The Becker-Wenzlaff Scrapbooks

The Becker-Wenzlaff Scrapbooks

(formerly known as The Margaret Wenzlaff Scrapbooks)

This collection of 20 news clipping scrapbooks was donated to the Campbellsport Area Historical Society (CAHS) by Patricia Griesemer. 

CAHS has taken upon itself the task of indexing the books.  Every article in Books N-01 and N-13 is included in the index.  However, because of the vast amount of material in the books and the time it would therefore take to make such indices available to the public for every book, CAHS has indexed only two categories of Books N-02 through N-12, and N-14 through N-16.  The two categories are Obituaries and Weddings (including engagements, anniversaries, and anything related to the couples wedding).  Books N-17 through N-20 have not been indexed.

What appears online now is the combined index for N-01 through N-16. It is no longer necessary to check every individual book index to find what you are looking for.                             

Most of the clippings in the first 16 scrapbooks (N-01 – N-16) appear to be from THE CAMPBELLSPORT NEWS, spanning the period March, 1954 through sometime in 1991. The clippings in Book 17 and 18 deal with national and some international news, including the Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations, and the space missions.  Scrapbook 19 consists mainly of segments titled “How Good Is Your Memory”, and ”25 Years Ago”.  The clippings are from the 1960s, but the events recalled occurred in the 1940s.  Book 20 covers the 50^th wedding anniversary of Syl and Margaret Wenzlaff.

The albums are immensely interesting, and are worth your time and effort to come see!

About the Origins of the Becker-Wenzlaff Scrapbooks

The Becker-Wenzlaff news clipping scrapbooks were begun by Rose Becker, step-mother of Margaret Wenzlaff, and grandmother of Patricia Griesemer.  However, Margaret Wenzlaff also contributed many clippings, but precisely which ones is unknown. At any rate, although it was a joint venture between mother and daughter, Rose Becker probably provided the greater proportion of the clippings, and assembled the books.

On January 12, 2007, after we (CAHS staff) had posted a number of the indices on the CAHS website, we received the following e-mail.  We are most fortunate to have this account of the history of the scrapbooks.  CAHS had not known that the books were begun by Rose Becker. The e-mail explains why CAHS has changed the title to The Becker-Wenzlaff Scrapbooks. 

Hello, I’m thrilled to see what you call the “Margert Wenzlaff Scrapbooks” material online! I’m Mark Stuart, and my Grandmother on my mother’s side was Rose Becker.  Those were actually her scrapbooks.  I remember quite well the time and cutting and pasting (not by computer!) Grandma Becker spent putting those clippings together from the Campbellsport News.  I often wondered why she would work so hard at this and who would ever be interested.  In May, 1991, Rose Becker died, hence, the end date for the scrapbooks.  I didn’t think much about them for years until after Margert Wenzlaff and her husband Syl passed away (Uncle Syl and Aunt Marge) a few years ago.  I was at Margert’s daughter’s home for Christmas where we often get together for dinner with my mother, and I was offered Grandma’s scrapbooks!  I knew they would be of interest to the people of this website, so I suggested she donate them to you if she didn’t want them.  I’m just very glad to see all that paper cutting and glueing by Grandma Becker for so many years is paying off! Thanks for making such good use of her efforts!

Sincerely, Mark Stuart  -  Waunakee, WI

We are grateful to Cecilia Ketter who accomplished the labor-intensive task of indexing Books 1 and 13, and to the group of 12 sisters at St. Joseph Convent who indexed Scrapbooks N-02 through N-12 and N-14 through N-16. We are also indebted to the persons who did the computer entry: Melanie Gildemeister, Wendy Miller, and S. Connie Halbur.  The project was coordinated by S. Connie Halbur.

Using the indices

The index tables can be read as follows:

1. The first column gives the name(s) of persons about whom the article was written.  In articles that deal with couples’ engagement, marriage, anniversary, etc. there is a double entry, one for the bride and one for the groom.  Since all entries were alphabetized, the names of the bride and the groom are probably not next to each other.

2. The second and third columns have a W and an O at the top.  If the W column is checked, the article has something to do with the person’s wedding, anniversary, engagement, etc.  If the O column is checked, the article is an obituary.

3. The 4^th column is used only for Books 1, 13, & 14. 
   1. Scrapbooks 1 and 13 have been indexed entirely; that is, each article in the book is listed in the index.  Weddings and related events are, as in the other scrapbooks, checked in the “W” column.  Obits are checked in the O column. The topics which the other articles cover are as follows:

Pe = Articles about People (other than weddings & obits)

Bs = Articles about Businesses

Ev = Articles about Events

N  = Notices (required publication of possible action)

Hs = Articles about history (mainly local history)

2. For Scrapbook 14 there is a page number in column 4.  This is the only scrapbook for which page numbers are given.

4. Column 5 gives the item number (the book number) for this scrapbook.

5. The last column gives the date the article appeared in the paper.  Sometimes  there is a date (month and year) at the top of the scrapbook page, but not every page has a date at the top.  We have been told that Mrs. Becker, who assembled these books, only dated the first page on which the articles from that issue of the newspaper appear.  Thus, you may have some difficulty finding the exact page.  You may have to look at a few pages to find it. Sometimes the volunteers who did the indexing had trouble determining the date.  Therefore, you may have to do even more searching.  But generally, you will be in the correct area.   At times, an exact date of the event is given in the article itself.  Some of the indexers, wanting to be helpful to researchers, used this date instead of the date the article appeared in the paper. Thus, you may again have to look elsewhere.  

6. Finally, you may notice that some of the very short articles which are at the bottom of the pages do not have titles.  They are easy to miss.  Some books have a “sleeve” at the end which contains articles that were cut out, but were never pasted into the book.  We ask patrons to handle these clippings with care.