Title: Paul O. Husting Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1909-1918

Creator:

• Husting, Paul Oscar, 1866-1917

Call Number: Wis Mss DN; Micro 760

Quantity: 10.0 c.f. (39 archives boxes) and 1 reel of microfilm (35 mm)

Repository:

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.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Paul O. Husting, a Wisconsin liberal Democratic legislator and United States Senator (1915-1917) comprising correspondence, speeches, news clippings, and other records. The material on Husting's senatorial career includes correspondence on the primary and general election campaigns of 1914, and post-election correspondence with Joseph E. Davies, Albert S. Burleson, and others concerning patronage, including many letters regarding Wisconsin post office appointments, besides quantities from miscellaneous job seekers. Of significance is the material relating to German language newspapers and the attitude of German-American citizens in Wisconsin toward the Wilson administration. Other subjects include the campaign of 1916, neutrality legislation and foreign policy, preparedness, Democratic state politics in general, and prohibition, including a letter on the subject from William T. Evjue. Several letters from members of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion late in 1917 comment on working-class morale and attitudes toward the war. Other items include correspondence, data, and drafts of bills, 1909-1913, concerning the conservation movement in Wisconsin--forest reserve lands, navigable waters, riparian rights, and the control of water power--together with reports of hearings, 1909-1910, conducted by the Wisconsin legislative committee on water powers, forestry, and drainage.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000dn

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Paul O. Husting, lawyer, liberal Democratic Wisconsin state legislator and United States senator, was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on 25 April 1866. He was the son of John P. Husting and Mary M. (Juneau) Husting, the latter being the thirteenth of Solomon Juneau's sixteen children. Husting's father emigrated from the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg to the United States in 1855.

In 1876 Husting moved with his parents to Mayville, Wisconsin, where he received a common school education. At the age of 17 he became a clerk in a general store and later a railway postal clerk, mailing clerk in the Wisconsin state prison, and assistant bookkeeper in the office of the Wisconsin Secretary of State under T.J. Cunningham. He entered the University of Wisconsin Law School and in 1895 passed the state bar examination and was admitted to the bar. Subsequently he practiced law at Mayville. In 1897 Husting associated himself with C.W. Lamoreux until the latter was elected county judge for Dodge County, at which time the law firm of Husting & Brother was formed.

Husting was elected district attorney of Dodge County in 1902, and again in 1904. He was elected to the state senate in 1906 and was reelected in 1910. As a state senator, he championed the conservation of the state's natural resources, income tax, the two-cent railroad fare, initiative and referendum, the election of United States senators by direct vote, and laws to improve conditions of workers. He offered the original resolution to investigate, and assisted in the investigation of, the primary and general election of 1908, which resulted in the enactment of the Corrupt Practices Act.

In November 1914, Husting became the first United States senator from Wisconsin to be elected by a direct vote of the people when he defeated ex-Governor F.E. McGovern. On 4 March 1915 Husting took the seat previously held by Isaac Stephenson. During his term of office, he continued to express concern over the conservation of natural resources and spearheaded opposition to Shield's Waterpower Bill. He also received a degree of national publicity when he exposed a propaganda plot at the American Embargo Conference in Chicago. On 21 October 1917, however, his career was cut short when he was killed in a hunting accident in Wisconsin.

Sources: Wisconsin Blue Book, 1917, p.495; Dictionary of American Biography, v.9. p.453; New York Times, 22 October 1917.

The collection focuses primarily on the period during which Husting served as United States senator from Wisconsin (1915-1917), but also includes some earlier material pertaining to his activities as a state legislator, and his 1914 campaign for the Senate. The strengths of the collection are the documentation of the patronage system for appointments to federal offices, and the attitudes of the German-language press and Wisconsin German-Americans towards the Wilson administration and the question of American participation in World War I. Correspondence between Husting and his constituency is particularly well-represented, but there is almost nothing in the collection which relates to his day-to-day activities in the Senate. Material within the seven series is arranged chronologically. Due to Husting's sudden death, many files end abruptly.

