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Vel Phillips: Making History in Religion and Gay Rights in

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VOLUME 99, NUMBER 2 / WINTER 2015-2016 God Loves Them As

How Religion Helped Pass Gay Rights in Wisconsin

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n February 25, 1982, Wisconsin became the first US state to protect lesbians and gay men from discrimination Oin employment, housing, and public accommodations. In the 1981-1982 legislative session, the nondiscrimination bill passed both houses of the state legislature with bipartisan support. When Republican governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus added his signature to the bill, it became Wisconsin law and added sexual orientation to the list of existing nondiscrimination categories including political or religious opinion or affiliation, age, sex, handicap, race, color, national origin, and ancestry1 Until Massachusetts passed a similar bill in 1989, the Badger State remained the only state with a nondiscrimination law for gay men and women.2 As of August 2015, only twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have followed suit. In July 2015, several US senators (including ) introduced the Equality Act, federal legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, but there is currently no federal law.3 Wisconsin thus stands out in the time line of the expansion of rights to gay people. Who and what made the bill's passage possible at a time better known for the rise of the religious right and a national backlash against gay rights?4 In the Wisconsin case, religion worked in favor of gay rights, rather than in opposition to them. The state had a tradition of religious social activism combined with determined advocates for gay and lesbian rights inside and outside a state legislature characterized by bipar­ tisan collaboration.

Civil Rights and Gay Rights: First Efforts in the State Legislature In 1967, the state of Wisconsin, like almost all other US states, regarded homosexuals as criminals.5 Wisconsin's statutes detailed the list of prohibited sexual activities punishable by fines or jail time: "Fornication," or sex out of wedlock; "Sexual perversion," which included anal and oral sex and sex with an animal; and "Lewd and lascivious behaviour," which included the cohabitation of unmarried partners "under circumstances that imply sexual intercourse."6 Since the law did not specify the gender of those engaged in the activities, it applied not only to gay people, but also to straight, and even married, couples.7 The laws were still enforced, if not on a regular basis. For instance, a 1979 study conducted by Professor Martha Fineman of the University of Wisconsin Law School found that there had been ninety prosecutions for cohabitation in all of Wisconsin in the period from 1973 to 1979.8

Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus signs the nondiscrimination bill into law as activist Leon Rouse (left) and State Representative David Clarenbach (right) look on. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

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Pins from the 1980s supporting gay and lesbian activists Barbee's efforts to change the state's sex laws came at a time when gay people in Wisconsin and around the United States began to demand freedom from prosecution and discrimination more visibly than ever before. Gay people had been organizing in the homophile movement since the 1950s, educating the public about homosexuality and working for legal change. In Chicago, a chapter of the Mattachine Society a homosexual rights organization with small branches in cities around the country, had existed since 1965.12 In 1969, a police raid on a New York bar, the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, catapulted gay activism in a new, more confronta­ tional direction and made it a visible actor in local, state, and national politics. Gay, lesbian, and transgender patrons of the bar resisted the raid, and coverage of the event and the ensuing riots mobilized thousands of gay people across the country to join the movement.13 In Wisconsin, gay and lesbian groups were founded in 1969 in Madison and in 1970 in Milwaukee.14 Barbee was in touch with some of the organizations. He asked members of Midwest Mattachine for their opinion on his 1971 sex reform bill, and he actively supported Milwaukee's Gay People's Union by distributing their publication, the GPU News, to members of the state assembly and senate.15 Apart from making homosexuality legal, protecting gays State Assemblyman Lloyd Barbee poses in front of the Wisconsin state and lesbians from discrimination in employment, housing, and capitol in 1968. Barbee introduced a bill to decriminalize sexual rela­ public accommodations was one of the central demands of the tions between consenting adults in 1967 and, though it did not pass, gay rights movement. In the early 1970s, gay and civil rights continued to advocate for it, reintroducing the draft bill in 1969,1971, groups in Wisconsin began to challenge discriminatory prac­ and 1973. tices. They documented instances of discrimination in employ­ Lloyd Barbee, the African American lawyer and state ment in Wisconsin, bringing the issue to the attention of the representative who led the decades-long fight to desegregate press.16 In the state legislature, Lloyd Barbee introduced the Milwaukee's public school system, was the first legislator to chal­ first bill to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orienta­ lenge Wisconsin's sex laws. A civil rights advocate committed tion in 1971. It sought to amend Wisconsin's "fair employment to social justice and personal freedom for everyone, Barbee statutes by prohibiting discrimination based on an individual's first introduced a bill to decriminalize all sexual relations of sexual conduct, practices or preferences."17 consenting adults in 1967.9 The bill did not pass, but he reintro­ When Barbee left the legislature in 1976, his work for sex duced it in 1969, 1971, and 1973, gaining significant support in law reform and nondiscrimination legislation was taken over each session.10 Asked about his motivation to change sex laws in by freshman legislator David Clarenbach. At just twenty-one a 1971 radio interview, he explained, "I think sex is essentially years old, Clarenbach was already a political veteran, having personal and should be treated that way. . . . The state has no served on both the Dane County Board of Supervisors and business proscribing sexual activities of parties who will consent the Madison City Council.18 During their one mutual legis­ to them."11 lative session, Barbee and Clarenbach worked together on a

wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY sweeping sexual reform bill that, among ANITA BRYANT MINISTRIES, INC. other things, sought to repeal obscenity, Post Office Box ABM abortion, and prostitution laws, abolish Hollywood. Florida 33022 criminal sanctions against consensual sex v> acts, and introduce same-sex marriage.19 Clarenbach also attempted to have "sexual preference" included as a nondiscrimi­ nation category in an open housing bill. Although neither effort succeeded, both got press coverage—enough to stimulate "When the homosexuals burn a public discussion on whether, and how, the Holy Bible in public... Wisconsin's sex laws and nondiscrimina­ how can I stand by silently" tion policies ought to be changed. Clar­ Dear Friend: enbach continued working on both bills I don't hate the homosexuals! throughout the 1970s. He focused his efforts But as a mother, I must protect my children from their evil on the sex law reform bill, building support influence. by taking out the most radical changes and And I am sure you have heard about my fight here in Dade County, Florida — and nationwide — for the rights of my children reducing the bill's content to noncommer­ and yours. cial, consenting sex between adults. Each But I had no idea my speaking out would lead to such frighten­ time he introduced the bill, it lost by a ing consequences: ...ugly persecution at the hands of militant homosexual smaller margin. The nondiscrimination bill, groups. however, appeared more controversial to ...the attempted blacklisting of my career. Clarenbach. He believed that there would ...constant bitter threats to shut me up for good. "be only one chance to bring the bill up 20 ...misguided individuals hounding me and my family — for debate and for a vote." Until he could even when we go to church. be certain he had the votes necessary for All this, because I stood up for my children — as a mother as an American — as a Christian. passage, he kept the bill in committee.21 Then, when the militant homosexuals lost the public vote in Dade County, their friends in New England burned the Holy Leon Rouse Organizes Clergy for Gay Rights And now there is a group that wants to produce a motion As the 1970s came to a close, the two gay and lesbian rights issues were stalled in the A mailing from Anita Bryant Ministries displays the acrimony between the former beauty legislature. The consenting adults bill was queen and gay rights advocates. defeated repeatedly, and the nondiscrimi­ nation bill was not voted on, which frustrated the lesbian and the country showed the fragility of gay rights achievements. gay communities. The swift progress that gay rights initiatives Especially frightening to gay people in Wisconsin was the fact had made in many cities around the country in the early- to that voters in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a state very similar to mid-seventies, where local ordinances had been passed against Wisconsin in its political and religious make-up, repealed the discrimination and openly gay and lesbian candidates had city's gay rights ordinance.25 But despite taking away many of been elected to public office, stopped abruptly in 1977, when the accomplishments that gays and lesbians had achieved at popular singer Anita Bryant and her husband Bob Green this point, Bryant had also done a service to the gay rights launched a repeal drive against the local gay rights ordi­ movement: she had inadvertently become its biggest recruiter. nance in Dade County, Florida. Bryant and Green headed Her campaign gave an enormous push to gay organizing a religious coalition called Save Our Children, which was across the country, and in Wisconsin, she inspired a young gay made up of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish representatives— Milwaukeean to become politically active. the first time that opposition to a gay rights ordinance was On the night of the Florida vote, University of Wisconsin- framed strongly in religious terms.22 In the June 1977 repeal Milwaukee student Leon Rouse watched Anita Bryant cele­ referendum, voters rejected the ordinance by almost 70 to brate her victory on the news. Pounding on her podium, 30 percent.23 With national media casting the referendum as she proclaimed "The 'normal' majority have said, 'Enough! "a crucial test of whether the country was willing to extend Enough! Enough!'"26 When he later recalled that night in an civil rights legislation to homosexuals," as Newsweek put it, interview, Rouse said: "Those were the words that got me into the defeat was crushing.24 Subsequent repeal drives around action."27 Anita Bryant had recruited the man whose church-

WINTER 2015-2016 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

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David Clarenbach and many others endorsed this fundraising party for activists attempting to counter Anita Bryant's campaign to repeal a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. based activism would result in Wisconsin's passage of the first as numerous nonreligious civil rights groups, participated in statewide gay rights law five years later. the two-day Greater Milwaukee Conference on Religion and Leon Rouse was born into a conservative Catholic family Race, attended by nearly five thousand Milwaukeeans.31 The in northern Wisconsin in 1957. At seventeen, he came out conference became a yearly event and exists to this day, now to his parents, who committed him to a mental hospital for called the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.32 four in hopes of a cure. When he turned eighteen, Whereas some clergy were aware of discrimination in their Rouse left home and moved to Milwaukee. As a student at the own communities, others were motivated to become active in University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he won his first fight for politics via media broadcasts and their own personal experi­ gay rights. In 1978, he succeeded in getting a public statement ence of the violent struggle for civil rights in the South. Many from the University of Wisconsin System that there would be northern clergy heeded Martin Luther Kingjr.'s call to join no discrimination against a person on the basis of sexual pref­ him in his 1965 Alabama march from Selma to Montgomery erence.28 and this encouraged them toward political activism at home.33 In his search for ways to advance sex law reform and As the struggle against segregation escalated, some Catholic nondiscrimination legislation, he found that in Seattle, Wash­ clergy emerged as leading figures in the city's militant racial ington, the mainline Protestant and Catholic churches had justice activism, though the Milwaukee Catholic Church was spoken out against repeal of the city's gay rights ordinance. in no way united in its stance toward questions of civil rights.34 Voters had followed their advice.29 Rouse set off to emulate From August 1967 to the spring of 1968, Father , this success. Milwaukee promised to be fertile ground for a a white Catholic priest in the African American inner core, church-based strategy, as the city had seen a strong move­ led members of the NAACP Youth Council in marches into ment for social justice both in the Catholic Church and across Milwaukee's predominantly white South Side calling for open denominations. Interfaith and ecumenical movements had housing. The violent opposition of the area's residents infa­ become strong in Milwaukee after World War II, as Jewish, mously earned Milwaukee the nickname "the Selma of the Catholic, and Protestant congregations all faced the challenges North."35 Another Catholic priest active in the civil rights of demographic change and racial discrimination in the city30 movement, Dismas Becker, who left priesthood and went into In 1963, almost all of the city's religious congregations, as well state politics in 1977, would become one of the sponsors of

wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

State Senator Jim Moody directed Leon Rouse to the Archbishop RembertWeakland speaks at a graduation ceremony at Esperanza Unida Legislative Reference Bureau to draft what would in Milwaukee. become the nondiscrimination bill.

the gay rights bills in the legislature.36 The religious network for social justice that Jewish and Christian clergy built during Hera Id of hope Tin: Mi Iwaukeo C'itJjol i< these years thus prepared the groundwork for later support of ifurald Cli ixuii the nondiscrimination law for lesbians and gays. The Archbishop shares Rouse contacted two religious organizations committed to Who social justice: the Greater Milwaukee Conference on Religion is our nei Thirdly, the Biahopa rtaUd In that One of the most Important tusks fac­ same pastoral letter: "Homosexuals, ing us in the Church today is address­ like everyone else, should not luffer and Urban Affairs, an interfaith organization devoted to fighting ing the Gospel to various groups df peo­ from prejudice against their basic hu­ ple who have left the Church or who man rights. They have a right to re­ racial and economic injustice in the highly segregated city, and have been left out of—or denied ac­ spect, friendship, and justice. They cess to—life in the Christian commu­ should have an active role in the Chris- nity, Unfortunately,, as so often hap­ I tian community." the Wisconsin Conference of Churches, which assembled twelve pens, these groups have to band to­ We have to see Gay people, then, 37 gether in a show of force to demand not as an enemy to be battered down, mainstream Protestant churches. Through these institutions, he recognition. Two groups, of different but as persons worthy of respect and nature but still needing our attention, I friendship. Many are sincerely seeking are the divorced and Gay people. In • to experience the presence of God in :. found the allies he needed. In 1978, Rouse organized ministers this article I will deal only'with the i their lives and long to be accepted si latter. : having something to offer to the bulld- from the Lutheran, United Methodist, Episcopal, United Church First, I would like to state that I do ',- Ing up of the community of believers. not have all the answers in this highly They loo believe in —Jesus—but that complex issue, but it seems to me that s not alter their lal orientation. of Christ, and United Presbyterian denominations to join him we should begin by approaching it with In justice, I would hope that we caa a sense of calm and prayerful search­ ing, remembering the compassion Jesus grow beyond the myths surrounding on the board of a new organization, the Committee for Funda­ had for' people who were strijggllng to the Gay person, myths, for example, 38 find the Kingdom. He saw through the - that picture all Gays as perverters of labels that society pinned on Gentiles, I Theorists are divided as to the children—a picture that simply U not " mental Judeo-Christian Human Rghts. As the committee's taic^ollectors, and prostitutes and rec­ cpuses of a same-sex orientation, true. . , ognized beneath these name-tags per­ Vfhether it Is biological or environ- .',' We must b, conccrned a]s0j .bout coordinator and strategist, Rouse asked the other members to sons worth caring about, simply be­ mental -9 must accept the fact that their rights. Consequently, I cannot|b

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due to his liberal views, he could not take ARCHDIOCESE the lead.45 OF MILWAUKEE Leon Rouse began to look for allies M1WTM WIM1TV H>TM«TH11T»>Q »OX 70l» . M.I WtMKf ,. WISCONSIN »3J0I . fHQNE 4I4/4JIHI0I among the heads of the more liberal denom­ OFFICE OF THE ARCHBISHOP inations in Wisconsin. Many of them indi­ cated their support, but asked him for the bill draft, which did not exist at the time. To March 2, 1981 have a bill draft written, Rouse approached his state senator, James Moody, a Democrat who gave Rouse permission to contact the Legislative Reference Bureau, the state's The Reverend John Mtirtmifth Office fur Human Concerns bill drafting agency, on Moody's behalf. 731 West: Washington Street Together with the drafting attorney in charge Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204 of human rights legislation, Rouse drafted a Dear Jack, bill that sought to add "sexual orientation" It has recently been called to mv attention that your as a protected category to all Wisconsin laws office haa been seeking my opinion concerning Assembly Bill 46 #70 that ia now being studied in the State Legislature. dealing with discrimination. To ensure the archbishop's support. I feel that your commission can in good conscience sup­ port this legislation insofar as it bans discrimination be­ Leon Rouse gave him the draft of the cause of sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. nondiscrimination bill, asking him to change anything that he could not support. You will recall that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops spoke to this issue in 1976. There has been no change The bill defined "sexual orientation" as in the Catholic position concerning homosexual activity, which has always been considered as morally wrong; on the other hand, "having a preference for or practicing of it has also been consistent with Catholic teaching that homo­ heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality sexuals should not be deprived of their basic human rights. For this reason I feel that support of this Bill would be indeed or celibacy, being identified with such a proper and consistent with previous positions that the Church preference or practice, or having a history has taken. of such preference or practice."47 The arch­ Many thanks for your constant concern for so many delicate Issues. bishop returned it with just a few words struck out: "practicing of and "celibacy." Sexual orientation, he argued, was not the Sincerely yours in the Lord, same as sexual activity. Homosexuals were Ti discriminated against not because they were C. O .^J~l—J **- caught in a sex act, but because of what people assumed they were doing. He struck Most Reverend Rembert C. Weakland, O.S.B Archbishop of Milwaukee out celibacy because he understood it not as a separate sexual orientation, but simply as the nonpractice of sexuality48 Weakland's Archbishop Weakland's letter to the Reverend John Murtaugh endorsing the corrections to the bill made it possible for him nondiscrimination bill to support it and stay within the confines of The archbishop's sometimes unorthodox opinions Catholic teaching. Because he was very cautious not to attract frequently put him at odds with his superiors, other clergy, and too much attention from the Vatican, he did not directly send parts of his archdiocese, and they established his reputation a letter of support to the state representatives. Instead, he had as one of the most liberal bishops in the United States.44 How the archdiocese's Office for Human Concerns ask him for a was Leon Rouse able to get in touch with this unorthodox position on the bill in a formal inquiry49 His reply letter was Catholic leader? After a fruitless attempt to make an appoint­ later distributed among legislators and the governor. In it, he ment through his secretary, he came up with another, more expressed his backing of the gay rights bill and stressed that his direct strategy. After saying mass every day at the downtown position followed the official stand that the National Confer­ cathedral, Weakland would stand at the back of the church, ence of Catholic Bishops had delineated in 1976 in its pastoral greeting parishioners as they left. Rouse approached him in letter "To Live in Christ Jesus."50 person, and Weakland agreed to a meeting. He wanted to Despite his desire to keep a low profile, Weakland help, he told Rouse, but given the restrictions of the Catholic spoke out publicly in favor of gay rights in a column in the Church hierarchy, and the exposed position he had gained Milwaukee Catholic Herald Citizen, the weekly newspaper

wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY of the Milwaukee diocese. In the article, published in 1980. he clearly rejected efforts to "heal" homosexuals, affirmed the Catholic Church's stand that homosexuals were not sinners but must remain celibate, and asked his readers to support gay I'IU1"' men and lesbians: J"

Tue PResBYTeRy OF miumauKee The bishops of the United States in a pastoral letter in 1976 called "To Live in Christ Jesus" officially stated that homosexuality as a condition is not sinful. This realization can be of immense help to the homosexual who thus knows that deep down there is nothing to separate him or her from God's love and care. . . . Many [homosexuals] are coming to the realization that God loves them as they are and that He invites them to open out in concern for others. . . . Current Church teaching which we Catholics must adhere *' Oil 1 to expects Gay people to remain celibate, a position tpiscop* which is difficult for them to accept, but, frankly

one which I cannot sidestep. . . . We have to see Gay °v - -oi, " - 11. S people, then, not as an enemy to be battered down, but as persons worthy of respect and friendship. . . . We must be concerned, also, about their rights. Consequently, I cannot believe it is a Christian atti­ tude that would block them from holding responsible positions in the community. I invite all in the Catholic community to join me in showing this kind of respect ... so that we can assist all members of society in the exercise of their rights, so that no one is treated as a second-class citizen or as somehow "contaminated."51

When Weakland wrote these words in July 1980, he expressed his theoretical position on homosexuality. In retro­ spect, he was also likely coming to terms with his own homo­ ^ 'st i sexuality and his struggle to stay true to the vow of celibacy he had taken. As he wrote in his 2009 autobiography, after a belated sexual awakening in the early 1970s, Weakland had accepted his homosexuality by the time he became archbishop of Milwaukee.52 In the summer of 1979, a time of loneliness and isolation for Weakland after the deaths of his mother and Pope Paul VI, with whom he had been close, he befriended a local gay man, and for a few months, their relationship involved sexual intimacy. One of the reasons Weakland ended the relationship was because he wanted to return to celibacy53 <& Once the bill received this key endorsement from Weak- land, Rouse went back to the leaders of the state's other major «r„v» denominations and asked them to write letters of support to the members of the legislature. They all cooperated, and in the end, the line of religious supporters included the whole Is] *<•«*> spectrum of Protestant denominations, stretching from the ><>>

(Right) The Catholic Church was not alone in endorsing the nondis­ crimination bill. Letters of endorsement from many other church organizations throughout Wisconsin are shown here. S s

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very liberal—including the Unitarian Universalist Congrega­ New York Native 3/15-28/82 tions and the United Church of Christ—to the solidly main­ NUNS IN THE GALLERY stream presidents of the American Lutheran Church, the The Church, David Lutheran Church in America, the executive presbyters of the Clarenbach, and Winnebago and Milwaukee Presbyteries, the Episcopalian Wisconsin's paaed fo years. Why Hi a pass now. bishops of Milwaukee and Eau Claire, and the bishop of the Gay Rights Bill fronlrd ihe alleged ilrenjch of United Methodist church—and even to the fundamentalists, as •fi^td .. >ejt. The Moral Majnrin- -.eitli by Carol Stroebal represented by the executive minister of the Wisconsin Baptist 1 Moral M.jorily tried to Rener- State Convention.54 Once Rouse secured the backing of the ould only generate a lurlc 0W3 1,000 ph Itntisa of their smill number.. congregational heads, he embarked on a mission to find clergy />.-: liu-v e been able rourikefeir in (he

rhink patiricinj. policy makers, and ld« rct,,^i]'iiu; iha[ they are no allies on the level of the electoral districts. He focused on the fanatic) who do not by iny districts of legislators whose voting records suggested they

-AC,,,,] i,,,,, beeiuie you * bnnkmate who'j a. pervert. might be swing voters, and he canvassed the church pages of "here ire All sorts cf ba» could have been raised

llav, rfY/Vuiii » it to HI liMtrr the phone book for support. The members of his Committee for Fundamental Judeo-Christian Human Rights advised him . f,h. ng 0 which ministers to avoid and which would be sympathetic. .rm-ght p for a vote and it pasted.

