This series is a continuation of Series I, the General Correspondence Series described above, with this difference - virtually all this correspondence was created while Whelan was minister, and all of it from the time of his second ministry (1980-1984). There is an occasional file which is outside these chronological parameters, such as "Abortion", 1963-1964, but such files are anomalies.
Again, while a portion of this series reflects Whelan's MP level activity, there is much more to it than simply constituency. The correspondents are countrywide, and indeed international; and many, many files parallel and connect with his work as Minister. In fact, his responses to and intervention on behalf of constituents and others requesting assistance can not but reflect his ministerial stature.
The files are arranged chronologically, by name of either an institution, an association, a governmental agency, an issue or an individual.
Again, the record types parallel those in Series I - correspondence, occasional newspaper clipping, brochure or information sheet and other near-print material.
The Employment bloc (Volumes 106-107), Immigration cases bloc (Volume 113) and Windsor area bloc(Volumes 134-136) are much like the file types described in Series I.
The "Miscellaneous"-type files of Series I find their counterpart here as well, although they are now grouped not chronologically but alphabetically, and scattered throughout the series in their alphabetical order. At the end of the series there are two files titled "J - correspondence" and "K - correspondence", suggesting that there was a file for each letter of the alphabet; however, these two are the only such files to have come to LAC.
Volumes 138 - 139 hold "Residual files", consisting of brochures, clippings, speeches, annual reports and other such informational material.
Much like Series I, this series (Series II) is the correspondence Whelan maintained with diverse sources (individuals requesting assistance and intervention, corporate agencies promoting their needs or services , associations promoting their own interests, individuals commenting on governmental policy and programs at various levels, individuals requesting governmental intervention to undertake public measures or works, personal correspondence, usual requests for meetings, ususal cultivation of constituency support, explanatory information sent out by Whelan, personal recognition by Whelan of individual's achievements, and so on) which is of a non-official nature, i.e. managed directly by his staffers out of his office without connection / contact with departmental officials. In other words, it is political in the broadest sense. The departmental / ministerial records reflecting Whelan's management of the Department of Agriculture are located in the two "Agricultural Ministry" Series, (Series III and V).
