Title: Milwaukee Guide Manuscripts
Inclusive Dates: 1872-1945

Creator:

• Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (Wis.)

Call Number: Local History Manuscript Collection 369

Quantity: 2 cubic ft. (6 boxes)

Repository:

Milwaukee Public Library, Frank P. Zeidler Room

Archival Location:

Milwaukee Public Library (Map)

Abstract:

The American Guide Series – books providing essays on the history, culture, major cities, automobile tours, important attractions and photographs of each locale – proved to be one of the most popular efforts undertaken by the Federal Writers’ Project. The Milwaukee Guide was intended to add to the American Guide Series, while providing employment for Milwaukee writers and editors. The collection contains drafts of articles, essays, guides and manuscripts on Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and Wisconsin area subjects written for the WPA Federal Writer’s Project. These materials were created and collected to be incorporated into the unpublished Metropolitan Milwaukee Guide. Among the subjects covered are: industries, institutions, labor and social history, natural history, recreation activities, landmarks, social services, histories of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and Wisconsin.

Note:

To request materials from this collection, create/login to your Special Collections Account.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.mwpl-lhmc0369

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The Federal Writers’ Project was created on 27 July, 1935 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and ran through 1943. The Project was part of the United States Work Progress Administration (WPA) and was designed to provide employment opportunities for writers, teachers, librarians, historians and other white-collar workers during the Great Depression. The projects undertaken through the Federal Writers’ Project include local histories, oral histories, ethnographies, and children’s books.

The American Guide Series – books providing essays on the history, culture, major cities, automobile tours, important attractions and photographs of each locale – proved to be one of the most popular efforts undertaken by the Federal Writers’ Project. The American Guide Series contains 48 state guides (including Wisconsin), 27 city guides, and 15 regional or territory guides (including Alaska – which was then a territory – and Puerto Rico). Additional publications include pamphlets, folklore collections, oral histories and song recordings.

The Milwaukee Guide was intended to add to the American Guide Series, while providing employment for Milwaukee writers and editors. Victor S. Craun, noted cave explorer, directed the project in the city, which had a budget of $56,000 in 1935 (roughly $970,000 in 2014). The project was headquartered on the mezzanine floor of the county court house. In all, the project provided employment for roughly 30 people.

Although the Milwaukee Guide was complete by the spring of 1941, the project was disbanded by the Milwaukee county board which oversaw WPA projects in Milwaukee. While the Guide was federally funded, in order to maintain federal funding the approval of Milwaukee County was required. County board members never approved it for publication.

The collection contains drafts of articles, essays, guides and manuscripts on Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and Wisconsin area subjects written for the WPA Federal Writer’s Project. These materials were created and collected to be incorporated into the unpublished Metropolitan Milwaukee Guide. Among the subjects covered are: industries, institutions, labor and social history, natural history, recreation activities, landmarks, social services, histories of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and Wisconsin.

Scope and content notes of each series are provided in the contents list.

The collection is arranged into the following series:

1. Articles, 1872-1945
2. Drafts, Points of Interest and Tours, 1923-1937
3. Miscellaneous, 1936-1941

The series are arranged alphabetically. Within each series, folders are arranged alphabetically and then chronologically within each folder.

Milwaukee Guide Manuscripts, 1872–1945, Collection 369. Local History Manuscript Collections, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

• Edward Harris Heth Papers. Local History Manuscript Collection 19.

History of Milwaukee County

Milwaukee in the 1930s : a Federal Writers Project City Guide

Shorewood

The WPA guide to Wisconsin : [the Federal Writers' Project guide to 1930's Wisconsin]

Wisconsin : a guide to the Badger State

Wisconsin : a guide to the Badger State

Catalogue, WPA Writers' program publications : the American guide series, the American life series. September 1941

Remembering America : a sampler of the WPA American guide series

Catalog American Guide Series

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials. The collection is open to all in accordance with state law. The public may view Local History Manuscript Collections by appointment at the Central Library. To request an in-person appointment, create/login to your Special Collections Account. If you have any questions, please contact the Archives and Special Collections Department at mplarchives@milwaukee.gov.

Use Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

Acquisition Information

No acquisition information is currently available. The materials were accessioned as Local History Manuscripts.

Processing Information

Processed by Darla Engwall, 1999. Inventoried by Kadie Seitz, Fieldworker, 2014. Edited and arranged by Casey Lapworth, 2019.

