Abstract: Papers of Edith Sinaiko Frank, a native of Madison, Wisconsin, mainly relating to her adult life, marriage to David S. Frank, and volunteer involvement with many charitable, civic, and cultural organizations in Madison, Chicago, Toledo, and Charleston, West Virginia, as well as her deep interest in art and music. Included are biographical clippings (portions available only on microfilm), photographs, travel diaries, writings and class papers, correspondence with friends and associates such as Minsa Craig, Clarence Eidam, Dame Myra Hess, Aurora Natola-Ginastera and Alberto Ginastera, and Wolfgang Stresemann. Newsletters, membership materials, clippings, publicity, and correspondence document the organizations with which she was associated such as the Toledo United Nations Association, the Madison Art Center, the Wisconsin Jewish Archives, and various chapters of the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters. Also included are fragmentary papers of her husband, a president of Pure Oil Company; her mother, Sarah Goldberg Sinaiko of Madison, also an active civic volunteer; and other Sinaiko Family relatives. The Sarah Sinaiko files concern the Neighborhood House and include some correspondence with Marie C. Kohler.

Abstract: Papers of members of the Von Kaas family, a well-to-do family which migrated to Chicago and Sheboygan County, Wisconsin in the mid-1800's. The collection primarily includes correspondence, journals and travel diaries, and other papers of Georg Carl August Baron von Kaas (1805-1868), of his second wife, Mathilda (nee Deckner), and their children and relatives. Carl von Kaas at one point served as administrator (Oberforstmeister) of the forests and estates of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe, as well as Councillor of the Exchequer. Most of the original letters and documents are in German, with English translations; a few originals are in English. There is also a genealogy and a group of typed translations of very early family records, apparently compiled by von Kaas family members in the Sheboygan area (possibly for a family reunion in 1979).

Abstract: Papers of Edward A. Dickinson, a member of the committee of Milwaukee's Plymouth Congregational Church which studied the proposed merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church; including clippings and printed matter, mostly representing opposition to the merger from the League to Uphold Congregational Principles, the Committee for the Continuation of the Congregational Christian Churches, the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (U.S.), and others. Also included is a small amount of correspondence, and papers relating to the Wisconsin Congregational Conference and the United Church of Christ.

Abstract: Papers of Francis W. Laurent, a naval officer from Thorp, Wisconsin, primarily concerning his career as a legal counsel for the Tennessee Valley Authority and as an official for the occupation of post-World War II Germany. Pertaining to work as assistant chief of the Decartelization Branch of the Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) are correspondence; reports; Laurent's personal statement to the Ferguson Committee, which investigated the decartelization program; and information on the Bosch Combine, one of the German businesses which Laurent studied. Tennessee Valley Authority work is represented by numerous memoranda on the Southern States Power Company and other litigation with which Laurent was involved, briefs, compilations of federal laws concerning water resource regulation, and reports. Work for the U.S. Navy concerning World War II contracts includes a compilation of relevant official documents and a draft war contracts manual. Other papers concern his legal career in Wisconsin and research on federal water resources legislation.

Abstract: Papers of Edna Ferber, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, manuscript drafts, research material, notes and reviews of some of her novels, short stories, and autobiographical writings. Of these, Cimarron (1929), Giant (1952), Great Son (1944), and Ice Palace (1958) are best represented. Also included are materials related to theatre scripts such as collaborations with George F. Kaufman and George V. Hobart, as well as adaptations (including many film adaptations) of her work by others. Prominent correspondents include Louis Bromfield, Noel Coward, Jay N. Darling, Moss Hart and Kitty Carlisle Hart, Malcolm Johnson, Daniel Longwell, Kenneth D. McCormick, H.L. Mencken, William Lyon Phelps, Robert Sherwood, Louis Untermeyer, Alexander Woollcott, Rebecca West, and William Allen White.