Herman Lewis Ekern papers, 1872-1954.

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Herman Lewis Ekern papers, 1872-1954.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/145784990

Papers of Herman L. Ekern, a Wisconsin attorney, progressive Republican, and state official, relating to progressive politics and campaigns, insurance practices and legislation, the St. Lawrence Seaway, Great Lakes water diversion, the University of Wisconsin, and programs such as social security and unemployment compensation. Primarily correspondence, the collection also includes speeches and writings of Ekern on insurance or related topics; records of the Lutheran Brotherhood, a large fraternal life insurance company which he helped found; materials collected during his studies of war-risk insurance and of social security; legal files; papers from his own political campaigns and from the La Follette-Wheeler 1924 campaign; and copies of minutes and reports of the Wisconsin Unemployment Commission, 1931-1932. The correspondence reflects Ekern's personal, political, and business interests. Early correspondence concerns family affairs and the beginning of his law practice at Whitehall, Wis. (1894-1911). With his election to the Assembly in 1902, politics and legislation become prominent topics. Ekern authored railroad retirement and teachers' retirement acts and was actively interested in other legislation involving taxation, redistricting, the county court system, and establishment of the state life insurance code. Ekern served as state insurance commissioner, 1910-1915, and letters from this period concern insurance as well as his interest in other progressive legislation and in the national progressive campaign in 1912. His 1924 files as finance chairman of the La Follette-Wheeler presidential ticket are present as are the files of Will R. McCord, a professional fund-raiser employed to direct solicitation of funds in other states. In 1926 there are letters concerning Ekern's unsuccessful bid for the Wisconsin governorship. Ekern later was in private law practice in Chicago and Madison, was an unsuccessful Progressive candidate for United States senate in 1938, and served on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1939-1943. Much of his correspondence relates to the regents, alumni activities, and University fund-raising projects. Many state and national figures are included among Ekern's correspondents: Jane Addams, Robert S. Allen, Newton D. Baker, Roger N. Baldwin, George E. Beedle, Edward A. Birge, John J. Blaine, William E. Borah, Charles E. Broughton, John R. Commons, Henry A. Cooper, Robert S. Cowie, Charles H. Crownhart, Andrew H. Dahl, Joseph E. Davies, John S. Donald, Matthew S. Dudgeon, F. Ryan Duffy, Clarence A. Dykstra, John J. Esch, William T. Evjue, Felix Frankfurter, James A. Frear, Zona Gale, Julius P. Heil, Morris Hillquit, Daniel W. Hoan, Frederick L. Holmes, Henry Huber, Merlin Hull, Charles E. Kading, Bryant Kearl, Henry Krumrey, Belle Case La Follette, Philip F. La Follette, Robert M. La Follette, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Irvine L. Lenroot, Solomon Levitan, Louis P. Lochner, Huey P. Long, William G. McAdoo, Charles McCarthy, Francis E. McGovern, Charles L. McNary, Basil Manly, John M. Nelson, George W. Norris, Michael B. Olbrich, Samuel M. Pedrick, Emanuel L. Philipp, Gifford Pinchot, W. T. Rawleigh, Wilbur N. Renk, Oscar Rennebohm, John W. Reynolds, Alfred T. Rogers, Morris H. Rubin, Harry Sauthoff, Frank J. Sensenbrenner, Henrik Shipstead, Samuel Sigman, Isaac Stephenson, Carl Thompson, Charles R. Van Hise, George S. Viereck, Frank P. Walsh, Burton K. Wheeler, William Allen White, Edwin E. Witte, and Fred R. Zimmerman.

36.4 c.f. (91 archives boxes)

Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6848280

Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project

Related Entities

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University of Wisconsin

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The University of Wisconsin-Extension promotes continuing education and lifelong learning by providing statewide access to university resources and research to the people of Wisconsin. Its four divisions are continuing education; cooperative extension; entrepreneurship and economic development; and broadcast and media innovations. From the guide to the University of Wisconsin Extension Program Reports, 1960-1969, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries) ...

