cooperatives and the factors which influenced their development over time.
  3. Alanen, Arnold R. and Peltin, Thomas J. “Kohler, Wisconsin: Planning and Paternalism in a Model Industrial Village”. Journal of the American Institute of Planners. 1978; 44(2):145-159.
    Notes: Alanen reviews the development of the company town of Kohler, Wisconsin, from its earliest beginnings around 1900 when the Kohler family purchased the land for their new factory four miles west of Sheboygan until the late 1970s when this article was published. By 1912 the company’s president, Walter J. Kohler, Sr., had decided to model further residential development for company employees after the style of recently-built planned communities in England known as “garden cities” but with the Kohler employees being able “to purchase their own homes in the true ‘American way'” (p.147). In 1916 a German-born planner named Werner Hegemann and a landscape architect named Elbert Peets were hired by Kohler to develop plans for the residential areas of the city which came to be known as “West One” and “South One,” but in the mid-1920s Kohler turned to the firm of the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Mass. for further designs for two additional residential areas known as “West Two” and “West Three.”From the beginning Kohler’s vision for the company town encompassed much more than just the physical layout of the city’s streets and residences as he intended to guide the social development of the town as well through the provision of a wide range of civic amenities, such as a large rooming house (known as the American Club) for the single male workers at the Kohler plant, a large community center with space for various shops and offices needed by the village, provision of food stuffs from local farms owned by Kohler, classes in citizenship training for immigrants, etc.In 1975 the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation was hired by the Kohler Company to prepare a plan for the entire village for the next fifty years and their plan created three different zones for development: a village center, river parkland, and farm community. Also in 1975 a mail survey of the residents of the Kohler community was done by the author of this article; the survey found that only fifty-two percent of the actively employed heads of household in Kohler, Wisconsin, worked for the Kohler Company and that over eighty percent of the respondents to the survey felt that the professional planning done earlier for the community had resulted in an attractive place to live and that there was an adequate balance of influence in the civic affairs of the community between the town’s residents and the influence of the Kohler Company.
  1. Altmeyer, Arthur Joseph. The Industrial Commission of Wisconsin: A Case Study in Labor Law Administration. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1932. 324 p. (University of Wisconsin Studies in Social Sciences and History; no. 17).
    Notes: Revision of Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1931 (American Doctoral Disserations, L1932). Sources: Stroud & Donahue’s Labor History in the United States: A General Bibliography (1961), item 30; Neufeld’s A Representative Bibliography of American Labor History (1964), p. 42.
  2. Anderson, Byron. A Bibliography of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations on Milwaukee Topics, 1911-1977. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1981. 131 p.Notes: The compiler has tried to “provide a comprehensive list of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations dealing with Milwaukee, city and county, from all academic disciplines, through 1977 (with a few titles from 1978)” (p. 3); altogether four hundred eighty-nine different theses and dissertations are included, arranged in thirty-seven separate subject sections in this bibliography; many of the studies cited will be of interest to those studying the history of the Wisconsin labor movement and the history of the working class in Wisconsin. In addition to searching the national bibliography, Dissertation Abstracts, Anderson consulted the special card files describing the theses and dissertations completed at their institutions, which are maintained at the academic libraries at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University (located in Milwaukee), and the St. Francis Seminary (also located in Milwaukee). The author also consulted the bibliography published by the Karrman Library at the University of Platteville of the master’s theses and seminar papers done from 1935 to 1976 at the various schools within the University of Wisconsin System.
  3. Applebaum, Leon. “Felix Olkives: Labor Enterpreneur”. IN: Burckel, Nicholas C. and John A. Neuenschwander, eds. Kenosha Retrospective: A Biographical Approach. Kenosha, Wis. : Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1981; p. [170]-202.
    Notes: Olkives was a member of Painters Local 934 in Kenosha, Wisconsin and was its president for forty years; he was also president of the Kenosha Trades and Labor Council for nine years from 1926 through 1937, when he became public relations counsel for the Kenosha Manufacturers’ Association (to the shock of his fellow union members!). He also served on the Kenosha City Council for five terms from 1942 to 1952, including as its president for some part of the time, until he was indicted for bribery (although the charges were eventually dropped); he had first run and been elected to the city council against the labor-endorsed slate. Finally, from 1963 through 1968, he served as president of the Kenosha AFL-CIO Council, the area’s central labor body.
  1. —. “A Lock-Out: The Hosiery Workers in Kenosha, 1928-1929”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 82-87.
    Notes: Excerpted from his article, “Turmoil in Kenosha: The Allen-A Hosiery Dispute of 1928-1929,” Wisconsin Magazine of History (v. 70, no. 4), Summer 1987, p. 281-303.
  2. —. “Turmoil in Kenosha: The Allen-A Hosiery Dispute of 1928-1929”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1987; 70(4):281-303.Notes: Discusses a bitter and tumultuous strike by the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers Branch 6 against the Allen-A Hosiery Company of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Only about half of the firm’s employees worked in the full-fashioned department which was involved in the strike; this department made silk stockings and had two categories of employees: the knitters (primarily men), who knit the foot of the stocking and the toppers (primarily young women), who attached each foot to the leg of the stocking, which the knitters then seamed together. Dissension had been growing between the employees and the company prior to the strike due to management’s announced intention to adopt an emerging industry trend to require each skilled knitter to supervise two knitting machines, rather than the previous practice of only one machine. On February 15, 1928 management precipated the strike by firing all their knitters and announcing that only those knitters who were not in a union would be re-hired the next day; the approximately 250 knitters and their supporters among the approximately 450 toppers went on strike in the morning.With the 1,300 Allen-A employees making up almost ten percent of the total factory workers in Kenosha, the effects of the strike were felt throughout the community, including political repercussions in city government. The police chief and the city manager, both of whom had tried to remain neutral regarding the labor dispute, were removed from office by the businessmen on the city council. In March 1928, when the strikers held a mass picket in defiance of a federal injunction which prohibited any activity in furtherance of the strike, many strikers were arrested and brought to trial, but a jury found them innocent; the company responded with additional legal challenges.
  3. Arnold, Dexter. “Building a City, Building a Movement: Madison Labor”. Union Labor News: The Voice of Labor in South Central Wisconsin. [Madison, Wis.]; 1993 May: 7-11, 13, 15-16.
    Notes: Well worth looking up, this outstanding and substantial article tells the story of the first one hundred years of the modern labor movement in Madison, Wisconsin, beginning with the founding in 1893 of the Federated Trades Council, the precursor of the current South Central Federation of Labor. CONTENTS: “Madison Labor–the Early Years, 1893-1929,” p. 7-10; “Organizing a Broader, Stronger Movement, 1930-1940,” p. 11 & 13; “Progress and Empty Promises, 1941-1993,” p. 15-16.
  1. —. Madison Labor: Building a City, Building a Movement. Cavanaugh, James, author of chapter, “A Union City”. Madison: South Central Federation of Labor; [2006?]. 14 p.
    Notes: Tells the story of the modern labor movement in Madison, Wisconsin, beginning with the founding in 1893 of the Federated Trades Council, the precursor of the current South Central Federation of Labor and going up through the designation in 2005 of the federation as a “Union City” by the national AFL-CIO.
  2. Asher, Robert. “The 1911 Wisconsin Workmen’s Compensation Law: A Study in Conservative Labor Reform”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1973 Winter-1974 Winter; 57(2):123-140.
    Notes: This article investigates the political circumstances in Wisconsin which finally led to passage of the state’s first broad workmen’s compensation legislation in 1911. The author identifies that the key to passage of the 1911 law was that the “bulk of the Wisconsin progressive Republicans were moderate progressives who … wanted honest, efficient government; they wanted to eliminate waste and rationalize social institutions; they wanted to preserve social stability; and they wanted to blunt the upsurge of Socialist political parties. Nor were they partisans of the working class, out to soak business and redistribute income to labor. Many of these Wisconsin progressives subscribed to Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘square deal’ philosophy and did not forget that this implied a ‘square deal’ for capital as well as labor.” (p. 123) Asher traces how the various elements of the 1911 workmen’s compensation plan came together into the form which finally was enacted into law with the broad support of organizations representing the business community and yet was generally seen by the Wisconsin Federation of Labor as an improvement over the previous legal doctrines which had regulated situations in which a worker had been injured on the job.The supporters of the legislation knew a key to achieving reform in this area would be to educate and persuade the key Wisconsin business leaders in order to win their backing. Various reports were therefore produced for the Wisconsin Legislature analyzing the difficulties for society attributable to the distressing situations arising from the current system of liability law involving injured workers, statistics of occupational injuries and deaths, as well as discussion of the financial aspects for businesses and workers of various configurations changes that could be made. Playing crucial roles in the effort were experts, such as Professor John R. Commons, a noted economist at the University of Wisconsin, and Justice Rouget Marshall of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in addition to Wisconsin’s governor and leaders in both houses of the state’s Legislature.This article begins with an interesting quotation by Charles R. McCarthy, the librarian at the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau: “We cannot forever take things which Christianity has approved of since the time of Christ and put them in a bundle and write on the outside ‘Socialistic, don’t touch.’ In all reforms which Christ would have advocated if he were on earth the only way to beat the Socialists is to beat them to it.” [Source: Charles R. McCarthy, 1910 speech, in the McCarthy Papers, Archives-Manuscripts Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin]
  3. Bailey, John W. “Labor’s Fight for Security and Dignity”. IN: Neuenschwander, John A., editor. Kenosha County in the Twentieth Century: A Topical History. Kenosha, Wis.: Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1976; pp. 223-274.
    Notes: A review of the major strikes and other events of importance to the labor movement in Kenosha County from 1900 until about 1965, based on some oral histories, but primarily on accounts in the Kenosha Telegraph-Courier and the Kenosha Labor publications. Highlights are mentioned for several strikes, including an April 1906 strike at the Allen Tannery plant in which a striker was hospitalized after being shot in the chest (p. 228) and the bitter 1928-1929 strike by at the Allen-A Hosiery knitting plant (p. 237-246).One of the enduring achievements of the Kenosha labor movement was the creation of their local labor paper in 1935, The Kenosha Labor; the paper is still in publication in Kenosha today, although from October 1992 onwards under the plainer title of The Labor Paper. A special feature in the early days of this local labor paper was a labor comic strip called “the John Smiths,” created by Harold Magin, a Kenosha unionist; besides appearing in the Kenosha Labor, the comic strip was also “syndicated to some forty newspapers” (p. 254). The entire run of the Kenosha labor paper will be found at the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison.
  1. Barnett, Le Roy. Shipping Literature of the Great Lakes: A Catalog of Company Publications, 1852-1990. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press; 1992. 165 p.
    Notes: As the printed items from a shipping firm will be scattered in libraries and archives located around the country, this is an extremely useful union list identifying 3,042 “publications issued by 230 different shipping firms that operated on the Great Lakes” (p. 5) and which constitute about eighty percent of all the “substantive printed items that were ever issued by shipping companies operating on the Great Lakes” (p. ix) and in which of 160 public repositories a copy will be found. Paper items with little informational value or minor promotional items produced by the shipping firms were excluded.Wisconsin ports located on Lake Superior are Superior, Bayfield, and Ashland. Wisconsin ports located on Lake Michigan are Green Bay, Gills Rock, Sturgeon Bay, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, and Milwaukee.The entries are arranged by the name of each shipping firm and each printed item is fully described and the repository where the item can be found is given. Each entry also includes the name of the headquarters of the shipping firm.Although an index to personal names, corporate names and geographic names is provided, some care should be taken in its use because there are a number of shipping firms with Wisconsin connections which cannot be located through the index under the name of the city in which they are headquartered and must be found by looking up their entry in the body of the bibliography–these include: Atwood, David (Madison, WI); Bayprint (Sturgeon Bay, WI); Chicago Roosevelt Steamship Company (Detroit, MI); Grand Trunk Milwaukee Car Ferry Company (Detroit, MI); Green Bay Transportation Company (Green Bay, WI); Hart Transportation Company (Sturgeon Bay, WI); Jermain & Brightman (Milwaukee, WI); Johnson Litho (Eau Claire, WI); Lake Michigan Transit Company (Milwaukee, WI); Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation Company (Ludington, MI); Peninsula & Northern Navigation Company (Milwaukee, WI); Quigley Printing (Green Bay, WI); Voight’s Marine Service, Limited (Ellison Bay, WI); Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Company (Milwaukee, WI).
  2. Bartkowiak, Barbara. “Schneider, George John”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; pp. 504-505.
  3. Baxandall, Lee, editor. “Furs, Logs and Human Lives: The Great Oshkosh Woodworkers Strike of 1898.”. Green Mountain Quarterly. 1976 May; (3):1-107.Notes: In Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on May 16, 1898 the workers in the door, sash and blind factories, represented by the Amalgamated Woodworkers Union (AWU), went out on strike primarily for union recognition and against the “starvation wages” paid in the Oshkosh mills, wages much lower than the woodworker pay scale nationally. During an altercation at a plant gate on June 23, one striker was killed, clubbed in the head by a scab. Women played an important role in supporting the striking workers. Although Oshkosh strike benefits of $3 a week were suspended in mid-June due to AWU woodworkers in Chicago beginning a strike also, the Oshkosh strike was maintained until August when the Oshkosh woodworkers returned to work with hardly any gain, due to harassing lawsuits filed by the mill owners against the key leaders of the strike. The famed defense lawyer Clarence Darrow, himself the son of a woodworker and having assisted AWU previously, represented the Oshkosh union leaders in a dramatic trial which successfully turned the mill owners’ claims of conspiracy on the part of the workers to combine to withhold their labor to that of the mill owners having conspired “against humanity and the natural wish for freedom and equality” (p. 31). For the complete text of Darrow’s eloquent summation, see p. 35-92. Also, around the time of the trial’s conclusion, state officials determined that two company practices of the mill owners were in violation of then current state law–a call for the abolition of those practices had been among the four original strike demands of the Oshkosh workers. Baxandall’s concluding chapter, “Aftermath–From Powerlessness to Worker Ownership” (p. 93-107), discusses the changing circumstances of employees at the Paine Lumber Company (one of the key mills involved in the 1898 strike) up to the time at which this work was published (1976).
  1. Bayley, Edwin R. Joe McCarthy and the Press. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1981. 270 p. Notes: An in-depth look at how Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1947-1957, affected the newspaper and television press and how he was affected by the press, both nationally and in Wisconsin. One substantial chapter is devoted to McCarthy’s 1952 U.S. senatorial re-election campaign in Wisconsin, which was after he had become well-known because of his “communist infiltration” issue.Another edition: Bayley, Edwin R. Joe McCarthy and the Press. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982. 270 p. ISBN: 0394712463 (pbk.)Reviewed: Heren, Louis (reviewer). “Craven Images.” The Times [London], December 31, 1981, p.13.
  2. Beck, Elmer A. The Sewer Socialists: A History of the Socialist Party of Wisconsin, 1897-1940. Fennimore, Wis.: Westburg Associates ; 1982. 2 v.
  3. Becker, Mary and Hauenstein, Del. A Journey Through the Past, Present and Future. Milwaukee, Wis.: Patrick Cudahy, Inc.; 1990. 19 p.Notes: An over-sized, illustrated promotional brochure giving the history of the Patrick Cudahy meatpacking company in Cudahy, Wisconsin; mention is made of the bitter strike against the company by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-40 from 1987 to 1989.
  4. 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!
  5. Berger, Victor L. Voice and Pen of Victor L. Berger: Congressional Speeches and Editorials_. Milwaukee, Wis.: The Milwaukee Leader; 1929. 753 p. ??Notes: Source: Bolerium Books Wants System: SKU 128165; “Keywords: Labor – American Wisconsin Socialist Party USA 1900S 1910S 1920S.”
  6. Berry-Caban, Cristobal S. Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography of Resource Materials = Hispanos en Wisconsin: Una bibliografia de materiales de recurso. Sarah H. Cooper; Donna J. Sereda, and Dale E. Treleven, with the assistance of. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1981. 258 p.
    Notes: “A unique, comprehensively indexed guide to manuscript and archival materials, unpublished academic papers and reports, and newspaper and journal articles.”–back cover. Each entry identifies from where the item can be borrowed. Many entries are related to labor; especially see under “Employment and Income”, “Labor Unions”, “Migrant Labor”, “Wisconsin, State of” (for governmental reports), “Obreros Unidos” (an independent Wisconsin migrant farmworker union), and also specific geographical names.
  7. Bogue, Margaret Beattie. Around the Shores of Lake Michigan: A Guide to Historic Sites. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1985. 382 p.Notes: A well-illustrated guide with the author providing highlights of almost two hundred places on a tour around Lake Michigan; many of the sixty-one sites included along the Wisconsin shoreline relate to the rich history of work and workers in Wisconsin. As with the companion volume, Around the Shores of Lake Superior: A Guide to Historic Sites, a separate color tour map is included of the sites mentioned around Lake Michigan.”This work was funded in part by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program under grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the State of Wisconsin (Federal grant #NA80-AA-D-00086, Project #SGA-1).”–t.p. verso.
  1. Bogue, Margaret Beattie and Palmer, Virginia A. Around the Shores of Lake Superior: A Guide to Historic Sites, Including a Color Tour Map Showing Lake Superior’s Historic Sites. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program; 1979. 179 p.
    Notes: A well-illustrated guide with the authors providing highlights of over a hundred places on a tour around Lake Superior; many of the seventeen sites included along the Wisconsin shoreline relate to the rich history of work and workers in Wisconsin. Be sure to also see the companion volume, Around the Shores of Lake Michigan: A Guide to Historic Sites.Wisconsin Government Documents Number: WIS-SG-79-132.
  2. Brandeis, Elizabeth. Migrant Children and Child Labor Laws. [Madison, Wis.]: Governor’s Commission on Human Rights; 1959; [WI GoDocs #] GoRi.2:M5/5b. 9 p.
    Notes: Her statement. Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 253.
  3. Brandeis, Elizabeth. “The Migrant Labor Problem in Wisconsin”. IN: Somers, Gerald G., editor. Labor, Management and Social Policy: Essays in the John R. Commons Tradition . Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1963; pp. 197-230.
    Notes: Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 251.
  4. —. Migrant Labor Problem in Wisconsin: An Essay. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Governor’s Commission on Human Rights; 1962. 52 p.
  5. Brown, Ray A. The Administration of Workmen’s Compensation. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1933. 88 p. (University of Wisconsin Studies in the Social Sciences and History; no. 19). Notes: Source: Stroud & Donahue’s Labor History in the United States: A General Bibliography (1961), item 245.
  6. Buchanan, Thomas R. “Black Milwaukee, 1890-1915”; 1973.
    Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1973. 150 leaves.
  7. —. “Blacks in Milwaukee’s Labor Force”. Historical Messenger (Milwaukee County Historical Society). 1972; 28(2):131-140.
  8. Buenker, John D. “George Molinaro: Labor-Ethnic Politician”. IN: Burckel, Nicholas C. and John A. Neuenschwander, eds.Kenosha, Wis.: Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1981; p. [242]-294.
    Notes: George Molinaro worked on the assembly line for forty-five years, first at Nash Motors and then at American Motors after the company later changed hands, while also having a prominent career in the Wisconsin State Assembly, upon which political activities this article concentrates–he was also one of the older brothers of the movie and television actor, Al Molinaro.
  9. Buenker, John D. “The Politics of Mutual Frustration: Socialists and Suffragists in New York and Wisconsin”. IN: Miller, Sally M., editor. Flawed Liberation: Socialism and Feminism. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1981; pp. 113-144.
  10. Carideo, Tony. “Catherine Conroy: Unionist and Feminist”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 232-233.Notes: A biographical piece about this pioneering Wisconsin woman, a longtime staff representative for the Communications Workers of America (C.W.A.) and the first woman to serve on the governing board of the Wisconsin Federation of Labor.
  1. Cary, John W. The Organization and History of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. [Milwaukee, Wis.: Press of Cramer, Aikens, & Cramer; 1892?]. 392 p.
  2. —. The Organization and History of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. New York: Arno Press; 1981. 392 p.Notes: “Reprint of the 1893 ed. printed by Cramer, Aikens & Cramer, Chicago”–OCLC #6734963. Reprints of this edition continue to be available through the Ayer Company, Merrimack BookService, in Salem, N.H.; see Books in Print for current ordering information.
  3. Cavanaugh, James A. “From the Bottom Up: Oral History and the United Packinghouse Workers of America”. International Journal of Oral History. 1988; 9(1):27-39.
  4. Christenson, Arlen. “Collective Bargaining at the University: The University of Wisconsin and the Teaching Assistants Association”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1971; 211 ???
  5. Christianson, Carl Raymond. Ship Building and Boat Building in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin: From the Beginning to 1985. [Sturgeon Bay, Wis.?]: C.R. Christianson; 1989. 142 p.
    Notes: Ship and boat building activities in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, can be dated back to within a year or two after the first European settlement there in 1835. Through the years since then, several local companies have carried on the tradition and produced quite a variety of ships and boats in Sturgeon Bay and the author, founder of the Door County Marine Museum, provides the history for several, including: Joseph Harris Boat Works; Sturgeon Bay Boat Manufacturing (later, Sturgeon Bay Boatworks); Palmer Johnson Boats (later, Palmer Johnson, Inc.); Peterson Boatworks (later, Peterson Builders, Inc.); Leathem D. Smith Towing and Wrecking (later, Leathem Smith Coal and Dock, and later, Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Corp.); Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Drydock; Christy Corp. The Manitowoc Corp. purchased Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding and Drydock in 1967 and the Christy Corp. in 1969 and then formed today’s Bay Shipbuilding Corp., a subsidiary of the Manitowoc Corp.
  6. Cling, Edwin Layne. “Industrial Labor Relations Policies and Practices in Municipal Government–Milwaukee, Wisconsin”; 1957.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1957. 816 p. Discusses the management and labor positions regarding collective bargaining for public employees and then applies the analysis to the situation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the time of the writing of this dissertation (1957). For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, 1958, 18/03, p. 1087.
  7. Commons, John R. “The La Follette Railroad Law in Wisconsin”. American Monthly Review of Reviews: An International Magazine. 1905(July-December); 32(1):76-79.
    Notes: This article describes the railroad law, enacted by the 1905 Wisconsin legislature and signed by Governor Robert M. La Follette, which created a Wisconsin state railroad commission composed of three appointed commissioners with authority to review the charges and services of any type of railroad operating in Wisconsin and with legal mechanisms available to the new commission for enforcing its rulings. Dissatisfaction with the operation of railroads in Wisconsin had been widespread enough to have become an issue in the 1904 Wisconsin governor’s race. Commons, the influential University of Wisconsin professor, sketches the political manuvers of the reformers versus the railroads in crafting the new legislation and takes careful note of the similarities and differences between the new Wisconsin railroad commission and comparable commissions in several other states. This item is included by James O. Morris in his Bibliography of Industrial Relations in the Railroad Industry (Ithaca, N.Y.: New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, 1975), p. 76.
  1. Commons, John R. “Operation of Minimum Wage Laws in Wisconsin”. IN: National Consumers’ League. State Minimum Wage Laws in Practice. [New York?]: The League; 1924; p. Pt. II.
  2. Condon, Gregg; Felten, Robert, and and Nickoll, James. The Dinky: C&NW Narrow Gauge in Wisconsin. Altoona, Wis.: Marsh Lake Productions; 1993. 80 p.Notes: An over-all history of the local railway service which operated from 1878 to 1926 in the Green River Valley in southwestern Wisconsin between the towns of Fennimore, Wisconsin and Woodman, Wisconsin. It was a narrow gauge train, which meant that the rails on which the trains ran were not set as far apart as that on which standard gauge trains ran, requiring the transfer of passengers and freight where the narrow gauge rails connected with the standard gauge line to the east which ran into Madison, Wisconsin.
  3. Conners, William R. A History of the Bricklayers and Mason’s Local Union No. 13, Madison, Wis. n.p.: Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International Union of America?; 1976. 30 p.
    Notes: This local union traces its organizational history in Madison, Wisconsin, back to 1867, when the Wisconsin State Legislature passed an act of incorporation for the “Bricklayer and Mason Association of Madison” [sic]. By 1892 the local union was known as the “Bricklayers and Masons Union of Madison” [sic], and on February 14, 1903 was officially recognized with a charter as Local 13 from the “Bricklayers and Masons’ International Union” [sic]. The author makes a point of explaining that at the time of publication, “Local No. 13 Wisconsin is not comprised of only Bricklayers, but also included in its membership are Stone Masons, Tile Layers, Terrazzo Workers, Block Layers, and Cleaners, Pointers, and Caulkers” (p. 7). The bulk of this history is devoted to the notable events mentioned in the minutes kept of the local’s meetings for the period from 1916 through 1967.The image of the seal of the “American Revolution Bicentennial, 1776-1976” appears on the outside of the back cover of this pamphlet.
  4. Conrad, Will C.; Wilson, Kathleen F., and Wilson, Dale. The Milwaukee Journal: The First Eighty Years. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1964. 232 p.
    Notes: Three long-time employees of the Milwaukee paper here tell the history of the Milwaukee Journal from its beginnings in 1882 up to its purchase in 1962 of longtime rival, the Milwaukee Sentinel.
  5. Cooper, Jerry M. “The Wisconsin National Guard in the Milwaukee Riots of 1886”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1971 Autumn; 55(1):31-48.
  6. Costello, Cynthia B. “The Clerical Homework Program at the Wisconsin Physicians Services Insurance Corporation”. In: Boris, Eileen and Daniels, Cynthia R., editors. Homework: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Paid Labor at Home. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1989; p. [198]-214.
  7. Costello, Cynthia B. “Home-Based Clerical Employment”. In: Christensen, Kathleen E., editor. The New Era of Home-Based Work: Directions and Policies. Boulder, Co.: Westview Press; 1988; pp. 135-145. Notes: This study looked at women who did clerical work in their home for the Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS), located in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1980 on. WPS required that the home-based workers be “housebound women with preschool-age children” (p.135). United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1444, which represented the clerical workers in the WPS headquarters building, did not also represent the home-based workers. As the book’s editor explains in the volume’s introduction, Costello “examines the day-to-day realities that a working mother faces when she tries to balance simultaneously the demands of a paid job and the demands of children in the home” (p. 10). The author conducted this study as part of the research for her doctoral dissertation.
  8. —. “‘On the Front’: Class, Gender, and Conflict in the Insurance Workplace”; 1984. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1984. 308 p.
  1. —. We’re Worth It!: Women and Collective Action in the Insurance Workplace. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1991. 154 p.Notes: A sociological look at the process of collective action among the women clerical workers at three insurance companies in Madison, Wisconsin; all three companies had unionized workforces. The author analyzes the responses of the women workers to the different management philosophies of the three companies and the strategies employed by the women to make changes.The first workplace was at the Wisconsin Education Association Insurance Trust, which was formed by the Wisconsin Education Association, the state teachers’ union; there the union involved was the United Staff Union (USU), the state affiliate of the National Staff Organization, an independent union to represent employees of teachers unions. The author analyzes the strategies used by the clericals in this workplace from 1975 to 1985 to gain respect and dignity on the job, including a strike in 1979.The second workplace was at the Wisconsin Physicians Services Insurance Corporation; the union involved there was began as Retail Clerks Union Local 1401 and then became United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1444 due to a merger in 1979. The group of womeon at this site were followed from 1974 to 1982 and, in addition to the unionized clerical office workforce, the author looked at the strategies of the company’s non-unionized clerical homework force as well.The third workplace was at the CUNA Mutual Insurance Society, which was formed by the Credit Union National Association; here the union was Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 39. Although the CUNA worksite was much more ‘benevolent’ than the other two worksites in this study, by the late 1970s a group of the women clerical workers had formed a Women’s Association to take collective action in the workplace beyond that of their union.”An earlier version of chapter 2 appeared as “WEA’re Worth it!: Work Culture and Conflict at the Wisconsin Education Assocation Trust” in Feminist Studies 11, no.3 (Fall 1985): 497-518. … An earlier version of chapter 4 appeared as “Home-based Clerical Employment” in The New Era of Home-based Work, edited by Kathleen Christensen, c1988 Westview Press. …”–title page verso.

    Chapter 4 has also appeared in a somewhat different form as “The Clerical Homework Program at the Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation,” in Homework: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Paid Labor at Home, edited by Eileen Boris and Cynthia R. Daniels (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1989), p. [198]-214 (Chapter 10).

