On Wisconsin!

Watermelon Queen, n.d. (Image #S13945)

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Lake Monona / July 2016

Cow Appreciation Day, July 12, 2016

Wisconsin is the milk-cow center of the US, with perhaps more cow-appreciators per square kilometer than any other place in the country (although California might take issue with that). Nineteenth-century Wisconsin farmer N. B. White was so appreciative of cows that he published this now quite rare and very fragile 1897 treatise, Thirty Years Among Cows, in Onconomowoc, Wisconsin (a town about 56 kilometers due west of Milwaukee). Not just a memoir of his bovine experiences, it is also a practical treatise on the joyful practice of raising healthy stock intended for the young. It includes fascinating sections on milk fever, calving, abortion, silage, feed, housing, and manure – captivating reading for any true, corn-fed Wisconsin youth.

Cow Appreciation, Pt. 2

Today, in further celebration of Cow Appreciation Day, we bring you the lovely and iconic Elsie the Cow. This book walked through our door just yesterday and we are oh-so-thankful for its timing. Here in the dairy state (or at least at UWM Special Collections), the only thing we like more than appreciating cows is appreciating cows who stand up for women’s rights. 

Elsie the Cow was written by Monte Sohn, illustrated by Walter Early, and published by Dodd, Mead, & Company in 1943. In the story, Elsie and the other cows decide they no longer want to give milk so they are able to spend their time and energy doing the things they want to do, rather than giving milk to those who don’t appreciate it. While the book is full of nasty gender stereotypes and probably the most cringe-worthy husband ever encountered in a book for children, Elsie’s willingness to stand up for underappreciated women and change their circumstances is certainly worthy of appreciation.