UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #582
NAFZIGER, MONONA

NAFZIGER, Monona (1907-2005)
                                                                                          Undergraduate Student in Journalism; Wife of Journalism Professor Ralph Nafziger	
At UW: 1925-1928
Interviewed: 2002	
Interviewer: Alma Baron	
Length: 1 hour	, 3 minutes				

Childhood in Canada; Move to Madison; Husband Ralph Nafziger’s decision to study journalism at UW; Jobs she had in Madison; William G. Bleyer; University League; Journalism building; Travels to Germany and Austria; Husband Ralph’s sense of modesty.

First Interview Session (April 26, 2002): Tape 1

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:07	Monona Nafziger talks about her childhood in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She says that in 1925 she moved to Madison.

00:01:07	MN talks about her husband Ralph's interest in journalism and his decision to study at UW-Madison. She says that he decided to teach instead of going into foreign service.

00:03:21	MN describes her training as a musician. Because she already had almost all the requirements for a music degree when she came to Madison, she decided to study journalism instead. She talks about her father.

00:05:54	MN recalls how she and Ralph met and then started dating.

00:08:03	MN says that she graduated in 1928 and became society editor for the Capital Times. She also wrote obituaries and the weather column. She decided to take a position with Wisconsin Power and Light because she didn't find her work interesting.

00:10:04	MN describes some of the trips that she and Ralph took. They found it very challenging to supervise a group of students on a trip to Europe in 1953. She talks about the births of her children in Minneapolis.

00:13:00	MN recalls that her father, who studied English under Dr. William G. Bleyer, volunteered for a course that Bleyer was thinking of starting. She says that administrators were thinking of discontinuing the program before they hired Ralph.

00:16:41	MN talks about some of the professors in the journalism department when Ralph joined the department, including Frank Thayer.

00:19:07	MN describes her involvement with the University League. She says that she was on the first committee of the Madison Friends of International Students, which was organized by Lois Hartshorne. MN says that Hartshorne did not receive sufficient credit for her work.

00:20:15	MN mentions that she and Ralph lived in Berlin, Germany, where he started a journalism training center. She recalls that she bought a lot of wiener schnitzel because it was one of the few German phrases that she knew.

00:25:05	MN talks about her mother, who was also a journalist. She recalls her childhood in Winnipeg, which included many hard times. Crop failures three years in a row prompted her family to move to Madison. She describes her mother's determination that she and her sister go to university despite their lack of money.

00:28:04	MN describes her mother's volunteer work. During the Depression, she asked MN to pack up her best toys to give to a poor family. She continues to talk about her mother and her mother's church.

00:34:20	MN talks briefly about Ralph's work in international journalism.

00:35:17	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:35:20	MN remembers that Ralph requested a journalism building when he came back to UW. Someone she doesn’t identify thought the building should be named for him, but the building ended up being named Vilas because the Vilas Fund paid for it.

00:38:41	MN says that the high point of her and Ralph's work at the university was their contact with students, and particularly the dinners they shared.

00:40:53	MN describes some photographs of her ancestors that her mother gave her.

00:42:20	MN talks about her great aunts, who ran a private school in Madison for many years. When they decided to retire, the university took over the school and turned it into Wisconsin High School.

00:44:27	MN describes Ralph's father's educational background.

00:46:10	MN talks about some of her and Ralph's other trips, including several months they spent in Vienna. She recalls going to the opera in Vienna and in East and West Berlin.

00:49:12	MN describes a few items in her apartment and their origin.

00:51:01	MN discusses William Bleyer's wife.

00:52:29	When Ralph retired, she remembers that he didn't want a present for himself.  Instead, a fund was started in his name to benefit the building. She says that she requested and received the right to approve any speakers who are invited to the Nafziger Room.

00:56:30	MN talks about Ralph's sense of modesty and his refusal to talk about himself. She describes her sons and their careers.

01:03:30	End of side. End of tape.

END