4/1/80

INTRODUCTION.

GOOD ELECTION TURN-OUT ON DAY OF INTERVIEW
Scope and Content Note: People already waiting at Sun Prairie town hall when Isabel Baumann drove husband August, town clerk, to polls. Heavy traffic past Baumann house on Town Hall Road also good indicator of strong turn-out.

COMMENT ON TELEVISION CREW PRESENT LAST TIME

BAUMANN'S EARLY BACKGROUND
Scope and Content Note: Born July 28, 1906, east of Stoughton. Parents then lived with her Norwegian great-grandparents in Town of Rutland. Can't remember farm herself. Mother recalled that her husband and Norwegian-speaking grandfather had trouble communicating about work they did together. Isabel raised in Town of Dunkirk, came to Sun Prairie area to teach school in 1925, moved to Sun Prairie area in 1928.

FAMILY CONSIDERS ITSELF NORWEGIAN
Scope and Content Note: Mother's grandparents and parents came from Norway; father's parents from Lincolnshire, England. Grew up in Hanerville, a predominantly Norwegian community.

CLARNSON GRANDPARENTS MIGRATE FROM NORWAY AROUND
Scope and Content Note: Name originally Clauson, but mother and her sisters changed it. All remained in Stoughton area.

ALMOND GRANDPARENTS MIGRATE FROM ENGLAND AROUND
Scope and Content Note: Baumann, named after grandmother Belle Anderson, the oldest child, followed by two brothers, then a sister and a younger brother.

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH ON MOTHER'S FAMILY
Scope and Content Note: Learned that grandmother Almond had daughter from earlier marriage who became an actress. Grandmother had worked in a circus at Chicago; at time of Chicago fire, saved her black stallion by riding him into Lake Michigan. Later worked for Janesville family, the Tallmans, who gave her cemetery lot where maternal parents and grandparents are buried. Genealogy interesting but time-consuming work.

OLDER BROTHERS AND SISTER STILL LIVING
Scope and Content Note: Younger brother and his daughter killed in 1968 train accident.

RAISED A LUTHERAN
Scope and Content Note: Baptized and confirmed a Lutheran. First Catholic acquaintance was fellow boarder during high school. Became Catholic herself when she married Dan McCarthy in 1928. Irish Catholic settlement between Rutland and Dunkirk then insignificant in dominant Norwegian settlement.

ALMOND FARM AT HANERVILLE CROSSROADS
Scope and Content Note: Schoolhouse across the corner; Almond house former Hanerville post office. Landmark oak on corner a popular gathering place for young people.

MISSES FIRST SEVERAL WEEKS OF HIGH SCHOOL TO HARVEST TOBACCO
Scope and Content Note: Tobacco harvest a farm family ritual; delay resulted in postponement of catechism and confirmation for a year.

TOBACCO FARMING A FAMILY CHORE
Scope and Content Note: Planted ten to seventeen acres annually. Setting plants dusty, dirty work, which Baumann did from age eight or nine until age twenty-one. Hired help too expensive to consider seriously.

TOBACCO A “13-MONTH JOB”
Scope and Content Note: Stripped tobacco leaves on winter evenings. Sprouted seed for next crop before current crop sold. Prices then 8 to 10 cents per pound, compared to $1.15 range today.

EIGHTY IMPROVED ACRES ON ALMOND FARM
Scope and Content Note: Later rented additional 40 acres. Raised tobacco, oats, corn, hay; also cattle and hogs. Tobacco only cash crop in Stoughton area; barley, peas and sweet corn cash-cropped in Sun Prairie area.

STOUGHTON TOBACCO WAREHOUSES PROVIDE EMPLOYMENT
Scope and Content Note: Women employed all winter sorting tobacco.

PARENTS REMAIN ON HANERVILLE FARM UNTIL

ENTIRE FAMILY WORKS ON FARM
Scope and Content Note: Bought Rock County farm in 1930. Boys helped with livestock, plowed and disked. Baumann hated daily job of washing cream separator; cream delivered to nearby creamery. Families without sons expected daughters to carry boys' workload. Hired help unusual.

BEGINS HIGH SCHOOL IN
Scope and Content Note: Sarah Leslie, home economics teacher in local rural schools, stressed need for high school education. Baumann's mother wanted children all to go on to high school, but brothers refused to go. Isabel went to high school and one-year teachers' training course in 1924 at Stoughton High School; sister Mavis went to Whitewater after high school.

TEACHERS' TRAINING CLASS LAST AT STOUGHTON
Scope and Content Note: Seventeen of eighteen still alive and meet annually. Baumann credits health and longevity to strong Norwegian background of most classmates.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

CLASSMATES' LIFE PATTERNS SIMILAR
Scope and Content Note: Sixteen of eighteen taught school; eight or nine until retirement age. All married men with rural backgrounds; most stayed in Dane/Walworth County areas.

