The Brisbane Papers consist of biographical material, diaries, correspondence, sermons and writings, and miscellaneous papers. Most of the diaries and volumes in the collection are available both as paper and on microfilm.
The biographical materials consist of correspondence, 1961-1975, between Madison journalist Betty Cass and several Brisbane descendents which contains detailed information about the Brisbane genealogy and the Arena farm. The two photographs in the collection of the Arena farm are from that correspondence.
The historic correspondence in the Brisbane collection consists of 22 letters, only a few of which are written by or to Brisbane. However, Volume 35 of the collection contains copies of thirteen letters he wrote to Carl Schurz, Salmon P. Chase, and others about his efforts to secure the 1860 Republican presidential nomination for Chase. There is also a letter in this volume concerning the nomination of Alexander W. Randall for governor of Wisconsin. The remainder of the correspondence consists of exchanges between Brisbane's daughter, Phebe Adeline Brisbane Reed, and her brothers, John E. Brisbane and Benjamin L. Brisbane, and other family letters. A March 16, 1862 letter from John is written from the camp of the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry in Milwaukee.
The scarcity of Brisbane's correspondence is explained in part by the fire at his home in Arena. The diaries, however, are almost complete, missing only the years before 1844 and the years 1862 and 1863. The first diary noted in the contents list below actually consists of notes, 1834-1842, apparently copied by Brisbane from journals that are missing from the collection. Volumes 2-32 are true diaries, however, dating from 1844 to 1878. There are also eight pages from an 1829 diary, as well as several diaries kept by Brisbane's daughter, Phebe Adeline Brisbane Reed, and one kept by her husband Herbert Reed.
Brisbane's writings and sermons cover the period from 1844 to 1878. Religious writings are the most numerous. Some of the sermons have been annotated to indicate repeated use of particular themes. Several other items in this section such as a biblical chronology and an alphabetical subject index to poetry and invocations probably facilitated the preparation of his sermons. Writings of a more secular nature include a book of pro-slavery notes made prior to 1834 (Volume 34), anti-slavery essays (Volume 35), essays on the effects of tobacco use (Volume 40) and on state sovereignty (Volume 37), a published speech delivered on July 4, 1855, and a brochure meant to encourage the settlement of Arena. There is also a typed copy of “Coon Bluff,” an article that first appeared in the Arena Star. Several other published writings are available in the Historical Society Library.
The miscellaneous papers include a membership record of the Christian Society of the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry (also including Brisbane's personal financial accounts, 1868-1869); pension records of Brisbane's son, William H. Brisbane, Jr.; reminiscences of Brisbane's grandson (also named William H. Brisbane); an autograph book belonging to Phebe Adeline Brisbane Reed; and minutes, a constitution, and handwritten scores of the Women's Missionary Circle of Spring Green, an organization for which she was the secretary.