Addams, Jane, 1860-1935

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Social reformer; founder of Hull House settlement, Chicago. From the description of Letter: Hull-House, Chicago, to Louis J. Keller, Chicago, 1912 May 13. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 26496308 From the description of Letter: Hull-House, Chicago, to Paul M. Angle, Springfield, Ill., 1932 June 24. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 26496294 Founder of Hull House in Chicago. From the description of Cor...

Viereck, George Sylvester, 1884-1962

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Poet, novelist, journalist, biographer, and pro-German publicist; biographer of Edward M. House; in March, 1942 convicted of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and sentenced to prison. From the description of George Sylvester Viereck papers, 1924-1938 (inclusive). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702169142 "George Sylvester Viereck," http://www.anb.org (accessed September 27, 2006). Biographical information derived from the collection. ...

La Follette, Robert M. (Robert Marion), 1855-1925

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Robert Marion La Follette Sr. (June 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925), colloquially known as Fighting Bob, was an American lawyer and politician. He represented Wisconsin in both chambers of Congress and served as the Governor of Wisconsin. A Republican for most of his career, he ran for President of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in the 1924 presidential election. Historian John D. Buenker describes La Follette as "the most celebrated figure in Wisconsin history." Born...

Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871-1937

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Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist, politician, and government official. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915. As U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921, Baker presided over the United States Army during World War I. Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Baker established a legal practice in Cleveland after graduating from Washington and Lee University School of Law. He became progressive Democratic ally of...

McNary, Charles Linza, 1874-1944

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Charles Linza McNary was not considered much of a campaigner. He gave one or two speeches when he ran for office, preferring to spend the campaign season on his Salem area farm. Despite this understated approach to campaigning, McNary won re-election to the United States Senate five times and became one of the country's leading political figures. McNary was born on a farm just north of Salem in 1874. By age nine, both of his parents had died, leaving his twenty-six year old college educated s...

Hull, Merlin, 1870-1953.

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Borah, William Edgar, 1865-1940

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Lawyer and U.S. senator from Idaho. From the description of William Edgar Borah papers, 1905-1940 (bulk 1912-1940). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70979901 U.S. senator from Idaho. From the description of Letter, 1929 Oct. 12, Washington D.C., to Perry Walton, Boston. (Boston Athenaeum). WorldCat record id: 184904148 Attorney in Boise, Idaho; United States senator from Idaho, 1907-1940. From the description of Correspondence, 1902-1932. (Idah...

Wheeler, Burton K. (Burton Kendall), 1882-1975

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Burton Kendall Wheeler was born in Hudson, Mass., on 27 Feb. 1882 and moved to Montana shortly after his graduation from law school in 1905. He began his law career in Butte, serving as U.S. Attorney for Montana from 1913 to 1918 prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 1922. In 1924 he ran unsuccessfully for vice-president on the Progressive Party presidential ticket. Wheeler is remembered as one of the most powerful senators in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s. Chairman of the Interstate Comm...

Lutheran Brotherhood

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Shipstead, Henrik, 1881-1960

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U. S. Senator from Minnesota. From the description of Speech and article of Henrik Shipstead [manuscript], 1932. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647959046 ...

La Follette, Belle Case, 1859-1931

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Belle Case La Follette (April 21, 1859 – August 18, 1931) was a women's suffrage, peace, and Civil Rights activist in Wisconsin, United States. La Follette worked with the women's peace party during World War I. At the time of her death in 1931, The New York Times called her "probably the least known yet most influential of all American women who have had to do with public affairs in this country." A native of Summit, Wisconsin, Belle Case attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison from ...

Duffy, F. Ryan, 1888-1979.

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Comings, George F.

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Esch, John J. (John Jacob), 1861-1941

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Birge, E. A. (Edward Asahel), 1851-1950

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Zimmerman, Fred R., 1880-1954.

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Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965

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Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an American lawyer, professor, and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Frankfurter served on the Supreme Court from 1939 to 1962 and was a noted advocate of judicial restraint in the judgments of the Court. Frankfurter was born in Vienna, Austria, and immigrated to New York City at the age of 12. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Frankfurter worked for Secretary of War Henry ...

McGovern, Francis E. (Francis Edward), 1866-1946.

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Thompson, Carl N.

