The collection is organized in three categories: Corporate Records, Miscellaneous Records, and Ephemeral Materials. The Corporate Records consist primarily of minute books which contain minutes of monthly meetings and membership lists and attendance records for most years. The monthly meetings opened with devotions, followed by the presentation of special programs, usually a lecture or discussion of a temperance or religious issue. The minutes also include reports on educational and mission activities and discussions of contributions to charities and other financial matters. The minutes from May 1918 to February 1921 are missing. The treasurer's book lists monies received from dues and donations and monies paid for state dues, literature, donations and convention expenses.
Among the Miscellaneous Records are histories and biographical materials including an historical sketch of the Janesville WCTU, 1884-1910; a brief history of the WCTU magazine, the Union Signal; and a history of Janesville, information on acquisition of the Frances Willard schoolhouse, several biographical sketches of Frances Willard, and biographies of two other early temperance leaders, Genesee Wesleyan and Lillian Stevens. The materials on Institutes include notes from presentations about WCTU literature, curriculum and publicity programs, mimeographed materials from an Alcohol Studies Camp, and a notebook on the history and scriptures related to Thanksgiving. Most of the education and program materials are printed flyers and pamphlets from the national WCTU. The treasurer's book from the Rock County WCTU lists income and expenditures, including dues received from the Evansville WCTU.
The Ephemeral Materials include a scrapbook of clippings, 1944-1946, covering the following topics: deaths of important WCTU leaders, tobacco, marijuana, alcoholism, juvenile delinquency, advertising, gambling, legislation, editorials, and “the liquor problem around the world.” The scrapbook, 1950-1951, contains clippings pertaining to the Frances Willard schoolhouse, the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped, and President Lincoln's position on the liquor question. Most of the clippings pertain to regulation of the use of alcohol, marijuana, and narcotics. The ephemeral materials were microfilmed and the originals were not retained.
The scrapbooks and papers were compiled by the late Mrs. Minerva Olin, president of the Rock County WCTU, 1950-1954, and treasurer of the Wisconsin WCTU, 1962-1963.