uvc legalized rei jcn thai arc allowed by Expanding outward, he queried any supportive local ministers Ken b.o about other clergy they knew.55 He asked each new supporter to contact their state representatives and urged them to vote :IL.II^ Juirdi did not support

t entered into the . mora] f the aei let itself. But the in favor of the nondiscrimination bill. This way, Rouse knitted -y different when we talk about i = ..f, •!:.::. ion. when we talk about deny. a dense network of religious support that stretched across the got from the Cathohe church entire state and targeted legislators individually. Rouse worked together with various state legislators from Milwaukee. He did not cooperate with Representative Wisconsin's passing of the nondiscrimination bill drew attention from David Clarenbach, even though Clarenbach was the primary around the country and was covered extensively in gay and lesbian legislator who had been promoting the legislation related to news outlets, such as the New York Native and the Advocate. gay rights. The two disagreed about which bill had a greater chance of passing: the consenting adults bill or the nondis­ Wisconsin: crimination bill. Clarenbach, like most people, believed that Gay Rights homosexual sex would have to be decriminalized before gays 56

,„e,tu nf unties •in every nook and .. mistreatment. and lesbians could be protected from discrimination. In addi­ Ihthe'E..- brochure about the law. "The Rights ol Gay People." A respected former tion, he worried that legislators and the media might confuse Republican governor of Wisconsin, War­ ren Knowies. made a television public the two bills if they were voted on during the same session.5' is of If smial odd locale fo n's lust state (>ayi By contrast, Rouse was convinced that church support would •,',',r;cor'j;n.whichnu ' This publicity has piobably helped to . .'. ••• -"•• ' • -'-' '' uiy passed mjch legislator subsequent emulated in ol bring success, and that, therefore, the nondiscrimination bill

gayrightsbill was approved In the r 3: the st ;..":;• =lalo i is widespread among both should go first. When he had researched how the national eight years after it was first in- Of the _ straights, according to some bian and Gay Issues to help in implamen­ :ed, according to Clarenbach. A—9ays.a key element in its passage wassupport iciivis'fs. ( ta! ion of the legislation and to make religious fThe people here don't know It bodies of most mainstream congregations viewed homosexu­ by PETER FREIBERG recommendations on other gay related passed," says Bcb Jansen, whoowns^ groups and leaders, especially the issues. Recently Eart won funding tor a. the Main Club, a gay bar in Superior, a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mil­ half-time staff member lor the couro I northern Wisconsincity of about 20,000. n March 1982 a milestone in the gay waukee. This backing helped offset last- despite legislative opposition. Wilhout i One reason tor the lack of awareness, ality, he found a lot of support for nondiscrimination laws but rights movement occurred in Wiscon­ minute organizing by right-wing Moral according to Jansen, is the absence of sin as then-Gov. Lee Sherman iho law it is extremely doubtful such a . Majority-type groups who sought to con- DreyfusI , a Republican, signed inm )« contact between gay activists in areas counti' would have been created. '-1 evince Gov Dreylus to veto the measure. 58 like Milwaukee and Madison and those • = : =:s: = ,.. :•: r.?.--. • y".s e; • On the other side of the ledger, the ;ro'v-r,!'v :r,v3sr!01'jnril the year after little support for sexual activity outside of marriage. up north. "1 don't think people in Ihe irilheUnitedStates.Sincelhatlimt , :.;•': c- i: \'-.c. approval of the gay rights bill that the fights groups, and Iheir supporldS n compijmis with the state's Equal Rights Wisconsin legislature repealed the more lhan a dozen stales, have SJ :•' Division it-RD) has been relatively states sodomy law, decriminalizing gay gay community up here," Jansen says. passage of similar Pills—out despite small- or.lv about 100 to date. And ac­ •b-.;a:-.e Graves, 20, who organized s Though Rouse's bill was ready by 1979, it was not voted tual most Straight people—even many 1 Since passage ot the gay rights law, gay'student group in Superior,---* stands alone as 3 "free state," m the 59 gays are unaware of the law's exis­ says Clarenbach, there have been some forced to leave his job in a restauran words of slate Rep. David Clarenbach ,D tence. It seems clear that most gays in at tempts to repeal il. bu t none recently— on until 1981. Because Clarenbach had spent so many years Madison), the law's chief sponsor. and hedoesnotbelieveanylutureeffort protesting an antigay sign placed on How has Wisconsin's law worked in marquee by a fundamentalist minisle1 the almosf V/i years since it was "I thought oi tiling a complaint undi signed? Has if affected thedaily lives of garnering votes for gay rights legislation, the representatives the legislation," says Graves, "but I didr lesbians andgay men in the state, mak­ 'The message is know where to turn. I didn't know ai ing it easier—and safer—to come out? Was thelawworlhthepriorily Wisconsin clear that Wisconsin lawyers to turn to. Then I decided for tl that Rouse worked with respected Clarenbach's wish to get activists gave it, just as groups in other amount of money I would get, it wot states conlinue to do? is a 'free state, and have cost three times as much [to tile t In inierviews with The ADVOCATE. lesbians and gay complaint]." the sex reform bill passed first. However, this bill, which had Clarenbach. Wisconsin activists and ~ In fact, il doesn't requite' a lawyet supporters of gay rights within the state men are to be fneacompiaintwiththeERD.Tryon,y. administration generally agreed that the accepted in our heads the agency, says a bigger bat been introduced in every legislative session since 1967, kept bill'simpact has been positiveand even - t:<--: • profound. On asymbolio level, they said, state on an equal retaliation it their gayness becoi the legislation bolstered the morale of known. lesbians and gay men; on a practical legal footing'.' "I think that's the big reason," i losing, if by increasingly smaller margins. In February 1981, level, it gave Ihem recourse by making -Rep. David Clarenbach Tryon, in explaining why so few pe anligay discrimination illegal in private have tiled charges since the law and public employment, housing and enacted. "1 Ihink they [gays^don't Rouse's Milwaukee representative, Dismas Becker, decided to public accommodations. to call attention to themselves. E "I (eel lucky to live in Wi: will succeed. He also believes that the to remain quiet or leave or suffer, i 60 Sandra Lipke, who heads the ' states, still fear comingout. making it im­ law "has had a profound impact on the nilies. I've had potential complaii Lesbian and Gay Network. 'The law has possible for them to take advantage of go forward with the nondiscrimination bill. call me and say, This is what happi granted us credibility as a minority." the law when discrimination does occur lives of lesbians and gay men, both from Nevertheless, the very existence Of a legal and symbolic standpoint. andl say. Are you willing to tile chat Moreover, currentGov. AnthonyEarl, the law makes it likely that more and 'The message is clear that Wisconsin There's very little you can do uni Over the course of the 1981-1982 legislative session. a Democrat, whose responsibility it has more gays will use it as time goes on. ;,'andlesbiansandgaymen person comes forward." 1 been to implement the gay rights law, Merry Fran Tryon. ERD'S administrator, 1 our s nan Tryon is convinced there's a gre; has shown extraordinary sensitivity to says that this has been the experience equal legal tooting," claimsClarenbach. more antigay disetimination in W Rouse and Clarenbach combined efforts to make the bill a gay concerns, according to activists. wilh other minority groups that win rights 'The message is equally directed at the sin than is reflected by the nun in advisory Council on Les­ legislation. And Ihe long-term benefit, straight community, that we are a complaints filed todale . But evei Clarenbach maintains, will be to provide

10 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY and executive clergy urging them to cast a positive vote. At public hearings for the bill, ministers, priests, and nuns from all major denominations testified in favor of it, whereas religious opposition was limited to one Madison Congregationalist preacher, one representative of the Christian political organization the Moral Majority, and four Wisconsin residents who were not affiliated with a church.61 For the representatives, supporting nondiscrimination legislation for gays and lesbians must have appeared to be the Christian thing to do. Members of the Committee for Fundamental Judeo-Chris- tian Human Rights also came to the state capitol to lobby individual representatives. On the day of the vote in the assembly, as the legislators debated the bill, Father Gene Pocernich of the Milwaukee Archdiocese Office for Human Concerns called some of the socially conservative Milwaukee Demo­ crats out of the assembly chamber to remind them that the archbishop would like them to support the legislation.62 In the meantime, David Clarenbach worked to secure support from other groups and organizations. For instance, to win over the conservative Milwaukee Democrats, he convinced organized labor and the union of Milwaukee police officers to back the bill.63 Since he had been a labor supporter throughout his career, he had no problem winning the unions' support. The police force was a different matter. The Milwaukee Police Department had a reputation for being brutal and racist.64 Inl979, the police had repeatedly raided the city's gay baths.65 To rally their union behind the nondiscrimi­ A celebration of the fifth anniversary of the passing of the nondiscrimination bill includes nation bill, Clarenbach traded his vote. The State Representative Clarenbach (left), Clarenbach's legislative assistant Dan Curd union had great interest in a bill that sought (center), and County Board of Supervisors members Dick Wagner (second from left) and to repeal residency requirements for police Tammy Baldwin (second from right), who is now a US senator. officers, and Clarenbach belonged to the legislative committee that handled that bill. In exchange for that he was personally in favor of the legislation, remarking that the backing of the powerful police officers' union, he voted for he did not know who his children would grow up to be.68 Despite the repeal of the residency requirements.66 a last-minute phone campaign directed by the Moral Majority In February 1982, the nondiscrimination bill had passed and Christian radio stations in the state, Dreyfus did indeed sign both houses of the Wisconsin legislature and lacked only the the nondiscrimination bill on February 25, 1982. In an unusual governor's signature to become law. Governor Lee Sherman move, he issued an explanatory statement with his reasons for Dreyfus was an outsider in the Republican Party and was signing it.69 His main argument was in favor of privacy, but the known to be more liberal than the party establishment.67 When religious support for the bill figured heavily in his reasoning. members of the Committee for Fundamental Judeo-Christian "This bill has a controversial history and my office has been Human Rghts met with him in February 1982, he indicated under heavy pressure to veto it," he wrote. "It also, however.

WINTER 2015-2016 11 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY has the support of a wide-ranging group of religious leadership, possibly paving the way for statewide legislation that will including leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, several continue Wisconsin's remarkable LGBTQ^history77 Ml Lutheran synods, and the Jewish community"70 The author would like to thank the following people for Beyond Nondiscrimination for their generosity in sharing their memories: David Clarenbach, Lesbians and Gay Men Dan Curd, Barbara Lightner, Mary Ann Neevel, Gene Pocer- With the nondiscrimination bill passed, David Clarenbach nich, Leon Rouse, Dick Wagner, and . felt new impetus for the consenting adults legislation. Many observers had noted the paradox that while lesbians and Notes gays were now protected from discrimination in Wisconsin, 1. Stephen Kulieke, "Wis. Governor Signs Gay Rights Bill," Chicago Gay Life, March 5, 1982, 2. William B. Turner, "The Gay Rights State: Wisconsin's Pioneering Legislation to Prohibit the sex acts that created their category of protection were Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation," Wisconsin Women's Law Journal 22, no. 1 '2007): 100, http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wjlgs/issues/2007-spring/turnernobanner.pdf still illegal. Clarenbach brought up his sex reform bill in the 3. Human Rights Campaign Map, "Statewide Employment Laws and Policies," www.hrc.org/ next session, and on May 5, 1983, it became law through state_maps; Human Rights Campaign, "Employment Non-Discrimination Act," www.hrc, 71 org/laws_and_elections/enda.asp; Human Rights Campaign, "Why the Equality Act?," www, the governor's signature. Even if Clarenbach claimed that hrc.org//resources/entry/why-the-equality-act, the "near unanimous endorsement by mainstream religious 4. This article refers to "gay rights" and the "gay and lesbian movement" rather than the more inclusive "LGBTQ_ movement" to reflect the predominant terminology and focus of the move­ leaders of Wisconsin" had made the difference, the religious ment in the 1970s and early 1980s, standpoint was less clear than it had been for the nondis­ 5. Sodomy laws existed in all fifty states until 1961, when Illinois repealed its statute. Connect­ 72 icut followed in 1969. Darren Rosenblum, "Sodomy, Buggery, Crimes against Nature, crimination bill. While support was broad, encompassing Disorderly Conduct, and Lewd and Lascivious Law and Policy," Encyclopedia of Lesbian. ministers from the United Methodist Church, the Epis­ Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America, vol. 3 (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons/Thomson/Gale, 2004), 138-141. copal Church, and the United Church of Christ, opposition 6. Wisconsin Statutes 1967-68, Chapter 944: Crimes against Sexual Morality, could be found in the very same denominations. Many cler­ 7. Ibid. 8. Professor Martha Fineman, UW Law School, Cohabitation Project Report, 1979, David gymen and women wrote to Clarenbach that they supported Clarenbach Papers, Box 3, Folder 2, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. Wisconsin; Anne M. Lipinski, "Trouble for Birds and Bees in the Lands of Curds and Whey," consenting adults legislation but were unable to take a public Chicago Tribune, May 2, 1982, 1-4. stand. Some religious leaders who had been part of the coali­ 9. Drafting request LRB 1763 from Lloyd Barbee concerning sex acts between consenting parties, February 15, 1967, Bill Drafting Records, Legislative Reference Bureau, Madison. tion for the nondiscrimination bill were unable or unwilling to Wisconsin; Wisconsin Assembly Bill 678, 1967, Crimes against Sexual Morality, Introduced by back consenting adults legislation.73 Most notably, the presi­ Rep. Lloyd Barbee, Bill Drafting Records, Legislative Reference Bureau, 10. AB 196, 1969; AB 600, 1971. That year, Barbee introduced another proposal to elimi­ dent of the American Lutheran Church, Southern Wisconsin nate all criminal sanctions against sexual acts between consenting adults, AB 1435, which also District, and Roman Catholic archbishop Rembert Weak- sought to lower the age of consent from eighteen to fourteen years of age, AB 1435, 1971. In 74 the 1973-1974 session, he introduced AB 442, AB 184, AB 183, 1973, Bill Drafting Records, land declined to take a stand for the bill. Rouse's strategy, Legislative Reference Bureau, tailored to fit the objective of prohibiting discrimination on 11. Interview with Lloyd Barbee, Gay Perspective, June 13, 1971, Gay Peoples Union Collec­ tion, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/ the basis of sexual orientation, found its limitations once GPU. this goal had been reached. This was the case regarding 12. Carl Nash, "Gay and Lesbian Rights Movements," Encyclopedia of Chicago, www.ency- clopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/508.html, consenting adults legislation, and it would be even more 13. John D'Emilio, "Cycles of Change, Questions of Strategy: The Gay and Lesbian Move­ ment after Fifty Years," in The Politics of Gay Rights, ed. Craig A. Rimmerman, F^enneth D, difficult to build a religious coalition in later efforts to legally Wald, and Clyde Wilcox (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 35, recognize nonheterosexual relationships. When Wisconsin- 14. The Madison Alliance for Homosexual Equality (MAHE) was founded in November 1969, and in Milwaukee, the Gay Liberation Organization was founded in the spring of 1970. Scott ites voted to amend the state's constitution to outlaw recogni­ Seyforth, "Madison Alliance for Homosexual Equality (MAHE)," http://wisconsinhistory.org/ tion of same-sex marriages and civil unions in 2006, churches dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id= 14986&keyword=gay; Michael Doylen, "GLF 75 and a World Re-eroticized," Queer Life News, March 2, 2005, Wisconsin GLBT History were split in their voting recommendations. Project, www.mkelgbthist.org/organiz/act_pol/gay-lib-front/gay-lib-front.htm, More than thirty years after an unlikely coalition passed the 15. Letter from Jim Bradford, Chairman, Legal Committee Mattachine Midwest, to Lloyd Barbee, re: Sexual Consent Bill, February 14, 1971, Lloyd Barbee Papers, 1933—1982, Box nation's first statewide nondiscrimination law for gay people, 60, Folder 28, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Milwaukee Area Research Center. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTOJ people Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Letter from Lloyd Barbee to GPU News, March 10, 1972, Lloyd Barbee Papers, Box 61, Folder 1, in the majority of US states have no legal remedy when they 16. Wilbur C. Cain, Council on Religion and Homosexuality, "In My Opinion: Firing of Homosexual State Employee Was 111 Advised in Its Implications," Milwaukee Journal, March are fired from their jobs, lose their apartments, or are denied 14, 1973. service because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation 17. AB 1335, 1971, Bill Drafting Records, Legislative Reference Bureau, 18. Biography/History, Register David E. Clarenbach Papers, 1974-1992, University of or gender identity. While Wisconsin had a pioneering role in Wisconsin Digital Collections, http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarc the early 1980s, the state is no longer a leader in LGBTQ/ights. hives ;view=reslist; sub view=standard;didno=uw- whs-mss01029;focusrgn=bioghist;cc=wiarchive s;byte=182124702; author's interview with David Clarenbach, July 9, 2010. Perhaps most strikingly, Wisconsin's nondiscrimination law 19. AB 269, 1975, Bill Drafting Records, Legislative Reference Bureau, lacks protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming 20. Author's interview with Clarenbach, July 9, 2010, 21. Ibid. people, despite their particular vulnerability to discrimination 22. Fred Fejes, Gay Rights and Moral Panic: The Origins of America's Debate on Homosexu­ in all major areas of life.76 Dane County, Milwaukee County ality. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 8. 23. Ibid., 94, 144. and the cities of Madison, Milwaukee, Appleton, and Cudahy 24. Ibid., 139. have recently passed local ordinances to protect them, however, 25. Dudley Clendinen, Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999), 325-327.

