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Guide to the La Crosse, Wisconsin, Office of the City Clerk, Reports of City Officers, 1857-1932
La Crosse Series 022
Table of Contents
Summary Information
- Abstract
- Reports written by city officers to the Common Council, 1857-1932. The materials are arranged by office; therein chronologically. There isn’t any further indexing to this collection at this time other than what the City Clerk has on index cards. The reports are mostly financial in nature, and are generally a record of monthly and/or annual expenditures of the following departments/offices: Attorney (1895-1899), Clerk (1858-1905), Comptroller (1887-1932), Education/Superintendent (1866-1931), Fire (1861-1932), Health (1875-1932), Justice of the Peace at Large (1874-1901), Mayor (1858-1929), Parks (1905-1932), Police [includes Police Justice and City Marshall] (1857-1932), Poor (1872-1894), Public Library (1915-1930), Public Works/Engineer (1878-1932), Street Commissioner (1857-1887; 1919; 1930-1932), Surveyor (1857-1886), Toll [Bridge] Collector (1896-1899), Treasurer (1858-1911), Weed Commissioner (1891; 1911), Weights & Measures (1868-1932). A few miscellaneous files include employment office reports, financial and tax statistics, and social service and charity reports to Council. Although the reports generally consist of financial statistics to the Common Council, a number of offices wrote narrative summaries which help to document change in La Crosse’s city government and community life over time. The reports of the Police Justice are particularly fascinating as each individual arrested, the charge, and the fine or other punishment exacted was documented well into the 1900s.
- Collection Title
- La Crosse, Wisconsin, Office of the City Clerk, Reports of City Officers
- Date of Materials
- 1857-1932
- Creator
- La Crosse (Wis.). Office of the City Clerk.
- Call Number
- La Crosse Series 022
- Amount
- 8.8 cubic feet
- Physical Description
- 22 archives boxes
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- La Crosse Public Library Archives
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], La Crosse, Wisconsin, Office of the City Clerk, Reports of City Officers, La Crosse Series 022, La Crosse Public Library Archives, La Crosse, WI
Scope and Contents
Common Council resolutions and reports began to be organized by a numbering system in Dec. 1932. Before that time the resolutions were kept folded up in chronological order, roughly by subject or Council committee (such as Parks, Judiciary, Fire, Police, etc.). This set of pre-1932 resolutions represents those labeled as Reports of Officers, and date from almost the beginning of city government in 1856.
The original order of these reports was not maintained, although we encountered pockets of reports that were somewhat grouped by department and roughly by date. In arranging this series, the reports have been grouped together by office or department, therein chronologically. Currently, the only subject access to those is through the City Clerk who maintains a card file.
The reports are mostly financial in nature, and are generally a record of monthly and/or annual expenditures of the following departments/offices: Attorney (1895-1899), Clerk (1858-1905), Comptroller (1887-1932), Education/Superintendent (1866-1931), Fire (1861-1932), Health (1875-1932), Justice of the Peace at Large (1874-1901), Mayor (1858-1929), Parks (1905-1932), Police [includes Police Justice and City Marshall] (1857-1932), Poor (1872-1894), Public Library (1915-1930), Public Works/Engineer (1878-1932), Street Commissioner (1857-1887; 1919; 1930-1932), Surveyor (1857-1886), Toll [Bridge] Collector (1896-1899), Treasurer (1858-1911), Weed Commissioner (1891; 1911), Weights & Measures (1868-1932). A few miscellaneous files include employment office reports, financial and tax statistics, and social service and charity reports to Council.
Although the reports consist generally of financial statistics to the Common Council, a number of offices wrote narrative summaries which help to document change in La Crosse’s city government and community life over time. These departments are: Attorney, Education/Superintendent, Fire, Health, Mayor, Police [includes Police Justice], Poor, and Public Works/Engineer. The Justice of the Peace at Large reports list court cases, dates and costs only. The Police Justice (filed under Police) recorded every month each individual arrested, the charge and the fine or other punishment exacted well into the 1900s.
Offices that are not well represented in the series include: Attorney, Mayor, Poor, Public Library, Street Commissioner, Surveyor (after 1886), Treasurer (after 1911), and Weed Commissioner.
Administrative Information
Publication Information
La Crosse Public Library Archives 1998 January
800 Main St.La Crosse, Wisconsin, 54601
(608) 789-7136
archives@lacrosselibrary.org
Access to Materials
Materials in this collection are available for patron use.
Acquisitions Information
(Accession No. 1996.004) Resolutions were located in the City Clerk's basement area of City Hall; came to the Archives as part of the Mayor's Special Committee on Historic Records, Dec. 1996
Processing Information
Processed by Anita Taylor Doering with assistance from Jaime Dechant, Jan. 1998
Controlled Access Headings
Geographic Name(s)
- La Crosse (Wis.)--Appropriations and expenditures
Subject(s)
- Finance, Public--Wisconsin--La Crosse
- Municipal government--Wisconsin--La Crosse
- Public records--Wisconsin--La Crosse
OCLC Number
45254022
Collection Inventory
| Box | Folder | |||
|
Attorney, 1895-1899 |
1 | 1 | ||
|
Clerk, 1858-1889 |
1 | 2-4 | ||
|
Comptroller |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1887-1897 |
2 | 1-3 | ||
|
1898-1913 |
3 | 1-3 | ||
|
1914-1926 |
4 | 1-3 | ||
|
1927-1932 |
5 | 1 | ||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
Education/Superintendent, 1866-1931 |
5 | 2-4 | ||
| Box | ||||
|
Fire, 1861-1932 |
6 | |||
|
Health/City Physician |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1875-1926 |
7 | 1-4 | ||
|
1927-1932 |
8 | 1-3 | ||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
Justice of the Peace at Large, 1874-1901 |
9 | 1-3 | ||
|
Mayor |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1858-1895 |
9 | 4 | ||
|
1896-1926 |
10 | 1 | ||
|
Parks |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1905-1928 |
10 | 2-3 | ||
|
1929-1932 |
11 | 1 | ||
|
Police |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1857-1889 |
11 | 2-3 | ||
|
1890-1905 |
12 | 1-3 | ||
|
1906-1919 |
13 | 1-3 | ||
|
1920-1932 |
14 | 1-3 | ||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
Poor, 1872-1894 |
14 | 4 | ||
|
Public library, 1915-1930 |
15 | 1 | ||
|
Public Works/Engineer |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1878-1899 |
15 | 2-4 | ||
|
1900-1916 |
16 | 1-3 | ||
|
1917-1932 |
17 | 1-3 | ||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
Street Commissioner, 1857-1932 |
17 | 4 | ||
|
Surveyor, 1857-1886 |
17 | 5 | ||
|
Toll Collector, 1896-1899 |
17 | 6 | ||
|
Treasurer |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1858-1894 |
18 | 1-4 | ||
|
1895-1899 |
19 | 1-4 | ||
|
1900-1904 |
20 | 1-5 | ||
|
1905-1911 |
21 | 1 | ||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
Weed Commissioner, 1891, 1911 |
21 | 2 | ||
|
Weights and Measures |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
1868-1918 |
21 | 3-5 | ||
|
1919-1932 |
22 | 1-3 | ||
|
Miscellaneous |
||||
| Box | Folder | |||
|
General, 1919-1926 |
22 | 4 | ||
|
Employment office related, 1919-1932 |
22 | 5-6 | ||
|
Financial and tax statistics, 1922-1925 |
22 | 7 | ||
|
Social services and charity, 1919-1931 |
22 | 8 | ||