The records of WISPIRG are divided into four series: administration, correspondence, activities, and publicity. They primarily document the efforts to organize and establish WISPIRG, and also include some records of its research projects on the Madison campus, especially those concerning dangerous toys and flammable fabrics. Records from the State Board of Directors are fragmentary, as are those relating to fundraising.
The ADMINISTRATION series, January 1971-October 1974, contains records dealing with the organization of WISPIRG, arranged hierarchically; and one folder concerning fundraising. The organizational material includes official proposals submitted to the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents for the establishment of WISPIRG on various campuses; bylaws and articles of incorporation for the Madison branch including the resolution to dissolve the corporation; minutes and memoranda, primarily of state WISPIRG meetings; petitioning materials, including information, schedules, and publicity used at the Madison campus, and at other campuses around the state and two folders of information concerning the organizing efforts, especially the petition drives, from Minnesota, MPIRG, and Oregon, OSPIRG. The fundraising file contains a proposal to the Board of Regents, some unsigned contracts between WISPIRG, Inc. and the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay and at Madison, and a few letters.
The CORRESPONDENCE file, June 1971-April 1973, includes letters from WISPIRG members at various University of Wisconsin campuses concerning organizing affiliates and establishing lines of communication; incoming and outgoing routine business letters; correspondence about the various research projects on University of Wisconsin campuses; and official memoranda from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to student organizations. Under each heading, the correspondence is arranged chronologically.
The ACTIVITIES series, February 1970-November 1974, includes pamphlets about consumer protection, correctional institutions, and environmental issues, arranged alphabetically. There are some research records from the Madison campus dealing with flammable fabrics. The toy project segment consists of the results of the research on hazardous substances used in toy production, Wisconsin legislation concerning these substances, survey reports of Madison stores, and miscellaneous information from University of Wisconsin campuses, nationwide reports and articles about dangerous toys, and the FORTRAN cards used in computing the results from the store surveys.
The PUBLICITY series, April 1971-July 1973, contains copies of WISPIRG's news bulletin, The Advocate (only published three times), press releases, and lists of student and community organizations. Also found are directories of individuals and groups WISPIRG may have had an interest in contacting; information from PIRGs nationwide; reports from MPIRG; clippings about WISPIRG in general, primarily relating to its establishment in Wisconsin; and clippings about the toy project.
