The collection consists of records donated by Walter Scott and Jack Densmore. Scott's material covers the earlier years of the chapter, while Densmore's contribution focuses on the years 1960-1970. Although the time span is brief, gaps exist in the material.
Included are a constitution and charter; meeting files; programs; tour guides; activity summaries; a review of the group's first ten years, with a 1970 update; papers presented at meetings; membership lists; miscellaneous correspondence; and several entries in the chapter awards program.
Most of the material on the meetings concentrates on 1954-1955, with a special summary for the national meeting held in Green Lake, Wisconsin, in September 1955. Formal reports of chapter activities reappear for the 1962-1964 period. For the interim period, a chronological collection of programs, tour guides, newspaper articles, and photographs provide an account of meeting themes and activities. A citation in 1970 from the governor marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the chapter.
Organizational material in the collection includes the original charter granted to the Wisconsin Chapter signed by Hugh Hammond Bennett, president of the Soil Conservation Society of America and founder of the soil conservation movement in America; a constitution in draft and final form; and a listing of the goals and objectives of the Soil Conservation Society of America. The collection also provides historical summaries of the first ten years of the Wisconsin Chapter (1964) and an update in 1970.
The Soil Conservation Society of America held a chapter awards program annually; the collection includes the 1958, 1959, and 1963 Wisconsin entries. The topic for 1958 was the organization and execution of regional chapter meetings. The 1959 entry discussed the Boy Scout Committee formed by the chapter and its work in soil and water conservation. The 1963 entry considered land-use planning in Wisconsin.
