Part 1 (Milwaukee Mss EP, PH 4981): Original Collection, 1917-1970
Physical Description: 3.2 cubic feet (8 archives boxes) and 0.2 cubic feet of photographs and ephemera (1 folder and 1 oversize folder) 
Scope and Content Note

Part 1 of the collection is arranged in seven series: National Records, Regional Records, State Records, Administrative Records, Correspondence and Related Material, Subject Files and Visual Materials.

The NATIONAL RECORDS consist mainly of material from national conferences, including programs, notes, resolutions, minutes, and addresses. REGIONAL RECORDS contain conference material exclusively. The STATE RECORDS include correspondence of Lloyd Barbee and E. Gordon Young, former presidents of the Wisconsin Conference of Branches. Within this series, the general records are comprised of correspondence, minutes of the board of directors of the state conference, and finance committee material.

The most extensive records in the collection are those of the Milwaukee branch. The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS include executive board and board of directors meeting minutes, and various committee records. A substantial part of the finance committee records regard fund raising events, such as picnics, concerts, and candy sales. Included in these records is a letter from Medgar Evers, Mississippi NAACP field secretary, dated 22 May 1958 (box 2, folder 19), as well as material pertaining to his memorial fund, established in 1963. The general records of the committee contain budgets, treasurer's reports, correspondence, and acknowledgments. Membership committee records consist of membership lists, receipts for dues, minutes of meetings, and correspondence. The political action and discrimination cases contain material of national scope, such as the 1949-1952 Groveland, Florida assault case which reached the Supreme Court; the 1951 murder of Harry T. Moore, state coordinator of the NAACP Florida branches, and his wife; and the 1955 murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi. The Milwaukee cases mainly concern local job discrimination complaints.

The CORRESPONDENCE and RELATED MATERIAL dates from 1947 to 1970, with the exception of one folder of items dated 1917 to 1943. Letters dated 1917 and 1929 protest state legislation prohibiting interracial marriages. Other early material documents Wilbur Halyard's initial involvement with the NAACP, beginning in 1924, and his 1929 term as president of the Milwaukee branch. Also included is correspondence exchanged between the NAACP national office and the Milwaukee branch. It should be noted that there are overlaps in the correspondence series and in the correspondence of specific committees.

The SUBJECT FILES illuminate numerous issues which faced the Milwaukee branch, such as its effort to ban the Amos n' Andy television program because of its offensive stereotyped black roles. Under the leadership of Ardie A. Halyard, the branch succeeded in having the show dropped by WTMJ-TV after 4 October 1951. Material from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which consists of only four items, deals in part with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which planned to challenge the seating of that state's delegation at the 1964 Democratic National convention. The United Negro College Fund, one of Ardie A. Halyard's community interests, is also represented in this series. Other topics covered in this series include affirmative action, school desegregation, voter registration, and fair housing.

The VISUAL MATERIALS include photographs and ephemera, 1958-1962; depicting members and events of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP, fliers to NAACP-sponsored programs, and NAACP promotional drawings. A panoramic photograph of the NAACP national convention of 1960, prominently featuring Wisconsin delegates is also included.

Series: National Records

Annual conferences, 1948, 1950-1953, 1955, 1957-1958, 1960, 1962

Annual youth conferences, 1948

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 1952

List of branches, circa 1964

Series: Regional Records

Conferences, 1950, 1952-1955, 1963, 1968

Series: State Records

Conferences, 1953, 1955-1961, 1963-1964

Constitution, undated

Correspondence and related material

Regarding Barbee, Lloyd 1961-1962, 1964

Regarding Young, E. Gordon 1963-1964

General records, 1954-1962, 1967, undated

Series: Administrative Records

Annual dinner/meeting, 1950-1953, 1958, 1960

Annual reports - President's and general, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1961

Auditing Committee - report, 1958

Church Work Committee, 1951-1952, 1961, undated

Community Coordination Committee, 1951-1953, undated

Education Committee, 1949, 1960, 1963-1964, 1966-1967, undated

Executive Committee, 1947-1954, 1956-1968, 1970, undated

Finance Committee

Fundraising

Christmas Seals, 1948, 1951-1954, 1961

Evers, Medgar - memorial 1963-1964

Freedom Fund, 1953-1956, 1958-1959, 1961-1962, 1970, 1974

General, 1950-1955, 1959-1962, 1964

General records, 1948-1968

Housing Committee, 1953, 1955, 1961, 1964, 1968, undated

Labor and Industry Committee, 1949, 1951-1953, 1962, 1964, 1966-1967, undated

Legislation, 1951, 1960

Membership Committee

1948-1952

1953, 1957-1965

1966-1970

Memoranda and announcements, 1947, 1951-1952, 1954-1955, 1957, 1961-1963, 1968, undated

Minutes of regular meetings, 1947-1950

Nominating Committee, 1953, 1957

Personnel Committee, 1958-1959

Political action and discrimination cases

National, 1951-1952, 1955

Milwaukee, 1948, 1951-1955, 1961-1964, 1968-1969

Political Action Committee, 1952

Program Committee, 1949-1951, 1959, 1963, undated

Publicity Committee, 1951-1952, undated

Veterans Committee, 1951-1952

Voting and Registration Committee, 1952, 1958, 1960-1962, 1964, 1968

Youth Council, 1948-1957, 1963-1964, undated

Series: Correspondence and Related Material

1917, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935, 1938-1939, 1943, undated, 1947-1964

1965-1970, undated

Series: Subject File

Amos 'n Andy, 1951

Civil Rights Bill, 1964

Freedom Week and Freedom Week Conference, 1951

Governor's Commission on Human Rights, Governor's Commission on Civil Rights, Governor's Committee on Children and Youth 1953, 1959-1961, 1963, 1966-1967

Halyard, Ardie A. - biographical sketch; Halyard, Wilbur - obituary 1952, 1963

Hate letters and crank mail, 1952-1953, 1964, 1966

King, Martin Luther - memorial 1968

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963

Milwaukee (Mayor's) Commission on Human Rights, 1953-1955

Milwaukee Metropolitan Crime Commission, 1952, 1956

Newspaper clippings, 1951-1952, 1954-1955, 1958, 1960, 1962-1969, undated

Picketing information, 1963

School desegregation, undated

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, 1963-1964

United Negro College Fund, 1952-1955, 1959-1962, undated

White, Walter - memorial 1955

Wisconsin Industrial Commission - Fair Employment Practices Division, 1951, 1953-1954, undated

Miscellaneous, 1959, 1961, undated

Series: Visual Materials

Photographs and ephemera, 1958-1962
Note: Photographs of members and events of the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP, flyers for NAACP-sponsored programs, and NAACP promotional drawings.

National Convention, 1960
Note: Panoramic photograph of NAACP national convention, prominently featuring Wisconsin delegates.