The microfilm publication brings together two major holdings of manuscripts related to Victor Berger--the Victor L. Berger Papers at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and a segment of the records of the Milwaukee Social Democratic Party related to Victor Berger at the Milwaukee County Historical Society--as well as three smaller collections. Until recently, the main corpus of Victor Berger's papers remained with his heirs and generally was closed to researchers. Following Meta Berger's death in 1944, custody of the papers passed to Doris Berger Hursley, who took them to California with her after World War II and commingled them with notes and drafts of a planned biography of her father. After her death in 1984 and the death of her husband, Frank Hursley, in 1989, the granddaughters of Victor and Meta Berger--Deborah Hardy, Polly Keusink, and Bridget Dobson--transferred ownership of the Berger papers to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in 1990 and 1991.
The Milwaukee County Historical Society loaned portions of its Social Democratic Party collection to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for filming in 1993. The provenance of these materials, which consist of Berger's congressional files for his first term and some general correspondence through the end of World War I, is unclear. It seems likely that Berger stored some of his personal papers at Brisbane Hall, which housed the offices of both the Milwaukee Leader and the Socialist Party. The papers apparently remained at Brisbane Hall after his death and were transferred to the Milwaukee County Historical Society along with the party's records during the 1930s. Some of these records may have been among those seized by the federal government following Berger's indictment in 1918 and later returned after the trial.
Two smaller collections of materials have been integrated into the boxes of Victor L. Berger Papers at the Wisconsin Historical Society and are included in the microfilm publication. In 1992 the Milwaukee Public Library transferred to the Wisconsin Historical Society several folders of Berger's typescript speeches, campaign literature, and clippings. These items were incorporated into the appropriate series. In addition, papers donated to the Society in 1969 and 1976 by Miriam Frink, a neighbor and friend of Meta's, were integrated into Meta's papers. These include a manuscript and typescript autobiography as well as a small collection of Meta's correspondence, clippings, and the records of the Meta Berger Memorial Committee. Finally, in 1993 Frederick I. Olson of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, loaned five letters written by Victor Berger to the State Historical Society; they have been filmed with Berger's general correspondence.
Not included in the microfilm publication but available in both paper and microfilm at the Wisconsin Historical Society are papers of Doris and Elsa Berger. These were received with the materials donated by the family.
