Title: Kenneth J. Merkel Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1964-1974

Creator:

• Merkel, Kenneth J., 1926-

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss 101; PH Milwaukee Mss 101

Quantity: 5.4 c.f. (5 record center cartons and 1 archives box) and 4 photographs

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)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of a conservative Republican legislator from Brookfield who served in the Wisconsin Assembly from 1965 through 1974. Included are correspondence and subject files on many issues with which Merkel was prominently involved including opposition to abortion, usurpation of local authority by state government, aid to private schools, taxation, anti-war demonstrations on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, and welfare costs. There are also extensive files pertaining to Merkel's efforts in behalf of fiscal conservatism on the Joint Committee on Finance as well as his work on the Assembly Select Committee on Inner City Problems and the Joint Committee to Visit State Properties. The collection also includes files on a number of initiatives supported by the John Birch Society of which Merkel was a member such as opposition to sex education in public schools and U.S. membership in the United Nations. There are small files of form letters, press releases, newsletters, speeches, biographical material, and photographs.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00101

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Conservative Republican state legislator and electrical engineer Kenneth John Merkel was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin, on August 9, 1926. He attended St. John's Academy and local public schools. During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps. Education for his career as an engineer began at Michigan State College, but in June 1946 he enrolled at Marquette University where he received his B.S. in 1949. From the mid-1950's to the early 1960's he did graduate work in electrical engineering first at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and later at UW-Milwaukee.

In 1964 when Merkel made his first attempt at elective office he was an engineer working for a tool-making company in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Then, as throughout his public career, he regarded politics only as an avocation. In 1959 he joined the Republican Party; in 1963 he aligned himself with the far right wing of the party by joining the John Birch Society. His decision to run for the Assembly in the following year was based on the belief that his views were inadequately represented in the Legislature.

Merkel's legislative record was characterized by advocacy of conservative causes. On many issues such as abortion, sex education, and anti-war disruptions at the University, his views differed little from the more moderate members of his party. He was, however, able to win only little support from them for the Birch-supported legislation which he introduced such as the Liberty Amendment and condemnation of the United Nations. Merkel was widely identified in the press as a member of the Birch Society and the Americans for Constitutional Action and that public association no doubt had much to do with the manner in which his efforts were received by other legislators at the beginning of his career. Merkel's style, however, was not that of the ideological crusader frequently identified with the far right, and he came to be well known among other legislators for his sense of humor and his hard work.

In 1967 Merkel was appointed to the Joint Committee on Finance, a position which showcased his fiscal conservatism and his belief that state government had usurpedt too much power. Reappointed in 1969, he became one of the most influential members of that powerful committee. A favorite slogan of liberals during that session was proclaimed on the bumper sticker “Shame on Shabaz and Merkel, too.” Merkel was not reappointed to the committee in 1971, although he served again during the 1973 session. Other committees on which he served are indicated in biennial editions of the Blue Book.

In 1974 Merkel announced that he would not seek reelection. His decision received statewide attention because it was based on the belief that the recent salary increase received by legislators was too great and that the increase threatened the independence of the citizen-legislator. Unlike many of his contemporaries who regarded serving in the Legislature as a full time occupation, Merkel had continued to work halftime as an engineer throughout his service in the Legislature.

Merkel is married and the father of five children. He is a member of the American Legion, the Knights of Columbus, and the Holy Name Society. His professional associations include the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers, the Registered Professional Engineers, and the National Machine Tool Builders Electrical Standards Committee.

The collection documents Kenneth Merkel's career as a member of the Wisconsin Assembly. With the exception of a few scattered items the documentation dates entirely from the 1967-1974 period. There are only a few items concerning campaigns or electoral politics in the collection and no personal papers nor any material pertaining to his work as an engineer. The collection is organized into three categories: alphabetical subject files, a small chronological file, and a file on the Joint Committee on Finance.

The entire collection has been weeded extensively to remove publications and state agency material better preserved in the records of the creating agency. The original subject file contained many very small, unnecessarily detailed headings. Where appropriate, such files have been combined in order to achieve more efficient storage. The constituent correspondence has also been weeded to remove routine and duplicative mail. The resulting collection, although much reduced in size, provides valuable documentation on the views of a conservative legislator during the turbulent 1960's and early 1970's, as well as the constituent response to his ideas and initiatives.

The bulk of the collection consists of alphabetical SUBJECT FILES. Included are correspondence from constituents, state agencies, and other legislators; memoranda; reports; minutes; and reference material. There are also incomplete genre files consisting of form letters, press releases, newsletters, photographs, and speeches. There is also a folder of biographical material and clippings. This consists of material culled from elsewhere in the collection, however, and is not the biographical scrapbook typical of most legislators' collections.

