These papers catalogued as Series 2419 represent Patrick J. Lucey's official papers as governor of Wisconsin. Lucey's personal papers were deeded to the Historical Society as a private donation, and they are consequently separately arranged and catalogued as Mss 785. That collection covers his career both before and after he took office, as well as his gubernatorial campaigns. In 1998, when the Lucey gubernatorial papers (Series 2419) were arranged and described at least 60 cubic feet (including at least six feet of 1975 legislative files) were discovered to be missing. Internal evidence suggests that these records had been mistakenly destroyed at the Department of Administration's Record Center prior to shipment to the Historical Society in 1980. Several types of records commonly found in gubernatorial collections are not included in Series 2419. Because the appointment files and some legal office records span the administrations of Lucey and Acting Governor Martin Schreiber they have been separately catalogued.

The Lucey gubernatorial papers are arranged as PERSONAL MATERIAL, PRESS AND PUBLICITY, GENERAL INDEXES, CORRESPONDENCE, AGENCY FILES, LEGISLATIVE FILES, STAFF FILES, and SUBJECT FILES.

Despite the designation “PERSONAL MATERIAL,” there is little true personal information in the Lucey Gubernatorial Papers. Rather, this designation was apparently used by the office staff to refer to correspondence and other matters handled by the governor's office that did not concern his official functions. Included is chronologically arranged correspondence, biographical material and memorabilia, campaign miscellany, information on trips and a meeting with Jimmy Carter, sympathy letters on the death of his mother, information about his wife Jean Lucey, congratulations on his appointment as ambassador to Mexico, and a file entitled “old reading file.” (Other reading file materials are scattered throughout the collection and are clearly recognizable, as the governor always initialed everything he read, sometimes adding historically interesting comments for the staff.) Of special interest is the correspondence pertaining to Lucey's leadership in the George McGovern Presidential campaign in 1972. The prevalence of citations to the personal correspondence in the GENERAL INDEX when compared to the relative small size of this series suggests that some personal correspondence may have been retained by Governor Lucey. The majority of the personal correspondence in the series dates from the years 1971 to 1972. The party correspondence filed here is also incomplete, as only 1971 is documented. Documentation of Lucey's gubernatorial campaigns is located in his private papers, not in this public records series.

The PRESS AND PUBLICITY consists of records arranged alphabetically by document type (press releases, schedules, speeches, and so forth), together with the drafting files of Hal Wilde, a speech writer, 1972-1973, and some briefing material. There are also 111 unprocessed recordings of press conferences, speeches, and local meetings, as well as film and videos. The press briefing papers are not complete. These records are daily editorial summaries and photocopies of important stories, but they date only from the period September 1973-September 1974. This press monitoring system continued at least until 1976, as an isolated summary was found elsewhere in the collection. The Zins/Wood briefing file is so named because it appears to have been a file used by these two staff members. Its purpose is not clear, but it probably was more political in nature. Included are briefings on issues and candidates for state and local offices, correspondence, political and demographic profiles of counties and electoral districts, and state agency material. The general briefing material documents only a few press conferences. These files primarily document the work of Press Secretary Jeff Smoller, and they contain departmental memoranda circulated to the governor to prepare him for questioning, lists of anticipated questions, and handwritten notes about the governor's remarks. Holdings of miscellaneous files such as the editorial digests, the “executive data capsules,” the “mail at a glance” file, the mass mailings (form letters), and press packets are so incomplete that they serve more as evidence of the manner in which the press office operated than as a true historical record of the Lucey Administration.

The beepers, 1973-1977; the aforementioned daily briefing file; the press releases, 1970-1977; and the schedules, 1971-1977, are all arranged chronologically, and all are only available on microfilm. Use of the press releases is facilitated by a subject card index. (This index can also be used as a tool for subject access to the series as a whole.) Lucey's speeches consist of chronologically-arranged materials of varying coverage. For some speeches there are drafts, reading copies annotated in Lucey's own hand, and mimeographed versions distributed to the press. For others, there are only the final mimeographed copy. In addition, for some speeches such as the State of the State Address there are numerous drafts and a published edition in the Government Documents section of the Historical Society Library. With the speeches are the files (1971-1975) of speech writer Hal Wilde. His files consist of alphabetically arranged general material and a chronological file of notes, background material, and speech drafts. In addition to administrative materials, Wilde's general material includes draft materials for the “Lucey Record,” a document evidently prepared for the 1974 campaign. Written (as opposed to spoken) expressions of Lucey's ideas are sparse, consisting primarily of a few published and unpublished magazine and newspaper articles.

The GENERAL INDEXES consist of 3×5 cards divided into three overlapping alphabetical sets, one of which is incomplete. The reason for three files is not apparent, and researchers will need to request boxes from all three sets when searching for particular correspondents. The cards index the agency files (now including the former boards and commissions and task force files which are referred to on the cards as “B and C” for boards and commissions), the subject files, the personal files, the VIP political correspondence, and the legislative correspondence. The appointment correspondence which is also referred to in the index has been catalogued as a separate series, as it also includes material from the Schreiber administration. The employment files which are also cited in the indexes were not retained by the Archives.

