Scope and Content Note

Papers of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, mainly from 1963 to 1980, founder of Earth Day and Counselor of the Wilderness Society. His papers document his Senatorial career and his post-Senatorial activities, but do not include papers from his terms as Wisconsin Governor from 1958 to 1963 (see Series 20). The papers include his initial election to Congress and his subsequent re-election campaigns; legislative achievements and activities; relationships with other politicians and residents of his home state; the administration of his office and staff; personal and official finances; and activities and interests in the environment after 1981, as the Counselor of the Wilderness Society and the 20th and 25th anniversaries of Earth Day.

Of particular interest, the Gaylord Nelson collection documents Nelson's involvement in the origins of Earth Day and legislation related to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore; the St. Croix, Wolf, and Namekagon Rivers; the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System; Supersonic Transport (SST); environmental education; Mississippi Locks and Dam #26; the Appalachian Trail; the pharmaceutical industry; Job Corps (Manpower); Project ELF (extremely low frequency radio waves) part of Project Sanguine; the Kickapoo River Valley Dam; Menominee Indian Restoration; and tire safety.

The collection also provides information about a number of issues as a result of Nelson's committee assignments and his own personal interests including small business, taxes, the pollution of the Great Lakes, actions of the Reserve Mining Company, the Vietnam War and the draft, and the Panama Canal Treaty. Other broad subjects covered include matters related to the environment, civil rights, transportation, poverty, foreign affairs, civil liberties, labor, trade, agriculture, consumer affairs, education, Indian affairs, social security, veterans' affairs, and the state of Wisconsin in general.

The documents include biographical material (interviews, articles, awards, memberships, and memorabilia), VIP and personal correspondence, schedules, office records, subject files, notes, briefing material, hearing transcripts, reports, news clippings, constituent correspondence, memoranda, handwritten and typed drafts of speeches, statements and press releases, printed bills, voting records, press materials, campaign materials, financial records, casework, Federal projects and grants work, sound recordings, films, video recordings, posters, photographs, and ephemera.

Prominent correspondents include Wisconsin legislators, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Hubert H. Humphrey, Ronald Reagan, Tom Eagleton, Stewart Udall, and William Proxmire.

The collection is divided into twelve series that reflect the original filing system used in Nelson's office. Because staff assignments and filing practices changed over time, researchers will sometimes need to look in more than one series or subseries for related material. The twelve series are:

• PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL FILES, 1957-2006
• OFFICE MANAGEMENT, 1963-1980
• BILL FILES, 1963-1980
• CAMPAIGN MATERIAL, 1962-1980
• FINANCIAL RECORDS, 1959, 1963-1983
• COMMITTEE FILES, 1965-1980
• STAFF FILES, 1963-1980
• PRESS AND PUBLICITY FILES, 1954-1980
• SPEECHES AND WRITINGS, 1963-1980
• CONSTITUENT SERVICES, 1963-1980
• POST-SENATE PAPERS, 1981-2005
• AUDIO AND VISUAL MATERIALS, 1959-1995

The PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL FILES series, 1957-2006, provides information on Nelson's legislative achievements and activities; it documents his relationships with other Congress members and reveals his political alliances; and it provides background on some of the issues Nelson thought important. Included are Biographical material, Correspondence, and Subject files.

The Biographical material, 1962-2005, is an artificial subseries, brought together by Wisconsin Historical Society staff for the researchers' convenience, containing information on Nelson's legislative achievements and activities, and on his memberships in various organizations and committees. Other material includes published and unpublished biographies, interviews, audio recordings, films, correspondence, and awards. In addition, there is a file containing information on items Nelson donated to the Clear Lake Area Historical Museum for the Gaylord Nelson Room. Memorabilia includes political memorabilia from Gaylord's state senatorial and gubernatorial careers, and miscellaneous ephemera. Background on Nelson's early and family life can be found in the separate collection titled the Nelson-Bradt Family Papers.

The Correspondence, 1958-1980, includes letters to and from VIPs, members of Congress, and constituents. The files were identified as Nelson's “personal” files by his staff and were maintained by administrative assistants and his personal secretary. Correspondence (such as thank-you letters, requests, general acknowledgements, or recommendations) was sometimes filed with other constituent mail; years not represented here will be found in the CONSTITUENT SERVICES series.

Subject files, 1957, 1964-1980, contain media contracts, information on federal appointments, files on Environmental Teach-In, Incorporated (including the organization, dissolution, and finances of the first Earth Day entity), some material on state legislation from 1957, and miscellaneous material important to Nelson.

