The papers reflect Mrs. Wendel's activities as a leading member of voluntary mental health organizations in Wisconsin and California (1945 to 1968) such as the Contra Costa County Mental Health Association, the Milwaukee County Society for Mental Health, the National Academy of Religion and Mental Health, and the Women's Court and Civic Conference. Her files provide important supplementary information on collections held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin on the Women's Court and Civic Conference and the Milwaukee County Society for Mental Health. There are few personal papers in the collection, although the file of speeches and writings contains some vivid references to her experiences as a mental patient. The papers refer to her relationship with her mentor and friend Dr. Anton T. Boisen, but there is no evidence of their contact here, and it is believed that Mrs. Wendel may have donated this portion of her correspondence to the Boisen Collection at Chicago Theological Seminary. Her work from 1968 to 1978 for the support group Relatives and Friends Together and Operation Friendship is also undocumented here. The files include general correspondence, organizational records, writings and speeches, and awards, and they are arranged alphabetically by organization name or subject. Original photographs received with the papers have been filed in the Visual Materials Archive name file.
The general correspondence includes chronologically-arranged incoming and outgoing letters. Much of the correspondence is from leaders in national mental health organizations and California state public health officials on such topics as Wendel's volunteer activities, establishment of local groups, and state funding support for the mentally ill.
The organizational files variously contain correspondence, minutes, memoranda, membership lists, reports, publicity materials, financial records, notes, and clippings. Taken together, these provide fairly complete evidence of Wendel's efforts to aid the mentally ill, improve treatment and conditions in state hospitals, and educate the public about mental illness.
Files containing Wendel's writing and speeches are prefaced by lists of her appearances and dates of submission and publication of her articles and reviews. Correspondence regarding her speeches and drafts and reprints of articles and reviews are included here. Several vivid accounts of her hospitalization are especially interesting, since her personal experiences formed the basis for her mental health activism. Accounts of her tours of Wisconsin state hospitals contain detailed descriptions of conditions and treatment used during the 1940's from a former patient's point of view.
