In 2013 we made 210 posts to our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo. Here are the ten posts that inspired the most comments, likes, and shares from our readers. These ten images are diverse, but they all come from the collections of Wisconsin libraries, archives, and historical societies, and they all depict the lives of everyday… Read More…
2013: Our year in review
Recollection Wisconsin: 2013 by the numbers 130,956 items available through recollectionwisconsin.org 95,876 followers on our Tumblr blog 49,453 page views on the new recollectionwisconsin.org website 1,542 followers on Twitter 447 followers on Facebook 235 attendees at our conference sessions, workshops, and webinars 8 students supervised and mentored 1 national award received 2013 was an exciting year… Read More…
Tumblr top three: November 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of November. 3. Ojibwe basket collected in Wisconsin Dells November was Native American Heritage Month, so we used Tumblr to highlight items from several digital collections focusing on Native history and culture in Wisconsin. The digital collection of the Logan… Read More…
Ripon College basketball, Ripon College Archives
To mark the beginning of both the men’s and women’s basketball seasons in November, the Ripon College Archives has digitized selections from its basketball photograph collections. Intercollegiate basketball teams have competed at Ripon since at least 1907. The new digital collection showcases almost 200 photos of men’s and women’s intercollegiate and intramural basketball teams at… Read More…
St. Norbert College Catalogs
Fifteen college catalogs from St. Norbert College, spanning the years 1902-1916, are now available online through Recollection Wisconsin. This collection complements a digital collection of yearbooks from 1917-1926 made available earlier in 2013 by the Miriam B. and James J. Mulva Library at the College. St. Norbert College was founded in De Pere, Wisconsin in… Read More…
Recreation on and in Wisconsin’s lakes
This post is contributed by Material Culture Summer Service Learner Ally Hrkac. Ally recently completed her B.S. in Secondary Education at UW-Madison and worked with Recollection Wisconsin in Summer 2013 to develop online exhibits and educational resources. “A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable.” — William Wordsworth Wisconsin is a land of… Read More…
Tumblr top three: October 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of October. 3. Two Wisconsin soldiers during World War I 2. Dow Riots at UW-Madison 1. An unusual Halloween costume Highlights from digital collections across Wisconsin are added to our Tumblr blog several times a week. Check out our monthly top posts… Read More…
Kewaunee Ships of War, Kewaunee Public Library
During World War II, Wisconsinites contributed to the war effort in many ways. Wisconsin’s shipbuilding industry flourished in communities along the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, where manufacturers such as the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company and Globe Shipbuilding of Superior built submarines, cargo ships, and other vessels for the United States military. In 1941,… Read More…
WLA 2013
Slides and handouts from the “Planning a Successful Digital Project” start-to-finish session presented at the Wisconsin Library Association annual conference, Green Bay, October 25, 2013. Presenters: Sarah Grimm, Electronic Records Archivist, Wisconsin Historical Society and Emily Pfotenhauer, Recollection Wisconsin Program Manager, WiLS. Handout – Further resources Handout – Digital Project Planning Worksheet… Read More…
Local History Conference 2013
Slides and handouts from workshops presented at the Wisconsin Conference for Local History and Historic Preservation, Wisconsin Rapids, October 11, 2013. Presenters: Sarah Grimm, Electronic Records Archivist, Wisconsin Historical Society and Emily Pfotenhauer, Recollection Wisconsin Program Manager, WiLS. Handout – Sample Inventory Fields Handout – Digital Project Checklist Handout – List of Resources… Read More…
Tumblr top three: September 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of September. 3. Milwaukee: Gateway to the world 2. A 19th century “op-art” quilt 1. An idyllic fall scene… Read More…
Wisconsin department stores
Our guest curator for this exhibit is Michael Leannah, author of the new book Something for Everyone: Memories of Lauerman Brothers Department Store from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Leannah has had a long career in the public schools of Milwaukee and Sheboygan and also works as an author and editor. He grew up in Marinette, Wisconsin… Read More…
Summer students report from the field
This summer, Recollection Wisconsin partnered with the Material Culture Program at UW-Madison to provide hands-on learning opportunities for five undergraduate Summer Service Learners at area historical societies and museums. This summer marked the seventh year of this successful program, which has now offered 22 students the chance to gain valuable experience in applied learning at… Read More…
Tumblr top three: August 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of August. 3. An iconic State Fair treat 2. Early 20th century university women 1. Works from an early Wisconsin music industry star Composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond was born in Janesville, Wisconsin on August 11, 1862. One of the most well-known… Read More…
Wisconsin farmers’ markets
