The University of Wisconsin Summer School for Working Women in Industry was founded in 1925 by the Industrial Department of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). In 1924 the YWCA sent eight Madison-based women workers to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to attend classes in English, Economics, and Physical Education, but they were not adequately prepared for the academic demands of the coursework. This experiment inspired the YWCA to develop a separate program of workers' education based on the needs of women workers. From 1925 to 1928 the curriculum of the six-week Summer School for Working Women focused on personal enrichment and cultural education. Quaker and Fellowship of Reconciliation member Alice Shoemaker served as the YWCA's delegate to the school's advisory committee from 1925-1927 and as Executive Secretary of the school from 1928 to 1934.
Under Alice Shoemaker's leadership, the School for Workers developed its relationship with organized labor and became co-educational in 1928. It grew to support the needs of unions across Wisconsin with support from University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty like John R. Commons and leaders of the Wisconsin labor movement such as Jacob Friedrick and Henry Rutz. As the labor movement grew throughout the 1930s, the composition, funding, and curriculum of the school shifted. In 1925, ninety percent of the School's students were non-union, but by 1937 ninety-seven percent of the students were union members. Shoemaker coordinated interracial housing beginning in 1927, but there were only a few African American students in each class in the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1933 the Works Progress Administration began to fund School for Workers courses across the state. Course topics ranged from farmer-labor relations to labor journalism to the New Deal program and the National Labor Relations Act. The faculty expanded to 20 teachers. In 1937 the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a state-funded and year-round program. Automobile, rubber, aluminum, steel workers, unorganized workers, and building workers made
up the bulk of students, while the rural workers' education program served farmers.
Shoemaker served as Director beginning in 1934 but was replaced by Ernest Schwarztrauber in 1937 despite her academic and leadership experience. Schwarztrauber refused to share supervisory duties with Shoemaker, which led her to resignation on July 1, 1939.
In 1938 the Progressive state government was replaced with Republicans, who appointed a conservative Board of Regents. The new Board of Regents dissolved the statewide programs but the summer school continued in Madison. In 1941 the six-week summer school was replaced by two-week institutes, which were more convenient for labor unions. The program in Madison continued throughout World War II, and at the time it was one of the only university sponsored labor education programs in the country. In 1944 the School for Workers was incorporated into the University of Wisconsin Extension program and in 1945 the Wisconsin legislature reestablished School for Workers programs across Wisconsin. The curriculum focused on labor management relations, collective bargaining, and leadership training, and students were often selected by union leadership.
During the 1950s, the School expanded programs related to foreign affairs while continuing to emphasize labor management relations and topics like grievance handling and collective bargaining. University of Wisconsin-Madison Economics Professor Robert Ozanne served as Director of the School for Workers during this period from 1952 to 1980. See the School for Workers records, 1941-1985 finding aid (uac87) for more information on this period.
