The Wisconsin Historical Society Archives contain four collections containing documents relevant to leprosy.
The papers of Joseph Dutton (1834-1931). This collection is available on microfilm and consists of two archive boxes of papers of Dutton, who was a resident of Janesville, Wisconsin who served in the Civil War, was converted to the Catholic faith, and in 1886 entered upon a lifelong voluntary exile to the leper colony of Molokai, Territory of Hawaii. This collection consists of letters written by Brother Joseph to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, accompanied by photographs, greeting cards, autobiographical items, letters received, and copies of replies. Filed with these papers are some of a similar type collected by F F Lewis of Janesville. There are a number of articles on the work of Brother Joseph’s predecessor, the Reverend Damien De Veuster; on his own services in the colony; and on the visit of the United States fleet to the island in 1908; several letters from William W Hall and Mrs Hall (the daughter of General Horatio P Van Cleve), William Penn Lyons, Warren D Parker, and William O Smith of Honolulu; a 1923 letter of commendation from President Warren G Harding; and a photostat of a diary giving an account of army life and troop movements and engagements while Dutton served with Co. B, 13th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. The original of the Civil War diary is held by the Wisconsin G A R Museum.
The society also holds letters written by Lyle G Phillips (1894-1980) to his family in De Pere, Wisconsin, while serving with the 7th Infantry Division in France during World War I, along with a memoir of France, all written in 1918; and letters, 1924-1925, written during the time Phillips was a medical doctor at a leper colony at Molokai, Hawaii, which describe conditions, his work, and an assessment of Brother Joseph Dutton. Original letters are accompanied by typescripts of some, and there are also a few military papers, a photograph, several postcards, and brief biographical information. The papers date from 1918-1925. This collection is unprocessed.
The papers of Willis Peck Clarke (1842 – ca 1920) which date from 1826-1926 ( a lieutenant of Co. K, 13th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers) include descriptions of the Waupaca, Wisconsin, Veterans’ Home and of life at the Molokai Leper Colony in 1915.
In addition, in the records Dane County (Wisconsin) Clerk “collected” from various county offices and local units by A O Barton, Dane County Register of Deeds during the 1930s and 1940s there is a report on cases of leprosy in Dane County in 1896.
Entry made March 2002