The Walling Papers chiefly document the 1985-1990 legislative sessions, with only a few items referring to her first term in the Assembly. The documentation in the collection is entirely professional, and only a few items represent the personal side of her years in the Legislature. There is similarly little documentation about electoral politics in the collection.
Although the files are similar to most collections of legislative papers of the period held by the Archives, the Walling Papers suggest her professional background in office work and the special importance that she, perhaps as a result, placed on creating and maintaining useful office records. (Students of the administrative functioning of the Wisconsin Legislature should also consult the legislative papers of Joanne Duren who shared a similar work background.)
Especially useful are the typed file memos prepared by Walling and her staff. They provide a frank summary of pending issues and a few examples of case work, together with information on future actions to be taken. These file notes may be found scattered throughout the collection. Similarly valuable (although only dating from the 1987 and 1989 sessions) are mimeographed memoranda prepared by the caucus staff for Republicans in the Assembly on a variety of legislative issues. (See especially the caucus memos prepared by Tommy Thompson for new Republican legislators.) Also unusual are the veto memoranda prepared by Walling after Thompson's election as governor in 1986. Scattered throughout the collection are extensive handwritten procedural and research notes and documents annotated in Walling's own hand. Suggesting her background in secretarial work, some of these notes are written in shorthand. Several files contain handwritten notes written in a large script; these are thought to have been used by her as outlines for floor remarks. Unfortunately, virtually all of these handwritten materials are undated and unidentified.
The Walling Papers are arranged as CORRESPONDENCE and SUBJECT FILES.
The CORRESPONDENCE consists of several files of congratulatory letters sent to constituents regarding awards, retirement, anniversaries, and new employment. There is also a chronologically-arranged file of outgoing letters, mainly covering the period from 1983 to 1986. These letters went to constituents, legislators, and others. The purpose of the files entitled “General correspondence” and “Printout letters” is uncertain. The “General” file appears to be a new file category created in 1988, while the creation of the “Printout” file may relate to the installation of word processing technology. The purpose of the file entitled “Legislative correspondence, 1985-1986, 1990” is similarly uncertain. Clearly, it is only a small portion of the legislative correspondence in the collection.
In addition, in the series are segregated files containing constituent newsletters (this is an incomplete run added to the Walling Papers from the Archives' own file), press releases, and mailings to constituents. Some of these, which are entitled “Notes from Esther K. Walling,” are unusually informative. In addition to the segregated news release files, additional releases may be found scattered throughout the collection. In
the newsletter file is a tabulation of the results of one constituent questionnaire.
The alphabetically-arranged SUBJECT FILES variously include correspondence and memoranda to and from constituents, advocacy groups, and governmental officials; handwritten and typed notes; bill drafts; and extensively-weeded reference material. These files relate to legislative issues of state and local scope. Prominently documented topics include abortion, aging and the elderly, the state budget, child care, child custody, the Fox River, retirement of public employees, K-12 schools, and property taxes. Some files directly relate to committee work such as the Committee on Aging and the special Legislative Council committees on Child Custody Arrangements and Condominiums and Time Shares and to her tenure on the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems.
