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Title
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4/1/80
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
00:40
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GOOD ELECTION TURN-OUT ON DAY OF INTERVIEW : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
02:40
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COMMENT ON TELEVISION CREW PRESENT LAST TIME
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
03:15
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BAUMANN'S EARLY BACKGROUND : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
04:55
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FAMILY CONSIDERS ITSELF NORWEGIAN : Mother's grandparents and parents came from Norway; father's parents from Lincolnshire, England. Grew up in Hanerville, a predominantly Norwegian community.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
06:15
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CLARNSON GRANDPARENTS MIGRATE FROM NORWAY AROUND : Name originally Clauson, but mother and her sisters changed it. All remained in Stoughton area.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
07:55
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ALMOND GRANDPARENTS MIGRATE FROM ENGLAND AROUND : Baumann, named after grandmother Belle Anderson, the oldest child, followed by two brothers, then a sister and a younger brother.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
09:15
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GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH ON MOTHER'S FAMILY : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
11:35
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OLDER BROTHERS AND SISTER STILL LIVING : Younger brother and his daughter killed in 1968 train accident.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
12:10
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RAISED A LUTHERAN : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
14:25
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ALMOND FARM AT HANERVILLE CROSSROADS : Schoolhouse across the corner; Almond house former Hanerville post office. Landmark oak on corner a popular gathering place for young people.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
15:50
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MISSES FIRST SEVERAL WEEKS OF HIGH SCHOOL TO HARVEST TOBACCO : Tobacco harvest a farm family ritual; delay resulted in postponement of catechism and confirmation for a year.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
17:00
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TOBACCO FARMING A FAMILY CHORE : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
19:15
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TOBACCO A “13-MONTH JOB” : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
20:00
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EIGHTY IMPROVED ACRES ON ALMOND FARM : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
21:20
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STOUGHTON TOBACCO WAREHOUSES PROVIDE EMPLOYMENT : Women employed all winter sorting tobacco.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
22:25
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PARENTS REMAIN ON HANERVILLE FARM UNTIL
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
22:50
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ENTIRE FAMILY WORKS ON FARM : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
24:40
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BEGINS HIGH SCHOOL IN : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
26:55
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TEACHERS' TRAINING CLASS LAST AT STOUGHTON : Seventeen of eighteen still alive and meet annually. Baumann credits health and longevity to strong Norwegian background of most classmates.
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Tape/Side
1/1
Time
27:55
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END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
00:30
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CLASSMATES' LIFE PATTERNS SIMILAR : Sixteen of eighteen taught school; eight or nine until retirement age. All married men with rural backgrounds; most stayed in Dane/Walworth County areas.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
02:20
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LIVING ARRANGEMENTS DURING HIGH SCHOOL YEARS : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
04:00
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MANY RURAL STUDENTS ATTEND STOUGHTON HIGH SCHOOL : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
05:55
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TEACHING EASIEST PROFESSION FOR WOMAN TO ENTER : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
07:20
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STOUGHTON CLASSMATES TEACH IN EASTERN DANE COUNTY : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
09:10
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FARMHOUSE DURING CHILDHOOD : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
11:50
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FARMHOUSE NOW REMODELLED : Former Hanerville teacher moved in and made improvements; rear addition removed.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
12:50
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HEATING HOUSE DURING BAUMANN'S CHILDHOOD : Hard coal stove in living room; pipe carried very little heat upstairs. Wood-burning kitchen range.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
14:00
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NO ELECTRICITY ON FARM DURING BAUMANN'S CHILDHOOD : Used kerosene and later, Aladdin lamps. Fragile mantles but good light. Cleaning lamps a miserable job. Wires not installed until 1935.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
15:00
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NO HOME ELECTRICITY IN COMMUNITY : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
16:50
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NO RUNNING WATER ON FARM : Water for house pumped from well or carried from cistern. Water tank in barn heated to prevent freezing during winter; windmill provided adequate power.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
18:00
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WATER. INSTALLED ON TOWN OF SUN PRAIRIE FARM IN : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
19:30
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HANERVILLE FARM TYPICAL FOR AREA : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
21:30
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BAUMANN'S PARENTS TIED TO FARM RESPONSIBILITIES : 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.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
22:50
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FAMILY VISITS COMPRISE MOST OF PARENTS' RECREATION : Immediate family all nearby in Stoughton and Dunkirk. Neighborhood school activities and picnics provided main entertainment.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
24:20
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MOTHER ENCOURAGES READING AT HOME : Attended school lyceums and Stoughton Chatauqua activities. Regretted her own lack of education; read novels, history and many magazines.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
26:25
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MOTHER NOT INVOLVED IN WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS : Travelled by horse and buggy. Shopping in Stoughton her only regular weekly travel.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
27:10
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SARAH LESLIE INVITES WOMEN TO SCHOOL HOME ECONOMICS PROGRAMS : Forerunner of extension home economists.