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS DURING HIGH SCHOOL YEARS
Scope and Content Note: At first, boarded in Stoughton during school week; drove horse and buggy daily from Hanerville for much of sophomore, junior and senior years. Boarded in town during teachers' training course; housing expense difficult for family.

MANY RURAL STUDENTS ATTEND STOUGHTON HIGH SCHOOL
Scope and Content Note: Few problems among rural and city students, although one city friend once refused to arrive at school in horse and buggy. Baumann's Hanerville classmates, acquaintances from church, and aunt two years older than herself eased her transition.

TEACHING EASIEST PROFESSION FOR WOMAN TO ENTER
Scope and Content Note: Took preparatory curriculum all through high school. Hanerville class- mate took office skills courses and entered state civil service. Speculates there would have been little office work available in Stoughton; nursing would have been her other occupational choice.

STOUGHTON CLASSMATES TEACH IN EASTERN DANE COUNTY
Scope and Content Note: Esther Krakow, Sun Prairie supervising teacher, encouraged class to seek jobs in that part of the county. Three hired just in town of Sun Prairie; Baumann at Oak Lawn school. Enjoyed teaching.

FARMHOUSE DURING CHILDHOOD
Scope and Content Note: No water or bathroom. Huge living room with high ceiling; long narrow kitchen-dining room; summer kitchen addition across back. Downstairs bedroom former post office. Four bedrooms upstairs. Long front porch and many-windowed room in which mother raised flowers. Baumann remembers constant window-washing chores.

FARMHOUSE NOW REMODELLED
Scope and Content Note: Former Hanerville teacher moved in and made improvements; rear addition removed.

HEATING HOUSE DURING BAUMANN'S CHILDHOOD
Scope and Content Note: Hard coal stove in living room; pipe carried very little heat upstairs. Wood-burning kitchen range.

NO ELECTRICITY ON FARM DURING BAUMANN'S CHILDHOOD
Scope and Content Note: Used kerosene and later, Aladdin lamps. Fragile mantles but good light. Cleaning lamps a miserable job. Wires not installed until 1935.

NO HOME ELECTRICITY IN COMMUNITY
Scope and Content Note: Recalls no one had Delco units in community, not even progressive, well-to-do neighbors, the Augustines. Augustine children inseparable playmates of younger Almond children. Augustine farm, as well as Olson and Hansen farms, still owned by family members.

NO RUNNING WATER ON FARM
Scope and Content Note: Water for house pumped from well or carried from cistern. Water tank in barn heated to prevent freezing during winter; windmill provided adequate power.

WATER. INSTALLED ON TOWN OF SUN PRAIRIE FARM IN
Scope and Content Note: Windmill there operated until 1936; electricity installed in 1932. Dan and Russell McCarthy planned water system with barn addition and silo project. Surprised Isabel by asking where she'd like to put the bathroom. McCarthy's father doubted wild plans of sons.

HANERVILLE FARM TYPICAL FOR AREA
Scope and Content Note: General farming probably still prevalent, although less livestock and more cash crops raised than in earlier period. Comments how business-like attitude has led to unwillingness of today's farmers to be tied to daily livestock chores.

BAUMANN'S PARENTS TIED TO FARM RESPONSIBILITIES
Scope and Content Note: Took two long-distance trips from Hanerville, one to 1933 Chicago World's Fair and another time to visit son before his army air unit shipped out in 1942.

FAMILY VISITS COMPRISE MOST OF PARENTS' RECREATION
Scope and Content Note: Immediate family all nearby in Stoughton and Dunkirk. Neighborhood school activities and picnics provided main entertainment.

MOTHER ENCOURAGES READING AT HOME
Scope and Content Note: Attended school lyceums and Stoughton Chatauqua activities. Regretted her own lack of education; read novels, history and many magazines.

MOTHER NOT INVOLVED IN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS
Scope and Content Note: Travelled by horse and buggy. Shopping in Stoughton her only regular weekly travel.

SARAH LESLIE INVITES WOMEN TO SCHOOL HOME ECONOMICS PROGRAMS
Scope and Content Note: Forerunner of extension home economists.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

PARENTS RENT LARGER FARM FOR TWO YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Isabel and Wilfred walked one and a half miles to Hanerville school while living on McCarthy farm. After two years, returned to crossroads farm, rented from someone named Nicholls.

FARM PRODUCTS SOLD NEARBY
Scope and Content Note: Creamery in same location east of Hanerville for years. Stockyards and tobacco companies in Stoughton and Edgerton. Tobacco buyers came out to farms to check crop.