    Reviewed: University Press Book News, June 1, 1992.

  2. —. “‘WEA’re Worth It!’: Work Culture and Conflict at the Wisconsin Education Association Insurance Trust”. Feminist Studies. 1985; 11(3):497-518.
  3. Cotton, J. R. “The Consumers’ Cooperative Movement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin”; 1930.
    Notes: M.A. thesis, Marquette University, 1930. 1 volume unpaged. Cited in Anderson, Byron, ed., A Bibliography of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations on Milwaukee Topics, p. 104.
  4. Cox, Richard W. “Art Young: Cartoonist From the Middle Border”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1977 Autumn; 61(1):32-58.Notes: A long look at the successful career of the nationally-known political cartoonist, Art Young, exploring his art through the many ties to his native Wisconsin. Born in 1866, Arthur Henry Young grew up in the small town of Monroe, Wisconsin, where his father owned and ran a general store and the give and take of local political debates inculcated an essential moderation in Art Young’s outlook on life. By age seventeen, he had already started working for a newspaper in Chicago as a pictorial reporter and was soon contributing cartoons and other drawings to newspapers and magazines in New York and Chicago. After 1900 his political beliefs changed over from the Republicanism with which he had grown up to socialism and reform. Young formed friendships with many of the social reformers of the period, such as Eugene V. Debs, Helen Keller and Robert M. La Follette. In 1904 Young returned to Wisconsin during the last month of La Follette’s Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign and, in exchange for only his travel expenses, contributed pro-La Follette cartoons for use by the campaign. Except for a rough period around World War I when his opposition to the participation of the United States in the war forced him to publish his own weekly publication as a way to get his work out, Young placed cartoons regularly throughout the rest of his long career in both important left-leaning magazines (The Masses, The Metropolitan, The New Masses, and The Nation), and the large mainstream outlets of the day (Life, Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s Weekly). His magazine, Good Morning, carried the masthead motto of “to laugh that we may not weep” and appeared for only two years (1919-1920). Young continued turning out important cartoons until about 1934, when his health weakened; he died in New York city in 1943. He wrote two autobiographical works, On My Way: Being the Book of Art Young in Text and Picture (New York: Horace Liveright, 1928) and Art Young: His Life and Times (New York: Sheridan House, 1939).
  1. Craig, Judith S. “Graduate Student Unionism: The Teaching Assistants Association at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1970-1980”; 1986.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986. 526 p. Discusses the bargaining history between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and American Federation of Teachers/Wisconsin Federation of Teachers Local 3220, the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA), University of Wisconsin-Madison, the first successful union of graduate teaching assistants in the country; topics covered include the factors influencing the formation of the TAA; the TAA’s negotiation of its first contract in 1970; the various political and organizational forces within the university community affecting the relationship between the university and the TAA; the unsuccessful strike by the TAA in 1980; and, the university’s termination shortly thereafter of any collective bargaining relationship with the TAA. It needs to be noted that the author of this dissertation was a member of management’s bargaining team for the 1980 contract negotiations discussed in the work. For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, 1987 48(12):14-A.
  2. Crane, Virginia Glenn. The Oshkosh Woodworkers’ Strike of 1898: A Wisconsin Community in Crisis. [Oshkosh, Wis.]: [V. Crane]; 1998. 569 p.Notes: “The Oshkosh woodworkers’ strike of 1898 was a dramatic clash of labor and capital. It threw the city into the greatest crisis of its history. This is the story of that strike and of that community a century ago as it tried to come to grips with forces beyond its control.”–back cover.At the end of the 1900s, the industry of Oshkosh was dominated by seven woodworking companies, which specialized in making doors, window sashes and window blinds. On May 16, 1898, the employees of these factories went out on strike primarily for recognition of their union, the Amalgamated Woodworkers Union (AWU), and against the “starvation wages” paid in the Oshkosh mills, wages much lower than the woodworker pay scale nationally. Four AWU locals were involved: Local 29 (the first woodworkers’ local in Oshkosh); Local 49; Local 57 (formed by splitting the German-speaking woodworkers off from Local 29); and, Local 63 (which represented woodworkers on the west side of Oshkosh, including those at the Paine Lumber Company). The strike lasted for fourteen dramatic weeks and was capped with an equally dramatic legal battle in which the union’s leading organizer, Thomas Kidd, was defended by famed defense lawyer, Clarence Darrow (himself the son of a woodworker). Women family members of the strikers played an important role in strike activities, especially in thwarting scabs and strikebreakers.This book is distributed directly by the author; contact her either by telephone at 920/231-1810 or at the following address: Virginia Crane/1506 County Road I/Oshkosh, WI 54901.
  3. —. “The Very Pictures of Anarchy”: Women in the Oshkosh Woodworkers’ Strike of 1898. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 2001 Spring; 84(3):44-59.Notes: In this article taken from her book, The Oshkosh Woodworkers’ Strike of 1898: A Wisconsin Community in Crisis, the author focuses on the instrumental role women played in strike activities, especially in thwarting scabs and strikebreakers.
  4. Czitrom, Daniel. “Reeling in the Years: Looking Back on the TAA”. IN: Nelson, Cary, ed. Will Teach for Food: Academic Labor in Crisis . Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press; 1997; p. ???
  5. Dahlinger, Fred Jr. Trains of the Circus, 1872-1956. Hudson, Wis.: Iconografix; 2000. 126 p.
    Notes: Published in conjunction with the Circus World Museum (located in Baraboo, Wisconsin), this volume consists primarily of photographs showing how trains were used by circuses as they moved from place to place throughout the United States for their short engagements. Included photographs show both the railroad cars specifically designed to meet the requirements of transporting the specialized circus equipment and livestock, as well as the techniques developed to efficiently load and unload a circus; many of the examples provided were drawn from the files of the Ringling Brothers’ circus, which had begun in Baraboo and which remained headquartered there for many years.
  1. Daniels, Newell. “Report of I.G.S. at the First Grand Lodge Meeting, held at Rochester, New York, in 1868”. K.O.S.C. Monthly Journal: Devoted to the Interests of the Knights of St. Crispin. 1873 Jan; 1(4):[97]-105 .
    Notes: Daniels, the driving force behind the creation of the Knights of St. Crispin, a national union of shoemakers which was founded in 1867 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, provides details here on the founding of the union; based on this account by Daniels’, Frederick Merk (in his “The Labor Movement in Wisconsin During the Civil War”) explains that at the time of the union’s founding, the Milwaukee factory shoemaking system predominantly employed shoemakers of Irish extraction, while custom shoemaking in the city was mostly done by shoemakers of German heritage, resulting in Lodge No. 1 of the new union being formed by Daniels and his fellow Irish factory shopmates, and that then “Daniels induced the German Custom Shoemakers’ Union of Milwaukee to … join the order as Lodge No. 2” (p. 180); Merk also identifies the eleven additional Wisconsin lodges as having been organized at: Racine, Waukesha, Janesville, Kenosha, Watertown, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Sheboygan, LaCrosse, Portage, and Oshkosh.This issue of the K.O.S.C. Monthly Journal also appears as item L 822 in the microfilm set, Pamphlets in American History: Labor.
  2. Derleth, August. The Milwaukee Road: Its First Hundred Years. New York: Creative Age Press; 1948. 330 p. (The Railroads of America ; 3).Notes: The well-known Wisconsin author, August Derleth, captures here in a fine narrative history the first one hundred years of the railroad known as the “Milwaukee Road” from its beginnings in 1851 with just twenty miles of track between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Waukesha, Wisconsin to 1948 and its over ten-thousand miles of track across Wisconsin, the Michigan Peninsula, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and the state of Washington. In a lengthy appendix (p. 265-287), Derleth also provides a complete corporate history of the railroad arranged by state and detailing each acquisition, merger, consolidation and sale which went into the making of the Milwaukee Road; a second appendix chronologically arranged shows the termini of each section of track acquired for the Milwaukee Road and gives a numerical key to identify the corresponding corporate transaction within the full corporate history found in the first appendix.
  1. DeRosier, John Baptiste. “Nothin’ But a Machine: A History of the Eau Claire Rubber Workers on Strike”; 1998.Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1998. [79] p. Using the records of both the Uniroyal, Inc. company plant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and the union representing the workers at the plant, United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America Local 19, DeRosier analyzes the labor strikes involving the Eau Claire plant in 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, and 1967 and also discusses how the company discriminated against its female employees.
  2. —. “Reflections of a Labor Leader: A Comparison of Local and State Labor Trends and Issues”. 46 p. Notes: A look at the history of Sheet Metal Workers’ Union Local 42 of Superior, Wisconsin, from 1923 through 1978 and its relations with the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor during those years through use of the local’s records deposited in the Superior Area Research Center (located in the Superior Public Library) and an interview with Leonard Rouse, Sr., an active member of the local from 1938 through 1978, who also served as the local’s president and business agent from 1965 through 1978. It should be noted that in November 1963 the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association merged the territory of Local 42 (except for the counties of Burnett, Washburn and Sawyer) into the jurisdiction of Sheet Metal Workers’ Union Local 32 in Duluth, Minnesota, and then, in February 1969, the expanded Local 32 was merged into Sheet Metal Workers’ Union Local 166 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. A copy of this paper is available in the Superior Area Research Center, Superior, Wisconsin.
  3. Doro, Sue. Blue Collar Goodbyes. 1st ed. Watsonville, Calif.: Papier-Mache Press; 1992. 73 p.Notes: Poems, photographs and essays about the thirteen years the author spent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the only woman machinist with the Milwaukee Road Railway and at the Allis-Chalmers tractor plant at a time of increased plant closings and cutbacks. In 1993 the Wisconsin Library Association selected this book as one of the ten books of “Outstanding Achievement” by Wisconsin authors for the year.Reviewed: Allen, Hayward (reviewer). “Badger Books: Writers Link Past to Present.” Wisconsin State Journal, Sunday, November 22, 1992, p. 3F. Reviewed: Monaghan, Pat (reviewer). Booklist Library Journal p. 81 Another edition: p. 710 December 15, 1992. Reviewed: Ratner, Rochelle (reviewer). March 1, 1993. Doro, Sue. Blue Collar Goodbyes. Huron, O.: Bottom Dog Press, 2000. 85 p. (Working Lives Series) ISBN: 0-933087-66-7.
  1. —. Heart, Home & Hard Hats: The Non-Traditional Work and Words of a Woman Machinist and Mother. Minneapolis, Minn.: Midwest Villages & Voices; 1986. 85 p.
    Notes: This second collection of poems by Sue Doro includes a glowing preface written by Meridel Le Sueur, a member of the group Midwest Villages & Voices which published this volume. Many of these poems touch on aspects of Doro’s non-traditional work as a woman machinist and on the people in her life, both at work and at home.
  2. —. Of Birds and Factories. Milwaukee, Wis.: Peoples’ Books and Crafts; 1983. 104 p.
    Notes: This first collection of poems by Sue Doro includes a glowing foreword written by Meridel Le Sueur. Some of the poems in this volume also made it into her second collection, Heart, Home & Hard Hats, but many appear here only.
  3. Drew, John. UAW Local 72: The First 50 Years. [Kenosha, Wis.]: [UAW Local 72]; 1985. [32] p.
    Notes: This fiftieth anniversary volume covers the history of the local union which represented the workers at the automobile assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin. After a sitdown strike called over a dispute regarding a new piecework system implemented by the company’s management, the Federal Labor Union No. 19008 was chartered by the American Federation of Labor beginning in September 1933. The author says that “this was one of the first, if not the first, use of the sitdown strike in the auto industry” and that “it would be almost four years later that the sitdown would be used by workers at General Motors to gain union recognition” (p. [8]). After formation of the United Automobile Workers union earlier in the year as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the Janesville local union was re-chartered in November 1935 as United Automobile Workers Local 72.At the time of the local union’s creation, the plant was owned and operated by the Nash Motors company. In 1954, the Nash company joined with the Hudson Motor Car company (located in Detroit, Michigan) to form the American Motors Corporation, which continued to operate the plant through this fiftieth anniversary (although the plant would be closed at the very end of 1988 by the Chrysler company which had only purchased the company in August 1987).The volume is illustrated with numerous photographs, as well as reproductions of documents marking significant milestones in the history of this local union.
  4. Drotning, John E. and Lipsky, David B. “The Effectiveness of Reinstatement as a Public Policy Remedy: The Kohler Case”. Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 1969; 22(2):179-198.
  5. Dudley, Kathryn Marie. The End of the Line: Lost Jobs, New Lives in Postindustrial America. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press; 1994. 224 p. ( Wolfe, Alan. Morality and Society Series.
    Notes: An anthropologist looks at the difficult 1988 closing of the large Chrysler automobile assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin and explores the various strategies utilized on all sides affected by this corporate decision–the company, local government, and the approximately six thousand employees laid off from the plant. Dudley, with family ties to Kenosha, explores the struggles of the plant’s workers in their confrontation with the long-term, national trend of the deindustrialization of the United States and the conflicting ideas in the community about what the city needed to do next to re-build, in the face of the loss of the city’s major industrial employer.The first union representing the workers at the Kenosha automobile assembly plant had begun in September 1933 as Federal Labor Union No. 19008 with a charter from the American Federation of Labor (A.F.L.), but was re-chartered in November 1935 as United Automobile Workers Local 72, shortly after formation by the AFL of the United Auto Workers union. The Kenosha assembly plant had begun as the Jeffery Company in 1902 until Charles Nash purchased the company in 1916 and changed the name to Nash Motors. In 1954, Nash Motors merged with the Hudson Motor Car Company to form the American Motors Corporation (A.M.C.). A partnership made in 1978 with the French automaker, Renault, lasted until August 1987, when Renault was bought out by the Chrysler corporation. Then, despite having received many millions of dollars in financial assistance from the state and local government to upgrade the production facility, Chrysler announced on January 27, 1988 that the workforce at the Kenosha plant would be slashed by June 1988 from 6,400 employees to only 900 and that the plant would be completely closed by July 1988. Because of an extension of a few months, however, car production in Kenosha did continue until two days before Christmas in 1988.Another edition: Dudley, Kathryn Marie. The End of the Line: Lost Jobs, New Lives in Postindustrial America. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 224 p. ISBN: 0226169103 (pbk.)
  1. Dunn, James Taylor. The St. Croix: Midwest Border River. 1st ed. ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1965. 309 p. (Rivers of America).
  2. Durant, Edward W. “Lumbering and Steamboating on the St. Croix River”. Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society. 1905; 10(2):???
  3. Engberg, George B. “Collective Bargaining in the Lumber Industry of the Upper Great Lakes States”. Agricultural History. 1950 Oct; 24:205-211.Notes: The situation and strategies of collective bargaining in the lumber industry in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan is discussed for the period 1850 to 1940.
  4. —. “Lumber and Labor in the Lake States”. Minnesota History. 1959 Mar; 36:153-166. Notes: Discusses the lumberjack’s life in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.
  5. Erb, David and Brumbaugh, Eldon. Full Steam Ahead: J.I. Case Tractors & Equipment, 1842-1955. St. Joseph, Mich.: American Society of Agricultural Engineers; 1993. 343 p.
    Notes: A profusely-illustrated history of the production and model details of all the types of machines manufactured from 1842 to 1955 by the J.I. Case Company, an important manufacturing firm of Racine, Wisconsin, with occasional details about the company’s production employees and their terms of employment.
  6. Erenburg, Mark. “Obreros Unidos in Wisconsin”. Monthly Labor Review. 1968; 91(6):17-23.
  7. Ettenheim, Sarah C. How Milwaukee Voted, 1848-1968. Milwaukee, Wis.: Institute of Governmental Affairs, University Extension, University of Wisconsin; 1970. 144 p.
    Notes: An incredibly useful compilation of data showing the voting patterns for elections held in Milwaukee County with vote tallies provided by ward for the following offices: U.S. President (from 1848 through 1968), Wisconsin Governor (from 1848 through 1968), U.S. Senator (from 1914, when Wisconsin began direct election of U.S. Senators, through 1968), U.S. Representatives (from 1872 through 1968), Mayor of Milwaukee (from 1900 through 1968), and Milwaukee County Executive (from 1960 through 1968). Detailed maps are provided for significant changes to the political boundaries of the Milwaukee districts and wards to ensure that comparisons of the voting patterns can be followed over time. The tally figures given are based upon biennial reports published by the City of Milwaukee Election Commission for the period from 1912 through 1968, with the figures prior to 1912 coming from the Wisconsin Blue Book or reports filed with the Wisconsin Secretary of State’s office. An index to the candidates’ names is also included.
  1. Feinsinger, Nathan P. and Rice, William Gorham Jr. The Wisconsin Labor Relations Act. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin; 1937. 78 p. (Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin; Serial No. 2254, General Series No. 2038, June 1937).
    Notes: A guide, in non-technical language, to the requirements of the Wisconsin Labor Relations Act which took effect on April 15, 1937 and which in general followed the provisions of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. In their preface, the authors state that they have “tried only to trace the history and background of the measure, to clarify the main provisions, and to point out their interrelation, in order to enable the reader to grasp the statute as a whole” (p. 5-6). The Wisconsin Labor Relations Act had the full support of then Wisconsin Governor Philip F. La Follette and this volume contains the full text of his radio address on June 1, 1937 in which he says (p. 76), “The Wisconsin Labor Relations Act is the greatest achievement in behalf of the rights of labor yet placed upon the [statute] books in this country. It fully guarantees and grants to labor recognition of its right to equality in bargaining with employers.” In the very next Wisconsin legislature, however, a combination of the state’s employers’ rights organizations and farmers’ organizations undid the progressive features of the Wisconsin Labor Relations Act through passage of the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act, which placed quite severe restrictions on the operations of unions in Wisconsin; the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act was one of the models for the restrictive federal Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which amended in the same manner the federal National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
  2. Feinsinger, Nathan P. and Roe, Eleanore P. “The University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus–TAA Dispute of 1969-1970”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1971; 233-234 ???
  3. Ferber, Edna. Come and Get It. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran; 1935. 518 p.
    Notes: This novel about the plundering of the vast Wisconsin and Michigan forests is told through the story of the family of the owner of a papermill located in Neenah, Wisconsin in the Fox River Valley. The prolific author, Edna Ferber, was popular during the first half of the 1900s and was known for usually setting her novels in different regions of the United States and for being among the first to feature intelligent and resourceful women among the main characters of her books. Ferber, who graduated from high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, started her writing career as a reporter in Wisconsin (first for two years at the Appleton Daily Crescent, where she was their first female newspaper reporter, and then for three years at the Milwaukee Journal). Besides her short stories, novels and two autobiographies, Ferber is also known for having co-authored some successful Broadway plays with George S. Kaufman. Ferber was the first Jewish-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for a novel, which she won in 1925 for So Big. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin holds the principal collection of Ferber’s papers.
  1. –. Dawn O’Hara: The Girl Who Laughed. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.; 1911. 302 p.
    Notes: This novel is the story of a newspaperwoman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The prolific author, Edna Ferber, was popular during the first half of the 1900s and was known for usually setting her novels in different regions of the United States and for being among the first to feature intelligent and resourceful women among the main characters of her books. Ferber, who graduated from high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, started her writing career as a reporter in Wisconsin (first for two years at the Appleton Daily Crescent, where she was their first female newspaper reporter, and then for three years at the Milwaukee Journal). Besides her short stories, novels and two autobiographies, Ferber is also known for having co-authored some successful Broadway plays with George S. Kaufman. Ferber was the first Jewish-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for the novel which she won in 1925 for So Big. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin holds the principal collection of Ferber’s papers.
  2. “Biemiller, Andrew John”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; pp. 112-113.
  3. “Brockhausen, Frederick Carl”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; p. 127.
  1. “Handley, John Joseph”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; p. 277.
  2. “Krzycki, Leo”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; p. 341.
  3. “Padway, Joseph Arthur”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chielf. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; pp. 453-454.
  4. “Seidel, Emil”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; p. 511.
  5. “Stone, Milan O.”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; p. 531.
  6. “Zander, Arnold Scheuer”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; pp. 601-602.
  7. Fink, Leon. “The Knights of Labor in Milwaukee”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: a Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 26-33. Notes: Excerpted from Chapter Seven, “Bullets and Ballots: Mobilization and the Path to Municipal Socialism, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” in his book, Workingmen’s Democracy: The Knights of Labor (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1985, c1983), p. 178-218.
  8. 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.
  9. Fink, Leon. Workingmen’s Democracy: The Knights of Labor and American Politics. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1983. 249 p. (The Working Class in American History.
    Notes: See Chapter Seven, “Bullets and Ballots: Work Mobilization and the Path to Municipal Socialism, Milwaukee, Wisconsin” (p. 178-218), for a discussion of the Knights of Labor organization in Milwaukee.
  10. Fitzgerald, Richard. Art and Politics: Cartoonists of the “Masses” and “Liberator”. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1973. 254 p. (Contributions in American Studies, no. 8.
    Notes: A revision of the author’s thesis (Ph.D.)–University of California, Riverside. Art Young, who grew up in Monroe, Wisconsin, is one of the five cartoonists discussed.
  11. Fitzgerald, Richard Ambrose. “Radical Illustrators of the Masses and Liberator: A Study of the Conflict Between Art and Politics”; 1969.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of California, Riverside, 1969. 446 p. Art Young, who grew up in Monroe, Wisconsin, is one of the five cartoonists discussed in this study. For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, 1970 31(4):1725-A.
  12. Fleming, Robben W. and Witte, Edwin E. Marathon Company and Seven Labor Unions: A Case Study. Washington, D.C.: National Planning Association; 1950. 65 p. (Causes of Industrial Peace Under Collective Bargaining: Case Studies; no. 8).
  13. Flores, Edmundo. “Los braceros mexicanos en Wisconsin” [Mexican Migratory Labor in Wisconsin]. El Trimestre Economico. 1950(January/March); 17(1):23-80.
    Notes: Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 257.
  1. Flores, Edmundo. “Mexican Migratory Labor in Wisconsin: A Study of the War Food Administration Program for the Use of Mexican Agricultural Workers During 1945, in the State of Wisconsin”; 1947.
    Notes: Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1947. 63 leaves.
  2. Flores, Ness and Hannigan, Daniel. Report on Migratory Labor in Wisconsin. Madison, Wis.: Governor’s Committee on Migratory Labor; 1977. 103 p.Notes: WI docs. no.: Go Mig.1:1977. A report prepared by Ness Flores and Daniel Hannigan and submitted to the governor by the Governor’s Committee on Migratory Labor.
  3. Foner, Philip S. May Day: A Short History of the International Workers’ Holiday, 1886-1986. 1st ed. New York: International Publishers; 1986. 184 p.Notes: News of the police riot in Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886 dominated the national attention regarding the campaign begun on May Day (May 1) by U.S. workers across the country to win the Eight-Hour Day. Contemporaneously on May 5, 1886 in Bay View, Wisconsin (a neighborhood of Milwaukee), the Wisconsin state militia fired upon a parade of workers marching in support of the Eight-Hour Day and killed seven people (six men and one boy)–still to this day the bloodiest day in Wisconsin labor history; see this book’s section titled, “The Militia Strikes in Milwaukee” (p.32-33) for a description of the Bay View Massacre.
  4. —. “The Polish-American Martyrs of the First May Day”. IN: Roediger, Dave and Rosemont, Franklin, editors. Haymarket Scrapbook. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing; 1986; pp. 88-90.
    Notes: Describes the May 5, 1886 Bay View Massacre when the Wisconsin state militia fired upon workers marching in support of the Eight-Hour Day. The contemporaneous news of the police riot in Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886 dominated national attention regarding the campaign begun on May Day 1886 by U.S. workers across the country to win the Eight-Hour Day, but many workers in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area had also joined the general strike for the Eight-Hour Day. On May 5 they were parading to a large factory in Bay View, a neighborhood of Milwaukee, to ask the workers there to join in the strike. As the parade got close to the factory, the Wisconsin militia fired upon the marchers and killed seven people (six men and one boy)–still to this day the bloodiest day in Wisconsin labor history.
  5. Foner, Philip S. U.S. Labor and the Viet-Nam War. New York: International Publishers; 1989. 180 p. Notes: See the section titled, “Madison Labor Against the War” (p. 129-132) and also p. 135-136.
  6. Freedman, Russell. Kids At Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor. Scholastic ed. Hine, Lewis, phtotographs by . New York: Scholastic, Inc.; 1995. 104 p. (“RL 5 008-012”–back outside cover).
    Notes: Heavily illustrated with photographs by Lewis of child labor, this is an accessible biography of the great photographer Lewis Hine, who was born and grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After a year of training to be a teacher at the State Normal School in Oshkosh, he finished his teacher training at the University of Chicago, then moved to New York City where he worked at the Ethical Culture School as a teacher of geography and nature study, while earning a master’s degree in education at the New York University.While at the Ethical Culture School, he took up photography, first to record activities at the school, then as advisor to the after-school camera club he formed. In 1904, he began documenting the flood of new immigrants arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. He began to do photo assignments for the various reform-minded groups and then, in 1908, he accepted a fulltime job as an investigative photographer with the National Child Labor Committee which believed that children should be in school, rather than working for a living.Hine devoted the rest of his life to the cause of eradicating child labor (or “child slavery,” as some at the time termed it). His evocative photographs of the child laborers in the various industries of the day brought home to people the harsh reality faced by children having to work every day to support themselves and their family. In addition to capturing the photographs, Hine kept meticulous and detailed notes documenting the subjects in each of his photographs, to ensure that no one could dispute the authenticity of his work.
  1. Fure-Slocum, Eric. “Cities With Class?: Growth Politics, the Working-Class City, and Debt in Milwaukee During the 1940s”. Social Science History. 2000 Spring; 24(1):257-305.
  2. Garlock, Jonathan. Guide to the Local Assemblies of the Knights of Labor. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1982. 682 p.Notes: A detailed guide to the local assemblies of this important nineteenth-century labor organization; coverage includes each state in the United States, each Canadian province and five other countries as a whole. In thirty-eight of Wisconsin’s seventy-two counties, the Knights had at least one assembly and some of the counties had multiple assemblies; see p. 542-549 for details about the Knights’ assemblies in Wisconsin. The following information is reported for each Local Assembly: the Local Assembly’s identification number; the community where located; the dates of activity; the occupation, race, sex and ethnicity of the members; and the population size in 1880 and 1890 of the community where located.
  3. Gatewood, Lucien B. “Factfinding in Teacher Disputes: The Wisconsin Experience”. Monthly Labor Review. 1974; 97(10):47-51.Notes: ???
  4. Gavett, Thomas William. “The Development of the Labor Movement in Milwaukee”; 1957. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1957. 450 p.
  5. Gavett, Thomas William. Development of the Labor Movement in Milwaukee. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1965. 265 p.Notes: A revision of his thesis (Ph.D.)–University of Wisconsin, 1957. This history looks at unions in Milwaukee from their earliest development in the 1840s up to about 1960, paying particular attention to the effects of a long alliance between the Milwaukee trade unions and the Socialist Party (led locally by Victor Berger).Reviewed: The Milwaukee Journal, July 11, 1965.
  6. Gebhard, Cornelia M. “The Development of Railroads in Wisconsin from 1850 to 1865”; 1917. Notes: B.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1917. 26 p.Copy available in the Historical Society Library Rare Book Collection (call number HE2771 W6 G43 1917)
  7. Geib, Paul. “From Mississippi to Milwaukee: A Case Study of the Southern Black Migration to Milwaukee”. Journal of Negro History. 1998 Autumn; 83(4):[229]-248.
    Notes: The author cites “Joe Trotter’s pathbreaking book, Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915-1945 (1985)” and “Richard Thomas’s work, Life for Us Is What We Make It (1992)” and states that this article “is an attempt to strengthen and complement Trotter’s earlier work and build on Thomas’s notion of empowerment through the unionization of the black industrial workingclass” [p.230].
  8. Geib, Paul E. “‘Everything But the Squeal’: The Milwaukee Stockyards and Meat-packing Industry, 1840-1930”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1994 Autumn; 78(1):2-23.
    Notes: [N.B. Issue’s table of contents says in error that this article begins on p. 3–the article actually begins on p. 2 which contains a photograph.]
  9. Gierke, Lee . Proud of Our Progress, 1937-1987, IUE, AFL-CIO, Local 1131, Louis Allis: The History of I.U.E. Local 1131. [Milwaukee?, Wis.]: s.n.; [1987?]. 31 p.Notes: The story of the first fifty years of the local union at the Louis Allis Company, a maker of special, high quality motors located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the local began as UnitedAutoworkers (U.A.W.) Local 251 in March 1937, but switched in July 1937 to become Local 1131 of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (U.E.) until, in 1949, the local joined the newly-created International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (I.U.E.) as Local 1131, when the U.E. was forced out of the C.I.O. for alleged communist domination.
  1. Givens, Richard Ayres. “The Milwaukee Brewery Strike of 1953”; 1954.
    Notes: M.S. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1954. 64 leaves. The first half (p. 1-33) of this thesis details the story of the strike by the brewery workers at six Milwaukee, Wisconsin breweries from May 14 to July 28, 1953. The breweries involved in the strike were the Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, Blatz, Gettelman, and Independent (Braumeister) breweries and the employees on strike were represented by the Congress of Industrial Organization’s United Brewery Workers Union Local 9. Givens was able to interview several key management and union people involved with the strike, including Local 9’s corresponding secretary, John Schmitt, who went on to be elected president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO in 1966.Major issues of contention in the contract negotiations were increased wages and reducing to thirty-five the hours of the work week. For a long time the employees at breweries located in the Midwest had been being paid less favorable wages than employees of breweries located on the eastern and western coasts of the United States, with the brewery owners maintaining that those lower wages insured that breweries would continue to be concentrated in the Midwest. With the threat in the near future of an economic recession, union leadership was increasingly worried about loss of jobs due not only to the annual seasonal fluctuations, but also due to the possibility of future permanent workforce reductions caused by trends in the brewing industry. Givens uses most of the second half (p. 34-55) of the thesis to discuss how economic trends within the brewing industry affected this 1953 labor dispute, especially the factors of increasing productivity due to improvements in labor-saving machinery, the concentration of production among large firms through acquisition of smaller firms, and the decentralization of those large firms through construction of geographically-distributed branch plants.
  2. Glaab, Charles N. and Larsen, Lawrence H. Factories in the Valley: Neenah-Menasha, 1870-1915. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1969. 293 p.
  3. —. “Neenah-Menasha in the 1870’s: The Development of Flour Milling and Papermaking”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1968; 52(1):19-34.
  4. Glazer, Joe. Labor’s Troubadour. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 2001. 299 p. (Music in American Life.Notes: Labor educator Joe Glazer, who wrote such classic American labor songs as “I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night” and “The Mill Was Made of Marble”, kept labor songs front and center throughout his long career; in his autobiography here he tells the story of his life of using music for progressive causes and the people he met along the way. He also devotes two chapters to introducing us to some of the “New Voices” of the labor song movement, including a labor troubador of Wisconsin, Larry Penn of Milwaukee (see pages 255-260).
  5. Glover, Wilbur H. “Lumber Rafting on the Wisconsin River” [Part I]. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1941 Dec; 25(???):155-177.
  6. —. “Lumber Rafting on the Wisconsin River” [Part II]. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1942 Mar; 25(???):208-224.
  7. Goc, Michael J. Land Rich Enough: An Illustrated History of Oshkosh and Winnebago County. Samuel, Susan E., author, “Partners in Progress” [Chapter Six, p.107-123]. Northridge, Calif.: Windsor Publications ; produced in cooperation with the Winnebago County Historical and Archaeological Society; 1988. 127 p.Notes: This well-illustrated and handsome volume covers the history of the city of Oshkosh and Winnebago County, Wisconsin, from their earliest settlements until the mid-1980s. The workers and industries of the area are described throughout the book and the seminal 1898 strike of the city’s woodworkers is given fair attention here with a five-page account.