The series OFFICE MANAGEMENT, 1963-1980, documents the administration of Nelson's staff members and his D.C. office, Nelson's daily schedules in and out of the office, and his speaking engagements and travel. Files are arranged in the categories: Administration, Office appointments, invitations, and visitors, Schedules, and Speaking engagements and travel.

The files were created primarily by the administrative assistants and Nelson's personal secretary. Administrative assistants (Joe Nusbaum, 1963; William Bechtel, 1964-1969; William Cherkasky, 1970-1974; Louis Hanson, 1975-1978; and Jeffrey Nedelman, 1979-1980) were responsible for all phases of staff and office administration, preparing legislation and background materials for the Senator, reviewing all outgoing communications, and scheduling the Senator's engagements. Nelson's personal secretary, Joan Mutz, was mainly responsible for all of Nelson's day-to-day scheduling and for the maintenance of his appointment calendar.

Many of the administrative assistants served Nelson in other capacities (refer to Appendix A: Staff List by Congress and Appendix B: Staff List by Position Held). As such, these staff members may have files in the series STAFF FILES.

The Administration subseries, 1963-1980, includes personnel records, staff correspondence, office accounts, memoranda, filing system descriptions, job descriptions, and resumés. The material dates from 1963 to 1980, but the coverage is incomplete. Nelson's executive assistant, Warren Sawall, is barely documented here and in the rest of the collection, although he had significant responsibilities. There are no office files identified as Joe Nusbaum's and there are very few office files for Jeffrey Nedelman, which results in very little documentation of office procedures for the beginning and the end of Nelson's tenure. Additionally, there is little documentation for the early 1970s.

The staff correspondence is relatively insubstantial with files containing very few letters with the exception of the files for Warren Sawall, Bill Bechtel, John Heritage, and Bill Cherkasky. These folders contain correspondence between the above-named staff members and Sherman Stock from the home office, press officials, contacts from businesses and organizations, and Wisconsin state officials. The topics under discussion include information related to publicity, political alliances, legislation, and mundane requests. Frequent correspondents include Joe Floyd, Bob Levine, John Lavine, Fred Risser, Sherman Stock, and Martin Hanson.

Telephone accounts double as logs of outgoing phone calls from Nelson's office with no files for 1969-1976. Files titled Staff assignments and Memoranda provide insight into the organization and hierarchy of the office. The rest of the material relates to typical office management tasks.

Office appointments, invitations, and visitors, 1964-1980, contains correspondence, handwritten notes, and invitations. Only one appointment book (from 1967) was received with the collection and as a result these files (in addition to the schedules) are the only record of visitors to Nelson's office and those with whom he had meetings. The files were left almost entirely intact except for the invitations regretted, which were weeded significantly. There are no files for 1963. For 1964, there are only speaking invitations regretted. For the years 1970-1972, there are discreet files for Earth Day/ Teach-In invitations regretted, “note calendar,” others sent to represent Nelson, and visits/ appointments cancelled.

The invitations to speak were typically kept and treated separately from invitations to attend events. Speaking invitations accepted are maintained in the subseries Speaking engagements and travel. Additionally, there is one box containing invitations and appearance requests which came from the Home Office in Milwaukee maintained by Sherman Stock. It is unknown whether or not these are duplicated in the central file. The condensed version of information found in this subseries is located in the Schedules subseries. For documentation regarding Nelson's speaking engagements and travel see the subseries Speaking engagements and travel.

The Schedules subseries, 1965-1980, documents Nelson's personal, social, and political activities, including speaking engagements, travel plans, meetings, visitors, dinners, parties, and committee sessions and hearings. It contains daily and weekly schedules, detailed on individual sheets of paper, often with handwritten notes and annotations which reflect changes in the Senator's schedule. Photocopies of the schedules were also filed within the Speaking engagements and travel files.

Speaking engagements and travel, 1964-1980, documents Nelson's official and unofficial business outside of the Senate as guest speaker and representative of the United States during conferences. Also documented is Nelson's personal travel. Files typically include incoming and outgoing correspondence, background information on speaking invitations, brochures, pamphlets, notes, and often copies of remarks or speeches Nelson gave at these appearances. Travel refers to trips made for speaking engagements, personal and official business, and political purposes. During the years 1978-1980, Nelson made frequent trips to Wisconsin for campaign purposes. Other notable trips include the 1970 Earth Day Teach-In tour; the 1968 Stevens Point campaign debate; a speech given at Northland College in 1973; a meeting with a chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) in 1974; the 10th Anniversary of Earth Day; and the Nelson-Kasten campaign debate (includes briefs) held in Green Bay in 1980. Additionally, there is material documenting Nelson's participation in international conferences and meetings, including the Mexico-U.S. Interparliamentary; the North Atlantic Assembly (1970, 1972); and the United Nations and the Human Environment conference (1972).

