The collection has been arranged into four series: Correspondence, Legislative Files, Personal Papers, and Personal Papers of Beulah Arnold Wiley. None of the series is comprehensive, and the researcher gains no more than a glimpse into Wiley's professional and personal lives. Wiley's CORRESPONDENCE, 1930-1950, mainly pertains to his work as superintendent of schools in La Crosse and Trempealeau County, and his activities in the State Assembly.
His LEGISLATIVE FILES, which are quite small, reflect his interest in education and his support of legislation to aid school districts and the State's universities. In particular, Wiley supported legislation to institute a State Board of Higher Education, and school consolidation measures. There are also copies of a few bills introduced by Wiley (bills not sponsored by Wiley were discarded), sparse committee files, and small files of letters and other papers on a few subjects of interest to him. These latter files deal with the licensing of farm auctioneers, county courts, highways, Perrot Park, state income taxes, and veterans' affairs. There are a few of Wiley's radio talks and speeches; Republican Party records, including a few handwritten election results; and correspondence and copy for “The Legislative Log,” Wiley's newspaper column.
PERSONAL PAPERS include scattered materials concerning Wiley's experiences as a teacher at Birchwood Summer School and Marinuka Lodge; his diaries, 1899, 1947-1951, and a diary of his son, Arnold, 1926; a school notebook; small files reflecting Wiley's activities with La Crosse schools and education and with the Presbyterian church; and a few legal papers concerning Wiley's estate.
PERSONAL PAPERS OF BEULAH ARNOLD WILEY include three letters to Mrs. Wiley; notebooks kept while she was a girl (1902) and as a student at Rockford College, 1907-1908; a few materials from her career as a school teacher, including her certificate permitting her to teach second grade in Wisconsin; a journal kept during a family Western trip, 1932; small files from her activities with the La Crosse Music Study Club and La Crosse YWCA; and a few legal papers concerning the estate of Elizabeth Stone, a portion of which Mrs. Wiley inherited.
