UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #762
EARLEY, EMILY

EARLEY, Emily (1916- )
Editor of Technical Publications, UW-Madison Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies; Graduate Student
At UW: 1937; 1963-1986

Interviewed: 2006	
Interviewer: Sandy Pfahler
Length: 1.5 hours

Early years and education; Family; Bennington College; Graduate study at UW; Social Security Administration; Children; Nature Conservancy; Institute for Environmental Studies; Dane County Natural Heritage Foundation; 1000 Friends of Wisconsin; Travel; Walrus Club. 

Interview Session (April 27, 2006): Tapes 1-2

Tape 1/Side 1

0:00:35	Emily Earley grew up in Manhattan.  She went to a private school in New York.  An influential science teacher encouraged her interest in bird-watching.

0:01:48	Her father committed suicide when she was 11 years old.

0:03:44	EE went to Bennington College.  She graduated in three years.  EE was interested in labor economics and she wrote a thesis on the coal industry.

0:05:39	She applied to UW-Madison for graduate school and began her studies in 1937.

0:07:29	She received a job in the office of the Social Security Administration through the National Institute of Public Affairs.

0:07:58	EE was aware of only one other female graduate student in economics.  Elizabeth Brandeis was prominent then.  She received equal treatment.

0:08:41	She minored in political science.

0:08:50	The Dean of Women had to approve her housing, which was on Princeton Avenue.  She later moved.

0:10:02	EE befriended Brandeis, Dorothy Reed Mendenhall, and others.

0:10:56	She was engaged to her instructor, who was completing his PhD.  After completing her master’s degree in one year she went to work at the Social Security Administration in Washington, D.C.  After that year she married in June 1939 and returned to Madison.

0:12:18	Her husband later became an assistant professor at UW.

0:13:17	They lived in Washington, D.C. for a year while her husband wrote price control programs.  EE continued to work as a junior economist.

0:14:19	They lived there for three years while her husband worked and EE raised their child.
	
0:15:18	Her husband returned to Madison as an associate professor; by this time they had three children.  By then EE decided she couldn’t pursue a PhD.

0:16:17	She describes her children and their current work.

0:18:06	Kay Clarenbach secured a job for EE in the library school.

0:20:36	She then worked as a secretary of the board at the Wisconsin Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. 

0:22:40	EE talks about the Nature Conservancy.  She had responsibilities for stewardship and was assisted by a graduate student.

0:26:14	She describes some of her colleagues.

0:28:10	After leaving the library school job she was low on self-confidence.  Fan Taylor secured her an interview for a conservation education program.

0:31:29	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

0:31:52	Emily Earley continues to describe her work for the conservation education program and later at the Institute for Environmental Studies.  She had an office in the Meteorology Building before moving out to the WARF Building.

0:33:52	Later she had an office in Science Hall.

0:34:14	She describes her decision to retire in 1986.

0:34:39	She describes how she became a trustee of Northland College.

0:39:58	Other activities since retirement include service on the Nature Conservancy and the Dane County Natural Heritage Foundation boards.  

0:40:37	Dave Cieslewicz encouraged her to join 1000 Friends of Wisconsin.

0:42:46	She talks about her travels around the world bird-watching.

0:52:27	Trip to Indonesia.

0:54:07	Trip to Papua New Guinea.

0:59:22	New Zealand.

1:00:15	EE talks about her editorial work for the Institute for Environmental Studies.  She worked there from 1970 to 1986.

1:02:05	She describes the Walrus Club, which was started by women faculty members.

1:03:03	End of side.  End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

1:03:05	Emily Earley continues to talk about the Walrus Club.

1:06:38	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END