Guest post by Abbigail Swanton, Division for Libraries and Technology, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Reposted from Wisconsin Libraries for Everyone. The National Archives is celebrating October as American Archives Month to highlight how history is made accessible to you. Wisconsin is celebrating, too! For nearly 120 years, Wisconsin libraries have been providing access to Wisconsin state… Read More…
Major Richard Bong (1920-1945)
This digital exhibit is provided by guest curator Autumn Wolter, intern at the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin. View the full digital collection at https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/BVHC. Richard (Dick) Ira Bong, America’s Ace of Aces, was born on September 24, 1920 in Superior, Wisconsin to Carl and Dora Bong. He was their firstborn… Read More…
The Toolkit: Wrapping Up a Digitization Project
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: My digitization project will end later this year. What do I need to do to wrap up this work? All good things must come to an end, right? Whether grant-funded or supported by… Read More…
The Toolkit: You asked, let’s chat!
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear. This month, we’re featuring a few frequently-asked questions posed by local history practitioners during our summer Digital Readiness Fairs. Any advice for getting started with a digitization project? How should we create metadata to allow a… Read More…
Sharing Local History Resources: A Digital Readiness Case Study
You digitized some of your favorite and most engaging materials from your local history collection – now what? Some local history organizations digitize collections to facilitate reference requests or reduce wear and tear on their oldest or most frequently handled materials. Others share images on their organization’s website or social media sites to generate community… Read More…
The Toolkit: Inheriting a Digital Project
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: Help! I inherited my organization’s digitization project and I don’t know where to start! Some of us have the luxury of building a digitization project or program from scratch. Others, though, take on… Read More…
Wisconsin Fish Stories
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” But in much of Wisconsin, once the lakes thaw, some thoughts turn to sport fishing, particularly on the first Saturday in May which signals the opening of fishing season. Watch this online video exhibit on the history of recreational fishing… Read More…
Digital readiness and mid-point musings
The Building a Statewide Digital Readiness Community of Practice project has passed its halfway point! We’ve submitted our mid-year report to the NHPRC, and it feels like a good time to reflect on our accomplishments, challenges, and observations. When we proposed the project in early 2020, the original plan called for the Launch Committee and… Read More…
Batter Up, Play Ball!
Many thanks to UW-Madison iSchool graduate student, Thalia Coombs, for her contribution to this exhibit! You may recall the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) from the 1992 film, A League of Their Own starring Geena Davis and Tom Hanks. Who will ever forget that “there’s no crying in baseball!” But did you know the… Read More…
Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center: A Digital Readiness Case Study
Located in Superior, Wisconsin, the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center preserves and honors the memory of Major Richard I. (Dick) Bong and all veterans of World War II and subsequent conflicts, and provides educational resources for the Twin Ports area community and beyond. A native of Poplar, Wisconsin, Major Bong was known as America’s… Read More…
Seven Questions with Joe Hermolin, Langlade County Historical Society
Meet Joe Hermolin, one of our most active and ardent Recollection Wisconsin community members! Along with shepherding many digitization projects as a content partner and president of the Langlade County Historical Society, Joe has served on the Recollection Wisconsin Steering Committee and currently participates in our Education Advisory Committee and Digital Readiness Community of Practice…. Read More…
Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society: A Digital Readiness Case Study
Located in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, the Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society (the Museum) is dedicated to preserving and sharing local pioneer and ancient Native American history. The Museum site opened in 1942, a year after the Society was founded. The Museum comprises seven pioneer buildings including the 1852 Baptist Church which houses the Society’s artifact… Read More…
Madison Trust for Historic Preservation: A Digital Readiness Case Study
