Title: Edwin R. Shorey Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1925-1964

Creator:

• Shorey, Edwin Ray, 1884-1964

Call Number: Mss 801; PH 2886; PH 3965 (3); AE 415-AE 421

Quantity: 0.8 cubic feet (2 archives boxes), 7 films, and approximately 140 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Papers of Edwin R. Shorey, a chairman of the Department of Mining and Metallurgy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, largely concerning his work as a consultant to various Wisconsin mining companies. For companies such as the Badger Zinc Company of Dodgeville and the Coughlin Mining Company of Shullsburg there is correspondence, financial records, and blueprints. In addition, other correspondence concerns academic matters, the careers of former students, and state and national legislation about mining. Also included are films containing footage of mines and mining, and home movies.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00801

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

University of Wisconsin professor of mining and metallurgy Edwin Ray Shorey was born on August 10, 1884 in Appleton, Wisconsin. He received a degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1908 and began his career in mining with the Oliver Iron Company in Hibbing, Minnesota. In 1909 he started to work for the Vinegar Hill Zinc Company in Platteville, Wisconsin, spending ten years surveying, drilling, and blocking ore bodies. Then following service in the Engineering Corps during World War I Shorey returned to the University of Wisconsin to teach as associate professor of mining and metallurgy and to continue his own education toward a degree in mine engineering (completed 1922). He was promoted to full professor in 1939 and to chairman of the department in 1952, and he continued in that position until his retirement in 1955.

Shorey's principal research interest was in the application of flotation to the treatment of Wisconsin lead and zinc ores, and he directed work which led to the discovery of the only such practical treatment. Shorey also contributed to the spirit of cooperation which developed between the University and the Wisconsin mining industry, working as a consultant for several Wisconsin mining companies, as well as for companies in Canada and the southwest. He was interested in the entire range of safety and conservation issues associated with mining, and he served on several state committees that examined mining development in Wisconsin. In 1922 and 1937 he was chairman of the Industrial Commission's Advisory Committee on Mine Safety. As president of the Wisconsin-Illinois-Iowa Zinc and Lead Ore Producers Association he aided in the development of state and national legislation for the industry.

Shorey died on April 6, 1964. He was survived by his wife, Anna Dunn Shorey, and two children, Mary Scott and Robert, an oil company executive.

The Shorey Papers contain little information about his career as a professor at the University of Wisconsin (except for the period 1948-1955) and instead focus primarily on his independent research and consulting work. The most valuable material consists of files on several Wisconsin zinc mines collected by Shorey in his capacity as consultant and manager, especially the Badger Zinc Company about which the Society holds other information in the Dodgeville Mining Company Papers. The Shorey Papers contain some scattered references to departmental matters (chiefly minutes for the period 1951-1952) and information about the professional careers of former students. There is very little personal material here, with the correspondence with colleagues Henry Ehrlinger and William Rundle being the most revealing of this aspect of his life.

The papers are arranged as BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, CORRESPONDENCE, SUBJECT FILES, MINING FILES, and VISUAL MATERIALS.

BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL includes two vitas prepared by Shorey at various times during his career and the official resolution that the Faculty Senate passed after his death.

The CORRESPONDENCE is divided into two categories: a general file arranged in chronological order that covers the period 1948 through 1955 and an alphabetically-arranged file that covers the first five years of his retirement (1955-1960). The earlier portion includes some departmental minutes, contacts with former and prospective students, and information on his benefication research and other professional matters. Many of the same concerns continue into the retirement period, although for that period there is also more useful correspondence concerning his work for mining companies and his interest in pending legislation. Notable are his comments about the publications of the Arizona Small Mine Operators for Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson.

The SUBJECT FILES contain some administrative correspondence concerning several state mining committees on which he served during the 1950s. More useful, however, is his 1951 correspondence concerning mine capping legislation.

The MINING FILES are arranged alphabetically by the name of the company. Most extensive are the materials on the Badger Zinc Company of Dodgeville and its successor, the Wisconsin Flotation Zinc Company. Included are correspondence, blueprints of mines on leased property, notes of test drillings, audits and financial records, and a history. Unfortunately, the precise nature of Shorey's relationship with the company or the manner in which they cooperated in the development of the flotation process is not spelled out in the documentation. For the Coughlin Mine of Shullsburg and its successor, the New Lucky Hit Mine, there are several files of correspondence. Shorey appears to have worked for this company not only as manager during the period of post-war decline, but he also appears to have maintained the original books of entry. As a result, this correspondence contains detailed reports of receipts and expenditures to the Chicago owners. There is also extensive correspondence concerning the eventual disposal of the mine property.