Topics which are most extensively documented include abortion; usurpation of local rights and authority by state government (especially DNR); public support of education and aid to private schools via busing, tuition grants and tax credits; the University of Wisconsin and the violence which occurred on campus during the period; and welfare costs. Although only a few exchanges with the John Birch Society were located in the collection, there are files on a number of Birch-supported legislative initiatives such as opposition to sex education in public schools and United States membership in the United Nations. In addition to the separately organized Finance Committee files described below, there are two substantial files within this category on committees on which Merkel held leadership positions: the Assembly Select Committee on Inner City Problems and the Joint Committee to Visit State Properties.

The photographs include one of Merkel with supporters of his 1969 bill banning sex education in schools; and three color images of a Wisconsin Citizens for Family Planning booth in support of Bill 381A, 1967.

The small CHRONOLOGICAL FILE consists of correspondence which was intended for filing in the subject category but never included.

The JOINT COMMITTEE ON FINANCE files consist primarily of documents for the 1973-1974 session, although Merkel also served on that committee for the 1967 and 1969 sessions. The segregation of fiscal records into this file is not precise, and much documentation on taxation may also be found in the subject files. Especially valuable here are the reports and analyses on financial issues prepared for Merkel personally by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau and his handwritten notes. Because the majority of records created by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau have not been transferred to archival custody, this section has been retained virtually unweeded.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Kenneth J. Merkel, Brookfield, Wisconsin, 1974. Accession Number: M74-519 and M74-546

Processing Information

Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1985.

