The papers consist almost entirely of clippings and other material collected by E.B. Thayer Sr., as part of his interest in Marathon County history, together with a small quantity of similar material gathered by his son. There is no personal material about the Thayers and very little information about the operation of their newspaper and printing company. Although the majority of the collection consists of newspaper clippings, the papers are far more useful than similar collections on local history because of the existence of extensive (although complicated) indexing. In 1988 the clipping scrapbooks and their indexes were microfilmed and the original scrapbooks destroyed. In order to facilitate usage, however, the original indexes have been retained.
The papers consist of obituaries, reminiscences, histories, speeches and articles (some written by Thayer), interviews, correspondence, minutes, and lists. Also received with the collection was a group of photographs of Marathon county citizens and places. The papers are organized as general papers, scrapbooks, and photographs.
The GENERAL PAPERS are arranged by subject. Almost half of this section consists of questionnaires, correspondence, and alphabetically-arranged draft biographies of Marathon County lawyers which E.B. Thayer Sr. was collecting in 1931. Also included is his own obituary, some miscellaneous histories, and historical research correspondence of E.B. Thayer Jr.
The SCRAPBOOKS generally cover the period 1897-1931, but by virtue of the fact that some contain clippings from his column “Long Ago” there are references here to events which took place up to 50 years earlier. The volumes are arranged chronologically by publication date. Unfortunately, the indexing, which was probably done by Thayer himself, is complicated, with general indexes that include one or more volumes and internal supplements in several volumes with their own indexes. Each index has been filmed before the material to which it refers and the original copies of all indexes retained with the papers.
In addition to the general chronological approach of the scrapbooks, there are also several specialized volumes here on Democratic Party caucuses in the city of Wausau, activities of the Old Settlers' Club, lists of World War I veterans (and nurses), and clippings concerning the service of the Third Regiment of the Wisconsin National Guard during the Spanish American War. These materials are not indexed.
