Wisconsin Stories is a partnership of the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Public Television.

Debbie Kmetz: What a big barn! It's beautiful. Tracy Will: And historic. In fact, this barn not only sits in the center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Agriculture campus it was at the center of a revolution in agriculture that would affect farming practices around the world. I'm Tracy Will of Wisconsin Public Television And I'm Debbie Kmetz of the Wisconsin Historical Society. And for its important place in history this big big barn is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. It's a symbol still in use of where research science met practical application. Where, at the turn of the last century researchers from the university worked together with Wisconsin farmers. And together, they promoted some very revolutionary ideas in agriculture. Those are just some of the big ideas that we'll look at in this show. Ideas that germinated right here in Wisconsin influenced the nation, and even the world. You know, there are some other big ideas that sprouted in Wisconsin and some people with big ideas that went on to influence the world of government social policy and even festivals. That means we'll get even more festive later in the show. So, stay with us for this edition of Wisconsin Stories. "Sprouted?!" 
( both laugh )

Funding for Wisconsin Stories is provided in part by an advised fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin; the Estate and family of Lois Backus; the Halbert and Alice Kadish Foundation; and Philip J. and Elizabeth B. Hendrickson encouraging you to support history on Wisconsin Public Television and to visit Wisconsin's treasured historic sites.

History is the work of millions of individuals. The future will be the work of these individuals. Therefore, Wisconsin studies and preserves its history that the past may be the guide for the present and future. For more than a hundred years this has been the responsibility of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Will: That was the 1950s. Today, the Wisconsin Historical Society is over 150 years old. It was one of the first, and now the oldest publicly-supported history societies in the United States. Kmetz: In the 1840s and '50s when many were just settling here the new Historical Society was also breaking new ground. Unlike the restricted membership or private societies of other states Wisconsin evolved in a different direction-- More of "history of the people, for the people." Will: And it became a model of open membership and public access. Tour Guide: We're going to keep moving. We've got a lot to see today... Kmetz: And led to the gathering of many, now world-famous collections. Tour Guide: Our first paid director was known as a secretary Lyman Copeland Draper. He got the job in 1853. And draper was just an avaricious collector. Well, of course, in 1853, Wisconsin was the American West along with Kentucky Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, places of that nature. And Draper collected widely in all of those areas of people he thought were historical figures. So, if you'll turn right around and look on this side of the aisle you're going to see the papers of Daniel Boone. Kmetz: The Daniel Boone papers Thomas Jefferson's signature the diary of Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition-- Some of these made Draper controversial when others, too late found he had beat them to the historical punch. Les Fishel: He was an omnivorous collector. When he moved here from Philadelphia he had thousands of books. In the 1850s, to have thousands of books-- that's a huge library. Well, all of that, and what he collected and kept in his own home became part of the Draper collection. He willed it to the Society. And we got it in the early 1890s. Kmetz: Now, the library's American History collection is second only in size to the one at the Library of Congress. But Draper needed someone to sort those books Daniel Durrie, the librarian. Well, Draper was outgoing and voluble and eccentric, in a way. Durrie was reserved, and factual and detailed. He handled the details. Will: It's interesting that the two qualities allow one to collect and one to classify. That's absolutely right. Someone has to assemble the pieces and make the total picture come clear. The State Society has made this work easier by indexing its materials in many classifications. Will: Classifying was another idea. Part of the emerging science of history. A new social study of the past. And in another new twist, not just famous people. That democratic approach-- I call it a democratic approach-- has characterized the way the Society collects and the things the Society is interested in. Everyday things. Everyday things and everyday people. That's the kind of thing they're going to collect. Wherever the scattered pieces may be the state and local societies keep gathering them together gradually completing the story of the part individuals have played in our history. Will: It was the second director, Reuben Gold Thwaites who pursued the people collections. And another Wisconsin idea, local history societies affiliated with the state. Today, there are over 320 separate groups a virtual army of community collectors of artifacts and records. Kept from early days all through the years of growth and immigration here at the vital statistics of our heritage. Kmetz: This is the people's business. The census, citizenship and immigration papers tax rolls, patent filings church and business records. government pamphlets-- A paper trail of history right down to those who served in the U.S. Military and newspapers-- local to international. Here, too, is a record of Wisconsin's place in the total American experiment. How this state's progressive developments were copied and often studied throughout the world. Kmetz: Progressive developments like the Historical Society's model for public membership access to research and the idea of popularizing the study of history. On a Saturday morning when people are coming to do genealogical research at 8:00 in the morning people almost rush up the stairs to get the choice of microfilm readers. Will: With so many collections, you have to ask: How did the Society choose what to save? Fishel: You collect everything. I mean, literally everything; you bring it in. And then, at the point of getting it ready to put it in boxes like this, in the archives At that point, you make decisions "Yes, you want this," or, "you don't want this." And you do it as best you can with the space limitations that you have. Will: Early on, the collections quickly overflowed the shelves until in 1900 a new building was erected in the center of the Madison campus and shared with the university it's many resources. And where the next set of directors continued to collect the people's history. What types of things were collected while you were director? This was the period, in the 1960s of the Civil Rights movement, which developed. And of course, Wisconsin was a big part of that. You're standing right in front of the Americans for Democratic Action papers. And that was part of it. This is the political wing of liberal, social action orientation. And so, they became part of the collection. And it's continued to grow. History in Wisconsin is on the march. People make that history. You and I, our next door neighbors our forefathers. So, it's a personal story. And it's our story. Kmetz: In the 1950s, it was Director Clifford Lord who began the mass media collections with journalism papers news casts and later, Hollywood films and TV archives. I followed Cliff Lord which was the hardest thing for me to do because he was good. He did a great job to maintain the democratic nature of the Society to popularize the Society within the state. And he deserves a lot of credit. I want you, right here, now to take out one of our special $1.00 one-year memberships in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Will: It was also Cliff Lord who opened the first area research centers and the first historic sites like the Wade House, east of Fond du Lac. ...restored as another symbol of our heritage. Kmetz: And commissioned this film we've been watching which, in a way, also preserves the Society's innovative ideas of history of the people, for the people. It's a living, active reminder that those of us-- We all live in the present and we look to the future. And it reminds us that the past is part of the present and of the future, and the Historical Society. This one and all of the other great ones across the country and local societies are that. They are reminders of something that is very significant. Our Wisconsin heritage is present in the activities of our historical societies. Here is the presence of our past. For us, a present starting point.

