The papers primarily document the Wisconsin portion of Brovald's career in journalism. This was a period in which he achieved considerable professional prominence as the editor/publisher of a weekly newspaper, and although the documentation in this small collection is not complete, it does afford the researcher a rare archival glimpse of that type of journalistic activity. While the documentation concerning the operational and financial status of the paper is disappointing, the collection does paint a vivid picture of how the life of a small-town newspaperman differed from his metropolitan counterpart. In addition, there is extensive material about Brovald's personal life while a student at the University of Wisconsin and later in graduate school at the University of Minnesota, his work as a Methodist lay minister, and his involvement with the Wisconsin-Nicaragua Partners of the Americas. The latter files are of particular interest, for they include documentary photographs and newspaper columns concerning his 1965 trip to Nicaragua.
The collection is arranged into biographical material, business and professional files, personal files, and University of Wisconsin coursework. The distinction between the personal and professional files is not always distinct, however, and one will find that the business files contain some letters to and from journalists with whom Brovald shared a personal as well as a professional relationship, while the personal files contain extensive correspondence on his volunteer work as a publicist in behalf of the Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners. The collection consists primarily of biographical clippings, correspondence, course work, and financial records, although there are also research materials and notes primarily concerning Cadott, diaries, and a few examples of his writings. The Cadott Sentinel itself is available on microfilm in the Society Library.
A substantial portion of the collection consisted of carbons of Brovald's outgoing correspondence typed on highly acidic paper. On order to preserve their content, this portion of the collection has been microfilmed. The originals were later destroyed.
The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL consists of newspaper clippings about Brovald, information on miscellaneous awards, and photographs generally documenting events in his personal and professional life.
The BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL FILES are subdivided into subject files, general correspondence, and financial records. The subject files, which are arranged alphabetically, include correspondence concerning employment and the purchase of a newspaper, his work to publicize the Wisconsin Centennial in 1948 while in the employ of the Arthur Towell advertising agency and letters exchanged with Carl Zielke and other officers and members of the Wisconsin Press Association. The latter file also includes copies of the column Brovald wrote during his year as president of the WPA. Also filed here are exchanges with various friends and associates in the journalism field. The file on the White Machine Co. of Eau Claire concerns a consistent user of the Sentinel's job printing services, the only such customer documented in the papers.
The general correspondence is very diverse in character. Of special note is the political correspondence filed here. These letters range from exchanges with Joseph R. McCarthy to complaints about local postal service. Other prominent correspondents include Dorothy Johnson, Lester Johnson, Ann Landers, Gaylord Nelson, Richard Nixon, Alvin O'Konski, William Proxmire, Vernon Thomson, and Alexander Wiley. The general correspondence is arranged alphabetically by name and chronologically thereunder. Unfortunately a substantial number of the letters are identified only by first name; these have been filmed chronologically at the end of the file for each letter of the alphabet in which Brovald originally placed them.
Although the financial records originally comprised about ten cubic feet of papers, these primarily consisted of invoices and other detailed records of little research value. However, despite the extensiveness of the detailed financial records in the original collection, complete summary data about the business was not present. There is, however, a virtually complete run of state and federal income tax returns, some financial reports, a ledger and cash journal for the period 1954-1955, working papers and expense sheets, and a complete run of check stubs.
The PERSONAL FILES contain probably the most interesting documentation in the collection. These files are subdivided into family correspondence and alphabetical subject files. The family correspondence contains carbon copies of the long, detailed letters which Brovald wrote to family members and a few friends while a student at the University of Wisconsin during the late 1940s. The correspondence is intermittent during the 1950s and 1960s, but it picks up again in 1966 when Brovald left Cadott to enroll in graduate school. During 1966 and 1967 he wrote almost daily to his wife, who was running the newspaper. Unfortunately, both of these time periods are documented almost solely by outgoing letters only.
The subject files contain diaries kept as a high school student during World War II, examples of his youthful journalistic endeavors, and an extensive correspondence concerning his work as a lay minister for area Methodist churches and other religious activities. The file on the Nicaragua Partners contains correspondence concerning publicity for the group and Brovald's 1965 trip to Nicaragua. Also filed here is some research material on the Nicaraguan press compiled in 1967 by Brovald while a student at Minnesota. (Included in this file is a letter from Anastasio Somoza.)
The UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN RECORDS consist of class notes, papers, examinations, and other materials documenting the instruction received by Brovald while an undergraduate.
