UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #370
WENTWORTH, W. NORRIS

WENTWORTH, W. Norris (1901-1995)
Undergraduate Student; Staff, Residence Halls
At UW: 1920-1924; 1930-1941

Interviewed: 	June 19, 1984	
Series: 	Housing
Interviewer: 	Barry Teicher
Length: 	1 hour, 10 minutes

Majors in animal husbandry and genetics; Involvement with  housefellow program; Experimental College; Carson Gulley; Job as head fellow in residence halls;  Dormitory Committee; Harold C. Bradley; Hall councils and Men's Residence Hall Association; Establishment of residence hall store; Recreational activities in dormitory; George A. Chandler; Job as graduate fellow in dormitories; Dormitory policy and interracial roommates; Residence Halls staff; Donald Halverson; Dean Scott Goodnight.

First Interview Session

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:00	NW majored in animal husbandry and genetics (double majored).  The first year he lived with Professor Gus Bohstedt and spent three years in the Genetic Barn, where he was conducting his senior thesis on dove and pigeon hybridization.  No job after graduation in his field, and was not accepted to the graduate school.  Spent one year as assistant minister at a congregational church in Iowa, and five years working with the congregational church at Iowa State.  Returned to Madison to Rural Sociology in 1930, but that did not work out.

00:02:28	From 1931-1941 NW was involved in the house fellow program.  Donald Halverson was the Director.  Head fellow was Norman Neal or Herbert Herdeman.  NW worked in Vilas House with 32 boys.  He was responsible for the library, which George Chandler began.  House contained more non-freshman until 1934, when quotas were introduced so there were 50% freshman in all houses.  

00:04:55	NW was given no training as a house fellow, but he did talk regularly with Dean Goodnight and Assistant Dean Wixman.  House fellows were to uphold three basic rules: no women, no pets, and no liquor.  NW was not enrolled as a student while he was a house fellow.  Most fellows were graduate, law, or medical students.  

0:06:25	House fellows responsibilities were to enforce the three rules.  House fellows helped boys learn about living in a group.  House fellows could be close to boys.  Spent a lot of time with them.  Would talk over problems.  Boys had to wear coats and ties to dinner.

00:10:30	Experimental College boys were housed in LaFollette and two other houses.  They made a lot of noise.  Eventually discontinued.  Did not have to wear coats and ties to dinner.  Were looked down on by other students.  There was a late dining room, in which the boys could go after 6:00 p.m. and not have to dress.  They would eat with the athletes and staff.

00:11:54	NW's house had two tables at dinner for the 32 boys. The head fellow sat at the head of the table, and no one would sit down until he signaled.  In NW's first few years as house fellow, seating was assigned.  Usually sang Varsity, except on Saturdays which were casual. Head fellow was appointed by the Dormitory Committee.  

00:14:00	Meals were served.  Some boys worked as servers.  Manners were sometimes brought up.  Canadians would spit watermelon seeds.  Quit serving watermelon.  Conversation at meals was not structured.  Vilas had many engineers.  Would mainly talk about class. 

00:16:50	Men in the dorms were less controlled than the women.  The women had to be in by 10:00 p.m.  Men only had quiet hours and doors were never locked.

00:17:31	John Hammersley was the Men's Night Watchman.  He was there every night from 9:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.  His personality controlled the boys and not the rules.  Carson Gulley and Einer Anderson were both very popular with the boys.  Food was excellent.  Beulah Daily was the Dietician.  Rye bread was served frequently.

00:21:12	There were 16 house fellows and they would go to the Union once a week for dinner.  Halverson was almost always present.  Once a year would all go out socially.  House fellows were all gentlemen.

00:23:31	NW was the head fellow and had the same access to Halverson as the other house fellows.  Head fellow acted as liaison with other house fellows.  Sometimes would come to NW as head fellow with problems.  Often time the boys would help in the solution.

00:25:56	The Dormitory Committee consisted of Dr. Bradley, Otto Kowalke, Scott Goodnight, Porter Butts, and Don Halverson.  All were strong personalities.  They would choose house fellows from candidates.  Interviews lasted about 30 minutes.  NW would conduct preliminary interviews for background information.  Would get up to 50 applicants.  Sometimes conducted second interviews.  Men had to be responsible, pleasant personality, and serious.

