The papers were received by the State Historical Society with the title Automatic File and Index Company Records. Upon further examination, however, the collection was found not to be corporate records, but instead personal papers of the company's founder and first president, which had been stored in the home of Dorothy Straubel Wittig in Green Bay. Included are Straubel's correspondence, financial records concerning the Automatic Co. during its later years and the disposition of the Straubel estate, patent sketches and records, copies of a few AFICO catalogues and brochures, and a file pertaining to the Weise-Hollman Company.
Although the Correspondence, which is filed chronologically, covers the period of the Automatic File and Index Company's greatest prosperity, only dealings with Stevens, Maloney, and Co., a Chicago stationer and office equipment store, document the firm's business operations. Even for this firm, the papers document business operations only during the period 1914-1921. Nevertheless, because this correspondence was extensive and detailed and because it concerned what was probably the largest retailer of the Automatic line, it probably provides a representative picture of AFICO operations.
The remainder of the correspondence from Straubel's lifetime concerns his relations with his patent attorney (very little correspondence actually concerns his inventing), the sale of his controlling interest in AFICO, his deteriorating relations with Huston, and his licensing of various patents with the General Fireproofing Company. The correspondence concerning Straubel's estate largely consists of letters to and from C.W. Straubel concerning general estate matters, the inheritance of royalties on Straubel patents used by General Fireproofing, and the desire on the part of the heirs to realize some financial benefit from their minority interest in the defunct AFICO.
Because of the deteriorated condition of the papers, the correspondence has been microfilmed and is only available in that form. Original correspondence was returned to the Brown County Public Library Local History and Genealogy Room. A file of undated letters and correspondence have not been filmed, however, because of the difficulty in using such material on microfilm.
Also retained in hard copy are Financial Records pertaining to AFICO and the Straubel estate. The former consist of annual operating statements, sales recapitulations, and inventories chiefly dating from the 1920s and early 1930s. The estate records concern royalty payments and dividends from F.L.G. Straubel's security holdings.
Miscellany consists of a file of patent sketches, blue prints, and information pertaining to his inventions, additional sketches probably for custom-designed filing equipment, a few AFICO catalogues and advertising materials (these are also available on microfilm, with the original trade catalogs in the Visual and Sound Archives not with the papers), and documents pertaining to the Straubel's interest in the Weise Hollman Co. of Green Bay. Also in the miscellaneous category are glass plate negatives and prints in the Visual and Sound Archives which document Straubel's work as an amateur photographer. The main body of his photographic work, however, is to be found as part of the Dorothy Straubel Wittig collection at the Neville Museum in Green Bay.
