UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #540
FOSTER, E. M.

FOSTER, E. M. (1917-2013)
Graduate Student; Professor of Bacteriology; Director of Food Research Institute; Professor and Chairman of Food Microbiology and Toxicology
At UW: 1937-1987

Interviewed: 2000	
Interviewer: Barry Teicher
Length: 4 hours, 53 minutes

Childhood and education; North Texas State Teachers College; Arrival and graduate study at UW; University of Texas; Camp Detrick; UW Bacteriology Department; Glenn Pound, Fred Harvey Harrington, Conrad Elvehjem and Joshua Lederberg; Graduate students; Teaching and research; Food Research Institute; Department of Food, Microbiology and Toxicology; Conjugated Linoleic Acid; Industrial sponsors; Honors and awards; Professional activities; Bio-engineered foods; Closing remarks. 

First Interview Session (January 13, 2000): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:11	EMF describes his childhood and early schooling in Texas.  His mother ran a hotel and his father was a carpenter and in the early 1920s they bought a farm.  EMF discusses the two room schoolhouse he attended through seventh grade.

00:08:46	His grade school offered no science courses.  EMF's parents believed that his education was more important than his working on the farm.  He attended two different high schools yet still graduated valedictorian of his class.  EMF recalls no particularly influential teachers or courses but he did have a strong desire to attend college.

00:14:41	EMF describes why he attended North Texas State Teachers College and explains how he financed his college education.  He relates how he ended up taking courses in the Biology Department and discusses his mentor, J. B. McBryde.

00:20:21	During his first two years EMF lived with is widowed aunt and her two sons.  To pay for his room and board he provided a couple of milk cows and helped them build a house.  He discusses some of the professors he had at North Texas State.  EMF also earned a Masters degree at North Texas State with a thesis on the bacteriology of Lake Dallas.

00:26:32	EMF describes what it was like to be in college during the Great Depression.

00:27:50	He explains his decision to attend graduate school at UW.  EMF received a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation scholarship.

00:30:59	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:31:01	EMF describes his bus trip to Madison.  He discusses his first days in the city.
    
00:33:56	He discusses some of his courses and teachers, who included William Frazier, E. B. Fred and Ira Baldwin.  EMF describes Paul Clark’s course on medical bacteriology and discusses some of his classmates.

00:38:49	EMF evaluates his graduate education.  He describes the teaching style of E. B. Fred.

00:41:30	He describes his graduate research and dissertation thesis on the bacteriology of brick cheese.  William Frazier was EMF’s advisor and mentor.  EMF discusses courses he taught as a graduate student.  He describes departmental seminars.

00:48:50	EMF discusses the departmental facilities, including the library and labs.  He describes some of the people and instruments in his lab.  EMF talks about the agriculture librarian and other staff.

00:55:10	He discusses his social life as a graduate student and describes the places he lived.

00:58:32	EMF explains how he became an instructor at UW and later an assistant professor at the University of Texas (UT).

01:01:54	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

01:02:25	EMF taught a heavy load at UT and had little time for research.

01:04:37	He describes his Army commission and his duties in the sanitary corps.
01:06:48	EMF explains why he was transferred to Camp Detrick and describes his work with the biological warfare unit.  EMF describes E. B. Fred’s role in the project.  He describes the work conditions, equipment and some of the other people who worked on the project.  The material produced was never, to EMF’s knowledge, employed in combat.  He discusses Ira Baldwin’s role in the project.

01:18:18	EMF describes how Fred recruited him back to UW after the war.

01:20:28	He explains how he met Gail M. Dack at Camp Detrick.  EMF also worked with Ed Schantz on the project.

01:25:29	EMF left Camp Detrick in 1945 to head a new facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.

01:28:39	He describes his return to UW after the war.  EMF discusses the long-time chairman of the Bacteriology Department, Edwin Hastings.

01:31:59	End of side.

Tape 2/Side 2

01:32:22	EMF continues his discussion of Hastings.

01:33:57	He describes how he first met Ira Baldwin.  EMF discusses other members of the Bacteriology Department.  EMF gives his impressions of Perry Wilson and his research.

01:41:12	EMF discusses William Frazier’s effectiveness as a teacher.

01:43:12	He describes the effects of the G. I. Bill on campus after World War II and discusses the changing building and space needs of the Department.

01:49:24	EMF reveals that he was never a strong committee man, although he served on several important ones including the University Committee.
			
