Summary Information
Bryan J. Castle Papers
1865-1937
- Castle, Bryan J., 1848-1939
Wis Mss ES
1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Bryan J. Castle of Black River Falls and Madison, Wisconsin, a teacher, newspaperman, lawyer, and Republican political figure. Consisting primarily of speeches and incoming correspondence, the papers concern some personal and business activities but primarily document his political activities which included service in several appointive positions in state government. Castle served in the Department of Public Lands (1882-1890 and 1899-1918), the Adjutant General's Office (1917-1919), and on the Civil Service Commission (1919-1931). Correspondents include numerous other state political figures.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000es ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Bryan Joseph Castle was born in Ireland in 1848 and came to the United States while a small child. After living in New York long enough to attend school on “the site on which was erected St Patrick's Cathedral,” and to be “oppressed” by the “captains of industry,” he followed his parents to Wisconsin where he spent most of the rest of his long life. After driving mules in the Union Army and dabbling in education and newspaper work, he obtained a degree from the University of Wisconsin and turned to law and politics. Castle was a life-long Republican and while he was a good speaker he seldom ran for public office. Instead he was content to serve his party and state long and loyally in various appointive positions. Besides holding the post of Chief Clerk of the Senate, he held numerous special appointments, served for nineteen years in the Department of Public Lands (1882 to 1890[?] and 1899 to 1918), two years in the Adjutant General's office during the First World War, and twelve years on the Civil Service Commission (1919 to 1931).
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of chronologically filed papers (1865-1937) followed by chronologically filed speeches (1886-1933). About 70 per cent of the material is made up of incoming correspondence, and there are large gaps in the period before 1890.
Personal and official correspondence from Wisconsin legislators, governors, civil servants, and congressmen; correspondence and documents dealing with Castle's law practices; family letters; correspondence with friends; material from the Republican State Central Committee; and various documents concerned with such things as church and lodge activity all go to make up the collection. Many of the speeches are political in nature.
Most of the papers are routine, but this is not to say that the collection is not an important one. Aside from the social values whose growth is evident against the backdrop of Castle's life, the collection also has value for political historians because it is large enough in scope to present a well-rounded picture of a man who served within the civil service bureaucracy during a long period in Wisconsin history. The collection offers much evidence about what contemporaries in the party rank-and-file thought of patronage, candidates, and various other issues of their day.
Correspondents include Matthew Hale Carpenter, Henry Allen Cooper, James O. Davidson, Nils Haugen, W. D. Hoard, Merlin Hull, Elisha Keyes, Robert M. La Follette, Sr., Irving Lenroot, Oliver Munson, Emanuel Philipp, Jeremiah Rusk, John C. Spooner, and Isaac Stephenson.
Contents List
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Correspondence and Papers
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Box
1
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1865-1917
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Box
2
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1918-1937, undated
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Speeches
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Box
2
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1886-1906
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Box
3
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1908-1933, undated
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