The Frank Kaiser collection is organized into two series: Papers (2002-2003) and Images and Media (2003).
Papers series consist primarily of correspondence sent to Kaiser while he was preparing for active service and while deployed in Afghanistan. Emails are arranged in chronological order and span the time Kaiser was deployed, from August 2003 through September 2003. Individual senders range from friends and family, with emails from Jeff Carnes mixed in as well. Letters are further subdivided into those written by Jeff Carnes and those sent by family and friends, then arranged chronologically within each subseries. The collection contains very little correspondence written by Kaiser. Those that do exist are part of an email chain within the email subgrouping. Religious material was part of a packet handed out by a military chaplain before his unit was deployed. The school greetings are arranged by those sent to him from a class at St. Patrick's Elementary School in Mauston, and an autistic class at Placentino School in Boston that was taught by his sister, Trina Weiher. Oversized school greetings are from Placentino. Also included in this series is a certificate authenticating that a flag that was donated to the objects section of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum was flown over Afghanistan in 2003.
Image and Media series is comprised of paper photographs, digital photographs, and digital videos pertaining to Kaiser's service. All paper photographs are of his family and were displayed in his locker while stationed in Afghanistan. Some of the photographs are labeled. Digital photographs and digital videos were donated on two CD-R disks, with video and still images mixed together in folders arranged by Kaiser. Some of the individual image files have brief descriptive information, with others being labeled in numerical sequence. Video files all have a brief label generalizing the context, and are generally a few seconds long. Most video files are on Disk 1, with a few located on Disk 2. A drive directory of each disk is available for access with the paper copy of the finding aid included with the processed collection.