12 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

26. "The Sexes: Enough! Enough! Enough!,'" Time, June 20, 1977, www.time.com/time/maga- 59. Drafting request 0124, August 20, 1980, Bill Drafting Records Chapter 112, Laws of 1981, zine/article/0,9171,915043-l,00.html. Legislative Reference Bureau, 27. Author's interview with Leon Rouse, August 9, 2011. 60. Author's interview with Curd,July 23, 2010; Rouse, e-mail to author, October 7, 2011. 28. "Scholarship," GPU News, October 1978; "WSC Passes Resolution," GPU News, March 61. Mindy Taranto, Committee Clerk, Committee Record, n.d. [May 1981], David Claren­ 1978. bach Papers, Box 5, Folder 7; Our Horizons, "Moral Majority Attacks," February 3, 1982. 29. Gary L. Atkins, Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging (Seattle and London: Univer­ 62. Author's interview with Rouse, August 9, 2011; author's interview with Father Gene sity of Washington Press), 2003, 250, 256-257. Pocernich, October 14, 2011, Milwaukee, on file with author, 30. Kevin D. Smith "'In God We Trust': Religion, the Cold War, and Civil Rights in 63. Author's interview with Clarenbach, July 9, 2010. Milwaukee, 1947-1963" (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999), 64. Joseph A. Rodriguez and Mark Shelley, "Latinos and Asians in Milwaukee," in Perspec­ 334-335. tives on Milwaukee's Past, ed. Margo Anderson and Victor Greene (Urbana and Chicago: 31. Ibid., 326-328. University of Illinois Press, 2009), 168; Jack Dougherty, "African Americans, Rights, and 32. Kate McCarthy, Interfaith Encounters in America (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univer­ Race-Making," in Perspectives on Milwaukee's Past, ed. Margo Anderson and Victor Greene, sity Press, 2007), 104-105. 'Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 143; Jones, The Selma of the North. 33. Ibid., 83, 102-103. 148-161. 34. Patrick D. Jones, The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee 65. Milwaukee Police Department, Harold Breier 1964—1984, www.milwaukee.gov/ ^Cambridge, MA; London, UK: Harvard University Press, 2009), 107. Breierl3126.htm; "Spas/Bath Houses/Health Clubs," Wisconsin GLBT History Project, 35. In 1965, civil rights activists had marched from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the www.mkelgbthist.org/business/health-clubs.htm; J. M. Nash, Bennett H. Beach, and Hollis state's capital, to protest the violence and discrimination that excluded blacks from voting. Evans, "Law: Accidents or Police Brutality?" Time, October 26, 1981, www.time.com/time/ The peaceful protesters suffered brutal violence at the hands of Alabama state troopers. "Civil magazine/article/0,9171,925014-2,00. Rights Movement," in Africana: Civil Rights: An A-to-Z Reference of the Movement That 66. Author's interview with Clarenbach, July 9, 2010. Changed America, ed. Kwame A. Appiah (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2004), 126, 67. William M. Kraus, Let the People Decide (Aurora, IL: Caroline House Publishers, 1982), 36. Amy R. Silvers, "Becker was at forefront of'60s civil rights." Milwaukeejournal Sentinel, 137. September 20, 2010. www.jsonline.com/news/obituaries/103405799.html, 68. Author's interview with Rev. Mary Ann Neevel, October 14, 2011, on file with author, 37. Author's interview with Rouse, August 9, 2011; McCarthy, Interfaith Encounters in 69. According to an opposing editorial in The Oshkosh Northwestern, it was the first time that America, 104—105; "A Brief History of the Wisconsin Council of Churches: Adapted from a Dreyfus sent the state's media the text of the message he read on a bill's signing. "Legislating History of the Council Written by the Rev. Robert Seater," Wisconsin Council of Churches, em Moral," Oshkosh Northwestern, February 27-28, 1982. www.wichurches.org/sitecontent/pdf_files/programs/brief-history-of-wcc.pdf 70. Lee S. Dreyfus, Statement upon Signing the Anti-Discrimination Bill AB 70, n.d. 38. Stephen Kulieke, "On, Wisconsin: How Gay Rights Won." Chicago GayLife, March 5, [February 25, 1982], David Clarenbach Papers, Box 5, Folder 16. 1982, 6. 71. Wisconsin Legislature. Bulletin of the Proceedings of the Wisconsin Legislature: Assembly, 39. Author's interview with Rouse, August 9, 2011, 1983,81-82. 40. In 1990, almost 50 percent of Wisconsin's organized believers were Catholics and another 72. Paul Fanlund, "Earl Signs Consenting Sex Act Bill," Wisconsin State Journal, May 6, 30 percent belonged to Lutheran denominations. Of the remaining 20 percent, more than 10 1983. percent were adherents of non-evangelical Protestant churches, such as the United Methodist 73. Supportive Denominations from Clarenbach, David, Issues & Comment, The Consenting Church, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterians, and the Episcopalians. Only 3.7 Adults Bill, n.d. [1982-1983], David Clarenbach Papers, Box 2, Folder 24. percent were Baptists. There was also a smalljewish population that accounted for just over 74. A. C. Schumacher, President, ALC Southern Wisconsin District, Letter about Consenting one percent of the state's religious. The percentages had remained virtually the same for Adults Bill to David Clarenbach, January 26, 1983, David Clarenbach Papers, Box 2, Folder the Catholic and Lutheran Churches since the beginning of the century. Martin B. Bradley, 23; Rembert G. Weakland, Archbishop of Milwaukee, Letterto David Clarenbach concerning Norman M. Greenjr., Dale E.Jones, Mac Lynn, and Lou McNeil, Churches and Church consenting adults legislation, March 2, 1981, David Clarenbach Papers, Box 3, Folder 8. Membership in the United States 1990: An Enumeration by Region, State and County Based 75. Kenneth Burns, "Rallying the Faithful," Isthmus, October 5, 2006, www.thedailypage. on Data Reported for 133 Church Groupings (Atlanta, Georgia: Glenmary Research Center. com/isthmus/article.php? article=4398; Bill Glauber. "Discussion or Dissent? Priest Offers 1992), 35; William F. Thompson, The History of Wisconsin VI, Continuity and Change, an Alternate Take on Marriage Vote," Milwaukeejournal Sentinel, October 27, 2006, www. 1940-1965 (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1988), 60. jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29216494.html, 41. The Milwaukee archdiocese is the only archdiocese in Wisconsin, and the largest diocese 76. The 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, conducted by the National Center in population. Shelly Taylor, Archdiocesan Archivist, Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Telephone for Transgender Equality and the National LGBTO_Task Force, found that 63 percent of communication October 7, 2011. respondents had "experienced serious acts of discrimination—events that would have a major 42. Rembert G. Weakland, OSB, A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church: Memoirs of a Catholic impact on a person's quality of life and ability to sustain themselves financially or emotion­ Archbishop (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing ally," such as being fired from a job or evicted from a home due to bias. National Center for Company, 2009), 107-110, 239. Transgender Equality, "National Transgender Discrimination Survey: Full Report," http:// 43. Ibid., 108-109. transequality.org/issues/resources/national-transgender-discrimination-survey-full-report, 44. Ibid., 271. 77. Steven Schultze, "Board Approves Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Protec­ 45. Author's interview with Rouse, August 9, 2011. tions," Milwaukeejournal Sentinel, April 24, 2014, www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/ 46. Ibid. board-votes-to-hold-referendum-on-corporate-free-speech-b99255403zl-256572641.html: 47. Ibid. "Wisconsin City Adopts Ordinance Banning Bias Based on Gender Identity," Wisconsin 48. Ibid. Gazette, September 3, 2014, www.wisconsingazette.com/wisconsin-gaze/cudahy-becomes- 49. Leon Rouse, Presentation, National Conference of Black and White Men Together. 4th-wisconsin-city-to-ban-bias-based-on-gender-identity.html; Jack Craver, "Laws Protecting Milwaukee,July 4, 1987, video recording, on file with author. "Nothing to Hide: July 4, 1987," Transgender Rights Meet Little Resistance in Wisconsin," Capital Times, September 9, 2013, TV Program. Madison, Wl, 1987. http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/jack_craver/laws-protecting-transgender-rights- 50. Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, Letter to the Reverend John Murtaugh in support of meet-little-resistance-in-wisconsin/article_36919972-1956-lle3-9b3a-0019bb2963f4.html. AB70, March 2, 1981, David Clarenbach Papers, Box 5, Folder 11. 51. Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, "The Archbishop Shares: Who Is Our Neighbor?" Milwaukee Catholic Herald Citizen,July 19, 1980. 52. Weakland, A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church, 198, 7. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 53. Ibid., 8-9. 54. Statements of support for AB 70 from Ralph P. Ley, President, Wisconsin Conference of Andrea Rottmann studies the transna­ the United Church of Christ, April 1981; Tony Larsen, Dale Robison, and Marni Harmony. tional histories of sexuality and the LGBTQ Unitarian Universalist ministers in the Milwaukee area, March 3, 1981; Vernon E. Anderson. President, The American Lutheran Church, Northern Wisconsin District, September 18, movements in Germany and the United 1981; A. C. Schumacher, President, ALC Southern Wisconsin District, April 13, 1981: States in the twentieth century.This article Robert S. Wilch, Bishop of the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan Synod, April 1, 1981; Vernon is based on her master's thesis on Wiscon­ E. Sindlinger, Executive Presbyter, Winnebago Presbytery, August 20, 1981; Carl R. Simon. Executive Presbyter, Milwaukee Presbytery, March 20, 1981; Charles T. Gaskell, Episcopal sin's nondiscrimination law for gays and Bishop of Milwaukee, February 12, 1981; William C. Wantland, Episcopal Bishop of Eau lesbians. Originally from Berlin, Germany, Claire, March 19, 1981; Marjorie S. Matthews, Bishop, United Methodist Church, Sun Prairie, April 3, 1981; William L. Wells, Executive Minister, Wisconsin Baptist State Conven­ she fell in love with Wisconsin and its pro­ tion, April 10, 1981, David Clarenbach Papers, Box 5, Folder 11, gressive tradition during an internship at the Wisconsin Histori­ 55. Leon Rouse's presentation, Nothing to Hide: July 4, 1987, Madison, Wl, 1987; author's interview with Rouse, August 9, 2011. cal Society in 2009. She earned her MA in American Studies and 56. Author's interview with Dan Curd, July 23, 2010, University of Wisconsin—Madison History at Free University Berlin and is now a PhD candidate in Archives Oral History Project; Scott Seyforth, Interview with Barbara Lightner, German Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. 57. Leon Rouse, e-mail to author, October 7, 2011. 58. Ibid.

WINTER 2015-2016 13 Green Turtle Soup, Lobster Newburg, A Sampling of Menus from the Wisconsin Historical

BY JULIA WONG The maiden voyage of the Lusitania. President-elect Warren G. Harding's trip to Kingston, Jamaica. "Buffalo Bill" Cody's visit to La Crosse, Wisconsin. What is the common thread that connects these disparate events? Each is documented by a menu in the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society. By exploring these menus, we can get a sense of what people used to eat and drink, who might have been present at historic events, and what those events might have been like to attend. Due to the breadth of the Society's collections, menus docu­ ment a surprisingly broad range of activity, offer insight into social history, and provide a sense of the past through that most familiar and ordinary of activities: eating. Broad-based changes such as more concentrated urban populations, new methods of food preservation and processing, more extensive transportation networks, and the rise of a consumer rather than producer culture have all influenced what and how we eat.1 For those who have enough to eat, food has often been about not only who we are, but who we want to be: members of a sophisticated middle class, domestic reformers, or activists for a better food system.

Beginnings Nineteenth-century menus, available primarily to travelers or those with the means to take some of their meals outside of the home, often took the form of simple lists. The earlier This full-color foldout menu from Chicago's menus in the Society's collection date back to the mid-1800s. Palmer House in 1884 offers an abundant One example, from the restaurant in the United States Hotel range of dishes on either the American plan (meals included in hotel charges) or the in Milwaukee, has preprinted categories for various courses 2 European plan (meals charged separately). It framed by decorative borders. The menu, printed on a narrow includes scenes of men hunting game, servers length of lightweight paper and dated September 21, 1846, lists carrying trays of food, and seated diners "Broiled Pattriedge and Prairie Bird" among the side dishes on getting ready to eat. offer that day, as well as soup, fish, and boiled or roast meat. Bread pudding, and apple, cranberry, or squash pie round out the pastry choices. The only prices listed are for wines, so

14 wisconsinhistory.org and Roman Punch Society's Collections

meals may have been included as part of the hotel charges, a common arrangement in the 1840s and 1850s known as the American plan.3 Another Milwaukee hotel menu from the Newhall House, which operated from 1856 to 1883, lists the extensive offer­ ings for the table d'hote on February 22, I860.4 Under this arrangement, meals with set offerings were laid out at specified times for a fixed price.5 In the Newhall House example, the menu states, "Meals will be prompt, and no Gong sounded." Provisions were also available for those "Gentlemen having extra meals" or for meals taken in one's room, rather than the hotel dining room. In contrast to the simpler format of the United States Hotel menu, the Newhall House menu features a three-quarter view of the hotel flanked by elaborately deco­ rated borders and spot illustrations offish and game and other bounty of the table in the four corners of the menu. Toward the end of the century, more variation in menu design demonstrates the increasingly creative options avail­ able to menu designers, as in the Palmer House menu whose modest blue patterned exterior unfolds to reveal full-color illustrations of wildlife scenes and eager diners at the table6: Raised gold lettering and two embossed fish lend a three-dimen­ the distinctive font and golden embossed fish on a Masonic 7 sional look to this 1899 Masonic banquet menu. Literary quotations banquet menu ; or the use of front and back sides of the or aphorisms accompany the listings for each course. menu, four-color inks, and illustration of omens based on the "unlucky" number thirteen and other folk beliefs on the Thir­ Beef with Mushrooms, and assorted side dishes, including teen Club menu.8 "Sweet Breads, Crumbed and Fried," "Escolloped Oysters," Chicken Salad, Boned Turkey, and Lobster Salad.10 A Toast to Our Honored Guest Along with the wine pairings, this menu features the Even more elaborate were fancy keepsake menus, which often palate-cleansing Roman Punch, a citrus-infused beverage that commemorated visits of dignitaries with celebrity status. In consisted of rum, champagne, and lemon or orange juice, often­ 1885, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, having recently begun staging his times served with sugar and egg whites whipped into a frothy Wild West extravaganzas, went to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to meringue topping meant to be stirred into the drink. During the enter into a business partnership with his friend, Dr. Frank nineteenth century, this punch was popular as a staple of society "White Beaver" Powell. The banquet for Buffalo Bill was dinners, and a version of the recipe was published in the New one of the more renowned held at Cameron House, a luxury York Times on August 17, 1879.n It was also one of the courses establishment known as the venue of choice for prominent on the last dinner served on the Titanic in the first-class dining social occasions in town, and "guests drank numerous cham­ room, on April 14, 1912.12 Roman Punch (or Punch Romaine, pagne toasts to White Beaver and Buffalo Bill well into the as listed on some menus) was served after the main course, as early hours of the next morning."9 The menu—a wide, red an interlude before yet more savory dishes and the concluding silk ribbon, hand painted with flowers, crossed with an olive sweets. Variations on this palate refresher listed on the menus diagonal band, and adorned with a gold silk ribbon backing— of elaborate annual banquets of the Old Settlers' Club of promised Oysters on the Shell, Green Turtle Soup, Baked Milwaukee include Old Settlers' Punch (1917), Pottawatomie Bluefish with Madeira Sauce, Broiled Quail, Tenderloin of Punch (1916), Punch Juneau (after Solomon Juneau, one of

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and 1,200 third-class passengers, the steamship line had an economic interest in satisfying customers of all means. Passen­ gers and a crew of 850 altogether consumed "40,000 eggs, 4,000 pounds of fresh fish, two tons of bacon and ham, 4,000 pounds of coffee, 1,000 pineapples, 500 pounds of grapes, 1,000 lemons, 25,000 pounds of meat, around 3,000 gallons of milk, 500 gallons of cream, and 30,000 loaves of bread" on the initial one-way passage from Liverpool to New York. The galley could prepare up to 10,000 meals a day16 Less notorious ocean crossings that reached their destina­ tions without incident usually included special welcome and farewell dinners, since one of the attractions of ocean travel was the ritual of enjoying carefully prepared, sumptuous meals. A menu from United States Lines that could be folded into a post­ card and given to the purser for mailing also served as a promo­ tional piece. Menu options included Pate de Foie Gras and Pin Money Pickles, among the more customary hors d'oeuvres such as celery and ripe olives; four kinds of soup (Bisque de Homard, Clear Green Turtle, Essence of Tomatoes, and Consomme, Royale); and three or more options for fish (Broiled Silver Salmon, with melted butter or hollandaise; Lobster a la Newburgh; or Fillet of Dover Sole, Marguery), entrees (Filet Mignon, Tyrolienne; Sweetbread, Princesse; or California Arti­ choke, Sauce Mousseline), and roasts (Prime Rb of Beef au Jus with Yorkshire Pudding; Guinea Squab Chicken a l'Anglaise; or Stuffed Young Vermont Turkey with Cranberry Sauce), as well as a dazzling array of desserts and fruits, served with pret- zelettes.17 Perhaps intended to convey the full range of dishes that could theoretically be prepared by the kitchen rather than what might actually be available on a given day, this compre­ The RMS Lusitania carried over 2,000 passengers in first-, second-, hensive menu recalls a similar approach taken by some earlier and third-class accommodations on its maiden voyage to New York. restaurant menus in the nineteenth century18 This is likely a menu from first class, on the day the ship sailed from Liverpool, September 7,1907. Ship menus also afforded menu designers the opportu­ nity of using a sequence of themed menus, such as a series the city's founders, 1898), Punch L'Anisette (1905), Benedictine illustrating the evolution of dining, from a cave age family Punch (1896), and Grandfather's Punch (1913).13 huddled around a fire to elegant diners in a fine restaurant, or a series of menu covers celebrating Italian commedia dell'arte Passenger Ships to Automobiles plays.19 With more widespread automobile ownership and the A menu from the maiden voyage of the RMS Lusitania on construction of an extensive interstate highway system, dining September 7, 1907, was probably used in the first-class dining and travel possibilities also expanded. Duncan Hines's Adven­ room, given its hors d'oeuvres listed in a mix of French and tures in Good Eating: Good Eating Places along the Highways English (Consomme Quenelles de Vollaile, Cream Chester­ of America, annual guides published between 1936 and 1962, field, Turbot-Sauce Hollandaise, Whitebait, Braised Sweet­ listed restaurants of note, state by state. An entry for the 1945 breads a la Cevenole, and Cromesquis a la Russe) and choice of edition listed Goff's in Waukesha: main courses: Sirloin and Rbs of Beef, Hindquarter of Lamb, Braised Duckling, or Boiled Capon.14 Before the legendary They stand in line waiting for tables in the summer. ocean liner was sunk by a German U-boat in 1915, it earned a One reason for this is that their pies and breads are reputation for lavishly appointed first- and second-class dining especially good and another is that their prices are and smoking rooms. Even the third-class dining and sleeping reasonable and the dinners satisfying.20 accommodations, often used by immigrants making the voyage to new lives in America, were known for their relative dignity The same year, the listing for Pendarvis in Mineral Point and comfort.15 With places for 540 first-class, 460 second-class. noted:

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Wild plum, citron or gooseberry preserves with the rolls when possible, and advocating for less food waste all scalded cream, tea and saffron cake, served as dessert, around. Chicken, fish, and seafood dishes, such as Steamed are delights which will thrill the most jaded gourmet's Finnan Haddie with melted or brown butter or Fresh Shrimps palate.21 New Orleans Style, were also available.27 Vegetarian items, such as the Gargoyle's Potato Dumpling with Red Cabbage The front cover of the menu for the Crossroads restaurant or Stuffed Noodle Roulade Polonaise, fit the order of the day features a view of the open road and a sign for the junction of US perfectly. Patrons who were willing to wait ten minutes could Highway 12 and Wisconsin 15.22 The interior of the menu carries enjoy delicacies such as Lobster Cutlets with Saratoga Potatoes endorsements from both Duncan Hines and the American Auto­ and Tartar Sauce. The special for the following day, Braised mobile Association (AAA), assurances of the restaurant's quality Beef a la Mode and Potato Pancake, signaled a return to more and reliability to those motoring through the area.23 typical fare for the period. Menus in the collections from World War II tend to be By Request of the Government part of holiday programs for servicemen, such as the Thanks­ Food Administration giving dinner menu from the USS Wisconsin or the Christmas During the First World War, in an effort to conserve scarce dinner served at the Truax Field Station Hospital in Madison.28 resources such as beef, pork, wheat, and sugar for troops in Cartoon art on these menus conveys the appropriate air of service, the Government Food Administration created Meat­ cheer to those spending the holiday away from their families. less Tuesdays.24 A publication entitled Suggestions for Menu- Planning to Help the Housewife Meet the Present Emergency Claiming a Place at the Table states that "There is a tendency in America toward excessive Menus also reflect the racial climate of a given time and meat eating."25 The pamphlet's meatless entree suggestions place. One small homemade menu, perhaps for a tea party, include salmon loaf, codfish balls, omelets, baked beans, was created from a double-folded piece of paper and included cheese souffle, stuffed eggs, nut loaf, Italian rice, and egg "Oriental Beads," "Fairy Food," and "Darkies Delight." The and pea salad. Restaurants complied with this government three-dimensional baby doll with a gilded body, attached to request as well. Milwaukee's Gargoyle Cafe and Restaurant the menu by a length of golden silk ribbon, only adds to the and the Hotel Wisconsin prominently featured their "Meat­ dissonant combination of innocence, handcraft, and racially less Tuesday" menus.26 Chicago's Blackstone Hotel instituted jarring descriptions.29 When depicted on menu illustrations both Meatless Tuesdays and Wheatless Wednesdays, urging in the nineteenth century and for at least the first half of the conservation-minded diners to order corn bread over wheat twentieth century, African Americans only appear as servers

m W A PENDARVIS HOUSE SPECIALTY ] Cornish Pasty Dinner PENDARVIS HOUSE AJAikM Cornish DevSserts INDIVIDUAL OPEN TART OF PRESERVE AND • CORNISH SCALDED CREAM $.50 CHOICE OF: WILD PLUM RHUBARB WILD BLACKBERRY STRAWBERI WILD GOOSEBERRY CITRON PASTY* TRADITIONAL DESSERT: BEEF, POTATOES, ONIONS. SEASONING, PRESERVE • CORNISH SCALDED CREAM BAKED INSIDE A SPECIAL CRUST AND 'SAFFRON CAKE $.75 •SAFFRON CAKE {.25 PENDARVIS HOUSE CHILI SAUCE PENDARVIS HOUSE PICKLED BEETS GREEN SALAD OLD FASHIONED MINTS $2.75 irial. Itio simile dish ol Hie County eservedlv ivurlil fmiious. In many PENDARVIS HOUSE " ;he family with his or l:

114 SHAKE RAC STREET . . MINERAL POINT. WISCONSIN TELEPHONE 4

Part of a restored complex of stone houses built by Cornish miners who settled in the 1830s and 1840s, Pendarvis House in Mineral Point opened as a tearoom in 1935. It served meals, featuring Cornish pasties and sweets, from 1937 until it closed in 1970.