This post is contributed by Ally Hrkac, our current Material Culture Summer Service Learner. Ally recently completed her B.S. in Secondary Education at UW-Madison and is working with Recollection Wisconsin this summer to develop online exhibits and educational resources. “This smell of the country gets me. I don’t wonder the farmer is held under the… Read More…
Camp Gallistella Collection, UW-Madison Archives
From 1912 to 1962, the University of Wisconsin-Madison offered an unusual housing opportunity for graduate students and their families spending the summer session in Madison: camping in tents on the Lake Mendota shoreline. The tent colony, called Camp Gallistella, appeared every summer along the lake in the area now known as Eagle Heights. This unique aspect… Read More…
Tumblr top three: July 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of July. And thanks to Erik Koeppel of Volume One, the Chippewa Valley-area news and entertainment magazine, for spotlighting our Tumblr. In his article “Wisco Histo you can’t resist, yo!” he wrote: I dare you to try and not get… Read More…
Eau Claire Area Historical Photographs, Chippewa Valley Museum
More than 1,100 photographs depicting Eau Claire and the surrounding area are now available online from the Chippewa Valley Museum archives. The Museum has partnered with the L. E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire to provide access to this wide-ranging collection, which offers a look at businesses, industry, recreation, and daily life in… Read More…
WiLSWorld 2013
Handout – Resources for Identifying and Selecting Digital Content for Preservation Handout – Sample Inventory Fields (Wisconsin Historical Society) Handout – Sample Inventory (DPOE)… Read More…
Railroad and logging photographs, Langlade County Historical Society
The Langlade County Historical Society in Antigo recently made a major addition to its digital collections: more than 400 photographs documenting railroads and the lumber industry in northwoods Wisconsin from the late 19th century up to the 1990s. Some photographs were taken by Antigo-based professional photographer Arthur J. Kingsbury for his picture postcard business, but… Read More…
Schoolhouse Hill
Downhill Hauling the empty corn wagon down Schoolhouse Hill back to Dad’s picker when the brakes went out on the Co-op #3, missed the downshift and was grinding gears and sweating bullets but relatively optimistic until I noticed the septic tank crossing the T intersection at the bottom of the hill. The neighbor had a… Read More…
Wisconsin memoirs
This post is contributed by Ally Hrkac, our current Material Culture Summer Service Learner. Ally recently completed her B.S. in Secondary Education at UW-Madison and is working with Recollection Wisconsin this summer to develop online exhibits and educational resources. This exhibit highlights multiple forms of memoirs written by Wisconsin residents. In viewing these accounts, we… Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin wins 2013 AASLH Award of Merit
We are thrilled to announce that Recollection Wisconsin and our parent organization, WiLS, are the recipients of an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) for the newly redesigned recollectionwisconsin.org website. The AASLH Leadership in History Awards, now in its 68th year, is the most prestigious recognition for achievement in… Read More…
Tumblr top three: June 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of June, including two photos in honor of June Dairy Month. 3. Dairy school students at UW-Madison 2. The Milky Way 1. Real-life Rosie the Riveters in Superior Highlights from digital collections across Wisconsin are added to our Tumblr blog several times… Read More…
Memories and Family Stories
By Clovis Harold Tripp. Submitted by Carol McDonnell, Stone Lake Area Historical Society. In 1901, my Grandpa Fred Ernest Tripp moved to Washburn County, Wisconsin with his wife and four small children. In those early years, Grandpa Tripp would farm in the summer and work in the woods with his brother Rob in the winter…. Read More…
An American Girl
An American Girl — My Great-Grandmother, Christine Henk By Lexi Hutton, age 10. Submitted by Connie Schield, Stone Lake Area Historical Society. Christine was born on December 12, 1905 at home in a log cabin built by her father. She was the fourth child of Bertha and Joseph Herman. Her family had crossed the ocean… Read More…
Making Cheddar Cheese
By Doug Strand. Submitted by Connie Schield, Stone Lake Area Historical Society. I started working at the Stone Lake Dairy in 1953. I was working as an apprentice to learn cheese making. I worked for two years, then took my test and passed. I was twenty-four years old. We made American Cheddar cheese. Every Thursday… Read More…
Creating The Washburn Expedition
Madison-based writer and cartoonist Jay Rath describes his serial work, The Washburn Expedition, as “the world’s first Facebook novel.” Updated twice each weekday, the story follows “the continuing adventures of Dr. Allenby, plucky Rita, young Reggie and Billie the Cowboy as they search the world for THRILLS and ROMANCE!” Jay uses film stills, old advertisements, and… Read More…
The Sad Fate of a Beautiful Doe
The Sad Fate of a Beautiful Doe By Carolyn Skille Crotteau. Submitted by Carol McDonnell, Stone Lake Area Historical Society. My Dad was a true sportsman who supported our family during hard times by trapping and hunting in the Stone Lake, Wisconsin area. One day during deer hunting season, he and I were having lunch together… Read More…
Growing up on the Isle of Pines on Lake Little Sissabagama
Memories of growing up on the Isle of Pines on Lake Little Sissabagama By Ted Crandall, as told to Peter Lytle. Submitted by Connie Schield, Stone Lake Area Historical Society. My parents, Walter and Mary Crandall, were the caretakers of a private fishing camp on a seven acre heavily wooded island on Lake Little Sissabagama… Read More…
