UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #290
HAMMILL, EARL. W. and SHUMAN, ARTHUR W.

HAMMILL, Earl W. (1911- )
Undergraduate Student
At UW: 1929-1934

and SHUMAN, Arthur W. (1913- )
Undergraduate Student
At UW: 1929-1934

Interviewed: 1984	
Interviewer: Laura Smail   
Length: 1.5 hours

Their backgrounds; Reasons for coming to UW and choosing course in commerce; Housing; Formality of classes; Instructors; Jobs; Social life; Influential English teacher; Memorial Union; Athletics; Racism on campus; State Street; Daily Cardinal; Graduation; Importance of campus churches; Quality of education; Their careers.

Tape 1/Side 1

00:00:52	Shuman: background.

00:03:26	Major was accounting.  Brother graduated from School of Commerce and provided an example of the rewards of a college education.

00:04:00	Financing an education during the depression.  Lived at home while attending school.  Tuition was $22, housing was a major expense for most students, but not in Shuman's case.

00:04:48	Hammill: background.  Friends at University of Wisconsin influenced his decision to attend Madison.  Visited UW in 1929.

00:07:15	Accounting as a major.

00:08:10	Housing situation.  Hammill roomed in a boarding house which was attended to by a retired couple.  Good home surrounding and good food.

00:09:15	Shuman: living at home on Vilas Avenue.  Dampened his involvement in campus social affairs.

00:10:43	Classes and professors: fifty minutes in length, an hour per credit.  Sixteen credits per semester.  Discussion sessions taught by graduate students or instructors.  Professors taught during the regular lecture hours.  Very formal situation and a change for a new freshman who was not used to being addressed as Mr. so and so.

00:12:25	Hammill: interested in studying because he felt he was lucky to be attending the UW during such hard times.  Hammill and Shuman had many accounting courses together.  Dean Elwell--very strict, an all business professor, no talking in class, penalty for talking was removal for the day.  Very formal in addressing students.  Mustache with a round face.  Elwell had a booming voice when he lectured.  Elwell had the ability to remember his former students and would mention many of them and their achievements during his lectures.  Perhaps his way of noticing his success rate as a professor.  Hammill recalls attending a lecture fifteen to twenty years after he graduated.  Elwell was the guest speaker and he remembered his former student, Hammill, with no difficulty.

00:18:55	Other instructors mentioned.

00:19:50	Female instructors included Irene Hensey and Angeline Lins, both in accounting courses and very good instructors.

00:20:30	J. C. Gibson, Walter Morton and Philip G. Fox (Commerce Professors).

00:22:10	Social involvement with faculty was very limited.  In fact, it was not common to see professors outside of the educational framework.

00:23:00	Other courses outside of the School of Commerce.  Shuman recalls Professor Kiekhofer from the School of Economics as a popular and controversial lecturer.

00:24:50	Hammill: working during the summer at the County Treasurer's Office as a clerk to save money for the upcoming school year.  Shuman: retail clerk at a grocery store on every Saturday and on Sunday he worked at a local drugstore.  This furnished his spending money.

00:26:15	Social life.  Attending movies or the Military Ball at the Memorial Union.  Prom.

00:28:25	Professors and instructors: Kiekhofer, Elwell and Wilder as most outstanding or influential professors.  Wilder in the English department roused Shuman's interest in literature.

00:29:23	End of side.

Tape 1/Side 2

00:29:28	Instructor Wilder continued.

00:30:20	Leisure time spent at Barnard Hall.  Memorial Union was a popular place to hang out at.  Bridge games and pool games were big at the Union.

00:32:50	Red Gym housed the basketball games before the field house.  Coach Meanwell.  Bill Aspinwall.  Hammill was a band member and enjoyed playing at Camp Randall for the games.  Major Murphy was the director of the University band.

00:36:40	Hammill: no recollection of one particular class which inspired him above other classes.  Music was the main interest outside the School of Commerce.

00:38:21	Sports heroes included Ernie Leslie and Mickey McGuire.  McGuire would punt barefoot.  Recalls the Minnesota game McGuire played well in.

00:39:37	Baseball as an outside activity.  Basketball developed by church leagues.

00:43:00	Politics did not change for either Shuman or Hammill due to the depression, although they were not politically involved.  Recall the depression as peculiar rather than a great hardship.  Professor William Taylor mentioned.

00:48:45	Peace Movement during 1933 and 1934.

00:49:48	Student Health Center.

00:51:26	State Street in Madison.  Orpheum had vaudeville and orchestra.  This was a Saturday night treat to go to State Street.

00:55:58	Daily Cardinal was viewed as a liberal group always having controversial editorial staff.  Created difficulty with the more conservative students on campus.

00:58:00	End of side. End of tape.

Tape 2/Side 1

00:58:05	Graduation.  Shuman did return to attend the graduation ceremonies.  Hammill graduated in mid-semester and was not able to attend the June ceremony.  Glenn Frank was President at that time and it was a very hot day.

00:59:48	Experimental College and Professor Meiklejohn.  Never knew the students.

01:00:37	Church and its importance.  Presbyterian Pres House was a popular spot for some students.  The Lutheran Church also had activities.

01:03:40	View regarding the quality of the education received at the UW-Madison.  Both feel that they were well educated and felt that the education received at Madison was instrumental for passing the CPA exam which they took upon graduation.  Both Hammill and Shuman passed the CPA exam the first time.  This is very rare.  Only five people passed the exam the year they took it.  Preparation for the exam.

01:07:04	Acquiring a job upon graduation was not very difficult for either Hammill and Shuman.  They both worked for the government as accountants.

01:10:12	Rating the University years and the importance of the education received at Madison.  Both view college years as the most important and the most enjoyable years of their lives.

01:11:48	Racism at the Madison campus towards Jews and Blacks.

01:13:38	End of interview.

END