Happy Wanderers 4H Club Scrapbooks-Dane County Historical Society

Dane County Historical Society
Otto Schroeder Records Center
3101 Lake Farm Road
Madison, WI 53711
608-224-3605
dchs@danecountyhistory.org
http://www.danecountyhistory.org

Located in the Lussier Family Heritage Center, the Otto Schroeder Records Center is home to the Dane County Historical Society library and archives collection. It includes historical documentation of the people, places, businesses, and organizations with ties to Dane County, including: books, periodicals, maps, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, organizational records and other publications.

Happy Wanderers 4H Club Scrapbooks

4-H is a national youth organization which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension System, and through state and county branches on a more local level. 4-H seeks to empower youngsters, by encouraging them to “learn by doing.” While 4-H has its roots in agriculture, and is traditionally associated with rural topics, it has grown to encompass many other interests and hobbies of young people, such as computers, art, cooking, history, and photography. The group’s motto is "to make the best better,” and the 4 H’s in the name represent head, heart, hands, and health

4H had its roots in Wisconsin. There were over 2,100 4-H clubs operating in Wisconsin as of 2006, with about 50,000 youth enrolled. Wisconsin 4-H began in turn of the 20th century crop growing contests for youth. University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture Professor Ransom Asa Moore came up with a plan to involve farm youth in growing small plots of improved grain varieties in order to show their parents the potential economic advantages of the improved crop strains. Traditional farmers were slow to accept technological changes on the farm, and it was felt that through a program of youth experimentation, changes would occur at a faster pace. Contests and programs similar to the Wisconsin one popped up, and in 1914, when Congress created the Cooperative Extension Office, there were provisions included to organize boys and girls clubs. This is where the 4-H got its start.

Our Happy Wanderers 4-H Club Records collection consists of official record books (1961-1988) and four scrapbooks (1961-1976) that fully document the activities of a very active youth organization over the course of several generations. The scrapbooks include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, the group’s recognition certificates, award ribbons, programs, and detailed activity reports. It appears the scrapbooks were created simultaneously with the records files in order to save all of the materials that would not fit into the organization’s official record books. Of particular interest are the many programs for county and statewide 4-H activities that the Happy Wanderers participated in, including various music festivals, drama festivals, fairs, talent shows, dog shows, a foods revue, and speaking contests. There are also numerous items documenting the group’s yearly celebration of "June Dairy Month,” a statewide event to educate the public on the values of dairy products. There are several club-produced cookbooks and other dairy promotional items that were distributed to the public included within the collection.

The group was known as the Glendale Glowers 4-H Club until November 1965. The Happy Wanderers 4-H Club was one of many Madison, Wisconsin area branches of 4-H. The records do not indicate when the group formally disbanded, but there is no longer a 4-H chapter in Madison operating under this name.