Title: Frank Sinclair Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1938-1964

Creator:

• Sinclair, Frank, 1895-1973

Call Number: U.S. Mss 128AF

Quantity: 2.4 c.f. (6 archives boxes)

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

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

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of a Milwaukee Journal reporter. Organized as subject files, the papers include correspondence, clippings, and notes. Much of the material was gathered during the preparation of Blue Cross in Wisconsin published in 1964. Sinclair's articles on the plight of World War II veterans, which were instrumental in the passage of the G.I. Bill, are represented by copies of several speeches he made on the subject, though there are no notes nor correspondence relating to the topic. Other subjects documented are automobiles and public utilities.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0128af

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Journalist Frank (b. Francis) Sinclair was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1895. He found it necessary to go to work after one year of high school, but later studied commercial art at Pratt Institute in New York City and journalism at New York University. Sinclair worked part-time for the New York Globe while attending the university and later spent two years as telegraph editor of the Oneonta (New York) Daily Star.

During World War I Sinclair served with American forces in France. He was co-founder and managing editor of The CRO, the second largest serviceman's newspaper in the American Expeditionary Force. He was honored by the French for promoting good relations between the Americans and the French people. After the war Sinclair joined the Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gazette as sports editor. He was active in promoting local sports leagues from 1919 to 1928, served as president of the Southern Wisconsin Baseball League and the Janesville Bowling Association, and was one of the organizers of the Big Eight, a southeastern Wisconsin high school athletic conference.

From 1928 until his retirement in 1961 Sinclair was on the staff of the Milwaukee Journal as a reporter and feature writer, and for two years in the 1930's as assistant city editor. Sinclair covered labor, medicine, crime investigations, aviation, railroads, utilities, consumer and price news, and veterans' affairs. Among the most important stories he covered were the Dillinger gang shootout at the Little Bohemia resort in the 1930's and the Wisconsin Electric Company and the Kohler strikes. Perhaps his most significant work as a reporter was a series of articles on World War II veterans which appeared in forty newspapers and contributed to the passage of the GI Bill.

Sinclair was a member of Milwaukee's Mayflower Congregational Church and of its board of deacons. He was on the board of directors of the Milwaukee chapter of World Neighbors, Inc. After his retirement from the Journal, Sinclair did free lance magazine work and also wrote Blue Cross in Wisconsin, a book about health insurance, in 1964. Sinclair died in 1973.

The papers consist of the notes, clippings, and correspondence collected by Sinclair in his work on the staff of the Milwaukee Journal and while writing Blue Cross in Wisconsin. They cover medicine, health insurance, veterans affairs, utilities, and the automobile, among other subjects. The papers are arranged alphabetically by topic, and thereunder chronologically insofar as possible.

The bulk of the collection consists of extensive notes, clippings, interviews, and correspondence used by Sinclair in writing Blue Cross in Wisconsin. Filed here are notes from interviews with Dr. Joseph G. Norby, the first president of Blue Cross in Wisconsin; George P. Ettenheim, president from 1945 to 1948; Joseph G. Mosser, treasurer of the organization from 1940 to 1959 and president from 1959 to 1964; and Robert F. Purtell, vice-president from 1945 to 1959. Also included is correspondence with Leon R. Wheeler, executive vice-president from 1939 to 1963, and Leo E. Suycott, the chief executive officer of Blue Cross at the time of the book's publication. Of note is a detailed chronology of the history of both the national and state organizations.

There are photocopies of several speeches Sinclair made on what should be done for for World War II veterans, and a series of articles on the same subject which appeared in the Milwaukee Journal. The series discussed the physical and emotional problems of veterans, and it advocated aid for veterans who wished to return to school. There are no notes or correspondence relating to these articles, but there is a folder of notes and clippings for other articles Sinclair wrote on veterans affairs in the 1950's.

Sinclair also covered the Milwaukee area utilities for his paper. There is material relating to the Wisconsin Power Company and the Milwaukee Gas Company, focusing on customer service and new facilities. There are extended notes and correspondence on the Wisconsin Power Company's 10 for 1 rate plan and the controversy surrounding it in the late 1940's and 1950's.

