WISCONSIN MAGAZINE ^/HISTORY . T Published Quarterly by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN March 1949 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE of HISTORY CLIFFORD L. LORD, Editor LILLIAN KRUEGER, Managing Editor CONTENTS Chats with the Editor Clifford Lord 257 A Magnificent Centennial Gift Presentation Remarks Mrs. Herbert V. Kohler 263 Acceptance Remarks Dr. Robert K. Richardson 268 The Society As a Research Center Alice E. Smith 271 An Adventure in Education Sister Mary Eunice Hanousek, O.S.F. 284 The Society's Benefactors W. H. Glover 290 The Gunmaking Industry in Wisconsin Jerald T. Teesdale 302 Captain Jonathan Walker, Abolitionist Julius A. Laack 312 In the Moon of Sugar Making Mrs. Angus F. Lookaround .321 (Phebe Jewell Nichols) DOCUMENTS: Silas J. Seymour Letters (II) 328 BOOK NOTES 339 THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE 361 The WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published quarterly by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN, 816 State Street, Madison, 6. Distributed to members as part of their dues (Annual Membership, $3.00; Life, $50). Yearly subscription, $3.00; single number, 75 cents. Communications should be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Madison. Wis- consin, under the act of August 24, 1912. Copyright 1949 by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN. Paid for by the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. Burrows Fund. THE COVER EARLY 1900 MANNEQUINS displaying gowns of foamy pink chiffon, filmy beige net, delicate blue lace as fine as gossamer, contrasting with brocaded silks and heavy satins. Weblike ruchings, bands of pastel velvet, finely shirred insets, embroidered flowers, and ruffles of lace from the looms of the fairies, all a part of the Centennial Costumes Collection. For further information turn to "A Magnificent Centennial Gift" in this issue. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE of HISTORY #^» Volume 32 March 1949 Number 3 Chats with the Editor THE PROBLEM of working out a formula for close and effeaive cooperation between the state historical society and the county and local historical societies is one which has been more or less assidu- ously dodged, so far as I know, in approximately forty-eight states T , r / of the Union. The policy has been one of laissez-faire, Let's WWork . F, ' . _ or letting sleeping dogs lie. In some areas, i n wisw - . _ ' consin as elsewhere, this has worked well. In others An Open . ^ , . ..... r it has not. The basic elementt s in this situation, it Letter to , . n , . .,. , seems to me, are chiefly sheer timidity—a somewhat understandable but nonetheless unreasonable fear that someone will misunderstand, that local sensi- bilities will be unjustifiably aroused—buttressed by an exaggeration of seeming difficulties which actually melt into insignificance if examined critically and without bias. I believe that the historically minded folk of any state can face and discuss in good faith and good will the programs and issues involved. I am certain that representatives of our various historical societies in this State can sit down and exchange suggestions and ideas—not just as man to man but as friend to friend—on how to improve and strengthen the movement in which we are all inter- ested, and arrive at some sensible agreement. I think that those of us in Wisconsin and elsewhere who have been afraid to open the question in fear of loosening the latch on Pandora's box have been skeered of ghosts. If the some 3,000 people in Wisconsin who are members of the State society and the approximately equal number who belong to the county and local societies can hit on the magic formula of how to work together effectively, maintaining 257 258 CHATS WITH THE EDITOR [March our identities as separate organizations yet working as a team toward common goals, we can build a historical movement which would be without parallel in the history of our country. I think we have been cowards not to try. There are at least twelve areas where closer cooperation between the State and local societies would yield handsome results. The list is tentative and is not intended to be exhaustive. Let's recognize before we start that probably no one society will have the re- sources of time, effort, and money to undertake active cooperation in all twelve fields even if it wished to. But to start the discussion, let's launch the trial balloon and see what happens. 1. Public Records. Under the Public Records Act of 1947, the State has an efficient, economical, and effective public records pro- gram. This has no present counterpart at the county and local level, and this lack of a program undoubtedly is causing the almost daily loss of valuable records. Before the war the Historical Records Survey was working toward the establishment of regional deposi- tories for records of this class, but legal obstacles arose. The Supreme Court held that city records could not be stored per- manently in a county courthouse, and recently the attorney general has held that towns, cities, and municipalities lacked the power to transfer their records for preservation to outside agencies. We are working in the present Legislature to remove all legal obstacles to the creation of local and regional depositories for non-current public records at the county and local levels. These depositories could be the county or local historical societies, the local museum, the office of the county historian (of which there are now three), the public library, or other public or quasi-public body. The State society feels that such records should be retained and made avail- able locally. It has no desire to run the show. It merely wants to make such depositories legally possible and to encourage their establishment wherever local conditions warrant. The rest should be done by a local agency, preferably the local historical society, if it cares to and can assume the job. 2. Library Materials. The smaller county and local societies for the most part quite sensibly do not attempt to collect their own libraries, but tend instead to devote their energies to building up 1949} CHATS WITH THE EDITOR 259 the area history materials of the local public library. There is much need for this sort of activity, particularly as interest in local and area studies mounts in school circles. In collecting policies at State and local levels there is no possible conflict but a very real field for eSective cooperation. If, for instance, the State society lacks a given issue of a certain city directory, the local society might help locate a copy in private hands. If the local society also wanted a copy, since the item in question would be a printed volume, two copies presumably could be located almost as easily as one—the first for the local collection, the second for the State. On the other hand, if the local society wanted a par- ticular item and could not find it locally, it would be possible to utilize the columns of What's Going On to try to secure it. 3. Manuscripts. Manuscripts to some pose more of a problem: obviously there is but one original available—who should get it? Yet this difficulty is more apparent than real if only it is faced realistically. The basic consideration is preservation. The location of the materials once preserved is of secondary importance. But in case of important collections locally held, and all too often housed in non-fireproof structures, is there any sound reason why they could not be made available for microfilming by the State society, first for the safety of having a second true copy in existence in case of disaster, and secondly for the advantage of having the important resource materials readily available to the University student and scholar? 4. Business Records. These, of course, fall largely into the same classification as manuscripts, except that for the State as a whole the bulk is so enormous as to present a separate and distinct problem. Indeed the preservation both of the important records of important firms and of representative collections of important industries must call into being regional depositories including the county and local societies as well as the State facilities. There is material enough for all. Could we not work out a cooperative program on what records in this field should be saved and where they should be deposited? Again preservation, not location, is the basic consider- ation. And while microfilming would be too costly in this huge 260 CHATS WITH THE EDITOR [March field, would it be impossible to make such materials available on an inter-library loan basis between the various depositories? 5. Museum 'Extension Service. Our experience with the circu- lating centennial exhibits in 1948 indicates quite conclusively both that there is a large public eager and ready to benefit from the teaching values of the visual exhibit in communities lacking their own museums, and that communities fortunate enough to possess museums are equally receptive to fresh and different exhibits of historical materials. All museums have duplicate materials they could make available for such exhibits in a state-wide extension service, working cooperatively with other museums either on joint exhibits or their own exhibits integrated into an agreed upon pro- gram. The Free Library Commission is interested in supplying reading materials to accompany such circulating exhibits in the future. We could procure speakers, either locally or otherwise, and films from the Bureau of Visual Instruction to make the open- ings of such exhibits a local event. We might prepare a brief gallery talk to accompany each traveling exhibit which high school students or others could give to visitors at certain times of the day.