The records of the United Spanish War Veterans, Department of Wisconsin are divided into two series, Department of Wisconsin and Local Camps.
Department of Wisconsin (1932-1969) is the larger of the two series and documents the activities of the statewide organization. The Administrative sub-series includes some general orders issued by the Department of Wisconsin, a departmental historian's report, which lists deaths for that year, and a departmental roster. Researchers should note that this series lacks meeting minutes and membership records. The Encampment sub-series consists of bound proceedings from six state encampments in the 1960's; these proceedings document addresses given and business attended to at each of the annual gatherings. The bank statements and financial reports from the Financial sub-series show the researcher the types of things that the USWV spent money on in the mid-twentieth century, such as memorials, flowers for funerals, and annual encampments.
Local Camps (1905-1964) contains a scattering of materials from individual Camps within the Department of Wisconsin. Researchers should be aware that only six of the forty-eight Wisconsin Camps are represented in this series and that only one of those six is documented in depth. The activities of Herman J. Bartels Camp 39, from Marshfield, are represented by the materials in this series, which include meeting minutes, applications for membership, and financial records. The original corps charters for three camps, which include the names of charter members, can also be found within this series.
