Summary Information
Walter H. Ebling Papers
1932-1954
Wis Mss TR
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Walter H. Ebling, a Madison, Wisconsin, educator and government statistician, consisting of correspondence Ebling accumulated while engaged in work with the Madison chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association, 1932-1954, the National Youth Administration, 1941-1942, and the United Service Organization, 1942-1946.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000tr ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Walter Ebling was born in Richfield, Wisconsin on January 15, 1892. He was a teacher in the public schools of Wisconsin from 1912 to 1917, and then attended the state university. He received a B.S.A. (Agriculture) degree from that school in 1922. Going on to graduate school, Mr. Ebling earned his M.S. in 1925 and his Ph.D. (Agricultural Economics) in 1929. While doing his graduate work he served as assistant to the dean of the College of Agriculture.
In the years following his graduation, Mr. Ebling made a name for himself in education, agricultural economics, government work, and youth work. From 1927 to July of 1959 he served as State Agricultural Statistician for both the state and national governments. During the depression of the 1930s he was on the Agricultural Adjustment Administration staff and later served as chairman of the research committee of the State Department of Agriculture (1948-1959). In 1951 Ebling received the Distinguished Service Award of the United States Department of Agriculture.
In addition to his government work, Ebling has been professor of agricultural economics at the University of Wisconsin since 1936, and in 1959 began a special research project at that institution.
In 1921 Ebling married; as his sons came of age he became interested in the YMCA and subsequently joined the Madison chapter in 1936. Over the years Mr. Ebling has served as chairman of the World Service Committee, on the Board of Directors, on the Board of Trustees, and as President. He was still a member as of 1960. In 1942 Ebling helped to organize and direct the Madison USO. He stayed with the organization until its end in 1946. From 1941 to 1942 Ebling was on the Wisconsin Board of the National Youth Administration (NYA).
Scope and Content Note
The Walter H. Ebling Papers consist of the correspondence that Ebling collected in his years of youth work in Madison. The papers are divided into three groupings: the YMCA Correspondence, 1932-1954, the Madison USO Correspondence, 1942-1946, and the NYA Correspondence, 1941-1942.
The YMCA papers are primarily the routine correspondence of the local chapter and provide a fairly clear picture of its operation. There are letters to and from such men as F. O. Lieser, Robert Eikmeyer, R. L. Blodgett, and Loren Cockerell, all important contributors to Madison YMCA work. These letters deal with administrative, program, and fund-raising problems. Of particular interest are those papers connected with foreign YMCA chapters. These Mr. Ebling accumulated during his term as chairman of the World Service Committee. They are letters concerning YMCA establishments in both Europe and the Orient, and include a mimeographed copy of Eugene Barnett's confidential report of the condition of the YMCA under Nazi and Soviet domination, entitled “Europe in the Summer of 1938”.
The YMCA correspondence also includes a letter from D. W. Tyrrell to Walter Ebling, May 24, 1950, with which was enclosed a copy of Joseph Kamp's pamphlet Behind the Lace Curtains of the YWCA, an exposé of communist infiltration into that organization, and a photographic copy of a $5,000 reward poster published by Kamp as an offer to anyone who could prove his charges untrue. Another photograph of a letter from Kate Roemer French, former president of the YWCA who resigned in 1941 because of “communist infiltration” into the organization, is enclosed. This defends Kamp and makes additional charges against the YWCA.
The USO and NYA papers deal almost exclusively with the routine matters of local operation. There are rather complete financial records of the USO, and numerous letters to and from Joseph Machotka, who served as local head of the club.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Walter H. Ebling, Madison, Wisconsin, September 18, 1959.
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