The CORRESPONDENCE series is divided into two subseries: incoming and outgoing. The earliest incoming items (1909-1913) deal almost exclusively with conservation-related issues such as water power, navigable rivers, forest reserve lands, and hunting and fishing rights. The primary emphasis by 1914, however, is Husting's senatorial campaign. Post-election correspondence with Joseph E. Davies, Albert S. Burleson and others focuses on the issue of patronage. From 1915 on, the most common incoming items are requests for appointment to various federal government positions such as postmaster. Other subjects frequently discussed are German-American opposition to United States involvement in World War I, neutrality legislation, national preparedness, the Presidential campaign of 1916, Democratic state politics in general, and prohibition, including a letter (October 1917) on the latter subject from William T. Evjue. Several letters from members of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion late in 1917 comment on working-class morale and attitudes toward the war.

Outgoing correspondence covers much the same range of topics as incoming correspondence. Interestingly, very little of the correspondence seems to have been initiated by Husting. Although some of the outgoing letters contain statements on Husting's position on a given issue, much more often they are short replies, written on behalf of Husting by his secretary, which merely acknowledge receipt of earlier incoming items. Most of the outgoing correspondence is contained in letterbooks, the majority of which have indexes arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

The WISCONSIN WATERPOWERS, FORESTRY AND DRAINAGE series contains conservation-related materials from the period when Husting was a Wisconsin state senator. The subseries entitled Legislative Committee Proceedings consists of verbatim transcripts of some, but not all, of the meetings called by the Wisconsin Legislative Committee on Waterpowers, Forestry and Drainage. The subseries entitled Legislative Bill Files includes drafts of bills, amendments, and notes by Husting on certain sections of various bills, concerning such issues as forest reserve lands, navigable waters, riparian rights, and the control of water power. Also included are reference materials such as reports on comparable legislation from other states.

The WISCONSIN POST OFFICES series has been arranged alphabetically by name of post office. Files within this series are very similar, each containing letters of application for the position of postmaster, and petitions and additional letters sent in support of a given candidate. The dates for material within individual files vary according to the expiration dates for prior appointments to the post office in question.

SPEECHES are arranged chronologically, and include both those given at various towns in Wisconsin and those delivered before the United States Senate. Most are patriotic in nature, exploring the meaning of democracy, and often, depending on the audience, extolling the virtue and accomplishments of German-Americans in Wisconsin.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND LETTERS TO EDITORS for the most part were written by Husting upon request of such individuals as the president of the American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers and the editor of the Chicago Daily News. They deal with such topics as Americanization of foreign-born citizens, reelection of President Woodrow Wilson, and the American position towards war with Germany.

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING FILES are arranged by subject. Most were prepared by professional clipping services which concentrated on items from newspapers around the state of Wisconsin. Included in the series are several scrapbooks of clippings concerning Husting's position on certain legislation, and visits of Senator James A. Reed and President Woodrow Wilson to Milwaukee in 1917. The file entitled Miscellaneous Subjects includes a number of items relating to Husting's stance on war and his support of President Wilson's programs.

The relatively few items in MISCELLANY include campaign statements from 1910 and 1912, lists of delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 1912 and an autobiographical sketch which also appeared in the Wisconsin Blue Book.

Three letters from the collection, dealing with the First World War, are published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 1 (June, 1918), 388-416.

The SCRAPBOOK is composed of clippings which relate to Husting's stand on national and international issues, to his fatal hunting accident, to Milwaukee's centennial celebration, and to Husting's relationship to Solomon Juneau, Milwaukee's first white settler and founder.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Henry R. Murphy, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, circa 1918. No accession number. The scrapbook was loaned for microfilming by Mary Josephine Husting, Madison, Wisconsin. Accession Number: M79-101

Processing Information

Processed by David Tambo and Joanne Hohler, November 2, 1978.