Since 1974, the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation (Madison Trust) has focused on advocacy for and education about Madison, Wisconsin’s historic places. The organization is managed by a Board and Administrative Office Manager Jennifer Gurske and has relied on a volunteer board of trustees and community volunteers invested in local history preservation. Digitization project beginnings… Read More…
Where We Get Our Food
Guest curator, Joe Hermolin, is the Langlade County Historical Society president (a Recollection Wisconsin content partner) and Steering Committee member. Hermolin worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for many years in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry in the Medical School. In retirement, he moved to rural Langlade County and developed an interest in the region’s history. Indigenous… Read More…
Workshopping the Digital Readiness Levels
One of the foundational resources we are creating as part of the Digital Readiness Community of Practice project is a road map for embarking on digital collections development work. Based on the NDSA’s Levels of Digital Preservation, our Digital Readiness Levels offer a structure for organizations to plan and sustainably grow their digital initiatives in… Read More…
The Toolkit: Content Statements
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: Should my institution include a content warning or statement on our digital collection website? What is a content statement? A content statement is a message on your digital collection website or within your… Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin Steering Committee Nominations Open
The Recollection Wisconsin Steering Committee is seeking nominations to fill three vacant seats. The Committee helps shape the priorities and future directions of the Recollection Wisconsin statewide digital consortium. The Committee is made up of librarians, archivists, curators, educators and other digital practitioners representing a broad range of cultural heritage institutions throughout Wisconsin. We are… Read More…
Project Launch: Building A Digital Readiness Community of Practice
Building a Digital Readiness Community of Practice is officially underway! Our intrepid Launch Committee, Recollection Wisconsin and Wisconsin Historical Society staff met on October 30 for two hours of (re)introductions, robust discussion, brainstorming and community-building. What’s this project all about? In short, we’re building a collaborative, community-driven program to foster skills and infrastructure necessary to… Read More…
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal Programs
Guest curator, Joe Hermolin, is the Langlade County Historical Society president (a Recollection Wisconsin content partner) and Steering Committee member. Hermolin worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for many years in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry in the Medical School. In retirement, he moved to rural Langlade County and developed an interest in the region’s… Read More…
The Toolkit: File Naming
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: My digital file names are a mess. Can you help? What did I name that digital file? Where did I save that spreadsheet? I know I just scanned that photo last week! Do… Read More…
Meet Kristen Whitson!
Hi all! I’m Kristen Whitson, joining WiLS and Recollection Wisconsin as the Digital Readiness Program Assistant. I’m so excited to get started on October 1. This position is a one-year, National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)-funded initiative, Building a Wisconsin Digital Readiness Community of Practice. This collaborative, community-driven program will foster the skills and infrastructure… Read More…
Finding Relevance in the Past
by Laura Jones, UW-Milwaukee SOIS My name is Laura Jones, and as a budding Library and Information Science graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I was itching to get my hands on some materials in order to practice the skills and theories I’ve learned throughout my coursework. After the cancellation of several summer internships… Read More…
We’ve Got the Power!
Did you know that two major energy sources – hydro and solar power – have deep roots in Wisconsin history? It’s true. You might even say a current of energy-related ingenuity surged through our great state throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Read on if we’ve ignited your curiosity. Don’t go chasing waterfalls… Hydroelectric energy,… Read More…
The Toolkit: Digitizing Yearbooks
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: I’d like to digitize my community’s high school yearbooks, but I’m concerned about copyright, harmful content and privacy issues, especially if we add these to our online public collection. Who doesn’t love old… Read More…
The Toolkit: Recording Oral Histories
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: How do I record audio for my oral history project? Capturing the audio stories of community members’ lives is an excellent way to document and preserve history through the eyes of ordinary people…. Read More…
We’re Hiring a Digital Readiness Program Assistant!