  1. —. “The Wisconsin Dust Bowl”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1990 Spring; 73(3):163-201.
    Notes: The Central Sands Region of Wisconsin covers parts of eleven counties in central Wisconsin and this study looks at how seventeen townships in four of those counties (Adams, Juneau, Portage and Wood) were affected by what came to be known as the Wisconsin Dust Bowl, caused by the same combination of drought and soil erosion as the famous Dust Bowl in the Great Plains from approximately 1932 to 1940. In this fascinating article, Goc creates a vivid picture of the difficult conditions endured by farmers of the Central Sands Region of Wisconsin during a severe drought in the spring of 1934, including some severe dust storms in the area.Besides an emergency seed program and other forms of direct relief granted to the farmers, longer-term strategies were also undertaken, such as resettlement of some farmers to land more suited to agriculture, use of more suitable crops, better soil conservation techniques to preserve more moisture, construction of more dams, and the restoration of wetland areas. The planting of shelterbelts of pine trees to protect the edges of cleared fields proved to be among the most effective actions taken. Four varieties of pine were preferred for this purpose in the central Wisconsin area: white pine, red pine (also known as Norway pine), jackpine (also known as Banks pine), and Scotch pine; the first three were native to the area, but the Scotch pine originated in Europe.
  2. Goldberg, Bettina. “Radical German-American Freethinkers and the Socialist Labor Movement: The Freie Gemeinde in Milwaukee, Wisconsin”. IN: Keil, Hartmut, edited by. German Workers’ Culture in the United States, 1850 to 1920. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press; 1988; pp. 241-260.
  3. Gordon, Michael A. “Staging ‘The Line’: The Creation of a Play About the Patrick Cudahy Meat Packing Strike of 1987-1989”. Labor’s Heritage. 1997; 9(2):58-77.Notes: This article explains how the collaboration of an oral historian (the author of this article) and a playwright (John Schneider, the artistic director of Milwaukee’s innovative Theatre X) brought about the creation of an original play which dramatized the bitter 1987-1989 strike by United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-40 against the Patrick Cudahy, Inc. meatpacking plant in Cudahy, Wisconsin, a small town just south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The strike, which lasted for twenty-eight months, came about after a bargaining impasse was reached over company demands for a second straight contract with significant salary reductions–cutbacks which would have taken many employees back to the wages they had been making in 1967.In this article Gordon uses the experience of creating the new play, The Line, to illustrate how incorporating extensive information from oral histories into the production of plays can preserve labor history as well as allowing those interviewed (such as strike participants) to gain insights into their struggle when given the opportunity to tell their story and find affirmation in the values which led to their battle. For about seventy-five percent of the dialogue in the play, Schneider was able to quote directly from the oral history interviews. Because of the many examples Gordon supplies in this article to show how the oral history interviews provided details about what it was like to work in the plant and how that detail was incorporated into the play, we come to understand how utterly demanding meatpacking work is; indeed, Gordon says that a key finding from his discussions with the former P-40 strikers was that “many workers believed their jobs were simply too arduous and demeaning to do for just over $6 an hour.” (p. 66). In addition to interviewing company executives and touring the plant, Gordon supplemented his research with the extensive archival records of the National Labor Relations Board related to the dispute.The Line ran in Milwaukee for twenty performances in January and February 1996 and was revived for three more performances in September 1996 (one at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and two at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). The oral history interviews conducted for the play are in the “Patrick Cudahy Strike and Plant Closing of 1987-1989 Oral History Project” collection held by the Urban Archives at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
  4. Gough, Robert. Farming the Cutover: A Social History of Northern Wisconsin, 1900-1940. Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas; 1997. 295 p.
    Notes: At the time of settlement by Euro-Americans, the northern-most third of Wisconsin was almost entirely covered by an old-growth forest of pine and hardwoods, which varied depending on the soil and moisture conditions in each local area. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century commercial loggers clear cut almost one hundred percent of that great forest of northern Wisconsin; this “cutover region” is made up of eighteen Wisconsin counties: Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Florence, Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Marinette, Oconto, Oneida, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor, Vilas, and Washburn. (The only portion of the original forest to be left intact was that held by the Native American tribe of the Menominee Nation, who at the time of the cutover refused to permit the commercial loggers to clear cut their reservation in Oconto and Shawano counties; in fact, today their Menominee Reservation makes up virtually the only old-growth forest remaining in the entire state of Wisconsin.)
    With the assistance of governmental state boosterism, the lumber companies sold off the land after the last of the forest had been cut down to families for small farms. The chiefly cool-climate forest soils of the area and the mass of stumps left in place by the lumber companies combined, however, to make agriculture in the “cutover region” a very daunting endeavor. In this outstanding example of a social history, Gough looks at how the development and settlement of northern Wisconsin was influenced by a host of factors, including the environmental, commercial, governmental, political, professional and academic. It is refreshing to find a book which gives the settlers of this region the respect they deserve for what they accomplished and which is sensitive to how they struggled to overcome the challenging circumstances they faced.
    Farming the Cutover received a “Book Award of Merit” in 1998 from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
  1. Goulden, Joseph C. Jerry Wurf: Labor’s Last Angry Man. New York: Atheneum; 1982. 296 p.
    Notes: A biography of Jerry Wurf (1919-1981), the second president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), an international union founded in Madison, Wisconsin and for many years headquartered there. This biography covers in considerable detail how Wurf, who was from AFSCME’s District 37 in New York City, was able to wrest the leadership of the union from Arnold Zander, one of AFSCME’s original founders as well as its longtime, first president.
  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.
  3. Gurda, John. The Making of Milwaukee. Milwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee County Historical Society; 1999. 458 p.Notes: The workers, so integral to the story of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are covered in detail throughout this profusely-illustrated general history of the city from its earliest days up to the 1990s–an indispensible resource! This book has been recognized for its achievement by the Council for Wisconsin Writers (Best Non-Fiction Book Award), by the Wisconsin Library Association (Outstanding Book Achievement), and by the Wisconsin Humanities Council (Governor’s Award for Public Humanities).Reviewed: Simon, Roger D. (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History 84:3 (Spring 2001), p. 60. Reviewed: Gruberg, Martin (reviewer). Voyageur: Northeast Wisconsin’s Historical Review 18:1 (Summer/Fall 2001), p. 59.
  4. Gurda, John . “Profits and Patriotism: Milwaukee Industry in World War II”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1994 Autumn; 78(1):24-34.
  1. Haberman, G. A. “Wisconsin’s Way”. American Federationist. 1950 Dec; 57:15-27.
    Notes: Describes the philosophy of the Wisconsin Federation of Labor and its history in the state.
  2. Hafer, Hugh J. “A Study of the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act, Part I: Selection of Collective Bargaining Representatives”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1956 Mar; ???
  3. —. “A Study of the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act, Part II: Union Security”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1956 May; ???
  4. —. “A Study of the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act, Part III: Unfair Labor Practices”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1957 Jan; ???
  5. Haferbecker, Gordon M. The Wisconsin Idea in Industrial Safety. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin, Industrial Relations Center; 1953. 27 p.Notes: A review of the Industrial Commission Act, a piece of Wisconsin legislation passed in 1911 upon the urging of John R. Commons, the influential University of Wisconsin professor; the new act repealed the former multiplicity of individual legislative statutes on safety and sanitary requirements for industry and instead, for the first time in the United States, adopted the European model of handling industrial safety. The key provisions of the 1911 act were that employers were required to provide safe places of employment and also work which could be performed safely; an Industrial Commission was established in Wisconsin; the Industrial Commission had the authority, upon consultation with experts, employers and workers, to issue administrative rules regarding industrial safety and sanitation; and that the Industrial Commission had the power to enforce its regulations. By the time of publication of this work (1953), thirty-five other states had also changed to an industrial safety process similar to this Wisconsin model.
  6. —. Wisconsin Labor Laws. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1958. 211 p.
    Notes: A revision of the author’s thesis (Ph.D.)–University of Wisconsin, 1952. Wisconsin led the way for the nation in a wave of labor legislation improvements from around 1905 up to the start of World War I pioneering with new ideas and legislation; then, from the 1930s on, Wisconsin was often the first state to make a success of new national labor legislation. The author looks at how labor legislation developed in Wisconsin from the 1860s up to the time of this book’s publication (1958) and discusses Wisconsin’s role in both protective labor legislation and labor relations legislation; subjects covered include industrial safety, workmen’s compensation, child labor, hours of labor, wage legislation, employment offices, unemployment compensation, apprenticeship, labor relations and fair employment.
  7. Haferbecker, Gordon M. “Wisconsin Labor Legislation”; 1952.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1952. (American Doctoral Dissertations , W1952).
  8. Halpern, Martin. UAW Politics in the Cold War Era . Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press; 1988. 361 p. (SUNY series in American labor history.Notes: See Chapter Ten, “Defeat at Allis-Chalmers” (p. 173-183), for discussion of the major forces at work during an eleven-month strike in 1946 by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 248, which represented the workers at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Corporation (located in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin). This local union was one of the largest in Wisconsin, if not the largest at the time, and was also an important local union on the national scene within the UAW as a whole.The strike began on April 30, 1946 and its main issue revolved around the procedures for handling grievances, with the officials of the company determined to significantly reduce the union’s participation in the early stages of the grievance process and the union committed to defending their effective grievance procedures. The company strategized with other employers from the National Association of Manufacturers regarding bargaining demands and exerted a noticeable influence on which provisions went into the soon-to-be-passed national Taft-Hartley Act. The company also redbaited the leadership of UAW Local 248 through a daily newspaper column appearing in the Milwaukee Sentinel (a Hearst paper) from September 23 through November 21, 1946 and signed with the pen name, “John Sentinel.” The federal House Un-American Activities Committee even came to Milwaukee and held hearings into the strike.The strike situation was greatly complicated for the union members because of the political battles among the union leadership due to Cold War conflicts between the left and right wings within the various levels of the UAW, as well as within the Milwaukee County Industrial Union Council and the Wisconsin State Industrial Union Council. When a group of scabs tried to establish a company union in December 1946, they were given support by the leadership of the Milwaukee area’s anticommunist wing of the UAW and were able to get the National Labor Relations Board to schedule a representation election to be held during the strike.Another edition: Also available on the web at www.netlibrary.com, according to OCLC record #42856238.
  1. Ham, F. Gerald. “Labor Manuscripts in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin”. Labor History. 1966 Fall; 7(3):313-342.
  2. Ham, F. Gerald and Hedstrom, Margaret. A Guide to Labor Papers in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1978. 138 p.
    Notes: Almost 450 manuscript collections are described and indexed in this guide which tries to list “all unpublished materials pertaining to labor history which were in the custody of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin on June 30, 1977, regardless of quantity, arrangement, or restrictions” (p.12). Many, although not all, of the manuscript collections are Wisconsin-related. The guide is divided into sections by: 1) labor union papers; 2) personal papers (including brief descriptions of oral history interviews); 3) additional collections related to labor (for example, papers of corporations); and, 4) public records related to labor in the State of Wisconsin Archives.
  3. Hamilton, Andrew. “Teaching Assistants’ Strike Ends in Contract Signing”. Science. 1970; 168(3929):346 ???
  4. Hansen, Maurice W. “Development and Status of the Apprenticeship System in Wisconsin”; 1931??? Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1931.
  5. 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.
  6. Hauser, Stephen K. “Frank Zeidler, Milwaukee’s Presidential Candidate”. Milwaukee History. 1980; 3(2):47-58.Notes: America: History and Life, 18A:8751
  7. Havens, Chris. “Lake Aces: Threading the Needle”. Photos by Justin Hayworth. Duluth [MN] News Tribune, Sunday, November 17, 2002, front page (i.e., [1A]), 6A-7A; 2002 Nov 17. front page (i.e., [1A]), 6A-7A .
    Notes: An overview look at the pilots who are licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard to navigate ocean-going vessels in and out of the ports of the Great Lakes, with the Port of Duluth-Superior used as an example.
  8. Hellwig, Jason F. “Big Labor in a Small Town: The Hortonville Teachers’ Strike”. Voyageur: Northeast Wisconsin’s Historical Review. 2003 Winter-2004 Spring; 19(2):10-18, 21-26.
    Notes: Hortonville, Wisconsin, a community of 1,500 people located ten miles northwest of Appleton, Wisconsin, was the site of a 1974 teachers’ strike, a public employee labor dispute so polarizing that it still reverberates down through Wisconsin politics today. One must look at a myriad of social forces of the times to understand how this quiet farming community became such a focal point of controversary in Wisconsin’s history and the author explores the situation in as even-handed a way as possible. The parties to the dispute were the Hortonville School District and the district’s eighty-eight school teachers, who were represented by the Hortonville EducationAssociation, an affilitate of the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC). Their negotiations had begun in Spring 1973 on the contract to cover the school year running from September 1973 through June 1974 , but no settlement had yet been reached when the school term began. In February 1974, when a tentative agreement was finally reached, the union indicated that it would not sign the agreement “unless negotiations were undertaken and completed on the next year’s contract as well” (p. 12). The school board refused to open more negotiations at this point and the teachers began informational picketing before and after school hours, as well as refusing to supervise after-school extracurricular activities. On the morning of March 18, 1974, giving “the board’s refusal to negotiate in good faith with the teachers as the primary reason” (p. 12), the union began a strike. Over April 1-3 the school board had scheduled a disciplinary hearing for each teacher, but teacher after teacher argued during their hearing that the school board could not serve as an impartial panel in such a matter and refused to participate, except for only two teachers who asked to be allowed to return to work. As public employee strikes were illegal in Wisconsin at the time, the school board could have applied for an injunction against the union to halt the strike, but that would have required a return to the bargaining table for both sides. Instead, on April 2, the school board fired all of the striking teachers and insisted that any interested in continuing employment had to re-apply for their job, but only one teacher did so. The school board then began to hire replacement teachers. The union immediately sought a legal injunction to stop the replacement hiring and also argued in their lawsuit that the striking teachers had been denied due process at their disciplinary hearings. On April 12, 1974 the Manitowoc County Circuit Court refused the request for the injunction against the replacement hiring. Mediation efforts followed and in May three teachers were re-hired for vacant teaching positions in the district, but there was no further movement on either side. In July the Manitowoc County Circuit Court ruled against the union regarding the due process of the firings by the school board. The case was then appealed in October to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which ruled for the teachers in February 1975. That April, however, the school board appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which accepted the case and on June 17, 1976 issued a 6-3 decision against the teachers, finding that “the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not guarantee respondent teachers that the decision to terminate their employment would be made by a body other than the school board” (p. 15). In the end, very few of the striking teachers were able to return to teaching for the Hortonville School District. The Hortonville Education Association had received a great deal of support from its parent organization and other Wisconsin labor organizations, which devoted many resources to “a lengthy battle that directly challenged Wisconsin’s collective bargaining law and its lack of a binding arbitration provision” (p. 13).
  1. Hicks, Terry L. We Walk: A History of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 519. La Crosse, Wis.: s.n.; 1994;92, [26] p.Notes: The story of the first eighty-five years of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 519, the local union established in 1909 by a strike for union recognition after employees had been locked out by the La Crosse City Railway Company, a public transit service. The development of the city’s early streetcar system into a modern motorized bus system is traced by the author.
  2. Hillquit, Morris. History of Socialism in the United States. 5th rev. and enl. ed. ed. New York: Funk and Wagnalls; 1910. 389 p. ???Notes: [recommended by Edwin Witte, “Labor in Wisconsin History,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, v. 35, no. 2 (Winter 1951), p. 83]
  3. Hinton, John W. Workingmen and the Tariff: An Address to the Workingmen of Bay View, Delivered in Puddler’s Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Before the Bay View Literary Society, January 31, 1880, Reported Especially for “The Bay View National Bureau,” A.E. Vanderpool, Proprietor. [Milwaukee, Wis.]: [Bay View National Bureau]; [1880]. 16 p.Notes: Paper copy available at the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society, call number Pamphlet 90-4389.
    Online facsimile available at: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1237.John W. Hinton, who would represent the Northwestern Tariff Bureau at the 1881 National Tariff Conference held at the Cooper Institute in New York city, gave this speech to the iron workers of Bay View, Wisconsin, in their headquarters at Puddler’s Hall, near the Bay View Rolling Mills. Early in the address in support of protectionism, Hinton says: “In the coming contest upon this question of Protection to American Industry, or Protection to foreign industry, for that is the question, and the issue that will soon be presented for our decision, we in this country, thank God, need not use the lance or the sword. Under our free government we have the BALLOT, which wills no man to be a slave.” (p. [3]) This printed document was selected for inclusion in the “Turning Points in Wisconsin History” website of the Wisconsin Historical Society and an on-line facsimile of the entire document will be found at: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1237. There it is introduced with the following paragraph:“Tariffs were a key political and economic issue throughout the nineteenth century, with industrial interests generally in favor and farmers opposed. High import tariffs, paid by overseas manufacturers who wanted access to U.S. markets, gave U.S. manufacturers an advantage while providing revenue for the federal Treasury. Critics of tariffs argued that consumers paid higher prices because tariffs established high base prices that increased profit for manufacturers but did not help American workers. Hinton cites as evidence the increasing number of European immigrants coming to work in American factories, fleeing the free trade, tariff-free countries of Europe.”
  1. Holbrook, Stewart Hall. Machines of Plenty: Chronicle of an Innovator in Construction and Agricultural Equipment. Rev. ed. Charlton, Richard G., Updated by. New York: Macmillan; 1955. 269 p. Notes: An institutional history of the J.I. Case Company, a Racine, Wisconsin manufacturing firm specializing in agricultural machinery; today the company is known as the Case Corporation, but it was founded in Racine by Jerome Increase Case in 1844 as the Case Threshing Machine Company. Part One of this work is a complete re-printing of Machines of Plenty: Pioneering in American Agriculture by Stewart H. Holbrook (New York: Macmillan, 1955), except for different illustrations and without the original work’s bibliography and index; Holbrook’s work is a narrative history of the Case company’s founder and how the machinery developed and manufactured by the company throughout its history contributed to increased agricultural productivity and efficiency. Part Two of the work consists of a thirty-page update by Richard Charlton which brings the history of the company up to 1976; Charlton analyzes the adaptations made by the J.I. Case Company from the mid-1950s onwards to diversify into the construction equipment market, in order to remain competitive as the agricultural equipment market down-sized with the growth of large corporate farms during the 1950s and 1960s. The manufacturing employees of the company are rarely mentioned in either section of this work, but the title is included here because of the documentation it provides of the products and practices of this significant Wisconsin company.Another edition: Holbrook, Stewart Hall; updated by Richard G. Charlton. Machines of Plenty: Chronicle of an Innovator in Construction and Agricultural Equipment. [S.l.]: Western, 1977, c1976. 269 p.
  2. —. Machines of Plenty: Pioneering in American Agriculture. New York: Macmillan; 1955. 246 p.
    Notes: A narrative history of the J.I. Case Company, a Racine, Wisconsin manufacturing firm specializing in agricultural machinery; today the company is known as the Case Corporation, but it was founded in Racine by Jerome Increase Case in 1844 as the Case Threshing Machine Company; Holbrook focuses on the Case company’s founder and how the machinery developed and manufactured by the company throughout its history contributed to increased agricultural productivity and efficiency. The manufacturing employees of the company are rarely mentioned, but the title is included here because of the documentation it provides of the products and practices of this significant Wisconsin company.
  3. Holmes, Michael. J. I. Case, the First 150 Years. Racine, Wis.: J.I. Case Company; 1992. 200 p.
  4. Holter, Darryl. “The Founding of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, 1893”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 40-41.
    Notes: The genesis of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, the enduring statewide political voice of Wisconsin working men and women, is described; the three-day convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin met for three days in June 1893. Attending were thirty-five delegates from unions in Wisconsin representing brewery workers, carpenters, cigar makers, coal heavers, coopers, electrical workers, furniture workers, horseshoers, iron molders, plasterers, tanners, trunk makers, typographers, and machine woodworkers; six Wisconsin central labor councils were represented with delegates (Ashland, Madison, Marinette, Milwaukee, Oshkosh and West Superior).
  5. —. “Labor Law and the Road to Taft-Hartley: Wisconsin’s ‘Little Wagner Act,’ 1935-1945. Labor Studies Journal. 1990 Summer; 15(2):[20]-47.Notes: An interesting article in which Holter makes use of the almost 700 labor dispute case files created by the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board (WLRB) during its short life span from 1937 to 1939 to illuminate the tension between what labor can gain through organizational strength and through the legislative process. The WLRB had been created by the Wisconsin Labor Relations Act of 1937, which was known as the “Little Wagner Act,” because it mirrored much of the federal Wagner Act, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (which created the National Labor Relations Board). Because the WLRB used a standardized form to record information about each labor dispute in which it was involved, and because the State Historical Society of Wisconsin has preserved almost all of these WLRB labor dispute files, Holter was able to undertake a useful statistical analysis of the work of the WLRB during its two years of existence.Since the state’s business community perceived the federal Wagner Act and Wisconsin’s “Little Wagner Act” as being pro-labor and anti-business, a business-led campaign quickly followed in the next Wisconsin legislative session to modify the state law to signficantly increase its pro-business provisions. In 1939 the Wisconsin legislature passed the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act, which placed restrictive conditions on the operations of unions in Wisconsin and created a new entity, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Board, to replace the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board. Later the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act of 1939 was to be used as one of the models for the federal Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which amended in a similar, restrictive manner the federal National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
  1. —. “Labor Spies and Union-Busting in Wisconsin, 1890-1940”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1985 Summer; 68(4):[242]-265.Notes: In 1925 Wisconsin union leaders, after twenty years of effort, were able to get significant restrictions placed in state law on the union-harassing activities of employers, especially regarding labor spies; other states later followed Wisconsin’s lead and enacted similar legislation. Besides exploring the legislative and organizational tactics used from 1890 to 1940 by the Wisconsin labor movement to combat labor spying, this fascinating article discusses how labor spies actually operated, how detective agencies began offering this specialized service, and how the 1925 law affected the operation of detective agencies doing this type of work in Wisconsin.The author provides an in-depth example of each of the two situations in which labor spies were used; the strike discussed is that against the Allen-A Hosiery company in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1928 to 1930 by members of Branch 6 of the American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers, United Textile Workers of America and, for the second situation, he uses the Western Paper Makers Association (a manufacturers’ association led by David Clark Everest) and their activities to suppress unions among paper mill workers in central Wisconsin along the Fox, Wisconsin, Marinette, Eau Claire and Peshtigo Rivers. The article also examines the helpful role of congressional hearings held from 1936 to 1940 by the U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Robert La Follette, Jr.The State Historical Society of Wisconsin named this article as the winner of the annual William Best Hesseltine Award for the best article to be published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History during the year.Also: Holter, Darryl O. Labor Spies and Union Busting in Wisconsin, 1890-1940. [Milwaukee? Wis.: D.O. Holter?, 1987?, c1985. 24 p. Article reprinted by permission from the Wisconsin Magazine of History, v. 68, no. 4 (Summer 1985).
  2. Holter, Darryl. “Sit-Down Strikes in Milwaukee, 1937-1938”. Milwaukee History. 1986; 9(2):58-64.
  3. Holter, Darryl. “The Sources of CIO Success: The New Deal Years in Milwaukee”. Labor History. 1988; 29(2):199-224.
  1. Holter, Darryl. “Wisconsin and American Labor History: An Annotated Bibliography”. Milwaukee, Wis. ; Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Labor History Society ; Distributed by Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction; 1988. 6 p.
    Notes: Wisconsin GoDocs #: ED.8/2:L 3/1988. Includes sections on reference works, Wisconsin labor, U.S. labor in general, and materials for teachers.
  2. Holter, Darryl. “Wisconsin’s ‘Labor Disputes’ Files, 1937-1939: A Profile of State Intervention in Labor Relations”. Labor’s Heritage. 1989; 1(4):46-57.
  3. Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999. 284 p.Notes: Here is the book with which to begin to learn about Wisconsin labor history; this generously-illustrated anthology of writings about workers’ experiences and struggles captures the incredible breadth of Wisconsin’s labor history.”The Labor Factor in Wisconsin History: Wisconsin accounts for about two percent of the nation’s total population. Yet its contribution to the history of working people and social reform extends far beyond these numbers. In the early years of the twentieth century, Wisconsin became a veritable laboratory for social and political reform, producing landmark legislation such as workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and other laws that became models for many states. The study of the history of labor also began in Wisconsin when University of Wisconsin economics professor John R. Commons started to document the history of work and labor in America. For the first time, historical material on Wisconsin labor, drawn from a wide variety of sources, has been compiled in a single volume. With more than a hundred photos, complete footnotes, and a detailed index, readers can identify the large cast of characters that have left their mark on Wisconsin’s labor history.”–back cover, paperbound ed.Reviewed: Bakopoulos, Dean (reviewer). Wisconsin Academy Review: The Magazine of Wisconsin Thought and Culture 46:4 (Fall 2000), p. 53.
  4. Holz, Alice. “Memories of the Milwaukee Leader. Milwaukee History. 1990; 13:188-25.
  5. Hoppe, Daniel. “Never on Sunday: The Struggle of Papermakers in the Fox River Valley, 1895-1905”. Voyageur: Northeast Wisconsin’s Historical Review. 2006; 22(2):28-36.
  6. Houlihan, William C. “Interest Arbitration and Municipal Employee Bargaining: The Wisconsin Experience”. IN: Najita, Joyce M. and James L. Stern, editors. Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector: The Experience of Eight States. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.; 2001; pp. 69-105.
  7. 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.
  8. Huber, Peter John. “Migratory Agricultural Workers in Wisconsin”; 1967.
    Notes: Master’s thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1967. 135 leaves. Concentrating on the period from World War II to the early-1960s, the author takes a close look at the 20,000 or so out-of-state migrant farmworkers who each year help plant and harvest crops in Wisconsin. Besides detailing the contributions to the agricultural economy of Wisconsin by the migrant farmworkers, Huber carefully describes the very difficult working and living conditions faced by the migrant farmworkers. He also makes extensive use of two local papers, the Door County Advocate and the Waushara Argus, to look at the relations through the years between the migrant farmworkers and the Wisconsin communities within which they came to work.
  9. Imhoff, Clem. “The Recruiter”. Southern Exposure. 1976; 4(1/2):83-87.
    Notes: The Reverend D.W. Johnson, was interviewed at his Beloit, Wisconsin, home on February 29, 1976, regarding his work with as a labor recruiter for Northern corporations.
  1. Industrial Workers of the World. “A Rap at Industrial Unionism”. Miners Magazine. 1905 Jun 15; 6:7-8. Notes: “On Wisconsin craft union circular opposing a new industrial union”– Miles’ Something in Common: an IWW Bibliography (1986), Item 2470.
  2. Industrial Workers of the World. Lumber Workers Industrial Union #120. “Lumber Workers of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota: A Review of Conditions in the Camps”. Chicago, Ill.: Lumber Workers Industrial Union #120, I.W.W.; n.d. 4 p.
    Notes: “Organizing leaflet”–Miles’ Something in Common: an IWW Bibliography (1986), p. 445, Item 4307; identified as held in the collection of MiDW-A (Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.)
  3. —. “To the Lumber Workers of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota”. Chicago, Ill.: Lumber Workers Industrial Union #120, I.W.W.; n.d. (1925?). 4 p.Notes: “Organizing leaflet for Great Lakes area lumberworkers that compares their wretched camps to the good ones in the Pacific Northwest, which were attained by the IWW by the 1917 lumber strikes”–p. 468, Miles’ Something in Common: an IWW Bibliography (1986), Item 4596; identified as held in the collection of MiDW-A (Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.)
  4. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 159. Celebrating 100 Years: IBEW Local Union 159. Lund, John, compiler. Madison, Wis.: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 159; 2000. [28], 48, [8] p.
    Notes: This anniversary booklet reviews the history of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 159 (IBEW Local 159) of Madison, Wisconsin, from when its charter was received in November 1900. Prepared by John Lund of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers, with the help of a committee of members of the local, this history was based on records, correspondence, and photographs of the local, newspaper clippings, as well as articles from the IBEW’s Journal and Union Labor News (the publication of Madison’s central labor body). The extensive use of document excerpts and group photographs personalize the life of the local and the economic conditions it faced over time. From roughly 1907 through 1912 or so, there was a dispute at the international union level between members who worked as the linemen out-of-doors and members who worked at indoor jobs and at some point during that period the local members of IBEW Local 159 formed into IBEW Local 186 (in support of the faction trying to change the international’s leadership), until a meeting on August 27, 1914, when the local re-instituted IBEW Local 159.
  5. International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139. Building Wisconsin for 100 Years: The History of the Operating Engineers – Local 139 – 1902-2002. [Pewaukee, Wis.]: International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139; 2002. 72 p.
    Notes: Illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs, this anniversary book surveys the history of the first one hundred years of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139, the Wisconsin statewide ‘mixed’ local (meaning that the local’s jurisdiction encompasses more than just the stationary equipment). Originally founded on July 31, 1902 in Milwaukee as Local 139 of the International Union of Steam Engineers, the local was founded upon the pledge that their members “would never work for less than the agreed wage scale and above all, that they would never harm, in any manner, another Operating Engineer” (p. 1). For its first two years Local 139 ‘s jurisdiction did encompass both parts of the occupation–the stationary engineers, as well as the portable and hoisting engineers–however, in 1904 the stationary engineers were given their own charter, while Local 139 continued as the state’s ‘portable and hoisting local.’ Their international union’s name was changed in 1912 to the International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers, then in 1928 to its present name, the International Union of Operating Engineers. Section One of the book reviews the history of Local 139 decade by decade, relating that history to significant national developments, and also includes special features on some of the outstanding leaders within the local, as well as several ‘member histories’ which focus on the life and career of individual members of Local 139. The book’s Section Two covers the history of how Local 139 has dealt with the issue of training for apprentices and members, while Section Three provides “A Quick Guide to Important Events and