Wis Mss DN	Series: Correspondence
	Incoming
Box   1 Folder   1-7	1909 July-1914 July
Box   2 Folder   1-6	1914 August 1-October 31
Box   3 Folder   1-5	1914 November 1-December 31
Box   4 Folder   1-5	1915 January 1-March 31
Box   5 Folder   1-4	1915 April 1-May 15
Box   6 Folder   1-6	1915 May 16-July 15
Box   7 Folder   1-4	1915 July 16-September 24
Box   8 Folder   1-6	1915 September 25-1916 February 29
Box   9 Folder   1-6	1916 March 2-October 31
Box   10 Folder   1-6	1916 November 1-1917 March 31
Box   11 Folder   1-6	1917 April 1-August 31
Box   12 Folder   1-5	1917 September 1-October 20
Box   13 Folder   1-2	1917 October 23-1918 April 22
	Outgoing
	Letterbooks
Box   13 Folder   3	1914 August-December
Box   14 Folder   1-2	1914 December-1915 May
Box   15 Folder   1-2	1915 May-June
Box   16 Folder   1-2	1915 July-November
Box   17 Folder   1	1915 November-1916 February
Box   33	1915 November-1917 October; 1916 March-June
Box   18 Folder   1-2	1916 February-June
Box   34	1916 June-August
Box   35	1916 August-December; 1916 September-1917 January
Box   19 Folder   1	1916 August 31-September 9; 1917 February 20; 1917 August 11-September 1
Box   19 Folder   2	1917 January 2-January 26
Box   36	1917 February-April
Box   37	1917 January-February; 1917 April-May
Box   20 Folder   1	1917 May 19-June 14
Box   38	1917 May-June; 1917 June-July; 1917 July-August
Box   39	1917 August-September; 1917 September-October
Box   20 Folder   2	1917 October 6-November 5
	Loose Correspondence
Box   21 Folder   1-4	1914 June 8-1918 April 29
	Series: Wisconsin Waterpowers, Forestry and Drainage	⇧
	Legislative Committee Proceedings
Box   21 Folder   5	1909 August 16-21
Box   21 Folder   6	1909 August 25
Box   21 Folder   7	1909 October 19
Box   22 Folder   1	1909 October 24-25
Box   22 Folder   2	1909 October 27-28
Box   22 Folder   3	1909 November 17
Box   22 Folder   4	1909 December 2
Box   22 Folder   5	1909 December 3
Box   22 Folder   6	1909 December 4
Box   22 Folder   7	1909 December 7
Box   22 Folder   8	1909 December 13
Box   22 Folder   9	1910 October 24-26
Box   23 Folder   1	1910 October 24-26
Box   23 Folder   2	1910 December 8-10
Box   23 Folder   3	1910 December 23, 28 and 30
	Legislative Bill Files
Box   23 Folder   4-6	1909-1911
Box   24 Folder   1-2	1912-1913
	Series: Wisconsin Post Offices, 1912-1917	⇧
Box   24 Folder   3-13	Adams - Black River Falls
Box   25 Folder   1-14	Blue River - Elk Mound
Box   26 Folder   1-14	Fairchild - LaValle
Box   27 Folder   1-8	Ladysmith - Menomonie
Box   28 Folder   1-10	Menomonie - Ogema
Box   29 Folder   1-14	Pepin - Stevens Point
Box   30 Folder   1-11	Stevens Point - Williams Bay
	Series: Speeches	⇧
Box   30 Folder   12-13	1915-1917
Box   31 Folder   1	“War with Germany” and supporting materials used in preparation of speech, delivered in the United States Senate, 1917 April 4
Box   31 Folder   2	Series: Newspaper Articles and Letters to Editors, 1916-1917	⇧
	Series: Newspaper Clipping Files	⇧
Box   31 Folder   3	Patronage, 1915-1916
Box   31 Folder   4	Visit of Senator James A. Reed to Milwaukee on 1916 January 10
Box   32 Folder   1	President Wilson's visit to Milwaukee on 1916 February 1
Box   32 Folder   2	Vote and attitude on proposed legislation, 1915 December-1916 June
Box   32 Folder   3	Post Office Appropriation Bill, 1916 May-June
Box   32 Folder   4	Oil Land Leasing Bill, 1916 May-June
Box   32 Folder   5	The story of Ripon public building, 1916 June-July
Box   32 Folder   6-7	Miscellaneous Subjects, 1915 April 27-1917 October 22
Box   32 Folder   8	Series: Miscellany, 1910-1917	⇧
Micro 760 Reel   1	Series: Scrapbook, 1917-1918	⇧