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even Robbie's Yodel Club in New Glarus, Wisconsin, offered American steaks, ham, and fried chicken in addition to fondue CHMSTM^ and other Swiss house specialties.34

HOSPITAL Good Government Pie Presidential dinners account for a significant portion of menus in the collection. President Grover Cleveland's visit to Memphis, Tennessee, on October 14, 1887, occasioned two specially printed menus, one featuring a gentleman and the other a lady, both of whom wear elaborate Delftware- patterned garments.35 Diners were treated to Broiled Pompano, Maitre d'Hotel served with Parisienne Potatoes; Sweetbreads Pascaline with French Peas; and Filet of Beef, Duchesse, with Asparagus and Beauhardt Potatoes, followed by Kirschwasser Punch, Roast Prairie Chicken and Celery Salad, and various cakes, fruit, glace, cheese, and coffee. One earlier, as part of his goodwill tour across the country, Cleveland had visited Madison, and the city marked the occasion with a parade on the Capitol Square.36 Dinners hosted by interested constituencies often took place in the hiatus between an election victory and the inau­ guration of a new president. The Society's collections include menus for five such meals feting President-elect Warren G. Harding in 1920. One breakfast given by the United Fruit Company took place in Kingston, Jamaica, and included MY AIR FIELD ON, WI$« "cocoanut" water, stewed guavas, guava jelly, Jamaican fish, 1942 ham, bacon, and coffee, as well as processed breakfast cereals such as Force (a brand of wheat-flake cereal), cream of wheat, A Santa Claus figure holds an ax and an officer in uniform salutes puffed wheat, shredded wheat, grapenuts, rolled oats, and a turkey on this Truax Army Air Field Station Hospital menu from corn flakes.37 By the 1910s, packaged food from large compa­ Madison in 1942. Menus from the US Armed Forces in the WHS nies, established around the turn of the century, had become collection are often holiday menus from Thanksgiving or Christmas. embedded in the modern American diet.38 The program for waiting on white diners.30 One lounge car menu from the the day ended with a cruise on the SS Pastores, a United Fruit Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, and Pacific line features a Steamship Service vessel, part of a vast network that brought smiling African American waiter in a white server's jacket tropical fruit to consumers in the United States. A menu for a bringing drinks to the three white men in business suits captain's dinner aboard ship a few days later features United relaxing and smoking cigars at a table.31 As sites of segregation, Fruit salad as one of the menu items.39 restaurants and lunch counters represented another aspect of Strategically named dishes also appear in the menu for harshly delineated racial boundaries. A 1950 souvenir menu a dinner given at the O'Neill House in New York in 1903 to from Washington's Gridiron Club, the organization of elite honor Wisconsin governor Robert M. La Follette Sr. Offer­ members of the press in the nation's capital, features the club ings included Prime Sirloin of Beef, Pepper Sauce, a la Robert; president in front of a stove with a caption that tries to imitate Boiled Leg of Mutton, Governor's Style; Roast Turkey with black speech patterns and supposed lack of culinary sophisti­ Republican Dressing; Salmon Anti-Machine Salad; Primary cation.32 Only later is there suggestion of African Americans Pudding with Whipped Cream; Good Government Pie; as restaurant patrons, such as the diner who saved a menu No-State-Tax Ice Cream; U-Rah Wisconsin Cheese; Coffee, from Philadelphia's Bookbinders Sea Food House from 1961, Primrose style; and Fair-Minded Democratic Sweet Cider.40 perhaps remembering an earlier visit, noting in pencil across the top of the menu, "Phily 58 NAAGP convention."33 Menus Meat for the Body—Songs for the from restaurants specializing in national cuisines routinely Soul—Food for the Brain included entire "American" sections, offering familiar dishes Various societies, such as men's social clubs and fraternal and as a safe retreat from more gastronomically daring fare. trade organizations, also held regularly scheduled dinners in While this practice was common in Chinese restaurants. the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Modeled

18 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY after similar groups in New York (Sunset Club) and Chicago (Twilight), William F Vilas named a Madison men's society the Six O'Clock Club.41 Other founding members included Amos P. Wilder, editor of the State Journal newspaper and father of playwright Thornton Wilder; Charles H. Brown; W. A. P. Morris; William Helm; J. B. Winslow; C. E. Buell; and other members of the academic and professional elite. Monthly dinners during the winter months featured speakers addressing topics of civic interest (e.g., the Boer War, munic­ ipal ownership of utilities, or the life insurance situation), as well as a hearty meal and the companionship of one's fellows. Starting and ending times were carefully observed, as the announcement for the first dinner on Tuesday, November 14, 1899, states: "No dress suits are tolerated—the idea being that men shall come direct from their places of business. They will be returned to the bosoms of their family certainly by ten o'clock."42 Although the meal was offered mostly as a conve­ nience for members, the State Journal notes, "The dinner itself was unusually good, the excellence of the initial soup and the wild duck being a subject of comment."43 Over two hundred men attended the initial Six O'Clock Club dinner, for which they paid seventy-five cents each. Neither lengthy speeches nor liquor were permitted. Instead, a later club menu offers "Meat for the Body—Songs for the Soul—Food for the Brain."44 Suitable entertainment for the evenings included the Madison Maennerchor, or, occasion­ ally, female singers, such as the Monona Ladies Quartet.45 For many years, the club rotated its dinners between a hall This menu accompanied a dinner given for Warren G. Harding aboard over James Keeley's Palace of Sweets, a confectioner's shop on the United Fruit Company steamship, the SS Pastores, after his victory State Street; the Guild Hall in Grace Episcopal Church on the in the 1920 presidential election. Besides importing tropical fruit from Central America for tables in the United States, the United Fruit Capitol Square; the Woman's Building; and later, the gymna­ Company influenced the politics of the countries where it operated. sium in Central High School, as increased attendance required a larger hall.46 Although the last Six O'Clock Club menu in was important to these men, as the refrain to the parting song the library collection dates from 1913, writers used the club sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, suggests: as an example of widespread interest in civic affairs for years afterward.47 The Six O'Clock Club also made a contribution Then Brothers, join our hands for aye. to town-gown relations, as one writer notes Our hearts together beat. May heaven spare our locks of gray The club has done a great deal to show "down-town" Till here again we meet.49 folks that some college profs can really drive a nail. On the other hand, some of the faculty have been Leaders in state government, academia, the clergy, and made meek by noting the force and power of speakers business comprised the Old Settlers' Club membership, and who haven't seen a school-room since they were 13 included the State Historical Society's own Lyman C. Draper years old, and don't know whether Charlemagne was and Reuben G Thwaites.50 Sharing well-prepared food and one of Plutarch's men or an out-post of Thule.48 companionship were part of the appeal of these clubs. Dinners for both the Madison and Milwaukee men's clubs are well- The Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee was another men's documented, with promotional flyers, dinner programs and social club that held annual dinners, usually on George Wash­ menus, and the occasional ticket. Not only did men at the ington's birthday. Unlike the abstaining Six O'Clock Club top tier of society attend these dinners but some also kept the diners, the Milwaukee Old Settlers' Club members often ephemera associated with them. imbibed the palate-cleansing Roman punch, which contained The Old Settlers' Club of Madison collection includes a spirits, and their evenings included many toasts. Camaraderie poignant menu item: a handwritten draft of the menu for a

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flirted with disaster) by scheduling dinners for Friday the 13th that were to begin at thirteen minutes past the hour, seating Dii\i\€r diners at tables of thirteen. This particular dinner included the requisite thirteen courses: Little Neck Clams on Shell, Mock Turtle Soup a la Anglaise, Broiled Bluefish a la Maitre de O'NEILL HOUSE Hotel, Pommes Croquettes, Filet de Boeuf a la Figue Borde- H. J. BROOKS, Propr. laise, Stuffed Tomatoes, Mashed Potatoes, Croquettes of Woodcock a la Pingord, String Beans, Philadelphia Chicken

Saturday, December 12th, 1903. Stuffed, Lettuce and Tomato Salad, vanilla ice cream, cheese, and coffee.53

Our Honored Guest The Lotos Club, a New York social and literary organiza­ MENU tion, held a dinner in honor of President William Howard Taft NEW YORK COUNTS and marked the occasion with an oversize menu signed by the CREAM OF TOMATO BOUILLON president and graced with majestic classical figures, a keepsake 54 CELERY OLIVES SOUK PICKLES eminently suitable for framing. Perhaps originally planned

BOILED LAKE TROUT, EGG SAUCE as a postelection victory dinner, the occasion on November 16, LATTICED POTATOES 1912, instead became a recognition dinner in Taft's remaining PRIME SIRLOIN OF BEEF, PEPPER SAUCE, A LA ROBERT SPARE RIBS OF PORK, BROWN SWEET POTATOES time as president after his loss to Woodrow Wilson. The short BOILED LEG OF MUTTON, GOVERNOR'S STYLE menu included Beverley Oysters, Green Turtle Soup, Porto ROAST TURKEY, REPUBLICAN DRESSING Rico Smelts, Mignons of Beef a la Cincinnati, Washington MASHED POTATOES RUTABAGAS BOILED ONIONS SALMON ANTI-MACHINE SALAD Sorbet, Roast Plover, Philippine Salad (Taft served as head PRIMARY PUDDING, WHIPPED CREAM of President McKinley's Philippine Commission and the first GOOD GOVERNMENT PLE MINCE PIE LEMON PIE

NO-STATE-TAX ICE CREAM governor of the Philippines, and he was well regarded there). United States cream, assorted cakes, and Panama coffee. The L'-RAH WISCONSIN CHEESE Taft menu is part of the papers of Harry A. Bruno, an avia­ FRUIT ASSORTED CAKE tion pioneer who was also involved in numerous civic activi­ COFFEE, PRIMROSE STYLE FAIR-MINDED DEMOCRATIC SWEET CIDER ties and served as the president of the Lotos Club from 1951 to 1962. A letter to Bruno on FBI stationery from J. Edgar Hoover, dated October 18, 1968, declines another invitation for a "state dinner" in his honor at the club: Dinners for statesmen often include aptly named dishes such as Good Government Pie and No-State-Tax Ice Cream. On the menu for the dinner to Robert M. La Follette Sr. at O'Neill House in New York, New I am sorry I cannot join you for the occasion, my York, in 1903, the meal includes Wisconsin U-Rah Cheese and Coffee, regret only heightened by the menu you enclosed Primrose Style (named for La Follette's birthplace in Wisconsin). with your letter for it is readily apparent that these Dinners are memorable affairs. dinner that was to be held on February 26, 1909, includes a With kindest regards, Sincerely Edgar55 directive by club president Napoleon B. Van Slyke to have the menu professionally printed. Members of Washington, DCs press corps formed an invi­ tation-only organization in 1885 and celebrated their accom­ [T]he Exec. Com. I have no doubt will carry out the plishments with fall and spring dinners. The Gridiron Club's "Old Settler" way of doing things in primitive style. now annual dinner is usually attended by sitting presidents, who Have things made "as Mother used to make it"—and by are expected to provide the high point of the evening's entertain­ all means have a printed menu, because many like to ment. The Society has several of the mock-ups for these dinners' keep such reminders of the event.51 souvenir menus, mounted on illustration board and inscribed to organizer and member Ray Henle by the club president Unfortunately this particular dinner, which was to include or other officers. Father and son political cartoonists Clifford bean soup with Boston brown bread, halibut steaks with Worces­ K. Berryman and Jim (James Thomas) Berryman created the tershire sauce, chicken pot pie, celery salad, and pumpkin pie, artwork for the menus, which often featured commentary on was postponed due to Van Slyke's death on February 14.52 current events or upcoming elections. The menu for the spring Other menus from club dinners include "The Feast by 1947 dinner pictures multiple presidential contenders dancing the Sea" of New York's Thirteen Club, one of a number of around a Maypole, with the caption, "Who's to be Queen of the Thirteen Clubs across the nation that defied superstition (and May, Mother? Who's to be Queen of the May?"56

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A Gastronomic Forecast

Dire was the clang of plate, of knife and fork, That merciless fell, like tomahawk, to work. — Dr. Wolcot's Peter Pindar.

CREAM OF TOMATO

CELERY OLIVES ROAST TURKEY

CRANBERRY JELLY

MASHED POTATOES SWEET CORN

SHRIMP SALAD MONDAY^VE LEMON ICE JANUARY 2 1

NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM ASSORTED CAKE Palace of Sweets Hall BENT'S CRACKERS CHEESE

COFFEE

From the Maennerchor

First Tenor First Bass NIN6H CHAS. HOEBEL JACOB ESSER DINNER FRANK C. BLIED HERMAN GAERTNER WM. JOACHIM *5I'X O'CLOCK Second Tenor Second Bass A. H. KAYSER CHAS. WEHRMAN E. O KNEY CHAS. ELVER

L. W. JOACHIM, Director. 39 Active Members. "Some Legislative Proposals"

This 1901 menu is for the ninth dinner of the Six O'clock Club, a men's social club that met several times a year for dinner, musical entertainment, and short presentations by invited speakers on various civic issues. As another Six O'Clock Club menu promised,"Meat for the Body—Songs for the Soul—Food for the Brain."

Journalist and Gridiron Club member Ray Henle and The New Woman his wife Marion also frequently entertained at their Wash­ A menu from University of Wisconsin sociologist Edward ington, DC home, at black tie dinners with eight to twelve Alsworth Ross's papers reflects the changing roles of women invited guests, who might be cabinet members, ambassa­ in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Ross is dors, members of Congress, high-ranking military officials, pictured smoking a pipe while sitting in an armchair. On the or visiting royalty. One common menu for these dinners, back, a child wearing a bib and sitting in a high chair plays used at least twelve times in 1955, featured Lobster Newburg with a jack-in-the-box, accompanied by the rhyme, "Mother (also spelled Lobster Newburgh and Lobster a la Newburg) Goose became quite new, And joined a Woman's Club, She as the fish course and Filet of Beef as the main course. Occa­ left poor Father Goose at home To care for little Bub."59 sionally the same menu was served on consecutive nights Professional women's associations also formed and occasion­ to a different roster of guests, presumably to maximize the ally held dinners, such as a Council of Administrative Women 57 efficiency of shopping and prep work. The Henles served in Education event in Milwaukee, at which the guest of honor Lobster Newburg less frequently in following years (seven was Lizzie Black Kander, Settlement House founder and times in 1958 and only four times in 1959). In 1960, the author of The Settlement Cook Book.60 default fish course seemed to shift to Lobster Mousse Ghan- Activities outside of the home also included meals at tilly Lobster Newburg, pieces of lobster in a creamy sauce restaurants such as cafes, lunchrooms, and tearooms, which flavored with sherry or cognac, was reputedly created in the catered to the growing workforce of female office workers, 1880s at the famed New York restaurant Delmonico's, and as well as middle- and upper-class women. Women dining 58 appears periodically on other menus in the collection. on their own without male companions, however, still faced

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large map still hanging in the restau­ rant points to the proximity of the farms from which the ingredients are sourced. The Dane County Farmers' omdl (Mi Market, the largest producer-only t of{|t(nite^te?' farmers' market in the nation, takes place outside LEtoile's front door every Saturday in season, creating a prime foraging opportunity for it 2 [^eeij'^lu«W^ and other area restaurants, many of which are inspired by a similar respect for ingredients, the craft of cooking, and those who grow and raise our food.66 In addition, growing p> awareness of conservation has led to efforts to curtail overharvesting of diminishing stocks such as green sea turtles, which were widely caught for green turtle soup, a common offering on many nineteenth- and early twen­ '("feuwnja * tieth-century menus in the collection. After being declared an endangered species in 1978, green turtle popula­ This is an autographed menu for a Lotos Club dinner in honor of President William Howard Taft in tions have improved but continue to New York in 1912. The Lotos Club, a men's literary society, created commemorative menus for its be monitored. It is unlikely that this "state dinners" honoring personalities in the arts and politics. Women were admitted to member­ item will ever return to American 67 ship in the 1970s. menus. barriers at prime dining hours in traditional restaurants in Through the decades from the the 1900s.61 Eventually restaurants found it to their advantage mid-1800s to the present day, the menus in the Society's collec­ to appeal to women, who made up over half their customers tions document the particular and the general. They portray by the mid-1920s.62 A menu from the restaurant at Baron's the recurrence of dishes such as Green Turtle Soup, Lobster department store in Madison offered lighter, "dainty" fare Newburg, and Roman Punch; the ways in which both members such as salads, sandwiches, and afternoon tea service, while of high society and ordinary citizens have celebrated over the another tearoom menu in the collection advertised the pres­ years; and the sobering realities of wartime conservation and ence of a dietician on staff in its promotional literature.63 Paul's an overtly racially segregated past. Menus reflect major social Cafe in Washburn, Wisconsin, promised "Meals to order at changes as well as the more significant social occasions in our all hours," a convenience to both women and men with busy lives, suggest how we see ourselves, and offer an intriguing schedules and less set mealtimes.64 glimpse into our past. Ml

Farm to Table Please visit the Wisconsin Historical Society Online Menu Gallery to learn more about menus in the Society's collections: The widespread contemporary emphasis on artisanal ingredi­ http://wihist.org/menugallery ents and locally sourced, farm-to-table menus can be traced to influential restaurateurs—notably Alice Waters of Chez Panisse Notes 1. Hans J. Teuteberg, "The Birth of the Modern Consumer Age," in Food: The Hstory of in Berkeley, California—who championed the farmers respon­ Taste, ed. Paul Freedman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 233—261. See also sible for their ingredients, beginning in the 1970s. In Madison, Laura Shapiro, Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009) for a study of the domestic science movement. many aspiring cooks who worked in the innovative Ovens of Brit­ 2. United States Hotel Menu, Menu Collection, 1846-2015, PH 3481, Box 1 (WHi 102367), tany restaurant went on to found their own restaurants, having Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. Hereafter referred to as Menu Collection. 3. Harvey Levenstein, Revolution at the Table: The Transformation of the American Diet been influenced by the French food culture that inspired the 'New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 4. The European Plan, by contrast, covered only Ovens of Brittany proprietors. Odessa Piper, founder of LEtoile lodging; meals were charged separately. 4. Newhall House Menu, Ephemera Collection, circa 1850-circa 2000, PH 2724, Box 7 (WHi Restaurant on the Capitol Square, often named the farms and 33145), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. Hereafter referred to as Ephemera farmers who grew the components of a dish on her menus.65 A Collection.

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5. Elliott Shore, "Dining Out: The Development of the Restaurant," in Food: The History of 40. O'Neill House Dinner to Robert M. La Follette Sr. Menu, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi Taste, ed. Paul Freedman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 302—303. 103372). 6. Palmer House Menu, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 102527). 41. Henry Noll, "Sunday Thoughts" column, Wisconsin State Journal, July 13, 1941, 6. 7. Masonic Banquet Menu, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 103632). 42. Six O'Clock Club (Madison, Wis.), [miscellaneous publications], Pam 56- 4805, Wisconsin 8. Thirteen Club "Feast by the Sea" Menu, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 102833). Historical Society Library. 9. Meyer Katz, Echoes of Our Past: Vignettes of Hstoric La Crosse (La Crosse, Wisconsin: 43. State Journal, November 15, 1899, News clipping in club record book, 1899-1901, 17; La Crosse Foundation and the Walker Foundation, 1985), 216. Six O'Clock Club Records, 1899-1906, Wis Mss JL, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, 10. Dinner Menu for "Buffalo Bill Cody," Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 103990). Madison. 11. Amanda Hesser, Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century 44. Six O'Clock Club Menu dated February 3, 1902, Six O'Clock Club (Madison, Wis.), (New York: Norton, 2010), 12. [miscellaneous publications], Pam 56- 4805, Wisconsin Historical Society Library. 12. Maria Godoy, "Dining with Disaster: Reviving the Last Meal on the Titanic," National 45. Henry Noll, "Sunday Thoughts" column, Wisconsin State Journal, February 2, 1947, 6. Public Radio, April 13, 2012, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/04/13/150508849/dining- 46. Memo from Charles N. Brown, Treasurer, Six O'Clock Club (Madison, Wis.), [miscel­ with-disaster-reviving-the-last-meal-on-the-titanic. laneous publications], Pam 56- 4805, Wisconsin Historical Society Library. 13. Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County, [miscellaneous publications], Milwaukee County. 47. William T. Evjue editorial, Capital Times, March 3, 1961, 26. Wisconsin, Pam 57- 327a, Wisconsin Historical Society Library. 48. David Atwood, Six O'Clock Club article, Madison Past and Present, 1852-1902. Madison: 14. RMS Lusitania Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 105948). See also Susan Williams's Wisconsin Statejournal, 1902, 59. Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America (Knoxville, Tennessee: 49. Lyrics by Thurlow Weed Brown, Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County, [miscellaneous University of Tennessee Press, 1996) for a discussion of the prevalence of French terminology publications], Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Pam 57- 327c, Wisconsin Historical Society in American menus and recipes (p. 24) and Dan Jurafsky, The Language of Food: A linguist Library. Reads the Menu (New York: WW Norton and Company, 2014) for his analysis of the use of 50. Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County, [miscellaneous publications], Milwaukee County. French (and "macaronic French") in the Buttolph menu collection at the New York Public Wisconsin, Pam 57- 327c, Wisconsin Historical Society Library. The tickets for Draper and Library: French was used five times more often in expensive restaurants than in less expensive Thwaites were complimentary. ones (p. 8). 51. Old Settlers' Club (Madison, Wis.) Records, 1902-1909, SC 299, Folder 1 (WHi 110256), 15. Diana Preston, Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy (New York: Walker & Company, 2002), 48. Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. 16. Preston, Lusitania, 46. 52. Ibid. 17. United States Lines Post Card Menu, Ephemera Collection, PH 2724, Box 21 (WHi 53. Thirteen Club "Feast by the Sea" Menu, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 102833). 108934). 54. Lotos Club Dinner to William Howard Taft Menu, Harry A. Bruno Papers, 1919-1969, 18. Rebecca L. Spang, Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture PH 4057 (3) (WHi 103779), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. 'Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 184. 55. J. Edgar Hoover, letter to Harry A. Bruno, Harry A. Bruno Papers, 1919-1969, U.S. Mss 19. Mv. Saturnia Farewell Dinner Menus, Roddis Family Papers, 1844-2007, Stevens Point 53AF, Box 8, Folder 2, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. Mss CA, Box 9, Folder 18 (WHi 109722-109726), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, 56. Gridiron Club Souvenir Menus, 1945-1950, PH 4730 (5) (WHi 107666), Wisconsin Histor­ Stevens Point Area Research Center. ical Society Archives, Madison. 20. Duncan Hines, Adventures in Good Eating: Good Eating Places along the Highways of 57. Menus for January 5 and 6, 1955, Raymond Z. Henle Papers, 1883-1973, U.S. Mss 55AF, America. (Ithaca, New York: Duncan Hines Institute, 1945), 271. See also the GofPs Restau­ Box 14, Folder 5, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. rant Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 106407). 58. Bonnie J. Slotnick, "Delmonico's" entry, in Andrew F. Smith, ed. The Oxford Companion 21. Hines, Adventures in Good Eating, 268. See also the Pendarvis House Menu, Ephemera to American Food and Drink (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 186. Collection, Box 7 (WHi 99817). 59. Mr. Ross Menu, Edward Alsworth Ross Papers, 1859-1969, M96-252, Folder 1 (WHi 22. Crossroads Dinner Menu exterior, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 108939). 109734), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. 23. Crossroads Dinner Menu interior, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 109255). 60. Council of Administrative Women in Education Dinner Menu, Lizzie Black Kander 24. See also Erikajanik's article about Wisconsin's role in WWI food conservation efforts: Papers, 1875-1960, Milwaukee Mss DN, Box 2, Folder 15 (WHi 100839), Wisconsin Historical "Food Will Win the War: Food Conservation in World War I Wisconsin," Wisconsin Magazine Society Archives, Milwaukee Area Research Center. of'Hstory 93, no. 3 (Spring 2010): 16-27. 61. Michael Lesy and Lisa Staffer cite two instances of cases brought by women who were 25. Dietetics Class, Home Economics Department, Milwaukee-Downer College, Sugges­ refused service in restaurants in New York in 1900 and 1907 (both women lost). Michael Lesy tions for Menu-Planning to Help the Housewife Meet the Present Emergency (Milwaukee: and Lisa Staffer, Repast: Dining Out at the Dawn of the New American Century, 1900—1910 Milwaukee-Downer College, 1917), 7. JNew York: WW Norton and Company, 2013), 125-129. 26. The Gargoyle Meatless Tuesday Menu, Pamphlet Collection, Pam 10- 441 (WHi 108328), 62. Levenstein, Revolution at the Table, 185-188. Wisconsin Historical Society Library, Madison; Hotel Wisconsin Meatless Tuesday Menu. 63. A Historical Map of Madison, Map Collection, H GX9029 M18 K7 (WHi 100040), Pamphlet Collection, Pam 10- 443 (WHi 108076), Wisconsin Historical Society Library, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison; Casa del Norte Tea Rooms Map and Sample Madison. Menu Items, Map Collection, H GX9119 D74 192-C (WHi 101172), Wisconsin Historical 27. Blackstone Hotel Meatless Tuesday Menu, Pamphlet Collection, Pam 10- 442 (WHi Society Archives, Madison. 108327), Wisconsin Historical Society Library, Madison. 64. Paul's Cafe Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 106418-106419). 28. USS Wisconsin Thanksgiving Menu, USS Wisconsin collection, 1897-1899, 1917, 1943- 65. L'Etoile Restaurant Farmers' Market Dinner Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 1988, M89-387 (WHi 99838), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison; Truax Army 104540). See also several other L'Etoile menus in the collection. Field Station Hospital Christmas Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 105693). 66. See also Dan Barber, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food (New York: 29. Baby Doll Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 105696). Penguin Press, 2014) for a thoughtful exploration of the "web of relationships" (p. 175) that 30. See Menu for the 7th Annual Banquet of the Merchants Association, Menu Collection, Box supports a harmonized, sustainable food system. 1 (WHi 101924); see also Palmer House Menu, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 102527). Elliott 67. Rona Marech, "Seeing Green," National Parks 88, no. 2 (Spring 2014): 28-29. Although Shore notes that at one time the Pullman railroad company was a major employer of African green sea turtles are no longer used, contemporary turtle soup recipes usually suggest fresh­ Americans working as railway porters and servers. Shore, "Dining Out," 319. water farm-raised turtles. 31. Chicago, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, and Pacific Railway Lounge and Buffet Service Menu. Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 106402). 32. Gridiron Club Menu for December 9, 1950, Gridiron Club Souvenir Menus, 1945-1950, PH 4730 (5) (WHi 107092), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. Jennifer Jensen ABOUT THE AUTHOR Wallach discusses a related phenomenon and cites two instances in 1929 and 1931 of white Julia Wong works in Archives Technical writers using caricatured black vernacular speech to write about food inspired by African American cooks in How America Eats: A Social History of U.S. Food and Culture (Lanham. Services at the Wisconsin Historical Soci­ Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013), 186-188. ety, where she processes collections in the 33. Bookbinders Sea Food House Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 106567). 34. Toy's Chop Suey Restaurant Menu, Menu Collection, Box 2 (WHi 106411); Robbie's Yodel Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Col­ Club Menu, Northeastern Wisconsin In-School Telecommunications: NEWIST Records, lection and archives websites for the Soci­ 1967-1980, 2003-2005, MCHC80-003, Box 6, Folder 10 (WHi 107668), Wisconsin Historical ety Web Archives. She has also worked Society Archives, Madison. 35. President's Dinner at Gayoso Hotel Menus, Menu Collection, Box 1 (WHi 103991-103992). on a number of online image galleries, 36. See WHi 23921 and 37376 for photographs of President Cleveland's 1887 visit to Madison. including the menu gallery. Her image 37. Menu for Breakfast in Honour of Senator Warren G. Harding, Byron Price Papers, 1901 — 1980, U.S. Mss 142AF, Box 7, Folder 1 (WHi 101534), Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, essay about Madison's Neighborhood House was published in Madison. the Summer 2015 issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History. She 38. Levenstein, Revolution at the Table, 33—34. 39. Menu for Captain's dinner on board SS Pastores, Byron Price Papers, 1901—1980, U.S. Mss dedicates this article to the memory of her father, a restaurateur. 142AF, Box 7, Folder 1 (WHi 101537).

