Title: Wisconsin Nonpartisan League Records
Inclusive Dates: 1920-1924

Creator:

• Wisconsin Nonpartisan League

Call Number: Wis Mss TC

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)

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:

Chiefly correspondence of this farmers' political-action group, relating to organizational work among farmers in northwestern Wisconsin. Among the issues stressed in letters are tax reform and opposition to big business and the railroads.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000tc

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

The Nonpartisan League is a national organization formed to help improve conditions for the farmer, chiefly by legislative means. With headquarters in Minneapolis, it has been most influential in the states of the upper Mississippi valley area, appealing especially to farmers of Scandinavian descent. The League has functioned, with varying success, as a third party organization, or in support of candidates running as Republicans or Democrats when those candidates embrace League programs.

This group of papers, arranged chronologically, deals with the League's work in Wisconsin between 1920 and 1921, and is composed very largely of correspondence devoted to the organizational work among farmers in northwestern Wisconsin. There are many letters to and from county and area organizers, who sold memberships in the League on a commission basis. An almost unique technique for obtaining memberships involved post-dated checks given by farmers and sold by the League to banks at discount.

An examination of the correspondence reveals something of the work of the League in Wisconsin politics between 1920 and 1924. In general, the organization appealed to Progressives, and was the backbone of the Farm-Labor Party. Candidates it supported won the principal state offices in 1920, in 1923 Lt. Gov. George F. Comings was backed by the League, and in 1924 Lt. Gov. Comings was supported in the race for nomination for governor. The letters often refer to the League's interest in tax reform and reduction of taxes for farmers, opposition to big business and the railroads, and a graded auto tax.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Glenn Turner, July 1, 1958, Middleton, Wisconsin.