This collection contains administrative, program, and educational records of Trees for Tomorrow, Inc. spanning 1943 to 1986. The collection is extensive and provides both breadth and detailed information about the various programs Trees for Tomorrow established throughout its history. The records have been organized into the following series: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, CAMP/WORKSHOP FILE, FOREST MANAGEMENT SERVICES, M.N. “MULLY” TAYLOR PAPERS, and PHOTOGRAPH FILE.
The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS (1943-1986) include articles of incorporation and by-laws; membership lists; organizational charts; camp facility inspection reports; minutes, agendas, and supporting materials of the Executive Committee, Board of Director, and Members meetings; working and advisory committee materials; financial records; audit reports; brochures and handouts developed by the organization; news releases; newsclippings about “Trees”; annual and monthly progress reports; newsletters; and other materials.
Board of Directors and Executive Committee minutes, annual reports, and financial records are incomplete. There are no minute books or financial record books in the collection. Newsletters are also not complete, although the State Historical Society Library does hold a complete set of the original Tree Tips (1946-1970) on microfilm.
In addition to the camp facility inspection reports located in this series, additional information about the camp itself is scattered throughout several series. Researchers may locate additional information in correspondence with the U.S. Forest Service and scattered files given a “T4T Camp” notation in the GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE series and also under specific folder titles in the CAMP/WORKSHOP FILE.
The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE FILE (1943-1986) is the principal file of the executive director, covering the entire range of the organization's programs and activities from its founding to 1986. Consisting mainly of correspondence, the series also contains reports, program records, surveys and questionnaires undertaken by Trees for Tomorrow, and media scripts and other public relations materials.
The series documents the organization's work with various conservation, forestry, civic, business, educational, and professional organizations as well as its cooperative efforts with federal, state, and regional governmental agencies and educational institutions. Correspondence between the executive director and officials of each sponsoring paper mill and power company form an important part of the series. Included here is correspondence with Folke Becker of the Rhinelander Paper Company and long-time president of Trees for Tomorrow, D. C. Everest, E. B. Hurst and others.
As a general rule in using the collection, series distinctions between the ADMINISTRATIVE FILE, GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, CAMP/WORKSHOP FILE, and FOREST MANAGEMENT SERVICES should serve to guide, not exclude, since filing criteria between the various series was not clear cut. This occurs with greater frequency after termination of forest management services in 1970, retirement of executive director, “Mully” Taylor in 1975, and the shift to educational activities as the organization's sole function.
Filing was also not consistent within the series itself, and one may find related materials under an individual's name, affiliated organization or agency name, by subject, and/or by an alphabetic letter with some relevancy to the material.
The CAMP/WORKSHOP FILE (1944-1986?) is a rich source in documenting the general operations of the camp itself, workshops offered, and, to a lesser extent, subject matter covered. The series is most complete from 1945 to 1974 with spotty coverage thereafter.
Minutes, supporting materials, and working papers of the Camp Advisory Council, Workshop Coordinators, and Field Technicians (tour leaders) are included in this series. Records relating to program administration and camp operations include monthly reports of the Camp Director, inter-office correspondence, complimentary letters from workshop attendees, general correspondence, schedules for camp occupancy, menus, scattered financial records, materials relating to the camp facilities and buildings, and miscellaneous materials.
General files relating to the workshops include workshop rosters, educational and curricular materials developed for or by the workshop attendees, materials relating to the educational program and demonstration tour sites, and student discussion summaries. Providing information about perspectives and concepts covered in the workshops, the student discussion summaries are largely those of high school and county teachers college students.
The workshop files themselves are organized alphabetically by either workshop name or name of the organization or agencies involved with it. Individual workshop files may contain the workshop program or brochure, correspondence, reports, evaluation summaries, planning materials, and curricular materials. Workshop programs or brochures often contain an hour-by-hour event summary. Of particular significance and quantity are materials relating to workshops offered throughout the summer to Wisconsin high school and county teacher college students, as well as credit courses offered as a part of the Wisconsin State College (later University) system to practicing teachers. Files of the Kiwanis and Wisconsin Federation of Women's Clubs are of note as these organizations played a significant role in providing scholarships to both teachers and high school students.
FOREST MANAGEMENT SERVICES (1944-1970?) document several programs which were available for private landowners. This series contains administrative and working papers relating to the tree distribution, timber sales, tree planting machine, and client forest management assistance programs. Records include correspondence, reports, financial records, statistics, forester's monthly reports, landowners' surveys, and several McBee card files which identify and codify information about both participating landowners and their properties (a McBee card is coded and punched along the card's margins which permits retrieval by specific information bits).
The bulk of the series consists of client case files developed for landowners who participated in fee-based forest management plans and timber sales. The files are arranged by county and thereunder by the name of the property owner. Most plans are for lands in Vilas, Oneida, Lincoln, and other upper Wisconsin River valley counties, although other Wisconsin and Upper Michigan counties are also represented. The files generally contain correspondence, aerial views, land cover maps, detailed recommendations for planting and maintenance, survey notes, and timber estimation and marking forms. Timber sale correspondence, bids, and contracts, and payment summaries are also included in some files. Due to their size, some land cover maps are filed in oversized boxes which are similarly organized.
The M.N. “MULLY” TAYLOR PAPERS (1945-1978?) span Taylor's tenure as Trees for Tomorrow executive director from the organization's inception in 1944 to Taylor's retirement in 1975. There are also some records immediately following Taylor's retirement including correspondence and scattered materials relating to two consultant projects in which Taylor was involved. Primarily consisting of speeches given by Taylor and others (including speeches of camp workshop presenters), the series also contains some correspondence, notes and materials relating to the organization's history, Taylor's handwritten minutes of several Executive Committee and Board of Directors' meetings, and some biographical materials. Taylor's many speeches shed light on the organization's philosophical base and intent.
The PHOTOGRAPH FILE is disappointing both in breadth and depth of coverage, but includes some views of camp facilities, forest management activities, early tree planting machines, specific forests, exhibits, tours, and workshops.