Will: In 1900, Wisconsin citizens elected "Fighting Bob" La Follette governor ushering in an era of new ideas for governing the state. La Follette, a leader in a movement called "Progressivism" drew nationwide attention for his innovative reforms and Wisconsin became known as a "Laboratory of Democracy." In terms of a state being a laboratory for this Wisconsin's the real pioneer. Wisconsin's the place that everybody else is looking to. Will: La Follette came to power at a time of great upheaval and economic change. As Wisconsin economy became more industrialized as corporations became more powerful and as workers toiled under brutal conditions weathering periods of economic depression and unemployment. With few experts available in state government to advise him Governor La Follette turned to professors from the University of Wisconsin a partnership which became known as the "Wisconsin Idea." La Follette called on newly-arrived Economics Professor, John R. Commons to write Wisconsin's Civil Service Law. It was the first of several landmark Wisconsin laws written by Commons and his students. Commons, an economist and labor historian studied institutions and worked to find practical solutions to pressing economic problems. He believed that applying methods from the new fields of Social Science could improve the economy and head off the threat of a growing Socialist movement. Cooper: What Commons was very conscious of was a non-socialist alternative. There's an idea here that everybody can win that everybody can be a winner. Some people buy into that, some don't. But it's very much an expression of this great faith in reason, in expertise, in facts in scientific knowledge and method-- If you can bring all of these together you can create this great harmony. One place to find John Commons' legacy is in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Here, I have the Enrolled Acts and Joint Resolutions of the Legislature from 1907. These are the actual bills signed by the Governor. It was then that Commons worked with progressives and representatives of the utilities to extend the authority of the railroad commission over public utilities. Wisconsin's Public Utility Law became a model adopted by many other states. Regulation of monopoly utilities such as telephone companies was taken out of the hands of the state legislature and put under the control of an expert commission. Cooper: This is the great contribution of the progressives the administrative approach. The idea is that what you want to have is a continuing body of experts who can oversee things as they happen. Interestingly, we see it a little differently now, perhaps but this is talking about returning government to the people. The idea is that these commissions will do that that they will actually give more not less popular control.

Will: John Commons was soon drawn to the growing problem of industrial accidents and organized labor's demand for a system of compensation for injured workers. Cooper: The situation for industrial accidents was terrible. The rates were very high especially in heavy industry, say, steel making or forging, anything like that. This is brutal work and long hours. So, you get people who are tired who are doing very heavy work. And employers were not paying a great deal of attention to it, either. The only recourse the workers could have would be to try to go to court. And of course, the businesses, on the other hand have legal staffs or can hire the best lawyers that they want. So, it's a very unequal situation. Workers really don't have much recourse. Will: Commons studied the U.S. Steel Corporation and learned they had reduced accidents by two-thirds by instituting safety measures into their plants. In his autobiography, he wrote that he decided then "...that a workmen's accident compensation law if properly drawn, would cost nobody anything." Instead of defending themselves in criminal court businesses could purchase workers' compensation insurance with rates based on the safety record of the company. His ideas were incorporated into Wisconsin Law in 1911 creating the nation's first Workmen's Compensation plan. Now, as important as it was to establish workmen's compensation it was the creation later that year, in 1911 of the Industrial Commission that for the first time combined safety regulation and workmen's compensation under one expert commission. Cooper: Commons' idea was that the funds that the businesses would be taxed-- that they would have to pay into this-- would be used to promote safety. And if that's the case then it's going to be something where the businesses are not going to have to pay out for the claims. Then, the costs can be lowered, and the taxes can be lowered. What he's trying to do is give the businesses a self-interest to show them that it's in their self-interest to promote safety. And it worked. It worked very well.