The Washburn Expedition
Madison-based writer and cartoonist Jay Rath uses historic photos he finds online to create The Washburn Expedition, a serial novel he’s presented on Facebook since 2009. This spring, we invited Jay to delve into Recollection Wisconsin’s collections and create a new adventure for Dr. Allenby, Rita Rennebohm, young Reggie and Billie the Cowboy. In this segment,… Read More…
Support from Summer Students
This summer, Recollection Wisconsin welcomes two UW-Madison students to our office. We’re also working with the Material Culture Program at UW-Madison to connect undergraduate students with opportunities at nearby local historical societies. Rachel Thompson (left) is working with Recollection Wisconsin to complete her practicum field project, required for all School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS)… Read More…
Tumblr Top Three: May 2013
This month we reached an exciting landmark on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo: 75,000 followers, wow! Thanks to everyone who’s followed us and welcomed our images from Wisconsin collections into your Tumblr stream. In this post, we count down the most-liked and most-shared photos we posted to Tumblr in May. 3. Cat show winners in Trempealeau County;… Read More…
Geocaching the kids’ honeymoon
An interactive honeymoon – Wisconsin side of Lake Superior near the Apostle Islands Submitted by Linda McShannock Chuck and I spent the last couple of years building a log cabin on his property on the Wisconsin side of Lake Superior. When my daughter and her boyfriend came up to spend a weekend with us at the… Read More…
Portraits of Wisconsin workers
The thirteen photographs in this slideshow depict farm laborers, factory employees, and other Wisconsin workers from the 1890s to the 1970s. Looking at these images, we wonder: what was on the minds of these now-anonymous men and women as they posed for the photographer? Were they proud of their work, their uniforms, their employers? Were… Read More…
Memorial day with the NEW family
While my sisters and I were growing up we hardly ever saw our father as he worked two or three jobs at a time. Then my parents divorced and we all thought we would never see him. Then came the first holiday as a family separated by divorce. It was Memorial day 1982. My father… Read More…
St. Norbert College Yearbooks
Another set of yearbooks has recently been added to Recollection Wisconsin, providing an interesting counterpart to the yearbooks now available online from Mount Mary College. St. Norbert College in De Pere is, like Mount Mary in Milwaukee, a four-year private Catholic college founded in Wisconsin in the 19th century and still in operation today. But… Read More…
Mount Mary College Yearbooks
Yearbooks from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s oldest four-year women’s college, are now available through Recollection Wisconsin. This digital collection includes fully searchable issues of Arches, the college yearbook published from 1930-1970, and EXIT, a smaller publication focused on graduating seniors, published between 1971 and 1995. The digitization project was funded by the Mount Mary… Read More…
Tumblr Top Three: April 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of April. 3. and 2. Spencer Tracy in Manitowoc; Stacking hay in Waukesha County Two very different photographs tied for April’s second-place spot. Actor Spencer Tracy was born in Milwaukee on April 5, 1900 and went on to star in dozens of… Read More…
WAPL 2013
Handout – Recollection Wisconsin WAPL 2013… Read More…
WAAL 2013
Handout – Resources for Identifying and Selecting Digital Content for Preservation Handout – Sample Inventory Fields You’ve Got to Walk Before You Can Run: First Steps for Managing Born-Digital Content Received on Physical Media. Ricky Elway, OCLC Research, August 2012…. Read More…
About our logo
Like our new name, our new logo reflects what we do – our program “re-collects” a wide variety of historical resources from collections around the state into a single (virtual) access point. Rounded up in one place, these diverse materials can lead to new ways of exploring, experiencing, and understanding Wisconsin’s past. Our new logo… Read More…
WEMTA 2013
Download handout (pdf) – Recollection Wisconsin WEMTA 2013… Read More…
Alfalfa production at Cornfalfa Farms, New Berlin Historical Society
The New Berlin Historical Society is home to an archive of photos and documents from the Swartz family, whose experimental farming methods at Cornfalfa Farms in Waukesha County gained national recognition in the 1910s and 20s. The Swartzes led the way in making alfalfa a viable crop in the state, earning Peter C. Swartz the… Read More…
Tumblr Top Three: March 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for this past month. Women are at the center of all three images, which is appropriate given that March was Women’s History Month. 3. Sewing class ca. 1927 This glass negative from Milwaukee Vocational School (now Milwaukee Area Technical College) shows female students… Read More…
Stories from city directories
This exhibit highlights a selection of advertisements from Wisconsin city directories published between 1857 and 1930. City directories are commercially-published compilations of the names, addresses and professions of people in a particular town or city. The earliest formal city directories published in the United States document major urban areas on the East Coast and date… Read More…
Digitizing Milwaukee’s Polonia at UWM Libraries
