These papers document the technicalities of airport construction and management and the adaption of a local government to a new problem. They also contain much additional information of interest. There is a great deal of correspondence with Senator Alexander Wiley and U.S. Representative John Byrnes and some with Senator Joseph McCarthy concerning their help to Brown County in its disputes with the Civil Aeronautics Board. Numerous resumes sent to the Airport Committee, especially in 1960 when it chose a new airport manager, provide a collective biography of the people of the aviation industry.
Of special interest are the records concerning the Wisconsin Central Airlines certificate renewal case. Several of the small cities affected by a possible WCA shutdown submitted briefs to the Civil Aeronautics Board explaining their need for an airline. In these briefs they listed industries in the community with out-of-state customers or outlets; size and type of tourist trade; number of out-of-town clients of doctors, lawyers, and other professional people; and other information that proved their need for convenient and quick transportation to and from distant parts of the country.
The bulk of the collection concerns aviation. Records relating to Brown County parks are interfiled with these materials, however, reflecting the original order in which these papers were created.
