Page xii

xii                    INTRODUCTION
lives of the men who gained the post of chief executive of the
state will prove a source of enjoyment and information for
those who use this book.
   Chapter 516, Laws of 1959, clarifies the distribution of
 the 45,000 copies of the Blue Book, among other things. It
 is clear that this book was intended as a source of ready
 reference for the public official, businessman, homemaker,
 teacher and student. Roughly one copy for every 100 people
 in the state is provided. This means that unless the avail-
 able copies are distributed widely and used effectively many
 will be denied access to a copy. Public libraries, schools and
 most public officials have copies, and individuals who do not
 benefit from the broad distribution made each biennium may
 purchase a copy from the state at a nominal price.
   The preparation of each edition of the Blue Book is pos-
sible only through the co-operative efforts of a host of peo-
ple including key staff members of the operating departments,
the Printing Division of the Bureau of General Services and
the staff of the Legislative Reference Library. Although the
major direction in the compilation of the 1960 edition was
given by Mrs. Hazel Kuehn, librarian of the Legislative Ref-
erence Library, the 1960 version of the volume represents
greater participation by more members of the Legislative
Reference Library staff than ever before.
  Special recognition is given to Gerald L. Matthews for the
title page illustrations; the Melrose Music Corporation and
Broadcast Music, Incorporated, for permission to reproduce
the music to "On Wisconsin" in the frontispiece; to Paul
Vanderbilt, curator of the iconographic collections of the
Wisconsin Historical Society for his assistance in locating the
portraits of the former Governors; the Photographic Labora-
tory of the University of Wisconsin for photographing these
portraits; and to Dr. Roy Lokken for his assistance in gath-
ering the data upon which the biographic sketches of the
former Governors were based.
                LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE LIBRARY
                         M. G. TOEPEL, Chief
                         HAZEL L. KUEHN, Librarian
                         Editors