Title: Thomas E. Petri Wisconsin State Senate Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1973-1979

Creator:

• Petri, Thomas E., 1940-

Call Number: Oshkosh Mss BY

Quantity: 12.0 cubic feet (11 record center cartons, 2 archives boxes and 1 half archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Polk Library, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-Oshkosh Polk Library / Oshkosh Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Wisconsin Senate legislative papers of a Republican State Senator (1973-1978) from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, including constituent correspondence and bill and committee files. There are extensive letters concerning abortion, alcohol and raising the drinking age, education and collective bargaining for teachers, the Equal Rights Amendment, the state budget and taxation and other important issues of the period. Prominent correspondents include Lee S. Dreyfus, Tony Earl, Harold V. Froehlich, Jack Kemp, Patrick J. Lucey, and William Steiger. The committee files deal with work on the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the Joint Audit Committee, the Republican Task Force on Welfare Reform, and the Senate Human Services Committee.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-osh00by

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Republican politician Thomas Evert Petri was born in Marinette, Wisconsin, on May 28, 1940. His father, Thomas Evert, was killed during World War II and after his mother remarried he was legally adopted by his stepfather Robert Petri.

Petri graduated from Fond du Lac public schools and attended Harvard University, earning a BA in 1962 and a JD in 1965. While still a student, Petri helped to found the Ripon Society, a centrist Republican organization. After his graduation he returned to Wisconsin to clerk for Judge James Doyle for a year. He then satisfied a long-standing desire to volunteer for the Peace Corps. When Petri returned to the United States from Somalia he served as executive director of the Ripon Society and conducted seminars on elections at the Kennedy Institute. From 1969 to 1970 he was in Washington, D.C. as director of the crime and drug studies section of the President's National Advisory Council on Executive Organization.

After establishing a law practice in Fond du Lac, Petri was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1972 and re-elected in 1976. During this period his chief committee assignments included vice-chairmanships of Industry, Labor, Taxation, and Banking (1973) and the Legislative Council's Special Committee on Solid Waste Management (1977). He also served on the Joint Committee on Audit, the Council on Drug Abuse, and other committees noted in biennial editions of the Blue Book. In 1975 while continuing to serve in the Senate, Petri was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies.

Generally regarded as a moderate Republican, Petri earned his reputation in Wisconsin not for specific legislative initiatives, but by his willingness to run for elective office. In 1974 he undertook an apparently hopeless contest with Senator Gaylord Nelson. In 1978 he expressed interest in both the governor's race and the lieutenant governorship but failed to win party support for either. In 1979 Petri was elected to the United States Congress in a special election to fill the unexpired seat of the late William Steiger, with whom he had been closely aligned philosophically.

The Thomas Petri Papers relate entirely to his two terms in the Wisconsin State Senate. The papers are of a highly administrative character, consisting of general constituent correspondence, bill files, and committee files. There are no campaign files or public relations materials and very few personal references. The files were received in a disordered state from Petri's legislative office, but internal notations have permitted reconstruction of much of the original order. It seems likely not all Petri's files from this period in his career were transferred to the Wisconsin Historical Society. They also do not appear to be included with the 2014 accession with Petri's Congressional records.

Petri received extensive constituent correspondence on some of the most controversial legislation of the period. Included are letters on abortion, alcohol and raising the drinking age, education and collection bargaining for teachers, the Equal Rights Amendment, the state budget and taxes.

GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE includes letters from constituents dealing with issues not specifically identified by bill number and with a host of individual problems. The file is arranged alphabetically by correspondent name, with a segregated file of prominent correspondents such as Lee Sherman Dreyfus, Tony Earl, Harold V. Froehlich, Jack Kemp, Patrick J. Lucey, and William Steiger.

The BILL FILES are arranged by legislative session then by bill number and include constituent correspondence, a small quantity of Legislative Council memoranda, and materials distributed by various advocacy groups for floor debate. A small segment of Assembly bills, 1977-1978, were not received by the Society at the time of donation in the 1970s.

