Mainly correspondence, speeches, articles, diaries, and notebooks of a Dane County farmer and agricultural expert who was a political figure in the Progressive movement. Donald served as assemblyman, 1903-1907; state senator, 1909-1913; and Wisconsin secretary of state, 1913-1917. The part of the collection coinciding with his legislative career contains material on education, pure food legislation, and the development of a state highway system; also scattered references to party politics, which become more numerous in the later papers. Letters written during World War I describe Donald's service in France with the Young Men's Christian Association and with the Army Education Corps as an instructor in agriculture. Much of his postwar correspondence is concerned with his study and promotion of farm management programs for the United States Department of Agriculture and the University of Wisconsin and with his development of a simplified system of farm accounting. There is also information on dairy farming, the raising of purebred horses, cheese production, and tobacco cultivation in the state.
Other letters indicate Donald's continued interest in conservation and highway improvement. Also included are letters relating to his participation in the Dane County Agricultural Society, Friends of Our Native Landscape, and Masonic organizations.
Correspondence of Donald's family comprises the early portion of the collection. Included are photographic copies of letters from Scotland to his grandfather, James Donald, a Presbyterian minister who emigrated with members of his family to western Dane County in the mid-1850s. There are also original letters to John Strong Donald (1842-68) and Ellen (Sweet) Donald, parents of John Sweet Donald.
Also present are records of Friends of Our Native Landscape. These records cover the years 1916-1948; however there is very little material before 1922, and none for the years 1918-1919 and 1935-1937. The papers contain programs and other records, clippings, and correspondence kept by Donald and others. Records begin with 1916 when the first plantings of commemorative trees was made in the “Forest of Fame” at Mt. Vernon, Wisconsin. This part and the Friends organization occupied much of Donald's attention through the 1920s. After his death in 1934, the Forest of Fame continued to be partly guided by the Friends; Donald's daughter, Mrs. Woodburn, remained interested in the organization as the papers show.
Programs, lists of officers, and statements of policies of the Friends indicate the members' interest in nature education, conservation, and park and roadside development. Donald was apparently president of the Wisconsin chapter from its founding in 1920 to the time of his death. The organization had some connection with the extension activities of the University during these years also, when Professor Franz Aust was secretary; the Horticulture Department cooperated in planning the four annual meetings, and the publication, Our Native Landscape, had its editorial offices in the Horticulture building.
Correspondence in this portion of the Donald papers contains letters from such well-known people as Zona Gale, Jens Jensen, Mrs. Andrew Carnegie (March 23, 1931), Ray Stannard Baker (April 9, 1928), and Robert M. La Follette Jr. (April 10, 1926).
Photographs include images of Donald and his farm, his family and friends, images related to his professional interests, and a number of photographs of the Wisconsin State Capitol, circa 1915-1925.
