Woodworking shop

Before Hans Schmidt became the director of the new Department of Industrial Education at Oshkosh Normal, the seeds of manual arts instruction had already been sown. In 1902, Livingston Summers came to Oshkosh with a strong belief that industrial arts should be taught to children throughout their school career. For this dream to be realized, the state's school teachers needed to be trained. Summers taught handicrafts work to Normalites in basketry, sheet metals, book binding and carving. Seven years later, in 1909, Richard Gruenhagen expanded the offerings to include cabinet making. Then in 1912, Industrial Education became an official department in the school with a building of its own, now known as Harrington Hall, and a new director, Hans Schmidt. Schmidt's leadership and innovation at Oshkosh later earned him the position of State Superintendent of Industrial Arts.

Section of forgery

In the 1920s Oshkosh Normal and even the U.S. Congress, with the salary subsidies contained in the Smith-Hughes Act, helped to fill the growing need for industrial arts educators. The students, most of them men and many of them World War I veterans, learned to produce wonderful pieces of furniture as well as discovered the secrets of foundry work, mechanical drawing, and machine shops. At the same time, these students learned pedagogical methods and took their skills, in practice, to the upper grades of the city's schools. The influx of male students at Oshkosh Normal also greatly enhanced the social life of school as well as its athletic teams.