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Krumrey, Henry.

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Levitan, Solomon, 1886-1940.

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Lenroot, Irvine Luther, 1869-1949

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Jurist, lawyer, and U.S. senator from Wisconsin. From the description of Papers of Irvine Luther Lenroot, 1890-1971 (bulk 1900-1944). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 84953134 Biographical Note 1869, Jan. 31 Born, Superior, Wis. 1887 1889 Atten...

Frear, James A. (James Archibald), 1861-1939

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Holmes, Fred L., 1883-1946

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Hillquit, Morris, 1869-1933

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American socialist leader. From the description of Morris Hillquit miscellanea, 1924-1934. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 754871697 Morris Hillquit (1896-1933) was a socialist leader, lawyer, author and prominent theoretician of the Socialist Pary. He ran twice for mayor of New York City and five times for the House of Representatives, always unsuccessfully. From the guide to the Morris Hillquit Papers, 1906-1959, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives) ...

La Follette, Philip Fox, 1897-1965

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Epithet: Governor of Wisconsin British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000815.0x00029b ...

Heil, Julius P. (Julius Peter), 1876-1949.

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Lochner, Louis Paul, 1887-1975

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Journalist, biographer of Fritz Kreisler. From the description of Louis Lochner papers, 1914-1958. 1914-1958. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 658833559 From the description of Louis Lochner papers, 1914-1958. 1914-1958. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70984260 ...

Nelson, John Mandt, 1870-1955

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John Nelson was born in Sweden on November 24, 1872. He came to Helena about 1890 at age 18 and became a citizen in November 1900 in Helena. He briefly worked as a miner in Elkhorn and then moved to Helena where he worked as a cement finisher on the Shrine Temple and for road construction companies. He married Mary Olson in November 1902. She died in 1910. He later married Anna Marie Nelson in 1921. John Nelson died January 9, 1958. From the description of John Nelson papers, 1903-20...

Allen, Robert S. (Robert Sharon), 1900-1981

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Norris, George William, 1861-1944

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U.S. representative and senator from Nebraska. From the description of Papers of George W. Norris, 1884-1944 (bulk 1893-1944). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81101513 ...

La Follette, Robert M. (Robert Marion), 1895-1953

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Evjue, William Theodore, 1882-1970

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Commons, John R. (John Rogers), 1862-1945

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In academic circles, John R. Commons is most remembered for his histories of the labor movement and as founder of what is commonly called the "Wisconsin School" of labor history. As an economist and student of government he was responsible for the design of reforms during the Progressive era and after, which drastically changed the role of government and paved the way for the New Deal. From the description of John Rogers Commons papers, 1859-1967, bulk 1887-1945. [microform]. (Unknow...

Davies, Joseph Edward

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American diplomat; ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1936-1938. From the description of Joseph Edward Davies letters, 1940-1942, to Fred D. Warner. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 123379497 Diplomat, lawyer, and author. Born 1876; died 1958. From the description of Joseph Edward Davies papers, 1860-1958 (bulk 1912-1958). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70980061 J.E. Davies was former ambassador of the United States to the Soviet Union and Belgium. ...

McCarthy, Charles, 1873-1921

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Wisconsin. Unemployment Commission.

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Philipp, Emanuel L. (Emanuel Lorenz), 1861-1925

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Crownhart, Charles H., 1905-1974.

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King, Judson, 1872-1958

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Lecturer, author, and political consultant. From the description of Judson King papers, 1900-1958. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70982353 Biographical Note 1872, Apr. 19 Born, Waterford, Pa. 1889 1893 Attended Battle Creek College, Battle Cr...

Olbrich, Michael B., 1881-1929.

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White, William Allen, 1868-1944

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American journalist known as the "Sage of Emporia"; owner and editor of the "Emporia Gazette." From the description of Papers of William Allen White, 1890-1940 [manuscript]. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647837106 Journalist. From the description of Letters, 1889-1945. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122644557 Pulitzer Prize-winning Emporia, Kansas, newspaper editor and author. From the description of William Allen White letter...

Whitnall, Charles B.

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Donald, John Sweet, 1869-1934.