The VISUAL MATERIALS include photographs and films. The photographs are in two groups. The first related to a project by the Civilian Conservation Corps at Flood Control Camp 73-E near Darlington, Wisconsin, in 1933 where Shorey acted as superintendent. The other group of photographs collected by Shorey are related to mining, logging, and oil refining. The films are personal and professional, including footage of mines and mining, and men working in factory settings; and home movies of parks in Madison and Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Lewis C. Donovan, Madison, Wisconsin, 1964. Accession Number: M64-142

Processing Information

Processed by archives student, date unknown, and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1991.

Box   1 Folder   1	Series: Biographical Information, 1942-1964
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2	General correspondence, 1948-1953
Box   1 Folder   3-7	Retirement correspondence, 1955-1960
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   1 Folder   8-9	Ehrlingen, Henry, 1941-1949
Box   1 Folder   10	Iron Ore Resource Development in Northern Wisconsin, Special Committee on, 1956
Box   1 Folder   11	Legislation, 1951
Box   1 Folder   12	Mineral Point deep water well, 1946
Box   1 Folder   13	Mineral Resources, Governor's Special Committee on, 1957-1958
Box   2 Folder   1	Sheboygan Chair Company settlement, 1936
Box   2 Folder   2	Soil Erosion Service camp album, 1933
Box   2 Folder   3	Writings, undated
	Series: Mining Files	⇧
	Badger Zinc Mining Company
Box   2 Folder   4	Audits, 1928-1932
Box   2 Folder   5	Correspondence, 1933-1935
Box   2 Folder   6	History and prospectus, 1930
Box   2 Folder   7	Johnson, Elliot, account, 1932
Box   2 Folder   8	Kickapoo lease, Test drilling, 1926
Box   2 Folder   9	Lease blueprints, 1931, undated
Box   2 Folder   10	Miscellany, 1925
Box   2 Folder   11	Coughlin Mining Company, 1942-1944
Box   2 Folder   12-13	New Lucky Hit Mining Company, 1944-1952
Box   2 Folder   14	Wisconsin Zinc Flotation Company, 1935
	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
	Photographs
PH 3965 (3)	Flood Control Camp 73-E near Darlington, Wisconsin, CCC, 1933
PH 2886	Mining, logging, and oil refining, circa 1940-1960
	Films Note: Titles taken from original box and reel labels. ACM, Co. is most likely the Anaconda Copper Mining Company headquartered in Butte, Montana.
	Mines and Mining Footage
AE 415	ACM Company Note: “Segment 1 contains footage of an interior of a factory and shots of machines.”
AE 416	Bunker Hill Note: “Contains footage of a mine shaft and the interior of a factory; a man riding a coal car out of a mine shaft with a sign overhead that reads 'Kellogg Tunnel, 1883-1902.'”
AE 417	Homestake Note: “Contains footage of a factory interior with close-up shots of machines.”
AE 418	Quarry and workers Note: “Segment 1-Quarry Shovel contains footage of heavy machinery outside; segment 2-Sheridan and Shovel; segment 3- Garryowen and Panorama at Butte contains footage of a crowd outside and landscape shots; and segment 4-Hecla contains footage of men in coveralls on a factory line sorting rocks and minerals.”
AE 419	Sylvan Lake and Butte Note: “Segment 1-Homestake Surf and Sylvan Lake; segment 2-Sylvan Lake, Keystone, Guar Lodge OK So. Dakota [sic]; segment 3-Timber Butte contains footage of a factory interior and machines; segment 4-Ex leaders and Da shp [sic] contains footage of man in a factory heating iron in a furnace.”
AE 420	Unidentified factory films Note: “Segment 1 contains footage of factory interior, machines, and conveyor belts; segment 2 contains footage of men in coveralls in factory heating iron and leaning on equipment; segment 3 contains footage of factory interior, men in coveralls using machines.”
	Personal Footage
AE 421	Recreation Note: “Segment 1 contains footage of Oshkosh cem. and Men. Park [sic] and Madison Olin Park Picnic, Vilas Park and Bob; segment 2-Salt Lake fair; segment 3-St. Pat's parade.”