Milwaukee Mss 101	Series: Subject Files
Box   1 Folder   1-5	Abortion, 1967-1974
Box   1 Folder   6	Adoption, 1973-1974
Box   1 Folder   7	Agriculture, 1969-1972
Box   1 Folder   8	Alcohol, drunken-driving, etc., 1967-1974
Box   1 Folder   9	Amish school attendance, 1967-1969
Box   1 Folder   10	Animals, Cruelty to, 1970-1973
Box   1 Folder   11	Annexation, 1967-1973
Box   1 Folder   12	Appliances, Installation of, 1969
Box   1 Folder   13	Asher vs. Harrington (UW suit), 1970-1971
Box   1 Folder   14	Assembly Republican Caucus, 1968-1974
Box   1 Folder   15	Banking and credit, 1967-1973
	Bills
Box   1 Folder   16	For action, 1973
Box   1 Folder   17	Being drafted, 1966-1969
Box   1 Folder   18	Ideas, 1967-1970
Box   1 Folder   19	Unintroduced, 1969-1973
Box   1 Folder   20-23	Birth control and family planning, 1967-1973 Note: See also Abortion, Sex education.
Box   1 Folder   24	Brookfield
Box   1 Folder   25	Educational finance data
Box   1 Folder   26-28	Budget, 1969-1973 Note: See also Joint Finance Committee files.
Box   1 Folder   29	Campaign files (Merkel), 1966-1972
Box   1 Folder   30	Capital Outlay Subcommittee (of Joint Finance), 1968-1969
Box   1 Folder   31	Census, 1967-1969
Box   1 Folder   32	Child care facilities and issues, 1969-1973
Box   1 Folder   33	Chiropractors, 1969-1973
Box   1 Folder   34	Commerce and Consumer Affairs, 1971-1972
Box   1 Folder   35	Commitment/Mental institutions, 1970-1971
Box   1 Folder   36	Communism, 1964-1969
Box   1 Folder   37	Computer program, Statutes, 1966-1967
Box   1 Folder   38	Conservation, 1967-1970 Note: See also Natural Resources.
Box   1 Folder   39	Constitutional restoration (Arch Roberts), 1970-1971
Box   1 Folder   40	Consumer protection, 1969-1970
Box   1 Folder   41	Cosmetology, 1966-1973
Box   1 Folder   42	County land condemnation, 1967
Box   1 Folder   43	Crime, prisons, and law enforcement, 1969-1973
Box   1 Folder   44	Debt, State of Wisconsin, n.d.
Box   1 Folder   45	Decorum of legislators, 1973
Box   1 Folder   46	Divorce, 1969-1973
	Education
Box   1 Folder   47-49	General, 1967-1974
Box   1 Folder   50	Committee, 1973
Box   1 Folder   51-52	State aids, 1967-1972
Box   2 Folder   1	State aids worksheets, 1968-1969
Box   2 Folder   2	Review, 1972
Box   2 Folder   3	Elections, n.d.
Box   2 Folder   4	Elmbrook Republican Club, 1973
Box   2 Folder   5	Elm Grove, 1973
Box   2 Folder   6	Eminent domain, 1969
Box   2 Folder   7	Energy crisis, 1973-1974
Box   2 Folder   8	Engineers, 1967-1970
Box   2 Folder   9	Equal rights, 1973
Box   2 Folder   10	Form letters, 1969, n.d.
Box   2 Folder   11	Form letters, Incoming correspondence, 1969
Box   2 Folder   12	Gambling, lotteries, 1967-1973
Box   2 Folder   13	Genocide Treaty, 1973
Box   2 Folder   14	Gun control, 1973
Box   2 Folder   15	Handsaw flowage, 1971-1972
Box   2 Folder   16	Health and Social Services, Department of, 1969-1974
Box   2 Folder   17	Highway safety, 1969-1970
Box   2 Folder   18	Highways, 1967-1974
Box   2 Folder   19	Home and Family Council, 1968-1970
Box   2 Folder   20	Homestead tax relief, 1973
Box   2 Folder   21	Housing, Open, 1965-1967
Box   2 Folder   22	Industry, Labor and Human Relations, Department of, 1969-1973
Box   2 Folder   23	Inner City parolees program, 1968
	Inner City Problems, Assembly Select Committee on, 1969
Box   2 Folder   24	Minutes
Box   2 Folder   25-26	Reference material
Box   2 Folder   27-29	Insurance, 1969-1974
Box   2 Folder   30-31	Invitations, 1971-1973
Box   2 Folder   32	Judiciary, 1969-1972
Box   2 Folder   33	Kettle Moraine Shooting Range, 1968
Box   2 Folder   34-35	Labor and employment issues, 1969-1974
Box   2 Folder   36	Liberty Amendment, 1969
Box   2 Folder   37	Local Affairs, Department of, n.d.
Box   2 Folder   38	Marquette Medical School, 1968
Box   2 Folder   39	Martineau case, 1973
Box   2 Folder   40	Medical College of Wisconsin, 1973-1974
Box   2 Folder   41	Medicine, 1969-1974
Box   2 Folder   42	Mental health, 1965, n.d.
Box   2 Folder   43	Merkel biographical file and quotes, 1969-1973
Box   2 Folder   44	Motor Vehicles, Division of, 1969-1973
Box   2 Folder   45	Municipalities, 1973-1974
Box   2 Folder   46-47	Natural resources, 1971-1974
Box   2 Folder   48	Newsletter material, 1971
Box   2 Folder   49	Nurses, 1965-1969
Box   2 Folder   50	Nursing homes, 1972-1973
Box   2 Folder   51	ORAP, 1969
Box   3 Folder   1	Obscenity, 1969
Box   3 Folder   2	Optometry, 1968-1970
Box   3 Folder   3	Pesticides, 1972-1973
PH Milwaukee Mss 101 Box   3 Folder   3	Photographs, 1967-1969
Milwaukee Mss 101 Box   3 Folder   4	Politics and government, 1969-1970
Box   3 Folder   5-6	Pollution, 1969-1973
