Title: Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative Records
Inclusive Dates: 1945-1978

Creator:

• Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative Records

Call Number: Green Bay Micro 28; Green Bay Micro 30; Micro 604; Micro 832

Quantity: 6 reels of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records of a successful dairy cooperative in eight east-central Wisconsin counties; including a brief history; minutes of various kinds of meetings, 1946-1960; advertising scrapbooks; and scrapbooks of clippings and magazine articles, 1946-1976, on general affairs of the Cooperative including information on pollution of the Neshota River and on a dispute with the National Farmers Organization on milk withholding actions. The records also document the involvement of General Manager Truman Torgerson in the dairy industry generally.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-micr0604

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The Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative, a non-profit cooperative now encompassing eight northeastern Wisconsin counties (Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Calumet, Winnebago, and Brown) was founded in 1946. Several dairy farmers saw the need for a cooperative; dairy prices in their area were depressed despite the fact that it had one of the densest dairy cow populations in the state. Henry Binversie and Melvin Lutzke recruited farmers and, with the help of Manitowoc County Agent Truman Torgerson, had over eighty people pledged to form a cooperative by the end of 1945.

Organizational meetings were held, and the area was divided into seven districts with one member of the Board of Directors elected from each district. On July 17, 1946, the first Board of Directors' meeting of the Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative convened. Its stated purpose was to “be as principal or agent to buy, sell, process, manufacture, handle, transport, store, and market milk and cream and products into which milk and cream enter, and dairy equipment and supplies and to do things necessary or incidental to any of these purposes.”

By the time Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative began operations in Valders, Wisconsin, on October 23, 1946, over 1200 farmers in five counties (Brown, Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, and Manitowoc) had become members. Construction began immediately on a new cheese processing plant in Kiel, Wisconsin, which was completed in 1949. In this same year, the Cooperative also purchased a milk processing plant in Denmark, Wisconsin, and in the following year (1950) opened a new receiving plant in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative continued to expand into new marketing areas and the manufacture of additional dairy products such as butter, bottled milk, and ice cream through mergers with or purchases of other cooperatives and dairies, including Modern Dairy of Sheboygan (1956), the Sheboygan Falls Dairy (1959), the Northeastern Dairy Cooperative of Green Bay (1961), Winnebago Farms of Fond du Lac (1961), Sunlite Dairy of Oshkosh (1962), Delwiche Farms of Green Bay (1965), Sorge Ice Cream and Dairy Company of Manitowoc (1965), and other smaller dairies and cooperatives. The Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative continues to grow. Under the leadership of General Manage Truman Torgerson, the Cooperative has risen from a membership of 1200 members and sales of 450,000 dollars in 1947 to a membership well over 2000 and sales over 66 million dollars in 1975.

The papers of the Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative are arranged into three series: a brief history, minutebooks and scrapbooks.

The history is a short essay written by Albert Mueller, president of the Cooperative, entitled, “The How and Why of Lake to Lake,” covering the period from the cooperative's conception in 1945 to December 1965. The essay gives a brief history of the cooperative and an explanation of the organization and advantages of a dairy cooperative.

The minutebooks document the Cooperative's Board of Directors' meetings, annual meetings, resolutions committee meetings, and district delegate meetings from 1946-1960.

Seventy-three scrapbooks comprise the largest section of the collection. They are arranged by type and chronologically thereunder. Twelve advertisement scrapbooks contain the Cooperative's advertising from the 1950's to 1968, including both product wrappers and newspaper advertisements. Sixty-one news items' scrapbooks contain clippings and magazine articles pertaining to the Cooperative's business transactions, such as its mergers and purchases, and its general public relations from 1946 to 1976. Among topics discussed are a 1951 law suit naming Lake to Lake as responsible for the pollution of the Neshota River, which was eventually settled when the Cooperative and the village of Denmark jointly built a new sewage treatment plant; strike threats in 1958 and 1960 by the Teamsters, Local 619, which would have affected Lake to Lake; and a 1962-1963 dispute between the Cooperative and the National Farmers Organization over the value of withholding actions as a means to raise dairy prices. These scrapbooks also document the involvement of General Manager Truman Torgerson in the dairy industry in Wisconsin and in the nation.

