As consul, Cover had apparently considerable leisure time, and he wrote many very long descriptive letters to his family in Wisconsin. Of nearly 200 letters in the original collection, 90 have been selected for microfilming, because of their references to Wisconsin, or their representative descriptions of the Azores. Omitted have been letters containing repetitious information, as well as correspondence, articles, and editorials known to have appeared in the Grant County Herald, of which the Historical Society has a file covering that period.
The Cover letters of 1869 contain frequent reference to Grant County politicians, and communications with Senator Matthew H. Carpenter and “Friend Dewey” [Nelson Dewey?]. Letters to his son John, who took over publication of the Herald, are quite likely to refer to politics and the work of the Consular office. Letters to his wife, addressed as “Dear Mother,” usually describe life and people in the Azores, religions, climate, scenery, his day-to-day activities, and references to home.
Following the letters on the microfilm is a group of genealogical records, clippings, articles, and notes on the Cover family and the Barber family.
Not filmed was a manuscript Joseph C. Cover wrote in the Azores entitled “Family History.” A typescript of this document is in the collection; it was also published in The Wisconsin Magazine of History in March, 1928 as “Confessions of a Pioneer County Editor.”