Laws Affecting Operating Engineers in Wisconsin.” Besides its training site in Coloma, Wisconsin, Local 139 currently maintains headquarters in: Pewaukee, Wisconsin (District A); Madison, Wisconsin (District B); Altoona, Wisconsin (District C); and, Appleton, Wisconsin (District D).

  1. International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 802. Painters and Drywall Finishers Local Union 802, 100th Anniversary, November 1, 1902-November 1, 2002: One Union, One Voice–IUPAT Local 802’s First Hundred Years. [Madison, Wis.: International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 802; 2002?]. 43, [12] p.Notes: This anniversary booklet reviews the history of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Local 802, the Painters and Drywall Finishers of Madison, Wisconsin, from the local’s formation in 1902 up to the local’s one-hundredth anniversary in 2002; up until January 1, 2000, the name of this international union was the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades (IBPAT). Prepared by John Lund and David Nack of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers, this history was based on a number of oral history interviews they conducted for the project and also the official records of the local union. Extensive quotations from the oral histories personalize how the painter’s trade has changed through the years and demonstrate how the organizational ups and downs of the local union reflected the rise and fall of the nation’s economic circumstances.
  2. Jacobs, Herbert. “The Wisconsin Milk Strikes”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1951 Autumn; 35(1):30-35.
  3. Jamakaya. Like Our Sisters Before Us: Women of Wisconsin Labor–Based on Interviews Conducted for the Women of Wisconsin Labor Oral History Project. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin Labor History Society; 1998. 93 p.
    Notes: Ten female union leaders of Wisconsin, including one African-American, are profiled; the women were most active from the 1940s through the 1970s. This volume also includes a list of the over thirty interviewees of the Women of Wisconsin Labor Oral History Project of the Wisconsin Labor History Society; all of the project’s audio recordings and additional supporting materials from the interviewees are available to researchers through the Archives Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.CONTENTS: Evelyn Donner Day, Milwaukee (Int’l Ladies Garment Workers Union; United Auto Workers). — Alice Holz, Milwaukee (Office and Professional Employees Int’l Union). — Evelyn Gotzion, Madison (Federal Labor Union No. 19587; United Auto Workers). — Catherine Conroy, Milwaukee (Communications Workers of America). — Nellie Wilson, Milwaukee (United Steel Workers of America). — Doris Thom, Janesville (Int’l Association of Machinists; United Auto Workers). — Lee Schmeling, Neenah (Graphic Arts Int’l Union; Graphic Communications Int’l Union). — Helen Hensler, Milwaukee (Office and Professional Employees Int’l Union). — Joanne Bruch, Whitewater (Int’l Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine and Furniture Workers). — Florence Simons, Milwaukee (Int’l Association of Machinists; United Auto Workers; Allied Industrial Workers).
  4. Jamakaya, J. Ironworkers Local 8, 100+ Years: Proud of Our Past, Building the Future–History of Ironworkers Local 8. Milwaukee, Wis.: International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, Union Local No. 8; 2001. 23 p.
    Notes: This overview of twenty-three pages recounts the history of International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Local 8 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was included in the center of the program booklet for the local union’s “One Hundredth Anniversary Celebration” held on June 9, 2001. The first charter of Iron Workers Local 8 was granted to it on June 26, 1896 by the National Association of Bridge and Structural Ironworkers; then, when the national association changed its name in 1900 to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Ironworkers of America, Local 8 was sent an updated charter as the Housesmiths and Bridgemen’s Local Union No. 8 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  5. 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. Jansen. “A Bloody Day in May”. Milwaukee, Wis.: 2002 May. Notes: About the Bay View Massacre.
  2. Jensen, Don . “C. Fred Stemm: Labor’s Political Outsider”. IN: Burckel, Nicholas C. and John A. Neuenschwander, eds. Kenosha Retrospective: A Biographical Approach. Kenosha, Wis.: Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1981; p. [62]-108.
    Notes: Labor leader C. Fred Stemm, a blacksmith with the Bain Wagon works forge, was a member of the Knights of Labor and active in Kenosha city politics from 1882 to through 1913, serving on the city council and also, for part of those years, as mayor of the city.
  3. Johnson, Jim. The Co-op Label. 1st ed. Wisuri, Marlene, images. Duluth, Minn.: Dovetailed Press LLC; 2005. 128 p.Notes: This lovely and evocative book is “dedicated to immigrants and co-operators everywhere” (p. 6) and they are well served by the poems and mainly photographic images contained in it. The authors explain (p. 5) that Part One of their book “portrays immigration and the anti-immigration activities of 1918” and Part Two “alludes to anti-communist sentiments of the 1950s,” through the experiences of the immigrants in the region around the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, but especially of the Finnish immigrant experience of the area.
  4. Johnson, William R. “The Kohlers of Kohler: Acculturation in a Company Town”. History of Education Quarterly. 1971 Fall; 11(3):219-248.
  5. Jones, Mary Harris Mother. “Girl Slaves of the Milwaukee Brewers”. United Mine Workers Journal. 1910 Apr 7; 20( 47):2.Notes: How eloquently Mother Jones writes here of the dismal plight on the job for the young women who work in the bottle washing departments of the Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, and Blatz breweries in Milwaukee, Wisconsin–the constant wet shoes and wet clothes leading to early rheumatism and consumption, the pitiful wages, the foul language and unwelcome sexual attentions of the foremen! Unable to win any relief for the “Girl Slaves of the Milwaukee Brewers” from either the owners of the Milwaukee breweries or from the Wisconsin legislature in Madison (the state’s capital), in spite of two months of agitation, Mother Jones ends this article by calling upon “all fair minded people to refrain from purchasing the product of these Baron Brewers.”
  6. Karges, Steven Burton. “David Clark Everest and the Marathon Paper Mills Company: A Study of a Wisconsin Entrepreneur, 1909-1931”; 1968.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1968. 346 p. Besides being the long-time president of the Marathon Paper Corporation (located in Rothschild, Wisconsin), David Clark Everest was also the secretary-treasurer of the Western Paper Manufacturers Association, an employer group made up principally of Wisconsin papermaking companies; according to the abstract provided to Dissertation Abstracts International, Karges considers Everest to have “made the transition from nonunion to union operations in Marathon’s plants without strike or strife.” For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, June 1968, 29/12, p. 4426-A.
  7. Karni, Michael. “Struggle on the Cooperative Front: The Separation of Central Cooperative Wholesale from Communism, 1929-30”. IN: Karni, Michael G.; Kaups, Matti E., and Ollila, Douglas J. Jr., editors. The Finnish Experience in the Western Great Lakes Region: New Perspectives. Turku, Finland: Institute for Migration; in cooperation with the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota; 1975; pp. 186-201.Notes: A paper “originally presented at a conference on “The Finnish Experience in the Western Great Lakes Region: New Perspectives” held at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in April of 1974″ (editors’ introduction, p. 1). In 1917 the Cooperative Central Exchange (CCE), a grocery and dry goods wholesale firm, was established in Superior, Wisconsin, to supply nearly one hundred Finnish consumer cooperatives located in the uppper peninsula of Michigan, in northern Wisconsin, and in primarily northern Minnesota. Many of these cooperatives had been started during mining strikes in the region; others grew from “buying circles” set up by Finnish farmers of the area. This paper explores an internal political struggle among the leaders of the successful CCE over “whether the cooperative movement, begun by immigrant Finns as a defense against gouging merchants, should remain open to all working class groups and pursue only economic change in America, or whether it should become an auxiliary of the Workers’ (Communist) Party of America and thereby militantly political” (p. 186).The crisis began at the end of July 1929 when the New York office of the Workers’ Party tried to arrange for the CCE to give a loan for the work of their political party. Some CCE leaders, however, felt that such a loan would violate the cooperative movement’s guiding Rochdale principles. The decision on the loan would be made by the delegates representing the consumer cooperatives at the CCE’s next annual membership meeting (to be held over three days in April 1930) and the lobbying was intense right up until the vote was taken. Karni explains the background out of which the Finnish consumer cooperative movement grew and lays out how both sides of this internal disagreement attacked on the issues. Later in 1930 the name of the CCE was changed to the Central Cooperative Wholesale.
  1. Karsh, Bernard. “Anatomy of a Strike in Marinette”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 206-218.
    Notes: An excerpt from Karsh’s book, Diary of a Strike (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1958); in the second edition of his book (published in 1982), Karsh had revealed the real names of those involved in the strike he is discussing in Diary of a Strike–it was a strike by International Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 480 against the Marinette Knitting Mills in Marinette, Wisconsin.
  2. Karsh, Bernard. Diary of a Strike. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1958. 180 p.
    Notes: In a town identified only as “Saylor,” a former lumber town and port city on the upper Great Lakes, the entire process of a strike for union recognition and a first contract is explored from beginning to end. Karsh, a social scientist, examines the question of how the will was created and sustained among the workers at a local mill, which produced “an expensive line of soft goods” (p. 17), to form a union and to go on strike to win that union. The actual names of the town, the company, the union, and the strike’s key participants were not revealed until the second edition of this book came out in 1981, but everything else in this compelling story is real; see the abstract provided for the second edition of the book for the actual names.”Some of the material included in this book first appeared in an article in the American Journal of Sociology and in The Worker Views His Union, published by the University of Chicago Press.”–preface, p. xiii.
  3. Karsh, Bernard. Diary of a Strike. 2nd ed. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1982. 177 p.
    Notes: A sociologist’s look at the process of a strike against the Marinette Knitting Mills by International Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 480 from July 12, 1951 through October 25, 1951 in Marinette, Wisconsin. This second edition for the first time supplies the actual names of the town, the company, the union, and the strike’s key participants; the author explains in his preface here that, “in accord with standard practice in social science research, many of the identifying names were changed” in the original edition, but that the “need to disguise informants has diminished” since then (p. viii).This is a compellingly-told story and in his foreword to this edition, Sol C. Chaikin, the president of the I.L.G.W.U., explains why:”This is an unusual book, and still more unusual among works of non-fiction. Its subject matter–the daily events surrounding a strike of garment workers in Wisconsin–is the stuff of novels or motion pictures. Rarely is this story told by academics or journalists–and rarely so well as in this study. This work is not fiction, not propaganda, but reality: history as it actually was, and actually is.”Normally, when strikes are described, much is left out. Scholars most often take a perspective that is overly broad or coolly statistical. They lose the human drama, the sacrifice, the courage, the disappointment, the joys, even the humor. But who, after reading this book, will forget the moment when the company tried to have its winter heating coal sent through the mail?

    “Reporters for newspapers and television are better at relating the dramatic events of a strike, yet they too miss much of what a labor dispute is all about–the ebbs and flows, the subtle nuances of tactics, the improvisations, the countless decisions and countless details, the accumulation of small incidents that add up to a major confrontation. I think one has to live day by day with a strike to understand fully what is involved. Short of that, one can read Bernard Karsh’s book.” (p. [v])

    “Some of the material included in this book first appeared in an article in The American Journal of Sociology and in The Worker Views His Union, a book published by the University of Chicago Press.”–preface to the 1981 edition, p. xv.

    Reviewed: Goldman, Paul (reviewer). Work and Occupations, v. 11, no. 2 (May 1984), p. 227-228.

  1. Keil, Hartmut. “Appendix: List of Editors/Journalists of German-American Radical Papers, 1865-1914”. IN: Shore, Elliott; Fones-Wolf, Ken, and Danky, James P., editors. The German-American Radical Press: The Shaping of a Left Political Culture, 1850-1940. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1992; pp. 213-219.Notes: Although none of the essays contained in this volume focus on the German-American press in Wisconsin, the volume’s one appendix, which identifies the editors and journalists who worked on German-American radical papers in the United States, does cover several published in Wisconsin, including: Amerikanische Turnzeitung (Milwaukee); Arbeiterzeitung (Milwaukee); Arminia (Milwaukee); Freidenker (Milwaukee); Das Freie Wort (Milwaukee); Leuchtkugeln (Milwaukee); Lucifer (Milwaukee); Milwaukee Journal (1880-1881); Milwaukee Volksblatt; Milwaukee Volkszeitung; Milwaukee Vorwaerts; Milwaukee’r Arbeiter-Zeitung; Milwaukee’r Arbeiterzeitung; Milwaukee’r Sozialist; Reformer (Milwaukee); Die rothe Laterne (Milwaukee); Sheboygan Volksblatt; Volksblatt Sheboygan; Volkszeitung Milwaukee ; Vorwaerts (Milwaukee); Wahrheit (Milwaukee); and, Wisconsin Vorwaerts (Milwaukee).
  2. Klueter, Howard R. and Lorence, James J. Woodlot and Ballot Box: Marathon County in the Twentieth Century. Wausau, Wis.: Marathon County Historical Society; 1977. 414 p.
    Notes: In the first half of this volume, economic development in Marathon County (in the Wisconsin River Valley) is covered from the earliest development of lumbering there in the 1830s and up through the transformation of the city of Wausau into a general business and industrial center well into the 1960s (with both the organization of management and the workers being analyzed). The second half of the book focuses on how culture and ethnicity affected the political landscape of the area from the 1890s up to the early 1970s.
  3. Kneevers, Earl E. Jr. and Charmaine Chopp Kneevers. The Sheboygan Socialists. Zeidler, Frank P., foreword by. Sheboygan Falls, Wis. : Sheboygan County Historical Research Center; 2003. xvii, 184 p. Notes: An overall picture of the political and social activities of the Socialist Party of Sheboygan is provided, primarily based upon a minute book of the meetings of the party during the period from 1924 through 1939; over fifty related illustrations are provided. The authors also analyzed the issues of The Wisconsin Comrade, published from March 1914 to June 1916 by the Social-Democratic Party of Wisconsin, for any news related to members of the Socialist branches located in both the city and county of Sheboygan..
  4. 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. Kohler of Kohler. Kohler Village: A Hopeful and Stimulating Example of American Community Life. [Kohler, Wis.]: Kohler Company; 1925. 46 p.Notes: Contains “studies for the five major panels of the murals” installed by prominent American muralist Arthur Sinclair Covey during the period 1924 through 1925 in the new headquarters building of the Kohler Company in Kohler, Wisconsin.
  2. Konopacki, Mike. Beware Konopacki. Madison, Wis.: Madison Press Connection Support Group; 1979. 96 p. Notes: Editorial cartoons collected from the Madison Press Connection, the alternative paper published by the striking employees of the two daily newspapers in Madison, Wisconsin.
  3. Konopacki, Mike and Huck, Gary. Bye! American: The Labor Cartoons of Gary Huck & Mike Konopacki. Chicago, Ill.: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company; 1987. 111 p.
    Notes: The first collected volume of the work of two great Wisconsin editorial cartoonists, Gary Huck from Racine and Mike Konopacki from Madison; in his introduction to the volume, Roger Bybee, editor of the Racine Labor newspaper, isn’t exaggerating when he says that Huck and Konopacki provide “some of the most creatively effective efforts yet to scorch the Teflon off of Ronald Reagan and the system of greed he symbolizes so well…[using] their unique wit, artistic skill and political understanding to burn through the layers of illusion and rhetoric that shield Reagan and Reaganism.”–p. 5.The title, Bye! American is a tribute to the classic collection of labor cartoons by Fred Wright, So Long, Partner! (New York: United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), 1975).
  4. —. “Labor Cartoons: Drawing on Worker Culture”. IN : Pizzigati, Sam and Solowey, Fred J., editors . The New Labor Press: Journalism for a Changing Union Movement. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press (School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University); 1992; pp. 126-140.
    Notes: Two of today’s premier labor cartoonists, Wisconsin natives Mike Konopacki and Gary Huck, provide a nice overview of labor cartooning, long an important organizing tool of the labor movement. Huck and Konopacki explain how technological developments in printing equipment early in the twentieth century made the addition of political cartoons economically viable for the U.S. labor press; several illustrative examples of the art is provided from their own Huck/Konopacki cartoons and from the work of a few other great labor cartoonists as well, including Fred Wright, Carol Simpson, Rick Flores, and Bulbul.
  5. —. Mad in U.S.A.: Labor Cartoons by Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki, Volume Three. Chicago, Ill.: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company; 1993. 112 p.Notes: Here is the third volume of the cartoons of two great Wisconsin editorial cartoonists, Gary Huck from Racine and Mike Konopacki from Madison. In her “Forward” to this collection, Kathy Willkes, Communications Director for the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union is very accurate in saying: “They could be ‘commercial’; they could play it safe; they could compromise. They aren’t’; they don’t; they won’t. Instead of pandering to the establishment press and its advertisers, Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki have carved out their own unique niche with razor-sharp insight (some would say ‘incite’) and a finely honed commitment to union principles, human rights and political activism.”–p. 5.
  6. —. Them: More Labor Cartoons by Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki. Chicago, Ill.: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company; 1991. 111 p.Notes: The second collection of the cartoons of two great Wisconsin editorial cartoonists, Gary Huck from Racine and Mike Konopacki from Madison–this collection is just as great as the first volume!Michael Funke, assistant editor for the publication, U.A.W. Solidarity, isn’t stretching the truth in declaring, “These guys are LABOR’s Best Cartoonists. No contest. … Their cartoons speak directly to working people: pointedly addressing their needs and desires while exposing–with wit, whimsy and irony–the empty rheteoric, shameful greed, and conniving lies of the politicians and bosses who serve the interests of the rich.”–p. 5.
  1. —. Two-Headed Space Alien Shrinks Labor Movement and Threatens to Redouble Its Efforts for Another Twenty Years!: Labor Cartoons by Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki, Volume 5. Madison, Wis.: Capitalism Sucks Press, a division of Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons; 2003. 112 p.
    Notes: Here’s the fifth collection of the cartoons of two great Wisconsin editorial cartoonists, Gary Huck from Racine and Mike Konopacki from Madison. In his foreword, Pete Mueller (cartoonist for The New Yorker, The Progressive, etc.) has this advice for readers of this volume: “So, as you read through this little book of cartoons, keep in mind that every one of them has appeared in print and that thousands upon thousands of folks have run across them in the alternative press and labor periodicals everywhere over the past two decades. Keep in mind that these two guys decided long ago to put their considerable talents to use toward the quixotic pursuit of YOUR happiness. And keep in mind that the prescient team of Huck and Konopacki will continue their little crusade to be right about what’s wrong for the next twenty years, too–unless of course, justice somehow prevails and power is thrust upon the powerless, and these two losers find something useful to do.”–p. 7.
  2. Konopacki, Mike and Huck, Gary. Working Class Hero: Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons IV. Pittsburg, Pa.: United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE); 1998. 112 p.
    Notes: Here’s the fourth collection of the cartoons of two great Wisconsin editorial cartoonists, Gary Huck from Racine and Mike Konopacki from Madison–this collection is published by the well-known UE union, because “UE and other unions fought [their] way through the Reagan, Bush and Clinton years with the cartoons of Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki helping to make those struggles a bit more possible and certainly more understandable.”–p. 7.
  3. Kossoris, Max D. and Fried, O. A. “Experience with Silicosis Under the Wisconsin Workmen’s Compensation Act”. Monthly Labor Review. 1937 May; 1089-1101???
  4. Krakowski, Paul. “Press Treatment of Wisconsin Labor Issues”; 1947. Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1947.
  5. Kramer, Leo . Labor’s Paradox: The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO. New York: Wiley; 1962. 174 p. ((Trade unions monograph series).
    Notes: ???
  6. Krause, Robert D. “The Short Troubled History of Wisconsin’s New Labor Law”. Public Administration Review. 1965; 25(4):302-307.
  7. Krejcarek, Jody. “The Knights of Labor and the Lumber Industry in Northeast Wisconsin, 1885-1887”. Voyageur: Northeast Wisconsin’s Historical Review. 1996; 13(1):16-21, 24-29.
    Notes: The Knights of Labor had over 30,000 members in Wisconsin by the middle of the 1880s and this article looks at the activities and influences in the lumber industry of the Knights’ assemblies in Marinette, Oconto and Peshtigo from 1885 to 1887. In Marinette, many of the members of the Knights’ Assembly were also members of the Menominee River Laboring Men’s Protective and Benevolent Union; this union led a strike in late 1885 which resulted in the introduction of the ten-hour day at the mills of the entire area for the 1886 sawing season (a reduction from eleven-and-a-half hours). Various other improvements brought about as a result of the Knights’ assemblies in each of the three cities are also detailed, especially the political campaign efforts undertaken through a new party, the People’s Party, which was closely linked to the key organizer in Wisconsin for the Knights of Labor, Robert Schilling from Milwaukee.
  8. Krinsky, Edward B. “Municipal Grievance Arbitration in Wisconsin”. Arbitration Journal. March 1973; 28(1):50-67.Notes: Cited as Item 189 in Coleman, Charles J., and Theodora T. Haynes, Labor Arbitration: An Annotated Bibliography (Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, 1994), p. 63.
  1. Kroening, Henry Fred. “Nonacademic Employee Unionism at the University of Wisconsin”; 1952. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1952. 400 p.
  2. Kurschner, Dale. “An Inside Game in Wisconsin: IBEW 1791 vs. Marathon Electric”. Labor Research Review. 1991; 10(1):83-90.
  3. Lause, Mark A. The Civil War’s Last Campaign: James B. Weaver, the Greenback-Labor Party & the Politics of Race & Section. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America; 2001. 246 p.
    Notes: A narrative look at the 1880 U. S. Presidential campaign of the National Greenback party, including discussion of Wisconsin’s significant role in this national third-party effort. First organized in 1876 and active through the 1884 Presidential race, the Greenback party wanted the federal government to increase the supply of paper money in circulation that was not backed by gold or another metal, in order to make credit more easily available during the troubled economic periods around 1873 and 1877 in the United States. Nationally, the Greenback party received one million votes and elected fourteen Congressional representatives in 1878; the party’s support came primarily from workers and farmers around the country, with the socialist organizations of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, having a strong impact on the party. The Greenback party also had some support from the Midwest’s business community, which tried to get Edward P. Allis, of Milwaukee’s Reliance Iron Works, for the top spot on the Greenback’s 1880 national ticket, but James B. Weaver, of Iowa, was selected instead. After the Greenback party faded, the Populist party incorporated much of Greenback party’s message about the political and social costs of monetary policies into the platform of the Populist party and James B. Weaver even ran as the 1892 Presidential candidate for the Populists.
  4. Lawrence, Lee E. “The Wisconsin Ice Trade”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1965; 48(4):257-267.
  5. Lawson, Elizabeth. The Struggle against White Chauvinism. Milwaukee, Wis.: Communist Party, Wisconsin State Education Department; 1948? 9 leaves .Notes: ???
  6. Leavitt, Judith Walzer. The Healthiest City: Milwaukee and the Politics of Health Reform. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press; 1982. 294 p.
  7. LeMasters, E. E. Blue-Collar Aristocrats: Life-Styles at a Working-Class Tavern. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press; 1975. 218 p.Notes: The author, in the book’s preface (p. ix), says: “This is a book about blue-collar men and women who frequent a tavern [in Madison, Wis.] I choose to call The Oasis. Most of the men work in the various construction trades. I have tried to capture the life-style of these persons so that students and other readers might gain some understanding of them.”Chapter 5, “Battle of the Sexes” was originally published in The Wisconsin Sociologist 10 (Spring-Summer, 1973) and Chapter 8, “Tavern Social Life,” was originally published under the title, “Social Life in a Working-Class Tavern,” in Urban Life and Culture 2 (April 1973).”
  8. Lescohier, Don D. “The Knights of St. Crispin, 1867-1874: A Study in the Industrial Causes of Trade Unionism”. Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin: Economics and Political Science Series. 1910; 7(no. 1 (also published separately in May 1910 as no. 355)):1-102.
    Notes: Founded in 1867 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, through the enterprising efforts of Newell Daniels (a recent transplant to Wisconsin from Massachusetts), this union for shoemakers went on to become a national union, growing by 1870 to eleven Wisconsin “lodges” in addition to the Milwaukee lodge, as well as many outside of the state and with an overall national membership of 50,000. The organization became powerful enough to win several strikes around the country, but collapsed over the short period from 1872 to 1874, due to a number of factors, including changes in the markets and in mechanical methods used in the trade. Lescohier concentrates in his work on telling the national story of the union. Frederick Merk, in his “The Labor Movement in Wisconsin During the Civil War,” identifies the eleven additional Wisconsin lodges as having been organized at: Racine, Waukesha, Janesville, Kenosha, Watertown, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Sheboygan, LaCrosse, Portage, and Oshkosh.
  1. Lewis, Ross Aubrey. The Cartoons of R.A. Lewis, Milwaukee Journal: A 38 Year Slice of History (1929-1967) as Seen by a Gifted Satirist and Draftsman in Some of the Political and Humorous Cartoons Which Made Him Internationally Famous. Lockwood, George, edited and annotated by. [Milwaukee, Wis.?]: The Journal Company; 1968. 122 p.Notes: Although R.A. Lewis was born and grew up near Detroit, Michigan, in 1920 he began studying at the Wisconsin School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as he had an uncle living in Milwaukee, and, after graduation, stayed on, working in Milwaukee as a commercial designer; then, in 1925 he began as a staff artist at The Milwaukee Journal, one of the two major daily newspapers in the city. At the end of 1929, Lewis began providing the newspaper with editorial cartoons regularly and won a Pulitzer Prize for his September 1, 1934 editorial cartoon, “Sure, I’ll Work for Both Sides” (about violence in disputes between industry and labor). Of special note in this collection is the December 15, 1942 editorial cartoon about the loss at sea during World War II of Mayor Carl Zeidler, after whom Zeidler Union Square Park in downtown Milwaukee, is named.
  2. Lindner, Barbara Jane. “Working-Class Culture and Unionization in North La Crosse, Wisconsin”; 1983. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Bowling Green State University, 1983. 305 p. [Available at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, in their Microforms Room, at call number P86-880]; OCLC 12061791.
  3. Loduha, Bonnie C. A Bibliography of Wisconsin Forest History. Wausau, Wis.: Forest History Association of Wisconsin; n.d. 58 p.Notes: The widest scope of forest history is covered in this bibliography, including many works providing information about the people who did the work involved. The bibliography is arranged into three broad sections (published materials; theses; unpublished records) with each section’s unnumbered entries arranged only by author (or title, where no author is given); although this volume does not contain an index, very brief annotations are provided for many of the entries.
  4. Loew, Patty . “The Back of the Homefront: Black and American Indian Women in Wisconsin during World War II”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1998 Winter-1999 Winter; 82(2):82-103.
    Notes: Based on oral histories conducted between 1992 and 1994 with seven Wisconsin minority women (three Ojibwe and four African-Americans) about their experiences on the homefront during World War II, this article describes how Native-American and African-American women in Wisconsin met the challenges they faced in trying to support their families during the war. While jobs for minority women before the war had generally been restricted to the domestic service sector, during the Second World War some better-paying opportunities did open up for them and Loew carefully discusses those changes. Some factory jobs even became available to minority women in larger cities and Nellie Wilson of Milwaukee, who worked in the A.O. Smith Corporation’s steel factory as a precision inspector during the war, is one of the women featured in this article. Even during the war, however, minority women in rural areas faced an incredibly narrow range of job opportunities; on the Native-American reservations, for instance, often the only work available for paid wages was the seasonal harvesting of crops, such as cranberries, blueberries, and wild rice.
  5. Lorence, James J. “Dynamite for the Brain: The Growth and Decline of Socialism in Central and Lakeshore Wisconsin, 1910-1920”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1983 Summer; 66(4):251-273.
  6. —. “Gerald J. Boileau and the Politics of Sectionalism: Dairy Interests and the New Deal, 1933-1938”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1988 Summer; 71(4):276-295.
    Notes: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin named this article as the winner of the twenty-third annual William Best Hesseltine Award for the best article to be published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History during 1987-1988.
  1. —. Gerald J. Boileau and the Progressive-Farmer-Labor Alliance: Politics of the New Deal. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press; 1994. 324 p.Notes: A close look at the public career of Gerald J. Boileau from Marathon County, Wisconsin, who played a key role in Wisconsin’s Progressive movement through his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1930 to 1938, where he represented Wisconsin’s Seventh District (comprised at that time of the state’s central counties of Adams, Green Lake, Langlade, Marathon, Marquette, Portage, Shawano, Waupaca, Waushara, and Wood). Lorence details how Boileau “tried to fashion economic and political institutions that would meet the needs and protect the interests of the district’s farmers, workers, and small businessmen” (p. 1). From the start of his congressional career, Boileau worked in coalition with others in the U.S. Congress “in an effort to move a sometimes cautious Roosevelt administration toward peace, prosperity, and reform measures often more sweeping than those entertained by the president” (p. 1). Although the Wisconsin Progressives during the 1930 and 1932 Congressional races had nominally run on the Republican ticket, for the election of 1934 they formed their own third party ticket (under the leadership of Robert M. La Follette, Sr.’s two sons, Robert M. La Follette, Jr. and Philip F. La Follette). During the next four years the Wisconsin Progressives and the similarly-minded Minnesota Farmer-Laborites in the U.S. House of Representatives banded together into a caucus known as the ‘Progressive Group’ (with Boileau serving as their floor leader); this caucus played a key role in what was known at that time as the ‘Liberal’ voting bloc in the U.S. House and enabled the Progressive Group to advance their broad reform program of providing “maximum opportunity for individuals to climb the ladder of success in an open economy” (p. 38). Lorence ably explains the tactics dictated by the Progressives’ third party political strategy and analyzes how the strategy enabled the ‘Progressive Group’ to be an effective force on national policies.Reviewed: Tweton, D. Jerome (reviewer). American Historical Review October 1995 100(4):1323. Reviewed: Glad, Paul W. (reviewer). Journal of American History June 1995 82(1):321-322. Reviewed: Gay, James T. (reviewer). History: Reviews of New Books Spring 1995 23(3):110. Reviewed: Myers, R. David (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History Spring 1995 78(3):221-222. Reviewed: Reference and Research Book News, June 1, 1994.
  2. —. “The Milwaukee Connection: the Urban-Rural Link in Wisconsin Socialism, 1910-1920”. Milwaukee History. 1980 Winter; 3:102-111.
  3. —. “Socialism in Northern Wisconsin, 1910-1920: An Ethno-Cultural Analysis”. Mid-America. 1982 Oct; 64:25-51.
  4. Lucht, Beth . “Out in the Cold”. Isthmus [Madison, Wis.]. 2000 Dec 8; 9-10, 12.
    Notes: This article explores why the Rock-Tenn Company, which had an established and always-profitable cardboard-packing plant in Madison, Wisconsin, suddenly chose to close their Wisconsin operation in 2000 over less-profitable, but non-unionized plants; the 200 Wisconsin employees of Rock-Tenn were represented by Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Local 1202 (P.A.C.E. Local 1202).
  5. Magin, Harold. “The John Smiths”. The Kenosha Labor: A Weekly Paper Dedicated to the Interests of Workers in City and on Farm. Kenosha, Wis.; 1924 May 1.Notes: There was a small announcement on the front page of the Friday, April 10, 1936 issue of The Kenosha Labor newspaper:”Meet/The John Smiths/In This Issue of /The Kenosha Labor/And Every Week Thereafter The Kenosha Labor is setting the pace for labor newspapers throughout the country.
    Latest innovation is this labor comic strip done by our own staff artist and radio editor, HaroldMagin. Other labor papers liked the advance proofs, so we have syndicated it through the Federated Press.”The comic went on to appear in the following issues of The Kenosha Labor: April 10, 1936, p. 3; April 17, 1936, p. 4; April 24, 1936, p. 6; May 1, 1936, p. 6; September 10, 1937, p. 7; September 24, 1937, p. 9; October 1, 1937, p. 9; October 8, 1937, p. 8; October 15, 1937, p. 12; October 22, 1937, p. 10; October 29, 1937, p. 10; November 5, 1937, p. 10; November 12, 1937, p. 8; November 19, 1937, p. 8; November 26, 1937, p. 9; December 3, 1937, p. 9; December 17, 1937,p. 12; December 30, 1937, p. 5; January 7, 1938, p. 5; January 4, 1938, p. 7; January 21, 1938, p. 3; January 28, 1938, p. 3; February 4, 1938, p. 7; March 11, 1938, p. 5; March 18, 1938, p. 5; April 8, 1938, p. 5; April 15, 1938, p. 5; April 29, 1938, p. 3; May 6, 1938, p. 5; May 13, 1938, p. 5; May 20, 1938, p. 5; May 27, 1938, p. 7; June 3, 1938, p. 5; June 17, 1938, p. 5; June 24, 1938, p. 3; July 1, 1938, p. 5; July 8, 1938, p. 2; July 29, 1938, p. 3; November 4, 1938, p. 7; December 2, 1938, p. 7; December 9, 1938, p. 9; December 16, 1938, p. 7; December 23, 1938, p. 5; December 30, 1938, p. 3; and other dates to be identified upon further research.

