Summary Information
Kenneth J. Merkel Papers 1964-1974
- Merkel, Kenneth J., 1926-
Milwaukee Mss 101; PH Milwaukee Mss 101
5.4 c.f. (5 record center cartons and 1 archives box) and 4 photographs
UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
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. English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00101 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
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.
Scope and Content Note
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.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Kenneth J. Merkel, Brookfield, Wisconsin, 1974. Accession Number: M74-519 and M74-546
Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, 1985.
Contents List
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 : 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 : 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 : 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
|
|
|