The Wunsch papers consist largely of extended memoirs composed by the donor between 1973 and 1986 about his career with the Social Security Administration together with illustrative original documents. The papers are arranged substantially as received from the donor--chronologically by assignment and analytically within these headings. In addition, there is a small series of reference documents and a file of miscellaneous personal papers.
The bulk of the collection consists of Wunsch's CAREER NARRATIVE, a running commentary on his career composed between 1973 and 1986, to which he appended documents to substantiate his observations on the policies, personnel, and procedures of the Social Security Administration. While many of the documents concern the routine activities of various midwestern regional centers, the cumulative effect of Wunsch's collection is a vivid impression of agency administration from the level of middle management. In this regard, the collection complements the Historical Society's holdings on such major figures in the Social Security system as Arthur J. Altmeyer, Wilbur Cohen, and Edwin E. Witte.
As a field officer in the Midwest for the bulk of his career, Wunsch was privy to a wide array of administrative problems and management styles during the first 35 years of the Social Security system. His notes self-consciously reflect on motivations and consequences of successive developments in this major American agency and his own continuing anxieties concerning his career and status within the organization.
Major topics in the papers include the management, administration, and field service of the Social Security system; automation; Medicare; public relations; and staff training and development. Throughout the collection there is repeated reference to Wunsch's German-American origins and their relevance to his ongoing government service. This topic is particularly reflected in a brief exchange (Box 4, Folder 7) with H.L. Mencken on American regional dialects. Other notable correspondents include George E. Rawson, Hugh A. McKenna, Albert A. Kuhle, and Thomas M. Tierney, with occasional contributions by Robert M. Ball.
The CAREER REFERENCE SERIES consists of more lengthy original documents and supplies additional documentation for Wunsch's observations in the career narrative series. Included here is the lengthy Total Data Systems Plan, numerous SSA and Bureau of the Budget internal memoranda, and copies of in-house newsletters to field staff.
A small accumulation of PERSONAL PAPERS included with the collection supplies additional information about Wunsch and illustrates his personal style and political convictions via correspondence with a range of friends and relatives. There are extended communications with four friends: two college chums, Bud Jens and Norm Beier; and two Social Security colleagues, A. Dale Smith and William J. Rhynsburger. The personal files are arranged chronologically by the initial date of the file and topically thereunder.
The VISUAL MATERIALS include photographs of Wunsch's family, his offices in Oshkosh and Rockford, staff members, recreational golf outings, tennis matches, and vacations. Negatives feature Margaret Blocki, a tennis tournament, images of family, rural life and hunting. Dated images span from 1923-1959.