Join our team! We’re looking for a program assistant to work with Recollection Wisconsin program staff at WiLS to support a one-year, National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)-funded initiative, Building a Wisconsin Digital Readiness Community of Practice. This collaborative, community-driven program will foster the skills and infrastructure necessary for digital readiness in small and… Read More…
Bon Appétit, Wisconsin Foodies! Part One: Savory Dishes
Some of our favorite Wisconsin food traditions owe their origin to our state’s Indigenous and immigrant communities. Relying on oral tradition, beloved recipe books, local ingredients and a little ingenuity, generations of cooks created, transformed, and passed down these beloved dishes, often shared at ceremonial or holiday gatherings, community meals or local eateries. Over time,… Read More…
The Toolkit: Buying a Scanner
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: What scanner should I buy? Unfortunately, there is no quick or easy answer. It really depends on individual project goals (and budget constraints!). The options available can be overwhelming – flatbed scanners, overhead… Read More…
NHPRC Funds “Building a Statewide Digital Readiness Community of Practice”
We are thrilled to announce our implementation grant proposal – Building a Statewide Digital Readiness Community of Practice – was fully funded. This one-year project slated to begin later in 2020, builds on work completed through a 2019 National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) planning grant and will support “digital readiness” in small and… Read More…
Wisconsin Local History Projects and COVID-19
We are heartened to see so many libraries, archives and local history organizations collecting materials and stories that document this unique and historic moment, the impact of COVID-19 on lives and communities across Wisconsin. Each project has its own focus; some emphasize a specific geographic location or population while others concentrate on a format such… Read More…
The Toolkit: Thank You, Volunteers!
The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: How can my organization more successfully engage and sustain a robust volunteer community? This month, we celebrate Volunteer Appreciation Week by recognizing how vital volunteers are to our Recollection Wisconsin content partners, many… Read More…
Rapid Response Collecting and COVID-19
Over the past few weeks, it’s been fascinating to watch the growth of community archiving efforts to document COVID-19 and its impact on our communities. There are a multiple local, regional and national efforts underway with new projects popping up every few days. Here are a few Wisconsin-based “rapid response collecting” activities: The Wisconsin Historical… Read More…
Professional Development Opportunities While Working From Home
Looking for a little direction as you work from home? Check out the Recollection Wisconsin Digital Projects Toolkit and other virtual training opportunities to enhance your digital collections work. Reposted from DPI’s Wisconsin Libraries for Everyone blog. The Recollection Wisconsin Digital Projects Toolkit is a free online course covering the basics of digitization projects. There are… Read More…
Stoughton Public Library, Kvamme Local History Collection Case Study
The Kvamme Local History Collection at the Stoughton Public Library was established in 1984 by Lois Kvamme as a memorial to her husband, Torstein O. Kvamme, a former principal, band and history teacher at the local high school. Through gifts and donations, the collection has grown over the years. The digital collection includes Stoughton city… Read More…
Content Partner Case Studies
Curious to know how Recollection Wisconsin content partners accomplish their digitization work? We asked a few of our content partners to reflect on and share their experiences creating digital collections from local history resources. These case studies include digitization best practices, lessons learned and impact stories from local history organizations in Wisconsin. Railroad and Logging… Read More…
CCDC…That’s All Folks!
Thank you for your support of Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC). This two-year, IMLS-funded program completed in December 2019. In the coming months, we will make available our program curriculum and our process for creating CCDC. Congratulations and thank you to all the students, mentors and host sites who participated in CCDC in 2018 and… Read More…
Sauk City Public Library, Sauk City Property Histories and Pionier Presse Translations Case Study
Myrtle Cushing was a passionate local historian who collected material and pictures documenting the history of Sauk City, Wisconsin. In 1992, her work was translated into the book, Lives Lived Here by Michael Goc. As part of Sauk City Public Library’s (now the George Culver Community Library) digitization project, her book and very detailed notes… Read More…
The Toolkit: Three Resolutions for Better File Management in 2020
Recollection Wisconsin’s Digital Projects Toolkit brings together guidelines, tools and resources for creating, managing and sharing digital collections. In this monthly series, we’ll address some common questions and concerns we often hear from libraries, archives and museums tackling digital work. Have a question you’d like answered? Contact us! To kick things off, we’ll take a… Read More…
