The collection consists of minutes and other administrative material, information on projects and activities, financial records, photographs, and a film. In addition to original material in the collection, the Society Library holds an almost complete edition of Wisconsin Beekeeping and Badger Bee which must be regarded as the single most valuable source on the association's history.
The series titled ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS includes a centennial history of the organization by Warren Doede, printed and draft constitutions, and official gubernatorial proclamations regarding special honey promotions. The minutes include not only business conducted at the annual conventions, but also minutes of meetings of the board of managers. For the 1968 meeting the minutes are only available in recorded form. Also included here are minutes of the short-lived Wisconsin Honey Producers Cooperative Association, an offshoot of the WSBA formed in 1920 to market honey, and correspondence and miscellaneous minutes of various WHPA committees. The general correspondence is rather fragmentary and does not provide as complete coverage of organizational history as either the minutes or the published newsletter. An oversize folder of material pertaining to the Wisconsin State Beekeepers Association, the original name of the organization when it was founded in 1885, is also included.
ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS include information on the Honey Queen contests (including honey recipes of the contestants) and reports, financial information, and committee material for the association's annual State Fair participation. The files on AB 150 refer to a beekeeper registration law which the WHPA vigorously opposed in 1977 and 1978.
FINANCIAL RECORDS include journal of receipts and expenses, federal and state income tax forms, correspondence, a 1919 dues record/membership list and annual financial statements of the treasurer.
Also part of the collection is a FILM, The Wonderful World of Honey, produced by the California Honey Advisory Board, but distributed by the Wisconsin organization for promotional purposes.