    John W. Bailey says in his chapter about the Kenosha labor movement in Kenosha County in the 20th Century that “The John Smiths” comic strip was also “syndicated to some forty newspapers” (p. 254). The entire run of the Kenosha labor paper will be found on microfilm at the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison.

  1. Malone, Bobbie. “Arthur Covey’s Kohler Murals: Honoring the ‘Dignity and Nobility’ of Men Who Work”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 2009 Winter-2010 Winter; 93(2):[28]-[37].
    Notes: This extensively-illustrated article describes the seven murals focusing on the workers at the Kohler factory which were created during 1924-1925 by Arthur Sinclair Covey, a prominent American muralist, in the lobby of the company’s new headquarters building in Kohler, Wisconsin. Before the two major paintings in the series–“Pouring a Mold” and “Tapping a Cupola”–were installed, the Architectural League of New York awarded them a gold medal in 1925 at the International Exposition of Architecture and the Allied Arts in New York City.The Kohler Company Headquarters building is located at 444 Highland Drive in Kohler, Wisconsin, and the lobby murals may be viewed by the members of the public Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
  2. Malone, Bobbie. Celebrating Everyday Life in Wisconsin History: A Classroom Exhibit Resource and Planning 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.
  3. Marsden, K. Gerald. “Patriotic Societies and American Labor: The American Protective Association in Wisconsin”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1958; 41:287-94.
  4. Martin, Philip L. “Harvest Mechanization and Agricultural Trade Unionism: Obreros Unidos in Wisconsin”. Labor Law Journal. 1977; 28(3):166-173.Notes: Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 217.
  1. McLeod, Richard. “The Development of Superior, Wisconsin, as a Western Transportation Center”. Journal of the West. 1974 Jul; 13(3):17-27.Notes: Superior, Wisconsin, with its harbor at the western-most end of Lake Superior, was developed by mainly outside corporate interests into a major transportation hub in the second half of the 1800s. Land speculation began in 1853 with the formation of the Superior Land Company, to enter the competition to be the eastern rail terminal for the transcontinental railroad, but which lost out to Chicago. In the following years, development was sporadic, depending upon the corporate needs of some of the major nineteenth century industrialists (including Jay Cooke, James J. Hill and John D. Rockefeller). McLeod describes the various steps in the rivalry between Superior, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, as the “Twin Ports” area developed into the major terminus for the railroads crossing the northern plains and their link with ocean-going ships coming up through the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean. The author includes the addition of the individual railroads as they come into the area, as well as how major industrial activities of the area, such as coal and iron ore docks, steel mills, grain elevators and shipbuilding, contributed to the overall workings of Superior as a transportation hub.
  2. Merk, Frederick. Economic History of Wisconsin During the Civil War Decade. Madison, Wis.: The Society; 1916. 414 p. (Wisconsin. State Historical Society. Publications, v. 1.
    Notes: The economic life of the entire state of Wisconsin is carefully described and analyzed here during the period of the Civil War, including a few years leading up to and following the war. Merk devotes chapters to: agriculture; lumbering; mining; manufacturing; labor; banking; trade; railroads; and commerce on both the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. He has also provided a finely-detailed index as well.Another edition: Merk, Frederick. Economic History of Wisconsin During the Civil War Decade. 2nd ed. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1971 (c1916). 414 p. (Publications of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) ISBN: 87020-117-4. A reprint of the 1916 edition, except for the addition of an additional preface by the author.
  1. Merk, Frederick. “The Labor Movement in Wisconsin During the Civil War”. Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 1915; 62nd annual meeting held October 22, 1914:168-191.
    Notes: Merk explains how “in Wisconsin the changes wrought by the Civil War, and the readjustments that followed, gave rise to a distinct class-conscious movement of industrial labor, the first in the history of the State” (p. 169). The combination of the tight labor market created by the large number of men in military uniform and the rapidly rising prices of the war economy prompted the formation of labor unions as workers struggled to mitigate the difficult financial situation in which they found themselves at this time. This thorough overview of Wisconsin labor during the decade of the Civil War is well worth the effort to locate a copy!Another edition: Merk, Frederick. The Labor Movement in Wisconsin During the Civil War. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1915. [167]-191 p. (Separate (State Historical Society of Wisconsin); no. 162) Reprinted “From the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1914, …,” p. 168-191.
  2. Meyer, Stephen. “Stalin Over Wisconsin”: The Making and the Unmaking of Militant Unionism, 1900-1950. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press; 1992. 263 p. (Cantor, Milton and Laurie, Bruce. Class and culture).
    Notes: The story of the workers and their union at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Corporation from 1900 to 1950 is eloquently explained here. The company, located in West Allis, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee), was one of the largest employers in Wisconsin and specialized in a wide variety of metal and electrical manufacturing (from small electric motors to large steam engines, from tractors to artillery shell casings); the union, United Auto Workers Local 248, played a significant role in the Milwaukee and Wisconsin labor movement as well as nationally within the UAW. The author analyzes the process by which the employees built up the strength of the union at the job through the principles of industrial unionism and how the forces of power were able to tear it apart with the red-baiting tactics of the McCarthy period.
  3. —. “Technology and the Workplace: Skilled and Production Workers at Allis-Chalmers, 1900-1941”. Technology and Culture. 1988; 29(4):839-864.
  1. Mikkelsen, Robert. “The Social Democratic Party of Milwaukee, Wisconsin: A Study of Ethnic Compostion and Political Development”. 1976: 161 leaves.Notes: This paper considers various elements which contributed to the strength of the Social Democratic Party of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from its creation on July 9, 1897, sparked by a speech by the Eugene V. Debs, the leading socialist in the United States, and then discusses the party’s growth over the next decade or so, followed by its decline during the period of World War I through 1924.The author–a scholar from Oslo, Norway–argues that the widespread ethnic homogeneity of the working class in Milwaukee had more to do with the relatively long success of the Social Democratic Party there, than did “the specific German cultural and political heritage of Milwaukee’s working class” (p. 1) and is persuaded that elsewhere much more “heterogeneous ethnic communities making up the urban working class in most American cities acted as channels for the integration of these elements into the associational and parliamentary political system of the nation” (p. 1).A copy is available in the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (see call number JK2391.S58/M54)
  2. Miller, Eugene. “Leo Krzycki–Polish American Labor Leader”. Polish American Studies. 1976 Autumn; 33(2):[52]-64.Notes: Leo Krzycki was born in 1881 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and made his home there his entire life, while rising to national prominence as a talented, effective union organizer in the garment industry and serving as a vice-president with Sidney Hillman’s Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (A.C.W.A.). This article discusses Krzycki’s entire life and career from his early recollections of the 1886 Bay View Massacre (part of the national struggle in the movement to win an eight-hour work day) through his death on January 22, 1966.Krzycki’s first union involvement began, when at age fifteen “he led a group of young press tenders out on an unsuccessful strike at a local lithography plant” (p. 53). After a period of having been blacklisted as a result of that strike, he eventually returned to lithography work in Milwaukee and from 1904 until 1908 was general vice-president of the Lithographic Press Feeders Union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor. His work with the A.C.W.A. began in 1910 and lasted until his retirement in 1948. His formidable oratorical skills were frequently used in the organizing campaigns of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, especially in their steel, automobile, rubber, and packing house drives. In addition, Krzycki several times served as a representative of American labor at international labor conferences.
  3. Miller, Harold L. “The American Bureau of Industrial Research and the Origins of the ‘Wisconsin School’ of Labor History”. Labor History. 1984; 25(2):165-188.
  4. Miller, Harold L. “Labor Records at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin”. Labor History. 1982; 23(4):546-552.
  5. Miller, Sally M. “Milwaukee: Of Ethnicity and Labor” . IN: Stave, Bruce M., editor. Socialism and the Cities. Port Washington, N.Y.: National University Publications/Kennikat Press; 1975; pp. p. 41-71.
  6. —. Victor Berger and the Promise of Constructive Socialism, 1910-1920. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1973. 275 p. (Contributions in American History; no. 24).
    Notes: Reviewed: Haney, Richard C. (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History Spring 1974 57(3):234-235.
  7. Miller, Spencer Jr. “Summer Schools for Workers”. American Federationist: Official Magazine of the American Federation of Labor. 1925 Jul; 32:569-571.
  8. Muzik, Edward John. “Victor Berger, Congress, and the Red Scare in Wisconsin”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1964 Summer.

Notes: Source: Holter’s “Wisconsin and American Labor History: An Annotated Bibliography,” p. 3.

  1. Muzik, Edward John. “Victor L. Berger, A Biography”; 1960.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 1960. 486 p. Victor Berger (1860-1929), a Milwaukee journalist was an important labor leader and socialist politician, including serving as the first Socialist member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911-1913. After Congress prevented him from taking the Congressional seat to which he had been elected in 1918 and again in 1919, he won his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and then went on to serve a second time in the U.S. House of Representatives (from 1923 to 1929). For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, 21/05, p. 1027-A, July 1967.
  2. Nelson, Daniel. “Origins of Unemployment Insurance in Wisconsin”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1967 Winter-1968 Winter; 51(2):109-121.Notes: Explains how Wisconsin in 1932 became the first state in the union to pass an unemployment insurance act. Unemployment and accident insurance was well-known in Great Britain and other parts of Europe by beginning of the 1900s and Wisconsin labor leaders began introducing similar legislative bills as early as 1905, eventually winning in 1911 the creation of a state Industrial Commission to enforce the state’s labor laws. John R. Commons, the influential University of Wisconsin professor, was appointed to a term on the new commission and he soon became very involved in trying to find a workable, long-term solution to unemployment and workplace accidents. Commons’ coalition of progressive academic colleagues both in Wisconsin and nationally gave speeches, did research, issued reports and put on conferences to build momentum. As early as 1919 leaders of the Wisconsin labor movement began working closely with the university reformers to accomplish their joint legislative goals. This article goes into considerable detail about the coalition of interest groups which formed around this issue and the legislative techniques they used to finally win the campaign in 1932.
  3. Nesbit, Robert C. “Making a Living in Wisconsin, 1873-1893”. Wisconsin Magazine of History . 1986 Summer; 69(4):250-283.Notes: “Editors’ Note: By courtesy of Robert C. Nesbit, and of William F. Thompson, general editor of the six-volume series, we are pleased to present this excerpt from Nesbit’s recently published book, The History of Wisconsin. Volume III: Urbanization and Industrialization, 1873-1893. This article represents most of Chapter 5 of the 712-page volume, …”
  4. Neuenschwander, John A. Kenosha County in the Twentieth Century: A Topical History. N.p. : Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1976. 516 p.Notes: An especially thorough treatment for a volume of local history, this overview look at Kenosha County uses economic and social history to document life in the area during the first part of the twentieth century, especially from 1890 through the 1930s. Equal consideration is given to three major elements affecting Kenosha County’s development: the people of the area; the economy of the area; and, the social organizations and institutions of the area. There is much here of interest throughout the chapters regarding workers and different sectors of the local economy, but especially worthwhile are John W. Bailey’s substantial chapter, “Labor’s Fight for Security and Dignity” (p.223-274) and Jonathan W. Zophy’s welcome information about the county’s African American and Hispanic labor leaders (see p. 60-63 within his long chapter, “Invisible People: Blacks and Mexican-Americans).
  5. Nielsen, Marvin. Trains of the Twin Ports: Duluth-Superior in the 1950s Photo Archive. Frautschi, Dylan, editor. Hudson, Wis.: Iconografix; 1999. 126 p.Notes: Photographs of the trains of the railroads operating in the Twin Ports of Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, Minnesota during the 1950s; the six railroads included are the Soo Line; the Northern Pacific; the Great Northern; the Chicago & North Western; the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range; and the Milwaukee Road.
  6. Noyes, Edward. “White Opposition to Black Migration into Civil War Wisconsin”. Lincoln Herald. 1971;

73(3):181-193.

  1. Obach, Brian. “The Wisconsin Labor-Environmental Network: A Case Study of Coalition Formation Among Organized Labor and the Environmental Movement”. Organization and Environment. 1999 Mar; 12(1):45-74.
  2. Obreros Unidos. “The Migrant Workers Strike in Almond, Wisconsin”. In: William Kircher Papers, Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich.. 1966. Box 23, Folder 10.
  3. Olsenius, Richard and Zerby, Judy A. Wisconsin Travel Companion: A Guide to the History Along Wisconsin’s Highways. Andrews, Sona Karentz, Cartography by. Wayzata, Minn.: Bluestem Productions/Mijaz, Inc.; 1983. 327 p.
    Notes: Use this book to get a thumbnail sketch of the occupational and industrial pattern of over five hundred Wisconsin communities; the nineteen driving routes provided in this book criss-cross the entire state and tell us how each Wisconsin community along the way came into being and the important industries associated with it. The book is profusely illustrated with maps and photographs of the communities and the work and life of the people of the area, including over two hundred photographs alone from the iconographic collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
  4. Olson, Frederick I. “The Milwaukee Socialists, 1897-1941”; 1952.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1952. (American Doctoral Dissertations, W1952)
  5. Olson, Frederick I. “The Socialist Party and the Unions in Milwaukee”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1960; 44(2):110-116.Notes: “On April 19, 1960, when Frank P. Zeidler retired from the Milwaukee city hall, Socialist party members had occupied the mayor’s office for thirty-eight of the previous fifty years, making Milwaukee one of the most successful and durable examples of local Socialist party strength in the nation.”–p.110.
  6. Olson, Richard W. “An Isolated Survivor: Racine Labor”. IN: Pizzigati, Sam and Solowey, Fred J., editors. The New Labor Press: Journalism for a Changing Union Movement. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press (School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University); 1992; pp. 173-183.
    Notes: From the introduction: “Racine Labor is a community labor weekly now celebrating its first half-century of publication. Fifty years ago, weeklies like Racine Labor were commonplace. Yet today Racine Labor stands as an isolated survivor. Is Racine Labor a throwback to an era that can never be recreated or a living inspiration for a new era of community labor journalism? Former Racine Labor editor Richard Olson explores the history that can help answer that question.”–p.xvii.
  7. Oshinsky, David M. “Labor’s Cold War: The CIO and the Communists”. In: Griffith, Robert and Theoharis, Athan, editors. The Specter: Original Essays on American Anti-Communism and the Origins of McCarthyism. New York: Franklin-Watts; 1974; p. [116]-151.
    Notes: This essay sets the national context of McCarthyism within which the struggles were played out of United Auto Workers Local 248 (located in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee).Another edition: Griffith, Robert and Athan Theoharis. The Specter: Original Essays on the Cold War and the Origins of McCarthyism. New York: New Viewpoints, 1974. 368 p. ISBN: 053106493X (pbk.)
  8. Oshinsky, David M. Senator Joseph McCarthy and the American Labor Movement. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press; 1976. 206 p.Notes: A revision of his thesis (Ph.D.)–Brandeis University, 1971. A close look at Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957), the controversial U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1947 to 1957, and how his policies impacted on the U.S. labor movement, including the specific situation in Wisconsin.”Part of Chapter 8 appeared as “Wisconsin Labor and the Campaign of 1952′ in Wisconsin Magazine of History 56:2 (Winter 1972-1973):9-18. Part of Chapter 6 was included in ‘Labor’s Cold War: The CIO and the Communists’ in The Specter: Original Essays on American Anti-Communism and the Origins of McCarthyism (New York: Franklin-Watts, 1974).”–title page verso.
  1. —. “Wisconsin Labor and the Campaign of 1952”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1972; 56(2):109-118.
  2. 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.
  3. Ozanne, Robert W. “The Effects of Communist Leadership on American Trade Unions”; 1954. Notes: Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1954. 329 leaves. (American Doctoral Disserations, W1954.)This dissertation consists of two major divisions. Part I (p. 1-184) is an overview of the “Effects of Communist Leadership on American Trade Unions” nationally. In his first chapter Ozanne reviews what he characterizes as a well-established pattern throughout U.S. history of various reform groups distracting the American labor movement from the unions’ primary mission of ‘bread and butter unionism’ which he defines as “a term used to designate the attempts to improve the living standards of the workers within the existing economic system as differentiated from movements which seek improvement by abolishing the wage system through development of producer cooperatives or state ownership as in socialism or communism or such other reforms” (p. 4); among such reform groups he includes the women’s suffrage movement, the Knights of Labor, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the political movement of socialism. In his second chapter he provides in more depth “An Evaluation of Communist Leadership of American Trade Unions” during the period from 1934 to 1953 and argues that any union leaders found to adhere to the tenets of communism would have to be subordinating the interests of their union’s members to the “necessity of following the twists of the Soviet foreign policy” (p. 99). In his third chapter, Ozanne analyzes the “Techniques of Communist Control in Unions” at both the local union level and the international union level and relies heavily on testimony at Congressional hearings held in 1952 by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities, as well as similar hearings of the period held before various other Congressional committees.Finally, in Part II (p. 185-324) Ozanne turns his attention to a Wisconsin local union and provides a “Study of Local 248 UAW-CIO 1937-1947: A Case Study of a Communist-Led Local Union”. United Auto Workers Local 248, the union at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Corporation in West Allis, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee) was the largest local union in Wisconsin, important both for the leadership role it had within the Milwaukee labor movement as well as the impact it had nationally within the United Auto Workers international union. Ozanne spends the next five chapters describing UAW Local 248’s collective bargaining, grievance handling, and local union administration. Throughout these chapters he characterizes the local’s leadership as “Communist leadership” and spends considerable time giving his assessment of how these political sentiments of the local’s leadership affected the essential activities of the local union and its members, conceding that the leadership of UAW Local 248 remained faithful to trade union principles and often went against the wishes of the Communist Party. Ozanne’s overall conclusion in this section is that the “vulnerability of Communist leadership invites employer attacks” (p. 253) and unnecessarily weakens a union which has such leaders. In his conclusion to the dissertation as a whole, Ozanne further surmises that “Communist leadership” of a local union will generally have to be eventually rejected by the union members they represent because “their political and propaganda activities are an affront to the patriotism of the American worker” (p. 321). For an assessment of Ozanne’s interpretation of this period in UAW Local 248’s history, be sure to see Steve Meyer’s book, “Stalin Over Wisconsin”: The Making and Unmaking of Militant Unionism, 1900-1950 (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992), p. 13-14. Two strikes by UAW Local 248 against the Allis-Chalmers company are discussed by Ozanne in some detail. One strike was over the issue of union security, brought about by an organizing drive by the rival American Federation of Labor; this was a national news story as it occurred during World War II (from January 22 to April 7, 1941) resulting in national concern that the critically-needed generators and propulsion machinery for a number of naval vessels being built for the war effort would be delayed. The other strike occurred from April 29, 1946 to March 23, 1947 and was set off when the company unilaterally withdrew the maintenance of membership agreement which the local union had won from the War Labor Board in 1943; during this strike the company was able to use anti-communist hysteria to viciously smear the leadership of UAW Local 248 in the local press.
  1. —. The Labor Movement in Wisconsin: A History. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1984. 290 p.Notes: A general history of the development of the labor union movement in Wisconsin from the 1840s almost up to 1980; special note is made of a seventy-page section devoted to the unions of Wisconsin’s paper-making industry and also a section on “Blacks and the Labor Movement” (p. 161-165).Reviewed: Dubofsky, Melvyn (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History, v. 69, no. 1 (Autumn 1985), p. 69-70. Reviewed: Zieger, Robert H. (reviewer). American Historical Review, v. 90, no. 5 (December 1985), p. 1288-1289.
  2. —. The Negro in the Farm Equipment and Construction Machinery Industries. Elsa Kemp, With the assistance of. Philadelphia, Pa.: Industrial Research Unit, Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania; distributed by University of Pennsylvania Press; [1972]. 115 p. (The Racial Policies of American Industry; report no. 26).Notes: Two Wisconsin companies and the unions representing their workers are featured in this study: United Auto Workers Local 180 at the J.I. Case company in Racine, Wisconsin, and United Auto Workers Local 248 at the Allis-Chalmers company in West Allis, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee).
  3. Padway, Joseph A. Handbook on the Wisconsin Labor Relations Act. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin State Federation of Labor; 1937. ???
  4. 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.
  5. Paul, Barbara Dotts and Paul, Justus F. Wisconsin History: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1999. 428 p. (Bailey, Alvin R. Jr. Bibliographies of the States of the United States; no. 8).
    Notes: Many of the items described in this well-indexed and extensive bibliography will be of interest to those looking for labor history–especially see under “Commerce and industry”, “Labor and labor laws”, “Labor strikes”, and “Manufacturing”. Books, articles, dissertations and theses are included, but the following are omitted: works of fiction; books written for a juvenile audience; most government documents; most newspaper stories; genealogical works; most personal reminiscences and memoirs; audiovisual materials, databases and internet sites.Reviewed: Stevens, Michael E. (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History 83:4 (Summer 2000), p.282-283.
  1. Pearson, Betty Boedeker. “Harvesting Hands: A History of Door County Cherry Pickers, 1920-1960”. Voyageur: Northeast Wisconsin’s Historical Review. 2007; 24(1):p.18-27.
  2. Penn, Larry . Gone to the Doggerel: Songs That Didn’t Work. Milwaukee, Wis.: Cookie Man Music Co.; 1999. 48 p.Notes: Almost thirty pieces–some poems and some unfinished songs–are in this collection by one of Wisconsin’s labor troubadors; included is “A Pile of Big Blue,” a poem about the tragic deaths of three Iron Workers Local 8 members (Jerome Starr, 52; Jeffrey Wischer, 40; and, William DeGrave, 39), who all died when a construction crane collapsed on July 14, 1999 while lifting a 450-ton roof piece during the construction of the new Milwaukee Brewers baseball stadium.
  3. Penn, Larry, composer. The Whiskey’s Gone [compact disc]. Milwaukee, Wis.: Cookie Man Music Co.; 1995. 1 compact disc; 4-3/4 inches; (CM-92).Notes: A truly wonderful CD by one of Wisconsin’s labor troubadors! Available from Cookie Man Music Co., 3955 South First Place, Milwaukee, WI 53207; telephone: 414/483-7306; URL: http://www.execpc.com/~cookeman/.CONTENTS: “The Whiskey’s Gone”. — “Put Your Arms Around Me Babe”. — “Biffs Riff”. — “Old Time Aeroplanes”. — “Mabelo”. — “I’m a Little Cookie”. — “Maquiladoras”. — “Take It the Way It Comes”. — “On My Grandma’s Patchwork Quilt”. — “Why Don’t a Tow Truck Haul Toes”. –“Rondinellies Castle”. — “A Little Piece of the ‘Q'”. — “Gypsy Nocturne”. — “It’s Time To Go”.
  4. Penn, Larry and Holter, Darryl. Stickin’ With the Union: Songs From Wisconsin Labor History[audiorecording]. Silver Spring, Md.: Produced for Collector Records by Cookie Man Music Co.; 1989 1 sound cassette (37 min.) : analog, 1-7/8 ips ; 3-7/8 x 2 1/2 in. + 1 booklet ([32] p.)(. Collector Records; 1948-C).Notes: A fine collection of labor songs performed by Larry Penn, one of Wisconsin’s labor troubadours, and Darryl Holter, former president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society. The substantial and well-illustrated accompanying booklet explains the historical connection of each song, many of which are about a specific Wisconsin event or a labor issue which affected workers and labor unions in Wisconsin. Copies are still available from: Cookie Man Music Co., 3955 South First Place, Milwaukee, WI 53207; telephone: 414/483-7306; URL: http:www.execpc.com/~cookeman/.CONTENTS: Side A. “Fifty Years Ago” (Joe Glazer)–“Babies in the Mill” (Dorsey Dixon)–“Ghosts of Bay View” (Larry Penn)–“Saturday Night” (Darryl Holter)–“Frozen in Time” (Larry Penn)–“So Long Partner” (Larry Penn)–“Willie the Scab” (Larry Penn)–“Which Side Are You On?” (Florence Reece; additional lyrics by Darryl Holter). Side B. “Cowboy Days” (Larry Penn & Traditional)–“The Wreck of the Carl D. Bradley” (Larry Penn)–“Love and the Shorter Work Week” (Darryl Holter)–“Putting the Blame” (Tom Juravich)–“So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya” (Woody Guthrie; additional lyrics by Darryl Holter)–“Union Maid” (Woody Guthrie).”Fifty Years Ago” is about the founding of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in Madison, Wisconsin.

