The Doudna Papers are organized in four categories: Correspondence, Articles and speeches, Notes and manuscripts on Wisconsin history, and Class notes and lectures, clippings, and material used for schools.
Correspondence, 1900-1948 (arranged by months), consists of not more than 600 letters relating chiefly to arrangements for speaking engagements, responses of persons who heard Doudna speak, and the work of the Board of Regents of Normal Schools. A single letter, May 26, 1843, from Henry Dodge to John P. Sheldon comments on the “recent elections” and Dodge's own problems in connection with territorial politics; but this has no relation to the other correspondence in the collection. One small group of letters is worthy of special note. From August to October, 1936, when Doudna was visiting German schools, he wrote to his wife Carrie concerning the schools of Germany and commented on social and economic conditions there at that time.
About one-half of the collection consists of manuscripts of articles, speeches, and lectures (arranged by years). These reflect the fact that Doudna was a well-informed and popular speaker, and addressed many audiences on the subjects of education, Wisconsin history, and literature.
Because he wrote and spoke on Wisconsin history, the Doudna papers contain research notes and annotated manuscripts concerning incidents in the state's history and preparations for his book.
The original collection of Doudna papers contained many notes he took when attending college and university classes, as well as outlines he used in teaching. Representative examples of such notes and outlines will be found in Box 7. When he was superintendent at Wisconsin Rapids he evidently sent out duplicated courses of study and suggestions to the teachers in the system. Several of these outlines are filed in Box 7. The box also includes clippings concerning Doudna, and a very few items relating to German schools in 1936.
