UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Interview #1429
LEWIS, GENEVIEVE

LEWIS, GENEVIEVE (1925-)
Community Arts coordinator
At UW: 1974-

Interviewed: 	March 23, 2015
Interviewer: 	Harv Thompson
Index by: 	Stephen A. Pierce
Length: 	56 minutes

Abstract: In her March 2015 interview with Harv Thompson et al, Gen Lewis reminisces about her years working for various community arts programs with Robert Gard. Born and raised in Wisconsin, she reflects on opportunities for women during her working years and why she returned to Wisconsin after her husband’s death. She also detailed a number of community arts initiatives with which she was involved, such as the reminiscence-writing project, Rhinelander School of the Arts, and Extension education. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program and the Gard Foundation’s UW-Madison and WI Community Arts History Project.

Key Words: Edgewood College; Robert E. Gard; “Yarns of Yesteryear”; Wisconsin Regional Writers’ Association (now WI Writers’ Association); Rhinelander School of the Arts; Clarice Dunn; We were Children Then; 

First Interview Session (March 26, 2015): Digital File

Time	Keywords
00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:53	Question: Talk about your early years. Answer: Lewis explained that she came from a farm background. Her parents had only a grade school education, but were strongly Catholic, Democratic, and union-oriented. She was born in Madison.

00:02:12	[no question] She talked about her education. With none of her family planning to go to college, she was encouraged to take classes that would help her find a clerical job, but her teachers at Edgewood HS gave her a scholarship to go to Edgewood College in 1944 and 1945.

00:03:38	[no question] Always interested in the arts, she never had any opportunity to pursue art or music, but she did well in writing, literature, and stenography, so when she graduated, she went to work for a publishing company, which interested her in journalism. 

00:05:00	[no question] Before getting her journalism degree, she decided that she wanted to be a teacher (so she could take bike trips during the summers), so she returned to Edgewood for a teaching degree (UW didn’t have an elementary ed program) and taught at Edgewood’s school and a Monona school. Shortly thereafter, she got married and made little use of her teaching degree.

00:07:20	[no question] In 1961, her son was born, and in 1969, her husband died, so she moved back to WI, where she did some private tutoring. Once her son got into HS (around 1974), she determined to go back to work, but then got “drafted” by Clarice Dunn to work in Gard’s “Yarns of Yesteryear” program, which had blossomed to the degree that Dunn needed help with hit. She talked about working on the contest, which Dunn bowed out of the next year and left her to run. She explained how the program was run (by Wisconsin Regional Writers association), and speculated on why it was so popular.

00:13:00	Question: Regional Writers was another organization Gard started? Answer: Yes; this organization let her “back into” Extension, but she continued to get calls from Gard to do projects like Rhinelander School of the Arts, working with the Folklore Society to generate more interest in that.

00:15:13	Follow up: Talk more about the reminiscence writing class? Answer: She explained how she, Dunn and Gard set up a correspondence course using the contest publication We Were Children Then. [break in audio] When they advertised the course nationally, the response was so great that they made quite a bit of money for Extension. This concept (teaching reminiscence writing through the mail) was quite new. Follow up: Did you offer this course at School of the Arts? Answer: Yes; this generated a good turnout too.

00:19:53	Follow up: The book We Were Children Then? Answer: She remarked that, having all these stories, there was interest from Mark Lefebvre at Stanton & Lee publishers. Originally, they planned to release 5 books, but only 2 were published.

00:21:05	Question: What kept you interested since you “backed into” arts extension? Answer: She observed that when she “got her teeth into something, I always wanted to make it go.” She was fascinated by reminiscence writing and people’s enthusiasm about art.

00:22:50	Question: What was special about Gard? Answer: She thought Gard was a “great idea man for how to involve people in the community in arts,” but always in a low-key way that inspired people and allowed them to run their own programs. 

00:24:45	Question: School of the Arts has had to adjust with changing times? Answer: Yes; with technology, things had become less place-based; but she thought the value of Rhinelander was being with the people and artists-in-residence.

00:26:22	Question: Artists-in-residence? Answer: She suggested that this was a stronger draw early on, but as the School developed, people came for the classes and a community of other artists. Lewis and Thompson also talked about how people at the School of the Arts could expand their arts horizons by taking different arts.

00:28:37	Question: The used book store? Answer: A local women’s group ran a book fair, and this event was always popular and brought Rhinelander students together and the community together with the School as well.

00:29:51	Question: You acted as Gard’s coordinator for Rhinelander for a few years? Answer: Lewis talked about local contacts who helped smooth the process of organizing the School. She also noted that she was the administrator through 3 directors of the School, including Harv Thompson. 

00:31:44	[no question] Thompson interjected some time-frame for these events. Gard retired in 1980, after which Darrell Aderman took over until Harv Thompson came to UW.

00:33:23	Question: Did anyone encourage you to go beyond just being a secretary? Answer: Not really—that was how things were in those days, so she didn’t have any expectation of moving on. Perhaps the sisters at Edgewood saw potential in her that they encouraged.

00:37:02	Question: When you returned to Madison, what did you do? Answer: She just did some private tutoring.

00:38:02	Question: Clarice Dunn? Answer: Lewis got to know Dunn through St. Paul’s, and became good friends, and it just snowballed from there.

00:39:03	Question: What was your job initially? Reading the stories? Answer: She observed that she didn’t judge the stories at all—they had three judges they’d brought in the first year, but as the program blossomed, they had 5.  Question: Was there a theme? Answer: Not exclusively—but the brochure she put out would list possible topics. Question: And the awards were almost less important than the honorable mentions? Answer: Yes; it was important for people’s work to be recognized.

00:44:11	Question: How did the Rhinelander school involve the residents of the town? Answer: They always had noon lectures that were open to anyone, and there was always one evening with mini-classes that the public was invited to. She considered the school the epitome of the Wisconsin Idea.

00:47:06	Question: Talk about what you’re doing with School of the Arts. Answer: When she retired, she noted, she started taking all the courses she’d been interested in but didn’t have time to take during her working years. She gave the example of a drawing class she’d taken. She also talked about how she’d used her art as a way of doing social service.

00:50:46	[no question] Thompson summarized some of the key points of the interview.

00:52:29	Question: Any final story? Answer: She told an anecdote about a woman who was so excited to get electricity that she turned all the lights on in the house only to find she didn’t know how to turn them off. Question: Your “yarn of yesteryear”? Answer: She quipped about washing her hair with rainwater.

00:54:54	[no question] Thompson wrapped up the interview; Lewis said she’d like to be remembered, to quote Pogo, in that “I did my pitiful best.”

00:56:00	End of First Interview Session

End of Oral History #1429