...VY Connect and Collaborate with the Local History and Field Services Program The Local History and Field Services program offers support and services to a state network of over 390 local historical organizations, historic preservation groups, and individuals interested in local history. In partnership with the Wisconsin Council for Local History, Field Services coordinates workshops, webi- nars, regional meetings, and onsite consultations. Author Michael Perry signsa bookfora 2014annual conference attendee Contact us Field Services staff: www.wisconsinhistory.org/localhistory Ninth Annual Local History and Northern Region: Historic Preservation Conference Janet Seymour, [email protected] Join us October 9-10, 2015, in Middleton 715-836-2250 for the ninth annual, two-day event offering Southern Region: workshops, tours, and networking events. Rick Bernstein: [email protected] 608-264-6583 www.wisconsinhistory.org/conference "New in 2015: Members receive a 10 percent For more information, visit our website: discount on Annual Conference registration fees." http://wihist.org/aboumeldservices WISCONSIN HISTORICAL Follow Wisconsin Historical Society Field Services on Facebook for more information on local history! WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Director, Wisconsin Historical Society Press Kathryn L. Borkowski Editor Jane M. De Broux Managing Editor Diane T. Drexler Image Researcher John H. Nondorf Research and Editorial Assistants John Zimm and Colleen Harryman Design Nancy Rinehart, University Marketing THE WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY (ISSN 0043-6534), published quarterly, is a benefit of membership in the 2 Nous Vous Remercions Wisconsin Historical Society. The French Gratitude Train Full membership levels start at $55 for individuals and $65 for institutions. To join or for more information, visit our website at by John Nondorf wisconsinhistory.org/membership or contact the Membership Office at 888-748-7479 or e-mail [email protected]. 14 A Generation of Oxen The Wisconsin Magazine of History has been published quarterly since 1917 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Copyright© 2015 by Dirk Hildebrandt by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. ISSN 0043-6534 (print) ISSN 1943-7366 (online) 28 Father Louis Nicolas and the Natural History of Wisconsin For permission to reuse text from the Wisconsin Magazine of History, (ISSN 0043-6534), please access www.copyright.com or contact the by Michael Edmonds Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA, 01923,978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. 42 Reconnecting Photography to For permission to reuse photographs from the Wisconsin Magazine the Draper Manuscripts of History identified with WHi or WHS contact: Visual Materials Archivist, 816 State Street, Madison, Wl, 53706 or by Simone Munson [email protected]. Wisconsin Magazine of History welcomes the submission of articles and image essays. Contributor guidelines can be found on the 50 BOOK EXCERPT Wisconsin Historical Societywebsiteatwww.wisconsinhistory.org/ Polka Heartland wmh/contribute.asp. The Wisconsin Historical Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Why the Midwest Loves to Polka Contact Us: by Rick March Editorial: 608-264-6549 [email protected] Membership/Change of Address: 888-748-7479 54 Letters [email protected] Reference Desk/Archives: 608-264-6460 [email protected] 56 Curio Mail: 816 State Street, Madison, Wl 53706 Periodicals postage paid at Madison, Wl 53706-1417. Back issues, if available, are $8.95 plus postage from the Wisconsin Historical Museum store. Call toll-free: 888-999-1669. Microfilmed copies are available through UMI Periodicals in Microfilm, part of National Archive Publishing, 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106, www.napubco.com. On the front cover: A team of oxen work at Old World Wisconsin with Dirk Hildebrandt, historic farming and transportation coordinator PHOTO BY LOYD HEATH VOLUME 99, NUMBER1 / AUTUMN 2015 Nous Vous Remercions The French Gratitude Train BY JOHN NONDORF WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY ostwar Europe was no place for children. Major roads and cities lay in ruins, farm fields had been stripped by retreating German soldiers, and millions of Pits citizens had been killed or wounded. Food production and distribution was nearly impossible. In his October 11, 1947, "Washington Merry-Go-Round" column, popular syndicated columnist Drew Pearson, best known as a muckraker attacking politicians he felt worked against the public good, proposed sending a gift of food from the people of the United States to the children of war-ravaged Europe. The United States was already supplying foreign