Title: Draft Counseling and Information Center Records
Inclusive Dates: 1968-1974

Creator:

• Draft Counseling and Information Center (Madison, Wis.)

Call Number: Mss 442

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (4 archives boxes)

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Records of a volunteer draft counseling service primarily operated for University of Wisconsin students. The contents, chiefly dating from 1970-1971, include counselor training materials, statements to draft boards, conscientious objector claims, and a subject file of pamphlets, reprints, and newsletters collected to provide information to young men about their rights and about alternatives possible under the Selective Service system. Unfortunately, the correspondence is almost entirely routine, and the permanent files on individual counselees containing personal and draft history information are missing. As a result the collection provides only a limited picture of DCIC development and internal operations.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00442

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The Madison Draft Counseling and Information Center (DCIC) began as part of the American Friends (Quakers) Service Committee (AFSC), which initiated draft counseling activities in Madison about 1968. In February 1970 the AFSC turned to promoting similar projects in other parts of Wisconsin and the DCIC continued counseling independent of AFSC guidance and support. Without the funds or manpower of AFSC, the DCIC sought financial support from other community and religious organizations. One of these, St. Francis House, provided rent-free quarters, which allowed DCIC to move from their smaller office at the Resistance House.

The staff of counselors, which numbered between twenty-three and thirty-five in 1970-1971, was volunteer, although a fulltime coordinator was employed in 1971. The main objective of DCIC counselors was to provide information to men about their rights, privileges, and alternatives under Selective Service regulations. To this end they issued memos on draft-related topics, distributed pamphlets and reprints, and maintained a large library including the Selective Service Law Reporter and other newsletters.

Most of the counselees were University of Wisconsin students, but others included high school students, non-student minority group members, and men already in the service.

The records provide only a fragmentary view of draft counseling activities during the years 1968-1972. There is almost nothing to document the center's development or policies; very little correspondence of the coordinator, and virtually no internal memoranda exist. Another unexpected gap results from the absence of counselee record forms and counselor's briefs. The first was a questionnaire that each counselee filled out on his first visit to the center, containing a detailed description of his draft history and his preferred alternatives. Counselor's briefs were listings of administrative actions taken to achieve the classification a man desired. Together these forms constituted the counselee's permanent file at DCIC.

The major portion of the collection consists of pamphlets, reprints, and newsletters reflecting DCIC's aim of providing information on Selective Service regulations. About three linear feet of newsletters and books have been transferred to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library. The remaining papers have been divided into four series: Correspondence, DCIC Operations, Draft Counselor Training Materials, and Subject Files. Except for the Subject Files which are alphabetical, the folders in each category are arranged with those of more substance preceding.

Within the correspondence series, the incoming and outgoing letters pertaining to draft advice give some evidence of the kinds of information sought by young men. The citizenship information from embassies came in reply to a form letter. The same information is summarized in Exiled: A Handbook for the Draft Age Emigrant (transferred to the State Historical Society Library). The rest of the correspondence is sporadic and routine, consisting of form letters relating to church materials and subscriptions. The Miscellany folder includes letters from other draft counseling centers and a letter from the National Guard's Betterment Association.

The DCIC OPERATIONS series includes two briefs written by the DCIC which provide an overview of its history and aims, as well as limited budget information. Also found in the DCIC history file is a two-page report on the Atwood Community House, a DCIC branch established to serve non-student minorities. The other memos, news releases, and pamphlets give indirect evidence of DCIC activities.

Filed with the DRAFT COUNSELOR TRAINING MATERIALS are conscientious objector (C.O.) claims, some with letters of reference attached, but it is not clear whether these were used in counselor training. Most of the statements to draft boards contain a transcript written by the counselee soon after his hearing, reporting his version of the dialog that took place. As evidence of the reasons advanced for conscientious objection, and the types of questions asked by draft boards, this is probably the most interesting file in the collection. Basic Resource Materials on Military Law was written by the Committee for Legal Research on the Draft at Harvard University; the Handbook for Training Draft Counselors was written by Gene Hooyman and Paul Frazier at the Ann Arbor draft counseling center. “Preparing Cases for Trial” contains guidelines from the Committee at Harvard, and one court decision. The miscellany file contains the DCIC training program outline, workshop schedules, and addresses of other Wisconsin counselors, and a two-page report of a trainer/field worker.

The DCIC's SUBJECT FILES were apparently created at various times, and by different people. They contain mostly pamphlets and reprints to hand out or sell to counselees, as well as a few newsletters. Drafts of informational papers are found in the prisons and conscientious objection folders.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Steve Meiers, Madison, Wisconsin, and Don Klubertanz, Black Earth, Wisconsin, August 5, 1976. Accession Number: M76-308

Processing Information

Processed by Kay Weisman (Intern) and Joane Hohler, November 10, 1978.

	Series: Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	Draft advice, 1969-1971
Box   1 Folder   2	Church materials re: conscientious objection, 1971-1972
Box   1 Folder   3	Foreign embassies' replies re: citizenship, 1968
Box   1 Folder   4	Subscriptions and literature orders, 1970, 1972
Box   1 Folder   5	Memos re: literature poll, 1970
Box   1 Folder   6	Miscellany, 1970-1972
	Series: DCIC Operations	⇧
Box   1 Folder   7	DCIC history, operating procedures and budget, circa 1971
Box   1 Folder   8-9	DCIC-issued and other memos, 1970-1971
Box   1 Folder   10	News releases and broadsides, 1970-1972
Box   1 Folder   11	Pamphlets, 1968-1972
Box   2 Folder   1	Pamphlets, continued
	Series: Draft Counselor Training Materials	⇧
Box   2 Folder   2	Conscientious objector (C.O.) claims and statements to draft boards, circa 1970
Box   2 Folder   3	Basic Resource Materials on Military Law, 1970
Box   2 Folder   4	Handbook for Training Draft Counselors, 1970
Box   2 Folder   5	Manual of Draft Information for Conscientious Objectors, Akron: Mennonite Central Committee, Peace Section, 1968
Box   2 Folder   6	Facsimile Selective Service file, 1968-1972
Box   2 Folder   7	Preparing cases for trial, 1969-1970
Box   2 Folder   8	Miscellany, 1968-1970
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
Box   2 Folder   9	Amnesty, circa 1974
Box   2 Folder   10	Canada, 1970-1971
Box   2 Folder   11	Conscientious objection, circa 1970
Box   2 Folder   12	Conscientious objector job information, undated
Box   3 Folder   1	The draft, 1971
Box   3 Folder   2	Draft counseling center addresses (national), undated
Box   3 Folder   3	Draft information and education -- sample packet, circa 1971
Box   3 Folder   4	High schools and the draft, 1969-1970
Box   3 Folder   5	Induction, 1970, 1972
Box   3 Folder   6	In-house newsletters, 1970
Box   3 Folder   7	Literature lists, 1969-1974
Box   3 Folder   8	Lottery, circa 1969
Box   3 Folder   9	Madison Committee on Draft Education (MCODE), 1970
Box   3 Folder   10	Madison Sustaining Fund, circa 1970
Box   3 Folder   11	New University Conference statements, 1968-1969
Box   3 Folder   12	Peace Corps, circa 1970
Box   3 Folder   13	Prisons, undated
Box   3 Folder   14	ROTC, circa 1970-1971
Box   3 Folder   15	Selective Service system forms -- samples , undated
Box   3 Folder   16-17	Unitarian Universalist Service Committee - AFSC Employment Opportunities Information
Box   4 Folder   1	University of Wisconsin policy on the draft, 1968
Box   4 Folder   2	Miscellaneous reprints, 1968-1974