The CORRESPONDENCE is arranged as VIP Political Correspondence, General Correspondence, and Prisoner Correspondence. The alphabetically-arranged VIP section contains exchanges with state and federal legislators, mayors, governors, and the President. Only Wisconsin legislators and the Presidents are arranged by name; other congressmen, governors, and Wisconsin mayors are combined by category. Virtually all of Wisconsin's legislators and the entire congressional delegation are represented here, with the most prominent being Les Aspin, Alvin Baldus, David Berger, Dennis Conta, Glenn Davis, Henry Dorman, Anthony Earl, Robert Kastenmeier, Ernest Keppler, Gaylord Nelson, Richard Nixon, David Obey, William Proxmire, Henry Reuss, Harout Sanasarian, Martin Schreiber, Lary Swoboda, Tommy Thompson, and Clement Zablocki. These files include exchanges about appointments, constituent problems, legislation, and less often, politics.

The general correspondence is arranged alphabetically by initial letter of the correspondent's surname and chronologically thereunder. This correspondence covers a wide variety of topics ranging from personal problems and concerns to requests for information. There is some duplication here with the subject-based series. The prisoner files consist of alphabetical correspondence. The files are divided into clemency mail and general correspondence concerning prison conditions and so forth, b by initial letter of the correspondent's surname and chronologically thereunder. This correspondence covers a wide variety of topics ranging from personal problems and concerns to requests for information. There is some duplication here with the subject-based series. The prisoner files consist of alphabetical correspondence. The files are divided into clemency mail and general correspondence concerning prison conditions and so forth, but the filing distinction is not always precise.

AGENCY FILES document Lucey's relations with state agencies, commissions, and special task forces, as well as with federal agencies. Wisconsin agencies and their primary subdivisions are arranged alphabetically by name or keyword rather than by organizational hierarchy. Thus, the Department of Natural Resources is arranged as Natural Resources, Department of, and the Forestry Bureau, a subdivision of DNR, is arranged directly under the keyword forestry. Although the coverage varies, the most extensively documented offices are typically represented by the communications with the administrative officers and by budget materials. The most important departments are represented by Cabinet Files, because their administrative officers were part of Lucey's policy-making cabinet. The Cabinet Files contain correspondence and memoranda from administrators such as David Adamany, Norman Clapp, Dennis Conta, Anthony Earl, and John Weaver; constituent letters; minutes; speeches; and other administrative items selected as a special reading file to inform Lucey of important departmental activities. Although some of the agency information circulated to Lucey duplicates information in that agency's files in the Archives, for some such as the Office of Highway Safety Coordination or the Bureau of Collective Bargaining the files contain documentation that is otherwise unavailable. Preceding the Agency Files are minutes and agenda materials for a few cabinet meetings, 1971-1972.

The LEGISLATIVE FILES are subdivided into general legislation and budget files, with each section subdivided by biennium. The general files include constituent correspondence, which is sometimes extensive, and evaluations of bills from agencies and the governor's staff. The budget bills include extensive supporting material prepared by the DOA budget office and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. These materials are missing from the DOA's own files received by the Historical Society for the Lucey years, and so they have been retained here. They include evaluations prepared by DOA in preparing the executive budget and some materials prepared by the Fiscal Bureau for use of the Joint Finance Committee. In addition, the 1971 budget is represented by transcripts of extensive hearings held around the state before Lucey took office. These hearings concerned not only budget matters but also state issues generally. The 1977-1979 budget files also include notes and background information of Dick Ehlenfeldt, a DOA executive assistant. Because Lucey left office before the conclusion of the 1977 legislative year, the majority of those legislative materials are part of the gubernatorial records of Martin Schreiber.

In addition to the aforementioned files of various members of the press relations staff, the collection includes other STAFF FILES. The majority of these files are alphabetically-arranged subject files. Represented are top policy advisers Richard Weening and Hal Bergan, environmental adviser Farnon Alston, and legal counsels David Hase and Allen “Sandy” Williams, as well as small, personnel-like files on other members of the staff such as Bill Dixon, Blake Kellogg, and Joseph Sensenbrenner. Hal Bergan's file is complemented by a separately-catalogued policy file that also refers to his tenure as executive assistant to Acting Governor Schreiber.

The alphabetically-arranged SUBJECT FILES document a host of issues that were of concern during the Lucey Administration. Many of the topics were quite controversial. Coverage varies, but the files generally include constituent correspondence, staff and agency memoranda, and background information. Among the most extensively documented topics are abortion, gun control, and taxes as well as the takeover of the Alexian Brothers Novitiate at Gresham, the proposed Kickapoo Dam, Menominee Indians, and Wisconsin's sister-state support for Nicaragua.