These materials are part of the result of a project to survey and copy documents in the files of the federal government relevant to the Wisconsin region. Calendar cards summarizing such documents were prepared in Washington, D.C. from about 1912 to 1933.
The survey was begun by Dr. Leo F. Stock, working in Indian Office materials. Dr. Stock's card entries were very brief and made in pencil. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin secured typewritten copies of the records he calendared. In later years his calendar entries were typed on cards [see Mss 450].
About 1915, Dr. Newton D. Mereness took up the work that had been begun by Dr. Stock and soon six other historical agencies in the Middle West joined in the project. Dr. Mereness' method was to examine a set of records, study each item in it to see if it contained information on any of the seven agencies, and if it did, to calendar the item and note which of the seven would be interested in the item. To simplify matters, each of the seven agencies was assigned a letter of the alphabet. Wisconsin's letter was “c”. These letters will be found on the lower right-hand corner of each Mereness card.
Periodically, usually four times a year, the set of cards that touched upon its interests was sent to each agency, and from these cards the agencies could order photostatic copies of the records if they so desired. When he had finished surveying a group of records, Dr. Mereness would make a summary card of the contents and approximate number of cards he had made for the set. These summary cards, usually typewritten on orange cards, are filed at the beginning of each set of cards.
Dr. Mereness continued work in the Indian Office records, at that time filed in various places in Washington. The Wisconsin Historical Society ordered copies of all records relating to its region at that time. These were made by photostat. Next Dr. Mereness worked on the House Files, and the Wisconsin Historical Society ordered copies of these records.
Dr. Mereness continued his work in the State Department, Senate Files, and elsewhere. The last calendar cards were made in a resurvey of the Indian Office Files to catch some items not included in the first survey and others that had turned up after the survey started.
This, in brief, describes the rather complicated matter of typewritten copies, photostatic copies, and no copies of records. Dr. Mereness' quarterly reports, on typewritten sheets, are filed in the Manuscript Section. They explain in great detail the progress of the survey. Probably most, if not all, of the records he examined and calendared are now filed in the National Archives.