GRAVEL-SURFACED TOWN ROAD BETWEEN HANERVILLE AND STOUGHTON
Scope and Content Note: Other local roads also in good condition.

TELEPHONE INSTALLED AROUND

FATHER BUYS FORD AUTOMOBILE IN EARLY
Scope and Content Note: Two-seater with side curtains.

BAUMANN BUYS ROADSTER WHILE TEACHING IN

MEDICAL CARE IN STOUGHTON
Scope and Content Note: Few family emergencies or hospitalizations until father developed sclerosis in 1949.

STABLE, CONGENIAL NEIGHBORHOOD
Scope and Content Note: Remembers many happy childhood experiences. Few antagonisms among neighbors. Many families still there. A few new homes today alter community's rural character. Augustine, Olson, Fosdahl, Hansen, Hall farms all within half a mile.

CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES IN NEIGHBORHOOD
Scope and Content Note: Spent lots of time on “fantastic” swing at Halls. Gathered wildflowers along railroad track every spring. “I guess I was a tomboy most of my life.”

SHOPPING IN STOUGHTON AND ALBION
Scope and Content Note: Shopping day and washday in Albion, Seventh Day Adventist community, was Sunday. Baumann's father did not work on Sunday; instead, sometimes shopped in Albion, sometimes made horse-and-buggy trip to church in Stoughton.

AUTOMOBILE PURCHASE CREATES GREAT EXCITEMENT
Scope and Content Note: Brief driving instruction when dealer delivered car contrasts with lessons today. Wealthier Augustines and Olsons already owned cars. Almonds “very, very average” economically.

“MOTHER WAS THE FARMER.”
Scope and Content Note: Mother wanted to own farm; father wanted to be carpenter. Purchased 200-acre farm in Newark (Rock County) in 1930; able to pay off mortgage for about $20,000 shortly afterwards when former owner died. Baumann's older brothers bought farm from parents for $40,000 in 1960 and sold it for $240,000 in 1979.

BAUMANN'S DEEP ATTACHMENT TO OWN FARM
Scope and Content Note: Farming rented land hard for her to imagine; selling farm means “you may end up with nothing.” Brothers old for their ages and physically could no longer farm; could have asked higher price but seemed pointless.

BROTHERS' OLD FARM TO BE CROPPED ENTIRELY WITH SOYBEANS AND CORN
Scope and Content Note: Distant owner now renting it. One hundred eighty acres to be planted in soybeans and corn.

BEGINNING TEACHERS' SALARY $125/MONTH
Scope and Content Note: “That was big wages in 1925.” Sun Prairie area predominantly German and Austrian Catholic. School, two miles from Sun Prairie, is now farm home.

END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

TEACHES GRADES ONE THROUGH EIGHT
Scope and Content Note: Teacher responsible for everything, including janitoring. About 33 students in class; first-graders from first class all still living in community.

DESIRABLE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN RURAL SCHOOL
Scope and Content Note: Present consolidated schools don't offer same lesson in getting along together or broad exposure to subjects that eight-grade classroom could offer interested student. Recalls student, now a farmer, who listened to every science class regardless of grade level.

GENERAL EXERCISES BEGIN SCHOOL DAY
Scope and Content Note: Teacher arrived early to start stove. Instruction began at 9 a.m. with general exercises (pledge of allegiance; group lesson or singing). Reading with each grade followed, then recess, then arithmetic. Also taught Constitution and government, languages, spelling and history.

DETAILED PLANNING KEEPS TEACHER BUSY
Scope and Content Note: Daily plans outlining each lesson's objective and content sent weekly to county supervisor's office. Esther Krakow, Essie Christiansen, Mary Meyer all excellent supervisors.

MOTHERS' CLUBS PROVIDE EQUIPMENT FOR PREPARING HOT LUNCHES
Scope and Content Note: Children heated food from home in 18x24-inch steamer on stove top or hot plate.

STUDENTS HELP WITH SCHOOL CHORES
Scope and Content Note: Assigned chores considered part of school day; done without question. Instruction ended at 4 p.m.; teacher's day ended at 9 or 10 p.m. after preparation for next day.

UNSTABLE FAMILY LIFE CAUSES SCHOOL DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS
Scope and Content Note: Remembers difficulties with students whose family life was source of school problems. Profanity less common then, but problem of antagonism and disobedience when behind grade level, same as today.

FAMILY AND NEIGHBORHOOD STABILITY PROMOTES SCHOOL DISCIPLINE
Scope and Content Note: Students expected to work, not play, at school, and to respect teacher. School board support, student peer pressure, and parent interest helped to resolve individual problems. Teaching was a “great experience.”