Update: Planning (and Building!) a Statewide Digital Readiness Community of Practice
That’s a wrap on our planning project! Over the past six months, we collaborated closely with local history practitioners across Wisconsin to better understand their needs related to digital collections creation, management and preservation. 127 individuals representing over 90 different Wisconsin local history and historic preservation organizations responded to our survey in August 2019. Survey… Read More…
A Day to Remember
It’s not just important to remember our own stories but to safeguard all of the efforts that people have made in the past to preserve history. Listening to War: Digitizing Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories aims to do just that work. The project, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), has… Read More…
Pass the Peas, Please: Wisconsin’s Canning History
The story of commercial canning in Wisconsin turns out to be the story of the pea. The canning of beets, corn, cucumbers and other crops has been an important part of Wisconsin industry since the late 1800s. However, it was a native Pennsylvanian and his peas that started it all. The first commercial canning operation… Read More…
Digital Preservation Advocacy
Earlier this month, Emily Pfotenhauer and Vicki Tobias delivered a WiLSWorldShorts webinar focused on Digital Preservation Advocacy. Webinar slides, recording and a list of supporting resources are all available on the WiLS website. This hour-long webinar introduced participants to key concepts related in digital preservation work for libraries, archives and cultural heritage institutions. Topics included… Read More…
Planning for a Digital Readiness Community of Practice – Community Conversations
The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), Recollection Wisconsin, and Wisconsin Library Services (WiLS) are collaborating on a grant-funded project, Planning a Digital Readiness Community of Practice, to assess local historical societies’ “digital readiness.” They are working together to learn more about Wisconsin local history affiliates’ capacity to digitize and share their historic collections online. Throughout September, we… Read More…
Curating Community Digital Collections: Final Cohort Update
Where has the time gone? It’s practically September and the Recollection Wisconsin consortium is winding down Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) and helping our year two (and final) cohort wrap up their digital preservation projects. (cue fireworks) Over the past two years, it’s been inspiring to witness the power of collaboration in practice and to support CCDC… Read More…
Public library systems attend training workshops for digitization kits
In July, 22 staff from 12 regional public library systems around the state participated in training workshops presented by South Central Library System and Recollection Wisconsin. The workshops, held in Madison at SCLS headquarters and in Keshena at the College of Menominee Nation Library, introduced system staff to the mobile digitization kits that were distributed… Read More…
Back for more digital preservation adventures in 2019!
My name is Bethany Huse, Librarian and Head of Special Collections at the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) S. Verna Fowler Academic Library/Menominee Public Library. I had the honor of participating in Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) for a second time in 2019. Our Library is unique in that it is a tribal, academic, and… Read More…
Training the Trainers Community Archiving Workshop – Building Audiovisual Preservation Capacity in Wisconsin
What is a Community Archiving Workshop? Recollection Wisconsin is one of three national anchor sites for the Community Archiving Workshop Regional Training of Trainers (TOT) program, supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) is a project of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) designed… Read More…
New Opportunities
by Sam Steingraeber, CCDC student One of the advantages of writing this post near the end of my tenure in the Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program is that I can reflect on the experience as a whole, from the workshop in Madison, to the weekly trips to the Rock County Historical Society in Janseville,… Read More…
Preserving Exhibit Digital Interactives at the Neville Public Museum
by Louise Pfotenhauer, Collections Manager, Neville Public Museum Mary Ann Brevort and a handful of military companions set out for what was to be a short trip home across the Fox River after attending a dance at military Fort Howard. Instead, the group spent hours braving wind, rain, and cold as you can see in… Read More…
Building a Strong Foundation for Digital Collection Development at Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society
by Robin Untz and Claire Flood for Curating Community Digital Collections Part I: Our Organization – The Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Societyby Robin Untz, President, Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society When the Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society was established in 1941, its purpose was to preserve the town’s original brick church (1852) by transforming it… Read More…
Help Us Assess and Plan for Digital Readiness in Wisconsin!