BILL FILES, 1963-1980, document Nelson's role as sponsor and co-sponsor of bills, amendments, and resolutions and his attendance in Congress and roll call votes. Included are Nelson bills introduced, Nelson bills enacted, Bill histories, Requests from others for co-sponsorship, and Roll call votes / Voting records.

Nelson bills introduced, 1963-1980, contains copies (or drafts) of bills which Nelson authored, indices of bills he sponsored and co-sponsored, and incomplete correspondence from other members of Congress. Copies of bills which were co-sponsored by Nelson were weeded from this subseries, but documentation of them is included in the indices and further information can be found under Requests from others for co-sponsorship.

The Nelson bills enacted files, 1965-1980, pertain to legislation sponsored by Nelson that was either signed into law or vetoed. For each piece of legislation a folder exists with a copy of the bill, along with supplementary documents (floor statements, transcripts of hearings, committee reports, and correspondence). The bills in this subseries are those referred to either the Small Business Committee, Finance Committee, or Employment, Manpower, and Poverty Subcommittee, and thus do not comprise all the bills Nelson authored which became public law.

Bill histories, 1965-1980, compiled by staff members (most likely for re-election campaigns) are for Nelson's energy legislation, Nelson's poverty amendment, the Endangered Species Act, the formation of the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission, postal rates, and other topics before the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Government Operations. For information on Nelson bills not represented here see the STAFF FILES series.

Requests from others for co-sponsorship, circa 1963-1976, is comprised primarily of correspondence received from other members of Congress who were sponsoring bills and requesting that Nelson sign on as a co-sponsor. In addition to the correspondence, often referred to as “Dear Colleague” letters, the files may contain one or more of the following: staff memoranda, press releases and statements from other senators, and background material.

Roll call votes / voting records, 1963-1980, were published by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and have been kept with the collection for easier access to Nelson's entire voting and attendance record in Congress. In addition, there are voting histories for Nelson for the 91st (1969-1970) and the 94th (1975-1976) Congresses.

CAMPAIGN MATERIAL, 1962-1980, consists of information related to Nelson's initial election to Congress in 1962 and subsequent re-election campaigns in 1968, 1974, and 1980, including opinion polls, press material, speeches, notes, correspondence, memoranda, campaign literature, news clippings, unofficial voting records, studies and analyses, issue briefs, financial material, and travel schedules arranged chronologically by campaign. The re-election campaigns are best documented, with limited information on the 1962 campaign. Also present in the 1962 compilations are campaign clips and outtakes filmed during Nelson's run for Wisconsin's governor (1958 and 1960). Other information related to Nelson campaigns can be found in the PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL FILES (political memorabilia), FINANCIAL RECORDS (campaign finances for 1974 and 1980), PRESS AND PUBLICITY FILES (scrapbooks and news clippings), and AUDIO AND VISUAL MATERIALS.

FINANCIAL RECORDS, 1959, 1963-1983, detail Nelson's personal and official expenses, including purchases, travel, income taxes, honoraria, bank accounts, business interests, and property ownership. This series also includes financial material for the 1974 and 1980 campaigns, which were received separately from Kate Barbash, Nelson's campaign treasurer. Her files consist of correspondence, financial reports, bank statements, information on fundraising and events, media activities, and campaign contributions from individuals and organizations (5 index files).

Additionally there are account books and separate loose ledger sheets (remnants of different record keeping practices) which summarize Nelson's personal and official spending. Since these two account systems overlap for the years 1971-1974, researchers are encouraged to consult both.

The COMMITTEE FILES, 1965-1980, document the development of specific legislation heard before committees on which Nelson either was a member or was chairman. The files are similar to the STAFF FILES, but are concentrated around particular hearings and contain mostly correspondence. Also included is background information for committee hearings and bills. The series is divided into subseries based on committee, as follows: Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (including the Subcommittee on Employment, Manpower, and Poverty); the Special Committee on Official Conduct ; and the Select Committee on Small Business (including Monopoly Subcommittee). Nelson served on other committees not represented in this series. For a full listing of committee assignments consult Appendix C: Committee Appointments). For information on legislation before other committees consult the STAFF FILES.