aid that was delivered "efficiently and unostentatiously" at the docks at Le Havre. France. Pearson noted in contrast that compa­ rably small amounts of Russian wheat came into Marseilles harbor, but arrived "with flags flying, bands playing . street parades, a municipal holiday and paeans of praise for the great benefactors of the French people— Soviet Russia."1 Pearson's plan was for the United States to do something both more personal and more impressive. He asked people to bring food from their own fields and kitchens to a train car that would travel across the country.2 The public responded quickly and enthusiastically and, in just five weeks, with the aid of a grassroots news­ paper campaign, what would soon be known as the Friendship Train started gathering donations across the country from Los Angeles to New York. Though the train only physically passed through twelve states, all forty-eight states and the Territory of Hawaii sent contributions. Friendly competitions sparked among communities to see which could make the largest donation. Mrs. D. M. Liltersky of Sheboygan Falls summed up her feel­ ings about the Friendship Train in her challenge to readers of the Manitowoc Herald Times: "We are poor people living at most from one payday to the next, so the cost of a case of milk is more than our budget can stand. Yet as I looked at my children—fat, rosy, and bursting with health—then thought of PROVENCE those many hungry infants in Europe, DE FER FRANCAIS I wondered if there weren't some NAT,ONALE DES CHEMIHS SOCIETE way we could help." She closed with of Brown County © Neville Public Museum a challenge to clubs, churches, and neighborhood groups to collect dona­ Railroad poster inviting visitors to Provence, currently at the Neville tions for European children in need, Public Museum adding, "Even the poorest of us are wisconsinhistory.org WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY far better fed than the Europeans. Let's show them our hearts are bigger than our appetites."3 LA FRANCE PITTORESQUE By the time the train reached the East Coast, it consisted of 275 box cars full of the "fruits of California, the grain of the Middle West, milk of Wisconsin, dried peas and beans... from all the states" with an estimated value of $40 million.4 Pearson accompanied the gift to France, where it was presented on Christmas Eve and feted with a parade. Similar fanfare continued as foodstuffs were distributed throughout France and Italy. Two years later, prompted by Andre Picard, a railroad worker and veteran of World War II, the people of France organized a train of their own in response to the generosity shown by the people of the United States. Known in France as Le Train de la Reconnaissance Francaise, or the "Train of French Recognition," the idea proved very popular. Like the Friendship Train from the United States, the French response was not sponsored by the French government but rather French publisher Maison Charles Duffit donated twenty-four copies of La France Pittoresque. AUTUMN 2015 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY "Autumn Trees" by Henri Boisgontier was donated by M. S. Cattela of Seine-et-Marne. It is now held by the Oshkosh Public Museum. consisted of donations of personal items from individuals and gifts from businesses and organizations to be sent to the people of the United States. Initially conceived of as a single boxcar, the French enthusiastically filled forty-nine—one for each state plus one to be shared by Washington, DC, and the territory of Hawaii. The train was loaded on the steamer Magellan and arrived in New York Harbor on February 3, 1949. Because railroad gauges in Europe are not the same as in the United States, the cars were mounted on flatbeds so they could be pulled to their ultimate destinations. On February 13, 1949, a green boxcar decorated with the coats of arms of the forty historic French provinces arrived in Madison, Wisconsin. Accom­ panied by the French vice consul, Jacques LeMonnyer, and his wife Olga, the car was greeted at the Chicago & North­ western depot before it paraded half a mile up King Street and around the Capitol Square to the Main Street entrance of the State Capitol. Several dignitaries attended a ceremony in the Assembly Chamber including Governor Oscar Rennebohm, Supreme Court Justice Marvin Rosenberry, University Presi­ dent E. B. Fred, and State Historical Society Director Clifford Lord, who was also chairman of the Governor's Committee to Receive the French Gratitude Train. In his speech, the Mary Rennebohm arranges flowers in a bowl from the French governor accepted the gift on behalf of the people of Wisconsin 5 Gratitude Train, Wisconsin's Executive Residence, 1950. as "part of the heart