Do you work with a local historical society, historic preservation group, or other organization affiliated with the Wisconsin Historical Society? Help us assess and plan for digital readiness in Wisconsin, and develop a plan for a Digital Readiness Community of Practice that will increase your capacity to create, manage and share digitized historical resources. Please… Read More…
Digital Records Management at UW River Falls
Hello! My name is Morgan Paavola and I am the Interim Head of the University Archives and Area Research Center, and Records Manager at the University of Wisconsin River Falls. This summer we have had the pleasure of hosting Kristen Whitson, an MLIS student at the UW Madison Information School. The University Archives at UWRF… Read More…
Preserving Digital Interactive Exhibits at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County
My name is Stephanie Surach and I’m earning my MLIS at UW-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies. I’m very excited to be part of the CDCC 2019 cohort and to have the opportunity to work on digital preservation at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County in Green Bay. The Neville Public Museum has an extensive… Read More…
Digital Preservation Continues at RCHS
Hello from Janesville! My name is Kristin Arnold and I am the archives manager at the Rock County Historical Society (RCHS). This summer, we have the pleasure of hosting Sam Steingraeber from the School of Information Studies at UW-Milwaukee. We are so fortunate to be able to participate in CCDC for a second time. Last… Read More…
Preserving Local History Resources in Appleton
My name is Rebekah Bain, and I am a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am in the coordinated MA History and Master of Library Information Science programs, with an archives concentration. I am very honored to be a part of the Curating Community Digital Collections 2019 cohort, and I have been enjoying… Read More…
History + Technology Inspires Career Path for Winter
By Jon Winter, Business Manager for the Douglas County Historical Society in Superior and site supervisor for CCDC Team DCHS. Jon is a lifelong resident of Douglas County with family roots in the County dating back to the early 1890s. Curating digital collections brings together under one roof two of my greatest interests: history and computers. I… Read More…
Meinholz, CCDC and Digital Preservation in Wisconsin Rapids
My name is Dale Meinholz, an MLIS student at the UW Milwaukee School of Information Studies. This summer I am working in Wisconsin Rapids with the McMillan Memorial Library and the South Wood County Historical Museum. I am excited to be a part of Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC). My first few visits to Wisconsin… Read More…
Preserving Veterans’ Stories Through Digital Preservation
My name is Briana Fiandt and I’m the Curator of Collections at the Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, WI. I am the site supervisor for this summer’s CCDC program and I’m so excited about the project that we have undertaken. The Bong Historical Center is a museum dedicated to telling the stories… Read More…
Digital Preservation at Douglas County Historical Society
My name is Taylor Kelley, and this fall I’ll be beginning my final semester at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies, where I’m working on an MLIS degree with an archives concentration. I’m really excited to be participating in the Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program this summer and see it as an… Read More…
McMillan Memorial Library and South Wood County Museum join forces to preserve digital content
This is Colin McGinnis the Adult Services Manager at the McMillan Memorial Library. Our director, Andy Barnett, in coordination with the South Wood County Museum got us involved in this year’s Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) project. I have enjoyed the process of getting reacquainted with digital collections. I had metadata for digital collections course… Read More…
Digital Preservation Workflows and Policies at UW River Falls
Hello, everyone – I’m Kristen Whitson, an MLIS student at the UW Madison Information School. I’m glad, proud, excited, nervous, challenged, and thrilled to be a part of this year’s CCDC cohort! This summer, I’m working with the UW River Falls University Archives and their University Archivist Morgan Paavola. Morgan has been in her role… Read More…
Reflections from Appleton Public Library
by Katie Stilp, Appleton Public Library Local History Librarian Appleton Public Library is fortunate to be a host site for the Curating Community Digital Collections program this summer. When I began the position of Local History Librarian a year ago, I inherited hundreds of photographs – both digitized and born digital. Our digitized photographs include… Read More…
Organizing Oral Histories at the Bong Veterans Historical Center
My name is Laura Vavrosky and I’m thrilled to be part of the Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program this summer. After taking several classes in Library and Information Studies through the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I’m eager to apply my knowledge of metadata and information organization to a practical cause. The 3-day workshop all CCDC… Read More…
Digital Preservation Work at Door County Library
My name is Laura Kayacan, the Adult Services Librarian at Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay, and I am one of the Supervisors for this summer’s CCDC program. I look forward to Georgia Brown’s help with the digital preservation of our files, and to the guidance from Mentor Sarah Titus, who is nearby at St…. Read More…
