Part 1 (Micro 2028, Mss 835, PH Mss 835, VBB 478-VBB 479): Original Collection, 1864-1992
Physical Description: 2.0 cubic feet (1 archives box and 4 flat boxes), 36 reels of microfilm (35 mm), 0.4 cubic feet of photographs (1 archives box), 0.6 cubic feet of negatives (2 archives boxes), and 2 videorecordings 
Scope and Content Note

At the time of his death Mueller's collections were divided between the Sauk City Public Library, the State Historical Society, and members of his family. Through the generosity of Dr. Donald Kindschi all of the material presented to the Historical Society (as well as the material designated for the Mueller, Accola, and Kindschi families) was preserved on microfilm. After the filming, a hard copy of a small portion of the papers (chiefly the Badger Ordnance scrapbooks and some photographs) was retained by the Historical Society. These original photographs or copy prints and negatives from the collection are available in the Visual and Sound Archives.

Copies of all of Mueller's local history writings are available in the Historical Society Library. Original public records of the Town of Sumpter and Sumpter schools received from Erhart Mueller have not been filmed; instead they were removed from the collection and separately catalogued as part of the Historical Society's local government record holdings.

The Erhart Mueller Papers contain only a small amount of information about Mueller's own life and activities, but they are a veritable treasure trove of historical, religious, and sociological data about life in one particular rural community over a hundred-year period, as well as a source of extensive genealogical information about the families that resided in the area.

The papers are arranged basically as they were by Mueller himself into eight series: FAMILIES, GOSSIP, CEMETERIES, CHURCHES, ORGANIZATIONS, PLACES, SCHOOLS, and VISUAL MATERIALS.

Erhart Mueller was a frugal bachelor who recycled his junk mail into scrapbook pages, sometimes even taping scraps of paper together to make larger pages on which to mount his historical clippings and notes, sometimes by cutting up cereal boxes to make file dividers. Researchers should be prepared, as a result, to find that some of this irrelevant information is visible on the microfilm surrounding the research notes and clippings and that many portions of the microfilm are consequently difficult to read. Many of the photocopies and negative microfilm reader-printer copies that he pasted into his scrapbooks were not of a high quality, and they are also difficult to read on the film. Researchers should also be aware that many of the photograph images on the microfilm were actually photocopies of photographs and not original prints.

While the general framework Mueller used to organize his research is valid and its categories are useful for access, the data he gathered about a particular family or topic often appears randomly ordered on a particular page or from one page to the next.

The FAMILIES series is arranged alphabetically by surname. It contains information about many area families, and it seems likely that this series is directly tied to Mueller's Sumpter books. Several families are documented extensively. These include three families to which he was related, the Accolas, the Kindschis, and the Muellers, as well as the Haskins, the Ochsners, the Ragatzes, the Sprechers, and the Waterburys to whom he was apparently not related. (Surprisingly, Mueller wrote very little about his own relatives and only the J.P. Kindschis and the Accolas of Schweitzer Tahl were so featured. They appear in Only in Sumpter.)

While data about the less extensively represented families is randomly ordered within a particular file, the records on the three families of Mueller relatives and the Haskins Family have been elaborately subdivided. Here files about individual family members have been arranged alphabetically by surname, with different surnames within the family group placed at the end of each family's file. In documenting particular relatives Mueller sometimes recorded data about that person only (with information about the descendants being filed elsewhere); in other cases an individual's file may also contain data about several generations of his or her descendants.

