Title: Lucius Fairchild Woman's Relief Corps Post 37 Records
Inclusive Dates: 1886-1971

Creator:

• Lucius Fairchild Woman's Relief Corps Post 37

Call Number: WVM Mss 1754

Quantity: Papers, 3.6 linear ft. (7 archives boxes and 4 flat boxes)

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:

Records pertaining to the Lucius Fairchild Woman's Relief Corps Post 37 of Madison, Wisconsin, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic Post 11. Records include journals containing meeting minutes, letters sent to the post, cash books, ledgers, rolls of members and other post materials. Journals contain meeting minutes that cover the activity of the post at regular and special meetings. Cash books contain information about the balance of money held by the corps, payment of dues and payments to others. Ledgers contain membership and dues payment information. Member rolls and include information on each member. Each entry has the name of the member, the date joined and the date they left the corps. Also included in the back of each ledger is a “necrology” of members who had died in the span of each journal. Letterbooks contain correspondence sent to the corps from members, other posts, GAR posts, people asking for aid, and notices sent to the corps. Materials pertaining to the Corps include bylaws, membership applications, honorable discharge cards, quarterly reports of the secretary and treasurer, order forms for Corps materials and newsclippings about the Corps and Civil War matters.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.wvm-mss01754

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The Lucius Fairchild Woman's Relief Corps Post 37 of Madison, Wisconsin, was originally founded in 1886 as the C.C. Washburn Post 37. The post changed its name to the Lucius Fairchild Post in 1890, as a result of the GAR Post 11 changing their name to honor Lucius Fairchild, Civil War veteran and former governor of Wisconsin. As an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic Post 11 in Madison, Wisconsin, the women of the WRC served members of the GAR, veterans and their families in every way possible. Membership to the WRC grew steadily from 1886 to the 1930's when it began to drop off slightly. This drop is mainly from members being unable to pay their dues, but membership rose again in the 1940's. The Corps participated in various charitable works, including annual Memorial Day activities and promoted patriotism among children by distributing flags to schools and other groups. The first Woman's Relief Corps was formed in 1883 and still exists today, carrying on the work of the WRC for veterans and veteran's families of all wars and promoting patriotism.

The Records of the Lucius Fairchild Woman's Relief Corps Post 37 have been organized into three series: Administrative Records, Correspondence, and General Information.

Administrative Records (1886-1971) include: cash books, journals, ledgers, member rolls and other official records. The journals, cash books, ledgers and member rolls are all bound materials and not in folders. The first seven journals are in flat boxes for preservation purposes. The cash books (1906-1953) contain a number of ledgers kept by the Corps Treasurer, containing the balance of the bank account of the Corps, money paid to the Corps and expenditures.

Journals (1886-1957, 1962-1969) were kept by the secretary, and inspected by members of the Corps and a national inspector. Entries include voting to pay bills, taking dues, the election of new officers, and decisions on charitable works. The Corps funded their charitable works with the dues they paid, and socials and other parties they held as fundraisers. The main focus of the Corps was to provide relief to soldiers and their families, giving food, money and clothing. The Corps also would visit sick members of their own association, the GAR and soldiers, sending cards and flowers, as well. Each year, the WRC would hold a Memorial Day service, laying flowers at the graves of soldiers in Madison, and are detailed in the journals.

The ledgers (1906-1949) contain membership information. In the beginning of each ledger is an alphabetized index of all members, including their standing, and often the page number of their record. The records in each ledger contain information on dues paid by each member, and the standing of the member in the Corps. It is noted in the ledgers when a member lapses in payments, drops out of the Corps, is discharged, or dies. The member rolls contain information similar to the ledgers. Most entries are dated with annotations entered later, such as the date of death for a member. Starting with the second volume, there is a “necrology” of members who have passed, including date of death and where they are buried. The second member roll is an attempt to list all members from 1898 to 1949 in alphabetical order.

