The papers are a small collection documenting Klessig's academic career and his role in organizing the opposition to Project Sanguine, both in Wisconsin and elsewhere, from the late 1960's through the 1970's. Records of the latter type are most extensive and most significant. Although the majority of the collection was compiled by Klessig in his capacity as secretary of SCSS, it should be noted that the papers contain little primary evidence regarding the committee's internal workings or the development of policy. This gap in the documentary record, however, is filled in part by The ELF Odyssey and Klessig's earlier writings. In addition to SCSS, other related organizations with which Klessig was also involved, are also documented in the papers.
The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, reports, legal documents, newsletters, clippings, and scientific materials and is organized as background and biographical material, The ELF Odyssey production material, and files on Sanguine opponents.
The documentation of Klessig's academic career traces the importance of Project Sanguine in his intellectual, professional, and political development. This is illustrated in the BACKGROUND AND BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL, which consists largely of Klessig's early writings about Sanguine.
This track led to Klessig's collaboration with Victor Strite in the writing of The ELF Odyssey. Included in the ELF ODYSSEY PRODUCTION MATERIAL are correspondence between the co-authors, the editor, and the publisher and a 1978 typescript.
SANGUINE OPPONENT FILES concern the State Committee to Stop Sanguine; the Northern Environmental Council (NOREC); and the Wisconsin Resources Conservation Council, with which it was affiliated; and other groups both in Wisconsin and around the country. The majority of this material, which spans the period 1969 to 1982 and which consists of correspondence, memoranda, and newsletters, is filed together chronologically. Prominent correspondents here include legislators Les Aspin, Robert Kastenmeier, Gaylord Nelson, and William Proxmire and SCSS members Kent Shifferd and Charles H. Stoddard. Also included are files on the Governor's Ad Hoc Committee on Sanguine, court papers filed in SCSS's unsuccessful 1970 lawsuit, copies of the 1968 Hazelton research proposal on the environmental impact of Sanguine and subsequent reports and critiques of the proposal by scientists and environmentalists. Related materials include published and unpublished scientific articles about ELF technology and an extensive collection of newsclippings.
