The papers pertain to Clapp's personal and political life, his association with the Grant County Independent and the Muscoda Publishing Company; his tenure as administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration, and his career as an energy consultant. Included are biographical material and clippings, correspondence and memoranda, speeches and writings, financial materials, publicity, research materials and studies, reports, draft legislation, and printed material. Original correspondence with John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, and Hubert Humphrey have been removed from the collection, transferred to the SHSW Autograph file, and replaced with photocopies.
The PERSONAL AND GENERAL CAREER PAPERS include personal correspondence, appointment calendars, and files on aspects of his career not documented elsewhere in the collection such as a rumored reappointment as head of REA. Correspondence, which forms the largest part of the series, is arranged by subject for the early period of Clapp's career (Correspondence I), while the later period (Correspondence II) is arranged in strict chronological order. The early correspondence is the most valuable. It is arranged essentially as it was by the donor into categories of association or activity. Thus, there are files of exchanges with fraternity brothers and files of exchanges with individuals he knew as editor of the Lawrence College newspaper. Other files document his close association with Philip La Follette and Thomas R. Amlie while still a college student and his involvement in Progressive politics during the 1930s. The information about his association with Robert M. La Follette Jr., for whom he worked in Washington, D.C., is disappointing, although the Speeches and Writings series includes some articles and statements Clapp prepared for the senator. The special correspondence files dating from the early 1950s document Clapp's involvement in the movement to oust Senator Joseph McCarthy. The correspondence dating from the 1950s contains scattered letters to and from David Lilienthal, William Proxmire, and numerous Wisconsin Democrats. Clapp did not consistently file family correspondence, and as a result informative letters to and from his brother Gordon and other relatives may be found throughout the PERSONAL AND GENERAL CAREER PAPERS.
SPEECHES AND WRITINGS are arranged chronologically by date, except that college papers and the papers written for Senator La Follette are separately arranged. The files include the final copy for most items, although several presentations are represented only by outlines and notes. Undated outlines have been filed with the notes.
JOURNALISM PAPERS consist of correspondence and legal and financial records concerning the Grant County Independent and the Muscoda Publishing Company. The correspondence does not cover Clapp's tenure at the Independent. Nevertheless, a May 20, 1953 letter informing Clapp of the Independent's receipt of the Wisconsin Press Association Award for Excellence, May-June 1954 items concerning the National Editorial Association's award to the paper, and 1957 correspondence concerning the Independent's nomination for the prestigious Lovejoy Award of the Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors are important. The “Editor's Mailbox” correspondence, also sparse, contains items generated by Clapp's outspoken opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy. The file of legal and related papers documents Clapp's purchase and sale of the Independent including correspondence with newspaper broker Wayne Peterson. This provides details about the process of selling a newspaper on the open market. While the Financial Papers offer more complete documentation for the middle 1950s than for earlier periods, they do supply data concerning the cost of newspaper operations during the 1940s and 1950s while the internal financial records contain detailed breakdowns of expenses. The chattel mortgage in the loan file includes a list of all Independent property and presents a clear picture of the equipment used to publish a small-town weekly during the period. Many of the papers concerning the Muscoda Publishing Company are routine, but of special interest are Clapp's contracts with his various partners and a complete set of the company's tax returns.
The POLITICAL PAPERS series includes materials relating to Clapp's congressional campaigns in 1956, 1958, and 1960, as well as to other general political subjects. The latter deal mainly with Clapp's role as executive director of western Wisconsin for the state party. While each set of papers dealing with a particular congressional race is of note for the insights it provides into the candidate's positions on the issues and political strategies, the campaign papers are especially interesting for their information about the day-to-day conduct of political campaigns during the period when television was changing the face of American politics.
The RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION are not Clapp's official files as REA administrator. Most complete is the file on the supplementary financing bills introduced while he headed the agency and a Reading File, which is a complete copy of all outgoing correspondence and memoranda from 1961 to 1969. Also notable are the file of Office Administration consultant Charles U. Samenow and a file of White House correspondence and memos.
The ENERGY CONSULTING series, which is subdivided into correspondence and subject files, consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, and background information. A substantial number of the files relate to projects undertaken in association with David Lilienthal's Development and Resources Corporation and the Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation of New York. Most notable are the files on Appalachian coal and the New York City blackout. A few files contain information on energy issues in Wisconsin.
