The Wisconsin State Chamber of Commerce (WSCC), an association of Wisconsin businesses, incorporated on July 10, 1929 and functioned until 1976, when it merged with the Wisconsin Manufacturer's Association to form the Wisconsin Association of Manufacturers and Commerce. The WSCC was founded by former members of the Greater Wisconsin Association, which ceased activity in 1927. WSCC's purpose, as stated in its organizational prospectus, was to study questions pertaining to Wisconsin business, to shape public sentiment, and to advocate legislation beneficial to business interests. The WSCC also distributed information concerning tax legislation, labor unions, and unemployment compensation to Wisconsin businesses.
The WSCC consisted of a board of directors and various committees which studied the needs and problems of businesses in Wisconsin. Seven committees were originally formed to research issues such as aeronautics, advertising, agriculture, highways, nature conservation, taxation, and waterways. The committees worked in cooperation with state governmental agencies, local chambers of commerce, and trade organizations such as the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association, the Wisconsin Retail Merchants' Association, the Wisconsin Bankers' Bureau, and the Wisconsin State Merchants Association of Real Estate Brokers. In addition, the WSCC held annual meetings in November to provide businessmen with an opportunity to meet with experts from government, industry, and labor.
During the 1930s, the WSCC consistently opposed the New Deal programs that increased taxation and governmental regulation of the economy. The WSCC also lobbied the state legislature for the construction of new roads and participated in a national campaign by various chambers of commerce to end state barriers to interstate commerce. Furthermore, WSCC developed a national advertising campaign to promote industrial and agricultural development in Wisconsin. According to WSCC's records, organizational and financial problems restricted the WSCC's activities in the 1930s. After 1935, income from membership dues decreased on account of the Depression, and WSCC reduced the number of programs it sponsored. The growth of the war economy in the 1940s increased membership and income and enabled WSCC to create new committees and expand existing programs. New conferences were scheduled including an annual congressional dinner for all Wisconsin Congressmen, Senators and Wisconsinites working in Washington, D.C.
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, WSCC promoted Wisconsin's tourist industry as well as the small business industry, Also, between 19' and 1947, several new committees formed concerning Social Security, labor relations, and education; and compiled handbooks and pamphlets instructing small businesses on the unemployment compensation regulations, labor relations, and Social Security. In 1959, WSCC began holding biennial conferences prior to legislative sessions in order to inform Wisconsin state legislators and government officials of problems unique to business.
During the 1960s and 1970s, WSCC began to promote Wisconsin's businesses through tours to various Wisconsin industries. The tours visited farms and agricultural plants, forests and nature conservation reserves, and vacation resorts and were attended by members, news reporters, and business people.
In 1976, WSCC and the Wisconsin Manufacturers' Association merged to form the Wisconsin Association of Manufacturers and Commerce in order to end their duplicative efforts in promoting Wisconsin business and “to provide for a more effective and unified representative of business.”
The Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce Executives (WCCE), an association of executives of chambers of commerce, was founded in 1916. Originally known as the Wisconsin Association of Commercial Organization Secretaries, the organization became the WCCE in 1949. The WCCE functioned as a forum that allowed managers of chambers of commerce throughout Wisconsin to exchange information and discuss their problems and interests through conferences and newsletters. There is little documentation of WCCE's activities prior to the 1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s, WCCE sponsored two general conferences annually for members as well as conferences for office secretaries and chamber staff. The WCCE hosted infrequent seminars concerning local government finances, and cooperated with the United States Chamber of Commerce in the promotion of international trade.
