These records are a small collection which primarily documents the activities of the citizens group formed in 1969 to save the Nine Mile Farm and the subsequent legal maneuvering which took place during 1971 and 1972 between the Schlitz Foundation, the National Audubon Society, and various governmental agencies; information on the actual operation of the Center is fragmentary and incomplete.
The records consist of correspondence, minutes, legal documents, clipping scrapbooks, and other materials gathered by Mrs. Winifred Woodmansee, the unofficial archivist of the center. The first group of records consists of material collected by Mrs. Woodmansee in 1975. This file, sometimes referred to in the papers as “the black notebook,” was also microfilmed and negative copies of the film were distributed to several depositories including the Historical Society and the Library of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1975. A second group of material was donated in 1987. This accession consisted of the original copies of the documents in the black notebook filmed in 1975, together with additional files which duplicated in part the black notebook material, but which also contained more extensive documentation collected by Mrs. Woodmansee from several interested individuals and incorporated into one chronological file. Also included were several clipping scrapbooks, some of her own correspondence and notes, her copies of the Center Focus, and files on the Education Committee of the Friends of the Schlitz Audubon Center of which she was a member.
In the Archives the papers have been organized into two parts: the 1975 compilation and the 1987 compilation. Because of the general availability of the 1975 microfilm, the original material contained in the black binder has been filed in the order utilized in the film. Like the 1975 compilation, the 1987 accession contains correspondence of Dorothy Vallier about the nature center plans which pre-date the formation of the citizens committee in 1969; minutes (some are present as handwritten notes) of the foundation, the Audubon Society, the citizens committee, and various governmental agencies; and numerous exchanges between members of the Uihlein family, the National Audubon Society and its president Elvis J. Stahr, and the Schlitz Foundation attorneys. Arranged at the end of the chronological file is a distinct file of correspondence about the center of Edward Bingham, an officer of the National Audubon Society; and a file of several planning reports and documents.
At the end of this 1987 compilation section are papers which more specifically relate to Mrs. Woodmansee's involvement with the center. Included here are correspondence and notes; printed material distributed by the center concerning activities and fundraising; an incomplete file of Center Focus; and minutes and agenda material for the Education Committee of the Friends of the Schlitz Audubon.
