University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives Department.

Great Lakes Commission.

Records, 1955-1965.

Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CX

2.8 cubic ft. (7 archives boxes)

ABSTRACT: Records of the Commission, a joint agency of eight states concerned with Great Lakes water resources developments, programs and problems; consisting of general and subject correspondence with related materials.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law. However, the researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY: The Great Lakes Commission was established by the eight Great Lakes states in 1955 under the Great Lakes Basin Compact, an interstate compact designating the Commission as the states' joint instrumentality on Great Lakes water resource developments, programs and problems. The movement to establish the Commission earlier had been launched in 1954 at a regional conference sponsored by the Council of State Governments. Attended by representatives of all the eight states, the conference unanimously adopted a resolution creating an interstate committee to draft the Great Lakes Basin Compact. Following completion of the work of the drafting committee in the same year, five states--Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin--ratified enabling legislation to the Compact during the 1955 legislative sessions. The Commission itself was organized in December of the same year. Pennsylvania subsequently became a member of the Commission in 1956, New York joined in 1960, and Ohio ratified the Compact in 1963. Congressional consent to the Compact was finalized on July 24, 1968. The House and Senate passed S. 660 and the President signed the bill which became P.L. 90-419.

As their joint statutory agency, the commission provided three services to the states. It served as a clearinghouse for information on important developments on the Great Lakes and itself prepared special studies, bulletins and reports to assist governmental officials and others in the use, protection and further development of these water resources. It provides the states with a recognized and continuing council, under their direction and control, for joint consideration of common and regional problems on the Great Lakes. It coordinates the viewpoints and plans of member states to advance the programs and policies at all levels of government which the states feel are in their interest and the region's interest.

The Commission is composed of from three to five members from each member state, selected in accordance with the provisions in its enabling legislation to the Compact, with each state having three votes. The Commission carries on its program through at least two meetings annually, five standing committees, special committees as needed, and the staff of its office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. An executive committee, consisting of the chairman of the Commission and one representative from each member state, exercises general supervision over the Commission's activities and program between the regular meetings of the Commission.

Close cooperation is maintained between the Commission and states and agencies administering Great Lakes water resources programs. Each state delegation on the Commission regularly submits reports on each meeting of the Commission to the Governor and to state agencies with Great Lakes interests and responsibilities. Special reports on Great Lakes developments are made to the Governors and other state officials and bodies as warranted, and regular reports are made to the Governor and the Legislature in each member state every two years.

Financial support for the Commission's program derives from state appropriations. The present share for each member state is $9,000 annually plus such funds as are needed to reimburse the state's commissioners for expenses incurred in Commission activities.

Harry C. Brockel, director of the port of Milwaukee and secretary of the Milwaukee Harbor Commission, has been connected with the port in one way or another since leaving high school. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, 18 September 1908, the son of Thomas J. and Margaret (Strachan) Brockel, and was educated in the public schools of Milwaukee, being graduated from the Lincoln High School in 1926. Since that time, he has worked with the harbor commission. After acting as a junior clerk and office boy for a time, he was promoted in 1928 to the position of assistant to the traffic director and in 1936 he was made secretary to the commission. In September, 1942, he was appointed municipal director of the port of Milwaukee, a position whose duties included the construction of dock facilities, dredging, transportation and planning public port improvements.

Mr. Brockel is well known in port circles and has been the secretary of the Great Lakes Harbors Association and a director of the American Association of Port Authorities. He is a member of the Milwaukee Traffic Club, the Chicago Traffic Club, the Municipal Engineers' Association, the American Society of Military Engineers and the Milwaukee Government Service League of Which he has been a director. Mr. Brockel has also been vice chairman of the Wisconsin Deep Waterways Commission from 1945, a member of the Great Lakes Commission from 1954, chairman of the governor's committee of the st. Lawrence Seaway Project from 1952 and a member of the advisory board of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation for 1954. in addition, he has been a member of the advisory board of the Great Lakes Pilotage Administration, a federal port controller for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway ports, a member of the export expansion council of the Department of Commerce and also of the Advisory Council on Naval Affairs of the World Affairs Council. Mr. Brockel has been a member and past director of the National rivers and Harbors Congress, the U.S. Coast Guard League and the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Navy League, the American Society for Public Administration and past president of the Milwaukee chapter, the Milwaukee Athletic Club, the Masons and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