    “Babies in the Mill” was written in 1950 and is about child labor in textile mills and was included here because of the significant growth of child labor in the modern economy.

    “The Ghosts of Bay View” is about the 1886 Bay View Massacre when the Wisconsin National Guard fired into a group of workers marching in a parade in support of the Eight-Hour Day in Bay View, a neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; at least seven were killed (six men and one boy)–still to this day Wisconsin’s bloodiest labor dispute.

    “Saturday Night” is about a 1902 strike of workers at papermills up and down the Fox River Valley in Wisconsin to win Saturday nights off.

    “Frozen in Time” is about the 1913 Italian Hall Tragedy in Calumet, Michigan when 72 people–mostly children–died in a stampede when someone created a panic by yelling “fire” in a second-floor room where a Christmas party for the children of striking copper miners was being held. The Calumet strike was lost, but, when those who were involved moved on, the memory of the tragedy of Italian Hall inspired them to carry on the union struggle in their new communities.

    “So Long Partner” was written in honor of Fred Wright, the great labor cartoonist who worked for the United Electrical Workers International Union (UE); Wright’s 1975 book of the same title is a classic collection of labor cartoons. This wonderful song effectively captures the bosses’ ploy to wring all possible concessions from their employees and then dump the employees when it suits the bosses’ greed.

    “Willie the Scab” is about the scabs during 1987-89 strike by members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local P-40 at the Patrick Cudahy meatpacking plant in Cudahy, Wisconsin.

    “Which Side Are You On?” was originally written for a strike of mine workers and became a classic song of the U.S. labor movement; additional lyrics here adapt it to the long and bitter union struggles at the Kohler Company in Kohler, Wisconsin in the 1930s and 1950s.

    “Cowboy Days” is about the life of a truck driver working as an over-the-road mover.

    “The Wreck of the Carl D. Bradley” is about the November 1952 shipwreck on Lake Michigan of one of the largest boats operating at that time on the Great Lakes.

    “Love and the Shorter Work Week” is a wonderfully fun song effectively capturing how the workers of “new economy” of the late 1980s struggled with work schedules and jobs designed without taking human elements into consideration.

    “Putting the Blame” explains how manufacturing workers were unfairly blamed during the Reagan recession of the 1980s for the ugly shutdowns of their factories; the song ends by identifying the real culprit of the plant closures.

“So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Ya (Rustbowl Version)” was adapted from Woody Guthrie’s classic song about people during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s; the re-written verses by Darryl Holter eloquently tell the story of the abandoned manufacturing communities of the “rustbowl” states like Wisconsin.

“Union Maid” is another rousing classic labor song by Woody Guthrie.

283. —. Stickin’ With the Union: Songs From Wisconsin Labor History

. Milwaukee, Wis.: Produced for the Wisconsin Labor History Society by Cookie Man Music Co.; 2005 1 sound disc (39 min., 51 sec.) : digital ; 4-3/4 in. + 1 booklet ([32] p.)(; “C-M~LHS ; Originally released on cassette as Collector Records #1948-C”–back of CD-ROM sleeve). ISBN: 0-9663267-1-7 ; 9780966326710.

Notes: A fine collection of labor songs performed by Larry Penn, one of Wisconsin’s labor troubadours, and Darryl Holter, former president of the Wisconsin Labor History Society. The substantial and well-illustrated accompanying booklet explains the historical connection of each song, many of which are about a specific Wisconsin event or a labor issue which affected workers and labor unions in Wisconsin. Copies sold of this CD version of Stickin’ with the Union benefit the Special Legacy Fund of the Wisconsin Labor History Society and may be ordered via the society’s website at www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org or by e-mailing info@wisconsinlaborhistory.org.

CONTENTS: “Fifty Years Ago” (Joe Glazer)–“Babies in the Mill” (Dorsey Dixon)–“Ghosts of Bay View” (Larry Penn)–“Saturday Night” (Darryl Holter)–“Frozen in Time” (Larry Penn)–“So Long Partner” (Larry Penn)–“Willie the Scab” (Larry Penn)–“Which Side Are You On?” (Florence Reece; additional lyrics by Darryl Holter)–“Cowboy Days” (Larry Penn & Traditional)–“The Wreck of the Carl D. Bradley” (Larry Penn)–“Love and the Shorter Work Week” (Darryl Holter)–“Putting the Blame” (Tom Juravich)–“So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya” (Woody Guthrie; additional lyrics by Darryl Holter)–“Union Maid” (Woody Guthrie).

“Fifty Years Ago” is about the founding of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in Madison, Wisconsin.

“Babies in the Mill” was written in 1950 and is about child labor in textile mills and was included here because of the significant growth of child labor in the modern economy.

“The Ghosts of Bay View” is about the 1886 Bay View Massacre when the Wisconsin National Guard fired into a group of workers marching in a parade in support of the Eight-Hour Day in Bay

View, a neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; at least seven were killed (six men and one boy)–still to this day Wisconsin’s bloodiest labor dispute.

“Saturday Night” is about a 1902 strike of workers at papermills up and down the Fox River Valley in Wisconsin to win Saturday nights off.

“Frozen in Time” is about the 1913 Italian Hall Tragedy in Calumet, Michigan when 72 people–mostly children–died in a stampede when someone created a panic by yelling “fire” in a second-floor room where a Christmas party for the children of striking copper miners was being held. The Calumet strike was lost, but, when those who were involved moved on, the memory of the tragedy of Italian Hall inspired them to carry on the union struggle in their new communities.

“So Long Partner” was written in honor of Fred Wright, the great labor cartoonist who worked for the United Electrical Workers International Union (UE); Wright’s 1975 book of the same title is a classic collection of labor cartoons. This wonderful song effectively captures the bosses’ ploy to wring all possible concessions from their employees and then dump the employees when it suits the bosses’ greed.

“Willie the Scab” is about the scabs during 1987-89 strike by members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local P-40 at the Patrick Cudahy meatpacking plant in Cudahy, Wisconsin.

“Which Side Are You On?” was originally written for a strike of mine workers and became a classic song of the U.S. labor movement; additional lyrics here adapt it to the long and bitter union struggles at the Kohler Company in Kohler, Wisconsin in the 1930s and 1950s.

“Cowboy Days” is about the life of a truck driver working as an over-the-road mover.

“The Wreck of the Carl D. Bradley” is about the November 1952 shipwreck on Lake Michigan of one of the largest boats operating at that time on the Great Lakes.

“Love and the Shorter Work Week” is a wonderfully fun song effectively capturing how the workers of “new economy” of the late 1980s struggled with work schedules and jobs designed without taking human elements into consideration.

“Putting the Blame” explains how manufacturing workers were unfairly blamed during the Reagan recession of the 1980s for the ugly shutdowns of their factories; the song ends by identifying the real culprit of the plant closures.

“So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Ya (Rustbowl Version)” was adapted from Woody Guthrie’s classic song about people during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s; the re-written verses by Darryl Holter eloquently tell the story of the abandoned manufacturing communities of the “rustbowl” states like Wisconsin.

“Union Maid” is another rousing classic labor song by Woody Guthrie.

  1. Perlman, Selig. “History of Socialism in Milwaukee (1893-1910)”; 1910 .Notes: B.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1910. 48 p.
    A copy is available both in paper and on microfilm in the library of the State Historical Societyof Wisconsin (see call numbers at Pamplet Collection 73-1507 and at Microfilm P35872/N12983)
  2. Perry, Charles F. “The Milwaukee School of Trades”. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 1909(January-June); 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.
  3. Pesotta, Rose. Bread Upon the Waters. Edited by, John Nicholas Beffel. New York: Dodd, Mead; 1944. 435 p.Notes: See p. 183-190 for Pesotta’s autobiographical account of organizing female cotton dress workers with International Ladies Garment Workers Union (I.L.G.W.U.) Local 188 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1935. Pesotta, a well-known U.S. woman labor organizer, also comments upon an I.L.G.W.U. strike in Racine, Wisconsin by female rainwear workers against the Chicago Rubber Company.Another edition: Pesotta, Rose; edited by John Nicholas Beffel. Bread Upon the Waters. Ithaca, N.Y.: I.L.R. Press, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, 1987. This reprint added a section of photographs and an introduction by Ann Schofield.
  1. —. “Organizing Garment Workers”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsion: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 147-150. Notes: Reproduces from her autobiography, Bread Upon the Waters, the portions about her organizing experience in Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin, on behalf of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
  2. Peterson, Walter Fritiof. An Industrial Heritge: Allis-Chalmers Corporation. Webber [i.e., Weber C. Edward, With an epilogue by. Milwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee County Historical Society; 1976. 407 p. Notes: Well-documented and illustrated with high-quality photographs throughout, this volume is packed with details about the operation of this important Milwaukee manufacturing company, including a great deal regarding the working conditions of its employees during the corporation’s long history.The book’s foreword explains that, although the editorial director for this book was the manager of the Allis-Chalmers News Bureau, this work is based on original research by Alberta Price Johnson, a Wauwatosa, Wisconsin high school teacher, whose “investigations culminated in five typed volumes entitled Mill Stones to Atom Smashers, detailing the origins and development of Allis Chalmers during the periods 1847-1870, 1870-1900, and 1941-1945.” Walter F. Peterson “subsequently wrote a volume covering the period 1901-1941” and later “synthesized this material into a single narrative which appears as the first ten chapters of this book.” C. Edward Weber prepared the eleventh section (identified as the “epilogue”) to bring the corporation’s history up to 1976, when the Milwaukee County Historical Society published the volume as part of the bicentennial celebration of the American Revolution.Another edition: Peterson, Walter Fritiof; with an epilogue by C. Edward Weber. An Industrial Heritage: Allis-Chalmers Corporation. Milwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee County Historical Society, 1978. 448 p.Reviewed: Norris, James D. (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History Winter 1979/80 63(2):154-155.
  3. Petran, Tabitha. “Leo Krzycki: Fifty Years a Servant of the People”. Slavic American. 1947 Fall; ???
  4. Petro, Sylvester. The Kohler Strike: Union Violence and Administrative Law. Chicago, Ill.: Henry Regnery Company; 1961. 118 p.Notes: This title, from a publisher well-known as specializing in books of a conservative viewpoint, tells management’s view of the second major strike (from 1954 to 1960) at the Kohler Company in Kohler, Wisconsin; in fact, it’s not difficult to imagine the company president giving out complimentary copies of it. The author focuses on a major ruling issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in August 1960 which favored United Auto Workers Local 833, the union representing the Kohler employees, and attacks the conclusions of that decision. He argues that the National Labor Relations Act should be amended and the NLRB abolished because they lead the federal government to tolerate violence by unions and encourage labor leaders to excesses, that they place unfair requirements on employers, and that all labor law cases should be heard in state and local courts, certainly not in federal administrative bodies like the NLRB.
  5. Piech, Roman. “The Wisconsin Milk Strike of 1933”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 118-119.
    Notes: Excerpted from an academic paper written in 1935 for the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin, here are the reminiscences of a member of the National Guard about his Wisconsin unit being called out to confront farmers outside of Shawano, Wisconsin during the 1933 milk strike of Wisconsin farmers.
  6. Pifer, Richard L. A City At War: Milwaukee Labor During World War II. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press; 2003. 210 p.Notes: How Milwaukee workers and their families shared in the homefront efforts to win the war, while continuing to make use of labor relations for the future to come after the war’s conclusion.
  1. —. “A Social History of the Home Front: Milwaukee Labor During World War II”; 1983.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1983. 515 p. The role of workers and labor unions on the homefront in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during World War II is examined. While labor fully supported the war effort and tried to balance the needs of its movement with the needs of the nation, the author found that workers and their unions fought to maintain their ability to effectively represent their union members in the workplace and in their community and that the traditional techniques of the labor movement continued to be used throughout the duration of the war as a counterbalance to the power of the corporations. For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, 1984, 45(1): 279-A.
  2. Provinzano, James. “Chicano Migrant Farm Workers in a Rural Wisconsin County”; 1971.
    Notes: Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1971. 154 p. An anthropological look at the social structure networks among the Chicano migrant farm workers in a large, rural, central Wisconsin county, which is only identified as “Centre County” in this dissertation. One can speculate, however, that Portage County, Wisconsin, is the county involved here because the migrant farm workers studied were almost exclusively involved with harvesting cucumbers for many nearby canneries and were involved with organizing into a labor union at the time the author was doing his research. For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International, 1972, 32/08, p. 4374-B.
  3. Pumroy, Eric L. and Rampelmann, Katja. Research Guide to the Turner Movement in the United States. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1996. 358 p. (Bibliographies and Indexes in American History; no. 33).
    Notes: A German-American social institution found throughout the United States, the Turner societies combined athletics and physical education with cultural, civic, and political activities, being closely associated throughout most of the movement’s history with support for socialism and trade unionism. Begun in Germany in 1811, the Turner movement was brought to the United States during the mid-nineteenth century, when many Germans with socialist beliefs fled Germany after the unsuccessful democratic Revolution of 1848. Assimilation, however, led the movement’s national body to gradually switch over by the 1930s from their historic use of German in conducting their affairs to the widespread use of English and, finally, in 1948 to adopt for the governing body a new set of guiding principles emphasizing a general support for liberty and equality, rather than calling for implementation of a particular political program.This research guide is a union list describing where copies can be found of the publications and organizational records of the Turner movement in the United States. A twenty-page bibliography of the major books, articles, and academic theses about the Turner movement in the United States is included, as well as a thorough index enabling one to easily locate all the Wisconsin-related items contained throughout the guide.To identify the thirty-seven Wisconsin communities where a Turner society has been active, consult the “List of Turner Societies” found in Appendix I (p. 289-328) of this reference book; this useful list provides the exact names under which the society operated in each of the Wisconsin cities, the beginning and ending dates for each of those Wisconsin societies, and mentions any organizational changes of note. The four remaining active Turner societies in Wisconsin will be found in Madison, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Watertown.
  4. Putz, George J. The Shawano Paper Mill, Centennial, 1894-1994. Shawano, Wis.: Little Rapids Corporation (Route 3, county Hwy. MM, P.O. Box 437, Shawano, Wisconsin 54166-0437); 1994. 106 p.
  5. Rajer, Anton and Style, Christine. Public Sculpture in Wisconsin: An Atlas of Outdoor Monuments, Memorials and Masterpieces in the Badger State. Madison, Wis.: SOS! Save Outdoor Sculpture, Wisconsin ; Fine Arts Conservation Services; 1999. 156 p.
    Notes: “A collection of essays and an atlas of outdoor monuments, memorials, and masterpieces in Wisconsin, including traditional statuary, veterans monuments, church grotto art, self-taught visionary environments, chainsaw carving, fiberglass creations, Native American effigy mounds, government and corporate public sculpture, and the commissioning, maintenance and conservation of outdoor public sculpture.”–title page verso.Wisconsin contains over seven hundred outdoor sculptures and many commemorate workers involved in different types of industry and livelihoods and this profusely-illustrated, over-sized inventory volume will enable you to identify and visit most of them. In order to make it easy to identify what there is to see in each area, the authors have divided the state into six regions (Milwaukee and five broader areas); within each of the areas the sculptures are then listed first by county within the region and then by city within each county, except for Milwaukee which is arranged by sections within the city. A photograph and the exact address of its location is provided for each sculpture.Some examples of work-related outdoor sculpture to be found around the state: “Memorial to Commercial Fishermen” in Bayfield, Wisconsin; “Seamen of the Great Lakes Monument” on Barker’s Island in Superior, Wisconsin; “The River Rafter” in Merrill, Wisconsin; “Morzenti Memorial” [in honor of area miners] in Montreal, Wisconsin; “Lumberjack” in Ladysmith, Wisconsin; “First Northern Loggers” in Green Bay, Wisconsin; “Log Sawing” in Shawano, Wisconsin; “Letter Carriers’ Sculpture” in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and “On Watch” [in honor of police and firefighters] in northwest Milwaukee, Wisconsin.An unfortunate omission, however, is the Wisconsin Workers Memorial in the Carl Zeidler Park in downtown Milwaukee (at Michigan Street and North Fourth Street); this public art project, a collaboration between the Milwaukee Labor Council and the Wisconsin Labor History Society, is a memorial to worker occupational health and safety and consists of a series of decorative chains and bollards displaying informational signs along the park walkways leading up to a gazebo containing design elements drawn from the work tools of all kinds of occupations.
  6. Rasmussen, Susanna. “A Silent Legacy: Understanding My Grandmother’s Refusal to Testify Before HUAC in 1955”. Illumination: the Undergraduate Journal of Humanities [University of Wisconsin-Madison]. 2005 Spring; 29-35.Notes: In this initial issue of this new periodical, the granddaughter of Darina Rasmussen explores her grandmother’s refusal to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1955. At the time that she was called to testify before HUAC, Darina Rasmussen was a secretary and receptionist in the Milwaukee office of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America’ later, she was one of the founders of the Wisconsin Labor History Society and of the Wisconsin Slovak Historical Society.
  1. Rector, Stanley. “Unemployment Compensation Act”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1936 Feb; ???
  2. Rees, Jonathan. “Caught in the Middle: The Seizure and Occupation of the Cudahy Brothers Company, 1944-1945”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1995 Spring; 78(3):200-218.
    Notes: During World War II, the U.S. federal government played an increased role in the collective bargaining relationship between employers and employees, in order to assure that there were no breaks in production identified as necessary for the war effort. One such intervention involved the Cudahy Brothers Company meatpacking plant in Cudahy, Wisconsin (a small town just south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin) and the United Packinghouse Workers of America Local 40, a union affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). This interesting article details just one instance of many in which the U.S. government could not rely exclusively on the voluntary compliance of some individual businessowners with the nation’s wartime production policies and found that it had to seize a company in order to ensure continued production essential to the war effort.With national labor leaders having made a “no-strike” pledge when the U.S. entered the war, the federal government in return undertook for the duration of the war “a series of government concessions involving organizing and contract enforcement” (p. 205). The Cudahy Brothers Company objected to such protections and from the first resisted the government’s war labor provisions through legal manuvers. Finally, on December 8, 1944, the U.S. Army (as authorized by the U.S. Secretary of War) took possession of the entire operation of the Cudahy Brothers Company and then continued to oversee the company’s running of the plant until August 31, 1945, just two days before the official surrender of the Japanese. The immediate dispute which led to the government seizure involved two key contract proposals–one for language regarding a maintenance-of-membership agreement and the other for language providing for a dues checkoff system; although these were standard components in the government-supervised agreements during the Second World War, Michael Cudahy, president of the company, refused to sign a contract containing those provisions.
  1. 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.
  2. Reuss, Henry J. “Thirty Years of the Safe Place Statute”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1940 May; ???
  3. Rice, Mary Kellogg. Useful Work for Unskilled Women: A Unique Milwaukee WPA Project. Supported by the Leslie T. Bruhnke Fund, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the Milwaukee Idea Fund University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeMilwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee County Historical Society; 2003. 136 p.Notes: Documents the life and scope of the Milwaukee Works Progress Administration (WPA) Handicraft Project, which at one time provided employment for a high of thirteen hundred fifty employees and ran for seven years beginning in the summer of 1935 and ending in February 1943. The project’s local sponsor was the Milwaukee State Teachers College; a member of their faculty, Elsa Ulbricht, served as the director of the Handicraft Project. Well-illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, all areas included in the project are covered, including: woodworking of both toys and furniture; doll making; design and production of theater costumes; bookbinding; textile printing; weaving; and, rug making.Reviewed: Kersten, Andrew (reviewer). Voyageur , v. 21, no. 2 (Winter/Spring 2005), p. 64.
  1. Rice, William Gorham Jr. “The Wisconsin Labor Relations Act in 1937”. Wisconsin Law Review . 1938; (???).
  2. Rich, Stuart M. “Railroad Shops and Car Building in Fond du Lac”. Railroad History. 1976 Fall; (no. 135):5-33.Notes: Beginning with construction in 1851 of the first railroad to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, this article traces how the Fond du Lac area (including North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin) developed into an important center for railroad car building and repair shops. Factors influencing the development of these shops included Fond du Lac being the second largest city in Wisconsin in 1870 (after Milwaukee), the ample timber supply in northern Wisconsin, the resultant experience of the local labor supply with sawmills and wood manufacturing, and the running through Fond du Lac from the early 1880s up until the mid-1960s of all three of Wisconsin’s major railroad lines–the Chicago and North Western, the Milwaukee Road, and the Wisconsin Central (later the Soo Line).The Chicago and North Western repair shop operation in Fond du Lac was established in July 1851 by the Rock River Valley Union Railroad, a predecessor of the Chicago and North Western. By 1866 this repair shop had expanded into a major railway car building operation (known as the “Van Brunt works”) where many thousands of freight cars and passenger cars were built, including many for the Pullman Palace Car Company. Unfortunately, the Van Brunt works closed in July 1876, when the Chicago and North Western moved the car building shop to a new spot west of Chicago.In the late 1890s both the Wisconsin Central and the Chicago and North Western shifted and expanded their repair shop operations somewhat north of Fond du Lac, thereby creating the city of North Fond du Lac, when the railroad workers moved to be close to their work. By the early 1900s both the Wisconsin Central and the Chicago and North Western also decided to use the Fond du Lac area as a division point (the location of a railroad division headquarters).After World War II the railroad shops in North Fond du Lac had to make a lot of adjustments and the author carefully details those changes up to 1976 when this article was published: production of all-steel cars; less heavy car repair work; more light repair of cars, such as re-painting; more locomotive engine repair; repair of specialized vehicles, such as snow blowers for tracks; repair of brakes and wheels; cleaning of cars; making signs). But, to this day, both the Soo Line and the Chicago and North Western continue to operate repair shops in North Fond du Lac.Stuart Rich says that “prior to 1919, there had been no record of any serious labor strike at North Fond du Lac” (p. 17). In early August 1919, however, the railroad shop workers were involved in a strike over wages, in conjunction with a national strike of railroad shop workers. The only other strike mentioned involving the North Fond du Lac shop workers occurred as part of an important national strike of railroad shop workers during the summer and early fall of 1922 over proposed pay cuts and the abolition of shop crafts rules, which had just been established during World War I under the federal administration of the railroads.
  3. Rock, James M. “A Growth Industry: The Wisconsin Aluminum Cookware Industry, 1893-1920”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1971 Winter-1972 Winter; 55(2):87-99.
  4. Rock, James M. and Peckham, Brian W. “Recession, Depression, and War: The Wisconsin Aluminum Cookware Industry, 1920-1941”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1990 Spring; 73(3):202-233. Notes: This article discusses Wisconsin manufacturers of aluminum cookware and the challenges they faced as the industry developed from 1920 to 1941. A few paragraphs (p. 223-224) describe union organizing efforts in the industry in Wisconsin during the 1930s; three unions are mentioned: the Aluminum Workers Union, the International Association of Machinists, and the United Automobile Workers. At least half of the illustrations in the article show working conditions in the factories.
  5. Rodrigues, Marc Simon. “Cristaleno Consciousness: Mexican-American Activism beween Crystal City, Texas, and Wisconsin, 1963-80”. In: Mansbridge, Jane and Morris, Aldon, editors. Oppositional Consciousness: The Subjective Roots of Social Protest. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press; 2001; pp. 146-169.Notes: This article looks at how Texas Mexican migrant farm workers from the area around Crystal City, Texas, who came every year to Wisconsin for seasonal agricultural work, were influenced by the “oppositional consciousness” traditions of the Wisconsin labor movement.
  1. Rodriguez, Marc S. “Migrants and Citizens: Mexican American Migrant Workers and the War on Poverty in an American City”. IN: Rodriguez, Marc S., editor. Repositioning North American Migration History: New Directions in Modern Continental Migration, Citizenship, and Community. Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press; 2004; pp. 328-351.
  2. Rodriguez, Marc Simon. “Obreros Unidos: Migration, Migrant Farm Worker Activism, and the Chicano Movement in Wisconsin and Texas, 1950-1980”; 2000.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 2000. 326 p.
  3. —. “Obreros Unidos: Migration, Migrant Farm Worker Activism, and the Chicano Movement in Wisconsin and Texas, 1950–1980”; 2001.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Northwestern University, 2001. 326 p. [Available at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, in their book collection, at call number HD5856.W6/R63/2000]; OCLC 46705831.
  4. Ross, Edward A. “Freedom of Communication and the Struggle for Right”. Survey. 1915 Jan 9; 33:405. Notes: “The president of the University of Wisconsin stating that employers are flouting civil rights with lavish use of club and cell. IWW workers have real grievances.”–Miles’ Something in Common: An IWW Bibliography (1986), p. 267, Item 2560.
  5. Salas, Jesus. “Reflections on Urban Life”. IN: Wisniewski, Richard. Teaching About Life in the City. Washington, D.C.: National Council for the Social Studies; 1972; pp. 61-73.
    Notes: Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 218.
  6. Salas, Jesus and Giffey, David. Lucha por la justicia: Movimiento de los trabajadores migrantes en Wisconsin = Struggle for Justice: The Migrant Farm Worker Labor Movement in Wisconsin. David Giffey, Photos by. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Labor History Society; 1998. 15 p.
    Notes: Accompanying booklet for a travelling photo exhibit about Obreros Unidos, a migrant farm worker union active during the 1960s in Wisconsin’s Waushara, Marquette and Portage counties; booklet text in Spanish and English. Contact David Giffey (Arena, WI) or the Wisconsin Labor History Society (Milwaukee, WI) to arrange to show the exhibit.
  7. Sanders, Bill. The Sanders Book: Selected Political Cartoons. [Milwaukee, Wisc.?]: The Milwaukee Journal; 1978. 216 p.Notes: Editorial cartoons originally published in the daily newspaper, The Milwaukee Journal, from 1967 to 1979 by the newspaper’s staff cartoonist, including an April 29, 1974 cartoon about the 1974 Hortonville teachers’ strike (see p. 154).
  8. Schlueter, Hermann. The Brewing Industry and the Brewery Workers’ Movement in America. New York: Burt Franklin; 1970. 331 p. (Burt Franklin: research and source works series, 611; Burt Franklin: history, economics and social science, 204).
    Notes: An overview volume of the brewing industry in the United States and Canada from its earliest days during the colonial period up to 1910, when the volume was originally published by the International Union of United Brewery Workmen of America and the history of the development of this union. The author has taken care to provide sufficient context to show how technical and economic developments within the industry in the United States affected strategies used by brewery owners and the unionization advocates among the employees of the industry.Because no index was provided in this work, here are noted the pages where discussion about Milwaukee will be found: p. 50, 53, 73, 75, 126, 134, 141 (in table), 146-149, 163, 165, 172-173, 177, 179-182, 184, 186, and 265-266.Another edition: Schlueter, Hermann. The Brewing Industry and the Brewery Workers’ Movement in America. America, 1910. 331 p.
    Cincinnati, Oh.: International Union of United Brewery Workmen of
    Another edition: Schlueter, Hermann. Brau-Industrie und Brauarbeiter-Bewegung in Amerika. Cincinnati, Oh.: Internationaler Verband der Ver. Brauerei-Arbeiter von Amerika, 1910. 327 p.
  1. Schmidt, Gertrude. “History of Labor Legislation in Wisconsin”; 1933.
    Notes: Ph.D thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1933. 418 p. (American Doctoral Dissertations, S0262).
  2. Schmidt, Lester Frederick. “The Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation: The Study of a ‘United Front’ Movement Among Wisconsin Liberals, 1934-1941”; 1954.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1954. 418 p. (American Doctoral Dissertations, W1955).
  3. Schneider, John D. Out in the Darkness: The Story of the Great Oshkosh Woodworkers’ Strike of 1898. [Oshkosh, Wis.]: s.n.; [1998]. 86 p.Notes: A play “based on the work of Virginia Crane, Lee Baxandahl, and Inky Yungwirth”–cover; premiere performance on May 1-3, 1998 by the Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Community Players at the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; see WLHS Newsletter (Winter 1998-99) for excerpts of a review written by James I. Metz, Oshkosh historian and retired editorial page editor of the Oshkosh Northwestern; a copy of the play is available from the Winnefox Library System (see OCLC #42758729).
  4. Schneider, John D. and Theatre X. “The Line: The 1987-1989 Strike at the Patrick Cudahy Meat Packing Company”. Milwaukee, Wis.: Theatre X; 1996. 103 leaves .Notes: A play; a copy of the play is available from the Milwaukee County Federated Library System (see OCLC #35817513).
  5. School for Workers. University of Wisconsin-Extension. The Birth of the School for WorkersMadison, Wis.: 2005.
  6. School for Workers, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Working in Wisconsin: A Labor History[videorecording]. Madison, Wis.: [1980-1988???].Notes: Source: Holter’s “Wisconsin and American Labor History: an Annotated Bibliography,” p. 5.
  7. Schwartzman, Eva Jacobs. “Collective Bargaining–Designation of Unit and Representative: Comparison of National and Wisconsin Acts”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1942 Mar; ???
  8. —. “Free Speech and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Act”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1943 Mar; ???
  9. 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).

