lawyer, politician, librarian, b. Madison. He graduated from Baker Univ., Kansas (B.A., 1892; M.A., 1897), and the Univ. of Wisconsin (LL.B., 1895). He set up a law practice in Madison. A Republican, he was district attorney for Dane County (1899-1903), and state assemblyman (1903-1904). He was state legislative librarian and director of the Univ. of Wisconsin library school (1909-1920). In 1920 he moved to Milwaukee to become director of the Milwaukee Public Library and held this position until his retirement in 1941. Dudgeon was a leader in correlating adult education with library work. J. G. Gregory, Hist. of Milwaukee (4 vols., Chicago, 1931); Bull. Amer. Library Assoc., 24 (1930); Milwaukee journal, July 27, 1949.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Matthew Simpson Dudgeon Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]