The Padway papers are strongest in documenting his personal and political activities in the 1920's and 1930's. They are divided into Subject Files and Scrapbooks. The Subject Files are somewhat heterogeneous in character and only a few of them pertain to Padway's legal practice. Individual files contain such things as printed matter, notes, clippings, drafts of articles, speeches, and some correspondence. Most extensive are files of speeches and writings, and of notes and impressions from a world tour taken by Padway and his family in 1926 and 1927. The “Insurance” and “Vocational Schools” files date from his service in the state legislature, and the “Congressional Campaign” file and some of his speeches and writings document other state political activities. Files on “Palestine” and the “United Palestine Appeal” reflect his interests in the formation of a Jewish state. An indication of Padway's work with the labor movement can be obtained from his labor speeches, from the file on the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co. strike, and from a few other files.
The Scrapbooks consist almost exclusively of newspaper clippings and provide a fairly consistent record of Padway's political and legal activities. Volumes 1 and 2 date 1924-1932 and include clippings on Padway's legislative and judicial terms and the 1932 congressional race. Volumes 3 through 7, 1934-March 1937, document a number of important state and local legal actions in which Padway was involved. These include an anti-pinball ordinance enacted in Milwaukee; the case of I. J. Rosenberg, a prominent Milwaukee banker convicted and sentenced for violating state banking laws; a scandal at the Milwaukee House of Corrections; and labor disputes at the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., the Kohler Co., the Luick Dairy, the Boston Store in Milwaukee, Milwaukee area glove factories, the Garton Toy Co. of Sheboygan, and the Seaman Body Corp. of Racine. The final seven volumes, February 1938-December 1939, consist largely of clippings on national labor issues including the National Labor Relations Act and conflicts between the AFL and the CIO. The original scrapbooks were discarded after microfilming.
