Biographical
The Biographical series, among other summary information, includes a transcript of an oral interview with Wilber Brucker conducted by Richard Ortquist, May 26, 1964.
The Biographical series, among other summary information, includes a transcript of an oral interview with Wilber Brucker conducted by Richard Ortquist, May 26, 1964.
54 linear feet — 2 oversize folders — 22 GB (online)
The Wilber M. Brucker Collection consists of correspondence, subject files, scrapbooks, tape recordings, visual materials, political ephemera, and other materials from a lifelong career in public service. The collection provides significant, though not always extensive, material on his activities as state attorney general, governor, and secretary of the army. In addition, the papers include documentation from Brucker's private career: his law practice, his involvement in the preparation of a plan for the reapportionment of the Michigan Legislature, his devotion to Republican Party causes, his activities with the Knights Templar of Michigan, and as a member of the World War I Rainbow Division. With some exceptions, the early phases of Brucker's life are not as well represented as one might hope. There is really no body of Brucker gubernatorial materials extant. What remains are scattered items, largely concerning the election campaigns of 1930 and 1932.
The collection has been arranged into twelve series: Biographical; Correspondence; Family Papers; Subject Files; Knights Templar; Rainbow Division; Appointment Books; Speeches; Secretary of the Army; Newspaper Clippings; Personal: Albums, Scrapbooks, etc.; and Visual Materials.
The Correspondence series dates from 1915 to 1968 and begins with letters that Brucker wrote to his future wife while serving in the campaign against Pancho Villa, 1915-1916. Beyond these personal letters, the Correspondence series is notable for the list of Brucker's correspondents. Correspondents include Presidents Hoover and Eisenhower, and state and national leaders such as Alvin Bentley, John W. Bricker, Roy D. Chapin, James J. Couzens, Thomas E. Dewey, Homer Ferguson, Fred W. Green, Frank Knox, Henry Cabot Lodge, Frank Murphy, Chase S. Osborn, Elly Peterson, George Romney, Arthur E. Summerfield, Robert A. Taft, and Arthur H. Vandenberg.