  1. Severson, Donald E. “A History of the Eau Claire Rubber Workers’ Struggle for Collective Bargaining, 1915-1938”; 1979.Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, 1979. 95 p.
  2. Shannon, Lyle W. “False Assumptions About the Determinants of Mexican-American and Negro Economic Absorption”. Sociology Quarterly. 1975; 16(1):3-15.
  3. Shannon, Lyle W. and McKim, Judith L. “Attitudes Toward Education and the Absorption of Immigrant Mexican-Americans and Negroes in Racine”. Education and Urban Society. 1974 May; 6(3):333-354.
  4. —. “Mexican American, Negro, and Anglo Improvement in Labor Force Status Between 1960 and 1970 in a Midwestern Community”. Social Science Quarterly. 1974 Jun; 55(1):91-111.
    Notes: See Sociological Abstracts, item 75H6026 for an abstract of this article.
  5. Shapiro, Eli. Credit Union Development in Wisconsin. New York: Columbia University Press; 1947. 174 p. (Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University. Studies in History, Economics and Public Law; 525).
    Notes: Undertaken to analyze the overall operation of credit unions as one of the four principal cash credit lenders at the time in the United States (the others being personal finance companies, personal loan departments of commerical banks, and industrial banking companies), this study focused on Wisconsin because the state had a “credit union movement of sufficient magnitude to permit some generalizations” for the field as a whole. At the time of the study, Wisconsin “ranked first among all states in the number of [credit unions] (18.2) per 100,000 of total population” (p. 19) with a total of 563 credit unions, compared to 8,224 for the entire United States (p.33); all of Wisconsin’s credit unions had been chartered under the state charter, rather than federal charters, because credit unions in Wisconsin were also allowed to issue real estate loans (p.30), whereas those with a federal charter could not. The first credit union was formed in Wisconsin in 1923 for “the municipal employees in Milwaukee” (p. 37) under newly-modified statutory language passed that year by the Wisconsin legislature, leading to a total number by 1931 of 52 Wisconsin credit unions. Further amendments made in 1931 to the Wisconsin statute governing credit unions encouraged their rapid development through “the appointment of a credit union organizer attached to the Building and Loan Division of the Banking Department” of the Wisconsin state government (p.38), leading to a two-and-a-half times increase in the number of credit unions in the state during the following year alone. Of the 563 credit unions in Wisconsin at the end of 1939, fully 81 percent were comprised of employees of a “common employer” (p. 19).
  6. Shapiro, Ruth. “Milwaukee Public Library”. IN: Oko, Dorothy Kuhn and Downey, Bernard F., compilers. Library Service to Labor. New York: Scarecrow Press; 1963; pp. 281-286.Notes: Here is a case study describing the exemplary service provided, since the beginning of the 1920s, by the Milwaukee Public Library to the labor portion of its constituency. By working with the area’s central labor body, the library provided reading and informational services to labor union members and leaders; book exhibits, special circulating collections, and book lists were among the methods commonly utilized. Librarians from the Milwaukee Public Library regularly attended meetings of Milwaukee’s central labor body, as well as local labor classes, and created special displays for one-time events, such as labor conferences. In addition to ensuring that the library purchased books of interest to labor, the Milwaukee Public Library collected “all labor periodicals, pamphlets and newspapers published in Wisconsin, as well as periodical publications of approximately 25 international unions” (p. 283). All these services were done through the library’s Department of Group Service, which also oversaw service to other groups in the community, such as businesses and religious organizations.
  1. Sherman, Frederick E. and Loeffler, David. “Universities, Unions, and the Rule of Law: The Teaching Assistants Association at Wisconsin”. Wisconsin Law Review. 1971; 199-201 ???
  2. 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.
  3. Simon, Walter. “Historical Sketch of Wisconsin Apprenticeship”. Bulletin (Wisconsin Industrial Commission). 1948 Jan 1; no. 35:???
  4. Sipress, Joel. “Superior’s Labor History Hall of Fame: A Century of Labor’s Struggles Told in the Stories of Five Leaders”. IN: Germanson, Kenneth A., editor. Workers in Wisconsin History: Commemorating the Contributions and Acknowledging the Struggles of Working People Toward Making Wisconsin a Great State, A Labor History Sesquicentennial Project of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Education and Training Center, Inc. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Education and Training Center, Inc.; n.d. [1999]; pp. 21-23.
  5. Slater, Joseph E. Public Workers: Government Employee Unions, the Law, and the State, 1900-1962. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press (Cornell University Press); 2004. 260 p.
    Notes: See Chapter 6, “Wisconsin’s Public Sector Labor Laws of 1959 and 1962” p. [158]-192, which details the struggle waged by the Wisconsin Council of County and Municipal Employees (WCCME) to win the nation’s first collective bargaining law to cover state employees.
  6. Smith, Mowry Jr. and Clark, Giles. One Third Crew, One Third Boat, One Third Luck: The Menasha Corporation (Menasha Wooden Ware Company) Story, 1849-1974. Neenah, Wis.: Menasha Corp.; 1974. 177 p.
    Notes: The history of the Menasha Corporation is traced from a small company, The Pail Factory, established in 1849 in Menasha, Wisconsin to its growth into a nationally-known wood products firm with plant operations throughout the United States and with sales of $991,000,000 in the year 2000. The same family has operated the business since 1852 when the company was purchased by Elisha D. Smith, the great-grandfather of Mowry Smith, Jr., one of the two authors of this book.The Pail Factory in Menasha failed during the financial Panic of 1873 and the business was re-incorporated in 1875 as the Menasha Wooden Ware Company, producing a variety of wooden products, including pails, tubs, barrels, broom handles, clothespins, and washboards. Until 1900 the company used timber mostly from Wisconsin, but thereafter the company also used lumber from its holdings in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and later from Washington state, Oregon and Idaho.In 1915 the company’s Menasha plant was made up of over fifty buildings on sixty-five acres and required 27,000,000 feet of timber each year, with up to seventy-five percent of the lumber still coming from the company’s timber holdings in northern Wisconsin. By 1921 the Menasha Wooden Ware Company was supplying about sixty percent (4,500,000) of the wooden tub market in the country. In 1926 the Menasha Wooden Ware Company was re-formed into two companies, theMenasha Wooden Ware Company (as a personal holding company) and the Menasha Wooden Ware Corporation (for the manufacturing business). The company, throughout its history, adapted to changing circumstances by phasing out products as times changed and bringing in new products with market potential (corrugated containers, 1927; wood flour, 1929; handles for pots and pans, etc., 1929; toy furniture, 1929; juvenile furniture, 1934; paperboard, 1939; adult furniture, 1942; plywood, 1948; plastics, 1955; papermill machinery, 1969; plastic pallets, 1973). Finally, in 1962 the name of the Menasha Wooden Ware Corporation was shortened to the Menasha Corporation to reflect that the company had expanded beyond only wooden products. Due to a major fire on July 17, 1964 which destroyed the company’s longtime Menasha headquarters plant, the company chose to re-locate to nearby Neenah, Wisconsin, where more space was available.

    The authors briefly note that the company’s first major labor confrontation was a labor strike in 1934 over the issue of whether seniority would be calculated separately for each department within the plant or on a plant-wide basis, as a leader of the company wished. Because Smith and Clark merely note that the strike was “settled on June 30, 1934, resulting in the installation of three American Federation of Labor unions” (p. 84) without mentioning even the names of the three unions involved or other pertinent details about the strike, one would have to conclude that there must have been something more to this dispute than is explained here. One photograph from the 1934 strike is included.

  1. Sofchalk, Donald G. “Ohl, Henry, Jr.”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; pp. 446-447.
  2. —. “Weber, Frank Joseph”. IN: Fink, Gary M., editor-in-chief. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Rev. ed. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press; 1984; p. 577.
  3. 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.
  4. South Central Federation of Labor (Madison, Wisconsin. Building a City, Building a Movement: A History of the Madison Federation of Labor Madison, Wis.: South Central Federation of Labor; 1???
  5. 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.
  1. 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.
  2. Stevens, John D. “War Hysteria and the Wobblies”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; p. 61. Notes: Briefly describes the activities throughout Wisconsin of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) for the period from about 1911 through 1919, as well the harassment I.W.W. members faced in Wisconsin (including Milwaukee being among the thirty-three U.S. cities in which I.W.W. offices were raided by agents of the U.S. Justice Department on September 5, 1917). In Wisconsin the I.W.W.’s strength was in lumber camps, shipping docks, and mining camps; some specific Wisconsin locations where the I.W.W. led strikes during this period are mentioned, including the 1911 and 1916 strikes on the docks of Superior, Wisconsin. From “War Hysteria and the Wobblies,” in The Badger State: A Documentary History of Wisconsin, edited by Barbara and Justus Paul (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1979, c1978).
  3. Stevens, Michael E. Women Remember the War, 1941-1945. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1993. 157 p. (Voices of the Wisconsin Past.
  4. Stockley, Julian L. “‘Red Purge’: The 1946-1947 Strike at Allis-Chalmers”. Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. 1988; 76:17-31.Notes: Although some previous writers have maintained that during an eleven-month strike from April 29, 1946 to March 23, 1947 there was Communist influence among the leadership of United Auto Workers Local 248 at the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Corporation in West Allis, Wisconsin (a suburb of Milwaukee), the author here reviews the record and concludes that “a careful study of the evidence indicates that the charges are unproven and that the company only used them to avoid negotiating a legitimate contractual agreement” (p. 17).
  5. Swichkow, Louis J. “Memoirs of a Milwaukee Labor Zionist”. Michael: On the History of the Jews in the Diaspora [Israel]. 1975; (3):125-151.Notes: America: History and Life, 17A:5650
  6. Taber, Gladys. A Star to Steer By: A Novel. 1st ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Macrae-Smith-Company; 1938. 285 p.Notes: The main characters in this novel, set in a Wisconsin mill town, are the mill owner and his family; the story’s major conflict features a labor organizer and a strike by the mill workers. Taber was raised in Appleton, Wisconsin. This novel is mentioned in Neufeld’s A Representative Bibliography of American Labor History (1964). Published in England as Steadfast Star (London: Methuen, 1940).Reviewed: Booklist 35:158 January 1, 1939. Reviewed: Bell, Lisle (reviewer). Books p. 40 November 13, 1938 (350 words; +). Reviewed: Boston Transcript p. 2 December 31, 1938 (320 words). Reviewed: New York Times p. 20 November 6, 1938 (150 words; +). Reviewed: Sequel:
    Bell, Lisle (reviewer). Books p.11 February 6, 1938 (70 words). Reviewed: Dean, Charlotte (reviewer). New York Times p. 20 February 6, 1938 [sic] (180 words).
  1. Trotter, Joe W. Jr. “African American Workers and the Labor Movement in Milwaukee, 1870-1930”. IN: Holter, Darryl, editor. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 93-95.
    Notes: The author of the groundbreaking book, Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915-1945 (University of Illinois, 1985), here provides a perceptive overview of African-Americans’ experience as part of the labor movement in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during the period from 1870 to 1930. His comments were made at the Wisconsin Labor History Society Conference on April 22, 1989, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  2. Trotter, Joe William Jr. Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915-45. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 1985. 302 p. ( Blacks in the New World.
    Notes: A revision of the author’s thesis (Ph.D.)–University of Minnesota. An impressive work of original scholarship.Reviewed: Gelber, Steven M. (reviewer). American Historical Review, v. 90, no. 5 (December 1985), p. 1288. Reviewed: Crew, Spencer (reviewer). Journal of American History, v. 74, no. 2 (September 1987), p. 543-544. Reviewed: Horton, James Oliver (reviewer). Journal of Social History, v.20 (Winter 1986), p. 388-390. Reviewed: Kusmer, Kenneth L. (reviewer), “Urban Black History at the Crossroads” [a review essay of new works by five authors]. Journal of Urban History, v. 13, no. 4 (August 1987), p. 460-470. Reviewed: Grossman, James R. (reviewer). Reviews in American History, v. 14, no. 2 (June 1986), p. 226-232. Reviewed: Gerber, David A. (reviewer). Social History = Histoire Sociale, v.19 [no. 38] (November 1986), p. 500-502.Another edition: Trotter, Joe William, Jr. Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915-45. Illini Books ed. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1988, c1985. 302 p. (Blacks in the New World) ISBN: 0252060350 (pbk.)
  3.  —. Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915-45. 2nd ed. With essays by Joe William Trotter, Jr. William P. Jones Earl Lewis Alison Isenberg Kimberley L. PhillipsUrbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press; 2007. liv, 368 p.Notes: Based up the author’s thesis (Ph.D.)–University of Minnesota. An impressive work of original scholarship.Appendixes 2 through 6 present data from the twelfth through sixteenth decennial censuses of the United States regarding the occupations of Milwaukee’s African American population from 1900 through 1940.
    New material consisting of five essays have been added as an epilogue for this second edition of a fine work–see at the end of the contents note below for details of this new material.
    CONTENTS: Prologue: The Antebellum and Civil War Roots of Milwaukee’s Black Community. — Part One, Introduction: Chapter 1, Common Laborers and Domestic and Personal Service Workers in an Industrializing Economy, 1870-1914. — Part Two, Process and Significance of Proletarianization, 1915-32: Chapter 2, Migration, Industrial Jobs, and Housing, 1915-32; Chapter 3, Emergence of the New Middle Class; Chapter 4, Race Relations, Politics, and Institutions. — Part Three, Depression, World War II, and the Precarious Nature of Black Urban-Industrial Working Class Formation, 1933-45: Chapter 5, Depression, World War II, and the Struggle for Fair Employment in Defense Industries, 1933-45; Chapter 6, Race, Class, and Politics during the Depression and World War II; Chapter 7, Proletarianization of Afro-Americans in Milwaukee, 1915-45, a Comparative Perspective. — Appendixes: 1, Occupations of Milwaukee Blacks, 1880; 2, Black Occupations in Milwaukee, 1900; 3, Selected Black Occupations in Milwaukee, 1910; 4, Black Occupations in Milwaukee, 1920; 5, Black Occupations in Milwaukee, 1930; 6, Black Occupations in Milwaukee, 1940; 7, Afro-American Urban History: a Critique of the Literature. — Epilogue: Reflections on African American Life in Late Twentieth-Century Milwaukee. — “State of the Field” / Joe William Trotter, Jr., p. [311]- 318. — “Race and Class in

    Wisconsin Library Bulletin 35:15 January 1939.
    This Is For Always (Philadelphia, Pa.: Macrae Smith Company, 1938). 256 p.
    Reviewed:
    Urban History” / William P. Jones, p. [319]-321. — “How Black Milwaukee Forever Changed the Study of African American Urban History” / Earl Lewis, p. [322]-326. — “Transcending Ghetto Boundaries” / Alison Isenberg, p. [327]-337. — “Black Milwaukee, African American Migration Studies, and Recent U.S. Labor History” / Kimberley L. Phillips, p. [338]-345.

  4. —. “The Making of an Industrial Proletariat: Black Milwaukee, 1915-1945”; 1980. Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Minnesota, 1980. 2 volumes (563 leaves).
  5. 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).
  6. United States. House of Representatives. Committee on Un-American Activities. Annual Report for the Year 1955. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office; 1956. 48 p. ??
    Notes: “Contents include investigation of Community Party activities in … Milwaukee [Wisconsin], etc.”–Bolerium Books’ Want System for “Labor–American,” SKU: 128098.
  7. United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Great Lakes Region. Guide to Records in the National Archives–Great Lakes Region. Longacre, Glenn and Malan, Nancy, compilers. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration; 1996. 69 p. (Reference Information Paper; 96 ).Notes: This guide provides a description of over 60,000 cubic feet of federal records being held in Chicago, Illinois, by the Great Lakes Region office of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (N.A.R.A.); the records cover the period from 1800 to 1989 and were created or received by federal agencies, bureaus, or other administrative units (including the federal courts) in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio. These records contain a rich trove of information about labor in Wisconsin; see, for instance, the records pertaining to Wisconsin in Record Group 25, which covers the activities of the National Labor Relations Board or in Record Group 21, which covers the activities of the District Courts of the United States. The entries in this guide also identify any finding aids that are available for each of the record groups listed.Research rooms are available for the public’s use in consulting these records at the facility of the Great Lakes Region office of the N.A.R.A., but be sure to call or write ahead to ensure that the staff will be able to access the records for you when you get there; they may be reached by e-mail (archives@chicago.nara.gov), by telephone (773/581-7816), or in writing (National Archives–Great Lakes Region/7358 South Pulaski Road/Chicago, IL 60629).The most up-to-date version of this guide will be found at the following URL, www.archives.gov/facilities/il/chicago/holdings.html.
  8. United States. National Transportation Safety Board. Bureau of Accident Investigation. Marine Accident Report, SS Edmund Fitzgerald Sinking in Lake Superior, November 10, 1975. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Transportation Safety Board; 1978; PB-282 433. . 48 p. (Report – National Transportation Safety Board; NTSB-MAR-78-3).Notes: Here is the official report made by the Bureau of Accident Investigation of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) regarding the tragic sinking of the SS EDMUND FITZGERALD (a Great Lakes bulk cargo vessel) in eastern Lake Superior during a severe storm. The EDMUND FITZGERALD was carrying a cargo of taconite pellets from Superior, Wisconsin, to Detroit, Michigan, when it sank on November 10, 1975 at approximately 1915 (7:15 p.m.) Eastern Standard Time in position 46 degrees 59.9 minutes North, 85 degrees 06.6 minutes West (approximately seventeen miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay, Michigan); the officers and crew, numbering in total twenty-nine, all perished. This NTSB Marine Accident Report was adopted by the National Transportation Safety Board on May 4, 1978 and is based in large part upon a U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation which convened on November 18, 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio and which produced a report of well over twenty-four hundred pages.
    The NTSB investigation board concluded that “the probable cause of this accident was the sudden massive flooding of the cargo hold due to the collapse of one or more hatch covers” but, that prior to the hatch cover collapse, “flooding into the cargo hold through non-weathertight hatch covers caused a reduction of freeboard and a list” and that the “hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces imposed on the hatch covers by heavy boarding seas at this reduced freeboard and with the list caused the hatch covers to collapse” (p. [1]). A dissenting opinion (p. 44-48) filed by one member of the four-person investigation board instead concluded that, due to the heavy seas, the EDMUND FITZGERALD suffered severe damage to the boat’s hull at approximately 1530 (3:30 p.m.) Eastern Standard Time while going over a shallow charted spot of only six-fathoms (thirty-six feet) in depth, which is north and slightly west of Caribou Island during the very heavy seas caused by the storm and eventually sank from the flooding in the cargo hold due to the damage sustained from this “shoaling.”
    Based on its investigation of this accident, the NTSB made various recommendations to other entities for corrective actions to be taken, including nineteen recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard, four to the American Bureau of Shipping, and two recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This NTSB report includes details of the recommendations made by the NTSB and also states that the recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard will also be “published in the Federal Register” and, if “the Coast Guard does not accept some of these [NTSB] recommendations, the Coast Guard is required to set forth in detail the reasons for such refusal” (p. iii). Another useful feature of this report are the eight graphics, including drawings showing the debris field and how the pieces of the boat’s wreckage are lying on the bottom.
    “Report Number: NTSB-MAR-78-3”–title page.
    Another edition: Also available on the Internet through the website of the United States Coast Guard at URL
    http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/webshipwrecks/edmundfitzgeraldntsbreport.html.
    This web edition carries the following note:
    “The text and format of this report have been edited to allow for better presentation on the internet. The facts of the case and the findings remain unchanged.” Be wary, however, of citing text from the web version of this report, due to it having been scanned, rather than being provided using the Portable Document Format (PDF); when I compared the content of the paper version (as distributed in microfiche) with the scanned web version, I found a major scanning error in the web version in each section examined.
  1. University of Wisconsin–Platteville. Karrmann Library. Masters [sic] Theses and Seminar Papers of the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Universities: Cumulative Supplement. Platteville, Wis.: The Library; 1977-. microfiches .
    Notes: A subject index covering 1977 to the present; an update of their earlier title, Master’s Theses and Seminar Papers–U. W. Cluster Institutions, 1935-1976.
  2. University of Wisconsin–Platteville. Karrmann Library. Masters [sic] Theses and Seminar Papers–U. W. Cluster Institutions, 1935-1976. Platteville, Wis.: The Library; 1977-. microfiches .
    Notes: A subject index covering 1935 to 1976; continued by Masters [sic] Theses and Seminar Papers of the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Universities: Cumulative Supplement (which includes the indexing from 1977 to the present).
  3. Uphoff, Walter H. Kohler on Strike: Thirty Years of Conflict. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press; 1966. 449 p. Notes: The Kohler Company, the well-known maker of plumbing fixtures, and its company town of Kohler, Wisconsin (located in Sheboygan County) were the focus of two long and bitter strikes from 1934 to 1941 and from 1954 to 1960. This history takes a carefully-documented look at the issues involved in prompting the strikes and why the dispute dragged on for such lengthy periods. Eventually, the labor conflict, perhaps the longest in U.S. history, was only resolved in 1965 when the Kohler company, after losing its appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, agreed to a $3,000,000 back-pay settlement to the Kohler workers involved in the second strike, in return for their union dropping the unfair labor practice charges before the National Labor Relations Board which had been brought against the company.The Kohler labor conflict began soon after the passage in 1933 of the federal National Industrial Relations Act (N.I.R.A.), which was designed to make it easier for employees to win union representation; the N.I.R.A. was part of the “New Deal” legislation passed during the first one hundred days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first administration. Although the paternalistic Kohler Company was determined to continue to maintain their workplace as an open shop, the Kohler employees soon organized and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, receiving a charter in August 1933 as Federal Labor Union No. 18545 (F.L.U.) No. 18545. The Kohler company responded by assisting in the start-up on September 7, 1933 of a company union, the Kohler Workers Association (K.W.A.), and used delaying tactics over several months of talks with F.L.U. No. 18545 to prevent the union from achieving a contract with the company. On July 16, 1934, after much fruitless bargaining, F.L.U. No. 18545 went on strike. After eleven days on strike, there was a violent confrontation on the night of July 27, 1934 between the strikers and the many ‘Kohler Special Police’ deputies, who were armed with clubs and guns to defend the company. Forty-seven strikers were injured in the incident from either buckshot or bullets and two strikers were fatally shot; five women were among the injured. The strike carried on until 1941 when the Kohler company suddenly “settled” because the company wanted to participate in the government war contracts during the Second World War; the company knew that, if they wanted to put up the new facilitlies required to handle the expanded war work, they had to have labor peace at their workplace, since construction workers would not cross a union picket line to work on a construction project. Although the strike settlement included a provision to re-hire all of the striking employees, through the strategem of a secret proviso three of the strike leaders were kept from any further company employment; the settlement agreement also explicitly withheld recognition of any union to represent the Kohler workers and F.L.U. No. 18545 became inoperative.Between the two strikes the company union, the Kohler Workers Association, continued as an organization and did win some improvements in the workplace for the employees, but Kohler company officials were deciding most matters for the K.W.A. By the early 1950s the leadership of the K.W.A. began looking to affiliate with an independent union organization. The K.W.A. membership voted in late April 1952 to affiliate with the United Auto Workers-Congress of Industrial Organization (U.A.W.-C.I.O.) and received their charter as U.A.W.-C.I.O. Kohler Workers Association Local 833 on May 5, 1952; the legitimacy of the local was confirmed with an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board on June 10 and 11, 1952. Shortly thereafter, some members of the K.W.A. company union, who had opposed the U.A.W.-C.I.O. affiliation, formed a new company union, the Independent Union of Kohler Workers’ Association (I.U.K.W.A.), and filed a legal challenge to Local 833 having been given the treasury funds of the now defunct K.W.A., the original company union. After the I.U.K.W.A. lost its case about the membership funds before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the members of Local 833 voted on October 10, 1953 to modify its name to simply Kohler Local 833, U.A.W.-C.I.O., to reduce confusion with the I.U.K.W.A.By the end of February 1953, Local 833 had been able to get a first contract in place for the period covering March 1, 1953 to March 1, 1954. Negotiations for the second contract began in early February 1954, but fell apart a few weeks later over the issue of extending the old contract during the contract talks. On April 5, 1954, after working for five weeks without a contract, Local 833 went out on strike. No further summary here can possibly capture the riveting drama of the lengthy strike which ensued–find and read this book for the entire compelling story!

