Title: Wisconsin. Division of Veterans Services: WISVET Outreach Case Files
Inclusive Dates: 1972-1979

Creator:

• Wisconsin. Division of Veterans Services.

Call Number: Series 2111

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (2 record center cartons)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

“Contact sheets” used by WISVET Outreach counselors to summarize conversations held with Vietnam veterans being offered assistance by the WISVET Outreach program. This program, begun in 1972, sought out Vietnam veterans who were educationally disadvantaged and who were not using their G.I. Bill benefits. Other major responsibilities, particularly the upgrading of less than honorable discharges and assistance to incarcerated veterans, were added later. The Wisconsin Legislature terminated funds for the program in 1979. About ten percent of the contact sheets received in the Archives were retained.

Note:

There is a restriction on access to and use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ser02111

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The WISVET Outreach program, the first of its kind in the nation, began in February of 1972 as a pilot project in the Milwaukee Metropolitan area. Its initial goals were to “reach and counsel Vietnam era veterans, particularly the educationally disadvantaged, to motivate and assist them in entering into programs of training and education under the G.I. Bill, to make them aware of public and private resources, to identify individual problems and counsel veterans on those problems, and to develop such records as would permit follow-up services and a continuing evaluation of the project goals, methods and results.” In December 1972 the Governor extended the program to the rest of the state.

Although originally conceived as a two-year project, the program lasted until the Legislature terminated funding in 1979. While the initial goals of the program remained its primary goals, two other major objectives--upgrading of less than honorable discharges, and counselling of incarcerated veterans and veterans on probation and parole--evolved by the mid-1970s.

The first folder in Box 1 of this collection contains seven documents which provide a fuller description of the project. This folder, unlike the rest of the collection, is not restricted.

The files in this collection consist of “Contact Sheets” prepared by program counselors for individual veterans. These contact sheets describe the nature of the difficulties the veteran was experiencing and the assistance provided by the counselor. All counselors in the program were themselves veterans of the Vietnam era and worked as Limited Term Employees or as CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) employees.

When these files were received from the Department of Veterans Affairs, they were in total disarray--unfoldered and thrown into boxes. In order to make them more useable, only typewritten materials were retained--approximately ten percent of the total. The materials were placed in folders alphabetically, but no other attempt was made to organize them. The sample retained, therefore, is skewed toward the files kept by those individual counselors who typed their reports. Within that sample, however, there remain the full range of problems addressed by the program.

Alphabetical.

Access Restrictions

May be used only with the written permission of the Chief Council of the Department of Veterans Affairs until the year 2033. Folder 1, containing a description of the program, is not restricted.

Use Restrictions

If such permission is received from the Department of Veterans Affairs, no personally identifying information may be used in any paper or publication produced from such research until 2033.

Series 2111 Box   1 Folder   1-2	Administrative Access Restrictions: May be used only with the written permission of the Chief Council of the Department of Veterans Affairs until the year 2033. Folder 1, containing a description of the program, is not restricted. Use Restrictions: If such permission is received from the Department of Veterans Affairs, no personally identifying information may be used in any paper or publication produced from such research until 2033.
Box   1 Folder   3	A
Box   1 Folder   4-6	B
Box   1 Folder   7	C
Box   1 Folder   8	D
Box   1 Folder   9	E
Box   1 Folder   10	F
Box   1 Folder   11	G
Box   1 Folder   12-14	H
Box   1 Folder   15	I
Box   1 Folder   16	J
Box   1 Folder   17-18	K
Box   1 Folder   19	L
Box   2 Folder   1	L (continued)
Box   2 Folder   2-4	M
Box   2 Folder   5	N
Box   2 Folder   6	0
Box   2 Folder   7-8	P
Box   2 Folder   9	Q
Box   2 Folder   10-11	R
Box   2 Folder   12-14	S
Box   2 Folder   15	T
Box   2 Folder   16	U
Box   2 Folder   17	V
Box   2 Folder   18-19	W
Box   2 Folder   20	Y
Box   2 Folder   21	Z