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Tape/Side
1/2
Time
27:40
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END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
00:30
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PARENTS RENT LARGER FARM FOR TWO YEARS : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
03:20
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FARM PRODUCTS SOLD NEARBY : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
05:25
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GRAVEL-SURFACED TOWN ROAD BETWEEN HANERVILLE AND STOUGHTON : Other local roads also in good condition.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
06:40
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TELEPHONE INSTALLED AROUND
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
07:15
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FATHER BUYS FORD AUTOMOBILE IN EARLY : Two-seater with side curtains.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
07:50
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BAUMANN BUYS ROADSTER WHILE TEACHING IN
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
08:05
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MEDICAL CARE IN STOUGHTON : Few family emergencies or hospitalizations until father developed sclerosis in 1949.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
09:55
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STABLE, CONGENIAL NEIGHBORHOOD : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
13:05
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CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES IN NEIGHBORHOOD : 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.”
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
15:40
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SHOPPING IN STOUGHTON AND ALBION : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
17:55
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AUTOMOBILE PURCHASE CREATES GREAT EXCITEMENT : Brief driving instruction when dealer delivered car contrasts with lessons today. Wealthier Augustines and Olsons already owned cars. Almonds “very, very average” economically.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
19:10
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“MOTHER WAS THE FARMER.” : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
21:50
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BAUMANN'S DEEP ATTACHMENT TO OWN FARM : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
24:55
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BROTHERS' OLD FARM TO BE CROPPED ENTIRELY WITH SOYBEANS AND CORN : Distant owner now renting it. One hundred eighty acres to be planted in soybeans and corn.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
25:35
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BEGINNING TEACHERS' SALARY $125/MONTH : “That was big wages in 1925.” Sun Prairie area predominantly German and Austrian Catholic. School, two miles from Sun Prairie, is now farm home.
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Tape/Side
2/1
Time
27:00
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END OF TAPE 2, SIDE 1
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
00:00
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INTRODUCTION
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
00:30
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TEACHES GRADES ONE THROUGH EIGHT : Teacher responsible for everything, including janitoring. About 33 students in class; first-graders from first class all still living in community.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
01:55
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DESIRABLE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT IN RURAL SCHOOL : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
03:10
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GENERAL EXERCISES BEGIN SCHOOL DAY : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
05:15
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DETAILED PLANNING KEEPS TEACHER BUSY : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
06:40
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MOTHERS' CLUBS PROVIDE EQUIPMENT FOR PREPARING HOT LUNCHES : Children heated food from home in 18x24-inch steamer on stove top or hot plate.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
08:35
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STUDENTS HELP WITH SCHOOL CHORES : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
10:00
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UNSTABLE FAMILY LIFE CAUSES SCHOOL DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
13:00
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FAMILY AND NEIGHBORHOOD STABILITY PROMOTES SCHOOL DISCIPLINE : 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.”
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
15:25
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YEAR-ROUND DANCES AT SUN PRAIRIE AND WATERLOO : Summer dances at Angell Park featured big band music.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
16:25
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MEETS DAN McCARTHY AT SCHOOL BOX-SOCIAL : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
18:50
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LIVE MUSIC AT DANCES : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
21:35
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MADISON A FOREIGN PLACE DURING : 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.
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
23:30
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PLAN TO FOCUS ON McCARTHY FARM AT NEXT INTERVIEW SESSION
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Tape/Side
2/2
Time
24:00
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END OF INTERVIEW SESSION
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