Box   3 Folder   7	Population, n.d.
Box   3 Folder   8	Press releases, 1967-1972
Box   3 Folder   9	Probate laws, 1967-1974
Box   3 Folder   10	Property, Private, 1966-1967
Box   3 Folder   11	Property taxes, 1973-1974
Box   3 Folder   12	Public Expenditure Survey of Wisconsin, 1969-1972
Box   3 Folder   13-14	Public welfare, 1969-1974
Box   3 Folder   15	Real estate, 1969-1974
Box   3 Folder   16	Reapportionment, 1965-1969
Box   3 Folder   17	Regulation and licensing, 1969
Box   3 Folder   18-19	Requests, 1969
Box   3 Folder   20-21	Retirement, 1967-1972
Box   3 Folder   22	Revolution, 1968-1969
Box   3 Folder   23	Right-to-Work, 1964-1972
Box   3 Folder   24	Salaries (of various public employees), 1967-1972
Box   3 Folder   25-27	Sex education in public schools, 1969
	Schools, Private
Box   3 Folder   28	Busing, 1967-1970
Box   3 Folder   29	Tax credit, 1973-1974
Box   3 Folder   30-31	Tuition grants, 1969-1970
Box   3 Folder   32	Schools, Tax aids to, via Lucey bill, 1973-1974
Box   3 Folder   33	Snowmobiles, 1973-1974
Box   3 Folder   34	Social workers and psychologists, 1973
Box   3 Folder   35	Speeches, 1968-1969, n.d.
Box   3 Folder   36	State Building Commission, 1967
Box   3 Folder   37	State Patrol, 1974
	State Properties, Joint Committee to Visit
Box   3 Folder   38-39	1968-1972
Box   4 Folder   1-3	1971-1974
Box   4 Folder   4-5	Tarr Task Force, 1967-1969
Box   4 Folder   6	Tarr tax bill, 1971
	Taxation
Box   4 Folder   7-8	General, 1969-1972
Box   4 Folder   9	Sales, 1969
Box   4 Folder   10	Shared, 1969, n.d.
Box   4 Folder   11	Telephone company rates, 1971
Box   4 Folder   12	Tourism and recreation, 1971
Box   4 Folder   13	Trading stamps, 1969
Box   4 Folder   14-16	Transportation, 1968-1974
Box   4 Folder   17	Trimester, 1965
Box   4 Folder   18-19	Unemployment compensation, 1967-1972
Box   4 Folder   20	United Nations, Resolution on relation to U.S. Constitution, 1971-1972
	University
Box   4 Folder   21	State Universities, Miscellaneous, 1969-1973
Box   4 Folder   22	Northeastern University, Green Bay campus, 1967
Box   4 Folder   23	Tuition, 1966-1967
Box   4 Folder   24-26	UW (Madison), 1968-1974
Box   4 Folder   27	UW-Milwaukee, 1969-1974
Box   4 Folder   28	UW-Waukesha, 1973-1974
Box   4 Folder   29	Utilities tax redistribution, 1970
Box   4 Folder   30	Venereal disease, 1972
Box   4 Folder   31	Veterans and Military Affairs, Department of, 1967-1974
Box   4 Folder   32	Vietnam War, 1971-1972
Box   4 Folder   33	Vocational education, 1970-1974
Box   4 Folder   34	Voting age, 1969
Box   4 Folder   35	War/Peace, 1970
Box   4 Folder   36	Waukesha County, 1973-1974
Box   4 Folder   37	Zoning, State control of local, 1973
	Series: Chronological Correspondence	⇧
Box   4 Folder   38	1969-1970
Box   4 Folder   39	1971-1972
	1973
Box   4 Folder   40-43	January-September
Box   5 Folder   1	October
Box   5 Folder   2-4	1973-1974
	Series: Joint Committee on Finance Files	⇧
Box   5 Folder   5	Budget in brief, 1971-1973
Box   5 Folder   6	Administration, 1973
Box   5 Folder   7	Agriculture, 1971-1973
Box   5 Folder   8	Amendments, 1973-1974
Box   5 Folder   9	Building Commission, 1971-1974
Box   5 Folder   10	Conference Committee, 1971-1973
Box   6 Folder   1	DILHR, 1973
Box   6 Folder   2	Education, 1973-1974
Box   6 Folder   3-4	School aids, 1973-1974
Box   6 Folder   5	Educational Communications Board, 1973
Box   6 Folder   6-7	Executive action papers for Joint Finance, 1973
Box   6 Folder   8	Federal aid reductions, 1973
Box   6 Folder   9	Higher education, 1973
Box   6 Folder   10	Historical Society, 1973
Box   6 Folder   11	Insurance, 1973
Box   6 Folder   12	Justice Department, 1971-1973
Box   6 Folder   13	Legislature, n.d.
Box   6 Folder   14	Local Affairs and Development, 1974
Box   6 Folder   15	Medical schools, 1974
Box   6 Folder   16	Natural Resources, Department of, 1972-1974
Box   6 Folder   17	OEO, 1973
Box   6 Folder   18	Payments to municipalities, 1973
Box   6 Folder   19	Regulation and Licensing, Department of, 1973-1974
Box   6 Folder   20	Revenue, Department of, 1971-1974
Box   6 Folder   21	Review-General, 1974
Box   6 Folder   22	Secretary of State, 1973
Box   6 Folder   23	Securities, 1974
Box   6 Folder   24	Taxes, 1973
Box   6 Folder   25-26	Shared taxes and property tax relief, 1971
Box   6 Folder   27	Transportation, 1973
Box   6 Folder   28-31	University of Wisconsin and State Universities, 1973-74
Box   6 Folder   32	University Medical School, 1973-1974
Box   6 Folder   33	Veterans Affairs, Department of, 1971-1974
Box   6 Folder   34	Vocational schools, 1971-1974
Box   6 Folder   35-37	Welfare, 1973-1974