Also included are an attendance book (1949-1954), a copy of Corps bylaws, several reports on conferences and a circular from the National WRC. Membership materials include applications, letters to the WRC about membership and honorable discharge cards. Miscellaneous financial reports includes receipts, checks and a booklet of request forms to request materials from the National WRC. Monthly and quarterly treasurer's reports detail the balance of the Corps' budget. Patriotic materials reports on promoting patriotism in schools include circulars urging members to encourage and foster patriotism in themselves and others and reports of flags given to schools. Quarterly secretary's reports include membership numbers and the number of people the Corps helped in that month. Also included is a register for the Monona Lake Assembly Corps are included in this series. It is unclear how the Monona Lake Assembly book came to be part of this collection

Correspondence, (1886-1969) include a folder of correspondence and two letterbooks (1886-1888 and 1890-1908). The 1890-1908 letterbook was dismantled for preservation purposes. Most of these letters are to the Corps from other posts about fundraisers, the GAR about business between the Corps and general correspondence from members. Of note is a letter dated September 20, 1890 from the Madison Grand Army of the Republic Post 11, the WRC Posts' counterpart, announcing they had changed their name from the C.C. Washburn GAR Post 11 to the Lucius Fairchild Post 11, requesting the WRC follow suit. Also of note is a letter from Mr. Rood, February 21, 1908, the Custodian of the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Hall about Memorial Day plans.

General Information, (1928-1962) includes ephemera, memorials and necrology, newsclippings and rituals. Ephemera is mostly materials that had been tucked into the journals for safekeeping, such as lists of the officers of the Corps, notes from the secretary and a napkin from a celebration of Minnie Wise on her 50th anniversary of membership. The memorials and necrology folder contains two memorial cards for WRC members and a necrology list that was originally located in the second member roll volume (B7). Newsclippings contain short news pieces about the WRC Post 37 and their works as well as Civil War history. Included is an article about Abraham Lincoln, and the last Wisconsin Civil War veteran, Lansing Alphonse Wilcox, turning 104. Of note is an article about Alice Whiting Waterman, a Southern woman who moved to Madison after the end of the Civil War. Mrs. Waterman maintained the Confederate Rest, Forest Hill Cemetery, in Madison, Wisconsin until she died and was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery herself. As a group, the Lucius Fairchild WRC was very secretive with the workings of their society and rituals. Meeting minutes include references to performing rituals, but no details about the rituals themselves. The rituals folder include two copies of instructions for the Water Ritual, detailing how the ritual is performed, but not the purpose of the ritual.

Acquisition Information

Accession Number: Mss 2008.072d

Processing Information

Processed by Brittany Strobel in 2013.

	Series: Administrative Records
Box   1 Folder   1	Attendance Register, 1901, 1949-1954
Box   1 Folder   2	Corps Bylaws, undated
	Subseries: Cash Books	⇧
Box   4	1906-1919
Box   5	1919-1948
Box   6	1948-1953
Box   1 Folder   3	Financial Records, 1909-1971
	Subseries: Journals	⇧
Box   8	1886-1895
Box   9	1895-1903
Box   10	1904-1911
Box   11	1912-1914
Box   2	1915-1937
Box   3	1937-1953
Box   4	1953-1969
Box   1 Folder   4	Membership, 1923-1963
	Ledgers
Box   6	1906-1934
Box   7	1932-1949
	Member Rolls
Box   7	1886-1953
Box   1 Folder   5	Miscellaneous, undated
	Subseries: Reports	⇧
Box   1 Folder   6	Conventions, 1910-1963
Box   1 Folder   7	Patriotic, 1962, undated
	Treasurer
Box   1 Folder   8	Monthly, 1955-1970
Box   1 Folder   9	Quarterly, 1952-1969
Box   1 Folder   10	Secretary Reports, 1955-1969
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   11	Correspondence, 1962-1969
Box   1 Folder   12	Letterbook, 1886-1888
Box   1 Folder   13-18	Letterbook (1890-1908)
	Series: General Information	⇧
Box   1 Folder   19	Ephemera, 1934-1949, undated
Box   1 Folder   20	Memorials, Necrology, 1928-1962
Box   1 Folder   21	Newsclippings, 1954, undated
Box   1 Folder   22	Rituals, undated