Nelson served on the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (which later became the Human Resources Committee) and its Subcommittee on Employment, Poverty, and Migratory Labor (also known as Employment and Manpower; also known as Employment, Poverty, and Manpower) from 1965 until 1980; he chaired the subcommittee from 1969 until 1980. The bulk of the files are from the years 1969-1970 and 1975-1980. The earliest records document Nelson's poverty and manpower legislation including his efforts to extend the Office of Economic Opportunities (OEO) as an independent entity, and to establish and retain funding for Job Corps, Operation Mainstream, and other employment programs. There is information concerning the OEO Oklahoma Plan containing correspondence with Donald Rumsfeld, Acting Director of the OEO. The later records are correspondence files covering a variety of subjects related to labor and public welfare. There is also “executive correspondence” from 1969 to 1980 containing letters to and from businessmen, agency representatives, and other legislators. Additionally, there is one file concerning distribution of federal aid to Menominee County (1965-1966). Further information related to this series can be found in the STAFF FILES.

Nelson was appointed chairman of the Special Committee on Official Conduct in 1977 pursuant to Senate Resolution 36 for the purpose of setting out a proposed code of conduct for members, officers, and employees of the Senate. The files include mainly what appear to be the working papers of Ira Shapiro, who was the Committee's staff director and Nelson's legal counsel, including drafts of legislation and reports. In addition, there is a file on the organization and administration of the committee which includes memos and letters.

Nelson was a member of the Select Committee on Small Business from 1965 until 1980 (chairman, 1976-1980) and a member of its Monopoly Subcommittee from 1965 until 1978 (chairman, 1967-1978). As chairman of the Monopoly Subcommittee, Nelson conducted hearings on the abuses of the pharmaceutical industry, from pricing to advertising and safety; the hearings lasted for ten years. The drug hearing files in this series were kept by Bill Cherkasky and span the early years 1967-1970. After 1970, information on the drug hearings can be found under legislative correspondence (mainly 1967-1970) in the CONSTITUENT SERVICES files. The remaining files, mainly 1975-1980, in this series pertain to the Small Business Committee and Nelson's accomplishments as its chair including press material, reports, constituent correspondence, and information on the White House Conference on Small Business.

The series STAFF FILES, 1963-1980, is comprised of material from legislative assistants, administrative assistants, research assistants, and interns, and documents all phases of legislation, from policy formulation to bill drafting. A subseries exists for each staff person represented in the series; subseries are listed in alphabetical order by staff persons' surnames. Each staff member had his or her own subject specialty. Files typically contain research material; background information, including papers and reports from conferences, individuals, and the government; notes; briefing materials and hearing transcripts; legislative correspondence; memoranda; and drafts of bills, speeches, statements, and press releases. Often there are handwritten notes between staff members and Nelson, corrections to drafts in Nelson's hand, and memos from administrative assistants and other staff members. These communications document Nelson's involvement in developing legislation and drafting press material and at the same time document the responsibilities of staff members with regard to their level of interaction in the same.

Information on the following can be found in the STAFF FILES: the first Earth Day and subsequent celebrations, the Vietnam War and the draft, civil rights and the desegregation of schools, poverty, air and water pollution, tire and automobile safety, drug pricing and the pharmaceutical industry, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the Appalachian Trail, the St. Croix, Namekagon, and Wolf Rivers, the Alaska Pipeline, the Supersonic Transport (SST), environmental education, Mississippi Locks and Dam #26, the Reserve Mining Company, the Chippewa Flowage, the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission, Project ELF (Project Sanguine), Kickapoo River Valley Dam, Menominee Indian Restoration, the Panama Canal Treaty, the National Teacher Corps, Operation Mainstream, Green Thumb (Nelson Amendment), Job Corps, and Youth Corps. Other broad subjects covered include matters related to the environment, transportation, foreign affairs, civil liberties, labor, trade, agriculture, consumer affairs, education, Indian affairs, small business, taxes, Social Security, veterans' affairs, and the state of Wisconsin in general.

Note that because staff responsibilities changed over time, it may be necessary to consult multiple staff members' files for a given subject. In order to facilitate this process, staff responsibility appendices been added to this finding aid (see Appendix A: Staff List by Congress and Appendix B: Staff List by Position Held). Additionally, brief biographies of staff members and sketches of their responsibilities precede the contents list for each member represented in the collection.