The family files variously consist of newspaper clippings; drafts of stories used in Mueller's publications; mimeographed family histories and genealogical notes; original and photocopied photographs; obituaries; engagement and wedding announcements; funeral cards; invitations; family trees, charts, and registers; snippets of conversations and family stories; and occasional correspondence exchanged with Mueller. Interfiled in some of the files are original or transcribed diaries, correspondence, and other historical documents collected by Mueller in the course of his research. Unfortunately the custodian of the original material is seldom noted. Notable among the original documentation in the Mueller collection is the diary of John Darms, 1882-1886, which documents the social life of a young single man from Honey Creek and his trip to California; the diary of Harley Theodore Haskin, 1864-1866, which documents the activities of a rural school teacher and student at the Delton Academy; and the diaries of Christian Israel Kindschi, 1887-1888, 1890, 1909, a Prairie du Sac banker. Also present are transcribed, nineteenth century journals of farmer Fuchs (no first name given), H. Ernest Haskin, and Ara Myra Pobjoy, a young unmarried woman who lived in Sauk City at the turn of the century. Also included throughout the family files are materials about relatives who did not reside in the Sauk County area. For example, the family files include many articles of Josephine Huddleston, a writer on fashion and beauty who resided in Decatur, Illinois; the publications of Leslie Loren Haskin on birds and nature; and the missionary work of Frank and Marie Page Drown. There is extensive documentation on the Ochsner Family. Due to the quantity of the information gathered, Mueller's research on the Ochsner Family eventually became a separate publication, The Ochsner Story.

The few documents about Erhart Mueller himself are filed in the Mueller Family material. Included are correspondence, some speeches, a high school memory book, a notebook in which he recorded his youthful experiences as a practice farmer, and a photograph album chiefly dating from the later part of his life.

The GOSSIP series consists of original or microfilm reader-printer copies of newspaper clippings on families throughout the Sauk Prairie area, anecdotes, notes, etc. This series differs from the Families series in that this information does not appear to have been used in Mueller's publications. This is not a precise distinction, however, as some families are documented in both the FAMILIES and the GOSSIP series. Mueller collected information from local newspapers and other sources and filed it in the Gossip series so long as the name was familiar to him. As a result, some of the documented families may not be residents of the area or even relatives of residents.

The Gossip series is arranged by family name. Many names are documented, although no name is extensively represented. As a result no individual names appear in the Contents List. Instead, researchers should consult the complete list of documented names both on the microfilm and filed in Box 1.

The CEMETERIES series consists of indexes of burials at local cemeteries along with photographs and maps. The indexes list names, locations, birth and death dates, and some inscriptions.

The CHURCHES series variously consists of newspaper clippings, church bulletins, and programs. Most extensive is the information on the Free Congregation of Sauk City. Also here is a minute book, 1918-1926, of the Young People's Alliance of the Salem Evangelical Church and a manuscript by Mueller entitled “The Apostles of Sauk County.”

The ORGANIZATIONS series consists of newspaper clippings, program bulletins, notes, and minutes of the various organizations in the area collected by Mueller. In addition, he acquired some records of Sauk County organizations; records of this type include minutes of the Sauk City Gun Club, clippings concerning the Sauk City Women's Club (news stories about the Sauk City Home Economics Club are included here as well), and minutes of the Sauk Prairie Farmers Club.

The PLACES series documents various places/sites in the Sauk Prairie area. The majority of the information here concerns the Badger Ordnance Works about which Mueller became interested during World War II. The most valuable information dating from this early period in the plant's history are the detailed financial appraisals that were done so that the federal government could acquire the property. Also included are scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings and photographs that document the plant's controversial history from 1941 to the time of Mueller's death. Similar material documents Badger Village, the public housing constructed for workers at the ordnance plant, as well as its subsequent history as housing for students at the University of Wisconsin and eventually as a subsidized retirement community. Mueller's documentation of Bluffview Courts, where he himself resided for the last years of his life, includes a long run of the community newsletters (these are available on microfilm in the Historical Society Library) and information about people who resided there. Badger Village and Bluffview Courts, 1943-1982, another of Mueller's publications, is available in the State Historical Society Library.

Prairie du Sac and the Town of Sumpter are heavily documented in the Places series. Most of the documentation about Prairie du Sac was apparently collected by amateur historian Walter Doll for his book Historical Sketches of Prairie du Sac, which is available in the pamphlet collection at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The Sumpter memorabilia appear to be miscellaneous material collected by Mueller in the course of his duties as town clerk. Also useful is the information on the Witwen camp meetings and the scrapbooks concerning Durward's Glen and the International Crane Foundation.

The SCHOOLS series consists of newspaper clippings, programs, and notes about various schools in the areas, most of which were discussed in his Sumpter books. The Stone's Pocket School is most extensively represented.

