This collection of papers consists of materials which Miss Thomas gathered and produced in the course of her thesis work for the Ph.D. degree in geography at the University of Wisconsin. Between 1931 and 1934, Miss Thomas was a Graduate Fellow and an Assistant in Geography at the university and it was during this period that this study was begun. The thesis was never finished in final form, but all of the research was completed and several rough draft editions of the paper are included in the collection. The title of the thesis was “A Chorographic Study of the Green Bay Portal; A Geographic Analysis of the Green Bay-De Pere Region of Wisconsin.” Though this is a geographic study, there is more than a little historical material. The study attempts to trace the development of the Green Bay area from the time of the earliest settlement up to the middle 1930s.
The collection consists of various drafts of the thesis from the earliest rough draft up to and including the drafts which were submitted chapter by chapter for approval, but which did not constitute a final edition. It should be noted that these various drafts, though essentially the same, do differ in content as well as mechanics. Some of these drafts contain mounted photographs of the area.
The balance of the collection consists of research notes, both organized and unorganized, which contain a great deal of information about the Green Bay area which is not included in the text of the thesis; miscellaneous articles and speeches which were a by-product of the thesis; some correspondence relative to the topic; various charts and graphs; some miscellaneous printed material; and maps which were either produced or collected by Miss Thomas in the course of her study. There were also a good many loose and unidentified negatives and contact prints. Some printed materials were also removed from the collection and sent to the library.