Acquisition Information

Loaned for microfilming by Lake to Lake Dairy Cooperative, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, September 12, 1975, July 15, 1976, and August 20, 1980. Accession Number: M75-416, M76-293, M80-369

Processing Information

Processed by Tim Hughes and Christine Rongone, November 3, 1976; and by Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, October 1980.

Green Bay Micro 30/Micro 604	Series: History
Reel   1	“The How and Why of Lake to Lake,” by Albert Mueller, 1965 December
	Series: Minutes	⇧
Reel   1	1946-1949
Reel   1	1950-1955
Reel   1	1956-1958
Reel   1	1959-1960
	Series: Scrapbooks	⇧
	Advertising
Reel   2	ca. 1950s
Reel   2	1957 Nov. 20-1958 Feb. 12
Reel   2	1958 Feb. 20-June 26
Reel   2	1958 July 3-Dec. 11
Reel   2	1958 Dec. 23-1959 May 14
Reel   2	1959 May 21-Dec. 31
Reel   2	1960 Jan. 14-1961 April 6
Reel   2	1961 April 11-1962 Aug. 30
Reel   2	1962 Sept. 6-1963 June 20
Reel   2	1963 June 20-1964 Nov. 12
Reel   2	1964 Nov. 18-1966 Dec. 15
Reel   2	1967 May 29-Dec. 29
	News items' scrapbooks
Reel   2	1946 Jan. 14-Aug. 20
Reel   2	1947 Jan.-1948 Dec.
Reel   2	1948 Dec.-1950 March
Reel   2	1950 March-1951 July
Reel   3	1951 July-1952 Jan.
Reel   3	1952 Jan.-July
Reel   3	1952 July-1953 March
Reel   3	1953 March-Aug.
Reel   3	1953 Aug.-1954 April
Reel   3	1954 April-Sept.
Reel   3	1954 Sept.-1955 March
Reel   3	1955 March-Oct.
Reel   3	1955 Oct.-1956 April
Reel   3	1956 April-1957 Jan.
Reel   3	1957 Jan.-March
Reel   3	1957 March-June 20
Reel   3	1957 June 20-Aug. 8
Reel   3	1958 July 25-Sept. 27
Reel   3	1958 Sept. 26-Oct. 31
Reel   3	1958 Oct. 31-1959 May 1
Reel   3	1959 June Dairy Month
Reel   3	1959 May 10-Oct. 31
Reel   4	1959 Oct. 26-1960 March 4
Reel   4	1960 March 4-Sept. 9
Reel   4	1960 Sept. 8-Oct. 31
Reel   4	1960 Nov. 4-1961 April 6
Reel   4	1961 March 28-Dec. 25
Reel   4	1961 Dec. 26-1962 July 5
Reel   4	1962 July 5-1963 Feb. 14
Reel   4	1963 Feb. 24-Aug. 22
Reel   4	1963 Aug. 22-Dec. 10
Reel   4	1963 Dec. 10-1964 March 5
Reel   4	1964 March 12-May 23
Reel   4	1964 May 26-Oct. 14
Reel   4	1964 Oct, 23-1965 April 1
Reel   4	1965 April 1-Oct. 22
Reel   5	1965 Oct. 28-1966 March 29
Reel   5	1966 March-Nov. 1
Reel   5	1966 Nov.-1967 Feb.
Reel   5	1967 Feb. 15, Chicago plane accident
Reel   5	1967 March-Sept. 8
Reel   5	1967 Sept.-1968 March
Reel   5	1968 April-Nov. 8
Reel   5	1968 Nov.-1969 July
Reel   5	1969 July-1970 March
Reel   5	1970 March-Dec.
Reel   5	1970 Nov.-1972 Feb.
Reel   5	1972 Feb.-Aug.
Reel   5	1972 Aug.-1973 March
Reel   5	1973 Feb.-1974 Feb.
Reel   5	1974 Feb.-Aug.
Reel   5	1974 Aug.-1975 March
Reel   5	1975 March-Aug.
Reel   5	1975 Aug.-1976 March
Green Bay Micro 28/Micro 832 Reel   1	1976 March-Sept.
Reel   1	1976 Sept.-1977 April
Reel   1	1977 April-Oct.
Reel   1	1977 Oct.-1978 April
Reel   1	1978 April-June
Reel   1	1978 June-Dec.