    Another edition: Uphoff, Walter Henry. Kohler on Strike: Thirty Years of Conflict. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1967. 450 p. (Beacon Paperback ; BP 274)

  4. Uphoff, Walter Henry. The Kohler Strike: Its Socio-Economic Causes and Effects. [Milwaukee, Wis.]: Priv. print. [Cuneo press]; 1935. 139 p.
    Notes: Revised from an academic thesis, this is a sociological study which, according to its introduction (p. 1), is based on a survey of “the attitudes, opinions and prejudices among the various economic and professional groups” involved with the 1934 Kohler strike as well as on interviews with “people of the community.” The author also says that he made “this intensive study of one strike to show the various social and economic forces in operation, since similar tactics, strategy and methods are resorted to wherever the failure of collective bargaining leads to a strike.” The book’s preface is by Henry Ohl, Jr., then president of the Wisconsin Federation of Labor.Reviewed: Kipp, Marjorie (reviewer). The Kenosha Labor, v. 1, no. 15 (Friday, February 7, 1936), editorial page (p. [6]).
  1. Usher, Ellis Baker. The Greenback Movement of 1875-1884 and Wisconsin’s Part in It. Milwaukee, Wis.: E. B. Usher; 1911. 92 p. ???Notes: [recommended by Edwin Witte, “Labor in Wisconsin History,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, v. 35, no. 2 (Winter 1951), p. 83]
  2. Valdes, Dennis Nodin. Al Norte: Agricultural Workers in the Great Lakes Region, 1917-1970. 1st ed. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press; 1991. 305 p. (Mexican American Monographs; no. 13). Notes: A social history of Latino migrant farmworkers, including their efforts to form labor organizations, throughout the upper Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin) from their entry into the region during World War I up to 1970.
  3. Van Ells, Mark D. “More Than a Union: The Teaching Assistants Association and Its 1970 Strike Against the University of Wisconsin”. Michigan Historical Review. 1999 Spring; 25(1):[103]-124.
  4. Van Ells, Mark David. “‘Twenty Years of Schooling and They Put You on the Day Shift’: Student Worker Labor Organizing at the University of Wisconsin, 1966-1972”; 1992.
    Notes: M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992. 119 p.
  5. Voelker, Keith Emery. “Financial Incentive Plans for Clerical Employes [sic]”; 1964.
    Notes: M.S. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1964. 167 leaves. In conjunction with the National Office Management Association (N.O.M.A.), a survey was conducted by the Center for Productivity Motivation of the School of Commerce at the University of Wisconsin to ascertain “the prevalence of clerical incentive plans in the United States and the effectiveness of such plans in practice” (p. 80). Financial incentives were divided into three categories: those financial incentives available to the individual clerical employee at the firm, based on that individual’s own work performance; those available to each clerical employee within a small group of the clerical employees at the firm, based on the work performance of their own small group; and, those available to the entire group of clerical employees at a firm, based on the financial performance of their firm as a whole. The study reports on the over-all experience of the 648 responding firms with the use of incentive systems for clerical work. A key finding of the study was that almost thirty-five percent of the businesses reported use of some form of financial incentive for clerical work. Copies of the survey developed for this study were distributed to all members of forty-five randomly-selected N.O.M.A. chapters, with each N.O.M.A. chapter representing a wide range of types and sizes of business firms. The Madison, Wisconsin N.O.M.A. chapter was included among the randomly-selected group and sixteen of the chapter’s 108 members completed and returned the surveys. As is typical of this type of survey, however, none of the survey’s responses are reported by city or state. The complete text of the survey developed for this study is included here in an appendix.
  6.  —. “The History of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers From 1906 to 1929: A Case Study of Industrial Unionism Before the Great Depression”; 1969.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1969. 401 leaves. Voelker has provided an organizational history here of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (I.B.P.S.P.M.W.) for the period from 1906 to 1929. At various times during this period, the I.B.P.S.P.M.W. had union locals in nine Wisconsin cities: Green Bay, Kaukauna, and Appleton (all on the Fox River); Oconto Falls (on the Oconto River); Marinette (on the Menominee River); Shawano (on the Wolf River); and, Rhinelander, Port Edwards, and Nekoosa (all on the Wisconsin River). Only brief mentions are made of these Wisconsin locals in the body of this dissertation (on p. 67-68, 125, 128, 173, 253-254, and 358), and a few are only mentioned in the bibliographical footnote provided for a document cited by the author (on p. 118, 122, 179, 183, 186, 232, 300-301, 306, 350, and 379).
  1. Vollmar, William J. “The Negro in a Midwest Frontier City: Milwaukee, 1845-1870”; 1968. Notes: M.A. thesis, Marquette Unversity, 1968. 152 leaves.
  2. Vukelich, George. “Drawing the Face of Labor: The World of Workers Through a Cartoonist’s Eyes”. Isthmus [Madison, Wis.]. 1994 Jun 10; 13.Notes: A portrait of Madison cartoonist, Mike Konopacki, half of the Huck/Konopacki labor cartooning team.
  3. Wachman, Marvin. “History of the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897-1910”; 1942.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Illinois, 1942. 184 leaves. Cited in Anderson, Byron, ed., A Bibliography of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations on Milwaukee Topics, p. 100.
  4. —. “The History of the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897-1910”. Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences. 1945; 28(1):1-90.Notes: This very readable study, based on the author’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Illinois, looks at how the Social-Democratic Party came to dominate the local political scene in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during the period from primarily 1897 up through the Spring and Fall elections of 1910, when candidates of the party “gained complete control of the city and county, both in administrative and legislative capacities, and had elected a congressman in the person of their able guide, Victor L. Berger” (p. 72). Wachman details how the Milwaukee Socialists achieved their electoral successes by first securing the political support of the city’s trade unionists and then broadening their political constituency to the small business community as well. The author ably brings to life the thrill of electoral politics on the Milwaukee scene during this period when the two mainstream parties, the Democratics and the Republicans, were forced in Milwaukee to combine their electoral efforts and field just one ‘fusion’ candidate per office for whom the members of both their parties would vote in the elections, in order to overcome the voting strength and organization of the local Social-Democratic Party.The proud organizational history of the Milwaukee Socialists begins with Eugene V. Debs speaking in Milwaukee on July 9, 1897 at the formation of Branch One of a new national political party called the Social Democracy of America. Less than a year later in June 1898 in Chicago, however, during the first (and what was to be the only) national convention of the Social Democracy of America, the new organization was to be riven over a question of the major long-term strategy to be used by the organization to accomplish its goals. Within a few hours of losing a crucial convention vote, Eugene V. Debs and Victor Berger led many of the party delegates to another venue within the city and formed a new organization named the Social Democratic Party, which was to be dedicated to achieving its platform through political action at the ballot box, rather than through the creation of utopian social communities.The Milwaukee Socialists, up through the January 30, 1904 issue of their official publication, The Social Democratic Herald, did not use a hyphen between the words ‘Social’ and ‘Democratic’ in the name of their party or in reference to their party. With its next issue on February 6, 1904, however, the publication’s title was changed to The Social-Democratic Herald and the Milwaukee Socialists always thereafter referred to their organization as the Social-Democratic Party. Frederic Heath, who was the paper’s editor when the change in usage occurred, told Wachman “that the hyphen was added to de-emphasize the word ‘Social’ (p. 51, note 81).Another edition: Wachman, Marvin. The History of the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897-1910. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1945. 90 p. (Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences; v. 28, no. 1)
  5. Wagner, Dave and Buhle, Paul. “Worker Control and the News: The Madison, Wisconsin, Press Connection”. Radical America. 1980; 14(4):7-20.Notes: About the community newspaper published from 1978 to 1980 in Madison, Wis. by the workers on strike against Madison Newspapers, Inc. (MNI), the parent company which operates the two Madison daily newspapers, the Wisconsin State Journal and The Capital Times; MNI is owned by the out-of-state Gannett Company.
    Also listed in America: History and Life, 18A:8768 (but without an abstract).
  1. Wagner, Ralf. “Turner Societies and the Socialist Tradition”. IN: Keil, Hartmut, edited by. German Workers’ Culture in the United States, 1850 to 1920. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonia Institution Press; 1988; pp. 221-239.
    Notes: Contains a photo of the Milwaukee Turner Hall in 1864; discusses the Milwaukee Turner and free-thinker Carl Hermann Boppe; the Milwaukee-based Freidenker was selected in 1878 as the new organ of the national Turner Association.
  2. Walsh, Margaret. “The Manufacturing Frontier: Pioneer Industry in Antebellum Wisconsin, 1830-1860”; 1969.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1969. 2 volumes (564 leaves). In an impressive work of original research, Walsh explores the development of manufacturing in Wisconsin from 1830, when settlement by northern European immigrants increased dramatically, to 1860 just prior to the U.S. Civil War. The author provides a statewide survey of the subject, as well as extensive discussion regarding the economies of six Wisconsin counties, selected as being representative of the different development patterns in Wisconsin during the period. The profiled counties are Jefferson, Grant, Winnebago, Eau Claire, Racine, and Milwaukee; the examples they represent are drawn from agriculture, lumbering, and mining, in addition to both rural and urban settings. With the state’s plentiful raw materials and good natural transportation routes helping to create a strong manufacturing base, the author concludes that it was not surprising that by 1860 Wisconsin’s industrialization had achieved significance not only for the Midwest, but also for the nation as a

whole. The major primary sources used by the author included “the federal manuscript censuses for the state of Wisconsin, 1850 and 1860, schedule 5, products of industry, the Dun & Bradstreet handwritten commercial credit rating reports for Wisconsin, 1844-1865, and local newspapers … supplemented by manuscript business papers, agricultural and trade journals, city directories, reports of boards of trade and chambers of commerce and official state and federal government publications” (p. 538). For a fuller abstract, see Dissertation Abstracts International , 1970, 31/01, p. 348-A.

  1. —. The Manufacturing Frontier: Pioneer Industry in Antebellum Wisconsin, 1830-1860. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1972. 263 p.Notes: A revision of the author’s thesis (Ph.D.)–University of Wisconsin. Walsh explores the development of manufacturing in Wisconsin from 1830, when settlement by northern European immigrants increased dramatically, to 1860 just prior to the U.S. Civil War. The author provides a statewide survey of the subject, as well as extensive discussion regarding the economies of six Wisconsin counties, selected as being representative of the different development patterns in Wisconsin during the period. The profiled counties are Jefferson, Grant, Winnebago, Eau Claire, Racine, and Milwaukee; the examples they provide are drawn from agriculture, lumbering and mining, in addition to both rural and urban settings. With the state’s plentiful raw materials and good natural transportation routes helping to create a strong manufacturing base, the author concludes that it was not suprising that by 1860 Wisconsin’s industrialization had achieved significance not only for the Midwest, but also for the nation as a whole.This book won the D.C. Everest Prize in Wisconsin Economic History.
  2. Wells, Miriam June. “From Field to Foundry: Mexican American Adaptive Strategies in a Small Wisconsin Town”; 1975.Notes: Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1975. 343 p. Dissertation Abstracts International , 1976 36(9):6179-A.
  3. Wells, Robert W. Daylight in the Swamp! Madison, Wis.: Northword; 1984. 240 p.
    Notes: “A boisterous account of lumberjacks, lynchings, barroom brawls, madams & timber thieves in the wild northwoods of Wisconsin, Michigan & Minnesota”–front cover of paperback ed. Chapter VII, “Rivers of Pine,” is all about the huge rafts of pine logs being transported via rivers from northern Wisconsin where they had been harvested to the sawmill where they would be turned into lumber.

Reviewed: Sokolov, Raymond A. (reviewer). New York Times (March 19, 1978), section 7, p. 16. Reviewed: Kohlmeyer, Fred W. (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History v. 62 (Autumn 1978), p. 62-64.

  1. Wilke, Raymond G. “Selected Speeches of Frank P. Zeidler”; 1962.
    Notes: M. S. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1962. 174 leaves. Cited in Anderson, Byron, ed., A Bibliography of Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations on Milwaukee Topics, p. 100.Provides a rhetorical analysis of sixteen speeches given by former Milwaukee (Wisconsin) mayor, Frank P. Zeidler, the most recently-elected Socialist to win that position (in office, 1948-1960); the discussion explores Zeidler’s speeches given in his role as spokesman for the Socialist Party, as spokesman for the City of Milwaukee, as spokesman for municipal improvement and as spokesman for civil defense.The text of the speeches analyzed is provided in the thesis and includes the following speeches in the sections as indicated:
    [as spokesman for the Socialist Party]: “The Spirit of American Socialism,” July 22, 1952; Keynote Address to the National Convention of the Socialist Party, June 8, 1956. — [as spokesman for the City of Milwaukee]: Inaugural Address, April 20, 1948; Message to the Milwaukee Common Council, April 17, 1951; Message to the Milwaukee Common Council, April 19, 1955; Memorial Day Address, May 30, 1959; Greeting to Conference of the Civil Service Assembly, May 28, 1956; Speech to the Wisconsin CIO-AFL, July 24, 1958; Speech to the Knights of Pythias, Wisconsin Domain, August 4, 1958; Official Greeting to Guardian Council of Job’s Daughters, May 17, 1957; On the Occasion of 111th Birthday Anniversary of the City of Milwaukee, January 31, 1957; 1952 Mayoral Campaign Address, March 12, 1952; Televised Campaign Speech, March 4, 1956. — [as spokesman for Municipal Improvement]: “Don’t Fence Me In,” October 8, 1952; “Build Cities to Build Men,” June 13, 1957. — [as spokesman for Civil Defense]: “The Challenge to Effective Service During This Fifth Decade,” January 18, 1956.Also includes an appendix containing a copy of the sixteen-page pamphlet, Continue Progress in Good Government: A Chart for Better Government in the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area, prepared by the Public Enterprise Committee of Milwaukee County, December, 1955.
  2. Wilson, Nellie. “Nellie Wilson: A Black Woman Meets the Union”. IN: Holter, Darryl, editor. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 184-185.
    Notes: The on-the-job experiences of a pioneering African-American woman unionist, who was hired during World War II for defense work at the A.O. Smith plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Smith plant was represented by the United Steelworkers of America. Her comments were made at the Wisconsin Labor History Society Conference on April 22, 1989, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  3. 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.”

  1. Wisconsin. Department of Public Welfare. “Our Responsibility to Migratory Workers”. Wisconsin Welfare. 1953 Dec; XII:13-18.Notes: Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 252.
  2. Wisconsin Education Association Council. “The Hortonville Teachers’ Strike of 1974”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 240-243.
    Notes: An account of one of the bitterest strikes in the state’s history, the 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin strike by the public school teachers, represented by the Hortonville Education Association (H.E.A.), against the Hortonville Joint School District, which was represented by Melli, Walker and Pease, the Madison, Wisconsin law firm notorious for union-busting tactics. After working for five months past the expiration date of their contract and with negotiations for the new contract at a protracted stalemate, the teachers went out on strike beginning March 18, 1974. On April 2, the school district terminated all of the striking teachers and re-opened the schools with “replacement teachers” on April 8; many of these scabs quit after only one day on the job.Although the H.E.A possessed evidence that many of the scabs were not licensed to teach in Wisconsin and appealed to the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Barbara Thompson, to enforce state law and cut off all state school aids to the school for each day of violation, this was not

done. Due to the hundreds of teachers from outside the area, who came to Hortonville to support the strikers, some community members formed the Hortonville Vigilante Association to counter the teachers’ picket line. In August the H.E.A., an affiliate of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, filed a class action lawsuit against the school district on several grounds; the case went all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where the teachers won, but then lost on appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. Wisconsin law was subsequently amended, however, to provide for an effective binding mediation-arbitration process to assist in resolution of impasses during public employee bargaining. Even today the state’s political picture is influenced by which side people were on of this labor dispute! [The account in Holter’s book is from “The Hortonville Teachers’ Strike, 1974,” a publication of the Wisconsin Education Association Council.]

  1. Wisconsin Extension Homemakers Council. Taste Wisconsin History: Oral History Cookbook Reader. Hargraves, Priscilla Georgia Hoberg and Betty Pipkorn, eds. River Falls, Wis.: River Falls Journal; 1987. viii, 92 p.
    Notes: “From an oral history project of the Wisconsin Extension Homemakers Council, Inc., to commemorate their 50th anniversary, 1940-1990”–title page. The interviews forming the basis of this book were done between September 1983-June 1987 with the interviewees all being members of the Wisconsin Extension Homemakers; interspersed throughout the memories of the women are many recipes, all of which originally came from Wisconsin Extension Bulletins and Special Circulars, unless otherwise identified. Some of the stories told by the women pre-date the anniversary date of 1940 because there were some county councils created before the statewide council came into existence. An index of the interviewees’ county of origin is included; thirty-seven counties are represented among the interviewees.
  2. Wisconsin. Governor’s Commission on Human Rights. Education on the Move: Report of a 1960 and 1961 Demonstration Summer School for Migrant Children in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Madison, Wis.; 1960; [WI GoDocs #] GoMig.2:M3/1-2. 2 v.
    Notes: Source: Hispanics in Wisconsin: A Bibliography, p. 252.
  1. Wisconsin State Brewers Association. The Wisconsin Brewing Story. S.l.: Wisconsin State Brewers Association; n.d. [196?]. [66] p.Notes: Prepared as a lobbying tool to impress the reader with the extent of the impact of the brewing industry on the economy of Wisconsin (which at the time had more breweries than any other state), this work is valuable for the photograph included of each of the then current twenty-eight Wisconsin breweries, as well as photographs of thirty-two Wisconsin manufacturers of brewery supplies.
  2. Wisconsin State Employees Union, Council 24 American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. Recipes. Waseca, Minn.: Walter’s Publishing Company; 1986. 135 p.
  3. Wisconsin State Federation of Labor. Labor’s Rights Under the 1939 Wisconisn Labor Laws. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin State Federation of Labor; 1939? 11 p.Notes: Written and distributed by the Wisconsin Federation of Labor, this pamphlet discusses the new legal requirements for Wisconsin unions found in Chapters 25 and 57 of the Wisconsin Laws of 1939 and presents the position of the Wisconsin Federation of Labor’s views regarding the unconstitutionality of many of the provisions of the two new laws, which the federation intended to challenge in the courts. Chapter 25, known as the Catlin Bill, made amendments to Wisconsin’s Labor Code to greatly restrict the lawful instances in which pickets and picketing could be used in labor disagreements; while Chapter 57, known as the “Wisconsin Employment Peace Act,” essentially nullified passage of the “Wisconsin Labor Relations Act” passed just two years earlier. The Wisconsin Labor Relations Act, passed in 1937 by the previous Wisconsin Legislature, was also known as “Wisconsin’s Little Wagner Act” because its provisions were modeled on those the the federal government’s “National Labor Relations Act” of 1935 (known informally as the Wagner Act, in honor of its key sponsor, Sen. Robert F. Wagner, D-N.Y.)
  4. 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.
  5. Witte, Edwin E. “Labor in Wisconsin History”. Wisconsin Magazine of History. 1951; 35(2):83-86, 137-142. Notes: A overview article on how the labor movement developed in Wisconsin up to 1950; the author identifies existing written works on the highlights of that history and also discusses the important role which the ‘Wisconsin school of labor history’ played at the national level in the development of the labor studies field.
  6. 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).
  7. Wyman, Roger E. “Agrarian or Working-Class Radicalism? The Electoral Basis of Populism in Wisconsin”. Political Science Quarterly. 1974; 89(4):825-848.
  8. Young, Art. Art Young: His Life and Times. Beffel, John Nicholas, editor. New York: Sheridan House; 1939. 467 p.Notes: The second of two autobiographical works by the nationally-known cartoonist, who grew up in Monroe, Wisconsin.
  9. —. On My Way: Being the Book of Art Young in Text and Picture. New York: Horace Liveright; 1928. 303 p.Notes: This is the first of two autobiographical works by the nationally-known political cartoonist, Art Young, who was described by Mike Konopacki in the Encyclopedia of the American Left (1998) as “the leading socialist cartoonist of the early twentieth century” (p. 919). Young, who grew up in Monroe, Wisconsin, filled this book with wonderful examples of his art, interspersed among his musings on life, or, as the artist says (p. vii), “a rambling record (not neglecting the criminal record) of one who has journeyed through the years observing political, artistic and other human affairs, while concerned with advanced theories for life’s fulfillment as well as the immediate problems that confront all of us–on our way.”
  1. Zarob, Virginia Mary. “The Family in an Expanding Industrial Economy: Economic, Occupational, Social, and Residential Mobility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1860-1880”; 1976.
    Notes: Ph.D. thesis, Marquette University, 1976. 261 pp. Dissertation Abstracts International 1977 38(2): 984-A.
  2. Zeidler , Frank. Essays in More Effective Urban Renewal. Madison, Wisc.: Institute of Governmental Affairs, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; 1964. 32 p.
    Notes: Table of Contents: I. “Municipal Land Policy in Urban Renewal and Redevelopment.” —

II. “Code Enforcement: Indispensable Tool in Urban Renewal.” — III. “Political Problems of Redevelopment.” — IV. “Aesthetics in Urban Renewal.”

“These essays are extracted from more extensive papers that Mr. Zeidler wrote (entitled Making Urban Renewal More Effective) for the American Institute for Municipal Research, Education, and Training, Inc. of Washington, D. C., during the period 1960-1961.”–Foreword, p. [iii].

395. Zeidler, Frank P. Socialism in Milwaukee and America–Discussion with Frank P. Zeidler, Former Milwaukee Mayor: [remarks at the] Wisconsin Labor History Society, 25th Annual Conference, May 13, 2006, Turner Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (72 minutes); Frank Zeidler Remarks at [the] Bay View Tragedy Commemoration, May 7, 2006, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (6 minutes) ; with moderator, Aims McGuinness for the remarks at the Wisconsin Labor History Society meeting. [Milwaukee, Wis.]: Wisconsin Labor History Society; 2006 78 mins.).
Notes: This compact disc contains what are believed to be the last two public appearances of Frank P. Zeidler, the Socialist most recently elected to be mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (serving from 1948-1960).

N.B. Zeidler’s name is misspelled (as “Ziedler”) in both places where it appears on the compact disc; also, the word commemoration is misspelled on the compact disc (as “commeration”).

  1. Zieger, Robert H. “Battery Workers at War”. IN: Holter, Darryl. Workers and Unions in Wisconsin: A Labor History Anthology. Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin; 1999; pp. 169-174. Notes: Excerpted from his book, The Madison Battery Workers, 1934-1952: A History of Federal Labor Union 19587 (Ithaca, N.Y.: New York State School of Industrial & Labor Relations, Cornell University Press, 1977).
  2. —. Madison’s Battery Workers, 1934-1952: A History of Federal Labor Union 19587. [Ithaca, N.Y.]: New York State School of Industrial & Labor Relations, Cornell University; 1977;126 p.(ILR paperback; v. 16). ISBN: 0-87546-062-3 (pbk.).
    Notes: This book tells the story from 1934 to 1952 of the production workers at the Ray-O-Vac Battery factory in Madison, Wisconsin, which directly affiliated with the American Federation of Labor as Federal Labor Union (F.L.U.) No. 19587; this union, in 1963, changed their charter and became United Auto Workers Local 1329. There are lots of federal labor unions–why a book about this particular one? Because as the author explains in his preface, “the establishment, development, and tribulations of the union at Ray-O-Vac, while lacking the overt drama of the more spectacular labor events of the 1930s and 1940s, illustrate in microcosm basic themes in the recent history of American unionism” (p. 1). It is to be hoped that all local unions in Wisconsin will note well that, according to the author, there were two additional major factors which led him to decide to write a history of the union of the Ray-O-Vac battery workers: the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (S.H.S.W.) collects the records of labor unions located in Wisconsin and F.L.U. No. 19587 had taken care to deposit a copy of all their records with the S.H.S.W.Reviewed: Ozanne, Robert (reviewer). Labor History, v. 20, no. 2 (Spring 1979), p. 295-297.Reviewed: Lipsitz, George (reviewer). Wisconsin Magazine of History 62:4 (Summer 1979), p. 334-335.
  1. —. Rebuilding the Pulp and Paper Workers Union, 1933-1941. Knoxville, Tenn.: 1984.
  2. Zinn, Howard. “The Bay View Tragedy of May 5, 1886: A Look at Milwaukee’s 8-Hour March, Killings from the Workers’ Point of View”. IN: Germanson, Kenneth A., editor. Workers in Wisconsin History: Commemorating the Contributions and Acknowledging the Struggles of Working People Toward Making Wisconsin a Great State, A Labor History Sesquicentennial Project of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Education and Training Center, Inc.U. Milwaukee, Wis.: Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Labor Education and Training Center, Inc.; n.d. [1999]; pp. 3-5.
  3. Zophy, Angela Howard. “UAW Local 72: Assertive Union”. IN: Burckel, Nicholas C. and John A. Neuenschwander, eds.Kenosha, Wis.: Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1981; p. [296]-331.
    Notes: The history of the unionized workers at the Nash Motors plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is told, beginning with the formation of their Federal Labor Union No. 19008 in September 1933, through their re-chartering as United Auto Workers Local 72 (in 1937), and then their activities up to 1980.
  4. Zophy, Jonathan W. “Invisible People: Blacks and Mexican-Americans”. IN: Neuenschwander, John A., editor. Kenosha County in the Twentieth Century: A Topical History. Kenosha, Wis.: Kenosha County Bicentennial Commission; 1976; pp. 51-81.
    Notes: A brief look at the history of two of the largest racial minority groups in Kenosha County from 1900 until about 1965; especially see p. 60-63 for discussion (and two photographs) of Kenosha’s African-American and Hispanic labor leaders, especially those involved with United Auto Workers Local 72.