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MILWAUKEE MAYHEM MURDER AND MYSTERY IN THE CREAM CITY'S FIRST CENTURY

BY MATTHEW J. PRIGGE

The following is an excerpt from the book Milwaukee Mayhem by Matthew J. Prigge, recently published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Milwaukee Mayhem offers a new perspective on the Cream City's early years, forgoing the major historical signposts to focus on the brutal events, terrible crimes, and outlaw characters that were born of the city's transformation from lakeside settlement to American metropolis. Prigge uses the hard-hewn news reporting of the era to present stories of murder, suicide, madness, and disaster in a grim and vivid prose that creates a chilling narrative of the city's shadowed past.

Switchman about three hundred railroad workmen on their way home March 1892 after a day's labor. Among the twisting ribbons of iron rail was switchman Emil Barthel. It was his job to open and close Two trains rumbled east through the massive rail yards of the many switches linked to the tracks, allowing the massive the Menomonee Valley. One was the evening passenger train engines to slide from track to track. But on this drowsy Tuesday from Watertown. The other was the Milwaukee and St. Paul evening, somewhere near the foot of North Eighteenth Street, shop train. The shop train was seven cars long and filled with Barthel missed one.

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As the Watertown train rolled east, engineer James Little spotted the neglected switch and threw the engine into reverse, yanking the handle for the air breaks. But his action came too late. With a screeching jolt, the locomotive slid forward across the divergent track and crashed at an angle into the heart of the shop train. Both trains derailed and two shop cars tumbled onto their sides. Dozens of men leapt from the cars as they tipped. Seven were crushed to death as it fell. As the mangled bodies were pulled from the wreck, Barthel turned himself into police. Joined by his wife and young daughter at the station, the twenty-nine- year-old was beyond consolation. He told a reporter that he preferred death himself than to have caused so much A young woman dives from a rowboat similar to the one that carried an unknown woman agony. His fellow workers expressed to her fate. support for Barthel, calling on him in their off hours to see if he needed anything. His family stayed paddled off into the blackening night, an eastern wind turned with him as long as they were allowed, his little girl asking the the lake waters choppy. uniformed officers why "Papa" was not permitted to go home After about three hours, the boys tending the stand began with them. to think that the couple had encountered trouble. With the Back at the yards, the accident scene was cleaned up and now-total darkness and increasingly disagreeable seas, they the entire works were back to normal by the next morning. thought the couple might have been unable to find the landing A railroad official said that the damage from the wreck, at and ditched the boat somewhere along the beach. Just as the first estimated as high as ten thousand dollars, would likely boys were preparing to head out in search of the vessel, it amount to no more than a few hundred dollars. The official appeared from the darkness. The man was alone. "Where is also announced that the railroad would cover all costs involved your lady friend?" one of the boys asked. in burying the dead. "I left her at Lake Park," the man said. "The water became An inquest the day after the accident found Barthel, as choppy and she was afraid to return." The boys remarked that the man in charge of the fatal switch, to be responsible for the rowing to the landing at the park and back in three hours was wreck. He was charged with a single count of murder and held a substantial feat. The round-trip journey was nearly seven for almost three months before standing trial. The trial lasted miles. The man said he had lived a difficult life and was used three days, with many coworkers testifying as to his strong to hard work. He even remarked that he was about to leave the character and competence on the job. Barthel testified himself area for the Canadian Yukon, which was in the midst of a gold sorrowfully admitting he had left the switch open as the result rush. The man paid the rental fee in silver coins and left, his of a simple mistake. It took the jury just twenty minutes to satchel appearing much lighter than it had been before. return a verdict of not guilty. About six later, a body washed up at the govern­ ment pier off North Point. It was an adult woman, dressed The Woman At The Breakwater only in undergarments, stockings, and shoes. A chain was June 1898 wrapped snugly around her waist, looped twice and shackled Around a quarter past eight on a mild summer evening, a to a twenty-five-pound horse-hitching weight. Police noted well-dressed man rented a sixteen-foot rowboat from a stand the woman had very slender and delicate hands and feet, at the lakefront foot of Mason Street, just to the north of the and probably "occupied a comparatively high station in life." Chicago and North Western Railroad depot. He wore a stiff Only a few minutes after being removed from the water, the black hat and carried a heavy satchel. He was accompanied body collapsed into a "shapeless mass." It was quickly esti­ by a lovely young woman, about thirty years of age, dressed in mated that the woman had been killed on a vessel, stripped, a dark skirt and light-colored shirtwaist. Shortly after the pair and thrown in the water. Unable to reconstruct what the

WINTER 2015-2016 25 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY young woman might have looked like, police instead focused at the county poor farm, along the south bank of Menomonee on the physical clues found with the body. The daily newspa­ River to the west of the city, to be forever eulogized as "Name pers carried images of the hitching weight, and the tattered Unknown." underthings taken from the body were kept on public display at the central station. Crazy Fritz The day after the body was recovered, the boat stand December 1928 boys came forward with their story. Investigators found the A shocking note was received at the Lederer farm in Grafton unknown man's story of dropping his date at Lake Park one afternoon. It read, "I am Fritz Lederer; they did not bury highly unlikely, as the landing there was difficult to maneuver me, and I want to see my mother again." Frederick "Fritz" and more than a mile from the nearest street car stop. No Lederer had drowned in the Chippewa River at age seven­ woman, it was thought, would have asked to be left there teen, some twenty years earlier—or so his family had always alone and at night, no matter how frightened she was of believed. the lake roll. As police looked into the boys' story, the crew John Lederer, Fritz's brother, sent a relative to the of the tugboat Hagerman reported they had seen a similar Milwaukee address the note had given. The relative took the couple in a rowboat about 9:30 that same evening, far from man living at the address, described as a sandy-haired, "mad- the shore and not headed in the direction of the park. A few eyed" wanderer, to a nearby police station. There, between fits days later, a teamster reported that a weight of his identical of sobbing, the man described how he had been swimming to the one recovered had been stolen from him the day before one summer afternoon with an Indian boy, how the other boy the couple rented the boat. It was taken from the park near had drowned, and how he had fled the scene, fearful he would the flushing tunnel on the lakefront, just miles from the boat be blamed for the death. As time passed, the man said, his fear rental stand. turned to shame. He could not reemerge looking so foolish. So But if the police had a general idea as to how the crime he went west and lost himself. was committed, they still had no clue as to the identities of Recently, though, he had returned to the area. For nearly those involved. Hundreds of Milwaukeeans were drawn to a year, he had been living in a Milwaukee hotel, registered as the display of the garments, including "curious ones," who Fritz Lederer, and working on the railroad. To the police and were, in the words of the Milwaukee Sentinel, "impelled by reporters, he spoke of his time away, described the toys he once a morbid interest in gruesome things [and] inspected the played with, and recalled the vivid details of his "drowning." But discolored garments with an evident pleasure." Scores of tips his recollections were patchy. He knew what year Fritz's father revealed dozens of women, either Milwaukee residents or visi­ had died—just two years after the drowning—but could not tors, who could not be located by loved ones. One woman remember his mother's name. He knew the names of two sisters feared the departed to be her daughter, whom she had not but did not know how many other siblings Fritz had. He knew heard from in some time and was quite unhappily married that young Fritz played the concertina but struggled to calculate to a man who had threatened on several occasions to kill her. his own age. He said he had wanted to visit his family months Another tip told of a woman who had taken up with a married before but did not want to go out in the rain. His answers were man. When the situation turned sour, the man told a friend of slow and labored. Few observers thought he was deliberately the woman that he gave her some money and she left town. lying, but even fewer thought he was really Fritz Lederer. The missing woman's friend suspected he was not telling the The family was skeptical. The body of Fritz had been truth. One man told police his wife had run off on him and recovered in perfect condition only a few hours after the acci­ was last known to be living in Milwaukee. He asked for, and dent. The parents had both identified it as that of their child. was given, a piece of lace from the underclothes found on the But Mrs. Lederer, still weakened with grief after the loss of body. He refused to give his name but promised to return the her son and husband in such succession, wanted to see the next day with more information. He was never seen again. A man claiming to be her Fritz. A meeting was arranged. Almost Chicago man made the trip north and said the clothes looked immediately after seeing the man, John Lederer recognized very similar to those owned by his wife, who had walked out him. But not as his long-lost brother. He was a farmhand the on him some time ago. Examining the teeth from the corpse, family had hired about ten years earlier to cut thistles. The however, he became convinced the body was not that of his family remembered the man well and for reasons they did not wife. He was fairly unmoved during the process, telling police explain had taken to calling him "Crazy Fritz." he was merely curious as to the identity of the body and did The man continued to insist he was the boy in the river not care one whit if his wife was alive or dead. that summer afternoon but took their rejection with humor. Despite the case's publicity, no positive identification of "Maybe I don't have a name," he told reporters. After the the body was ever made. Three days after the woman at the meeting, he was charged with disorderly conduct and held for breakwater was recovered, she was buried in the potter's field observation.

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Backers of the ban managed to get a bill before the state legislature for consid­ eration. In the meantime, they vowed to take their fight to the public and conduct an investigation as to the opinion of the citizenry on the matter. They wished to avoid undue publicity which, they felt, could build a fast against their movement. Backers of the bill planned "lectures and literature to show the actual horrors and disease spreading tendencies in the apparently harmless and admittedly felicitous kiss." Despite the odds against them, Milwaukee's anti-kiss crusaders felt confi­ dent about their cause. "In a few centu­ ries, our grandchildren will look back and wonder how such a phase of insanity ever took hold of their progenitors," Kleise said. "Why must affection be shown by a salute of the lips? Why not run ears or noses or foreheads as they do in Africa? The slogan of the medical societies of America should be 'Kill the Kiss.' " kVi

Notes Switchman: "Seven Killed Instantly," Milwaukee Journal. A flirt and two ladies near the Milwaukee River March 2, 1892; "Seven Met Death," Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1892; "Coroner's Jury at Work," Milwaukee Journal, March 3, 1892; "Emil Barthel Is Quickly Acquitted," Chicago Tribune, May 28, 1892. "Kill The Kiss" The Woman at the Breakwater: "Lake Reveals Crime," Milwaukee Sentinel, August 4. 1898; "Clue to the Murder," Milwaukee Sentinel, August 5, 1898; "Clew to a Dark Crime," July 1912 Chicago Tribune, August 5, 1898; "Seen by a Tug's Crew," Milwaukee Sentinel, August 6, 1898; "Police Still Puzzled," Chicago Tribune, August 6, 1898; "Small Clues Turn Up," Milwaukee Sentinel, August 7, 1898; "Milwaukee Police Hear of Many Missing Women," "Homes have been wrecked, nations destroyed, thrones over­ Chicago Tribune, August 7, 1898; "Milwaukee Murder Mystery," The Dailyjournal (Free- turned, all because of that one thing," G. R Bowling was quoted port, IL), August 10, 1898. Crazy Fritz: "Ghost Insists He's Son Buried Two Decades Ago," Milwaukee Sentinel, as saying in the Milwaukee Sentinel. Bowling was at the forefront December 18, 1928; "Mystery Man to Face Test," Milwaukeejournal, December 19, 1928: of a movement in Oklahoma that several Milwaukee physicians "Family Denies Mystery Man," Milwaukeejournal, December 20, 1928. "Kill the Kiss": "Anti-Kissing Law Is Now Considered," Milwaukee Sentinel, June 17, 1912. were hoping to jumpstart in Wisconsin. They were trying to ban "promiscuous osculation"—more commonly known as the kiss. The anti-kissing charge in Milwaukee was led by Dr. L. A. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kleise, who won the support of several of his colleagues with a Matthew J. Prigge is a freelance author stirring oration against the practice at a city medical conven­ and historian from Milwaukee and the tion. "The habit is known to spread disease, not only when host of What Made Milwaukee Famous, a practiced on babies but with older persons as well," Kleise told weekly local history segment on WMSE the Sentinel. "I fear, however, that a law to this effect would be 91.7. His work has been featured in both difficult to enforce." local and national publications and has The drive against the kiss was because of the germs the act won multiple awards, including the 2013 was alleged to spread. "The kiss is a malady, like the whooping William Best Hesseltine Award from the cough or the measles," said a physician opponent of the practice. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Since 2011, he has led sight­ "It is a blot on our civilization and should be dealt with drasti­ seeing historical tours of Milwaukee's rivers and harbor for the cally. I know of no better remedy than to have the proposed law Milwaukee Boat Line. In 2013, he created the Mondo Milwaukee Boat Tour, an evening historical tour of some of the city's most passed and the policemen enforce it with a good hickory club if infamous sights. Milwaukee Mayhem is his second book. necessary."

WINTER 2015-2016 27 The Civil War Photography of Francis Van de Wall

BY JAMES B. HIBBARD

he photographer posed Mary Coombe Mills very carefully. After positioning the camera to take in most of her dress, he brought Ther hands together to highlight her bouquet and ring. Just before he took the photograph, he surely reminded Mary to remain perfectly still during the long five-to-ten second exposure. It was a special photo­ graph. Mary had married attorney Joseph Mills of Lancaster, Wisconsin, on December 30, 1860, and now she was sitting for her wedding portrait, wearing her dress, hairpiece, broach, and pocket watch, fashionably tucked into her belt.' The photographer who captured Mary's image that day was Francis Van de Wall. Born in London, England, in 1821, he had apprenticed as a machinist. Frank, as he was called, immigrated to southwest Wisconsin in 1845. Five years later, he married Jane Russell, a local woman, and settled in Lancaster, the county seat of Grant County Van de Wall tried to make a living at various jobs, but as the Grant County Herald, Lancaster's newspaper, noted, Frank was a failure "at anything he undertook." By 1860, he had hit bottom, struggling to support his wife and two chil­ dren as a laborer. Around that time, he traveled to Galena, Illinois, and learned how to take pictures at a photographic studio. According to the Herald, "he sponged the whole art," photographing "children and dogs" and anything else that caught his eye. Returning to Lancaster, he began taking photographs "for amusement at first." Then in late 1860 or early 1861, Frank opened the first permanent photographic studio in Lancaster, located on the south side of the courthouse square.2

All photos courtesy ofUW-Platteville SW Wisconsin Room, unless otherwise credited. %

m. x m This carte de visite wedding portrait of Mary Coombe Mills, from ca. December 30,1860, is the earliest-known photograph taken by Van de Wall. • WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY

One of Van de Wall's specialties was taking vignettes, Christmas 1862 was a joyous time. Captain Highwell such as this one featuring Sophia Aspinwall (left) and Farquharson brought his Lancaster"boys" of Company Olive McGonigal, taken in the winter of 1861 -1862. A C, 25th Wisconsin Infantry, to town on leave. During the graduate of the Platteville Academy, Sophia operated a furlough,"Cap. Ferg,"as he was called, stopped into Van private or"Select"school in Lancaster. Olive was prob­ de Wall's studio and had this vignette taken in uniform. ably one of Sophia's students.

He could not have chosen a better time to open a studio. The attraction of the carte de visite was its small size, low Photography in 1861 was at a crossroads. Photographers cost (about twenty cents per image), and reproducibility. In a across the nation offered their customers photographs in an word, it democratized photography. For the first time, a large assortment of formats: daguerreotypes (on copper), ambro- cross section of Americans could afford to have their photo­ types (on glass), tintypes (on iron), and large-format albumen graphs taken and have copies to share. This, in turn, made it prints (on paper). These photographs, in turn, were displayed fashionable to send cartes de visite through the mail to loved in photographic lockets, cases, and frames. ones and friends. Such statements as "please send your Like­ However, a new photograph was causing what the nesses" and "I was disappointed not getting your photographs" American Journal of Photography styled "a revolution became common refrains in letters. It even became popular to in pictures." The carte de visite (visiting card) was a small collect cartes de visite of celebrities. No less of persons than 2V2 x 4 inch albumen print glued onto cardboard. Devel­ Abraham and Mary Lincoln and Queen Victoria participated. oped by Frenchman Andre Adolphe-Eugene Disderi in the Not surprisingly, the carte de visite would become a staple at 1850s, it had been introduced in the United States in 1859. Van de Wall's studio.4 Within a year, the carte de visite became the most popular Another timely factor for Van de Wall was the start of the type of photograph produced. The popularity of the carte de Civil War on April 12, 1861, only a few months after he opened visite, moreover, caught the attention of noted author Oliver his studio. A wave of patriotism swept through Grant County Wendell Holmes Sr. In 1863, Holmes would write about as it did through the rest of the nation. Over the course of "card-portraits, which, as everybody knows, have become the spring and summer of 1861, seven military companies the social currency, the sentimental 'green-backs' of civiliza­ were raised in the county. Overnight, people wanted their tion."3 photographs taken, especially military recruits. According to

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To prevent facial blur. Van deWall used a posing stand with a head brace to immobilize his subjects during the long exposure. In this photograph of Orris and Ann McCartney, taken in 1861 or 1862, a leg of a posing stand is visible behind Orris's right shoe.

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Van de Wall also took exterior views. On or about the morning of May 1,1862, he took this 6x8 inch photograph of Joseph C. Cover, the editor/owner of the Grant County Hera/d^ncThis staff in front of Cover's Lancaster house, the site of the newspaper's printing press. The men in the foreground are (left to right): Lysander Hubbard, George Budd, Chris Dunkley, George Francis, John Cover, and Joseph C. Cover. The women in the background are (left to right): Ann Cover, Joseph's wife; Mary Cover, his daughter; and Fanny Noble, the Cover family's domestic servant.

