Title: American Legion, Dane County Council Records
Inclusive Dates: 1933-1992

Creator:

• American Legion, Dane County Council

Call Number: WVM Mss 60

Quantity: 2.8 linear ft. (7 archives boxes and 1 oversized folder).

Repository:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum
Have questions? Contact the Reference Archivist

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Veterans Museum (Map)

See the catalog entry for current shelf locations and additions.

Abstract:

The records of the Dane County Council, an organization made up of individual American Legion posts within the Department of Wisconsin and dedicated to veteran's causes, community service, and promoting patriotism. The collection consists of records from the organization itself, as well as from the member posts. The former includes correspondence reflecting activities and concerns of the council. Other materials highlight community service projects including performances by Legionnaire and magician Ben Bergor. Post materials consist of scrapbooks containing correspondence, newspaper clippings, programs, and bulletins from many of the DDC member posts. These papers reflect the posts' involvement in the DDC and, to an extent, their individual activities.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss00060

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The American Legion is a voluntary, fraternal organization of men and women who have served in the United States military during times of military conflict since World War I. Its origins date back to February 15, 1919 when a group of twenty Army officers, still stationed in occupied Germany, met to plan an organization for veterans of the Great War that would be on par with the already existing Grand Army of the Republic and United Spanish War Veterans.

As it grew, the organization split into departments that usually consisted of a state. The Department of Wisconsin received its charter in August 1920. Many cities within the state had local posts. Local posts were grouped by the county in which they were located and the counties grouped into districts. Dane County is one of 72 in the State of Wisconsin, and with six other counties it makes up the Third District in the Department of Wisconsin.

The Dane County Council (DCC), like the American Legion, is dedicated to serving veterans, promoting patriotism, community service, and helping youth, especially high school students. Specifically, the DCC raises money for the area veterans hospital, Badger Boys and Girls State programs, high school awards and scholarships, and many other veteran and community causes.

The number of local posts within the DCC has fluctuated throughout the years. As of 2004 it consists of 24 individual posts (see appendix).

The records of the American Legion, Dane County Council are divided into two series, Dane County Council and Member Posts.

Dane County Council (1933-1978) consists of administrative records relating to the operation of the organization. Four large correspondence files document the concerns of the council members, including raising membership, planning events, and organizing meetings. Other materials highlight some of the community service projects of the group including high school scholarships, local County Government Days, and raising money through performances by magician Ben Bergor. Also found in the series are a constitution and by-laws, documentation of deceased veterans in the county, and some scattered financial records.

Member Posts (1942-1992) contains scrapbooks for many of the American Legion posts that make up the Dane County Council. The scrapbooks contain correspondence, programs, bulletins, newspaper clippings, and other documentation of the posts' involvement in the council and their own operations predominantly during the middle part of the twentieth century. Materials for each post vary greatly in size, with the largest being the Elmer Peterson Post 333 (Sun Prairie) and one of the smallest the now-defunct University of Wisconsin Post 549 (Madison).

Acquisition Information

Presented by Dane County Council, 1995. Accession Number: TR0279, TR0335, and TR0352. The collection was previously known as Record Group 60. ; This collection was organized as a result of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission project grant (2003-075).

Processing Information

Preliminary inventory by Mark Van Ells, circa 1995. Processed by Russell Horton in 2004.

	Series: Dane County Council
Box   1 Folder   1	Awards, Legionnaire of the Year, 1968-1974
	Subseries: Community Service	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2	Ben Bergor (Magician), 1959-1966
Box   1 Folder   3	County Government Day, 1962-1968
Ov   10 Folder   10	Oversized, 1962-1974
Box   1 Folder   4	Scholarships, 1952-1961
Box   2 Folder   1	Constitution and By-laws, 1957
	Subseries: Correspondence	⇧
Box   2 Folder   2-3	1950-1970
Box   3 Folder   1-2	1970-1978
Box   4 Folder   1-2	Deceased Veterans Reports, 1951-1972
Box   4 Folder   3	Directories, 1962, undated
	Subseries: Financial Records	⇧
Box   4 Folder   4	Account Statements, 1962-1974
Box   4 Folder   5	Ledger, 1933-1974
	Series: Member Posts	⇧
Box   4 Folder   6	William B. Cairns Victory Post 57 (Madison), 1942-1976
Box   4 Folder   7	Joseph Bollenbeck Scrapbook, 1961-1970
Box   4 Folder   8-9	West Side Memorial Post 151 (Madison), 1965-1977
Box   4 Folder   10	James Munro Post 195 (Cambridge), 1963-1972
Box   5 Folder   1-2	Kerl-Endres-Brannen Post 245 (Cross Plains), 1959-1977
Box   5 Folder   3	Luther-Hamshire-Pearsall Post 279 (Marshall), 1968-1972
	Subseries: Elmer Peterson Post 333 (Sun Prairie)	⇧
Box   5 Folder   4	1962-1971
Box   6 Folder   1-2	1972-1984
Box   7 Folder   1	1985-1992
Box   7 Folder   2	Johnson-Litch Post 334 (Oregon), 1970-1973
Box   7 Folder   3	Olson-Grinde Post 348 (DeForest), 1960-1977
Box   7 Folder   4	William Lansing Post 360 (Waunakee), 1962-1975
Box   7 Folder   5	Mason-Lindsay Post 385 (Verona), 1957-1969
Box   7 Folder   6	Monona Grove Post 429 (Monona), 1958-1974
Box   7 Folder   7	Greening-Buelow Post 437 (Mazomanie), 1960-1977
Box   7 Folder   8	Robert M. Coakley Post 481 (Madison), circa 1972
Box   7 Folder   9	Donald C. Severson Post 501 (Madison), 1973-1976
Box   7 Folder   10	Edwards-Foye Post 534 (McFarland), 1971-1973
Box   7 Folder   11	University of Wisconsin Post 549 (Madison), 1956-1959
Box   7 Folder   12	Blackhawk Post 553 (Madison), 1973