YEAR-ROUND DANCES AT SUN PRAIRIE AND WATERLOO
Scope and Content Note: Summer dances at Angell Park featured big band music.

MEETS DAN McCARTHY AT SCHOOL BOX-SOCIAL
Scope and Content Note: Came to Oak Lawn school box-social to meet Isabel because neighbor said she resembled his last girlfriend. Baumann's landlord vouched for Dan's good character.

LIVE MUSIC AT DANCES
Scope and Content Note: Town dances and Stoughton summer barn dances mixed popular music like Charleston with old-time music. Big bands at Angell Park in Sun Prairie in twenties. School dances usually had only violin and guitar; played schottische, waltz, hop waltz and polka. Baumann's son now plays with group of musicians in Sun Prairie.

MADISON A FOREIGN PLACE DURING
Scope and Content Note: Travelled there for teachers' conventions and institutes. Shopped and went to movies in Sun Prairie and Waterloo. Many Sun Prairie stores now closed; believes Madison's east side shopping center [probably means East Towne shopping mall] close to Sun Prairie should have been built in Sun Prairie.

PLAN TO FOCUS ON McCARTHY FARM AT NEXT INTERVIEW SESSION

END OF INTERVIEW SESSION

4/15/80

INTRODUCTION

COMMENT ON BLIZZARD

ADDITIONAL TRAINING FOR RETURN TO TEACHING
Scope and Content Note: Attended three University of Wisconsin summer sessions after return to teaching in 1942. Excellent classes on reading with Grace Leary.

McCARTHYS' HONEYMOON AFTER WEDDING
Scope and Content Note: Travelled through Minnesota and South Dakota to Yellowstone Park.

McCARTHY BROTHERS FARM TOGETHER
Scope and Content Note: Their father also in household.

HOME RESPONSIBILITIES REPLACE TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES
Scope and Content Note: Never considered continuing to teach; busy with homemaking for three men, housekeeping, mowing yard, gardening and raising flock of hens. Good personal income from egg contract with Madison hospital.

SUMMERS AT PARENTS' HOME WHILE TEACHING
Scope and Content Note: “Gracious, that was expected.” Helped with tobacco. Did not make time for preparing trousseau.

CONVERTS TO CATHOLICISM BEFORE MARRIAGE
Scope and Content Note: Out of belief that men are likelier to stay with the church if remain with same denomination. Considered change easier for herself than for fiance, especially because of domination of Catholics in community. Parents shocked, but accepted conversion rather than see Baumann leave church altogether. Baumann bothered that she had to be rebaptized and reconfirmed.

CONVERSION TO CATHOLICISM COMMON IN MIXED MARRIAGES
Scope and Content Note: Woman's family would not be allowed to attend wedding if she left Catholic church for Protestant. Today's flexibility a great improvement.

SMALL, SIMPLE, EARLY-MORNING WEDDING
Scope and Content Note: Noon wedding dinner at McCarthy farm. Left on automobile honeymoon trip that afternoon. “That was the joy of being young.”

RETURN IN MIDDLE OF THRESHING SEASON
Scope and Content Note: McCarthy cousins helped Baumann, a “green-horn teacher,” prepare huge dinners and suppers for crew of 20 for three days while threshing McCarthy grain.

McCARTHY KITCHEN NOT MODERNIZED IN EARLY
Scope and Content Note: Cistern pump at sink, but no running water. Had old kerosene stove until 1932 or 1933, when Baumann won $100 premium at home show to purchase electric stove. June 1937 Electrical Ruralist article describes McCarthy farm electrification as alternating installation of cash-makers and time-savers.

McCARTHY FARM ELECTRIFICATION BETWEEN and
Scope and Content Note: Power line came by in 1932; connected to house and yard wires by Town of York farmer-electrician Cyril Derr. McCarthy brothers planned changes cautiously and secretly because father opposed their ideas. In 1936, built silo, extended stanchions, and added drinking cups to increase milk production. Piped water to house and installed bathroom; put hydrants in both hog- and hen-houses.

SEPARATOR MOTOR IMPROVES CREAM QUALITY
Scope and Content Note: Clothes washing machine (a Maytag brand), pump jack, cream separator all converted to electric power. Pierceville Creamery was two and a half miles away. August Zimmerman operated creamery that McCarthys sold cream to for years.

TOP QUALITY WHITE LEGHORN HENS PRODUCE MANY EGGS
Scope and Content Note: Baumann delivered four cases of eggs to Madison hospital each week.

DAILY CARE OF FLOCK
Scope and Content Note: Raised 300-350 chickens each spring. Fed and watered flock each morning. To increase production during winter, added noon feed mixed with warm water. Picked eggs at noon and evening.