Sinclair also covered medically-related subjects for the Milwaukee Journal. Included in the collection are notes for articles he did on the various polio scares and epidemics of the 1940's and 1950's, Blue Cross and other health insurance programs, and hospital construction and fund raising. Other topics covered in Sinclair's notes are adult education, the introduction of direct long-distance dialing telephone service, the U.S. census and Milwaukee's birth rate, the betatron, and dance lesson rackets.

Sinclair reported on annual automobile sales and registration figures for Milwaukee, and mass transit developments. In 1957 he did articles on automobile insurance in the Milwaukee area, and in 1962 he covered the National Automobile Show in Detroit, Michigan.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Merle Sinclair, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 1973. Accession Number: MCHC73-61

Processing Information

Processed by A.P. Cannon and Joanne Hohler, December 16, 1974.

Box   1 Folder   1	Adult education, involvement of industry and business in, 1960.
	Automobile,
Box   1 Folder   2	Registrations in Milwaukee, 1956-1962.
Box   1 Folder   3	Insurance, 1957.
Box   1 Folder   4	National Automobile Show. Detroit, Michigan, 1962.
Box   1 Folder   5	Betatron installation, Allis Chalmers Company, and the University of Illinois, 1948-1950.
	Blue Cross,
Box   1 Folder   6-7	History, miscellaneous notes and clippings.
Box   2 Folder   1-4	History, miscellaneous notes and clippings (continued).
Box   2 Folder   5	Surgical care, notes and clippings.
Box   2 Folder   6	Sample hospital bills.
Box   2 Folder   7	Miscellaneous correspondence and notes, 1938-1964.
Box   2 Folder   8	Early stories by Sinclair, 1949.
Box   2 Folder   9	Notes on the Board of Directors.
Box   3 Folder   1	Statistics and organization.
Box   3 Folder   2	Correspondence on contract breakoff with Blue Shield, 1957-1964.
Box   3 Folder   3	Gavin report on the State Medical Society of Wisconsin, 1958.
Box   3 Folder   4	Wisconsin fight with Blue Shield, 1958-1964.
Box   3 Folder   5	Correspondence with Theodore Wiprud on Blue Cross, 1960-1961.
Box   3 Folder   6	Faulty use of hospitals, 1961-1963.
Box   3 Folder   7	Notes and questions for interviews with staff, 1963.
Box   3 Folder   8	Interviews conducted by Sinclair with Blue Cross executives, 1958-1964.
Box   3 Folder   9	Correspondence dealing with Sinclair's history of the national organization.
Box   3 Folder   10	Notes on history of the national organization.
Box   3 Folder   11	Surgical care chronology, 1939-1963.
Box   3 Folder   12	Chronology notes for Sinclair's history, 1924-1963.
	Chronology,
Box   4 Folder   1	1950-1957.
Box   4 Folder   2	1958-1963.
Box   4 Folder   3	(United States) Census, notes for articles on Milwaukee's population, 1953-1960.
Box   4 Folder   4	Dance Lessons, story on improper advertising of lessons, 1956.
Box   4 Folder   5	(Milwaukee) Electric Company, notes on 10 for 1 plan and other activities of the company, 1938-1959.
Box   4 Folder   6	Federal Communication Commission, notes on licensing of stations, c. 1955.
Box   4 Folder   7	Frozen foods, notes on the growth of the industry.
Box   4 Folder   8	Foundations, notes on charitable foundations and their activities, 1952.
	Fund drives, notes and clippings on charitable fund drives in Milwaukee,
Box   4 Folder   9	1949.
Box   4 Folder   10	1950.
	(Milwaukee) Gas Company, notes and clippings on customer service and other stories,
Box   5 Folder   1	1944-1946.
Box   5 Folder   2	1947-1959.
Box   5 Folder   3	Health care, insurance coverage of x-ray payments, 1940.
Box   5 Folder   4	Mass transit in Milwaukee, 1953.
	Miscellaneous articles,
Box   5 Folder   5	1952.
Box   5 Folder   6-8	1960.
Box   6 Folder   1	(Chicago) North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad Company, 1947.
	Polio, notes and clippings on Milwaukee outbreaks and prevention,
Box   6 Folder   2	1944-1947.
Box   6 Folder   3	1948-1950.
Box   6 Folder   4	Telephone, introduction of direct long-distance dialing, 1961.
	Veterans affairs,
Box   6 Folder   5	Miscellaneous notes, 1944-1956.
Box   6 Folder   6-8	Mimeograph copies of speeches and articles on the topic, c. 1946.