The VISUAL MATERIALS series includes negatives and photographs of the Mueller and Accola families and friends, the town of Sumpter (divided by Mueller's two books on Sumpter), the Badger War Homes project, and the Badger Ordnance Works.

Series: Families

Accola Family

General Family History

Book on Accolas (from William Accola)

Correspondence, 1969-1972

Crest

Trees (Accola and Kindschi)

Farm improvements

History

“Interesting facts”

Accola name

Religion

Reunions

Stories

War records

Switzerland

Register

Individual family members

Andrew

Andrew M. Accola and Magdelena

Carl E. Accola

Casper Accola and Ursala Jaeger

Erhart Accola Sr. (grandfather of EM) and Anna

Erhart Accola (brother of EM's mother)

George Christian

George H.

Jacob

Jacob and Lizzie Hottman

John H.

John and Agnes

John L.

John and Verena Holz

Louis

Martin and Barbara

Maude

Paul

Ursala

Valentine

Valentine, George L. and John L.P.

Vernon

Walter

William V.

Other surnames

Anna Alleman

Katherine Accola Clement

Marie Gfeller

Mary Hillman

Cap Kahn

Elizabeth Kleiner

Madison County, Illinois, Accolas

Dora Accola Mueller (Erhart Mueller's mother)

DAM letters to Ada and Anna, 1944-1962

Louise Accola Reible

Anna Accola Smith

Wolf surname

Photo albums

Bass Family

Bassett Family

Ski-Hi Orchard scrapbook

Baughman Family

Bohn Family

Brownell Family

Buehler Family

Carpenter Family

Clement Family

Cole Family

Conger Family
Note: Includes Inez Weaver to Alice Conger, 1947.

Danforth Family

Darms Family
Note: Includes diary of John Darms, 1882-1886.

Dwinnele Family

Fenske Family

Ferber Family

Fuchs Family

Fuchs diary (farmer, no first name given), 1846-1889

Gasser Family
Note: Includes retrospect by Rev. Jacob Franklin Gasser, 1971.

Gattiker Family

Grass Family

Gruber Family

Hackett Family

Hagmann Family

Hanusa Family

Haraszthy, Augostin

Haroldson Family

Haskin Family

H. Ernest
Note: Includes journal, 1899-1902.

Harley (Harlow) Theodore
Note: Includes diary, 1864-1866, and expenditure records, 1875-1880.

Harley

Inez

Leslie Loren
Note: Includes articles on flora and manuscript on American birds.

Samuel Haskin siblings

Other surnames

Alma Parrish

Myra Presnal

Rowleys

Harriet Haskin Wilcox

Esther Williams

Summary

Jimmie Doosey (James Ducy)

Hatz Family

Held Family

Hill Family

Hofer, Nicholas, 1854
Note: Includes letter to family and friends in Germany, translated.

Huddleston Family
Note: Includes Josephine Huddleston writings.

Hyer Family

Johnson Family

Keller Family

Kellogg Family

Kerns Family by Olive Cowles Kerns

Kietzke Family

Kindschi Family

General Family History

Davos, Switzerland

Miscellaneous material (foods and family stories)

Humor; Kindschi Name

Stories

Trees

Andreas and Wilhelmina Nultemeier Kindschi

Andreas Kindschi and Maria Prader

Lorenz

Barbara Kindschi Ambuhl

Christian

Margareth K. Prader

Heinrich

Andreas

Anna Kindschi Accola

Paul

Marie Kindschi Joos

Tobias

Individual Family Members

Andreas Kindschi

Andrew

Anna

Christian I.

Diaries, 1887-1890, 1909

Erhart

Hans

Henry

Jean Kindshi

Johann

Trip to Northern Wisconsin with Kindschis by Agnes Steidtman, circa 1922

John Peter

Lorenz

Paul

Tobias

Other surnames

Barbara Ambuhl

Maria Joos

Marie Klusman

Margareth Prader

Knapp Family

Koch Family

Koenig Family

Kruse Family

Leiser Family

Luck Family

Luetscher Family

McCoy Family

History, Class of 1914 by Vera McCoy (Sumpter School?)

