Title: Lewis C. French Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1919-1960

Creator:

• French, Lewis C., 1893-1960

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss Z; PH 2325

Quantity: 1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes) and 15 photographs (1 folder)

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 farm editor of the Milwaukee Journal (1926-1960), including correspondence, speeches, articles, and annotated news releases, chiefly concerning agriculture, marketing, and conservation. The mostly unidentified photographs include portraits, news photos taken at public events, and one from a Newspaper Farm Editors' Association meeting with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil0000z

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Lewis C. French was born in 1893 in Naperville, Illinois. For thirty-four years he was farm editor of one of the leading daily newspapers in the agricultural state of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal.

After graduating from the Janesville (Wisconsin) High School in 1912, he worked for the Janesville Gazette and later for the Duluth News-Tribune. After World War I service with the artillery in France, he returned to the Janesville Gazette, where he started one of the first daily farm pages in the country, with emphasis on 4-H Club work and marketing co-operatives. When tobacco prices hit new lows, French helped form the Wisconsin Tobacco Pool. He also developed the Rock County show herds, forerunner of the state show herds.

French joined the staff of the Milwaukee Journal as financial editor in January, 1926, and shortly after became farm editor. Until his retirement in 1960 his work was centered chiefly in agriculture and conservation, “green grass, new trees, clean water.” During these years the excellence of his work earned many awards for the newspaper as well as for himself

Lewis C. French died on December 18, 1960.

Lewis C. French's correspondence, 1919-1960, is a mixture of personal letters and professional communications with persons engaged in all phases of agriculture, marketing, food processing, papermaking, conservation, and related fields. Correspondents include government personnel, industrialists, educators, old army friends, and 4-H Club members. Magazine articles, news copy, annotated news releases, working noted and notebooks make up the remainder of the collection.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Lewis C. French, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 4, 1961. Accession Number: M61-150

Milwaukee Mss Z	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1919-1952
Box   1 Folder   2	1953-1956
Box   1 Folder   3	1956-1957
Box   1 Folder   4	1957-1958
Box   1 Folder   5	1958-1959
Box   1 Folder   6	1959-1960
Box   2 Folder   1-2	1960
	Annotated News Releases
Box   3 Folder   5	1932-1958
Box   3 Folder   4	1958-1959
Box   3 Folder   3	1959-1960
	Articles and Speeches
Box   3 Folder   2	1934-1960
Box   3 Folder   1	Undated
Box   3 Folder   7	Biographical Material, 1924-1960
Box   3 Folder   6	Miscellaneous Notes, 1922-1959
PH 2325	Photographs