The O'Melia Papers consist of correspondence; speeches; certificates, clippings, and other miscellaneous items; and secretary's records of the Oneida County Patriotic Fund. The major part of the Papers concerns O'Melia's political activities, though also present is information on World War I and on Rhinelander civic organizations. The collection is organized by type of document into four groups: Correspondence (1915-1958), Speeches (1912-1962), Oneida County Patriotic Fund records (1917-1922), and Miscellaneous. Documents are arranged chronologically within these series.
The correspondence is mainly incoming and includes letters from Thomas E. Dewey (1940-1948), Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (1943-1956), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1952), Irvine L. Lenroot (1940, Feb. 1), and Wendell L. Wilkie (1940-1941). Those from Dewey and McCarthy are substantive; the others are little more than polite greetings. A concentration of letters in 1940 concerns the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. A series of letters in 1917-1918 from W. A. Beaudette, a chaplain from Rhinelander serving with American forces on the front lines in France, contains observations on World War I events. Two 1954 letters contain details of Rhinelander Rotary Club history.
The speeches are mainly civic or political in subject matter. Several radio speeches supporting Dewey and O'Melia's 1940 speech seconding Dewey's nomination are included, as is a fragment of a speech (ante 1921) opposing woman suffrage.
The Oneida County Patriotic Fund was an outgrowth of the County Council of Defense organized during World War I to raise money for the various patriotic groups who were carrying on relief work on the battlefield. The records included here are minutes, 1917-1922; an audit report and a revenue and expenditure statement; and three letters, 1919, concerning the transfer of donations to the state United War Work Fund.
The final Miscellaneous group includes a variety of materials. O'Melia's bar examination answers from 1911 and the certificate admitting him to the Bar are there, as are certificates of election to the District Attorney's office and campaign materials from 1922 and 1940. Also present are clippings and a program for a 1960 Eisenhower dinner.