The COMMITTEE FILES, which was also reconstructed, includes minutes, correspondence, memoranda, and reference material for the Council of Alcohol and Drug Abuse, the Republican Task Force on Welfare Reform, the Senate Human Services Committee, the Joint Audit Committee, and for several other legislative committees on which Petri served.

MISCELLANEOUS, includes form letters and reference materials.

Thomas E. Petri Congressional Papers, 1956-2014 (Oshkosh Mss DL), owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society is housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Polk Library, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. This collection does not contain many records from his Wisconsin State Senate years.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Thomas E. Petri, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 1975-1979. Accession Number: M75-154; M77-75; M78-261, M78-333, M78-414, M78-528, M78-579; and M79-136.

Processing Information

Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, June 1984.

	Series: General Correspondence, 1973-1979
Box   1 Folder   1-2	A
Box   1 Folder   3	Anonymous
Box   1 Folder   4	Appleton
Box   1 Folder   5-12	B-C
Box   1 Folder   13	Calumet County
Box   1 Folder   14-16	D
Box   1 Folder   17	De Pere
Box   1 Folder   18-19	E
Box   2 Folder   1-3	F
Box   2 Folder   4	Fond du Lac County
Box   2 Folder   5-7	G
Box   2 Folder   8	Green Bay
Box   2 Folder   9-17	H-J
Box   3	K-N
Box   4	O-S
Box   5 Folder   1	Sheboygan County
Box   5 Folder   2	Smith, Douglas
Box   5 Folder   3-11	W
Box   5 Folder   12	Washington County
Box   5 Folder   13-14	Y-Z
	Prominent correspondents
Box   5 Folder   15	General
Box   5 Folder   16	Lucey, Patrick
	Series: Bill Files, 1973-1978	⇧
	1973-1974
Box   6 Folder   1-15	Senate bills
	Assembly bills
Box   6 Folder   16-22	1-299
Box   7 Folder   1-23	300-1567
Box   7 Folder   24	Joint resolutions
	1974
Box   7 Folder   25	Special session
	1975-1976
	Senate bills
Box   7 Folder   26	2-3
Box   8 Folder   1-11	5-837
	Assembly bills
Box   8 Folder   12-25	34-400
Box   9 Folder   1-6	401-1287
	1977-1978
	Senate bills
Box   9 Folder   7-20	1-108
Box   10 Folder   1-16	109-712
	Assembly bills
Box   10 Folder   17-20	321
Box   11	349-669
Box   12 Folder   1-3	702-1272
Box   12 Folder   4	Joint resolutions
	Series: Committee Files, 1973-1979	⇧
Box   13 Folder   1	Commerce, 1977
	Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, 1975-1977
Box   13 Folder   2	Agendas
Box   13 Folder   3	Research
Box   13 Folder   4	Testimony
	Education
Box   13 Folder   5	Legislative Council memoranda, 1975-1976
Box   13 Folder   6	Research, 1975-1976
	Government and Veterans Affairs
Box   13 Folder   7	Civil Service Reform Subcommittee, 1977
Box   13 Folder   8	Moses, John, firing, 1977
Box   13 Folder   9	Miscellaneous
	Human Services
Box   13 Folder   10-13	General, 1976-1979
Box   13 Folder   14	Appointments, 1977
Box   13 Folder   15	Nursing homes, 1977
Box   13 Folder   16	Rules, 1977-1978
Box   13 Folder   17	Welfare reform, 1977
Box   13 Folder   18	Joint Audit Committee, 1975-1976
Box   13 Folder   19	DVR (Division of Vocational Rehabilitation?), 1974-1976
Box   14 Folder   1	DVR (continued)
Box   14 Folder   2	Solid Waste Management, Special Committee on, 1973
Box   14 Folder   3	Tax Exemptions, Joint Survey Committee on, 1977
	Series: Miscellaneous, circa 1975-circa 1977	⇧
Box   14 Folder   4	Petri form letters, releases, 1977
Box   14 Folder   5-6	Republican Task Force on Welfare Reform, 1975-1977
Box   14 Folder   7-8	Loose reference material