01:51:05	EMF talks about the chairmen of the Bacteriology Department, including Edwin Hastings and William Frazier.  He briefly discusses other faculty members and calls Joe Wilson the closest friend he ever had.

01:57:08	EMF discusses the reasons why many of his colleagues have begun working in laboratories outside academia.

02:03:29	End of side.  End of tape.
		
Second Interview Session (January 18, 2000): Tapes 3-4

Tape 3/Side 1

00:00:29	EMF discusses the poker club he helped found.

00:08:24	He talks about the deans of the College of Agriculture during his years at UW.  EMF describes Glenn Pound as a great dean.

00:15:01	EMF gives his impressions of Fred Harvey Harrington and Conrad Elvehjem.  He discusses Joshua Lederberg.

00:25:03	He describes the courses he taught when he first arrived at UW.  Undergraduate teaching was important to the Bacteriology Department.

00:29:21	EMF discusses some of his graduate students.

00:30:49	End of side.

Tape 3/Side 2

00:30:52	He continues discussing his graduate students.

00:37:19	 EMF describes the research environment at UW and explains how he funded his research activities.

00:44:03	EMF concludes that his research on the bacteriology of brick cheese is his most important contribution to the field.  He considers himself an average researcher because he did not have the preparation, especially in chemistry.

00:45:48	He evaluates his colleagues as researchers.

00:55:22	EMF details the history of the Food Research Institute (FRI) before it moved to UW.  He describes an international conference on food-borne disease where many participants came down with food poisoning.

00:58:30	He explains how and why the FRI moved from Chicago to UW.

01:01:42	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 4/Side 1

01:01:43	EMF describes the search for a building to house the FRI.  Each new member of the Institute had to have a departmental affiliation.  EMF explains why the FRI used Rhesus monkeys as test subjects.

01:06:17	He describes his duties as director of the FRI.  EMF discusses the relationship between the Institute and the food industry.  The FRI never experienced serious protests.

01:11:31	EMF explains the five non-microbiological projects of the FRI: nitrates, phosphates, sulfites, anti-oxidants and mercury.  He discusses how and why they initiated research projects in these and other areas.

01:17:09	He describes Edwin Traisman’s background.  One of the reasons Traisman was hired at FRI was to begin a Toxicology unit.

01:23:00	Traisman also played a key role in increasing funding from industry.  EMF discusses some of the major industrial contributors to FRI.  He also describes governmental funding.

01:32:36	End of side.

Tape 4/Side 2

01:32:37	EMF describes some government sponsored funding on botulinum in smoked fish.

01:33:25	He outlines the origins of the Department of Food, Microbiology and Toxicology.

01:37:45	EMF discusses the plans for constructing a new building to replace E. B. Fred Hall.

01:41:42	He explains the significance of patents within the Department.  EMF relates the story of Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), one of the department’s most interesting research successes.

01:46:50	EMF describes some interesting incidents from his tenure in the Department.  The Department is constantly testing claims that food products are unsafe.

01:50:56	End of side.  End of tape.

Third Interview Session (January 21, 2000): Tape 5

Tape 5/Side 1

00:00:03	EMF describes the reaction to a story in the local newspaper that the FRI posed a health risk to the UW campus.

00:04:44	He returns to discussing CLA, research funding and patents.  The FRI never refused to publish research detrimental to an industry sponsor.

00:07:52	EMF explains how environmental activism helped the Institute by raising new questions and research areas.  The FRI provided an unbiased forum to investigate issues relating to food safety.

00:15:42	He describes some of the awards and honors he has received over the years, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from North Texas State and the Distinguished Service Award from the UW College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

00:22:17	EMF discusses his involvement in the American Society for Microbiology.  He was a charter fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

00:30:55	End of side.

Tape 5/Side 2

00:30:56	EMF continues his discussion of the American Academy of Microbiology.  He describes the formation of the Institute of Food Technologists.  EMF discusses the International Association of Milk and Food Sanitarians.

00:38:48	He describes his service with the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council.  EMF also worked as an advisor for various federal government agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture.
00:46:45	EMF discusses his retirement from the FRI and the changes that have taken place since his retirement.

00:48:58	EMF describes the current status of food safety, including bio-engineered food.  He talks about the relationship between the food industry and the FRI.

00:57:47	EMF makes some closing remarks about his career and the UW.

00:59:06	End of side.  End of tape.

END