Summary Information
Orland S. Loomis Papers
1909-1945
- Loomis, Orland S. (Orland Steen), 1893-1942
Wis Mss UI; Audio 1645A; M2012-018
11.6 c.f. (29 archives boxes) and 1 tape recording; plus additions of 0.1 c.f.
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Orland Loomis, a Progressive lawyer and politician from Mauston, Wisconsin, who was a member of both houses of the Wisconsin state legislature, state attorney general, and governor-elect in 1942. The collection includes correspondence, legal papers, copies of proposed legislation, memoranda, personal accounts, campaign materials, schedules, speeches, and press releases. The correspondence between 1929 and 1933, when Loomis served in the state legislature, reflects his concern with the problems of farmers, veterans, education, and public electric power. Most of the correspondence from 1936 to 1942 relates to electioneering, but a few letters exchanged with Robert M. La Follette Jr. and Philip La Follette from 1931 to 1935 and in 1942 contain references to Progressive Party programs and problems. Correspondence for 1937 and 1938, when he served as attorney general, include several legal opinions. Other correspondents include Herman Ekern, John J. Esch, William Evjue, Halbert Hoard, Merlin Hull, Charles A. Kading, Irvine Lenroot, Gaylord Nelson, George W. Norris, and Gifford Pinchot. A large part of the collection relates to Loomis' attempts to bring publicly owned electric power to Wisconsin, and includes briefs, exhibits, correspondence, and legal papers relating to the municipalities Loomis represented in public-power cases between 1933 and 1942. Loomis' clients included Bangor, Edgerton, Viroqua, Hustisford, Fennimore, Waterloo, Kendall, McFarland, Poynette, and Pardeeville. The extensive materials for Pardeeville follow the case from the village decision by referendum to purchase their power plant through twelve years of litigation. The collection also includes a folder of briefs and other materials on the Wisconsin Development Authority, established in 1937 to aid municipal ownership and the orderly development of Wisconsin resources. Loomis' papers contain some of the records of his campaigns for governor in 1940 and 1942, and a group of letters and proposals for his administration made after the 1942 election. Loomis died, however, before he could take office.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000ui ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Orland S. Loomis, Progressive lawyer and state official, was born in Mauston, Wisconsin in 1893. While enrolled in the Mauston schools he worked as a newsboy, farm hand, and store clerk. After attending Ripon College he was graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1917, and set up practice in Mauston. Almost immediately he entered the army and spent eight months overseas in World War I.
Throughout his career, during which he served the state as assemblyman, senator, and attorney general, he maintained law partnerships in Mauston. In the twenties Loomis was city attorney for Mauston and was a special prosecuting attorney for Juneau County. In 1929 he was elected to the Assembly as a liberal Republican, and in the sessions of 1931 and 1933 served in the state Senate. He was a member of the judiciary committee and of the interim committee on the needs of education. In 1933 he presided over the Senate.
As a legislator Loomis made an impressive record. There is evidence that he was intelligent, earnest, and hard working; and was instrumental in securing laws aiding farmers, railroad laborers, veterans, and schools. He developed a special interest in the regulation of public utilities and in the municipal ownership of utilities, and made his most effective contribution in the utility field. As a practicing lawyer he represented many municipalities in cases involving public ownership.
In 1935, as a result of his legislative record relating to the Progressive power program for Wisconsin and his active opposition to private ownership of public utilities, Governor Philip La Follette named Loomis as the first state director of the Rural Electrification Administration. When he resigned in July 1936 to run for the office of attorney general, 41 farm electric cooperatives had been organized and 22,000 farmers had applied for electricity. He represented Wisconsin at the World Power Conference in 1936.
After being defeated in 1934 as a candidate for attorney general, Loomis was elected to this office in 1936, but he was again defeated in 1938. In 1940, as the Progressive candidate, he was defeated by the Republican, Julius P. Heil, in the race for governor by only 12,000 votes. Two years later he unseated Heil by 105,000 votes. Within a month of his election, and before taking office, Loomis became ill and died (December 7, 1942). Correspondence shows that during his last month he was most active in meeting with advisers for the purpose of budgeting and planning what he considered to be needed reforms in the state government.
In 1934 when the Progressive Republicans broke away from the Republican party to form the Progressive party, Loomis was a delegate to the convention at Fond du Lac. Later, as attorney general, he fought in behalf of Progressive legislation such as the state labor law, industrial codes, and the Wisconsin Development Authority. By 1940 Loomis had become the acknowledged leader of the Progressive Party and the party was rebuilt around his person. He was the only Progressive in 1942 to be elected to a state-wide office.