00:29:02	Bradley was a leader.  He would ask educational questions of those being interviewed.  Goodnight would ask questions about the boys' background.  The Dormitory Committee set up policies and not prices, on men's and women's dorms.  Prices did not change much while NW was there.  During the Depression the Dormitory Committee thought about building another unit to rent to the fraternities which were not doing well financially.  This never came to be.  Halverson would often lunch with the house fellows where Carson Gulley cooked.

00:33:43	Each Hall had a council and these formed the Men's Residence Hall Association.  The Association dealt with athletic scheduling, library, student-run store, and weight lifting room.  Membership dues were charged.

00:35:06	The store developed because of an increase in the amount of cleaning and laundry that was being picked up at the Gatehouse.  This had to be paid upon delivery.  The gatekeeper had to handle large sums of money and the laundries would pay him a percentage for doing this service.  The University did not like that idea, so it was suggested that the boys take care of it.  The store was open 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.  Boys had jobs as clerks and there was a manager.  Opened a barber shop in the basement of LaFollette.

00:38:45	Dormitories held dances every now and then.  Would not charge.  Big Apple dance was popular.  Dormitories were communities by themselves.  Kronshage added another 600-800 men and some of the intimacy was lost.  Store moved to Mack House.  Kronshage men ate in Kronshage.  They had 60 plus boys in the house.

00:41:07	An examination file was maintained in the dormitory library.

00:43:13	House fellows would be at the dining tables for lunch and dinner.  After dinner they would go to the lounge where there was a Victrola and piano.  Some would play cards.  Consideration for others was important.  Sometimes the boys would play the radios too loud.  Dormitory had a record collection of mainly classical music but also some popular artists like Bing Crosby.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:45:46	George A. Chandler and NW were both members of Alpha Gamma Rho when undergraduates.  Chandler was secretary to the secretary of the faculty in Bascom and knew student organizations.  He was influential in getting the housefellow program going and house unit recognized as groups which were not in direct competition with fraternities.  When Chandler was head fellow there was a senate (1926/1927).  Was later renamed the association board during NW's tenure. 

00:49:49	Houses were sometimes too much like fraternities until 1936 when Housing began quotas, where there had to be 50% freshman in the houses.

00:52:05	The graduate fellow title was created for NW, so he could stay on as a non-student.  There were head fellows in each hall, but NW was the head of these head fellows.  He acted as liaison with administration.  Did a few things with the women's dormitories.

00:55:55	Had a new black student who they did not know was black until he showed up.  School policy was that blacks and whites did not live together unless they both requested to do so.  The student had to be moved.  NW can recall only having two black students in the dormitories during his tenure.  This changed after World War II.

00:57:10	After NW left the position of graduate fellow the title was dropped.  During his first year as graduate fellow he lived in the Union and then in the refectory.  Drunkenness was not a problem in the men's dormitories.  The boys would take care of anyone who came in drunk with a cold shower.  NW's position was one of trouble shooting.  He also handled the room application and deposits.  NW did not work directly with student committees, but the fellows were on committees.  They were not bosses, but lived and consulted the boys.

01:01:20	Paul Robeson gave a recital for the boys.  The boys hid him in the dorms for two days.

01:01:55	Halverson was the Director of Residence Halls.  Discusses the residence halls staff, Halverson's ability to get and retain employees, and his relation with them, union and non-union.  Ruth Campbell worked with the women's dormitories.  She was from Indiana and an ex-teacher.  She worked in Chadbourne Hall and reported to the dean of women.

01:04:39	Women at Wisconsin were given privileges that other university women were not, such as freshman women were in by 8:00 p.m., and the others could stay out until 10:00 p.m.  On Friday and Saturday women could stay out until 12:30 a.m.  Wisconsin was considered very liberal.  Dean Goodnight and Halverson did not interfere much in the daily administration of the house fellows.  The Octopus ran several cartoons about NW.

01:06:54	Residence Halls and Union were models for other universities.  Housing was considered a new concept after World War I in 1926.

01:09:46	End of interview.

End of Oral History #370