The wide-ranging career of former Adjutant-General Ralph Immell is suggested by the collection which he deposited at the Historical Society, but unfortunately the documentation contained in the collection is not complete on any of these activities. Included are correspondence, memoranda, speeches and writings, biographical information and memorabilia, and subject files on the National Guard, the Wisconsin Conservation Commission, and World War II. Because of its deteriorated physical condition much of the collection is available only on microfilm.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION includes undated biographical sketches, correspondence concerning awards and commendations, a copy of an unofficial Army 201 file, and several clipping scrapbooks. The scrapbooks, which comprise the most complete documentary form in the collection, demonstrate clearly the degree to which Inmell was a major news figure of the 1930s.
The CORRESPONDENCE is arranged chronologically, although there are many gaps. There are, for example, no references to his gubernatorial candidacy or to his advocacy of the Eisenhower presidential campaign in 1952.
SPEECHES AND WRITINGS include a large file of chronologically-arranged speeches and some supporting correspondence and reference material. The collection also includes recordings of several campaign speeches Immell made over the radio in 1946 and 1948. There is also a tape of a speech he made in support of Eisenhower in 1952, as well as those made by Philip La Follette, Jim Dan Hill, and other former Progressives.
The remainder of the collection consists of alphabetically arranged SUBJECT FILES. Because of their miscellaneous and often undated character the majority of these files have not been filmed. Here the researcher may variously find correspondence, memoranda, reports, and miscellaneous background information. Most extensive are the materials on the Wisconsin Conservation Commission, much of which is filed just as it was by Immell. These files do not represent, however, the totality of the files which must have once existed in his capacity as member of the commission and director of the Conservation Department. The National Guard files include miscellaneous material on the National Guard Association, of which Immell was the president for many years, and an extensive report on the guard's involvement in the 1933 Milk Strike.
MISCELLANEOUS MATERIAL at the end of the collection includes a file of speeches by others such as Albert G. Schmedeman and Herman Ekern.