NEIGHBOR'S LARGE FLOCK FORCES OTHERS OUT OF BUSINESS
Scope and Content Note: Baumann raised chickens until 1945; resumed after 1950 return to farm. Neighbor's 300-hen flock began to force smaller egg producers out of business around 1960.

END OF TAPE 3, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

EGG BUSINESS TIME CONSUMING
Scope and Content Note: Candled, cleaned and packed eggs in basement. Maintained only one flock through winter.

NEW FLOCK EACH YEAR
Scope and Content Note: Old hens sold and hen-house cleaned as new pullets ready to lay. Southern Wisconsin Produce Company bought old hens.

PROFIT FROM EGGS SPENT ON HOME FURNISHINGS
Scope and Content Note: McCarthy brothers absorbed Baumann's feed costs as way to give her separate income. Eggs brought ten to twelve cents per dozen; premium of five to eight cents per dozen under hospital contract.

POULTRY PREDATORS MORE TROUBLESOME TODAY
Scope and Content Note: Raccoons hard to shut out of poultry houses. Price for raccoon and fox pelt $30 to $40 in recent years.

HEN-HOUSE LIGHT INCREASES WINTER EGG PRODUCTION
Scope and Content Note: Dimmer switch at farmhouse door allowed McCarthys to control length of hens' day.

HEAT LAMPS INCREASE PIGLETS' SURVIVAL RATE
Scope and Content Note: Alternate source of warmth kept them out from under sow, also seemed to help them grow faster. Pigs marketed at Oscar Mayer and Company, as was most of McCarthy livestock. Improvements always aimed at getting most from existing prices.

WEDDING PRESENT BEGINS FLOCK OF SHEEP
Scope and Content Note: First two sheep were Almonds' wedding present to Dan. Never more than 40 in flock; eliminated after it proved unprofitable.

McCARTHY HERD CONSISTS OF QUALITY MILKING SHORTHORNS
Scope and Content Note: Dairy and breeding herd begun in 1885; did well at fairs. Farmer who rented farm after 1945 preferred Holsteins so gradually replaced shorthorns.

DAN McCARTHY DIES IN TRUCK ACCIDENT
Scope and Content Note: Returning from delivering bull calf.

McCARTHYS HIRE FARM HELP AFTER ACQUIRING SECOND FARM
Scope and Content Note: Russell McCarthy moved to second farm a mile away and married in 1939. Brothers worked both farms together, with hired help on each.

ACREAGE INCREASE DURING DEPRESSION
Scope and Content Note: McCarthy farm 160 acres. Rented nearby 80 acres, later acquired through mortgage default. Sold the 80 around 1940 when boys bought another farm (now Berlins') with over 200 acres. Each farm had own livestock; brothers shared all work except chores.

ERECT CONCRETE SILO IN
Scope and Content Note: McCarthys earlier shredded corn; mixed and ground own feed before silo built. For many days throughout summer, McMahon's crew of five or six men would put up several rings of silo early in morning, then return late in day for a few more. Farm wife fed them after each work shift.

WORKMEN TODAY CARRY OWN MEALS
Scope and Content Note: No longer ask to eat in house.

McMAHON OF SUN PRAIRIE BUILDS MANY NEARBY SILOS
Scope and Content Note: Lined up summer's work in the neighborhood, then moved from one job to another throughout the work day.

McCARTHYS PAY OFF MORTGAGE BEFORE DEPRESSION BEGINS
Scope and Content Note: McCarthys could afford improvements that others, paying mortgages, could not. Cost-price squeeze required good farm management then as it does today.

CHANCE REDUCES ALMONDS' MORTGAGE
Scope and Content Note: Heirs to mortgage reduced price in return for shorter payment schedule when settling estate. [See also Tape 2, Side 1, 19:10.]

McCARTHYS TRADE MADISON REAL ESTATE TOWARD FARM PURCHASE
Scope and Content Note: Dan owned house as result of investment made with an inheritance. That and cash down payment reduced farm mortgage. Farm in good condition when purchased.

McCARTHY BROTHERS PAY NO RENT TO FATHER
Scope and Content Note: Father allowed boys to run farm during his later life; they inherited it in 1936.

END OF TAPE 3, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

SHORT COURSE, EXTENSION, JOURNALS, ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDE McCARTHYS WITH IDEAS
Scope and Content Note: Russell McCarthy attended UW-Extension short course. Both McCarthys read Wisconsin Agriculturist, Hoard's Dairyman, and attended county agent meetings. Active in Milking Shorthorn Association, Sun Prairie Pea Growers Association, Sun Prairie Pure Milk Association, Dane County Farm Bureau. Both interested in management and installing labor-saving devices. Dan more involved and active, especially before Russell's marriage. Both also participated in other community activities.

