Title: Frank N. Graass Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1917-1963

Creator:

• Graass, Frank N., 1885-

Call Number: Mss 32

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of a Wisconsin Republican and conservationist who served in the State Assembly from 1916 until 1961, including correspondence, reports, legislative bills, budget proposals, speeches, biographical materials, and newspaper clippings. The correspondence, primarily from constituents, focuses on the issues of patronage, military deferments, the Great Lakes fisheries, and other conservation issues. The correspondence includes an exchange with Governor Philip F. La Follette outlining political problems during 1935 and extensive communication with John Van Oosten of the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife. Other prominent correspondents include Walter S. Goodland and Julius P. Heil. Additional materials document the Sturgeon Bay assemblyman's relationships with Governors Goodland (1943-1947) and Heil (1939) and with the Izaak Walton League. During his tenure in the state legislature, Graass also served on the Northern Great Lakes Area Council and the Great Lakes Fisheries Committee of the Council of State Governments.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00032

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Frank N. Graass, Wisconsin state assemblyman and conservationist, was born in 1885 at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. After graduating from Sturgeon Bay High School in 1905, he was employed as bookkeeper by the Kalmbach and Booth Fisheries. Three years later he began the business of collecting tree seeds, and later claimed the distinction of being America's largest exporter of tree seeds, with extraction plants at Crivitz and Sturgeon Bay, and at Roscommon, Michigan. In 1914 he purchased an orchard, and developed a fruit growing business in Door County, specializing in apples and cherries. In addition to being active in the Fruit Growers' Association, a member of the Door County Chamber of Commerce, and a promoter of the area's interests, he became an active leader in the Izaak Walton League.

Mr. Graass was first elected to the state assembly in 1916, as a Republican, and served in the legislature intermittently until his retirement in 1961--a total of eleven sessions with that body. He was a member of several important committees; he was a strong friend of conservation and author of laws affecting natural resources in the state, being particularly well-versed in the problems of Great Lakes fisheries; and he became an authority on financial matters. He was a member of the Council of State Governments board of managers and the Great Lakes Area Council, and was chairman of the Great Lakes Fisheries Committee.

In 1939, Assemblyman Graass drafted the third attempt of the state Finance Committee to present an acceptable budget, and it was the ammended budget that he wrote that was eventually signed by Governor Heil. During the administration of Walter Goodland, he served as the governor's chief assistant, 1941-1945, advising on the state's legislative and financial matters. He was called by some the most powerful politician in the state at that time.

Frank Graass was married to Helen Webb in November of 1919. His brother was Circuit Judge Henry Graass. At the time of this writing, December, 1968, he is still living in Sturgeon Bay.

Correspondence in the Frank N. Graass Papers includes the years from 1917 to 1963. Letters are chiefly to and from constituents concerning personal problems with which an assemblyman often helps; matters relating to conservation, especially fisheries; financial programs in the state; financial aids and job requests; and military deferments. Very little of the correspondence discusses state politics in any detail, although there is some departmental correspondence during the period when Graass was assistant to Governor Goodland. One exception is a letter from Graass to Governor Philip F. La Follette, Feb. 13, 1935, outlining legislative and political problems of the state and making proposals for their solution. La Follette's reply is contained in a letter dated Feb. 16, 1935.

Because of his interest in conservation and his work in behalf of the Great Lakes fisheries, much of the collection is concerned with committee work, bills, proposals, and reports. Graass was in communication with Dr. John Van Oosten, who was in charge of Great Lakes fisheries investigations for the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, and the Papers contain both reports and letters from Dr. Van Oosten. Materials relating to the Izaak Walton League and its activities are filed in Folder 6 of Box 2; they include the years, 1927 to 1931.

As the chief architect of Governor Goodland's budget of 1943, and of the proposed budget for 1947, Graass had copies of his proposals. These will be found in Box 2, as will his amendment to Governor Heil's budget of 1939, Folders 4 and 5.

Graass gave many speeches, himself, and seems to have written and delivered several as a representative of Governor Goodland. Copies of these, 1926-1955, n.d., are filed in Folder 8 of Box 2. Box 1 contains biographical material, and many clippings concerning Frank Graass and his career, Folders 5-7.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Frank N. Graass, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1970. Accession Number: M70-351

Processing Information

Processed by Margaret Hafstad, January 20, 1969. Additional papers received from Mr. Graass in November, 1970, were added to the folder titled “Biographical Materials.”

	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1917-1935
Box   1 Folder   2	1936-1940
Box   1 Folder   3	1941-1951
Box   1 Folder   4	1952-1963
Box   1 Folder   5	Biographical materials
	Clippings
Box   1 Folder   6	1927-1947; 1952-1953
Box   1 Folder   7	n.d.
	Conservation materials
Box   2 Folder   1	1931-1934
Box   2 Folder   2	1935-1939, 1958, (1963?)
Box   2 Folder   3	n.d.
Box   2 Folder   4	Governor Goodland's budgets, 1943, 1947
Box   2 Folder   5	Governor Heil's budget, 1939
Box   2 Folder   6	Izaak Walton League, 1927-1931
Box   2 Folder   7	Miscellaneous
Box   2 Folder   8	Speeches, 1926-1955, n.d.