Although this collection is entitled the Joseph Shoquist Papers, it might be more accurately named the Milwaukee Journal Managing Editors' Records, for it documents not only Shoquist's tenure in that position from 1967 to 1986 but also a significant part of the career of his predecessor, Arville Schaleben.
The collection's primary value lies in its provision of detailed information about the development and implementation of policies and day-to-day operations of the News Department over an extended period of time. The collection also documents Shoquist's professional leadership and his strong personal interest in First Amendment issues, professional ethics, and the passage of journalists' Shield Laws.
There are no papers here relating to Shoquist's career and responsibilities prior to 1964 or after he left the Journal. There are also no true personal papers here, although it is clear that Shoquist knew many of his correspondents on more than a professional basis. Also missing is information on his professional travels in Russia and China. Surprisingly, there is also little here about Milwaukee, although there are files about such city personalities as Henry Maier and Harold Brier. Rather, the role of Milwaukee in the Shoquist Papers should be understood as the background against which the operations of a representative newspaper are illustrated.
The Shoquist Papers are arranged as BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND CLIPPINGS, SUBJECT FILES, and INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDA.
The SUBJECT FILES are arranged alphabetically by name or topic, with a general file for each letter of the alphabet for those correspondents for which the number of documents is small.
Major sections of the SUBJECT FILES series relate to Shoquist's continuing interest in journalism education and to the publication of particular sections of the Journal. However, internal departmental operations are not represented extensively here, although there are important files on the management of the newspaper library, the Madison Bureau, and the Washington, D.C. bureau.
Concern with libel suits and many other legal aspects of the publication formed a large part of Shoquist's responsibilities. This material, which is filed under the heading Foley & Lardner, the law firm which represented the Journal Company, covers the entire span of years covered by the collection, even containing some 1952 and 1953 correspondence of Wallace Lemoe, the managing editor at that time. Another substantively documented responsibility concerned complaints and correspondence with readers; these files contain a large quantity of useful memoranda from staff concerning the background and handling of particular stories.
The series also contains interesting data collected as part of surveys of outside activities of Journal staff, professional reactions to ethics codes, and the views of the Journal's readership. Material relating to individual journalists and reporters on the staff is limited, although some memoranda filed here touch on the work of Harry Hill and Dick Leonard.
Information about professional involvement is scattered throughout the subject files, with a majority of this material is filed by organizational name. These files relate to Shoquist's leadership of the APME, the ASNE, the Wisconsin Associated Press, and the years of his presidency of the ACEJ and the APME. (Files relating to his involvement in the accrediting of individual journalism schools for the ACEJ have been separated to the records of that organization which are also held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.) Extensive information also relates to his involvement in the planning of the First Amendment Congress.
Also filed with the SUBJECT FILES are speeches delivered by Shoquist to various professional organizations.
The chronologically-arranged INTER-OFFICE MEMORANDA, (1959-1960 and 1964-1975, but most extensive for the period 1968-1974) contain memoranda circulated to individuals or to the general staff by Schaleben and Shoquist.
