The collection focuses primarily on the period during which Husting served as United States senator from Wisconsin (1915-1917), but also includes some earlier material pertaining to his activities as a state legislator, and his 1914 campaign for the Senate. The strengths of the collection are the documentation of the patronage system for appointments to federal offices, and the attitudes of the German-language press and Wisconsin German-Americans towards the Wilson administration and the question of American participation in World War I. Correspondence between Husting and his constituency is particularly well-represented, but there is almost nothing in the collection which relates to his day-to-day activities in the Senate. Material within the seven series is arranged chronologically. Due to Husting's sudden death, many files end abruptly.
The CORRESPONDENCE series is divided into two subseries: incoming and outgoing. The earliest incoming items (1909-1913) deal almost exclusively with conservation-related issues such as water power, navigable rivers, forest reserve lands, and hunting and fishing rights. The primary emphasis by 1914, however, is Husting's senatorial campaign. Post-election correspondence with Joseph E. Davies, Albert S. Burleson and others focuses on the issue of patronage. From 1915 on, the most common incoming items are requests for appointment to various federal government positions such as postmaster. Other subjects frequently discussed are German-American opposition to United States involvement in World War I, neutrality legislation, national preparedness, the Presidential campaign of 1916, Democratic state politics in general, and prohibition, including a letter (October 1917) on the latter subject from William T. Evjue. Several letters from members of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion late in 1917 comment on working-class morale and attitudes toward the war.
Outgoing correspondence covers much the same range of topics as incoming correspondence. Interestingly, very little of the correspondence seems to have been initiated by Husting. Although some of the outgoing letters contain statements on Husting's position on a given issue, much more often they are short replies, written on behalf of Husting by his secretary, which merely acknowledge receipt of earlier incoming items. Most of the outgoing correspondence is contained in letterbooks, the majority of which have indexes arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
The WISCONSIN WATERPOWERS, FORESTRY AND DRAINAGE series contains conservation-related materials from the period when Husting was a Wisconsin state senator. The subseries entitled Legislative Committee Proceedings consists of verbatim transcripts of some, but not all, of the meetings called by the Wisconsin Legislative Committee on Waterpowers, Forestry and Drainage. The subseries entitled Legislative Bill Files includes drafts of bills, amendments, and notes by Husting on certain sections of various bills, concerning such issues as forest reserve lands, navigable waters, riparian rights, and the control of water power. Also included are reference materials such as reports on comparable legislation from other states.
The WISCONSIN POST OFFICES series has been arranged alphabetically by name of post office. Files within this series are very similar, each containing letters of application for the position of postmaster, and petitions and additional letters sent in support of a given candidate. The dates for material within individual files vary according to the expiration dates for prior appointments to the post office in question.
SPEECHES are arranged chronologically, and include both those given at various towns in Wisconsin and those delivered before the United States Senate. Most are patriotic in nature, exploring the meaning of democracy, and often, depending on the audience, extolling the virtue and accomplishments of German-Americans in Wisconsin.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND LETTERS TO EDITORS for the most part were written by Husting upon request of such individuals as the president of the American Association of Foreign Language Newspapers and the editor of the Chicago Daily News. They deal with such topics as Americanization of foreign-born citizens, reelection of President Woodrow Wilson, and the American position towards war with Germany.
NEWSPAPER CLIPPING FILES are arranged by subject. Most were prepared by professional clipping services which concentrated on items from newspapers around the state of Wisconsin. Included in the series are several scrapbooks of clippings concerning Husting's position on certain legislation, and visits of Senator James A. Reed and President Woodrow Wilson to Milwaukee in 1917. The file entitled Miscellaneous Subjects includes a number of items relating to Husting's stance on war and his support of President Wilson's programs.
The relatively few items in MISCELLANY include campaign statements from 1910 and 1912, lists of delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 1912 and an autobiographical sketch which also appeared in the Wisconsin Blue Book.
Three letters from the collection, dealing with the First World War, are published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, 1 (June, 1918), 388-416.
The SCRAPBOOK is composed of clippings which relate to Husting's stand on national and international issues, to his fatal hunting accident, to Milwaukee's centennial celebration, and to Husting's relationship to Solomon Juneau, Milwaukee's first white settler and founder.
