The MacDonald papers are a richly detailed collection for studying many aspects of the early conservation program and forest history in Wisconsin. Unlike the administrative files contained within the Conservation Commission records, this collection contains a great detail on how these programs and policies were actually implemented by individual state employees. In addition, there is some material on the private ownership and management of timberlands.
Included in the papers are diaries, correspondence, an oral history interview, photographs, biographical information, and miscellaneous material. The diaries cover the entire period of MacDonald's state employment, and while none of the daily entries are long or personal, they do indicate his activities clearly and virtually without gaps. This detail is supplemented by correspondence, although this form of documentation primarily concerns the 1920's and the late 1940's and early 1950's. The early correspondence documents his work in fire control, relations with the local fire wardens, construction of telephone lines to the fire towers, and dealings with the Cornell Wood Products Co. There is no correspondence for the 1930's and the early 1940's, but in 1946 the papers begin coverage of MacDonald's new assignment in mapping canoeing rivers and surveying lands. There are extensive exchanges with C.L. Harrington and other officials of the Conservation Department. Also from this period is correspondence with the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co. concerning the use of his various land holdings. The miscellaneous paper records include forest survey notes, primarily from Vilas and Douglas counties, and individual forest fire and expense reports from the 1920's.
Also documenting MacDonald's earliest days with the forestry system is an oral history interview conducted by C. L. Harrington and a number of photographs available in the Visual and Sound Archives. The photographs include images of timberland surveying parties and images related to MacDonald's personal and professional life.
