The collection documents the Menominee Indian Study Committee's (MISC) internal activities
and the perspectives of stakeholders in Shawano, Langdale, and Oconto counties, the
Wisconsin state government, the federal government, and the Menominee Indian Tribe on
termination and the transition to Menominee self-government. While the MISC existed until
1976, these records focus on the period from 1955-1959 when Lloyd W. Woodruff participated
in the County and Local Government Study Group and Law and Order Study Committee.
Meeting minutes document the activities of the MISC including debates over legislation,
recommendations to the Joint Legislative Council, and reports from members from the
University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin state government from 1955-1959. The collection
also includes handwritten meeting notes from Woodruff and sporadic meeting minutes of the
Menominee Advisory Council.
The collection includes bibliographies, field notes, annotated drafts, and final reports by
Woodruff, University of Wisconsin-Madison Sociology Professor David W. Ames, and Research
Assistant David Kovenock focusing on "County and Local Government" or ways in which the
Menominee could come under state jurisdiction and form a local government, complicated by
the reservation's location in both Shawano and Oconto counties. Research materials include
estimates of taxation costs to incorporate the Menominee reservation into local counties,
data on the population, voting patterns, government, and economy of the Menominee
reservation, newspaper clippings, and a 1955 survey on local government distributed to
Menominee tribal members. Publications reporting on the research and the perspectives of
local stakeholders on termination more generally include Volumes 1-4 of The Menominee News
and 1957-1958 issues of the Menominee Adult Educational Program Informational Bulletin.
The final reports submitted did not provide recommendations, but related correspondence and
Woodruff's meeting and interview notes reveal the opinions of various local and state
officials and the preference of numerous Memominee tribal members for a separate county.
Woodruff detailed his meetings with Menominee leaders including James Frechette, Bob Decker,
Alan Kingston, Michael and Jenny Wesso, Bob Deer, Hilary Waukau, Bernard Gringon, and with
an informal discussion group of Menominee tribal members. Frequent correspondents also
include the Bureau of Indian Affairs, members of Congress, the Attorney General's office,
and state officials from the departments represented in the MISC.
Woodruff also documented the activities of the Law and Order Study Committee, led by
Advisory Councilmember Hilary Waukau. Much of their research centered on the consequences of
Public Law 280 including conflicts over enforcement of civil law and probation between
Shawano County police and tribal police, and the hiring and training of six new law
enforcement officers using tribal funds. The Court Organization materials also detail
Menominee attempts to establish a tribal court to monitor hunting and fishing
activities.
The MISC also researched potential plans for control of tribal assets, particularly the
Menominee forest with the help of University of Wisconsin faculty including Charles W.
Loomer and W.D. Knight. Reports on landholdings, natural resources, and conservation from
both the MISC and the Wisconsin Department of Conservation detail proposals for the land to
become a national forest or a state forest, which were ultimately sidelined in favor of the
creation of Menominee Enterprises, Inc., which oversaw tribal financial assets and
property.
MISC reports also covered how termination would impact welfare services, public utilities,
highways, private and public schools, the aging hospital and other healthcare services on
the reservation. Officials such as Elizabeth K. Stevens of the Department of Public
Instruction and Vice Chairman of the State Highway Commission C.W. Ahner were frequent
correspondents and contributed to the reports.
The collection also includes folders on state and federal legislation including drafts of
Wisconsin and Federal bills, MISC resolutions endorsing legislation taxing forest properties
on a sustained yield basis and creating Menominee County, Senate Joint Resolution 52, and
amendments to the Termination act.
The Menominee Coordinating and Negotiating Committee, which engaged in preliminary
bargaining around termination on behalf of the Tribe is also documented in meeting notes,
correspondence, and reports. These materials include documents such as an endorsement of
land regulation legislation and correspondence between Tribal Council members Glen Wilkinson
and Tribal Chairman James G. Frechette.