The series PRESS AND PUBLICITY FILES, 1954-1980, documents Nelson's stance on legislation, as defined for the general public and constituents through various press material, including the “Gaylord Nelson Newsletter” and the “Legislative War on Poverty”; editorials and newspaper columns titled “As I See It” or “Washington Reports”; legislative memos; press releases; Congressional Record reprints; and television and radio spots. The press material was indexed in several ways by Nelson's staff, and the indices are present in this series; these will be helpful in identifying material by subject.

This series also includes loose news clippings and scrapbooks of news clippings, collected and compiled by Nelson's staff, which document his activities and those of other politicians in mainstream media. There are six sets of scrapbooks which are arranged in rough chronological order, and which usually contain clippings on multiple issues. Set one contains clippings from Nelson's early years in the Senate until circa 1972 and subjects covered were of personal interest to him; set two documents a wide range of issues from 1966 until roughly 1976; set three covers issues from 1975 to 1978; set four contains issues from 1979; and set five contains coverage of Nelson's campaigns including his run for Congress against Davis in 1954 and his 1968, 1974, and 1980 re-election campaigns as an incumbent. There are also two 1974 re-election campaign scrapbooks in set two. Set six contains clippings on small business and taxes for the years 1975-1980. Lastly, there are loose clippings and scrapbook pages dated 1974 to 1980.

Press releases were bound in volumes for Nelson and are nearly complete. Press releases found in other files were compared to these volumes and those which were either annotated or not present were foldered and arranged by year.

The series SPEECHES AND WRITINGS, 1963-1980, documents Nelson's point of view on legislation and current affairs and span his entire career. Included are magazine and newspaper articles written by Nelson; floor remarks published in the Congressional Record, and speeches and statements delivered at events and in the Senate. The files are arranged chronologically and the floor remarks are contained in bound volumes arranged chronologically by Congress. There are no volumes for 1974.

This series also includes speeches on audio tape and on film.

Note that some speeches and statements were also published in the Congressional Record. The speech files are not comprehensive and researchers are encouraged to consult STAFF FILES under subjects, the bound volumes of press releases in PRESS AND PUBLICITY FILES, and the speaking engagements and travel subseries in OFFICE MANAGEMENT.

The series CONSTITUENT SERVICES, 1963-1980, documents Nelson's role in representing the interests and concerns of constituents. Included here are six subseries: Legislative Correspondence, Correspondence Management System Mail (CMS), Form Mail, Casework, Milwaukee District Office, and Projects and Grants. Note, during Nelson's career, the technology for handling correspondence changed several times resulting in three identifiable mail systems: “Duramail,” “Robomail,” and “CMS mail.” The “Duramail” and “Robomail” are not noticeably different and are grouped together under legislative correspondence. There are large quantities of legislative mail scattered throughout other series in the collection especially within the STAFF FILES. At the end of 1978, the Correspondence Management System became the method for handling mail resulting in a change in the arrangement of the files. CMS mail which also constitutes legislative mail is arranged sequentially by document number and includes only incoming letters with a separate form letter library consisting of outgoing responses. There are also topic and name reports (typically weekly) on microfilm. Another portion of mail is identified as Form Mail which refers to bulk mail that was received by Nelson's office. When this occurred a “form letter” was created and sent to all correspondents.

Legislative Correspondence also called issue mail includes incoming letters with the outgoing response or “green” copy (earlier copies were white) attached. The files are first arranged chronologically by year and then alphabetically by subject. Legislative Correspondence for the 88th Congress (1963-1965) are filed in the STAFF FILES Series in the Bill Bechtel subseries. See the Scope and Content note for the Bechtel files (search “Bechtel, William” in the Contents List below) for more details.

Legislative correspondence was based on a form letter which could be adapted to create special responses to constituents. At times, legislative mail was answered with original responses crafted personally by Nelson or by a legislative assistant. Files for 1965 have numbers in brackets following the subject heading. This appears to be a part of a filing system whereby each number corresponded to a subject. The system possibly corresponds to other files maintained by Carole Dunn and only affect Legislative Correspondence for the year 1965 after which the system appears to have been abandoned.

The CMS (Correspondence Management System) refers to a technology instituted at the end of 1978 and contains both Legislative as well as Form mail. This mail subseries includes a form letter library; reports on microfilm for topics and names; and incoming correspondence arranged by document number. The first part of the document number is based on the date the letter was answered followed by a series of numbers referencing the number of letters answered that day. For example, document number 9/082 refers to the letter answered on the 82nd day of 1979 (3/23/1979). The incoming letters are arranged by date and arranged sequentially by document numbers.

