The records of the Wisconsin Veterans Home have been arranged into three series: Home Administration, Residents, and Photographs. Materials in this collection date from 1866 to 1977, with the bulk of materials dating from 1922 to 1966.
The Home Administration (1887-1979) records address administration, finances, membership, and communications and public relations.
Administrative records contain information on the daily operation of the Wisconsin Veterans Home. Much is found on the development, early administration, and buildings (dedicated between 1955 and 1971) of the Home. Less is found on employees, especially the Commandants, and early buildings.
Many of the records concern the governing bodies of the Home. The records of the Advisory Board, Board of Incorporators, and Board of Managers are all included. Advisory Board records contain only the minutes of their first meeting, but those of other groups are more complete. The Board of Incorporators subseries includes correspondence from officials of various Wisconsin cities all vying to have the Home located in their city as well as minutes spanning much of the early organization of the Home.
There is also a nearly complete set of proceedings from the monthly meetings of the Board of Managers (later the Board of Trustees). These records provide a sketch of the management of the Home and the issues facing its leaders. They also contain financial summaries. Draft versions of these meetings have also been retained as the abbreviations found in the types versions are sometimes confusing. Of note are the Surgeon's Reports (1927-1931) which give a residency total for each month and a list resident's deaths and burial information. Records also document the transfer of control to the Adjutant General (1930). Transfer-related records are fairly complete and include inventories of clothing, equipment, property, and subsistence supplies. There are also financial balance sheets regarding this transfer. In contrast, there is no information about the transfer of control to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bulk of the information on the buildings and grounds are dedication programs for buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. Programs include basic information about buildings and occasionally information about the building's namesakes. Newspaper clippings about construction are also found, as is information about the city of Wapuaca. An audio tape of the dedication of MacArthur Hall includes speeches by Governor Lee Dreyfus about the political history of the MacArthur family and a speech by Douglas MacArthur II.
Few financial records are present and those document only a brief period of the institution's existence. The cashbooks portray the Home's involvement with the surrounding community by indicating the vendors from which the Home purchased supplies. The commissary account ledger shows what amount was spent on various subsistence supplies.
Communications and Public Relations information includes scattered materials about the management of the Home and its employees and two scrapbooks of newspaper clippings about the Home. Annual reports were produced in a variety of formats throughout the Home's history and each year contains a summary of financial information and a list of members. Published under a variety of titles throughout the years (Annual Reports of the Grand Army Home for Veterans, Annual Report (Grand Army Home for Veterans), Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Wisconsin Veterans Home, and Annual Report of the Wisconsin Veterans Home) these items are available in the library collection. Manuscript versions of these reports are found in the collection for the years 1936 to 1949. Memorandum, mostly addressing specific staff and resident issues, are included as are general and special orders issued by the Commandant; the bulk of which cover the periods between the 1940s and the 1960s. The general orders (1908-1949) are complete with only a gap from 1915 to 1919.
Materials pertaining to the Carlton L. Brosius Museum at the Home prior to control by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum are also included. Information about Museum collections, including donations and displays are present. There are also reports about the condition of the Museum and loans of items.
Residents (1887-1977) provides information about both admissions and daily life at the Home. Residents are often referred to as “members” on the records themselves.
Member records offer a wealth of information about the individuals who lived at the Home and can be particularly helpful to genealogists. Membership applications for veterans, wives, and widows are found in bound volumes. Researchers should be advised that there is no alphabetical index to these volumes, and access is obtained through a numerical index arranged chronologically by the member's first residency date. Wives and widows applications are also listed in this volume, although their entries were written in red ink. This number corresponds with an application number, application volumes are arranged numerically by this number. Specific names are located by approximating residency date and then scanning through the numerical index. Veterans' applications include information about military service (including rank, organization, and discharge), post war employment, disability, children (including name and address), and information about other soldiers' homes applied to. The applications of wives and widows provide information about their birth, marriage, children, and health concerns. There is also a section of information devoted to their husband's military service, death (if applicable), and pension.
Other records show the amount of money residents spent on Commissary items such as toiletries as well as the amount of pension monies retained by the veteran. The Member Record provides an alphabetical list of members' disability, death date, employment, and service information.
Material about life at the home is found through scattered newspaper clippings, a reminiscence about a Christmas celebration, and a brochure encouraging Home members to assist in home front production for World War II. There is also information about holiday celebrations in programs and menus for these events. Patriotic society information documents Home visits and the celebrations they organized.
Photographs primarily include images of the buildings and grounds at King. There are also a few pictures of employees and residents. Views of the buildings and grounds are mainly scenic, including only the building and its surroundings.
Images exist for many of the early buildings. Grounds scenes feature lake shores, streets, parks, and the cemetery. There are also two sets of photographs glued to a board containing a combination of grounds and buildings. A scrapbook labeled “photographs” contains excellent images. Many of the buildings and grounds photographs are clear images with excellent composition, most likely used for public relations purposes.
There are scattered images of Home residents. A few individual portraits are found as are group portraits of resident couples and organizations affiliated with the Home. Of note are several images of Civil War veterans lined up for “inspection,” the Home Band and Drum Corps, Fire Department, Firing Squad, and Wagon Team. Also found are images of the Home staff including the Board of Trustees and the Board of Incorporators, nurses, staff dressed for the Waupaca centennial, and staff groups from various halls.
The second scrapbook was compiled by Hilda Abrahams of the Freemont (Wis.) Gray Ladys. These images show members of the Gray Ladys visiting the Wisconsin Veterans Home and other care facilities. Events of the group are also pictured as are other groups of Wisconsin Gray Ladys. Also included are two postcard photographs of staff, firing squad and grounds from the Wood Veterans Administration Hospital in Milwaukee (now the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Administration Medical Centre).
