The papers of Aldo Leopold are included in 9/25, which includes the records of the
University of Wisconsin--Madison College of Agriculture, Department of Wildlife Ecology. The
papers include 83 archive boxes (about 28 cubic feet) and several additional cases, folios,
and microfilm reels, grouped into twelve series. The records span the years of Aldo
Leopold's life, but are most complete after 1928. For the earliest years, Mr. Leopold
himself retained only a few significant items, including journals dating back to 1903, some
Yale reports, official Forest Service diaries, and copies of some early writings. Leopold's
family, however, preserved much of the voluminous correspondence dating from these early
years. It has since been acquired by the University of Wisconsin--Madison Archives and
Records Management Services. Some notebooks from Mr. Leopold's years as a student have also
been located and deposited in the UW--Madison Archives.
Mr. Leopold worked more or less independently after 1928, keeping his own files as he moved
from office to office. In the UW-Madison Archives are most of the papers which he chose,
over the years, to retain. Due to Mr. Leopold's historical consciousness, his early family
and Forest Service training in systematic record-keeping, and his extreme good fortune in
securing high calibre, full-time secretaries, his files were well organized and of
consistently high quality. Throughout the files are individual folders of original materials
deposited by colleagues and friends of Aldo Leopold, other original materials located in the
course of research by Leopold scholars, and Xerox copies of materials in various
repositories or in private hands. They are identified as to origin both in the folder list
and in the folders.
In the Leopold Papers as arranged at the UW-Madison Archives, the first five series,
numbered 9/25/10-1 to 9/25/10-5 (correspondence; organizations and committees; county, state
and foreign files; species and subjects; research areas and projects) correspond, as nearly
as can be determined, to Mr. Leopold's own filing system during his years at the University
of Wisconsin. Most of these materials, in fact, remained at the Department of Wildlife
Management after his death, and were deposited in the UW-Madison Archives in about 10
separate installments from 1961 to 1969. Considerable arranging of folders and of items
chronologically within folders has been required in order to approximate the original order,
but the contents and titles of individual folders have, in general, not been changed. Where
it was apparent that a letter had been misfiled or belonged with a series of letters in
another folder, the change was made.
9/25/10-6, Writings, includes reprints and unpublished manuscripts deposited by various
members of the Leopold family on about ten occasions, 1961-69, together with manuscript
working papers and correspondence which remained in Mr. Leopold's files after his death and
were deposited by the Department of Wildlife Management. (A bibliography of Mr. Leopold's
publications and several bibliographies pertaining to superseded drafts and unpublished
items in this series and throughout the files, formerly grouped in the appendices to the
finding aid, have now been placed in position in the relevant folders.)
Most of the materials in 9/25/10-7 to 10-10 (diaries and journals; biographical materials;
photographs; and memorabilia) were kept at the Leopold home and later deposited by Mrs.
Leopold and other members of the Leopold family. T
In 9/25/10-11 are Forest Service records, including a few from Mr. Leopold's own files, but
mostly photocopied or microfilmed from various government repositories and offices, except
for those at the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison. Mr. Leopold did retain in his own
files correspondence, notes, and clippings pertaining to game management, especially after
about 1921.
9/25/10-12 includes class notebooks and materials from Leopold's high school, prep school,
college, and graduate school coursework.
Throughout the files are individual folders of original materials deposited by colleagues
and friends of Aldo Leopold, other original materials located in the course of research by
Leopold scholars, and copies of materials in various repositories or in private hands. They
are identified as to origin both in the finding aid and in the folders.
Iconography files, series 3/1. This series includes loose photographs, scanned memorabilia,
and other images from the Leopold Papers in the University of Wisconsin Archives, the
archives of the Aldo Leopold Foundation, and other sources. The images in this series may
also be searched from "Search Photographs" on the home page of the collection.
9/25/10-13, Additions to the Collection, was created in 2009 to accommodate materials that
have been absorbed into the collection since the completion of the digitization of the
Leopold Papers. All materials acquired in the future will be placed in this series.
In Brief
- Series 1: Correspondence (with individuals), alphabetical by last name of
recipient
- Series 2: Organization and committee files, alphabetical by name
- Series 3: County, state and foreign files, alphabetical
- Series 4: Species and subjects, generally alphabetical
- Series 5: Research areas and projects
- Series 6: Writings -- reprints, manuscripts, teaching materials
- Series 7: Diaries and Journals, 1899-1948
- Series 8: Biographical materials -- family correspondence, clippings, personal
history
- Series 9: Photograph albums
- Series 10: Memorabilia -- bows, arrows, pipes, and miscellaneous
- Series 11: Forest Service records -- documents, including the Pine Cone newsletter
- Series 12: Student course materials -- high school and Yale Forest School
- Iconography Files 3-1: loose photographs
- Series 13: Additions to the Collection -- materials acquired since 2009
- Iconography Files 3-1: loose photographs
