The records of the G.A.R. Memorial Hall are divided into six series, Hall Custodians, Finances, Collections, Scrapbooks, Registers, and Photographs.
Hall Custodians (1894-1978) is arranged chronologically by custodian dates of service, and constitutes a significant portion of the collection. The Hosea Rood sub-series forms the bulk of the Hall Custodians series. The Rood sub-series includes correspondence with GAR comrades and posts concerning GAR and personal business, including correspondence with Harlan P. Bird, who was a Civil War veterans and Wisconsin State Senator. Photocopies of Rood's daily diaries from 1902, 1912, 1914, 1915, 1917, and 1920, contain much routine material, but also address his activities as Hall custodian. Rood's 1902 diary is virtually the only documentation in the collection of the pre-fire Hall, and the 1912 diary describes his efforts to encourage the construction of the Camp Randall Memorial Arch. Also included in the Rood sub-series are the 'Grand Army Corner' columns he wrote for the Sunday edition of the Madison Democrat newspaper, covering the periods 1906 to 1912 and 1916 to 1921. Draft versions of his newspaper columns and a variety of other essays, poems, and speeches on GAR and patriotic themes are also part of the collection. Rood's efforts on behalf of the Camp Randall Memorial Arch are documented by a draft letter to University of Wisconsin president Charles Van Hise and his essay about the significance of the Arch to the GAR. Also of interest is an extended essay on Wisconsin regiments in the Civil War. Three pages from Rood's personal GAR scrapbook are also included. Of interest in the collection is the original certificate appointing Rood custodian of the GAR Memorial Hall. The certificate is signed by Governor Robert LaFollette. Image material pertaining to Rood are also included in the Rood sub-series. Images feature several original and copy photographs of Rood, mainly those taken during his time as Hall Custodian. Additional images include copy photographs of Rood as a young soldier and a pastel drawing of him as a young man in uniform. The images were kept separate from the photograph series due to their direct connection to Rood.
The custodianships of Jesse Meyers and E. B. Heimstreet are briefly noted through a small amount of correspondence and a few speeches given at dedications and patriotic events. The George Pounder and Charles W. Netherwood sub-series have extensive references to Marie Melzner, who was the secretary and assistant custodian, and handled much of the day-to-day operation of the Hall as the Civil War veteran custodians grew older and more infirm. In addition to the usual speeches and essays, the correspondence in the Pounder and Netherwood portions of the collection is interesting because the Hall custodians, through Mrs. Melzner, became very active as an ad hoc veterans service office by assisting Civil War veterans and their dependents obtain benefits. Also of interest in the Pounder sub-series are his efforts to change the Hall custodianship law to include descendants of Civil War veterans, and not just the veterans themselves. Of particular interest in the J. Stanley Dietz sub-series is correspondence about the efforts to obtain money from the state for the repair and preservation of the Wisconsin monuments at Andersonville and Vicksburg, and an interesting memorandum about the uncertain origin of the 1st Wisconsin monument at the Chickamauga National Military Park. The George Stahl, W. L. Gillette, and John Diehl custodianships are only briefly evidenced by correspondence, however, the Diehl sub-series does have a notable personal reminiscence of the attack on San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. The records of the final custodian covered in the collection, Edmund Westcott, primarily documents the efforts of John Moses, the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, to renovate and update the Memorial Hall, which had been virtually unchanged since 1918, and includes correspondence about the proposed changes to the collection and mission of the Hall.
Finances (1921-1947) includes information about the budgeting and purchasing activities of the Memorial Hall. Although much of this material is routine, there is some information about the maintenance of artifacts and the construction of exhibit cases, including an exhibit case diagram.
Collections (1864-circa 1970) is comprised mostly of lists of the artifacts, flags, pictures, and books (circa 1937 and circa 1970). Also included in this series is a small selection of items from the Hall collections such as a battle flag tribute poster from the 1918 dedication and a 1864 print of George Washington and his family, which was displayed in the Memorial Hall.
Scrapbooks (1862-1968) comprises the bulk of the collection and contains over thirty scrapbooks, either created by the Hall custodian or donated to the Hall, which cover a variety of G.A.R. related subjects. Most scrapbooks consist of newspaper clippings about G.A.R. members and activities, including the Women's Relief Corps. There is a large scrapbook on the 1937 G.A.R. National Encampment in Madison. Other topics covered include three scrapbooks on Abraham Lincoln; an extensive scrapbook on the assassination of President William McKinley, who was a G.A.R. member; scrapbooks on World War I and World War II; two scrapbooks contain a series of sixty-two letters (1861-1864) written by Charles D. Waldo and other soldiers of the 12th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, which were published by the West Bend News as a column entitled “How They Fought the Rebellion”; and a small scrapbook on First Wisconsin Cavalry veterans. An interesting book of 'curious things' from the Civil War is apparently comprised of items donated to the Hall in the wake of the capitol fire, and includes Confederate money and documents, Civil War letters, snips of clothing worn by Lucius and Cassius Fairchild, and other Civil War memorabilia.
Registers (1904-1953) contains three visitor registers, one of which is a 1904 to 1914 register of G.A.R. members who visited the Hall, including name, town, Civil War regiment, and G.A.R. post number and post location in chronological order.
Photographs (circa 1861-1965) includes some images of the original Memorial Hall; museum visitors and exhibits in the new Hall; the 1965 rededication of the Memorial Hall; many views of the Gettysburg diorama exhibit. The series also includes 120 Civil War-era carte de visites, which were removed from one of the scrapbooks, featuring over 90 portrait photographs of Wisconsin soldiers, including Lucius and Cassius Fairchild and Wisconsin Dells photographer H.H. Bennett, as well as Civil War-era military and political figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Several other G.A.R. photographs, including 'then and now' photographs of three comrades taken in 1862 and 1906, are also part of this series.
