historian, professor, director of the State Historical Society, b. Muscoda. He graduated from the Madison, S.D., normal school (1890), taught school for a few years in Grant County, and graduated from the Univ. of Wisconsin (B.A., 1894; M.A., 1900; Ph.D., 1906). In 1900 he was appointed to the history faculty of the Univ. of Oregon, served as departmental chairman there (1904-1920), and during World War I served in Washington, D.C., as vice-chairman of the wartime National Board for Historical Service (1918). In 1920 he returned to Wisconsin to become superintendent of the State Historical Society, serving in this capacity until his death. Although he had published several volumes of historical research while teaching at the Univ. of Oregon, it was while directing the Wisconsin Society that Schafer developed into a mature scholar. Schafer felt that generalizations on state and national history could only be made after intensive studies of local and area conditions. In his "Wisconsin Domesday" project, completed during his years at the Historical Society, Schafer attempted to examine microscopically the development of regional society and economy in Wisconsin, and the results of these investigations were published by the Historical Society in four volumes of the "Wisconsin Studies" series. A student of Frederick Jackson Turner (q.v.) while pursuing his graduate work at the Univ. of Wisconsin, Schafer was one of the most adamant defenders of the "Turner Thesis" when it came under severe criticism in the 1930's. Schafer continued his regional history investigations, and was recognized as a leader in the field of agricultural history and immigrant society. These and other studies were published in numerous articles and editorials in the Wisconsin Magazine of History. He was president (1927) of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, and of the Agricultural History Association (1931). One of the outstanding historians and administrators of his day, Schafer was guest lecturer at the Univ. of London (1936), where he delivered a series of lectures on the history of American agriculture. Who's Who in Amer., 21 (1940); State Hist. Soc. Wis., J. Schafer (Madison, 1942); Wis. Mag, Hist., 24; Madison Capital Times, Jan. 27, 1941.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Joseph Schafer Letters to Henry Sheldon for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]