The collection consists of Kraus' files as state chairman of the 1966 and 1968 reelection campaigns for Governor Warren P. Knowles. There are no files on his involvement in the Dreyfus campaign of 1978 or his work as Dreyfus' press secretary.
Included in the papers are correspondence, memoranda, campaign literature samples and ads, statistics, reports, and voting analyses. The material is arranged chronologically by campaign and alphabetically by subject. Documentation is particularly complete for the 1966 campaign, for which there is virtually no aspect of campaigning that is unrepresented. The sole exception is financial records, and because Republican funds were then raised by unified state dinners and special events and not by individual candidate solicitations this was not a major aspect of the party's campaigns at that time. Students of the impact of television on election campaigns will find Kraus' papers a rewarding subject for study. The papers are supplemented by the records of the McDonald Davis public relations firm held by the Historical Society which contain examples of the much-acclaimed spots shot by the Maysles Brothers in 1966, as well as raw footage used to prepare the ads.
The collection includes extensive correspondence between Kraus; State Party Chairman Ody J. Fish; Paul Hassett, executive secretary to Governor Knowles; and representatives of the McDonald Davis advertising firm which deal with the strategic planning for the campaign and its day-to-day management. There are also files of correspondence to various local and district chairmen and field representatives. Numerous mimeographed memoranda speak to the high degree to which the campaign was organized. The collection is supplemented by lengthy analyses of the results and the strengths and weaknesses of the 1966 and 1968 campaigns which are unidentified as to author but apparently written by Kraus.
The radio and television ads produced for the campaign are catalogued with the Historical Society's McDonald Davis holdings. The Kraus Papers include two rather miscellaneous media items: a compilation of radio spots (1964-1966) apparently assembled for campaign leaders to review and some raw footage of Knowles fishing which may be the footage shot in 1966 because of Knowles' dislike of the Maysles Brothers spots.
