The records of Wisconsin National Guard, 126th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Battalion are divided into 3 series: Troop E, 105th Cavalry; 1st Battalion, 126th Field Artillery; and Photographs.
Troop E, 105th Cavalry (1917-1941) contains documents providing a look at the activities of a Wisconsin National Guard unit stationed in Kenosha between the World Wars. Personnel correspondence reveals that unit members needed to take time off from their civilian jobs to participate in training exercises. Other correspondence discusses the medical condition of guardsmen and supply orders. One string of correspondence deals with the unit's request for a "war trophy" that the federal army was offering to World War I units; they requested and received a 210 mm howitzer. Military ball programs reveal a social aspect to this unit; they gathered annually with their families and friends for dancing and refreshment. Somewhat scattered enlistment records reveal details about the men enlisting in the Guard in the years leading up to World War II and largely focus on their attendance at annual drills. Training materials and various reports reveal the activities that went on during the training exercises as well as their results. There are many scorecards from marksmanship tests and letters regarding a marksmanship contest between the unit and the Kenosha police department.
1st Battalion, 126th Field Artillery (1940-1992) consists of materials relating to the unit following World War II. Less comprehensive than the 105th Cavalry materials, this series focuses on several events in the unit's history. Newspaper articles, programs, letters of support, and correspondence detail local resistance to a federal plan to remove the unit from the Wisconsin National Guard troop structure due to low enlistment rates. Other materials relate to the unit's armory, including its dedication, an attempted robbery, and controversy over a wall painting deemed objectionable by many veterans. Newspaper clippings and two generic posters show how the unit recruited new members. The series contains a significant amount of correspondence relating to the distinctive unit insignia for the 126th Field Artillery. Other materials relate to time spent at Fort Lewis, Washington during the Berlin Crisis, training activities, and two fairly complete unit histories.
Photographs (1951-1955) contains over forty photographs of artillery vehicles and equipment that were taken at an unidentified event. Also included are several formal group pictures of the Headquarters Company and Governor Walter Kohler's visit to a training site. The series also contains scattered and largely unidentified photographs of members of the unit in both formal and informal settings, including two panoramic group shots.
