Subseries: Hortonville Interviews

Conversation, August 16, 1974 with Hortonville school children (grades 3-6) fishing from a bridge
Physical Description: 25 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Children were asked whether or not they supported the striking teachers, which teachers they preferred, which teachers taught them more, whether school was better before or after the strike, and how much disruption there was in the classrooms as a result of the strike. Answers to these questions varied.

Conversation, undated, with 5th, 10th, and 11th grade Hortonville students and their father at their home
Physical Description: 25 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Discussion of the events of the first few days of the strike. The students disagreed with the striking teachers and all favored the new teachers over the old. The father claims that the community supported the striking teachers at first, but became angry when supporters came in from other places. He also said that if the striking teachers were rehired he would send his children to a different school.

Recount, undated, of conversation with two school board members
Physical Description: One side only. 10 minutes; 15 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Members were reluctant to be taped for fear that their conversation would be distorted. Discussion of specific actions on the part of the teachers which alienated the community. One board member believed that it was leadership manipulation which caused the strike. On the same side is a conversation with two students who were juniors in the Hortonville high school during the strike. Discussion of the mini-strike (an informational strike held prior to the actual strike), the new teachers, and the atmosphere in the school during the strike.
Note: Difficult to hear parts of the tape.

Conversation, August 21-22, 1974, with a Hortonville mill owner at his mill
Physical Description: 60 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Brief discussion about possible sites for historical renovations and parks around Hortonville. Discussion of the public sector workers in which the mill owner states that they are becoming too powerful. Discussion of negotiations and brief talk about the tensions in the community during the strike. The mill owner admits that there is some community resentment towards teachers because they only work 9 months a year.
Note: Tape runs fast.

Conversation with mill owner (continued)
Note: Due to malfunction of tape or machine this recording is largely inaudible.

Conversation with mill owner (continued)
Physical Description: 30 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Discussion of the 1972 presidential election. Discussion of the strike in which he claims that Hortonville is a labor town. Also discussed are the negotiations between the board and striking teachers and the use of innovative teaching techniques in school.

Conversation with mill owner and his family (continued)
Physical Description: 60 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: The mill owner's wife says that community polarization began with the mini-strike, and talks about her experiences as a mothers' aid. Discussion of the financing of police protection and new teachers in which the mill owners states that the board saved money as a result of the strike.

Mill owner and his family (continued)
Physical Description: 60 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: The sons express their attitudes towards the teachers and the strike, and discuss the events which took place inside the school during the strike. The family believes that the union chose Hortonville to strike because they wanted to prove to others that it could be done. They state that they became pro-school board when the teachers they had respected became “radical” under the union.

Conversation, August 21-22, 1974, with several members of the “vigilantes” in a bar which they used as their head-quarters
Physical Description: 60 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Discussion of how and why the group was formed in which they state that they were organized to protect local merchants and the substitute teachers from harassment. Discussion of the strike itself in which they state that they are not against strikes, but were against people from outside the community becoming involved. Examples of the harassments are given and many of the incidents occurring during the strike are discussed.
Note: Tape is difficult to hear in parts, and speeds up toward the end of the second side.

“Vigilantes” (continued)
Physical Description: 55 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Discussion of the events leading up to the strike and of those occurring within the first weeks of the strike. Examples of harassment are given and many accusations are made.

Conversation, August 22, 1974 with an unidentified Hortonville teacher who was ordered by the court to go back to teach
Physical Description: 47 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Discussion centers on disruption within the school during the strike. He claims that the board was manipulated by their lawyers, and the press was deceived by the administrators. He states that he did not originally want to go on strike, would have preferred to go back in after a few days to see if the board would bargain, and that the WEAC had performed well during the strike.

Conversation, August 21-22, 1974, with unidentified teacher on the picket line who had taught at Hortonville for eleven years
Physical Description: 40 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: He claims that the cause of the strike was not monetary, but that the board used the strike as an excuse to rid themselves of several unwanted teachers, and they feared the teachers were getting too much control. He discusses cooperation between teachers and the community and claims that the newspapers caused misconceptions and printed only what they thought the people wanted to hear.
Note: Tape is difficult to hear in parts, and speeds up toward the end of the second side.

Conversation, August 22, 1974, with two Hortonville teachers on the picket line
Physical Description: 60 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: The teachers talk about the causes of the strike, and discuss the problems which existed between the teachers and the administration. They claim there was a lack of communication, and that the administration never evaluated the teachers. Discussion of the effectiveness of strike tactics and things which should have been done to make the strike more successful. Also discussed is the relationship between the community and the teachers.

Conversation with two striking teachers (continued)
Physical Description: One side only. 25 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Description of the tensions which built up in the school before the actual strike and of the conflict the teachers felt between their role as teachers and their role as strikers. One of the strikers states that the strike made her realize how much teaching meant to her and discusses why she would be a better teacher as a result of it. Also, discussion of changes which would have been made if the striking teachers would have been rehired.

A brief conversation, August 22, 1974, with two women working in a Hortonville canning factory and with teacher on picket line
Physical Description: 20 minutes; 10 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Both women in factory were opposed to the strike, felt that it was a demonstration by which the union hoped to prove they could win strikes and believed it was staged in Hortonville because it was a small town. One of the women felt that the strike had adverse effects on the children. Both women approved of the firing, although one objected that many good teachers were fired with the bad. Also on side one is a conversation with a teacher on the picket line. Discussion of what she remembers from the negotiations. She states that it was contract wording rather than money that was the main issue.
Note: Difficult to hear.

Conversation with teacher on picket line (continued)
Physical Description: 30 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Discussion of her relationships with the administration and the townspeople. Also discussed are reasons for the failure of negotiations. She believes that the board used the strike as a means of getting rid of teachers they did not want, and also that the taxpayers felt that the teachers were being overpaid, and that the town and board were conservative and did not want to be coerced. She also believes that the strike brought out the town's true feelings, and states that she has no regrets.

Hortonville Rally, September 2, 1974
Physical Description: 60 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: The striking teachers and their supporters rally in Hortonville for Labor Day. Guest speakers include: Mike Wisnoski, President of the Hortonville Education Association; George Carroll, organizer; Terry Rotsin, a supporter from a near-by town; Jerry Mann, a parent who sympathizes with the teachers; an unidentified teacher from West Allis; a minister from a neighboring school district; and a striking union member from the United Auto Workers plant in Oshkosh. Performance of a play, ATA and the Grapevine.

Hortonville Rally (continued)
Physical Description: 8 minutes 
Scope and Content Note: Conclusion of the play and final remarks.