The Merton E. Krug Papers, although not extensive, are a collection of papers mainly documenting his historical writing career. There is virtually no personal information in the papers. Coverage ranges from Sauk County history and family documentation to relevant research material and an incomplete manuscript for his work on General William Hull. The papers have been arranged into three series: family and personal history; college papers; and other writings.
The assorted FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY section contains information on a Silas Fish Genealogical Chart, which Merton compiled while secretary of the Fish Family Association of Wisconsin, a charter of this association, a photographic chart and incomplete written history of the Fish family's third generation, and various family legal documents dating from 1839 to 1866. Of special note among the family documentation is an account book, 1831-1863, of Henry Darrow, one of Krug's ancestors, with entries for his agricultural/entrepreneurial activities as an early settler in Walworth County and Sauk County, Wisconsin. Krug's autobiographical material is made up of a few pieces of correspondence, post cards, a copy of his birth certificate, an autobiographical statement, and other miscellany.
The COLLEGE PAPERS series in the collection is an assortment of compositions written for education, English, and history courses while a student at the University. Retained in the collection from a larger body of material received by the Historical Society were only papers containing autobiographical information or evidence of original historical research.
The series of OTHER WRITINGS is quite varied in content and follows a chronological format. Newspaper articles about Sauk County history and a drummer boy of the Civil War (1928-1929) begin the series. DuBay: Son-in-Law of Oshkosh, part of Krug's contribution to the Federal Writer's Project, and its accompanying research material and critical reviews follow. Also included is an address, “John Lawe and His Times,” which Krug presented to the Outagamie Pioneer and Historical Society. The “Detroit Storm” files contain an incomplete manuscript, complementary galley proofs, and relevant research material, all of which was compiled between 1947 and 1951. Due to the fact that his master's thesis was a revised version of “Detroit Storm,” research material for the former is quite limited. The thesis itself can be found at Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Fragmentary miscellaneous research documents round out the series.