Form mail was initially organized by subject, similar to the Legislative Correspondence. Only a few files remain of the Form mail for the period 1971-1974. By 1974 large portions of the mail were filed simply by month received and by 1977-1978 all form mail was filed by year or by month. In addition, there is a form letter library (1963-1977) which contains pre-written responses of various subjects, sometimes in various iterations that were used to draft responses to incoming correspondence. Certain letters, specifically relating Pollution, Panama Canal Treaty and Abortion were filed in bulk together regardless of date. These letters are filed chronologically within their respective subjects and filed in the series by the first date indicated.

The Casework , 1963-1978, consists of correspondence relating to individual “casework” involving individuals or organizations. The casework subseries is arranged by year and alphabetically by federal agency name. However due to the sensitive nature of some of the case files and the personal information contained within, access to this subseries is limited. Use of this material requires individual researchers to sign an “Agreement for Use of Restricted Materials” form. See the reference staff to gain permissions.

The Milwaukee District Office , 1963-1977, subseries includes inter-office communications with the Washington office, general correspondence, and casework. Also included is a select Form Letter Library which apparently was prepared by the Washington office for use in the district office. These files were most notably associated with Sherman Stock who served as legal counsel from 1970 to 1980 and ran the Milwaukee office from 1964 to 1980.

The Projects and Grants , 1963-1978, subseries includes correspondence related to State and Federally-funded projects and grants. There is some casework and general correspondence included as well. It is arranged alphabetically by government agency, then county and city, and finally individual project name. In cases where one or more of these pieces of identifying information may be unavailable, the next category is followed.

The series POST-SENATE PAPERS, 1981-2005, documents Nelson's post-Senatorial activities as Counselor to the Wilderness Society and as an environmental activist. Nelson continued to participate in annual Earth Day celebrations and often gave speeches on environmental issues. He authored a book titled Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise (2002) and compiled notes and information for Bill Christofferson's biography of Nelson, titled The Man from Clear Lake (2004). In addition, Nelson was featured on many television programs and recognized for his achievements.

The material includes correspondence, speeches, news clippings, Earth Day material related to the 20th and 25th anniversaries, writings and interviews, video recordings, and notes and research for Christofferson's book. There are materials which Nelson took with him when he left the Senate which contain chronologies that were compiled post-Senate; these materials have been left in this series under legislation.

The AUDIO AND VISUAL MATERIALS series, 1959-1995, includes photographs, negatives, and transparencies and miscellaneous audio tapes and films.

The photographs, negatives, and transparencies document Nelson's political campaigns, staff, travel, and various other activities. Images are from John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign in Wisconsin; Nelson receiving awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton; the Nelson and Bronson La Follette 1968 “Whistle Stop” campaign in Wisconsin; Nelson speaking at the first Earth Day Teach-In held in Denver, Colorado; Nelson in his office, with staff members, with constituents, at speaking events, and in Congress; Nelson canoeing down the Namekagon River; and scenes at the Apostle Islands. Included are both formal and informal portraits. Other persons in the images include: Ted Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, David Obey, William Proxmire, Orville Freeman, Cecil Andrus, Robert Kastenmeier, Walter Mondale, Hubert H. Humphrey, Patrick Lucey, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, August Derleth, Harry Truman, George McGovern, Stewart Udall, Henry Reuss, Ed Muskie, John Reynolds, Adlai Stevenson, Warren Knowles, Lee Dreyfus, Henry Maier, Alexander Wiley, Harold Jordahl, Abba Eban, and Melvin Laird. Also included are photographs related to Nelson legislation and the state of Wisconsin in general.

Some of the miscellaneous audio tapes found in this series had limited information regarding their content. Further description of these tapes will be included after they have been mastered. The rest of the audio tapes found in this series pertain to Nelson's gubernatorial activities including Nelson's 1960 inaugural address, speeches at campaign events and a speech to the State Legislature about passing the budget. All other audio recordings can be found listed under the series PERSONAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL FILES, CAMPAIGN MATERIAL, PRESS AND PUBLICITY FILES, and SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. Appendix D: Audio Recordings Chronological List, is a complete list of audio recordings present in the collection.

The miscellaneous films found in this series are films which were donated as part of the Nelson materials but either document his gubernatorial activities and campaigns or contain content not directly related to Nelson. Included are scenes from John F. Kennedy campaigning in Wisconsin, 1960; Nelson campaign spots, 1958 and 1960; the Governor's press conference, 1961; Nelson's inauguration as Governor, 1959; and environmental films and documentaries.