The records of the Milwaukee Urban League have been arranged into Microfilm, Photographs,
Tape Recordings, and Films and Filmstrips plus eighteen series of paper records, mainly
corresponding to the operational departments of the League: Administrative Files,
Administrative Subject Files, Committee Files, Business Development Organization,
Citizenship Education Department, Community Organization Department, Economic Development
Administration, Employment Development and Guidance Department, Department of Family Life,
Health and Welfare Department, Department of Human Resources Development, Department of
Industrial Relations, Labor Education Advancement Program (LEAP), Manpower Department, Model
Cities Project, On-the-Job Training Project, Department of Research, and National Urban
League Records. The majority of the records date from the early 1960s-1970s, with earlier
records mainly composed of microfilmed minutes of board of directors meetings, microfilmed
scrapbooks of news clippings, and partial files of two MUL departments, Community
Organization and Industrial Relations. Throughout the collection many items bear handwritten
annotations of Wesley Scott, who apparently reviewed all incoming mail before determining
its disposition. Some of the records exhibit smoke, water and subsequent discoloration
resulting from a 1974 fire in the Urban League building.
Several of the series contain overlapping or similar materials, reflecting the cooperation
and work-sharing of League departments, which is particularly evident as federal grant money
became readily available during the late 1960s and 1970s and as new programs were initiated
by the League. Thus, it is suggested that the researcher consult both the records of the MUL
administration and of closely-related departments, it should be noted that the names of some
Urban League departments changed over the years, with their functions distributed to one or
more successors. For example, the Community Organization Department became the Department of
Family Life, with some of its work taken over by the Health and Welfare Department, while
the functions performed by the Department of Industrial Relations were later variously
divided among other department and projects.
The two largest series in the collection are the ADMINISTRATIVE FILES and the
ADMINISTRATIVE SUBJECT FILES, which consist of the records of the executive director, the
executive committee, and the board of directors. Important files include those of the annual
business meetings, annual meetings and dinners, annual reports, descriptions of Milwaukee
Urban League purpose and functions, membership files, newsletters, and publicity and public
relations. There is a complete run on microfilm of minutes of the board of directors,
supplemented by manuscript additions and minutes of the executive committee. Correspondence
of executive director Wesley L. Scott, who held that position from 1960 to 1981, is
extensive and also includes memoranda to staff members. There are very few records of any
type from the period preceding Scott's tenure; most of the items dating from 1928 to 1960,
when William V. Kelley was executive director, consist of news clippings and other papers
regarding awards and honors given him. Apparently Kelley took with him most of the Urban
League's records at the time of his retirement; these records may no longer exist (for
Kelley is now dead and neither his widow nor children have the records).
Administrative financial records are quite numerous, and include budgets, with supporting
documents, worksheets, estimates, and records of expenditures, 1961-1978; some monthly
financial reports, and fragmentary receipts. The budget files also contain League-created
prospectuses, narrative statements, statistics, expenditure analyses, minutes of meetings,
and other materials submitted to United Community Services of Greater Milwaukee in
justification of the Urban League's budget requests. United Community Services provided a
substantial portion of the League's funding, and the files also include UCS documents
indicating what portion of the budget request was granted. Monthly reports of the various
Urban League departments date from 1950 to 1959 and 1974 to 1976, and are mostly in draft
form.
Within the ADMINISTRATIVE SUBJECT FILES are correspondence, minutes and agenda, financial
records, notes, and printed items from many Milwaukee and Wisconsin organizations,
committees, service and religious groups and clubs, to which Milwaukee Urban League or
executive director Scott belonged or maintained a particular interest. Some of these grouped
or programs were similar in nature or scope of operations and were sponsored or financially
assisted by the Urban League. Also included are folders of reference and general material
pertaining to Milwaukee, minority opportunities, civil rights, and political subjects
collected by the executive director and the League staff.
COMMITTEE FILES consist of minutes, agenda, attendance records, membership lists,
correspondence, and other papers of Milwaukee Urban League committees, many of which were
closely related to Urban League departments. Most of these files are small in size and date
only from 1960 to 1970 or 1971.