SELF-DEPENDENCE STIMULATES COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Scope and Content Note: Entertainment and information needs in the years before television and labor-saving devices required community initiative and involvement. “I'd have hated not to have lived during that period when people had to determine what was going to happen to themselves and their community.”

PIERCEVILLE MOTHERS' CLUB GOOD EXAMPLE OF OLD WAY
Scope and Content Note: Organized in 1924, club raised money from ten-cent dues, quilt raffles and dances to purchase school supplies and equipment. Today, “people are missing something” because Sun Prairie consolidated school has no PTA.

“CLASSES GO BY WITH LIGHTNIN' RAPIDITY.”
Scope and Content Note: Rural schools were vigorous institutions.

DANE COUNTY RURAL ORGANIZATIONS THRIVE DURING
Scope and Content Note: Dane County Rural Federation of clubs assisted development of series of public discussion programs, and annual drama tournament. University Extension-sponsored conference each summer brought rural leaders together to exchange ideas. Much help from professors Wileden and Ewbank from rural sociology department.

DANE COUNTY FARM BUREAU WOMEN ORGANIZE IN
Scope and Content Note: Home and Community chairman Mrs. Walter Gregg recruited many women into county Farm Bureau during early 1930s.

RURAL FEDERATION AND FARM BUREAU SEE WOMEN AS EQUAL PARTNERS
Scope and Content Note: Unlike many organizations, women given a voice and an active role. Farm Bureau's strength today built on that kind of local participation.

PIERCEVILLE MOTHERS' CLUB WELCOMES YOUNG BRIDES
Scope and Content Note: Group's card parties important social tie, especially during severe winters as in 1929 and 1936.

LOCAL WOMEN ACTIVE IN COUNTY FEDERATION
Scope and Content Note: Community involvement source of individual growth and vitality. Baumann participated in discussion program and plays. Neighbor, Mrs. George Mitchell, headed Dane County drama tournament for many years.

BAUMANN WINS FARM BUREAU STATE SPEAKING CONTEST IN
Scope and Content Note: Represented Wisconsin at Chicago American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) convention. Her 1939 topic, “The Farmer's Stake in World Peace,” remains relevant.

WE SAY WHAT WE THINK CLUB BEGINS IN
Scope and Content Note: Associate county agent J.W. (Bill) Clark invited Baumann and four other women active in county Federation to make first broadcast. Monthly programs continued for 20 years. Other participants were Ruth King, Selma Sorenson, Grace Langer and Sibylle Mitchell.

DANE COUNTY RURAL FEDERATION SPONSORS CLUB ACCREDITATION PROGRAM
Scope and Content Note: Committees focused on public issues, provided suggestions for local clubs, awarded points toward accreditation as incentive for active pro- gram. University support important for rural people, especially during Depression years.

ORIGINAL WE SAY WHAT WE THINK CLUB FORMAT LASTS 20 YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Agent Bill Clark wanted women's program to be “just talking” about rural concerns. Once program established as monthly broadcast, participants and their families would hold pot lucks once a month so that women could discuss next topic. Used scripts until 1943, then based discussion just on notes.

FAMILY-LIKE RELATIONSHIPS IN DISCUSSION GROUP
Scope and Content Note: Shared important events through the years. Handful of survivors today.

END OF TAPE 4, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

GROUP LUTEFISK DINNER OUTLASTS RADIO PROGRAM
Scope and Content Note: We Say What We Think Club ended in 1957; annual dinner continued until 1979.

GROUP CHEMISTRY CREATES EFFECTIVE RADIO SERIES
Scope and Content Note: Combined vivaciousness of Ruth King, studiousness of Grace Langer, preciseness of Sibylle Mitchell, seriousness of Selma Sorenson. Baumann perhaps the youthful upstart.

STRONG LISTENER RESPONSE TO RADIO PROGRAM
Scope and Content Note: Recipe requests used to gauge listener interest. Topics varied; especially numerous responses to discussion topic, “Would I Want My Daughter to Marry a Farmer?” Effects of World War II another frequent subject. Program pre-empted only once, by a Hitler broadcast.

READING AND RESEARCH PRECEDE BROADCASTS
Scope and Content Note: Script used as basis for informal-sounding broadcast.

END OF INTERVIEW SESSION

4/30/80

INTRODUCTION

HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM BEGINS TEACHER TRAINING PROCESS
Scope and Content Note: Full program of required high school classes included history, commercial geography, math, English and literature; teacher training curriculum reviewed subjects. Maude Mitchell taught teaching methods and philosophy.