On graduation from law school Orland Loomis married a home economics teacher, Florence Ely, and they had three children. At the time of his death the oldest, Robert, was serving in the U.S. navy, John was a student at Ripon, and Laura Jean was in junior high school.
Arrangement of the Materials
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mrs. Florence Loomis, Mauston, Wisconsin, September 1953.
Contents List
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Wis Mss UI
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Series: Part 1: (Wis Mss UI, Audio 1645A): Original Collection, 1909-194511.6 c.f. (29 archives boxes) and 1 tape recording Correspondence At least one half of the correspondence in these papers deals with routine letters in connection with speaking tours and campaigns for election to office, especially in the years 1936, 1938, 1940, and 1942. Although Loomis was a leader in the Progressive movement in Wisconsin in the thirties and early forties, few of his letters discuss Progressive Party politics or state and national problems. Exceptions are letters exchanged with the La Follette brothers. Between 1931 and 1935, and again in 1942, there is correspondence with both Robert M. La Follette and Philip La Follette relating to campaign plans, sentiment regarding a Progressive-Democratic coalition, and speaking engagements. A letter from Loomis to Robert M. La Follette, April 24, 1933, discusses the types of measures in Congress being supported by La Follette.
During the years when Loomis was in the state legislature, 1929-1933, his correspondence reveals the many types of matters in which he interested himself, particularly his concern over education and power problems. He was always at the forefront in the movement for public ownership of power in Wisconsin. Between 1933 and 1942 correspondence occurs relating to municipalities Loomis represented in public utilities cases. However, there is no correspondence at all relating to Loomis' work as director of the Rural Electrification Administration.
Correspondence during the period when Loomis was attorney general, 1937-1938, relates to opinions on a variety of legal matters.
Correspondence concerning his law practice includes two types of cases: (a) small claims and collection cases, and (2) legal problems in connection with municipalities Loomis' firm represented in public utilities cases. These types of law correspondence run throughout the years covered by the Loomis papers.
Campaign materials, speeches, legislative bills, personal data. These boxes contain campaign schedules, lists of party workers, and expense reports. Most of the speeches and releases in Box 22 relate to election campaigns, although some are speeches given on special occasions. Box 23 contains memoranda, legislative bills and hearings, and personal records relating to Orland Loomis. Box 26 also contains a folder of briefs and materials on the Wisconsin Development Authority, an organization set up by the state in 1937 to aid and encourage municipal power districts and the public ownership of power.
Public Utilities. The original Loomis papers contained briefs, agreements, and correspondence concerning nine Wisconsin municipalities represented by Loomis in court hearings on utilities matters. (Bangor, Edgerton, Viroqua, Hustisford, Fennimore, Waterloo, Kendall, McFarland, and Poynette) The letters have been filed with the Loomis correspondence, but Boxes 24-26 contain the briefs and legal papers regarding utilities cases in these cities.
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Correspondence
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Box
1
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1909-1910, 1912-1913, 1915-1928
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Box
2
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1929-1931 April
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Box
3
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1931 May-1932 July
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Box
4
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1932 August-1933 March
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Box
5
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1933 April-1934 July
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Box
6
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1934 August-1935 June
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Box
7
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1935 July-1936 September
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Box
8
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1936 October-November
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Box
9
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1936 December-1937 April
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Box
10
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1937 May-September
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Box
11
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1937 October-1938 February
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Box
12
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1938 March-July
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Box
13
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1938 July-August
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Box
14
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1938 August
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Box
15
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1938 August-October
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Box
16
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1938 October-1940 June
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Box
17
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1940 July-1949 September
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Box
18
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1940 September-October
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Box
19
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1940 November-1942 May
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Box
20
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1942 June-September
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Box
21
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1942 October-December
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Box
22
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1943-1945, undated
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Box
22-26
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Campaign materials, speeches, legislative bills, and personal data
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Box
27-29
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Public Utilities
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Audio 1645A
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Audio Recordings
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1645A/1
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“The Life of Orland Loomis,” Loomis for Governor Club, 1940 October 13
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1645A/1 (continued)
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WTMJ interview with Orland S. Loomis, Governor-elect, 1942 November 4
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M2012-018
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Series: Part 2 (M2012-018): Additions, 1942
0.1 c.f. (1 oversize folder)
: Additions comprised of two posters from Loomis' 1942 gubernatorial campaign.
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