The papers of Frederic E. Risser are arranged chronologically within 4 series: Legislative and Political Papers, Legal Case and Reference Files, Subject Files, and Personal and Miscellaneous Papers. Within these series Risser's career in Wisconsin legal, legislative and community work is traced, as well as his involvement with the Wisconsin Progressive Movement. The papers illustrate Risser's legislative policies and opinions, his work for the Town of Madison and his interests in history and in Wisconsin. A fifth series contains the papers of Risser's father-in-law, Ernest A. Warner.
Risser's LEGISLATIVE AND POLITICAL PAPERS, 1928-1949, span his career as Dane County district attorney and as state senator. Included are four subseries: Correspondence, Legislative Bill Files, Legislative Roll Calls and Legislative Summaries, and Press Releases and Speeches. The Correspondence file contains Risser's correspondence as district attorney, concerning his cases, his election in 1928, reelection in 1932, and subsequent congratulatory letters. Risser's affiliation with the Wisconsin District Attorneys' Association, 1929-1934, is illustrated by his correspondence with officers of the association, 1929-1930, and during his own term as secretary and treasurer, 1932-1933, and as president, 1933-1934. Filed with this correspondence are programs and notices of meetings. The bulk of the subseries is constituent correspondence and written replies during Risser's tenure as state senator, 1936-1949. A separate file, dealing solely with his 1940 reelection campaign, includes letters of thanks and congratulation, and financial statements. Many of the carbon copies of Risser's responses remain stapled to the original constituent letters, as done by the senator's office staff.
Risser's Legislative Bill Files contain printed bills, amendments, drafts of legislation and memos, 1935-1947, sponsored by Risser or referred to committees on which he served. The Legislative Roll Calls and Legislative Summaries include published and unpublished roll calls compiled by Risser, newspapers, and labor organizations for the years 1937-1947. A file of roll calls clipped from The Capital Times, 1935-1947, was discarded. In addition, the folder on senate membership lists senators, 1937-1939, and the senate seating plan, and gives Risser's handwritten personal evaluations of the senators. The Legislative Summaries files for sessions, 1937-1947, contain printed lists of measures enacted, notes on bills and subjects considered, memos, correspondence, and articles relating to legislation. Press Releases and Speeches, 1937-1945, include Risser's own material, and three speeches of other legislators.
Risser's LEGAL CASE AND REFERENCE FILE is primarily a record of his work for the Town of Madison, and includes one folder of legal papers relating to the State Office Building Commission. The Town of Madison subseries contains correspondence, notes, legal papers, Town Board resolutions, legal documents pertaining to bond issues, and maps created for and used by Risser and his law partner, John Shiels. These documents date from the 1940's and 1950's, and deal with City of Madison annexations of Town property, the creation of various sanitary districts, assessments, land acquisition and construction by the Town of Madison. Many of the folders contain similar types of documents and legal forms, which differ only in the date and name of the legal transaction. In addition, this group contains Town of Madison ordinances and amendments, 1940-1957, memos and miscellaneous records, a nearly complete run of printed Town financial reports, 1924-1958, and budgets, 1943-1944 and 1957-1958. A separate folder contains itemized financial statements, with associated correspondence and memoranda from 1942-1958, for legal services provided by Risser and Shiels. One folder of legal papers from the State Office Building Commission, 1948-1949, includes the papers of Risser as its vice-chairman.
The SUBJECT FILE contains a variety of material, including miscellaneous papers, correspondence, histories and brochures collected by Ernest N. Warner and Risser dealing with the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1900-1946, 1961. Items in this group include a “Program of Memorial Services for the Honorable Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin in the Senate of the United States, Sunday, June 20, 1926,” published in the Congressional Record; and a program from the 1946 Statewide Progressive Conference, Portage, Wisconsin, March 17, 1946. This series also contains Risser's records, minutes of meetings, and lists of officers and directors collected during his membership in the Lincoln Fellowship, 1962-1971. A major part of the Subject File details Risser's work with the Long-Range Historic Sites Planning Committee during 1968 and 1969, as well as his interest in local and state parks. Copies of the Wisconsin Historic Sites Survey, c. 1968; committee working papers, schedules, minutes and agendas for 1968-1969; and a copy of the Report of the Long-Range Sites Planning Committee, of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, published in 1970, are all contained in this subseries. Finally, a separate folder includes miscellaneous brochures, correspondence, and maps, c. 1968-1969, which refer to state and city parks; these are in alphabetical order by name of park site.
A grouping of PERSONAL AND MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS spans the years 1925-1971 and includes correspondence, 1925-1971; selective service cards and papers, 1942-1944; programs of dinner meetings, 1943; and unidentified minutes and agenda. Personal information is provided by a xeroxed newspaper article with photo, 1943, and a short autobiography written in 1961. (See below)
The ERNEST N. WARNER PAPERS, include a Lincoln Centennial scrapbook, 1809-1909, compiled by Fanny Warner in 1913 and composed of newspaper articles. Warner's own personal and professional papers, 1890-1930, 1958, consist of certificates to practice as an attorney before various Wisconsin courts, 1890, 1892; correspondence; text of a speech; xeroxed clippings of community activities; a notice of his death, and a 1958 newspaper article concerning the creation of Warner Park in Madison. His political papers, 1896-1922, contain correspondence; xeroxed clippings; biographies; and political campaign material, handouts and cards. A file on Assembly Bill 132-A, the Civil Service legislation introduced by Warner in 1905, includes a copy of the bill and its amendment, and correspondence solicited by Warner from officials at state schools and institutions and from state and national civil service reform groups. In addition there is an article on the bill taken from the July 7, 1905, Madison Democrat and reprinted in the April, 1939, issue of The Wisconsin State Employee.
In 1985 portions of M78-385 were interfiled in the Personal and Miscellaneous Papers (Box 6, Folder 8). These additions consisted of correspondence pertaining to Risser's role as a delegate to the 1952 Republican National Convention.