PRACTICE TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS
Scope and Content Note: Baumann placed at Kegonsa School with Selma Herried Anderson; taught several days alone at end of practicum. Nervous, but experience was excellent preparation for first job.

AUGUST TEACHERS' INSTITUTE IN MADISON HELPS PREPARE NEW TEACHERS
Scope and Content Note: Methods demonstrated by outstanding teachers.

LESSON PLAN BOOK OUTLINES EVERY CLASS
Scope and Content Note: Specified plan for motivating student interest, as well as lesson content and assignment.

PREPARES LESSONS ALL SUMMER
Scope and Content Note: Outlined material from textbooks, prepared flashcards, and “seat work” for first graders.

READYING CLASSROOM FOR SCHOOL DAY
Scope and Content Note: Teacher arrived early to build fire, tidy up classroom, write lessons on blackboard.

SUPERVISING TEACHERS VISIT UNANNOUNCED
Scope and Content Note: Baumann's supervisor, Mary Meyer, made good suggestions and gave nice compliments. Esther Krakow, another supervising teacher, succeeded Sylvanus Ames as eastern Dane County superintendent.

ENJOYS TEACHING HISTORY, CIVICS, LITERATURE
Scope and Content Note: Dan McCarthy helped with arithmetic, a subject which Baumann disliked.

FINDS NEW INTERPRETATIONS OF HISTORY INTERESTING
Scope and Content Note: Sees new points of view in grandson's history assignments and materials. May study history again through UW-Extension.

SCIENCE AND GEOGRAPHY POPULAR WITH STUDENTS
Scope and Content Note: Baumann made civics, government, literature interesting to students. Eight-grade, one-room school stimulating for students with strong interests.

STUDENT NEWS MAGAZINES PROVIDE BASIS FOR CURRENT EVENTS DISCUSSION
Scope and Content Note: Received Current Events and My Weekly Reader.

DAILY SCHEDULE FROM 9 A.M. TO 4 P.M
Scope and Content Note: Opening exercises included lesson or reading aloud for entire group. Taught graded reading, arithmetic and civics in morning. Afternoon lessons included geography, languages, spelling, agriculture. State required 180 school days per year.

ENJOYS TEACHING FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADERS
Scope and Content Note: Curious age group very willing to learn.

CHANGING ROLE OF COUNTY NURSE
Scope and Content Note: In 1920s, nurse distributed iodine tablets and looked into problems reported by teachers; by 1940s, also screened sight and hearing.

STUDENT'S EPILEPSY PROVIDES UNEXPECTED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Scope and Content Note: Baumann unaware of boy's illness before seizure occurred.

PREPARES FOR SCHOOL YEAR EACH SUMMER
Scope and Content Note: Pace of school day required thorough preparation.

TEACHING DIFFERENT IN AS COMPARED TO TODAY
Scope and Content Note: Workload meant long work days, yet teachers “felt a satisfaction that I sometimes wonder if the teachers today are feeling.”

END OF TAPE 5, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

RETIRED TEACHERS A SATISFIED GROUP
Scope and Content Note: Enjoys quarterly meetings of Eastern Dane County Retired Teachers Association because members' sense of accomplishment as teachers is so strong.

MANY FORMER STUDENTS LIVE IN SUN PRAIRIE AREA
Scope and Content Note: Recalls cousins James and Robert Bradley.

RETURNS TO TEACHING IN
Scope and Content Note: Home, farm and child care all running smoothly; felt need to be doing something. Only noteworthy difference from 1920s experience was tougher discipline necessary for several boys far behind grade level.

FEW CHANGES IN TEACHER INSTRUCTION BY
Scope and Content Note: Motivation still the theme during summer refresher course. Emphasis on language usage had replaced teaching of phonics and grammar.

HEAD LABORATORY TECHNICIAN WITH DANE COUNTY DAIRY HERD IMPROVEMENT
Scope and Content Note: Teaching too demanding in view of increased home responsibilities. Rented farm in 1945 and moved into Madison to work at new laboratory, which tested milk samples and handled artificial insemination program. Trained personnel for work in laboratories in many other counties.

ENJOYS LAB JOB
Scope and Content Note: Understood program's value and enjoyed contact with farming community. Married August Baumann in 1947; returned to farm in 1950.

CHILD CARE, HOUSEKEEPING AND EMPLOYMENT OCCUPY CITY YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Son Duane contracted chicken pox, measles, mumps during first year of school. Attended Lowell, Holy Redeemer and St. Bernard's schools; choice of school varied with child care arrangements.

DANE COUNTY FARM BUREAU BEGINS AS FARM SUPPLY PURCHASING GROUP
Scope and Content Note: McCarthy brothers involved in county Farm Bureau before 1928.