Will: In 1920, Commons extended his ideas on workers' compensation to the persistent problem of unemployment. He developed an unemployment compensation plan that would reward businesses that managed to minimize layoffs and provided a modest payment to unemployed workers. In 1932, during the Great Depression a modified version of Commons' bill was signed by Governor Phil La Follette the son of "Fighting Bob." It was the nation's first Unemployment Compensation Plan. Some of Commons' students would go on to help create and administer a new national program of unemployment compensation and old age pensions called Social Security. Cooper: Commons believed that what we should have were especially American conditions. We can have private enterprise. We can have economic freedom. We can have the efficiencies. We can have the other benefits that come from private enterprise. But we can protect-- We can protect the workers. We can protect the public. We can avoid the ill consequences. And again, he's the man who really believes that you can bring it all together. He is, in some ways, the "Great American Optimist."

Strange looking contraption, isn't it? It revolutionized the whole dairy industry. If it wasn't for this machine we wouldn't have a dairy industry that produces one-fifth of the total farm income of the country. Kmetz: In 1890, Professor Stephen Babcock of the fledgling College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin perfected a simple, yet accurate method of testing the butterfat content of milk. Used for decades, the Babcock test provided dairy producers with a standardized method of judging milk quality impacting dairy production throughout the nation. It is just one of many dairy inventions to come out of Wisconsin helping to earn the Dairy State a place as a major dairy producer and innovator. But it wasn't always that way. In fact, after the Civil War Wisconsin was better known as a producer of wheat. Margaret Bogue: In Wisconsin, the initial cash agricultural crop was wheat farming. And the wheat would do extremely well. But, as time went on planting the same thing you tended to wear out your soil and you got into disease problems. So, basically, there has to be a transition. There's got to be a change. Kmetz: Very few farmers chose full-scale dairying. Most kept a few cows on their farms using them to produce milk and butter and beef for their own use. On top of that, compared to wheat dairying was expensive and hard work. By 1870, they haven't gotten into the dairy answer. That answer came kind of hard. It was a big change and it was resented on many fronts. What the heck, you only had to work one or two months a year to put a crop in and harvest it. Then you've got to get up every morning at 4:00 and milk those damn cows. You had a big sales job! Kmetz: Dairy found its salesman in William Dempster Hoard. In 1857, Hoard came to Wisconsin from New York a state that had experienced the same decline in wheat. Taking up editorship of a local newspaper he promoted dairy to Wisconsin farmers. Bogue: He started out as a journalist advocate. He decided from square one that we've got to start dairying. He began to plug this in his newspaper. Kmetz: For 15 years, Hoard advised farmers on how to succeed in dairy. As dairy farming increased, Hoard and others formed the Wisconsin Dairymen's Association in 1872 to help educate and advocate for the state's growing number of dairy producers. Then, in 1885, he began publication of Hoard's Dairyman. The weekly aim-- to educate farmers about the latest techniques developments and scientific discoveries and soon became a vital tool read across the nation. Knox: Hoard wasn't asking everyone to go into dairy. But if they were interested in a decent income and they liked animals these were some of the road marks and things that you should be aware of. Kmetz: Another way farmers could learn about the growing dairy field was by attending a Wisconsin Dairymen's Association conference held throughout the state. These one-day sessions became a popular educational tool for the state's farmers who rarely looked to the University in Madison for an agricultural education. Though a Department of Agriculture had existed since 1866, there was no faculty no curriculum and virtually no students. This changed in 1880 with the arrival of Professor William Henry. He transformed the sleepy department beginning with a series of scientific studies at the University's experimental farm. This got the attention of farmers but still did not bring in students. Bogue: Once you did get Henry in there and operating it was all an uphill battle to get students in agriculture. Kmetz: Taking a page from Hoard and Wisconsin Dairymen's Association Henry and other university experts began their own series of one-day farmers' institutes. They met with farmers face-to-face listening to their concerns and spreading new ideas. These institutes were immediately successful. In 1886 alone, over 50,000 farmers attended. Bogue: They also got the idea of the agriculture short course which would allow farmers to come in and take a course for three months in the winter. Then they would be trained in agricultural matters. It got a slow start. By the '90s, that short course was producing results. Kmetz: But it was a series of dairy breakthroughs by the faculty that firmly established the now College of Agriculture as a dairy innovator. What would you say they were, some of the big dairy ideas that have come out of Wisconsin and affected the rest of the country? Well, I would say, certainly, that Babcock test of butterfat content. It was absolutely critical for these farmers to measure that, to know how to breed their cattle. Professor Russell's discovery of how you could detect T-B in your dairy cattle and how you could counteract potential passage of T-B onto people by the pasteurization process. All this work with the nutrition studies that were done those were tremendously useful to farmers all over the country and the world. Kmetz: In 1898, the University completed construction of a new dairy barn, one that included a silo. The silo would become a staple of dairy farm landscape in the coming century thanks to continued research by the College of Agriculture and ample support from Hoard's Dairyman. And many other dairy breakthroughs would come out of Wisconsin in the years to follow. From the vision, hard work and science of Hoard, Henry and countless others Wisconsin, in just a few short decades transformed itself from a failing wheat state to a dairy powerhouse. Bogue: Henry and Hoard managed to do more to pull off the revolution than you might think in the way farming was done in Wisconsin. People who visit the University of Wisconsin Ag Campus always like to see that bust of William Dempster Hoard there in front of Ag Hall looking down on the beautiful flower gardens. And it's right; it should be there.

