This collection highlights that portion of Rowen's career that was spent in Madison. The documentation consists of papers from his mayoral assistantship, his campaign for mayor, and his ties with David Fine during the latter's trial for bombing the Army Math Research Center.
There are no personal papers and very little documentation on his early journalism work. The papers are divided into four series: CORRESPONDENCE, SUBJECT FILES, ROWEN FOR MAYOR, and DAVID FINE. Added to the papers in the Archives is a photocopy of the ORAL HISTORY interview with Rowen recorded by the University of Wisconsin Archives in 1978.
The CORRESPONDENCE contains a small quantity of City of Madison inter-departmental mail on a variety of subjects. The second section, which is larger, consists of chronological general correspondence. Many of the individual letters here are marked personal but the majority address public policy decisions, conferences, and general citizen concerns.
The alphabetical SUBJECT FILES were compiled during Rowen's tenure as mayoral assistant. Coverage is quite broad, ranging from national issues and city government to conferences and personal information. Some of the larger and/or more important files deal with the United States Conference of Mayors, the Madison Economic Development Corporation, the introduction of group health insurance, Awareness House (reports to the Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice), the Institute for Policy Studies and the Conference on Alternative State and Local Public Policy, and the Madison Police Department's “Affinity Files.” Also included are a bibliography, copies of a few free-lance articles and speeches by Rowen, and a run of press releases from the mayor's office.
The ROWEN FOR MAYOR series is not large, but is quite broad in its documentation. Included are campaign finance reports, a list of contributors, campaign literature and leaflets, position papers, press releases, information about volunteers, and newsclippings. The clippings have been extensively weeded due to the availability on microfilm in the Society Library of the Madison newspapers of the period. Also included in the series is a computer analysis of candidate support.
The DAVID FINE series consists of bail hearing and trial documents, correspondence praising Rowen for taking custody of Fine, telephone call records, and newsclippings. Newsclippings about the Army Math Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, some of which were written by Rowen, complete the series.