BAUMANN FIRST TREASURER OF COUNTY FARM BUREAU WOMEN'S GROUP
Scope and Content Note: Elected at 1934 organizational meeting chaired by Mrs. Walter Gregg; Baumann later women's chairman and District Two committeewoman. Resigned chairmanship and seat on county Board of Directors in 1950s after August Baumann elected to county board; didn't believe two members of one family should hold positions simultaneously.

ELECTED STATE WOMEN'S CHAIRMAN IN 1959
Scope and Content Note: Election a surprise. Retained position until 1967, after she finished chairing a committee which resulted in Service Board reorganization and creation of staff administrative position.

SEPARATION OF SERVICE BOARD FROM STATE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Scope and Content Note: Two directors' membership on Service Board had hindered Board of Directors' discussion and action on its recommendations. Service Board now comprised entirely of professional staff.

ELECTED FARMER-PRESIDENT NOT PREPARED TO RUN MODERN WISCONSIN FARM BUREAU
Scope and Content Note: Presidential responsibilities should be mainly membership and promotional work; hired administrator needed to provide continuity and handle everyday business of Farm Bureau and its affiliates.

STATE FARM BUREAU GROWS DURING ; REORGANIZES IN EARLY
Scope and Content Note: Reorganization effort dominated early 1960s. Committee on reorganization spent 13 months seeking information and advice on structure of other state Farm Bureaus.

END OF TAPE 5, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

GROWTH NECESSITATES WISCONSIN FARM BUREAU ADMINISTRATIVE RESTRUCTURING
Scope and Content Note: Membership demanded more services; insurance company expanded. Marketing activities grew; PMR (Production, Marketing, Research) swine production program included breeding, feeding and marketing research on farm near Belmont. Hogs sold to Oscar Mayer and Company as Morealean hogs. PMR later phased out, but influence continues.

FARM BUREAU GROWTH SLOW UNTIL
Scope and Content Note: Young organization during 1930s offered few programs to attract dynamic membership. Emphasis on cooperative purchasing.

FARM BUREAU PROGRAMS ENCOURAGE FARMER LEADERSHIP BY BEING OWN SPOKESMAN
Scope and Content Note: National women's speaking contest and young people's discussion meets, both emphasized during the 1940s, built leadership, increased participation, and encouraged women's participation.

FARM BUREAU MARKETING STRATEGIES
Scope and Content Note: Livestock marketing and feeder pig programs combined as Midwest Livestock in 1968. Bargaining before planting, direct purchase and sales, and marketing cooperatives all help to counteract cost-price squeeze on the farm.

FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS FUTURE ROLE IN BARGAINING
Scope and Content Note: Farmers and their organizations should experiment; cites PMR as example. Predicts time will come for bargaining with processors before planting, as National Farmers' Organization advocates.

DIFFERENT FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS NECESSARY TO REPRESENT DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES
Scope and Content Note: Increasing organization memberships show that farmers, although individualists, recognize need for united voice.

CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN IN FARM BUREAU ACTIVITIES
Scope and Content Note: Used to be thought of as lunch-preparers. Women themselves decided to change that; organized themselves to participate in programs and on committees. Baumann selected member of state resolutions committee in 1953 and AFBF resolutions committee in 1960.

INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE STRONGEST ON LOCAL RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE
Scope and Content Note: Resolutions move up through state and then national organizations.

WILLIAM KASAKAITAS LEADS STRONG STATE FARM BUREAU LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
Scope and Content Note: “Extremely capable person”; he and other Farm Bureau staff formerly county agricultural agents.

FARM BUREAU MEMBERS INDUCE NEIGHBORS TO JOIN
Scope and Content Note: Measurable benefits interested some; less tangible benefits, like legislative representation, attracted others.

SUN PRAIRIE FARM BUREAU COUNCIL MEETS FOR 30 YEARS
Scope and Content Note: Twelve families first met in 1940, based on model started in another Dane County township by Swanton-Voight-Ratman-Gregg families in 1937. Held monthly meetings; discussed current legislative issues, often followed state discussion program.

FARM BUREAU WOMEN SELL HOSPITAL/SURGICAL INSURANCE PLAN
Scope and Content Note: Incentive of $1 paid for each policy sold. Members only could purchase Farm Bureau insurance; used as membership inducement at that time.

STATE FARM BUREAU WOMEN ORGANIZE FIRST IN
Scope and Content Note: Mrs. Berger, Waukesha County, the first chairman of Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation Home and Community Department. Mrs. Mabel Douglas, Green County, became state Farm Bureau director in 1931. Dane County women's group formed in 1934. Sponsored initial urban-rural meeting in 1935.

END OF TAPE 6, SIDE 1

Additional interview [no abstract]