The Aukofer Papers comprise three series: Biographical Information, General Correspondence, and Subject Files. The Biographical Information and the General Correspondence are chronologically arranged; the Subject Files are filed alphabetically. The Subject Files consist of additional correspondence, memoranda, background information, reporter's notebooks, videotapes, draft stories, freelance writings, and occasional clipped articles. The files concern specific assignments as well as various professional organizations with which Aukofer was associated.
The Biographical Material consists of newspaper clippings, press releases, and other information about Aukofer and his career.
Although the overall coverage is spotty, the General Correspondence provides a good picture of the professional and social life of a representative Washington correspondent. The majority of the correspondence is incoming, but there are occasional carbons of outgoing letters. Included is correspondence from the general public and prominent individuals such Russell Baker, Ben Barkin, Julian Bond, Ron Dellums, Tom Eagleton, Ted Kennedy, Terry Kohler, Dee Dee Myers, Vel Phillips, and William Proxmire. The majority of the letters from such notables are quite short, and primarily of autograph value, but some, such as one letter about Fort McCoy from F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., are long and detailed. (Memoranda exchanged with the editorial staff of the Journal is filed in the SUBJECT FILES and described below.) References to Melvin Laird, Gaylord Nelson, Clement Zablocki, and other congressional leaders hint at the close and friendly associations a capital correspondent develops. Many letters in the series are congratulations for various professional awards and career milestones, perhaps the most notable of which is the retirement cartoon from Art Wood. There are also occasional letters from personal friends and from professional associates, as well as letters from the editors of his free-lance work such as Morris Rubin and Erwin Knoll. During the 1990s the correspondence is dominated by letters and memoranda concerning Aukofer's association with The Freedom Forum and the Newseum and by arrangements for numerous military media days in which he participated. This series also contains a few frank items concerning the merger of the Journal and the Sentinel.
Perhaps the most valuable materials in the Subject Files are the letters and memoranda exchanged with Sig Gissler, Dick Leonard, Joe Shoquist, and other Journal executives. These range from comments about salary to suggestions for stories and complaints about the way in which particular stories were handled. Alone, they constitute almost one box of documentation. Unfortunately, many of these messages were communicated on unstable galley paper that had already faded before its receipt in the Archives. Although the memoranda (as well as some draft articles on similar paper) have been photocopied to halt their deterioration, researchers are warned that the copies are often difficult to read. Also filed with the memoranda are runs of a variety of internal newsletters that contain information about the editorial staff and the general history of the paper.
Writings incorporated in the Subject Files include scattered draft newspaper stories and clippings, freelance articles written for the Elks Magazine, Reader's Digest, and Newsweek, draft materials for a book on freedom of assembly and City with a Chance, and a printed copy of America's Team. (A printed copy of City with a Chance is available in the SHSW Library.) Information on this topic may also be found in correspondence with Larry Sternig, his literary agent. The series also includes several files about Aukofer's automobile specialization including press materials and artwork for the column “Keys to Wheels.” (One box of clipped articles about automobiles are with the unprocessed additions files). Also here are papers written as a student at Marquette University and many editorial critiques of copy submitted to the Marquette Tribune by other students.
Particularly important in this series is Aukofer's coverage of the Arthur Bremer and Eugene Hasenfus trials, the civil rights activities of Father James Groppi, the Gulf War, and Watergate. These files generally include reporter's notebooks, draft stories, and weeded research materials. The Bremer research file includes a photocopy of Bremer's manuscript diary and an artist's sketch of the trial. Among the Watergate materials is a file of memoranda issued by Wisconsin attorney William Dixon. The Gulf War files not only contain contemporary documentation but also information about Aukofer's postwar criticism of the manner in which the pool system had operated. This topic is also addressed in several interviews filmed at the Newseum that are in the collection, as well as in a recording of Aukofer's testimony to the Senate Committee that investigated the topic in 1991. Aukofer's award-winning coverage of the abuse of government perks is represented by a weeded sample of the detailed data he meticulously gathered about official travel.
Notes, which constitute a substantial part of the documentation in the Subject Files, vary in usefulness. They range from a transcribed interview with Russell Baker to easily readable typed notes about the Detroit race riot to numerous reporter's notebooks in which the information is handwritten and sketchy. Particularly notable are numerous books concerning his coverage of Watergate and notes on a 1971 prison interview with James Hoffa.
The Subject Files reflect Aukofer's frequent need to put a Wisconsin spin on the news of the nation's capital, and files about Les Aspin, Lawrence Eagleburger, Robert Froehlke, Robert Kastenmeier, Patrick J. Lucey, William Proxmire, William Rehnquist, Charles Robb, and Toby Roth reflect this regional perspective. The Wisconsin delegation is also documented by financial disclosure reports submitted during the 1980s.
The Subject Files also reflect Aukofer's leadership and participation in various professional organizations such as the National Press Club, the National Press Foundation, and the Standing Committee of Correspondents. (Other correspondence that pertained to Aukofer's official role as president of NPC is in the unprocessed additions.) Other prominent journalists represented in the collection include Henry Keys and Gary MacEoin.