Mr. Brockel has been the recipient of many awards, among them, the Good Government Award of the Milwaukee Jr. Chamber of Commerce for 1957, the Distinguished Public Service Award of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce for 1954, the National Public Service Award of the Fraternal Order of Eagles for 1954, the Pere Marquette Award of Marquette University in 1956, the Distinguished Engineering Service Award of the University of Wisconsin in 1958 and the award of the Cosmopolitan Club in 1959. Mr. Brockel is presently affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

COLLECTION CITATION: This collection should be cited as:

Great Lakes Commission. Records, 1955-1965. Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CX. Wisconsin Historical Society. Milwaukee Area Research Center. UWM Meir Libraries. University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

RELATED COLLECTIONS:

Brockel, Harry C., 1908-1985. Papers, 1954-1968. (Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CZ)

Great Lakes Harbor Association. Records, 1926-1970. (Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CW)

Milwaukee Board of Harbor Commissioners. Records, 1934-1973. (Milwaukee Series 50)

ACQUISITION: The Great Lakes Commission records came to the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1966 directly from Mr. Harry Brockel (accession number M66-469).

MARC RECORD SEARCH TERMS: The following terms were used in the online bibliographic MARC record to this collection:

Communication in water resources development--United States.
Great Lakes--Navigation.
Great Lakes--Regulation.
Great Lakes--Water level.
Harbors--Law and legislation--Great Lakes.
Interstate agencies--United States--Records and correspondence.
Milwaukee (Wis.)--History--Sources.
Water resources development--United States.

MILWAUKEE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION CX	BOX	FOLDER
Annual Meeting and Newsletter, 1957-1958	7	4
Committee on Seaway and Navigation, 1958-1961	5	4
Committee on Seaway and Navigation, 1961-1962	5	5
Committee on Seaway and Navigation, 1963-1965	5	6
Conference of Great Lakes Governors, 1959-1962	7	1
G.L.C. Meeting, Papers Presented, 1956	1	1
G.L.C. Seaway Institute, 1963-1964	5	7
G.L.C. Seaway Institute, 1963-1964	5	8
General Correspondence, 1955-1956	1	2
General Correspondence, 1956	1	3-5
General Correspondence, 1956-1957	1	6
General Correspondence, 1957	1	7
General Correspondence, 1957	2	1-2
General Correspondence, 1957-1958	2	6
General Correspondence, 1958	2	3-5
General Correspondence, 1958-1959	3	1
General Correspondence, 1959	3	2-3
General Correspondence, 1960	3	4-5
General Correspondence, 1960-1961	3	6
General Correspondence, 1961	3	7
General Correspondence, 1962	4	1-2
General Correspondence, 1962-1963	4	3
General Correspondence, 1963	4	4
General Correspondence, 1963-1964	4	5
General Correspondence, 1964	4	6
Import-Export Rate Study, 1957-1958	5	1
Import-Export Rate Study, 1958	5	2
Import-Export Rate Study, 1959-1960	5	3
Pilotage, 1960-1962	6	2
Pilotage, 1958-1960	6	1
Water Pollution and Sanitation (Harbors and Vessels), 1960-1964	7	2
Water Pollution and Sanitation (Harbors and Vessels), 1964-1965	7	3
Water Resources, Diversion and Lake Levels, 1959-1960	6	3
Water Resources, Diversion and Lake Levels, 1960-1961	6	4
Water Resources, Diversion and Lake Levels, 1961-1963	6	5
Water Resources, Diversion and Lake Levels, 1963-1965	6	6