( Irish folk music )

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 Why are you building a boat in Milwaukee? That's the best question you could've given to me.

I've never felt so much at home in all me life. It's quite awe-inspiring when you look at 4:00 and see queues coming in here and to see that almost 100,000 people come here. Milwaukee has the best. There's no doubt about it. But Milwaukee has one thing other cities haven't got-- the grounds. I think what the people did and knew what they were doing when they developed this whole site. There's no place else like it. Woman: I had heard about it because I have some friends who are musicians. And they were very excited when they knew I was coming to Milwaukee because they play traditional music and they said, "Hey, that's where the best Irish festival in the States is held." But I was very surprised when I came here that there was so much more than just big bands playing. 
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( speaking Gaelic )
Hi! Hi. Now tell me what you just said. I said, "Welcome to the Irish Fest" in Gaelic. Kmetz: Irish Fest-- one of many festivals that run through the summer on Milwaukee's lake front including Summerfest, the largest and many ethnic festivals which are called the biggest of their kind. Community supported festivals are so successful and affordable that people from far away places come to study them in hopes of imitating them elsewhere. But how did Wisconsin become the home to world-famous parties? Will: From early in its history Milwaukee, like many places, had small festivals often connected with its ethnic neighborhoods. In 1933, the city started throwing a huge mid-summer festival where residents from all walks of life could afford entertainment, amusements and beer. The famous Socialist Mayor, Dan Hoan, hoped the event would one day rival Mardi Gras in New Orleans or the festivals he'd seen in Europe. But before the party could really start jumpin' along came World War II and the whole idea was put on hold. Kmetz: After the war, the smaller neighborhood festivals often faced problems. In the old Italian district, for example urban renewal and a new freeway physically splintered the community ending the festivals that used to help unite the neighborhood. Will: But in the 1960s, Mayor Henry Maier took to a trip to Germany where he attended Oktoberfest. Maier is said to have returned home asking like his forerunners, "Why can't we do that?" Kmetz: So, in 1968, Summerfest was born. At first, it struggled and it's second year ended in debt. Local business leaders bailed out the festival. And in 1970, the city offered its help by providing a choice spot on the lake front an abandoned missile site. Will: Organizers poured tons of money into improving the then-muddy grounds. But except for the 11 days of Summerfest the rest of the year, the site sat idle. But this, too, turned out to be an opportunity when Italians saw the ground as a place to bring their community back together. Kmetz: "Festa! Italiana" succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Will: Next, the Mexican community followed suit. And other groups jumped in before too long. Groups like the Irish. 
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Today, Summerfest rents those same grounds from the City of Milwaukee for $1.00 per year, plus two percent of its income. Kmetz: And the fees the ethnic festivals pay to use the grounds have helped keep the door charge at Summerfest low. Will: A historic dream has finally been realized. And the Summerfest grounds are now the home to many a world-class festival.

Funding for Wisconsin Stories is provided in part by an advised fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Wisconsin; the Estate and family of Lois Backus; the Halbert and Alice Kadish Foundation; and Philip J. and Elizabeth B. Hendrickson encouraging you to support history on Wisconsin Public Television and to visit Wisconsin's treasured historic sites.