The papers entirely concern Peterson's role in the anti-Treaty Rights movement, with the majority of the documentation pertaining to PARR and a smaller quantity documenting his earlier involvement in Equal Rights for Everyone. The papers are arranged as an alphabetical file chiefly comprised of letters he received or sent, speeches and presentations he made as a PARR officer, press releases, and collected reference material. There is virtually no material here concerning the internal operations and activities of individual PARR chapters either in Wisconsin or in other states and little concerning overall governance or determination of policy. All of this material was lent for microfilming in 1991 after which the original correspondence was returned to the donor.
PARR Issue, which is available in the Historical Society Library, contains Peterson's regular chairman's reports and other articles written by him.
The Equal Rights for Everyone material in the collection consists of correspondence documenting Peterson's role as vice-president, some miscellaneous information concerning the Price County chapter, press releases, membership material, and a draft copy of one issue of the ERFE newsletter. (A complete run of this title is available in the Historical Society Library.)
Correspondence, essentially arranged here in Peterson's original order as “Letters in” and “Letters out,” documents the period from the formation of PARR through 1991. The outgoing files are generally much more extensive and complete, including many letters to associates in the movement both nationally and in Wisconsin (including former ERFE head Paul Mullaly who became active in an anti-Treaty Rights organization in Montana) and many letters from Wisconsin legislators such as F. James Sensenbrenner and David Obey explaining their positions on the issue. A large file of outgoing correspondence, 1989-1991, of Jerry Schumacher of Eagle River documents his views both before and after he became the editor of PARR Issue.
Peterson's views are also documented in a file of speech notes and drafts. More general expressions of PARR views can be found in the form letters to members, press releases, clippings, and resolutions and in the file of blank membership application forms. The reference material contains collected information on the views of Governors Earl and Thompson, President Ronald Reagan, congressional candidate Kevin Hermening, and various Wisconsin legislators and U.S. representatives.