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Long, Huey Pierce, 1893-1935

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Huey Long Pierce, Louisiana governor and United States senator, was born 30 August 1893, near Winnfield, Winn Parish, Louisiana, and died 10 September 1935. He studied law and practiced in Winnfield after 1915; served as Louisiana public service commissioner (1921-1926); was elected governor of Louisiana (1928); was elected to the United States Senate (1930); and organized the Share-Our-Wealth Society (1934) for which he had national support. On 8 September 1935 he was shot by Dr. Carl A. Weiss ...

Beedle, George Washington

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Hoan, Daniel W. (Daniel Webster), 1881-1961

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Sensenbrenner, Frank J. (Frank Jacob), 1864-1952

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Witte, Edwin E. (Edwin Emil), 1887-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c82b2s (person)

In addition to his academic position (professor of labor economics, University of Wisconsin), Witte served as the secretary and executive director of the U.S. Committee on Economic Security and is considered the "author" of the Federal Social Security Act of 1935. Witte also served in the following positions: senior statistician of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission (1912); special investigator of the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations (1914); librarian of the Wisc...

Cowie, R. S.

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Rogers, Alfred Thomas, 1873-1948

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McAdoo, W. G. (William Gibbs), 1863-1941

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Lawyer, business executive, Democratic Party leader, U.S. secretary of the treasury, Director General of Railroads, and U.S. senator from California. From the description of Papers of William Gibbs McAdoo, 1786-1941 (bulk 1880-1941). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71063506 McAdoo was born near Marietta, Cobb County, GA, on Oct. 31, 1863; attended the Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville; admitted to TN bar in 1885 and began law practice in Chattanooga, TN; moved to NYC, 1892; devel...

Stephenson, Isaac, 1829-1918

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Walsh, Frank P.

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Francis Patrick Walsh (1864-1939), an American lawyer and political reformer, was one of the chief architects of the legislative struggle against industrial exploitation of children and an advocate of Irish and anti-imperialist causes. He also fought for civil liberties and was a labor partisan and staunch New Dealer. From the description of Frank P. Walsh papers, 1896-1939, bulk (1920-1939). (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122485559 From the guide to the Fran...

Dahl, Andrew H., 1859-1928.

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Van Hise, Charles Richard, 1857-1918

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Johnston, William H.

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Broughton, Charles E., 1873-1956.

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Dykstra, Clarence A. (Clarence Addison), 1883-1950

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Dykstra was born on Feb. 25, 1883, in Cleveland, OH; AB, State Univ. of IA, 1903; fellow in history and asst. in political science, Univ. of Chicago, 1903-4 and 1906-8; taught in private schools in Pensacola, FL, 1904-6; instructor in history and government, OH State Univ., 1907-9; professor of political science and dept. head, Univ. of KS, 1909-18; executive secretary, Cleveland (OH) Civic League (1918-20), Chicago City Club (1920-2), and Los Angeles (CA) City Club (1922-6); director of personn...

Dudgeon, Matthew Simpson, 1871-1949.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cj9xmd (person)

Ekern, Herman Lewis, 1872-1954

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Manly, Basil Marwell, 1886-

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Blaine, John J. (John James), 1873-1934

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zw21rh (person)

Gale, Zona, 1874-1938

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pc34z5 (person)

Zona Gale was a prominent writer and political activist born in Portage, Wisconsin. Gale attended the University of Wisconsin and worked as a reporter in Milwaukee. Gale, a lifelong friend of Jane Addams, became involved in the fight for the women's vote and eventually went to work for the writer Edmund Clarence Stedman. Her novel, "Miss Lulu Bett" was successfully adapted for the theater. From the description of Correspondence, 1907-1929. (Temple University Libraries). WorldCat reco...

University of Wisconsin. Board of Regents

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Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946

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First director, United States Forest Service (1905). He changed the name of protected "forest preserves" to "national forests" and advocated a controversial "wise use" policy for the resources of the national forests, whereby a greater use of forest resources, such as tree harvests and grazing rights could be permitted. From the description of Correspondence, 1905-1945. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 40804560 Forester and governor of Pennsylvania. F...