The collection provides information about the activities and writings of one of the 1960s leading civil rights activists. However, it consists primarily of correspondence, little of which is personal in nature, and most of which is unsolicited response to Father Groppi's civil rights activities, especially during 1967-1968 when he was a controversial national figure for his inflammatory activism in support of racial integration. Therefore, as a resource the papers may be more valuable for research in public reaction to civil rights activists, particularly those in religious professions, than they are for a study of Groppi's life and work. The collection is arranged in eight series: Correspondence, Personal Material and Writing, Activities, Printed Material, Essays by Various Authors, Scrapbooks, Newspaper Articles, and Tape Recordings.

The CORRESPONDENCE is divided into twelve subseries. The Supportive, Criticism, and Hate segments are the most valuable in terms of public opinion. Of note in the Supportive file are telegrams from Jesse L. Jackson (February 28, 1968) and Martin Luther King Jr. (September 4, 1967), and a letter (February 26, 1968) from Walter Mondale. While some of the correspondence is in support of Father Groppi, the larger portion is not. Some of the letters opposing Groppi's ideological stance and actions are thoughtful, reasoned criticism; more of them are “hate” mail. Copies of form letters signed by Groppi requesting donations of money for food and fines, and dated May 19, June 21, July 19, 1967 and September 12, 1969, are filed with Supportive correspondence. Occasionally, donations received are recorded on letters in the Supportive and Criticism correspondence files, but letters sent to Groppi for the sole purpose of donating money to support his civil rights activities are found in the Donations file. The Personal correspondence and letters to Archbishop W.E. Cousins contain the only responses in the collection written by Father Groppi. Also included with Personal correspondence are birthday cards, letters from friends and associates, and a May 5, 1967 letter from Sheed and Ward Publishers suggesting that Groppi write his autobiography. In this subseries is the only mention in the papers of the incident at the Alexian Brothers Monastery at Gresham, Wisconsin, a critical letter written February 26, 1975 by Father Groppi in response to an article by syndicated columnist Andrew Greeley. Speaking Engagements correspondence includes initial requests of Groppi to address meetings, contractual arrangements, and in some cases the sponsoring organization's response to the lecture. The Grade School Compositions are letters written by the children in parochial schools as class projects, and sent to Father Groppi by the instructors. Most of the General correspondence file consists of requests to Father Groppi to grant a private audience, to lend his name and assistance in combating issues such as the fluoridation of drinking water, or to help high school students with essays and debates on civil rights topics. The folders in the Correspondence series labeled “Additions” contain items separated from the Eugene Bleidorn Papers in the Archives of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and presented to the Historical Society in 1996.

The PERSONAL MATERIAL AND WRITINGS series was compiled to separate what little exists on the personal life of Father Groppi from his civil rights activities. This material is fragmentary and not very revealing with the exception of a partial draft of an autobiography plus a biographical essay by an unidentified author covering Groppi's years at St. Veronica Church. Although items relating to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee provide insight on the responsibilities of a Roman Catholic priest in the diocese, they are limited in extent and there is almost nothing on Groppi's relationship with the predominantly black St. Boniface parish of the diocese. Groppi's involvement as advisor to the Milwaukee NAACP Youth Council, which was the basis of support in his early civil rights activities, is only sketchily documented in the correspondence series. There is nothing on it here nor in the Activities series that follows.

The ACTIVITIES series spans 1966 through 1972, but is an incomplete testimony of all the activities with which Groppi was associated. However, it does contain records of legal proceedings against Father Groppi which give more detail about his civil rights activities than any other single file. The file marked Statements, Proposals, and Resolutions holds papers which were sent to Father Groppi regarding the civil rights issue. They are not statements made by Groppi himself. It is probable that the clippings in the Scrapbooks and Newspaper Articles series offer more information concerning some of Groppi's activities than the manuscripts in the Activities series.

The PRINTED MATERIAL is a sampling of items that were sent to Father Groppi with some regularity. Part of the material isgularity. Part of the material is religious such as the published words of the Lady of Fatima. The remaining is social comment of which a major portion, in cartoon and broadside, is unfavorable to the Negro race. The series ESSAYS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS is a group of papers submitted to Father Groppi which deal either with Father Groppi or with the civil rights movement.

The SCRAPBOOKS consist of newspaper articles from 1967 which were mounted into blank books by Father Groppi. The NEWSPAPER ARTICLES are probably a continuation of Groppi's scrapbooks, but the articles were never organized as such. They have been kept in the order received and Groppi's file titles have also been retained. Clippings from the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel newspapers have been retained in the original as Father Groppi clipped them, since these Milwaukee newspapers are preserved on microfilm for the period of the clippings in this collection, 1967-1978. Clippings from other newspapers and magazines, for which it is not known whether microfilm copies exist, have been photocopied to assure better preservation of the text of the articles.