McGilvra Family

Mather Family
Note: Includes transcription of diary of Mrs. Shive Mather (Aunt Cele), 1887.

Meissner Family

Meyer Family

Moely Family

Mueller Family

General Family History

Data

Gossip

History

Maps

Reunions

Trees

Individual Family Members

Adolph Mueller

Albert

April

Carol

Christopher

Dora
Note: See also Accola Family.

Erhart Mueller

Speeches, 1984

Letters

“Miscellaneous letters to me”

Sauk County Sunday School Convention, 1947-1948

Stone's Pocket School, 1946-1947

To Ada and Gust, undated

From Aunt Sully

High school memory book, 1924-1928

Record book of farm practice, undated

Photograph album

George Mueller

Herman

Louis

Martha

Mary

Matilda

Raymond

Reuben

Vera

Wanda

William

Other surnames

Erna Mueller Albrecht

Leta Ambler

Ada Mueller Federman

Carl Jantz and Mathilda

Adolph Miller

Paul

Carl Stieve (Martha Mueller)

Anna and Frank Welk

Christian Zick (Henrietta Mueller)

Photo Album

Naffz Family

“The '48ers of Sauk County” by Ella Naffz

Needham Family

Ochsner Family

Who Saved the Naenkon Forest?

Trip to America, Letter from Judith (Detheli), 1854

Four Sauk County Farm Boys

Dr. Alton Ochsner

The Drs. Ochsner of Chicago

Autobiography of John Ochsner, 1832-1920

Pioneer Ochsners of Honey Creek

The Later Honey Creek Ochsners

The Prairie du Sac Ochsners

Waumandee Valley Ochsners

Ochsner history

Ochsner letters

Ochsner poems

Ochsner stories

Ochsner trees

Pages of published story

“Used notes”

Ott Family

Payne (Paine) Family

Peetz-Kinzler genealogy--in Historical Society Library

Pickar Family

Pobjoy Family

Diary of Ara Myra Pobjoy Reuland, 1909

Premo Family

Racek Family

Interview with Ludwig Racek

Ragatz Family

History by Thomas G. Ragatz--in Historical Society Library

Memoirs of Sauk Swiss by Rev. Oswald Ragatz

Lowell Ragatz letters to EM

Ragatz reunion, 1975

Extracts from Tom Ragatz's book

Memorabilia

Ramsperger Family

Albert G. Ramsperger, 1984

Raschein Family

Genealogy

Richards, Robert

Early days at Roxbury and Sauk

Rothenberger Family

Schaefer Family

Schara Family

Schara Family by Dan Astle, 1977

Schlueter Family

Schneller Family

Descendants of Peter by Alan Schneller; Descendants of Peter, 1848-1970

Schmidt Family

Schoephoerster Family

Record of Frederick and Barbara (Jenewein) Schoephoerster, 1984 and supplements

Brief overview

Special sheet for families of Louise Schoephoerster Hall and William E. Schoephoerster

Schuknecht-Federman Family

Schweppe Family

Seder Family

Lewis Christian Seder

Seils Family

Spencer Family genealogy--in Historical Society Library

Sprecher Family

The Sprechers of Sauk County

Stanley Sprecher

Where did the Sprechers Come From by SS, 1972, and other articles; Letters

Sprechers: A Family of Leaders

The Early Sprechers as I Remember Them by Webster Sprecher

George and Barbara Tarnutzer Sprecher (Red or Fanas Line)

Jenins - John Adolph (Blue line from Jenins)

Reunions

Stabnow Family

Steele-Dunshee Family

Newsletter by Patti S.

Steidtman Family

Stelter Family

Sena Stelter diary, 1904

Steuber Family

Stories by William F.