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Daniel Pierce was one of Cap. Ferg's "boys." Pierce probably had his photograph taken shortly before he enlisted in August 1862.Tragically, Daniel died of disease at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on August 6,1863, leaving behind a wife and two children.

the Grant County Herald, Van de Wall's studio became the "picture gallery for the boys" going off to war.5 During his first three years in business, Van de Wall honed his trade through trial and error. He posed his subjects with minimal creativity and used no props, betraying his lack of experience. A good example of this is the photograph of Orris McCartney and his wife, Ann. Notice that he placed Ann in an unflattering square-shouldered pose; his placement of the couples' left hands have hidden their wedding rings; there are no props; and he made the couple appear awkward by positioning Orris at arm's length from Ann. These oversights not only created an amateurishly posed photograph but also leave the viewer confused about the couple's relationship, wondering if they are husband and wife or brother and sister. Given the complexity of producing a photograph during the Civil War era, it is a wonder that Van de Wall chose to become a photographer. The process of producing a single large-format albumen print or a set of cartes de visite, two types of photographs that Van de Wall often made, differed only in the number of lenses on the camera, one or multiple. Cartes de

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In the spring of 1863,Van deWall tookthis carte de visite ofWill (left) and Harry Clise.The endearing hug and posing stand kept the boys still. To shorten the exposure time,Van deWall preferred to photograph children, as he advertised,"in the morning of a clear day." visite, for example, were produced by a specially designed multi- lens camera that enabled a photographer to record eight images on an 8 x 10 inch negative. The negative, called a wet-plate glass negative, was a pane of glass that a photographer coated with a sticky liquid solution called collodion.6 As J. Pitcher Spencer, a Civil War photographer, wrote, "When you realize that the most sensitive . . . chemicals are requisite to make collodion, which must coat every plate, and that the very slightest breath might carry enough 'poison' across the plate being coated to make it produce a blank spot and the image was ruined. Once a carte de visite nega­ instead of some much desired effect, you may perhaps have a tive had been processed, a photographer could print eight faint idea of the care requisite to produce a picture."7 positive prints from it onto a sheet of photographic paper. A photographer had a maximum of eight to ten minutes These prints, which looked like a set of modern grade-school to prepare, expose, and process a negative. George Rock- pictures, were then cut apart and glued onto individual card­ wood, another Civil War photographer, recalled that "every board mounts.8 minute of delay resulted in loss of brilliancy and depth in In August 1863, everything changed for Van de Wall the negative." If too much time elapsed, the collodion dried. when he got the opportunity to work in his studio with Alex-

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«S^

Also on the afternoon of May 1,1862, Van deWall photographed George Ryland, the tall man wearing a stovepipe hat, in front of his brick store, located at the southeast corner of Madison and Maple Streets. Notably, three Herald staff members were also present: George Budd (white jacket, second from left), George Francis (seventh from left) and Chris Dunkley (ninth from left).

ander Hesler, an award-winning photographer. The surviving nois, in the late 1840s and early 1850s before establishing a records do not indicate the extent of Van de Wall's relation­ studio in Chicago in 1854. His latest accomplishment was a ship with Hesler. It is apparent, however, from existing corre­ set of magnificent albumen portraits of presidential candidate spondence, newspaper accounts, and by Hesler's use of Van de Abraham Lincoln taken in June I860.9 Wall's studio that the two photographers were well acquainted The chance to hunt "prairie chickens [and] pheasants" and that Van de Wall viewed Hesler as a photographic mentor. brought Hesler to Lancaster. Like most photographers, Hesler had worked primarily as a daguerreotypist in however, he could not resist taking some photographs. Hence, Platteville, Wisconsin; Dubuque, Iowa; and Galena, Illi­ he wrote to his friend William Baxter, a Lancaster druggist, "I

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More than likely, Hesler took this 4x6 photograph of Joe Barnett's Mimical String Band in August 1863. The band members are (left to right): John J. Barber, Amherst Barber, Joe Barnett, and Joe Nathan, who appears ready to play as soon as he finishes tuning his guitar. [

In August 1863, Alexander Hesler, a famous Evidence indicates that Hesler also took Van de Wall's photograph of Private William photographer, took photographs at Van de this intriguing photograph of Private Holloway, Company K,6th Wisconsin Infantry Wall's studio.Van deWall assisted him. In George Hyde, Company C, 2nd Wisconsin (Iron Brigade), shows the work of a maturing this carte de visite of Ann Cover, notice how Infantry, which was part of the famous Iron photographer. Taken in January or February Ann appears natural, not posed. Brigade. George, who had been wounded 1864, Frank highlighted William's reenlist- at the battle of Bull Run in 1861, died in ment chevron on his right sleeve and the October 1864. Iron Brigade's distinctive black hat. William died in a train accident in July 1865.

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Laura Pepper was photographed in the summer of 1864. The war even influenced fashion. In this carte de visite Here Van de Wall added a new prop, a photographic of Charlotte Pepper, taken in 1864, notice the U-shaped album on the table. Incidentally, Laura's dress and apron pieces of cloth on her upper arms. These items symbol­ are nearly identical to the illustrations of Alice in Lewis ized an officer's epaulets. Carroll's 1865 novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. will be in Lancaster on Thursday next, and hunt remainder of a posing stand, something that Van de Wall relied upon to week; then be at Vandewall's [sic] to take pictures." When he keep a standing subject's head still. Also visible in these three was ready to "take pictures," he first spent several days physi­ photographs are the various props (curtain with tassels and cally reconstructing Van de Wall's windows and skylight to let table with tablecloth) that Hesler had Van de Wall place in in the correct quantity of light. He also directed Van de Wall his studio. Frank would complete his studio ensemble in the to add some furniture and tapestry to provide warmth to the spring of 1864 by adding a Gothic Revival chair.11 finished image. Always willing to learn, Van de Wall assisted Hesler. As Hesler took photographs from August 17 to 20. According reported in the Herald, Frank, "since his pupilage with the to a local woman, "Hesler took all the negatives to Chicago great master of the Photograph science, may be ranked along & returned them [to Lancaster], finished," on September 3, with the first of his profession." That may or may not have 1863.10 been the case, but what is clear is that Hesler's instruction Hesler's expertise is evident. His carte de visite of Ann was a watershed for Van de Wall. His photography improved Cover contains his trademark of a beautifully lighted subject significantly12 in a natural-looking pose. In addition, the photographs of the From September 1863 onward, Van de Wall's photo­ Mimical String Band and George Hyde (which were glued graphs reflected a photographer perfecting his craft. Most into an album, covering up the photographer's imprints) were notably, he became more adept at posing his subjects. Char­ probably taken by Hesler. Not only are the poses natural lotte Pepper's photograph is a case in point. By having Pepper looking, but notice the curtain is located on the left side of both turn her shoulder away from the camera and lean on the photographs (a sliver of the curtain is visible on the extreme table, Van de Wall created one of the more popular poses used left of Hyde's photograph). Van de Wall always positioned during the Civil War. She appears to be sitting in her parlor the curtain on the right. Hyde was posed, moreover, without ready to read a book.13

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(Above) Van deWall also took tintypes. Thomas Richmond, an ex-slave who had served during the Civil War in Company 1,67th US Colored Infantry in Missouri, sat for this tintype in December 1865. At the time, Richmond lived in the ex-slave commu­ nity of Pleasant Ridge, five miles west of Lancaster. (Left) The federal government taxed all photographs from August 1864 to August 1866 to help finance the war. As a result, the back of Richmond's 1865 tintype has a 2C US Revenue stamp, canceled by"FV," Francis Van deWall.

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Phoebe Showalter, a war widow, stood for her photo­ Childhood was cut short for Luella Roberts. By the time graph in the summer of 1866. Dressed in what was surely this photograph was taken in the summer of 1866, she a mourning dress, the photographic case in her left hand had witnessed the deaths of two brothers and a brother- symbolized her late husband. Lieutenant John Showalter in-law. Luella's dress, with its tuck near the hem, was of the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry. in fashion for girls during the Civil War. Frank placed a photographic case in her left hand.

Pepper's parlor pose was no accident. For several decades, still had his share of military men sitting for their photographs, Americans had been embracing what one historian calls but by 1863, with scores of Grant County men already dead "parlor culture." Even the humblest family attempted to from the war, haunting photographs of widows and orphans express improvement or refinement by setting aside a room became common. Van de Wall even photographed a former or area in their house as a parlor, where the family's treasured slave. To give some idea of the war's toll on the community possessions were kept. Photographers picked up on this trend just consider what happened to eight soldiers who corre­ by adding tables, chairs, columns, curtains, backdrops, and sponded with a local woman: two died and the remaining six other props, making their studios look like parlors.14 were wounded in battle.16 Parallel with this development, the carte de visite created The scale of suffering and death endured by the local one of the most popular possessions found in parlors from people was staggering. By the end of the war in 1865, nearly 1860 onward, the photographic album. During the Civil War, 750 soldiers from Grant County died of disease or in battle. Not upwards of twelve album patents were registered. Carte de wanting to forget their dead, the people of the county erected visite albums were all the rage. In 1862, for example, upon a Soldiers' Monument, one of the first of its kind in the nation. learning she was going to receive an album as a gift, one Each dead soldier's name was carved onto one of the eight woman wrote: "I know, I am to have a Photographic Album[,] marble cenotaphs. Van de Wall took a photograph of the monu­ Just what I have often wished to possess!!" Van de Wall took ment a few days before it was dedicated on July 4, 1867.17 notice of this phenomenon and started placing albums in his Remarkably, the man the Herald once considered a post-Hesler photographs.15 failure became a success. Beginning as an amateur, Van de The other, more subtle development in Van de Wall's Wall, through experience and instruction, emerged as a profes­ photography after Hesler's visit was his changing subjects. He sional photographer, or what was then called a photographic

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190; 1860 US Census, Lancaster Township, Grant County, Wisconsin, Dwelling 939; Grant County Herald, November 13, 1861, 2; The Weekly Teller, May 9, 1912, 1. 3. Darrah, Preface, 4; O. Henry Mace, Collector's Guide to Early Photographs (Iola. Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 1990), 109; Jeff L. Rosenheim, Photography and the American Civil War (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013), 23-24; Naomi Rosenblum, A World Hstory of Photography (New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1997), 62—64; Beaumont Newhall, The Hstory of Photography from 1839 to the Present (New York: Bulfinch Press, 2005), 64-66; Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., "Doings of the Sunbeam," The Atlantic Monthly 12, no. 69 (July 1863): 8. 4. Darrah, 4, 6, 10, 19, 48; Mark E. Neelyjr. and Harold Holzer, The Lincoln Family Album JNew York: Doubleday, 1990), x-xiii; Mace, 100-101, 108-117; Rosenheim, 23-24, 147-149: Rosenblum, 62—64; Rosannah Dunham to Susan Lawson, March 4, 1865, Folder 2, and Jane Noble to Susan Lawson, January 11, 1865, Folder 4, Packard Family Papers, M2001-20, Southwest Wisconsin Room, University of Wisconsin—Platteville. 5. History of Grant County, 594, 597, 602; Grant County Herald, November 13, 1861, 2. 6. Rosenheim, 23-24; Rosenblum, 62; Newhall, 64; Frassanito, 29-30; Mace, 100-101, 115-117. 7. Henry Wysham Lanier, "Photographing the Civil War," quoted in Francis Trevelyan Miller, editor, The Photographic Hstory of the Civil War: Volume One, The Opening Battles JNewYork: The Review of Reviews Co., 1911), 50. 8. Miller, 48, 50; Rosenheim, 23, 24; Mace, 100-101, 115-117. 9. Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers from the Missis­ sippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary, 1839—1865 (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2005), 319-320. Independent American, September 16, 1848, 3; September 23, 1848, 2; September 30, 1848, 3; Charles Hamilton and Lloyd Ostendorf Lincoln In Photographs: An Album of Every Known Pose (Dayton, Ohio: Morningside, 1985), 46-49. 10. Grant County Herald, August 4, 1863, 3; August 18, 1863, 2; September 1, 1863, 2: Catharine Eaton to Samuel Eaton, September 4, 1863, Edward D. Eaton Papers, 1826—1947, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison. 11. Grant County Herald, November 11, 1862, 3; Ann Cover's carte de visite is the only one dated. Handwritten on the back is "August 1863." Because Hesler made the prints in his Chicago studio, the back of Ann's carte de visite has Hesler's imprint: "Hesler, Artist, No. 113 Lake Street, Chicago." The other two photographs are glued inside an album. Van de Wall's Gothic Revival chair first showed up in a photograph taken of Frank Reed. Reed enlisted in Like many people who make a living behind a camera, Company A, 41st Wisconsin Infantry on May 5, 1864. He left Lancaster soon after and died Frank Van deWall was rarely in front of one. This is the in the service in September 1864. Reed was dressed in civilian clothing, so his photograph was taken on or before May 5, 1864. To see Reed's military service record, see: Roster of only known image of him, taken ca. 1909, when he was Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861—1865 (Madison: Democrat Printing Co., about eighty-eight years old. 1886), Vol. 2, 692. 12. Grant County Herald, September 1, 1863, 2. 13. Darrah, 29-30. artist. His timing, moreover, was perfect. Had Van de Wall 14. Richard L. Bushman, The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992), 251-254, 273-279. established a studio in Lancaster much earlier, he probably 15. Rosenheim, 147, 149; Darrah, 8-10; Neely, vii-xiii; Catharine Eaton to Samuel Eaton, would have met financial ruin because of a lack of customers; December 31, 1862. 16. John W. Cothran to Mary Showalter, Michael Cook to Mary Showalter, James Hughes if he had waited much longer, someone else surely would have to Mary Showalter, George C. Johnson to Mary Showalter, Samuel Peyton to Mary beaten him to the punch and opened a studio to capture the Showalter, Jesse M. Roberts to Mary Showalter, John Showalter to Mary Showalter, Levi Showalter to Mary Showalter, Showalter Letters, Southwest Wisconsin Room, Univer­ "boys" going off to war. sity of Wisconsin-Platteville, M2004-11, Folders 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; Roster of Wisconsin Van de Wall worked as a professional photographer for Volunteers, Vol. 1, 59, 353, 354, 355, 558, Vol. 2, 160. 17. Grant County Herald, July 9, 1867, 2; Hstory of Grant County, 633-638; James B. twenty more years. In 1887, he retired and his son, William, Hibbard, Lancaster: A Window into Its Past (Lancaster, Wl: Wolf's Grantland Graphics, carried on the business. Van de Wall's wife, Jane, passed away 2012), 30, 31. 18. The Weekly Teller, October 4, 1906, 8; May 9, 1912, 1. in 1906, and he died at age 90 in 1912.18 Van de Wall left behind a treasure trove of photographs. His camera allowed individuals to record significant moments ABOUT THE AUTHOR in their lives through a new medium in the midst of a horren­ James B. Hibbard has been the archi­ dous civil war. As a result, he provided us with a rare glimpse vist at the University of Wisconsin- of a photographer's work 150 years ago in a small Wisconsin Platteville's Southwest Wisconsin Room town during a crucial period in American history. More than for fifteen years. An avid researcher, he one hundred Civil War-era photographs taken by Van de has presented his research at several Wall are preserved in the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Wisconsin Historical Society Local His­ Southwest Wisconsin Room's photographic collection. Ml tory and Historic Preservation Confer­ ences and written local history books Notes on Platteville and Lancaster, Wisconsin. His articles have 1. William G. Darrah, Cartes de Visite in Nineteenth Century Photography (Gettysburg, PA: appeared in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Atlanta His­ William G. Darrah, 1981), 13; William A. Frassanito, Gettysburg: A Journey in Time (New torical Journal, Everton's Genealogical Helper, and Family York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975), 29—30; Grant County, Wisconsin, Marriage Registra­ tions, Vol. 3, 99, Grant County, Wisconsin, Register of Deeds Office. Chronicle. He lives in a historic house in Lancaster, Wiscon­ 2. Hstory of Grant County, Wisconsin (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1881), sin, with his wife, Dori, and their daughter Violet Rose. 897—898; Declaration of Intention, V, Grant Series 25, Wisconsin Historical Society Area Research Center, University of Wisconsin—Piatteville; Grant County Marriages, Vol. 1,

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1 ~jjmC.il A

:~*3*v

Vel Phillips Making History in

BY CAROL COHEN

42 wisconsinhistory.org ducated at Howard University, where she was schooled in African American history, Vel Phillips (1924—present) has taken every opportunity during E her long career in the public eye to advocate for social justice and civil rights for Milwaukee's African Ameri­ cans. "America," she said in a 1955 speech, "is not the land of opportunity it is purported to be—not while discrimination and segregation exist, and where those belonging to the Negro race can secure only second class citizenship with definite limitations."1 Always outspoken, favoring the limelight, young Phillips had charisma and an astuteness that propelled her into a long career in civic life with a desire "to make a differ­ ence." Her election to the Milwaukee Common Council in 1956 made history. Vel Phillips was a star from the start of her adult life. In 1951, she graduated from law school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the first African American woman to complete the LL.B. degree. After graduating, she and her husband Dale, who'd completed the same program in 1950, returned to Milwaukee, where Phillips was born. The young couple settled in the heart of the city's urban inner core on Walnut Street, both practicing law and engaging in commu­ nity life.2 Having had a comfortable middle-class upbringing Phillips's volunteer work in the impoverished sections of the inner city was sobering and motivated her to work for change. By the time the Phillipses settled on Walnut Street, the area was overcrowded and dilapidated. As a volunteer for the League of Women Voters, Phillips "went from house to house, speaking to home owners and tenants, registered voters and newcomers. . . . She learned for the first time the full story of crowded living conditions, blight, disease and ignorance which affected much of the territory"3 Discriminatory real estate and banking practices and outright racism in the city's white neigh­ borhoods had long segregated Milwaukee's African American population into an urban ghetto on the near North Side. Scholar Joe Trotter calls it a "city within a city," an isolated but self-sustaining community4 It included a relatively pros­ perous black middle class and a burgeoning African American migrant population from the South, as well as a population of poor whites who could not afford to live elsewhere. Post- World War II migrants seeking jobs in Milwaukee's booming industries contributed to a sharp rise in the city's African American population, from 13,000 in 1945 to 21,772 in 1950. (The city counted 637,342 total residents in 1950). As newly arrived African Americans looking for housing pushed beyond the boundaries of the old inner core, white residents relocated to the city's suburbs.5 An unsuccessful effort to win a seat on the Milwaukee School Board in 1953 did not dampen Phillips's ambition to effect social change. An opportunity arose in 1955 after the

Phillips addressing the Milwaukee Common Council in the mid-1960s

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Velvalea R. Phillips, bottom row, and classmates pictured in the UW-Madison Law School Yearbook, 1951 city reapportioned its electoral districts from 27 to 19 wards. The Phillipses found themselves residents of the newly-created Second Ward, which included the largely African American neighborhood where Vel Phillips grew up, and which now had an open seat on the city's Common Council. Eight candidates declared their intention to run in the Second Ward; Phillips was one of two African Americans vying for the seat. No woman or African American had ever been elected to the Common Council when Phillips announced her candidacy in October 1955.6 She kept a low profile, relying on campaign workers to go door-to-door promoting voter registration and a "get out the vote" message and, almost as if incidentally the candidacy of Vel Phillips.7 She used to her advantage the fact that her first name was not necessarily recognized as Velvalea Rodgers and W. Dale Phillips on their wedding day, belonging to a woman. Leonard Zubrensky, longtime friend September 12,1948 and campaign assistant in that election, recalls that canvassers used different pieces of campaign literature depending on she needed a large percentage of the African American vote what neighborhood they visited in the racially mixed Second to win. Ward—some with a photograph of Phillips, some without.8 Electoral redistricting had also resulted in several incum­ Savvy in her remarks to the press about this strategically vague bent aldermen running against each other in newly created campaign, Phillips told a reporter, "Win or lose, I wanted to wards and made for intense rivalries alongside an already bring up the low percentage of registered voters [and] to urge contentious race for the mayor's office. That contest made non-registered voters to participate in all elections."9 She knew national news in a Time magazine article titled "The Shame

44 wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY of Milwaukee," because of ugly racial slurs used against incumbent mayor Frank Zeidler.10 Zeidler was a proponent of slum clearance and public housing, ideas unpop­ HOW TO GET INTO ular with many white Milwauke- eans.11 One newspaper journalist POLITICS proclaimed: "What is undoubt­ THEARTOFtt/n^NlfincrT^,.,,. edly one of the meanest and most OLIVER CARLSON vicious aldermanic campaigns in Public and hduslrialReta,ioi Counsellor, of the firmo f Milwaukee's history is growing Northej-S Carlson meaner and more vicious every day"12 Phillips was understand­ ably reluctant to reveal that she was an African American woman, even though she had more education than many of the white male candidates.13

With a concentrated NEW YORK African American population in the new Second Ward, Phil­ lips and LeRoy Simmons, an African American, emerged winners of the primary, with Phillips topping Simmons by A political novice in 1955, Phillips consulted books from the Milwaukee Public Library on how to run 14 93 votes. Another African for public office. American woman in the Sixth Ward also made the primary, prompting the Milwaukee from the one on May 1, 2013. As interviews often go, there Sentinel to remark, "Milwaukee was assured of its first Negro is no simple narrative through-line in any of them. In several alderman and might get its first woman alderman as a result instances during the six interviews, Trondson re-questions Phil­ of the voting."15 lips on a subject she spoke about in a past interview; on other After the primary, Phillips's identity as a woman and an occasions, Phillips retells a story with added detail or additional African American became widely known, which she believed context or more animated flair. This first-person narrative would be a liability. The newspapers made much notice of excerpts passages from some sixteen hours of interviews, which her race and gender.16 She also had to contend with a write-in have been arranged chronologically to tell Phillips's story about candidate, Julian Nagel, a white man, who was running hard her historic run for city council. and, according to Phillips, "playing the race card." Another • • ••• write-in, Frank Kanauz, only increased the pressure. On April 1, 1956, the Sentinel endorsed Phillips as "the better qualified Entry into Public Life candidate," as did the Milwaukeejournal on April 2.17 Vel Phillips: It was really bad in Milwaukee. Milwaukee was On April 3, Phillips, age 32, won the election, beating the considered one of the more segregated, prejudiced cities in write-in Julian Nagel by 357 votes. LeRoy Simmons trailed in the whole United States. That's what really put me into the third place.18 After her election victory, the Sentinel queried, city council. I knew I had to do something. I could see how "When a winning candidate for alderman is a lady—is she an segregated we were, how much more crime we had, how much alderwoman?"19 The tension between gender and race is a poorer people were. It just wasn't the way it should be. theme that runs through Vel Phillips's narrative as she looks I was right away very interested in the community. I joined back on the experience of running for public office. the League of Woman Voters; I joined the YWCA. Woman's Wisconsin Public Television producer Robert Trondson Court and Civic Conference was another women's group. I interviewed Phillips in front of a camera six times over the didn't know it at the time that I was going to run for anything; course of 2013. He used those interviews to make the documen­ it was just natural for me to be involved in the community. My tary Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams. The following narrative husband said, "Honey, I just want to be able to take care of you is taken from transcripts of several of the interviews, but mostly and the family and give you everything that you deserve." So

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Notice of Nonpartisan Spring Election Office of the Board of Election Commissioners, City of Milwaukee, March 26, 1956 To the Electors of the City of Milwaukee:

Notice is hereby given that a Non-Partisan Spring Election Is to be held in the several wards and election precincts in the city of Milwaukee on the third day of April, 1956, at which the officers named below arc to be chosen. The names of the candidates to be voted for, whose nominations have been certified to in this office, are given under the title of the office. Board of Election Commissioners, City of ~Stiluaul.ee ROBERT VOLLBRECHT, Chairman LEONARD W. GALBRECHT (Seed) GEORGE C. SECORA Information to Voters The following Instruction are gives for the Istonnatioa and rnidaace of voters!

