The collection provides documentation on several aspects of Horace Wilkie's public career. Included are extensive files on his judicial and legislative career and on his work on the Madison Housing Authority. Nevertheless, there are also significant gaps in the collection's coverage. The judicial files contain no information on his appointment, and one must turn to Supreme Court records for information on his decisions and rulings. The absence of material on his involvement with the Wisconsin Democratic Party in the papers is disappointing. Also missing is any information on his career as a lawyer, his personal life, or his life prior to his return to Madison in 1945.

The BIOGRAPHICAL FILE consists of clippings on microfilm covering the period 1945-1975, and some memorabilia. After filming, the originals were returned to the donor.

The EARLY CAREER FILES consist of material on Wilkie's unsuccessful 1948 and 1950 campaigns for Congress (the two best documented campaigns in the collection), incomplete records of his law practice, general correspondence, and files on the Madison Housing Authority (MHA). The MHA material includes correspondence, legislation pertinent to certain projects, and reports on projects. Among these, the Truax Park housing complex is best documented.

The LEGISLATIVE FILES consist of campaign material, chronological correspondence, alphabetical files on legislation considered by the 1957, 1959, and 1961 state senates, and miscellaneous political material. There is a great deal in the legislative files on issues of particular concern to Wilkie, such as health, education, and public welfare. Because he was on the tax committee, there is also material on the numerous important tax proposals of the period, especially the controversial 1961 sales tax. The only material on Wilkie's early political career in the Democratic party is included here in the miscellaneous section “Wisconsin politics.”

The largest portion of the collection is entitled JUDICIAL FILES. Included are materials on the court system's administration and reorganization; Wilkie's judicial campaigns of 1964 and 1974; conferences and seminars he attended; correspondence; general material relating to his judicial interests; and various projects and activities in which he became involved. Documentation is most extensive for the post-1970 period.

The administration and reorganization material includes files from numerous committees concerned with restructuring the court system. The most interesting material is located in the legislation files and those files labeled “Reorganization.” The conferences and seminars in which Wilkie had the most interest are best documented, such as the appellate judges seminars, chief justices conferences, and the National College of State Judiciary, which provided continuing education for judges. The correspondence file contains letters to and from individuals, with the most interesting material being Wilkie's “Comments” file, which contains letters from people around the state about issues they thought the judiciary should consider. Within the general material there is notable material on continuing education for judges and lawyers, rules of evidence, the legal code of ethics, and a prison tour taken by Wilkie in 1971. This material is arranged alphabetically by subject. Projects in which Wilkie was involved are also arranged alphabetically by subject. Best documented here is the Judicial Council, of which Wilkie was a member, and a special committee on which Wilkie served which considered the building of a new law school in Wisconsin.