The Henry Schadeberg papers entirely concern the congressman's eight years in Washington between 1960 and 1970; except for occasional references, there are no papers dealing with his long career as a minister for the Congregational Church. There are also only occasional items concerning his election campaigns. Researchers interested in this part of his career may wish to consult the 1968 radio spot ads which are part of the Society's McDonald-Davis Collection.
The papers are organized in the complicated filing scheme used in Schadeberg's office. This organizational scheme, which appears to have changed over time, makes the collection difficult to analyze. It is clear, however, that the papers consist of only a small portion of the papers which once existed in Schadeberg's office. There are, for example, virtually no papers from his first two terms in Congress (1961-1964), although this period may be examined using one of the indexes in the collection. In addition, the large legislative reference files which frequently comprise part of a congressman's papers are almost entirely missing. Thus, except for constituent correspondence, there is little information in the collection on the general work of Congress during Schadeberg's tenure. Nevertheless, there is very good material on the subjects and legislative initiatives with which Schadeberg was personally involved such as pornography and on local projects such as retention of the Coast Guard station in the district. Material in the collection is made readily accessible for research through the inclusion of two internal indexes and cross referencing notations on individual letters.
Included in the collection are correspondence, memoranda, indexes, reports, bills, clippings, press releases, newsletters, and speeches. They are organized in eleven series described below.
The NAME INDEX, sometimes referred to as “greens” or “pinks” because of the color of the paper, consists of copies of Schadeberg's outgoing letters filed by name of the recipient. The copies are filed by alphabetically and thereunder by congressional session. Unfortunately, for some letters the correspondence of entire years are missing.
The SUBJECT INDEX consists of additional copies of outgoing letters filed alphabetically according to subject designations applied by the congressman's staff. This index pertains only to the 1967-1970 period. Use of this index provides a quick overview of the congressman's views on particular issues.
Files of incoming and outgoing correspondence are located in two places in the collection. Correspondence dating from 1967 to 1968 is filed under LEGISLATIVE FILES. (In Schadeberg's office this file was referred to only as the “L file” and the actual name of the file is unclear.) It is ordered alphabetically by subject. Similar files for the 1969-1970 period were designated as master files in the Archives; these are separately described below.
The legislative files also include four boxes of documentation on bills introduced or sponsored by the congressman. This documentation covers his entire service in Congress, although the 1961-1964 section is limited. These individual files are arranged by session and then by bill number. Included are correspondence with constituents and colleagues, occasional drafts of bills, and reports. Although the majority of the files are small, there is extensive documentation on legislation on shoreline erosion and pornography.
Like other congressmen Schadeberg and his office staff was extensively involved in facilitating grant requests by constituents. These PROJECT FILES date chiefly from 1967 through 1970, although a few items were initiated during the tenure of Lynn Stalbaum. The files are arranged alphabetically by location or community, with a few project files (such as Schadeberg's efforts in behalf of Wisconsin mink ranchers) pertaining to subjects rather than places. Most important among the locality files are those on the development of Bong Air Force Base and the attempted closure of the Racine Coast Guard Station.
The GENERAL FILES are a small, incomplete alphabetical group of functionally-filed correspondence. These files consist mainly of letters of appreciation and items of a similar nature, although some files pertain to individual constituents.
MASTER FILES comprise one of the largest series in the collection (about nine cubic feet), although they cover only the 1969-1970 congressional session. This series contains incoming and outgoing letters arranged in an elaborate subject file with numerically-coded subdivisions for each general subject category. The general subjects are arranged alphabetically and the subdivisions are filed by code number. In addition to letters concerning general legislative and committee matters, these files also contain routine administrative material, public relations correspondence, and political letters.
CASE FILES in the collection cover only the 1967-1970 period, and for 1967-1968 many of the files appear to be missing. For this period the cases are filed alphabetically by agency name. For the 1969-1970 session, all types of cases are mixed and filed alphabetically by the name of the individual concerned. A large file concerns the Ernest Wagner case for which Schadeberg attracted national attention when he publicized the fact that the Army had charged a former soldier for a lost rifle.
As indicated above, only a small quantity of reference material and general subject files were shipped to the Historical Society. Those which are present, which Schadeberg's office referred to as SOURCE FILES, are quite miscellaneous in character, and they primarily date from the 1969-1970 session.
The ADVISORY COMMITTEE FILES, some of the limited early material in the collection, date from 1961 through 1964; it is not known if similar groups existed during Schadeberg's third and fourth sessions. This file consists of correspondence, lists, and informational reports pertaining to these groups which kept Schadeberg informed of district views on important issues.
PRESS AND PUBLICITY consists of printed copies and occasional drafts of Schadeberg's newspaper columns, newsletters, press releases, and speeches. There are also some miscellaneous mailings, radio and television scripts and related correspondence, and press release-type telegrams. Material from 1967-1970 appears more complete than that from 1961-1964. Only a few press releases deal with his election campaigns. Publications of his Research and Public Affairs Service are available in the Society library.
Filed as PERSONAL INFORMATION are official biographies, information on and compilations of votes, schedules, and memorabilia. There are also files of biographical clippings removed from other portions of the collection. No official scrapbooks were received with the collection, although internal evidence suggests that they may have existed. There is also a small file of correspondence dealing with his political campaigns from 1966 through 1970.