Stieve Family--in Historical Society Library

Stoddard Family

Stone Family

Sullivan Family

Thake-Binder Family

Thoeny Family

History of the Christian Thoeny Sr., Family compiled by Clifford Accola, 1972

Towers Family

Wagner Family

Wakeley Family

von Wald Family

Walder Family

Emily Walder by Stella Tesch (from 1975 interview)

Walster, Elizabeth Bonham

Letter to England, undated

Waterbury Family

Beth Lyberg Waterbury

Clayton Waterbury Family

Florence Waterbury Saxton

Poems

Letters to EM, 1983-1985

George Willis Waterbury Diaries, 1857, 1868, 1878-1884

Waterbury story by Nellie Rasmussen (Early Beginners)

Waterbury notes

Weilenmann Family

Urs Weilenmann tree, 1984

Weirich Family

Wintermantel Family

Letters by George (transcribed), 1875

Witwen Family

Young Family

Zantow Family

History of the 91st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion by Alfred Zantow

Series: Gossip

List of names covered

Paper copy

A-Be

Bi-C

D-E

F-G

H

I-Kindschi

King-L

M-O

P-Q

R-Se

Sh-T

U-Z

Series: Cemeteries

General material

Sauk County Gravesites

Census of cemeteries and gravesites in Sauk County, 1977

Early graves

Individual cemeteries

Freethinkers Cemetery

Hill's Cemetery, Merrimac

Kingston Cemetery

Miller Cemetery

North Freedom Cemetery

Otter Creek Cemetery

Overseas Military Cemeteries

Pine Hollow Cemetery

Pioneer Cemetery, Concord Township

Rock Hill Cemetery

Sauk City Cemetery

Sauk Prairie Cemetery

Individual graves

Addendum

Veterans

St. Ida's Convent

Stone's Pocket Cemetery

Thoelke Cemetery

Walnut Hill Cemetery, Baraboo

Zantow Cemetery

Series: Churches

“Apostles of Sauk County,” by Erhart Mueller, undated

Emanuel Church Evangelical United Brethren, Baraboo

Free Congregation of Sauk City

Honey Creek Church

Honey Creek Free Congregation

St. Norbert's Mission

Salem Evangelical Church, Young People's Alliance, 1918-1926

Salem United Methodist Church

Sumpter-Merrimac Congregation

Series: Organizations

Badger Steam and Gas Club

Baraboo Hiking Club, 1955-1961

Fox Hollow Festival, 1970-1972

Friends of Sauk County

Sauk City Gun Club, minutes, 1902-1914

Sauk City Men's Club

Sauk City Women's Club, minutes and scrapbook, 1926-1945, 1956-1957

Sauk County Homemakers, 1964

Sauk County Natural Beauty Council, 1988

Sauk Prairie Farmers Club, minutes, 1912-1921

Sumpter (Sauk) Prairie Restoration Project, 1982-83

Skillet Creek Farmers' Club

Badger Ordnance Works

Gopher Ordnance Works, Minnesota

Notice of sale, 1960

History

Environmental assessment

Financial appraisal, 1942

Cottages

Churches

Farms

Schools

Scrapbooks

1941-1992

1965-1968

1969-1971

1972-1982

Badger Village

Wayne Hatz's reunion correspondence, 1982

Lists/Directories

Badger Village Activities

Erhart Mueller correspondence for book, 1971-1979

Material not used in book (”People”)

Scrapbook

Blackhawk Ridge

Bluffview

Materials

People (alphabetical)

Residents and lists

Scrapbook

Durward's Glen scrapbook, 1911-1920, undated

International Crane Foundation scrapbook, 1973-1986, undated

Klondike Camp Ground, 1978

North Freedom area by Sam A. McCoy, 1932

Otto's Islands (Photographs)

Parfrey's Glen by Marshall Martin, M.D.

Prairie du Sac

Book of lot owners, undated

Walter Doll's research book, 1960

Miscellany

Streets

Main St. - River Side

Southwest Side of Main Street

Off of Main Street

Bridge - River

People

Organizations

Houses

Schools

Churches

Steamboats

Sauk County

Transcription of marriages from Book 1 at courthouse, 1844-1860

Spring Green

Sumpter Creamery Corporation, 1927-1941

Sumpter homes (Photographs)

Sumpter Township memorabilia compilation, 1941-1981

Conservation notices

Farmland Preservation agreements

Justice of the Peace fines

Health officers

“Income Tax erroneously allocated”