The fourteen series pertaining to Milwaukee Urban League departments illustrate the
different projects undertaken within the League's major program areas of job training and
guidance, job development, community welfare, and family life. Within each series may be
found similar types of records, including correspondence and memoranda of the department
director and staff, government contracts and financial records, periodic reports of the
progress of projects and activities of the staff, and records of special work of each
department. Some series also include reference material collected to assist in the work.
Early Milwaukee Urban League activities in the field of job training and guidance were
carried on by its DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, which conducted student scholarship
contests and programs, stay-in-school campaigns, and a vocational guidance service. The
department's management advisory committee sponsored annual equal opportunity days in
conjunction with local businesses, and also maintained job description and placement records
and similar files in its Milwaukee Skills Bank. During the 1960s and early 1970s the
functions of the Industrial Relations department were expanded to include development of
jobs and business opportunities for minority clients, and the work was thus divided among
several new departments. These were the BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION, which gave
financial and legal assistance to individual clients and small businesses; the ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION's job training project; the EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT AND GUIDANCE
DEPARTMENT; the LABOR EDUCATION ADVANCEMENT PROGRAM, a federally-funded program to create
jobs, and to tutor and train apprentices and workers to fill them; the MANPOWER DEPARTMENT,
also federally-funded and associated with the Milwaukee Area Technical College; the MODEL
CITIES PROJECT, which among other programs provided work Training and Technical Assistance
to Small Business; and the ON-THE-JOB TRAINING PROJECT, funded by the federal Department of
Labor and the Model Cities Agency to train and place workers. After 1971, however, the Urban
League once again concentrated its manpower resources on job training and work experience
programs.
The Urban League's commitment to family and community programs resulted in the
establishment of the COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION DEPARTMENT, which was active during the 1950s.
Under department head Lucinda Gordon, neighborhood improvement programs, and youth service
and recreation projects were conducted, and the League initiated local block clubs in black
neighborhoods to improve homes and their surroundings and to fight crime. Many of the
department's functions were later incorporated into the HEALTH AND WELFARE DEPARTMENT, with
other programs assigned to the DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY LIFE, which also operated drug abuse and
education programs and the Lady Pits Family Living Service to aid pregnant teenagers. The
Health and Welfare department also conducted community awareness programs concerning equal
job and housing opportunities, food stamps, and home repair; surveyed local housing
conditions and needs, and promoted voter registration and education. Voter education was
also the focus of the CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION DEPARTMENT. A few files are also present from
the DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT, which was organized during the mid-1970s to
provide health and welfare services.
To assist in its many projects Milwaukee Urban League staff collected and created print and
near-print material on a variety of subjects. These files have been arranged alphabetically
by title with the DEPARTMENT OF RESEARCH series. In addition to departmental correspondence
and memos, mailing lists, and reports of activities, the files include questionnaires from a
1968 survey of Milwaukee black professionals, and several folders of research materials, a
final report, and other data from the Urban League investigation of the summer 1967 riot in
Milwaukee. Several of the near-print reports date from the early 1950s. These subject files
when used in conjunction with the Administrative Subject Files, provide information about
many Milwaukee organizations and such topics as school segregation and desegregation
efforts, housing and local neighborhood grouped, discrimination in employment, heath care,
and crime and law enforcement.
The Milwaukee Urban League's involvement with the NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE is illustrated in
the final series of the collection. Files of conference and project records, and of the
Council of Executive Directors, in particular, show the interaction between the national and
affiliate organizations. Correspondence with the national office has been filed with the
correspondence of the Milwaukee Urban League executive director. In addition to printed
memoranda, press releases, manuals, directories, and other national office mailings, there
are copies of Milwaukee Urban League reports and questionnaires sent to the national office,
and Wesley Scott's papers and notes from conferences and meetings of the Council of
Executive Directors.
On microfilm are a lengthy run of minutes of board of directors meetings, with scattered
minutes from annual business meetings; news clippings, and photographs illustrating Urban
League-sponsored community events, 1957-1958. Five tapes record Vincent Toran and Bennett
Johnson discussing the LEAP program and interviewing job applicants, and Opinion Institute
speeches of four civil rights leaders and professionals. Received with the collection were a
motion picture, Action Not Anger (1964),
which was aired on Milwaukee television, and two filmstrips with accompanying disc
recordings entitled "Adventures in Negro History," (1963) and "Charm by Choice."
