A historical survey is given of the experimental multipole and tokamak fusion research programme carried out at the University of Wisconsin since 1962. The programme has concentrated on axisymmetric toroidal confinement through the utilization of a series of different multipole devices and of a poloidal divertor tokamak. The gross plasma stability and good confinement properties of the multipoles led to a number of experimental results not easily achievable in other toroidal devices. The paper describes the major results obtained in multipoles with and without Ohmic heating current and toroidal field, and their influence on the development of plasma theory. In the poloidal divertor tokamak, stable discharges have been found at very low values of the safety factor.