A voter, upon entering the polling place and giving his name may be used to copy from. The ballot must not be shown so and residence, will receive a ballot from the ballot clerk which that any person can see how it has been marked by the voter. must have endorsed thereon the names or initials of both ballot clerks, and no other ballot can be used. Upon receiving his ballot, After the ballot is marked it should be folded so that the the voter must retire alone to s booth or compartment and pre­ inside cannot be seen,-but so that the printed indorsements and pare the same for voting. A ballot clerk may inform the voter signatures of the ballot clerks on the outside may be seen. Then as to the proper manner of marking a ballot but he must not the voter should pass out of the booth or compartment, give his advise or indicate in any manner whom to vote for. voter's certificate to the inspector in charge of the ballot box, hand him his ballot to be placed in the box, and pass put of the At a non-partisan election the voter shall mark his ballot by voting place. making a cross or mark in the square1 at the right of the name A voter, who declares to the presiding officer that he is of the candidate for whom he intends to vote or by inserting or unable to read, or that by reason of physical disability He is writing inJhe name of the candidate. unable to mark his ballot, may have assistance of two election The "Ballot should not be marked in any other manner. If officers, not of the same party, in marking same, to be chosen the ballot be spoiled, it must be returned to the ballot clerk, who by the voter; and if he declares that he is totally blind, or that must issue another in its stead, but not more than three in all his vision is so impaired that he cannot read the ballot, he may shall be issued to any one voter. Five minutes' time te allowed in be assisted by any person chosen by him from among the legal booth to mark ballot. Unofficial ballots or memoranda to assist voters of the county. The presiding officer may administer an the voter in marking his ballot may be taken into the booth and oath in his discretion, as to such person's disability.

The follow ins is a facsimile of the official ballot, except that the names of itcs are rotated in the different precincts, as Portrait of Phillips dated February 7,1953, a _ provided by law. prior to the school board primary election in which Official Non-Partisan List of Nominees for Alderman she was a candidate ELECTION BALLOT 1st Ward 1 10th Ward FRANK LIPSKI CARL H. KRUEGER To vote for a person whose name is printed JAMES J. MORTIER GEORGE W. WHTTTOW I was a community person and he was the one on the ballot, make a cross (X) in the square after his name. 11th Ward 2nd Ward sticking with the law practice. To vote for a person whose name Is not VALENTINE V. KUJAWA VEL PHILLIPS printed on the ballot, write his name in the MATHIAS P, MUELLER blank space under the printed names. LEROY J. SIMMONS Every ten years, Wisconsin would be reap­ 12th Ward 3rd Ward MATHIAS P. SCHIMENZ portioned. But it had been 30 years, three Velt tor FOR MAYOR ALFRED C. HASS ROBERT SULKOWSKI EMIL M. MILLER decades, and the Journal and the Sentinel— 13th Ward MILTON J. McGL'IRE • 4th Ward BERNARD B. KROENKE they were separate then—both were running FRANK P. ZEIDLER MATHEW PINTER KENNETH'ErKUENN " • CHARLES H. QUIRK 14th Ward editorials about it. I had joined the League of ' EDWARD J. KALUPA ' 5th Ward Women Voters and [reapportionment] was FOR CITY ATTORNEY RICHARD B. NOWAKOWSKI ANTHONY J. BERG 15th Ward IRVING G. RAHN their challenge. I was supposed to go door-to- JOHN J. FLEMING _D CLARENCE A. HEIDEN 6th" Ward HARRY P. WITTE door to tell people how important it was to vote WALTER J. MATTIBON FRED P. MEYERS Hth Ward and, if they weren't registered, to tell them how • MARY ELLEN SHADD JAMES H. COLLINS WILLIAM H. LAWLER FOR CITY COMPTROLLER 7th Ward to register and where to go. And that area was WILLIAM P. KEPPLER 17th Ward JOSEPH SCHMIDT where I lived. That's really how I got interested VIRGIL H. HURLESS MARTIN E. SCHREIBER ERWIN F. ZILLMAN • 8th Ward in politics, with the League of Women Voters. EDMUND J. CHOINSKI 18th Ward RALPH J. LANDOWSKI FOR CITY TREASURER PETER H. HOFFMANN And I went out and knocked on doors for reap­ ROBERT E. McINTYRE portionment.20 JOSEPH J. KRLEGER 9th Ward 19th Ward • RALPH F. KELLY JOHN H. BUD2HEN Not many black women associated, at that JOSEPH G. KUJAWA FRED F. SCHALLERT VAL J. RESZEL • The Spring Election will be held at the regular polling place In each pre­ time, with the League. They were kind of, how cinct in the City of Milwaukee, and the polls will be open from 7 o'clock a. m. FOR ALDERMAN until 8 o'clock p. m. shall I say it, intellectual, snobbish, almost in Witnessed under our hands and official seal this 26th day of March, A.D., ron. KAXZJ or a way, white people who met at their various , ROBERT VOLLBRECHT UST OP NOMINEES i Board of Election Chairman • Commissioners of the homes. They met in Whitefish Bay and all like LEONARD W. GALBRECHT | City of Milwaukee • GEORGE C. SECORA that. And since we lived on Walnut Street above at a drugstore, I associated myself with the down­ A sample ballot published in the April 2, '\956, Milwaukee Journal names Phillips and town office, which was the closest. And I was her opponent LeRoy Simmons as nominees for city council in the Second Ward and the only black in the League of Women Voters. another African-American woman, Mary Ellen Shadd, as a candidate in the Sixth Ward. I didn't see any other blacks. [In the black

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community] I was a Delta, which was a black sorority [Delta had no representation at all, my husband didn't want to do it. Sigma Theta], in the NAAGP, and I was active in my church He would tease me and say, "Honey, why don't you do it?" He [Saint Mark African Methodist Episcopal]. pointed out, "You ran for school board, you almost won."22 I went door to door and I think that's when I really got He was trying to get out of running himself, because he had the bug, because I lived in the ghetto. I couldn't understand promised. I said, "You promised me you would run." Since I the poverty. Some of the houses didn't have any [central] heat had taken his name when we married, I thought, "This is the and they had a space heater in them. Then, if you went in way that we'll get to be known as lawyers." He didn't say no the kitchen, they would have the oven on and the door open because he would never just say no. He would say, "Well, let's because that was the heat. The rest of the house would be talk about it; let's sleep on it," the more I pressed him on it. He cold. Children would be running around. I thought that was finally told me, "Honey, this is just not my thing." He finally dangerous. I was struck by buildings that were rear houses said, "Why don't you do it? You have the same qualifications [residences behind the main building on the property]. I had as I do." Then when I really had to think about it, after Dale never seen that kind of poverty. I'll never forget, because I guess this is still an election practice. If you Wednesday, April 4,1956 *_** were in favor of reapportionment, you voted no. If you were against 15 Incumbent Aldermen Win; reapportionment, you voted yes. I had to explain to people that you Three Supervisors Defeated had to vote no. Then I had to explain to them why—that we didn't have County Board NewMembers representation in government and, to Have Nine in the Council maybe, for the first time in Milwau­ NewMembers to Total Four kee's history, blacks could have some Zuerner, Strehlow and Negro Woman Victor: voice and we could do things about Larsen Are Beaten Schreiber Mentionc-tl housing. I'd explain all that to them. by Mertz, Lippert and as in Lead for Choit r -Biemann - -for Pre&ideucy I knew that no black person had ever By Mrmiiri t, mxn Of TM Journal Mill been elected. Pictures on poos IS. jmrt 1 Milwaukee voters re-elected Three county supervisors were incumbent aldermen T u • s d i Everyone was very sweet and defeated Tuesday. when they chose the aty*« fi They are William U Zuerner. 19 member common counaL George O. Strehlow and Marty There will be only four i> -• members In the new coun very nice. They'd say things like, Larsen. cas assured which takes office Apr. 17. a I The county board, en.arc.ed to two of them art former alderm- 24 members by redistncling. will "I don't vote or anything like that." Four inetimbent a 1 d e r m • r Gimbel have nine new farts when it Is were defeated. In each case, U organized later this month. Fif­ were maiehed against another Because they had just moved from Marry Again teen of the 20 incumbents will' cumbent as a remit of the If t return. legislative recfcstncting which Alabama or Arkansas or something. GtmbcJ and Mrs. Nancy Zuerner was beaten by Assrm- duced the number of oty wai avis, both of New York blyman Edward F- Mcrta in the from 28 lo 10. •neaped end will be mar- Ht district. Strehlow lost to At- I'd say, "Voting is very important." tembtyntiin James G. Lippert In Aid. Martin E. Schroi) - 1:30 p.m. Apr. 29. The the 7th. Larsen was defeated by loomed Wednesday as the le mily ceremony will be Ing candidate for president of i * That's when I really began to under­ Supervisor John R. Biemann in common council to succeed A t le guest house of the Mo- the 13th- the only contest In Milion J. McCulre, who vtca i Modern Art. New York which redistnctmg pitted ineum- his council post to runuasoccc stand that there were great differ­ bemi against each other. fully for mayor. Other newcomers to the board imbel it tho ton of Mr. Include Earl F. Keegan. Jr.. In tha Wins by 1JH Votes ences in the wages. I just got taken , Richard Gtmbel. Phil* 8th district: Edward W. Lane in Schreiber scored a solid vtt * mi New Haven, Conn.. the 9th; Willum R. Moser in the ry over Aid. Wilham P. Kepp • l with it. Nobody knew that I was pandton of the Ute Ellis 10th: Patrick H. Fass, now a Mil­ m the 7th ward, winning by m •• el of Philadelphia, a co­ waukee alderman. In the lStb; than 1300 votes. A council m» • uld board chairman of Rudolph P. Pohl in the 20th. John bcr since 1SM4. Schreiber was born in Milwaukee, but in a different demood to bo the choice of - I Brothers department P. Murphy in the 21st, and Robert 21 Schmidt in the 23rd. gamzed labor for the coui I kind of world. When I came in from The unofficial returns were: presidency, -iJc-to-bo Is the daughter Schreiber was backed by ! i iamucl A. Mant. Chicago. Jtt District 'Councilman' Phillips bor's Political Lrsgue for re e going door-to-door, Dale would rub run L. Straus II, New Edward F. Mertz ... 7.200 tion. Twelve other of the » y. William L Zuerner (inc.) 5.l«8 my feet and I would just be worn out. | be the second mamage 2nd District Waller F, Hints (Inc.). X2I7 Noiu Twice BlcsscdMs«i£elects its own presiding office&* Jantaa W. King. - IJUM lljf KI.I.FN lillWW band and 1 learned hist recent­ Other presidential possibih « I just got consumed with how people Of TIM Journal SUIT appeared to be Aldermen Ja - irgtar Gets S200 3rd District ly that we are going to be "There were so many Rood twice blessed." J. Mortwr. Alfred C. Haas, M. glar ransacked the Ogdeo Frank G. Gregory (lac). WW Sehimenz. Bernard Kroenke J«I people in my comer, really, I The Phillips* baby, tholr lived. They were just so poor. And dy shop, 509 £. Otden Clinton A. Boone, jr Z.W9 John H. Buduen. All but Budtx-n felt 1 couldn't mm." first, ts due in August. They had labors endorsement. Scare* sday night and stole $200 4th District had given up hope of a family cabinet, according to po- Thai was the way Vel Phil- ber seemed to have tha edjte. we were poor, but it was a different William F. O Don a ell after three times receiving however. wuctlves said they were lipe, 32. the first woman and medical advice that none was (inc) ._ J.IT4 the fust Negro elected to Mil­ The sew council wilt haw •« to determine the method (Unopposed) possible. The newt look both kind of poor. My husband said, "If waukee's common council, ac­ Vd and Dak by surprise when first woman and first Negro n - 5th District cepted the newt of her narrow Ihey learned it. belatedly, after bar in Mrs. Vet Phillips, 33 ; • Lawrence J. Tisnmerman victory Tuesday in a four old attorney who was elect* they do reapportion, there may be a Vel emerged from the primary the 2nd ward. (toe.) ... 7.M7 cornered race in the 2nd ward. the leading candidate. vMarirk W. Ryan 4,401 Happy but weary Wednes­ Benny Enlivens'Scene Has 350 Vote Margin ward that has no one representing it. Las kin M 6th District day, she vowed to make being According to unofficial George J. Hermann (lac) 3,314 an alderman her full time re­ She is confident that par­ (urns. Mrs. Phillips had a enthood won't make her shirk base N. CoggS — 3.215 sponsibility wuh a teal of vote margin over Julian A • • I think you should run." But he had \UQ% attendance. her city hall duties. gel. who was a write-in candid 7th District >urt Race "I actually think parents are Mrs. Phillips, a Detnoerat, . 1 James C. Lippert 4.S30 There was a real challenge always said that he would run. in running." Mrs. Phillips said. better parent* when both era Le Roy J. Simmons, a former • George O. Strehlow an active pan of their commu­ scmblyman. were nominated i (inc.) _ 4.334 thought Fully, "since there had nity ,** she said. After redistricting, when the never been a woman on tha the March pnmary. Nagel. v • city actually did have a ward that Phillips's election to city council appeared in the Milwaukeejournal, April 4,1956.

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Phillips, pictured at the far left, with her colleagues in the Common Council chambers, 1956 said he didn't want to run, I said, "I don't know if there will Dale doesn't want to. He's backing out." He said, "Oh, Vel, I be any women on the council." He said, "Well, so what. That wouldn't do it. It's a lot of men; they smoke and drink. I don't wouldn't bar you from doing it." And he kept saying, "Well, think you'd like it. You just wouldn't fit in smoke-filled rooms. you do it." I'd say, "Let's sleep on it." You're just too dainty." I said, "Well, I don't have to drink to Doyle Getter, who worked for the Journal, we got to be a good city council person." He said all kinds of things that know each other. He was just such a wonderful friend. I called were superficial and not a good reason. I said, "I could maybe him and said, "Doyle, how many women have been on the do something about housing and make some difference." council?" He said, "I don't know. Why do you ask?" I said, "Well, it'll get done without you doing it," he said. The more "Because Dale is backing out. He doesn't want to run." He he talked it down, the more interested I got in it. said, "Oh, you're thinking about running?" I said, "Well, I remembered my mother had campaigned for James Dorsey, a lawyer I admired very much. He didn't win.23 That was when I was young. I left and went to college and I didn't The Vel Phillips Papers realize that no black—at that time they said Negro—had ever been elected to city council. It made me think that this would In 2014, the Wisconsin Historical Society was pleased to be nice to do because my mother had campaigned for James acquire the papers of Vel Phillips, which document her Dorsey. She was excited. But she didn't have any concept; I life and career as civil rights crusader, alderman, lawyer, don't think she really understood. "Oh, you'll win because judge, and Secretary of State. The collection will be avail­ you're old Milwaukee. You've got a good background. Your able to the public in early 2016. The Vel Phillips papers father was from a good family and you had good training." I are being prepared with the generous assistance of the said, "Mom, the people that I'll be asking to vote for me, they Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and through the endow­ aren't old Milwaukee. They just got here from Arkansas and ment provided by retired UW history professors Allan and this and that." "Well, you're from a good family," she said. Margaret Beattie Bogue. She had no concept that that had nothing to do with it. That it didn't mean to me what it meant to my mother. I thought that

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1: « I 3 V " I W\t 1 il i :]! 1 r ^ J i •aau : a^Eliiafl

The Milwaukee Common Council, 1956-1960

Left to right Standing: Aldermen Kelly (9th Ward), Kujawa (111, Landowski (18), Whittow (10), Kroenke (13), Quirk (4), Meyers (£), Mortier (1), Budzien (19), Schimenz (12), Schreiber (7), and Heiden (15). Seated: Aldermen Schmit (20), Collins (16), Hass (3), Schmidt (17), Phillips (2), Rahn (5), Hoffmann (8), and Nowakowski (14).

Phillips and her newly elected fellow aldermen, 1956

I could do something with housing because of the way people lived. I thought it was just unfair. That's how I first really got interested in housing. I was so really stunned by the conditions VOTERS' REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE that I just became consumed with it. I decided to try for it. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN I went to the library and got a book on how to run for a Vel This is to certifriy tnathat E&&&B& local office to find out just what you do. I knew a little because of the work I'd done for the League of Women Voters. This d book told what the city council did and how important it was. It - ""•'"• T DtceSbM.-S,-195.S. was interesting and gave me all kinds of hints. The main thing I having registered oi Board of Election Commissioners Boara OT ^^^ VOULBBECHT learned, this is important, is that you can have a fundraiser, but GEORGE C. SECORA you should always be willing to spend some of your own money. LEONARD W. GALBRECHT • ,@ Dated-. May 27>1V; Now, we didn't have any money. I told Dale, "This book Secretary on campaigning says that you should have some of your own money and we don't have any." He had gone to savings and loan school and had started working in banking. That was his Phillips's voter registration card. She worked on voter registration as a first real, permanent job.24 That's when he said, "We've got the volunteer for the League of Women Voters in the early 1950s. mink coat fund." I was so surprised. "You really started a mink coat fund? You really did?" I think about it now and laugh. He The March 6, 1956, Primary Election never told me he had started what he called the mink coat fund. I was in an area that was maybe 60% black and 40% white. Of I said, "How much is in it?" "Over $3,000 dollars." the 60% that were black, maybe 20% were registered voters. I couldn't believe it. Now, $3,600 dollars in 1955 was more [Of] the 40% that were white, maybe 30% of them were regis­ than it would be today. He said, "You could use that." I said, tered voters. I thought that if I got enough people registered, "Oh, I don't know." I was thinking about this mink coat. He then I could maybe make the primary. Because there were so said, "Let's sleep on it." So the next morning, I said to him, many blacks in the area, I thought I could get them registered "Did you sleep on it?" He said, "Yes." I said, "I slept on it, too." to vote and have a chance. He said to me, "What did you decide?" "I decided I wanted Then I got afraid. I'd learned from Doyle Getter that no to use it." He said, "Well, I slept on it and I've decided that we woman had ever even survived a primary. I decided not to go shouldn't use it." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because you want door-to-door, but people did go door-to-door for me. Many a mink coat and I want you to have a mink coat." I thought, I Caucasians. I had a lot of white friends because I'djoined these can always get a mink coat. This is far more important than a groups because I was interested in government and housing mink coat. It just didn't compare. I said, "Honey, I want to use and all these things. They were willing to come in and help. it. We can get a mink coat anytime." We used it all. I had people that didn't live in the area, but were my friends.

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Phillips with her firstborn son. Dale, pictured at the end of 1956 or the beginning of 1957

I was so upset when [all the candidates] went to pick out what place we'd be on the ballot. There were eight people running. We did it by putting our names in a hat and you would just pick a number. I was the eighth and I came home and was almost in tears. I was the last name on the ballot. I said to my husband, "It was terrible. There were eight of us and we had to pick a number. I picked number eight." He said, "Oh, no. If we can't be first, last can be good." He put it everywhere: "The last name on your ballot." My husband thought of that. "We'll just keep telling everyone. Remember, it's the last name on the ballot." He was sharp. He said, "Oh, honey, if you can't be first, then be last. We'll take advantage of it." [We] had these little 3x5 cards—red, white, and blue. On the one side, it just said "Vel Phillips, Attorney, Alderman Second Ward, City Council." Then on the other side, it had A campaign sticker for one of Phillips's later city council terms, all my credentials: law school, member of League of Women undated Voters, and all like that. campaign for me. No one knew that I was ... I don't think Julian Nagel was one of the primary people. I knew they ever said I was a woman, but they didn't hide that. I was he would be the one to beat. LeRoy Simmons and myself more worried, actually, about being a woman than about being were the only blacks. LeRoy Simmons and I, we made the African American. After I was outed, after the primary elec­ primary. I will never forget the Journal said, "For the first tion, then I really could go door-to-door. I didn't do it when no time in Milwaukee's history, in its 110 years, there will be a one knew I was black and no one knew I was a woman. Negro on the city council, because the only two candidates

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that made the primary were both Negroes. LeRoy Simmons and Vel Phillips. Even more historic, there may be a woman because one of the two candidates is a woman. And that's never happened before."25 It was like I was "out." I made the primary because they didn't know I was a woman or black, really. They made such a big thing over being the first woman and the first black.26 The papers made a big thing of it, on tele­ vision and everything. I wasn't really with it in terms of that. I didn't really feel the impact at the time. I just thought, "Well, I was lucky." I guess that was good. I didn't really realize that this was a historic thing. Now that it was out, I could go door-to-door, but I didn't, because I'd just found out I was pregnant. The primary was in March, the final was in April and I didn't know until after

the primary that I was pregnant. As soon as I found out that The story of a remarkable pioneer, I was pregnant ... it would have been different if I had just activist, and humanitarian. gotten pregnant. But to find out in [March]. I was about four or five months pregnant because Dale was born in July. But I didn't show that much. I never weighed much. Right away, I started wearing [clothes] to hide it because I thought everyone could tell I was pregnant. You know, the artists kind of coats? I bought some of those so that nobody would know. I remember Dream Big Dreams those days and remember how scared I was when I found out. I was so thrilled I was pregnant, but I was afraid that it would In 2015, Wisconsin Public Television launched the docu­ cost me the election.2' mentary and statewide community engagement project, LeRoy Simmons knew my mother. He had been in the Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams, to celebrate the accom­ Assembly; he was the first black ever in Wisconsin.28 He called plishments of civil rights leader Vel Phillips. my mother and said, "Is Vel running?" He asked her if she The film has become one of WPT's most-watched would try to get me to drop out because I hadn't been in the shows of the season and the project has sparked conversa­ state Assembly [like he had]. My mother said, "Oh, I could try tions across Wisconsin about equity and civil rights in the to talk her out of it but she'd . . ." He said, "You know she's twenty-first century. In January, 550 community leaders, a woman. Well, tell her she's not going to win." He threat­ including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and US Rep. ened, he said, "Anyway, her name is Velvalea. She's going by , gathered at the Milwaukee Art Museum Vel, and I'm going to challenge that." He was going to bring to celebrate Vel Phillips's legacy. WPT has organized a lawsuit because I had my name on the ballot as Vel Phil­ community events and delivered community engagement lips. He never did, but I told my husband. My husband said, kits to organizations throughout the state to spur further "We'll change it." You know, my birth certificate said Velvalea. conversations on equity. Additional outreach efforts will I was a little worried about that. I didn't even think about that include the release of a K-12 curriculum guide for teachers. [being an issue]. That's when my husband went down and Visit wpt.org/velphillips where you can watch the had my name changed.29 And we never told my mother. She documentary, Vel Phillips: Dream Big Dreams and down­ would have died. I just thought that Velvalea was a long name, load a free discussion guide. just long. And people knew me as Vel. I just stuck with Vel. I thought Vel was short and it was easy.

