The interviewees were selected to provide as good a cross-section of the Madison labor movement as is possible in a very limited number of interviews, while at the same time covering over fifty years of Madison labor history.
Tape No. 1 - William Conners
Conners, born in 1903, became a bricklayer in the 1920s and got active in Local 13 in 1930. He served in several Local offices, eventually becoming the Local's business agent. He became first vice president of the Bricklayers international union in 1955 and its secretary-treasurer in 1966. He also served on the executive board of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, 1944-1955. He retired in 1971. His interview provides firsthand knowledge of the skilled trades apprenticeship system as well as firsthand knowledge of the effects of the Great Depression on Madison workers.
Tape Nos. 2-3 - Robert Schultz
Schultz was born in 1908 and worked at Oscar Mayer Company in Madison, 1927-1934 and 1950-1973. He discusses organizing a union at Oscar Mayer, various organizing activities on behalf of the United Packinghouse Workers of America in Iowa (1934-1950), and also working conditions in the meat-packing industry in the 1930s.
Tape Nos. 4-10 - David Kneebone
Kneebone, born in 1948, went to work for Madison Newspapers, Inc. in 1966 as a printer. He soon became active in his union, Typographical Local 23, and was a leader of the long strike which began at Madison Newspapers in 1977. In his interview Kneebone discusses his apprenticeship, working conditions at Madison Newspapers, technological changes, and the strike.
Tape Nos. 11-12 - Evelyn Gotzion
Gotzion was born near Waunakee in 1913 and began working at Madison's Ray-O-Vac plant in the early 1930s. She retired in 1976. Her interview concentrates on union organizing at Ray-O-Vac in the 1930s and on working conditions there, 1930s-1970s.
Abstract
The tapes for these interviews have two tracks: a voice track containing the discussion and a time track containing time announcements at intervals of approximately five seconds. The abstract lists, in order of discussion, the topics covered on each tape, and indicates the time-marking at which point the beginning of the particular discussion appears. The time-markings are keyed to a time announcement, heard at five-second intervals, on the second track of the tape.
Thus, the researcher by using a tape recorder's fast-forward button may find expeditiously and listen to discrete segments without listening to all of the taped discussion. For instance, the user who wishes to listen to the topic on “Depression” should locate the place on the second track of tape one, side one, where the voice announces the 10:05 time-marking (the voice says at this point, “ten minutes, five seconds”), and at this point switch to the first track to hear the discussion by William Conners. The discussion on “Depression” continues until approximately 15:10 at which point discussion of the next topic (“Workloads”) begins.
Notice that in most cases sentences beneath each headline explain more about the contents of the topic. For example, the sentences underneath “Depression” give further details on what appears on the tape between 10:05 and 15:10.
The abstract is designed to provide only a brief outline of the content of the tapes and cannot serve as a substitute for listening to them. However the abstract will help the researcher easily locate distinct topics and discussions among the many minutes of commentary.