	Series: 1. Articles, 1872-1945 Scope and Content Note: The Articles series includes essays written on Milwaukee and Wisconsin area on a variety of subjects as listed above. The bulk of the material, including undated items, can be estimated to have happened during the mid to late 1930s, the height of the Works Project Administration. Where an author’s name is available it is noted. Some works are written by locally well-known men from Milwaukee such as Richard E. Krug, Ted Mueller, Edward Heth and Bernard C. Korn. A few first-hand accounts of early Milwaukee are also included, as well as re-printed versions of newspaper articles or speeches given as early as the 1870s. These essays are organized alphabetically by their original titles.
	Milwaukee
Box   1 Folder   1	A.O. Smith Corporation, undated
	African Americans
Box   1 Folder   2	Negro Material, 1945
Box   1 Folder   3	The Negro in Milwaukee, undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Breweries, undated
Box   1 Folder   5	A Century Passes by Frank Wanta and Edward Heth, 1938
Box   1 Folder   6	A Century of progress, undated
Box   1 Folder   7	Chronology, 1935
Box   1 Folder   8	City government survey, Author: Richard E. Krug, undated
Box   1 Folder   9	Clubs and societies, undated
Box   1 Folder   10	Diamond Jubilee of the City of Milwaukee by George A. Shaughnessy, 1921
Box   1 Folder   11	In Death’s Embrace, 1887
Box   1 Folder   12	Early Labor and Social Movement, undated
Box   1 Folder   13	Early Milwaukee by Charles Milwaukee Sivyer, 1896
Box   1 Folder   14	The Early Social Movement, undated
Box   1 Folder   15	The Future Milwaukee by Paul Gralewicz, 1937
Box   1 Folder   16	The Gambrinus Statue, Pabst Brewery, undated
Box   1 Folder   17	General Information, 1937
	Germans
Box   1 Folder   18	First German Settler in Milwaukee, undated
Box   1 Folder   19	German Element in Milwaukee, undated
Box   1 Folder   20	A Historical Sketch, undated
Box   1 Folder   21	History of Milwaukee Township, undated
Box   1 Folder   22	Homes and Charitable Institutions, undated
Box   1 Folder   23	Horse was Hero of Lake Michigan Storm, undated
Box   1 Folder   24	The Industrial History of Milwaukee, 1937
Box   1 Folder   25	Literature in Milwaukee by Edward Heth, 1938
Box   1 Folder   26-27	Milwaukee beer gardens, undated
Box   1 Folder   28	The Milwaukee Extension Center: A Bit of History, undated
Box   1 Folder   29	Milwaukee Government by Richard E. Krug, undated
Box   1 Folder   30	Milwaukee Had a Good Time at the Saengerfest in 1886, 1886
Box   1 Folder   31	Milwaukee Hospitals, undated
Box   1 Folder   32	Milwaukee Institutions, undated
Box   1 Folder   33	Milwaukee Institutions, Milwaukee Schools, undated
Box   1 Folder   34	The Mozart Hall, undated
Box   1 Folder   35	Municipal Recreation and Adult Education of Milwaukee Public Schools, undated
Box   1 Folder   36	The Musikverein of Milwaukee, 1850-1900, A Chronicle, 1900
Box   1 Folder   37	Mystery of the Red Flannel Shirts, undated
Box   1 Folder   38	Parklawn, 1936
Box   2 Folder   1	The People: Their Racial Distribution and Culture by Edward Heth and Frank Wanta, 1937
Box   2 Folder   2	Portrait of a Midwestern Metropolis by Arthur Fellows and Edward Heth, 1937
Box   2 Folder   3	Prentiss, William A., undated
Box   2 Folder   4	Press of Milwaukee by Arthur Fellows, 1938
Box   2 Folder   5	Prominent Men in the History of Milwaukee, 1937
Box   2 Folder   6	Public Employment Office, undated
Box   2 Folder   7	Religious Bodies, undated
Box   2 Folder   8	Squares, Triangles and Boulevards, undated
Box   2 Folder   9	St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, undated
Box   2 Folder   10	The Story of the Garment Cutters’ Association, undated
Box   2 Folder   11	The Story of Old Bay View by Bernhard C. Korn, 1938
Box   2 Folder   12	Subject Outline, Brief History of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County by Victor S. Craun, undated
Box   2 Folder   13	Survey of City Governments, undated
Box   2 Folder   14	Terms and Synonyms Used on Maritime Vessels by Ted Mueller, 1938
Box   2 Folder   15	Theater in Milwaukee, undated
Box   2 Folder   16	Welfare Agencies, undated
Box   2 Folder   17	The Wheelock School for Girls, undated
Box   2 Folder   18	When is Labor Art Not Labor Art? By Joseph A. Padway, 1932
	Williamsburg
Box   2 Folder   19	History of Williamsburg, undated
Box   2 Folder   20	The Old Dutch mill in Williamsburg, undated