Justice of the Peace

Licenses

Sumpter Township miscellany

Ordinances

Residents

Taxes

Tuition

Valuations and assessments

Vocational school

Pollworkers, 1935-1971

Tuck-a-way Farm

Witwen camp meetings, 1870-1981

Series: Schools

Badger School PTA, 1948-1953

Black Hawk School

Hillside School District, Town of Prairie du Sac

Kerns' Corner School

Lakeside School Joint District #4

Prairie du Sac High School

Sauk Prairie High School

Spring Green School

Stone's Pocket School

Tower Rock School

Waterbury School

Miscellany

Series: Visual Materials

Negatives

Erhart Mueller

Rueben and Esther Mueller

Ada Mueller Federman, and Crist

Mr. and Mrs. George Accola, Renetta Brunkau[er], Erhart Mueller attendants

Accola and Mueller family reunion: Lydia, Gust (August), Emma J., Uncle Andrew, Uncle John, Aunt Annie, Violet and Reuben Smith

Leta Mueller and Orville Ambler

Albert Mueller family

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Jantz, golden wedding anniversary

Wedding of Ervin and Emma Hillman Joins, from Secola Alburn

Albert and Dora Mueller, parents of Erhart

85th birthday at Meadow Lane Home: George Everett, Jean Dorothy Violet, Aunt Erna Albrecht (a resident of Greenfield Township), 1988 January 10

Gust and Ada Federman farm

Accola brothers (Casper Accola's boys)

Mary and Ursula Accola (Weihing)

John H. and Anna Accola, photographer Schadde, Sauk City

Rev. J.G. Weihing and family, Ursula Accola Weihing, originally of Sauk City area

Val Accola's 63rd anniversary

Glen Leppla feeding the dogs

Reuben, Ada, Erhart and Leta

Erhart Mueller?

Erhart's office south

Dora Accola Mueller and Emma Ott

Sawing wood at Bill Rich's

Mollt at Baxter's Hollow

Freshman class, Prairie du Sac High School, 1924 Fall

Prairie du Sac High School, Class of 1928

Prairie du Sac High School, Class of 1928 reunion, 1988

Louis Mueller's home, west of Stone's Pocket

Henry and Anna Accola of Sumpter

August Federman and George and Dorothy Accola

Albert Mueller farm, Sumpter, Wisconsin

Grandmother Carpenter in parlor

Ed Steuber, Edna Graff, Leta Stelter, Stella Carpenter

Sunday at Devil's Lake

A flat tire

Badger War Homes

1943 February 1-2

1943 April 19-May 31

1943 June 28

Badger Ordnance Works

Construction

Buildings

Prints

“Always in Sumpter”

Charles W. Chrisler

Ben Kindschl

Portraits of men
Physical Description: 5 images 

Men in uniform
Physical Description: 5 images 

Portraits of women
Physical Description: 8 images 

Family groups
Physical Description: 6 images 

Groups
Physical Description: 2 images 

Picnics and camp groups
Physical Description: 7 images 

Community homes and farms
Physical Description: 17 images 

Landscaping
Physical Description: 7 images 

“Forever in Sumpter”

Portraits
Physical Description: 5 images 

Groups
Physical Description: 9 images 

Houses and landscapes
Physical Description: 26 images 

Badger War Homes

Aerial view

1943 January 11-August 30
Physical Description: 16 folders, some negatives in negative series 

Badger Ordnance Works

Construction
Physical Description: 14 folders, negatives in negative series 

Buildings
Physical Description: 3 folders, negatives in negative series 

Liberty Powder Defense Corporation
Physical Description: 2 images 

Badger Ordnance Works (BOW) Community Band
Physical Description: 3 images 

Prairie du Sac trailer court, 1942-1943

Christmas play and scenery
Physical Description: 12 images 

Summer activities and annual Fourth of July parade
Physical Description: 8 images 

Landscapes at army base
Physical Description: 3 images 

Army barracks NE
Physical Description: 2 images 

Winter at Badger Village
Physical Description: 4 images 

Streets and barracks
Physical Description: 3 images 

Landscapes
Physical Description: 2 images 

Videorecordings

Erhart Remembered

Powder on the Prairie