The papers of Juanita and Gerald Wilke are divided into three series: Juanita Goold Wilke, Gerald F. Wilke, and Photographs.
Juanita Goold Wilke (1943-1995) consists largely of the letters that Juanita wrote home to friend and co-worker Ruth Blood during her service with the Women's Army Corps (W.A.C.). These letters describe her basic training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia and officer's training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. In the letters, she describes the military-style experience given to the W.A.C.s and asks about events in Madison and at work. After shipping over to Europe, Wilke showed an awareness of censorship in her letters. She focused on describing her daily activities, the local people and scenery. There is little detail given in these letters about the specifics of her job as a cryptographer but there is much information about the experiences of a woman in the W.A.C. and in the European Theater. A scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, postcards, paper ephemera, and photographs from her military service that expand upon the events described in the letters. Also included in the series are a diary and journal from her stateside training. The diary is a published tome in which Juanita wrote short entries describing which local women were rejected from W.A.C. service and dates when she moved from one training camp to another. The journal contains lengthier descriptions of the details of the W.A.C. training regime, such as marching with gas masks and barracks inspections. Military papers from her service include pay records, a last will and testament that she made upon entering the service, and several reports relating to her service in cryptography overseas. The latter detail the destruction, receipt, and transfer of documents. Newspaper clippings include two that announce Juanita's entry into service and several more interest pieces about her written around the time of the 50th anniversary of the war.
Gerald F. Wilke (1943-1948) contains a scrapbook documenting his service in the Army in North Africa and Italy. The scrapbook consists of a written narrative that is punctuated with photographs and paper ephemera. It provides a good brief summary of Gerald's World War II service. Also in this series are several military documents relating to his service, including a discharge form. The series also contains Gerald and Juanita's marriage certificate.
Photographs (1943-1944) consists entirely of pictures from Juanita's service. There are many shots of her in W.A.C. uniform, both stateside and overseas. In addition, there are photographs of unidentified W.A.C. personnel both training and relaxing at a stateside camp.
