The records of the LaGrange Aid Society comprise a small collection which provides good documentation for over a half century of the social, educational, and charitable concerns of the women in a typical, small Wisconsin community. Included are constitutions and historical material, minutes, printed programs, financial records, files on a few of the group's activities, and biographical information about club members.
The Historical Documents file includes handwritten, annotated versions of the 1916 constitution which was adopted from the 1896 original; a brief history of the organization through 1916, and a later history probably prepared in conjunction with the LaGrange Pioneers history project. A photograph of the membership shortly after the turn of the century is filed in the name file in the Visual Materials Archive in Madison.
Minutes are the most useful and comprehensive documentation in the collection, although there is no information on the period 1939-1954. In addition to the proceedings, each volume of minutes contains annual financial statements.
The Correspondence, which is quite fragmentary, includes letters from traveling and transplanted members, notes of appreciation from recipients of the organization's help, and congratulatory notes concerning various anniversaries. There is also some correspondence with the LaGrange Methodist Episcopal Church clarifying the business relationship between the two groups. Separately-filed Financial Records supplement the information in the minutes and include ledgers and some information on the publication of the 1935 edition of LaGrange Pioneers. Documenting activities of the group are published programs, which indicate the date of each meeting and the activity planned; a number of papers prepared by members for presentation at meetings; some examples of poetry, a play script, and one member's recollection of a trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum; and material on the history committee. Of special note is a copy of the “Fakir's Gazette,” a spoof published by the Society in 1907 about the people and events of LaGrange.
The Clippings files contain a eroxed scrapbook of articles from local papers about weddings, births, and death of members and some some functions held by the society. Also included are copies of the local history columns published in area newspapers by regional poet Maude Totten. Her relation to the LaGrange Aid Society is not clear.
