Title: Louis H. Prange Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1952-1957

Creator:

• Prange, Louis H., 1884-1957

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss EI

Quantity: 0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee 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-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Prange, a Republican State Senator from Sheboygan Falls, Wis., consisting of constituent correspondence and press clippings. The press clippings document his election campaigns and his introduction of a bill to protect Wisconsin against subversive activities.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil000ei

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Louis H. Prange, a Republican State Senator and lifelong Sheboygan County dairy farmer, was born in the Town of Sheboygan on August 19, 1884. He attended rural schools and Mission House (now Lakeland) College. Before his election to the legislature in 1952, he engaged in a variety of community activities in addition to farming. He served as an officer of the Tri-County Cheese and Dairymen's Cooperative Association, a member of the County Fair Board and superintendent of the fair for twenty years, and a school district officer. In 1948 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Dairy State Bank of Plymouth and in 1951 he became bank president. Governor Walter Kohler persuaded Prange to run for the State Senate in 1952 after the death of the incumbent Gustave Buchen. Prange won reelection in 1956 from Ozaukee and Sheboygan counties, and remained in the Senate until his death on August 19, 1957. He held seats on the Senate Agricultural and Conservation Committee (1953 and 1955 sessions) and on the Joint Committee on Finance (1957) and was chairman of the Committee on Contingent Expenditures (1957). He also was a member of the State Building Commission.

The Louis H. Prange papers, 1952-1957, consist primarily of constituent correspondence and press clippings. Most of the materials are dated 1955 or 1957. The collection contains no personal correspondence.

Several issues of general public concern predominated in the 1955 constituent correspondence. These include improvement of highway safety and expansion of the state traffic patrol force, the proposed raising of the legal drinking age, and statewide daylight savings time. Much of the correspondence is between Senator Prange and people representing professional and business interest groups, such as teachers supporting retirement legislation, charitable and religious groups opposing legalized bingo, and funeral directors opposing legal limits on the costs of funerals. In the 1957 correspondence daylight savings time was again a frequent issue along with right to work and full train crew laws. There also is discussion of proprietary drugs, chiropractic medicine, the Wisconsin Radio Council, and artificial food coloring in canned foods.

The press clippings concern Prange's election campaigns and his legislative activities, including his introduction of a bill to protect the State of Wisconsin against subversive activities.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Henry C. Prange, Plymouth, Wisconsin, 26 September 1960. Accession Number: M60-158

Processing Information

Processed by J. Sorenson and J. Fleckner, 26 July 1977.

Box   1 Folder   1	Fair Reports, 1954
	Correspondence,
Box   1 Folder   2-11	1955, March-1957, April.
Box   2 Folder   1-4	1957, May - 1957, September, n.d.
	Press Clippings,
Box   2 Folder   5	1952-1957.
Box   2 Folder   6	n.d.