The April 3, 1956, Election settled me down a little bit. I figured out that I had to get a lot Julian Nagel missed the primary by just a very few votes. of white votes to win. He then became a candidate as a write-in. He was spending Now it was the day of the final. I said to my husband, "You money and out there campaigning as a write-in, really strong. know, honey, after the primary when people knew that I was I said to my husband, 'Julian Nagel is everywhere I go, I see a woman and black, I felt more free." They knew I was preg­ yard signs. He's playing up the race card." My husband said, nant, but I felt more free to do things. I said, "The one thing "Oh, you don't have to worry anything about a write-in. They I have not done is take people to the polls on election day." don't count. They try, but they don't get in." That kind of He said, "Well, why don't we do it." Right across the street

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"Now, when you get to the alderman [choices], I would think..." She didn't let me finish. She said, "Oh, we know who to vote for for alderman. We are very convinced who we're voting for alderman." The woman said, "We're voting for Vel Phillips." The man said, "Yes, we think he's very qualified. He's a lawyer and this and that." I had just turned around when the woman said they were voting for Vel Phillips; I turned around to say thank you. But I didn't get a chance to say it, because the man popped up and said, "We think he's a very good candidate." And my husband said, "Oh, good. We think he's great. You're voting for the right person." He never skipped a beat. So when it turned out that I won, the woman across the street called me on the phone and said, "Why didn't you tell us that you were Vel?" I said, "Are you kidding? Your husband thought I was a man." "I did, too!" Julian Nagel really pulled the race card and for him to come closer to me than the person on the ballot by several hundred votes tells you how strongly racist Milwaukee was, how hard it was. It was really hard to be both the first woman, the first black, and to come out pregnant. It was really pretty hard. LeRoy [Simmons] didn't get as many votes as Julian Nagel got. And that was scary, as he was a write-in, but he was white and he was a male. I think it would have been easier for me if I had been either a black man or a white woman. Then I would only have been the first African American, because the rest of them are all men. Or [being] a white woman would have been easier, because even though she was a woman, she was Alderwoman Phillips and two unidentified men at work on city at least white and they were all Caucasian. But to have business, undated a double whammy, sort of, made it harder for me. [Nagel] threatened to have a recount, because I from where we lived was a very nice house. We started right didn't win by a huge margin, but I won solidly. I thought, there. We knocked on the door. I said, "My husband and I are "Oh my goodness. He's going to have a recount." At that here to take you to the polls." The woman said, "I'm sorry. I time, if you wanted a recount you had to pay for it. If he had always vote with my husband, and he's not here." I understood gotten a recount, I may have lost, I don't know. But then that because my husband and I would always vote together. he didn't have it. I was very quiet in my first term because I She said, "Well, I've got to wait for him." And just then, her didn't win by a lot. husband comes in. I said, "Oh, here he is. Let us take you." We When I won, a reporter talked to me. She said, "How does waited a few minutes and they got in the car. I had these little it feel to be the first woman on the city council?" I said, "Being red, white, and blue cards that had on one side my credentials on the council is a wonderful thing, but I have something more and on the other side, I had no picture because that was a important and more meaningful for me." She said, "What do no-no. She had one in her hand. you mean?" I said, "Because I'm with child. They won't get I sat in the passenger's seat and my husband was driving. just a woman, they'll get a woman and a half." We were telling them about Frank Zeidler and all that. We There were times when it was hard. Shirley Chisholm, had told our campaign people to talk about Frank Zeidler, who ran for president30, we got to know each other because who was [running for] his fourth term and was really recog­ both of us had said [the same thing] in some interviews when nized across the United States as a fine socialist, but don't say people would say, "What's hardest? Being the first woman anything about Vel Phillips until you're almost there. Then or the first black?" She had been criticized because she gave say, "Well, Vel Phillips is running. She's a lawyer." So I said. the same answer I gave. I said, "When I really think about it.

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Tusa, "City's First Woman Alderman," Milwaukee Sentinel, April 4, 1956 and Ellen Gibson. "'Councilman' Phillips Now 'Twice Blessed,'" Milwaukeejournal, April 11, 1956. 3. "Mother, Lawyer, Politician," Milwaukeejournal, February 9, 1958. 4. Joe William Trotter Jr., Black Milwaukee: The Making in an Industrial Proletariat, 1915— 1945, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007), 81. 5. John Gurda, The Making of Milwaukee (Milwaukee: Milwaukee County Historical Society, 1999), 358-365. 6. "Negro Woman Enters Race," Milwaukee Journal, October 3, 1955. 7. "'Councilman' Phillips Now 'Twice Blessed.'" 8. Leonard and Ruth Zubrensky, interview by Robert Trondson, August 9, 2013, Wisconsin Public Television. 9. "City's First Woman Alderman." 10. "The Shame of Milwaukee," Time 67, no. 14 (April 2, 1956): 25. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOiiost (accessedJuly 28, 2015). 11. Gurda, 363. 12. Trueman Farris, "City Campaign for Alderman Grows Meaner," Milwaukee Sentinel, March 24, 1956. 13. See "Biographies of Candidates for City, County Offices," Milwaukee Sentinel, April 1. 1956. 14. Merrick Wing, "Four Incumbents Lose," Milwaukeejournal, March 7, 1956. 15. "Alderman Voting Brews Hot Races," Milwaukee Sentinel, March 8, 1956. 16. "Four Alderman Out in Primary," Milwaukee Sentinel, March 7, 1956; "Four Incumbents Lose"; "Alderman Voting Brews Hot Races." 17. "As We See It," Milwaukee Sentinel, April 1, 1956; "Milwaukee: Tomorrow's the Day You Decide the Future of Your City," Milwaukeejournal, April 2, 1956. 18. "Fifteen Aldermen Win at Polls," MlwaukeeJournal, April 4, 1956. Vel Phillips, 2013 19. "City's First Woman Alderman." 20. "Civic-Minded Lawyer Talked into Running for Top City Post," Jet, May 17, 1956: very often there are times when they do forget that I'm a black "Mother, Lawyer, Politician." 21. For a description of Phillips's Walnut St., see Felicia Thomas-Lynn, "Walnut Street: person, but they never forget that I'm a woman." A Glory Bygone," Milwaukee Journal, February 8, 1998 and Paul H. Geenen, Images of They didn't expect a woman to be a city father, you know, America: Milwaukee's Bronzeville, 1900-1950 (Arcadia Publishing, 2006). 22. Here Phillips's memory is inaccurate. She ran for a seat on the Milwaukee School Board a city mother-to-be. in the March 1953 primary election as one of eight candidates vying for a four-year term. She came in sixth and thus did not advance to the April election. See "School Board Slates Picked," Milwaukeejournal, March 11, 1953. 23. Esteemed and influential in the African American community at the time, attorney Afterword James Dorsey ran unsuccessfully for city council in 1936, 1940, and 1944. See Trotter, Black Milwaukee, 210. After her history-making election, Phillips fought to win land­ 24. Phillips is referring to Columbia Building and Loan Association, a black-owned bank founded by Wilbur and Ardie Halyard in 1924 that served the African American community. mark open housing legislation removing barriers for African 25. Phillips is paraphrasing a front page Mlwaukee Journal article, "Four Incumbents Lose" Americans to rent and buy homes outside the city's urban from March 7, 1956. 26. Phillips does not recall that there was a second African American woman, Mary Ellen center. She served nearly four terms on the Milwaukee Common Shadd, who ran for city council in the Sixth Ward and who also survived the primary election Council and continued on in public office. Phillips's public only to lose in the final. 27. The Milwaukeejournal reports that close to the election, "she made public appearances" service includes other trailblazing "firsts": she was the first and gave speeches. See "'Councilman' Phillips Now 'Twice Blessed.'" African American in the country elected to the National Demo­ 28. LeRoy Simmons was the first African American who identified as black to serve in the Wisconsin Assembly (1944-1953) and was defeated in two previous primary elections for the cratic Committee (1958), the first African American in the state Milwaukee Common Council from the Sixth Ward. See "Biographies of Candidates for City. to become a judge (1971), and the first African American and County Offices." 29. The Mlwaukee Sentinel and the Milwaukee Journal report that Phillips had her name first woman elected to state office as Secretary of State (1978). changed "years" before the 1956 race. See "City's First Woman Alderman" and "'Coun­ Phillips has garnered numerous awards and accolades for some cilman' Phillips Now 'Twice Blessed.'" 30. Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to the House of Repre­ sixty years of community activism that continues today. Her sentatives in 1968. In 1972 she made a bid for the US presidency. statement, which she has often repeated, that it was harder for her in public life to be a woman than an African American, has always drawn criticism among African Americans and her ABOUT THE AUTHOR steadfast commitment to civil rights and social change has often Carol Cohen holds a PhD in theater and sparked controversy. Yet her place in history is anchored in her drama from the University of Wisconsin- courageous run for city council that opened Milwaukee politics Madison. She has been both a theater to women and African Americans and put Milwaukee on the directorand a teacher of drama, as well as national Civil Rights Movement map. IKfl a college administrator. More recently, she served as grants manager for Wisconsin Notes Public Television, where she raised funds 1. "Elm Grove Women's Club," Waukesha Daily Freeman, February 15, 1955. for the making of the documentary Vel 2. In addition to her employment at the YWGA as a field worker, Phillips served on the Phillips: Dream Big Dreams and its educational outreach compo­ radio committee of the League of Women Voters and had a Sunday morning radio program: nent. She thanks Wisconsin PublicTelevision and producer Robert took part in the human relations committee of the YWGA; was a board member of the Women's Court and Civic Conference; participated in the Women's Committee of the Trondson for generous access to the video and transcribed inter­ Milwaukee Chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Pan Hellenic views of Vel Phillips. Council. She was a local board member and state secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and active in the Democratic Party. See Rosa

WINTER 2015-2016 53 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL S O C i E T Y Announcing the Winner of

Wisconsin Historical Society Samuel J. Scinta, Onalaska the Hesseltine Award Board of Curators Thomas L. Shriner Jr., Milwaukee Robert Smith, Milwaukee Officers John W.Thompson,Madison Pres/denf:Conrad G. Goodkind, Aharon Zorea, Richland Center Milwaukee President-Elect: Brian D. Rude, Governor's Appointees Coon Valley David G. Anderson, Wausau Treasurer: Walter S. Rugland, Appleton George Jacobs, Madison Secretary: Ellsworth H. Brown, R. William Van Sant, Bayfield The Ruth and Hartley Barker Keene Winters, Wausau Director, Fitchburg Past President: Ellen D. Langill, Legislative Appointees Waukesha Rep. Frederick P. Kessler, Milwaukee Sen. Mary Lazich,Wew6er//'n Term Members Rep. Todd Novak, Dodgeville Jon D. Angeli, Lancaster Sen. Fred A. Risser, Madison Angela B. Bartell,Mddteton Sidney H. Bremer, Green Bay Curators Ex-Officio Ramona Gonzalez, La Crosse Michel Youngman, President, Norbert S.Hill Jr., Oneida Wisconsin Historical Foundation Gregory B. Huber, Wausau Laura J. Cramer, President, FRIENDS Joanne B. Huelsman, Waukesha of the Society Carol J. McChesney Johnson, Lane R. Earns, Provost &Vice Chancellor BlackEarth for Academic Affairs, UW-Oshkosh ChlorisA. Lowe Jr., New Lisbon Roy Ostenso, President, Wisconsin Thomas Maxwell, Marinette Council for Local History Lowell F. Peterson, Appleton Jerald J. Phillips, Bayfield Honorary Curators Michael P. Schmudlach, Brooklyn Thomas H. Barland, Eau Claire

Wisconsin Historical FOUNDATION

Wisconsin Historical Foundation Officers Thomas J. Mohs, Madison President: Michael L. Youngman, Peter A. Ostlind, Madison Milwaukee Gregory W Poplett, McFarland Alfred Luntand Lynne Fontanne, internationally known stars of the Vice President: Stephen F. Brenton, Linda E. Prehn, Wausau theater, vacationed and relaxed at Ten Chimneys, their Wisconsin Verona Theresa H. Richards, Marshfield home in Genesee Depot. The estate was also a working farm. Luntand Treasurer: Catherine C. Orton, Wlliam S. Schoyer, Elm Grove Mauston Derek L Tyus, Milwaukee Fontanne are pictured herein one of their gardens, 1935. Secretary: Loren J. Anderson, Elkhom Rhona E. Vogel, Brookfield Gregory M. Wesley, Milwaukee ongratulations to Erika Laabs, winner of the forty- Board of Directors Cathi Wiebrecht-Searer, Madison Christopher S. Berry, Middleton David A. Zweifel, Monona eighth annual William Best Hesseltine Award for Renee S. Boldt,/App/efon C volume 98 of Wisconsin Magazine of History. Her Robert C. Don men, Mequon Directors Ex-Officio article, "The Farm at Ten Chimneys: A Closer Look at the Dennis R. Dorn, Portage Conrad G. Goodkind, Whitefish Bay, John R. Evans, Verona President, Wisconsin Historical Home of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne," appeared in the Patrick P. Fee, Wauwatosa Society Board of Curators Winter 2014-2015 issue and received the most votes from C. Frederick Geilfuss, W.Milwaukee Brian D. Rude, Coon Valley, President- readers for the best article of the volume year. Chris Her-Xiong, Milwaukee Elect, Wisconsin Historical Society Jennifer Hill-Kelley, Green Bay Board of Curators Ten Chimneys, in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, was the home and fully functional farm of award-winning actors Wisconsin Historical Real Estate Foundation Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Lunt purchased the first Board of Directors three acres of the farm after receiving his inheritance in 1913, President: Bruce T. Block, Milwaukee and he and Fontanne increased the size of the farm over the Vice President and Treasurer: David G. Stoeffel, Whitefish Bay Secretary: Gary J. Gorman, Fitchburg next few decades, eventually expanding it to sixty acres. Lunt

54 wisconsinhistory.org hired a full-time overseer to run the farm when he was away THANK YOU! and paid other local residents to work on it. It grew from a hobby farm into a significant source of produce as Lunt and It is with deepest thanks that the Wisconsin Historical Society recognizes the following individuals and organizations who contributed $10,000 Fontanne found success with their plays and films. or more between September 1,2014, and September 30,2015. "The Farm at Ten Chimneys" explores Lunt and Anonymous Fontanne's development of the farm and delves into the lesser- Caxambas Foundation known agricultural aspects of this famous estate. Pleasant and Jerry Frautschi Kohler Trust for Preservation Ruth DeYoung Kohler Erika Laabs received a bachelor of arts Navistar degree in history from the University Old World Wisconsin Foundation Estate of John A. Peters of Wisconsin-Whitewater and began State of Wisconsin working atTen Chimneys Foundation in 2010, where she is Preservation/ Loren J. Anderson and Terri Weiland Volunteer Manager. During a 2009 Bader Philanthropies'Isabel & Alfred Bader Fund internship, her interest in World War II Ruth and Hartley Barker Advised Fund through Incourage Community Foundation history evolved into research on the Tom and Renee Boldt Lunts' farm. Her passion for history The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has been lifelong, and she devel­ Mary and Stephen Brenton oped her interest in genealogy at an John Busby early age. She is proud to come from The Edwin E. & Janet L. Bryant Foundation Carole A. Brandt Living Trust Czechoslovakian farming roots on Culver's her mother's side, and she traces her father's lineage back to the Demmer Charitable Trust Mayflower. This passion has been passed down to her three children, Robert C.Dohmen whom she adores. Ray and Kay Eckstein CharitableTrust The Evjue Foundation, Inc. the charitable arm of The Capital Times FRIENDS of the Wisconsin Historical Society Susie Fritz Jablonic Letter to the Editor Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Black Point Historic Preserve Operation and Maintenance Funds, Black Point Horticultural Fund, Caroline Peter Riese from the Town of Holland, Wisconsin, called Draves Fund, and Robert J. Stark and Fredric A. Thompson Fund to inform us of two train-related errors in recent articles The Alan G. Hembel Family of the magazine. In the Autumn 2015 article, "Nous Vous Herzfeld Foundation Highlights Media, LLC Remercion: The French Gratitude Train," the Chicago & Mrs. Peter D. Humleker, Jr. North Western Railroad was incorrectly spelled as Chicago Jeffris Family Foundation Ltd. & Northwestern. Riese also pointed out that the train Claire and Marjorie Johnson referred to as the Hiawatha Special in the Summer 2015 Ralph and Virginia Kurtzman Robert A. and Dorothy Luening article, 'Joy Camps, the Camp Craft Camps for Girls: A Mandel Group, Inc. Northern Wisconsin Adventure," was actually the North Tom and Nancy Mohs Woods Hiawatha, which carried passengers to Wisconsin's The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America The John & Catherine Orton Family North Woods via the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation Railroad (otherwise known as the Milwaukee Road), not the Phoenix Investors, LLC Chicago & North Western. Plenco Walt and MillyRugland Sally Mead Hands Foundation Patty Schmitt The George and Jane Shinners Charitable Fund WE WANT TO HEAR WHAT OUR READERS THINK! Dave and Maggie Stoeffel Email us at: [email protected] John W.Thompson and Jane Bartell Natalie Tinkham Wl Comment on our facebook page: Julia A. and David V. Uihlein, Jr. www.facebook.com/Wisconsin.Magazine.of.History Gregory C. Van Wie Charitable Foundation * Follow us on Twitter: @WI_Mag_History Robert A. Wagner Wangard Partners, Inc. Write to us at: Estate of William and Janice Ward Wisconsin Magazine of History Wisconsin Historical Foundation—Fox Valley Fund within the Community Foundation of the Fox Valley Region 816 State Street Wisconsin Coastal Management Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Wisconsin Hospital Association, Inc. JoAnn and Michael Youngman Dave and Sandy Zweifel

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hile some describe the collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society as "out of this Wworld," they usually aren't speaking literally. One researcher, however, recently had a close encounter with the in the basement of the Society head­ quarters building in Madison. On a December 1972 lunar expedition, the last manned to date, Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and Gene Cernan collected 243 pounds of material from the lunar surface. One rock, a 6.5-pound chunk labeled "Lunar Basalt 70017," was broken up into "goodwill Moon rocks" and given to each of the fifty states and several foreign countries. Wisconsin's piece was given to Governor Pat Lucey in 1973. It stayed with the Executive Office for twenty- eight years until Governor Scott McCallum turned it over to the Wisconsin Historical Museum in 2001. The specimen sat largely forgotten in museum storage until Jay Rath of the Isthmus, a Madison newspaper, rekindled his childhood fascination with the moon and started researching the whereabouts of lunar rocks brought back to Earth. The Wisconsin Historical Museum also holds lunar rock pieces collected in 1971 and given to Governor Warren Knowles along with a small Wisconsin flag that made the trip to the moon and back on Apollo 11. Read Rath's article here: www.isthmus.com/news/ cover-story/the-case-of-the-missing-moon-rocks/. Happy Holidays from Wisconsin Share your history this holiday season with unique gifts from the Wisconsin Historical Museum Store.

Wisconsin-shaped cutting board made of recycled hardwoods. 3 sizes available. $16-$29, depending on size

Cheese curds mugs. Part of the "Real Wisconsin" product line. $9.48

Fall-themed Honey, harvested decorative napkins. Hand-poured soy candles and produced in $5.95 from Appleton, Wisconsin. Wisconsin. A variety of scents available. $11.95 $14.00

WISCONSIN The Wisconsin Historical Museum Store is located on the Capitol Square at 30 N. Carroll St., Madison, Wl 53703 HISTORICAL Call 888-999-1669 to order or buy online at TO ORDER Please call: (888) 999-1669 Members of the Wisconsin Historical Society (608) 264-6565 (in Madison) receive a 10% discount! Shop online: shop.wisconinhistory.org Francis Van de Wall's mastery of photography is evident in this photograph of sisters Jane Dyer (left) and Ellen Dyer Cameron, taken in 1866. By posing the sisters closely together and having Jane stand and place her hand on Ellen's shoulder, Van de Wall not only suggested a close relationship but also created a pyramid that highlighted both sisters' dresses and engage­ ment/wedding rings. This expertise owed much to years of practice and brief tutelage from Alexander Hesler. In his article "The Civil War Photography of Francis Van de Wall," James B. Hibbard tells the story of Van de Wall's evolution from impoverished laborer to successful portrait photographer during one of the nation's most tragic hours. WISCONSIN magazine of history

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