but only because of the hard work of Turner and the wisdom of the Board of Regents. Moreover, Ely's defense was that he was innocent of the charges. What if he had advocated unions, strikes, and socialistic ideas in his classes? What might have happened under the hands of a more popular and skillful politician than Wells? The regents’ resounding and inspiring defense of academic freedom was good only for as long as they continued to support it. New regents with new ideas could put aside the resolution of the old board. And, of course, the statement applied only to the University of Wisconsin.
While the Wells-Ely controversy percolated in Wisconsin, one of Ely's former students, Edward W. Bemis of the University of Chicago, made the mistake of criticizing the railroads during the Pullman Strike. William Rainey Harper, president of the University of Chicago, quickly informed Bemis that his speech had caused Harper a great deal of annoyance. “It is hardly safe for me to venture into any of the Chicago clubs,” Harper complained. “During the remainder of your connection with the University…exercise very great care in public utterance about questions that are agitating the minds of the people.”33 At the end of the academic year Bemis was dropped from the faculty without further explanation. If Bolton learned anything from the Ely and Bemis controversies, it was to avoid them.
When Herbert returned to the university in the fall of 1894, his younger brother Roy accompanied him. Roy had just finished high school, and his immediate enrollment in the university seemed to vindicate Bolton family sacrifices for higher education. Fred had worked for five years before attending college, and graduated at age twenty-six. Herbert worked intermittently before earning his baccalaureate at twenty-four. Roy enrolled in the university when he was seventeen and graduated in four years. Eventually he became a physician. For Herbert and for Roy the path to higher education was shorter than it had been for his older brother. Nor were the Bolton women left out of this educational parade of upward mobility. Each of the sisters attended college and some became schoolteachers. That the Boltons continued to attend college in the midst of the economic depression of the 1890s was a testament to their conviction that education would improve their lot.
Herbert's life in his final undergraduate year assumed the familiar routine of study, work, and planning for the future. His determination to study history was now fixed, largely because of the influence of Turner and Haskins, who were “ahead of all the others I have been under,” he told Fred.34 He was taking courses in U.S. constitutional history, social and economic history, and medieval history. By March Herbert was strategizing a campaign for employment after graduation. As usual, no stone was left unturned.35 Fred, who had been subsidizing Herbert for two years, planned to enter graduate school in Madison in the fall while anticipating additional study in the future at one of the great German universities. In the meantime, Herbert arranged for Fred to teach two “easy classes” in Madison to help meet expenses.36
In June 1895 Herbert graduated from the university. Now he had letters behind his name and all the rights and privileges that they conferred. He went off to Neillsville for the summer to teach with Fred. He was slated to replace Fred as principal of Kaukauna High School, so he and Gertrude could set a date: August 20, at the Janeses’ home in Tunnel City. The Bolton wedding was quite an affair. Herbert and Gertie took their vows before one hundred witnesses, including some of his fraternity brothers, who sang college songs. The festivities lasted until evening when “amid showers of congratulations and rice and attended by the Theta Delta Chi yell,” the couple departed on a train. “We compassed our journey in due time,” Herbert wrote, “and very pleasantly.”37
Married life in Kaukauna was good, but the newlyweds knew that it was only a temporary home before returning to Madison for Herbert's graduate studies.38 He was already making plans. To make sure that the Wisconsin faculty did not forget him, he invited Turner to give a public lecture in Kaukauna.39 Not about to let his day job get in the way of his ultimate goal, Herbert did just enough to keep his employers satisfied and worked at night to prepare for graduate work. “Duty on the one hand holds me to my school work, and desire to rise lashes me on to burn the midnight oil for personal advancement.”40
After one year of study in absentia Herbert decided to go back to Madison. He hoped for a fellowship but knew that he could work at teaching and odd jobs as he had done while an undergraduate. The year in Kaukauna had been profitable. For the first time in his life Herbert had money in the bank. “We have saved about $100 every month.” Gertrude's household economy had no doubt helped that small nest egg grow. Teaching in a summer institute would add to the treasury.41 In the meantime Herbert was reading as much U.S. history as he could get his hands on, including works by Reuben Gold Thwaites, Francis Parkman, George Bancroft, John Bach McMaster, James Ford Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, John Fiske, and Justin Winsor. In the summer he studied for an exam on slavery from Turner.42
By the time Herbert reached Madison, Fred and his family were embarked on the long journey to Germany.43 Herbert buckled down to study in earnest. His instinct was to specialize and to investigate primary sources rather than to cover comprehensively the whole field of American history for exams, the results of which would soon be forgotten (as long as one passed). Cramming, or “bucking,” for exams “takes time and grubbing,” he wrote to Fred,” but investigation takes brains and luck in striking something good.“ By November Herbert believed that he had already found a good thesis subject, what he described as “the Abolition vote of 1844 [and] its effect on the different parties.” Orin G. Libby, one of Turner's doctoral students, said it would “open up a new field of investigation.”44 Libby was well qualified to appraise Bolton's subject. His published master's thesis was a pathbreaking study of voting patterns that foreshadowed the cliometric studies of the 1970s.45
Once again Bolton fell under Turner's classroom spell. Turner conceived his seminar to be a collaborative effort in which everyone, including him, worked on topics. They met in the Wisconsin Historical Society and used the collections and library there. Bolton listened carefully and offered useful suggestions. Turner's criticisms were gentle but pointed up the shortcomings of ill-prepared work. Bolton assimilated Turner's collaborative seminar philosophy and his gentle but revealing interrogation technique. Like Turner, Bolton presented himself as a helpful and well-informed coworker, although he eventually became a bit more avuncular with his own students than “the Master” was.46
Turner had his eye on Bolton. He asked him to teach extension courses at six dollars per student. Bolton agreed to do it for the money, which was always needed, and “to get a more personal hold on Turner.”47 He even hoped he might land a job on the Wisconsin faculty if he did a good job in the classroom, although he knew it was a long shot.
There is no question that Herbert favorably impressed the faculty and students at Wisconsin. His fellow graduate students elected him as their delegate to the Federation of Graduate Clubs, which was to meet in Baltimore at the end of December.48 The Wisconsin club paid his expenses, so Herbert jumped at the opportunity to go east. In Washington, D.C., he saw all of the sights that he could fit into forty-eight hours. He judged the capital to be “truly a magnificent city” with “an air of ‘swell-dom’ ” seen only rarely in other cities. Like any good tourist, he took in the Capitol, Library of Congress, Navy Yard, National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Ford's Theater, and the White House. Then he went down to Mount Vernon, saw “Lee's confiscated estate,” Washington's Masonic Lodge, and Christ Church, where both Washington and Lee worshiped. “I sat in both pews,” he added. Mount Vernon captured his imagination: “Truly a beautiful home in any age! And such a view up and down the grand old Potomac!” Then he “viewed The Tomb with such sacred memories for every American. Really such a visit is inspiring!”49
After these breast-swelling sights, the Federation of Graduate Clubs meeting in Baltimore was a bit of a letdown. Still, in a room full of strangers, Herbert soon became a center of attention. The delegates elected him secretary pro tem for the meeting and secretary for the coming year.50 This was