	Milwaukee County
Box   2 Folder   21	Blown to Atoms: Explosion of the Dualine Works Near Whitefish Bay, 1872
Box   2 Folder   22	County Agricultural Representatives , undated
Box   2 Folder   23	County Court, undated
	Histories
Box   2 Folder   24	History of Greenfield Township, undated
Box   2 Folder   25	History of Lake Township, undated
Box   2 Folder   26	History of Oak Creek Township, undated
Box   2 Folder   27	Shorewood History Project by Victor S. Craun, 1939
Box   2 Folder   28	The City of South Milwaukee, 1936
	Wauwatosa
Box   2 Folder   29	City of Wauwatosa, undated
Box   2 Folder   30	History of Wauwatosa Township, undated
Box   2 Folder   31	Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, Old and New, 1901
Box   2 Folder   32	Wauwatosa stories, undated
Box   2 Folder   33	Home for Dependent Children by August Kringel, undated
Box   2 Folder   34	The Metropolitan Sewage System of Milwaukee County by Frank Bittner, 1934
Box   2 Folder   35	Milk Jug, undated
Box   2 Folder   36	Short history of Milwaukee County Hospital, undated
	Native Americans
Box   2 Folder   37	Indian Medicine Man’s Drugs Used by Doctors, undated
Box   2 Folder   38	Indian Occupancy by Paul Gralewicz and Frank Wanta, 1937
Box   2 Folder   39	The Jade Gorget by Victor S. Craun, 1938
Box   2 Folder   40	The Last of the Mohicans, undated
Box   2 Folder   41	Spirit River by Thomas L. St. Germain, undated
	Wisconsin
	Caves
Box   2 Folder   42	Amateur Guide to Caves, undated
Box   2 Folder   43	Big Eagle Cave Mysteries, undated
Box   2 Folder   44	Cave Hunting and Exploring, undated
Box   2 Folder   45	Cave Legends by Victor S. Craun, 1937
Box   2 Folder   46-47	Wisconsin Caves, 1932-1936, undated
Box   2 Folder   48	Wisconsin by Victor S. Craun, undated
Box   2 Folder   49	Geologic Columns, undated
Box   2 Folder   50	History of Agriculture by Rachel Thompson, 1937
Box   3 Folder   1	Mirandeau, Jean Baptiste by Ted Mueller, undated
Box   3 Folder   2	Natural setting, 1937
Box   3 Folder   3	The Physical Landscape and Geographic Regions, undated
Box   3 Folder   4	Questionnaire for “Papa” Frank Weber, undated
Box   3 Folder   5	Racine County Courthouse by August Hasebrook, undated
Box   3 Folder   6	The Sixth Decade of Cycling by Louis Pierron, 1937
Box   3 Folder   7	Spiked the First Steel Rails in Wisconsin by Anson W. Buttles, undated
Box   3 Folder   8	In The Theater by Edward Heth, 1937
Box   3 Folder   9	The Village That the Wisconsin River Made and Killed, undated
Box   3 Folder   10	Wisconsin Flora, 1937
Box   3 Folder   11	Wisconsin Parks, undated
Box   3 Folder   12	Wisconsin’s German-Americans by Wilhelm Hense-Jenson and Ernest Bruncken, 1900
	Series: 2. Drafts, Points of Interest and Tours, 1923-1937 Scope and Content Note: The Drafts, Points of Interest and Tours series contains multiple draft versions of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Guide and an unnamed manuscript on the early history of Milwaukee. Also included are guides and descriptions on local Milwaukee points of interest and tours created and collected for potential use in the Milwaukee guide.	⇧
	Drafts
Box   3 Folder   13-15	[Early History of Milwaukee], undated
Box   3 Folder   16	Guide to Metropolitan Milwaukee, draft with reports, 1936-1937
Box   4 Folder   1	Guide to Metropolitan Milwaukee, draft with reports, 1936-1937
Box   4 Folder   2-6	Metropolitan Milwaukee Guide, 1937
Box   5 Folder   7	Metropolitan Milwaukee Guide, 1937
Box   5 Folder   8	Metropolitan Milwaukee Guide - Notes and outline, 1923-1936
	Points of Interest
Box   5 Folder   9-10	Undated
Box   6 Folder   1	List of places, undated
Box   6 Folder   2	Lower Third Ward, undated
Box   6 Folder   3	North side, undated
	Tours
Box   6 Folder   4	#1, undated
Box   6 Folder   5	Educational, undated
Box   6 Folder   6	Driving – North section, undated
Box   6 Folder   7	Driving - South section, undated
Box   6 Folder   8	Zoo [Washington Park Zoo], 1937
	Series: 3. Miscellaneous, 1936-1941 Scope and Content Note: The Miscellaneous series contains documents concerning the organization of the Milwaukee guide project. It includes a listing of articles complete with information on authors, subjects, titles and original word length as well as guides and instructions.	⇧
Box   6 Folder   9	Author cover sheets, 1938
Box   6 Folder   10	Instructions for WPA Indexes, undated
Box   6 Folder   11	Style manual, 1941
Box   6 Folder   12	Subject guide, 1936-1937