1. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin; Wisconsin and Workers’ Education; Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. Via, Emory F., [editor]. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]. 101 p. Notes: “This volume brings together the papers and less formal presentations delivered to the conference that marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the School for Workers of The University of Wisconsin in November of 1959.”–p. [5].

    CONTENTS: Section [1], “Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin : “The Wisconsin Heritage and the Study of Labor: Words and Deeds of John R. Commons” / by David J. Saposs (p. 7-14) l “Professor Perlman’s Ideas and Activities” / by Philip Taft (p. 15-31). — Section [2], “Wisconsin and Workers’ Education”: “The Early Years of the School for Workers” / by Alice Shoemaker (p. 32-35) ; “Labor Education and the Changing Labor Movement” / by Edwin E. Witte (p. 36-40) ; “The Wisconsin Idea in Workers’ Education” / by Robert Ozanne (p. 41-49). — Section [3], “Problems and Prospects in Labor Education”: “Recent Trends in Labor Education” / by Joseph Mire (p. 50-61) ; “The Status of Labor Education Programs within Universities” / by Phillips [sic] Garman (p. 62-68) ; “Achieving Excellence in Labor Education” [sic] / by Emery F. Bacon (p. 69-78) ; “Achieving Excellence in Labor Education” [sic] / by Brendan Sexton (p. 79-83) ; “Goals for Workers’ Education” / by Jack London [associate professor of Adult Education, University of California] (p. 84-101).

  2. Hourwich, Andria T. and Palmer, Gladys L. I Am a Woman Worker: A Scrapbook of Autobiographies. New York: The Affiliated Schools for Workers, Inc.; 1936. 152 p.
  3. Miller, Spencer Jr. “Summer Schools for Workers”. American Federationist: Official Magazine of the American Federation of Labor. 1925 Jul; 32:569-571.
  4. Ozanne, Robert. “The Wisconsin Idea in Workers’ Education” . IN: Via, Emory F., [editor]. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Workers’ Education, Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]; pp. 41-49.
  5. Palmer, Gladys L. The Industrial Experience of Women Workers at the Summer Schools, 1928 to 1930. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office; 1931. 62 p. (Bulletin of the Women’s Bureau, United States Department of Labor; no. 89).
    Notes: This study, undertaken for the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, thoroughly analyses the work experience and living circumstances of the 609 women in total who attended four summer schools provided for women employed in industrial jobs in the U.S. during 1928 through 1930; the four schools studied were: the Wisconsin Summer School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin; the Barnard Summer School at Barnard College in New York, New York; the Bryn Mawr Summer School at Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania; and, the Southern Summer School in Arden, North Carolina. The attendees at these special summer schools for women were each sponsored by a local committee, based on the student having “shown some qualities of leadership and interest in workers’ education or other community activities” (p. 2); scholarship money was raised to defray their costs. The women’s jobs were concentrated in the following fields: clothing trades; textile trades; domestic and personal service trades; and, miscellaneous trades (for instance, retail trades, factory assembly, metal trades, printing, upholstery, munitions, packing candy, etcetera). This study made use of detailed surveys which covered every economic aspect of the women’s lives, such as the age at which they entered industrial work, how much money they save each year, what deductions are made from their pay, etc. Twenty-eight tables of data are provided with many reporting the data down to the level of each of the four schools; numerous autobiographies collected from the students are quoted extensively.
  1. School for Workers. University of Wisconsin-Extension. The Birth of the School for Workers Madison, Wis.: 2005.
  2. Schwarztrauber, Ernest E. The University of Wisconsin School for Workers: Its First Twenty-five Years. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin School for Workers; 1949. 40 p.
    Notes: The primary objectives of the efforts of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers at the time of the publication of this volume were clearly focused by a lofty vision of the role for organized labor in the society of the United States:

    “The function, then, of the School for Workers is first the implementation of organized labor in its aspirations toward the substitution of industrial government for industrial warfare. But in that primary function are implicit others of equal if not ultimately greater importance. One of these is to help organized labor come to recognize that its place in our industrial society must become an ever growing one. Labor must take its place in every aspect of modern economic and social life. In the community, workers must learn to function as members of city councils, school boards and every other activity in which citizens are engaged. In the state and nation, workers have the right and must assume the responsibilities of a working citizenship. Workers must become, therefore, completely integrated into the working bodies, national and international, that effect direction of world affairs. These citizenship relations have to date been largely the monopoly function of middle and upper class members of society. This situation cannot continue if democracy is to grow in meaning and if it is to endure as the working force in a dynamic social order. Hence, the School for Workers raises its sights to a program as vital as life itself for there is no real life for the individuals of any society unless each individual in it is given a place of dignity and respect equal to any other.” (p. 21-22)

    The author of this history was the director of the School for Workers at the time of its publication (and had been since 1937), and writes in the preface to the work:
    “As author of the small volume, entitled, Workers’ Education, a Wisconsin Experiment, and printed in 1942 by the University Press, I have tried to transplant the essentials in that work to this pamphlet with additions to take care of the intervening years. I realize that this constitutes an incomplete story of what is now no longer an experiment but a permanent institution in the University and an ever increasing source of service to trade unionists of the state and a growing factor in development of stable industrial relations. But it does cover the essential facts in the School’s twenty-five years of existence.” (p. 3)

    CONTENTS: Wisconsin, Pioneer in Workers’ Education (p. 6-9). — The Early History of Workers’ Education in Wisconsin (p. 10-18). — Workers’ Education–Basis, Content and Techniques (p. 19-29). — The Year-Round Program (p. 30-37).

  3. Shoemaker, Alice. “The Early Years of the School for Workers”. IN: Via, Emory F., [editor]. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Workers’ Education, Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]; pp. 32-35.
  4. Troxell, John P. “Wisconsin’s Summer School for Working Women”. American Federationist: Official Magazine of the American Federation of Labor. 1925 Oct; v. 32(no. 10):[943]-945.
    Notes: An account of the first Wisconsin Summer School for Working Women, which was held in 1925 at the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin school was only the second such summer training program for women working at industrial jobs, with the first having been held at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania (although the Wisconsin school is the first such program at a state university). The instruction lasted for six weeks during the regular summer sessions at the university; forty women from nine Midwestern states attended and instruction was given in three areas: English, economics, and physical education. Some detail is provided about the topics studied and mention is made of production of a publication, “‘The Script,’ a mimeographed class-book edited by the students” (p. 945).
  5. Witte, Edwin E. “Labor Education and the Changing Labor Movement”. IN: Via, Emory F., [editor]. School for Workers 35th Anniversary Papers: Early Labor Studies at Wisconsin, Wisconsin and Workers’ Education, Problems and Prospects in Labor Education. [Madison, Wis.]: School for Workers,

    University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin; [1960]; pp. 36-40.