CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Glenn Wise

American politician (1896–1991)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ5568968 ↗
Source-derived summary

Glenn Evelyn Miller Wise (July 14, 1896 – September 24, 1991) was an American statistician, and Republican politician from Sauk County, Wisconsin. She was the 26th secretary of state of Wisconsin, from 1955 to 1957; appointed by Governor Walter J. Kohler Jr. after the death of Secretary of State Fred R. Zimmerman, she was the first woman to hold statewide office in Wisconsin.

Early life and education

Glenn Wise was born Glenn Evelyn Miller on July 14, 1896, in Wyocena, Wisconsin. As a child, she moved with her parents to La Valle in Sauk County, where she was raised and educated. She graduated from Reedsburg Area High School, then earned a B.A. at Milwaukee-Downer College in 1917, and an M.A. in economics at the University of Wisconsin in 1919.

Career

She was employed as a secretary in the Department of Economics of UW for two years, then went into business as the organizer and director of the Employment Exchange of the Washington School for Secretaries in Washington, D.C., before taking employment as a statistician at the University of Wisconsin. She was active in the Republican Party, being a particularly avid supporter of Wendell Willkie.

Office

Miller was appointed Secretary of State of Wisconsin by Governor Kohler on January 3, 1955, to fill the vacancy caused by the death in office of Secretary of State Fred R. Zimmerman, becoming Wisconsin's first woman Secretary of State. Zimmerman's son, Robert C. Zimmerman defeated her in the 1956 Republican primary.

Editorial summary

“Glenn Wise” enters the record as american politician (1896–1991). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Glenn, Wise and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1896, 1991, 1955, 1957—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1896-07-14. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Glenn, Wise and American.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Glenn Wise” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Glenn, Wise and American provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5568968. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1991, 1955 and 1957.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Glenn Wise”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Glenn Wise primary sources, Glenn Wise archive and Glenn research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Glenn Wise”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Glenn Wise” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.