The digital collections team at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries is in the midst of an ambitious project to digitize more than 25,000 glass plate negatives by Milwaukee photographer Roman Kwasniewski. From 1907-1947, Kwasniewski worked as a studio photographer in the Polish-American community on Milwaukee’s south side, documenting social events such as First Communions, Confirmations, graduations,… Read More…
Badger Highways, Wisconsin Department of Transportation Library
Wisconsin’s highways are an unremarkable part of everyday life for most of us in 2013, but in the 1920s, the expanding state and county highway system was exciting news, enough to warrant a monthly magazine devoted to the subject. Badger Highways, published by the Wisconsin Highway Commission from 1925-1929, included information about state and federal… Read More…
Recently Added: Collections from Antigo, Brodhead and Middleton
We add new content to the Recollection Wisconsin search engine every month. Some of the most recent additions include postcards from the Middleton Area Historical Society, photographs from the Brodhead Historical Society, and Civil War letters from the Langlade County Historical Society. Civil War letters of Francis Deleglise, Langlade County Historical Society Francis Deleglise, founder… Read More…
Brodhead Historical Society Online Image Archive
Recollection Wisconsin recently added the Brodhead Historical Society’s online image archive to our search engine. This digital collection features more than 1300 photographs from Brodhead and neighboring communities in south central Wisconsin. Pat Weeden, president of the Brodhead Historical Society, provided more details about this ongoing project in an email interview. When did you start… Read More…
Tumblr Top Three: February 2013
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of February. 3. A very close tie A charming snapshot of two friends at the Kenosha County airport just barely edged out a portrait of three imposing Platteville police officers (and police dog). 2. A story of migration and… Read More…
Awareness of Race
I was probably six or seven years old, 1966 or ’67. Summers were untethered for me in Racine, everyday, all day, at the Park & Rec program at Island Park in the beautiful old pavilion where I looked up to the teenage playground leaders. We bounced big red rubber balls loudly on the concrete or… Read More…
Bandolier bags
The beaded bandolier bag is a distinctive form created by American Indians in the Great Lakes and Plains regions beginning in the mid-19th century. These large, vividly colored and intricately beaded bags were a central element of men’s formal dress for dances and ceremonies. Wearing two bags at once, as Charlie Congray does in the image… Read More…
Milwaukee’s struggle for civil rights
This feature is curated by Mark Speltz, senior historian for American Girl. Mark began exploring the photographic record of the civil rights movement in Milwaukee as a graduate student in public history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In the six years since, he has interviewed participants, politicians, and photographers and remains ever hopeful new photographs and… Read More…
Postcards from Middleton Area Historical Society
More than 60 postcards illustrating the city of Middleton, Wisconsin in the early 20th century are now available online from the Middleton Area Historical Society. The postcards were collected by area residents and depict local businesses, residential neighborhoods, schools and churches. The digital project began in Summer 2012 when the Middleton Area Historical Society hosted… Read More…
Introducing our new website
Wisconsin Heritage Online, the statewide digital collaborative, has a new name—Recollection Wisconsin—and a new look. Our newly redesigned website, recollectionwisconsin.org, provides free access to a growing set of historical resources from the collections of libraries, archives, museums and historical societies across the state. Anyone can use the site to explore historic photographs, postcards, maps, letters,… Read More…
The story behind our new name
If you’re familiar with our former website, wisconsinheritage.org, the first thing you’ll probably notice about the new site is a new name: Recollection Wisconsin. As part of the process of refreshing our identity, we chose to move away from the name Wisconsin Heritage Online, which we’ve used since the program started in 2005. We think… Read More…
Civil War letters of Francis Deleglise, Langlade County Historical Society
Francis Deleglise was a young man of 25, living in Appleton with his wife and children, when he enlisted in the Iron Brigade, Wisconsin’s most famous Civil War unit. The Iron Brigade fought in the Army of the Potomac, suffering unusually high casualties at Gainesville, Antietam (the Civil War’s bloodiest battle), and Gettysburg. Throughout his… Read More…
Crandon High School Yearbooks, Crandon Public Library
“The Cardinal endeavors not only to record a year in our School’s history, but to serve as a stimulus for recollecting our thoughts in future years. This book is merely a printed symbol; the memories which it represents are within us.” This quote from the 1938 Crandon High School yearbook evokes the value of historical… Read More…
Senator William Proxmire Collection, Wisconsin Historical Society
When Senator William Proxmire retired in 1989 after 32 years in the U.S. Senate, he and his staff donated more than 200 boxes of office files to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Society has now made available online an extensive selection of those materials, including official press releases, newsletters sent home to constituents, campaign strategy… Read More…