CCDC Student Georgia Brown Begins Work at Door County Library
My name is Georgia Brown, and I am about to start my final year of the coordinated History and Library Science Master’s program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I am so excited to be working with Door County Library in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin this summer on their digital preservation practices. Studying history really highlights how… Read More…
CCDC Projects Begin
And…we’re off and running! Curating Community Digital Collections 2019 participants kicked off their summer projects at our digital preservation immersion workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, May 21-23. … Read More…
National Archives Grant Will Support Strategic Planning
Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero has awarded $3,492,445 for 35 projects in 21 states to improve public access to historical records. WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services), the program manager for the Recollection Wisconsin consortium, was awarded $22,547 from the National Archives grants program to undertake a community-driven strategic planning process intended to build… Read More…
Students Share CCDC at Midwest Archives Conference
This April, first-year Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) cohort and UW Madison iSchool graduate students Jessica Behrman and Kristina Warner presented a poster at the Midwest Archives Conference in Detroit, Michigan on “Curating Community Digital Collections: Digital Preservation at Small Cultural Heritage Institutions.”… Read More…
New Partnership to Support AV Archiving
Recollection Wisconsin is excited to announce that we are an anchor site for the Community Archiving Workshop Regional Training of Trainers (TOT) program. The Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) is a project of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) designed to address the challenge of obsolescence in audiovisual collections. First launched in 2010, the CAW model is designed to help community… Read More…
Announcing the 2019 CCDC Cohort
We are excited to announce the participants in our second IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections cohort! … Read More…
Meet Our New Search!
This week we launched a new and improved central search interface for Recollection Wisconsin digital collections. Through this new search, you can find state and local history resources as well as materials from across the country and around the world, all from the collections of dozens of Wisconsin libraries, archives, historical societies and museums. This… Read More…
Irish in Southern Wisconsin
While some immigrants from Ireland trickled into what is now Wisconsin as early as the 1600s to take part in the fur trade, the biggest influx of Irish settlers in the state took place in the first half of the 19th century. Though Irish families are documented in town histories and census reports throughout Wisconsin,… Read More…
Oral Histories: Common Questions
In February I had the opportunity to speak at a meeting held by the Milwaukee County Genealogical Society to present Recollection Wisconsin as a resource for researchers and to explain our current Listening to War project. I opened the presentation with a story about my most vivid memories of Iraq and how this image helps… Read More…
Six Questions with Amy Rudersdorf
We’ve had the good fortune to collaborate with AVP Senior Consultant, Amy Rudersdorf, for the past year. Amy has been instrumental in helping us develop the workshop and training content for Curating Community Digital Collections, as well as providing advice on a range of questions related to digital preservation and serving as a “mentor to our mentors.” As such, we thought you might like to know a bit more about Amy, her background and experience, and thoughts about digital stewardship work. … Read More…
2018 Year in Review
2018 was an exciting year! Read our Year in Review for a recap of the past year and a preview of what’s on our plates in 2019…. Read More…
The Coldest Crop: Ice Harvesting in Wisconsin
We take for granted freezers filled with ice cream, meats and more, and refrigerators packed with milk, eggs and leftovers. But it really wasn’t that long ago that keeping food and drink cold (and safe) for transport was a difficult business. States like Wisconsin — with cold temperatures, plenty of fresh water and breweries with… Read More…
Announcing the 2019 CCDC Host Sites
Congratulations to the following Wisconsin cultural heritage institutions and information agencies selected to participate in Year Two of the IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections program: Appleton Public Library, Appleton College of Menominee Nation, Keshena Door County Library, Sturgeon Bay Douglas County Historical Society, Superior Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society, Lake Mills McMillan Memorial Library /… Read More…
NEH-funded “Listening to War” project: reflections and update
This is a photo of me taken on February 10th, 2003, in Kitzingen Germany, Larson Barracks. I am 21 years old, it is two days before my 22nd birthday, and I have been married for two months. I will arrive at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait on my 22nd birthday at 1am. I… Read More…
Update on DPLA staffing changes
The recent news of a significant downsizing of staff at the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has led to some questions about the future of this national digital library. DPLA is working to secure additional funding and build in more sustainability. They remain committed to continuing their core work to aggregate digital cultural heritage… Read More…
Curating Community Digital Collections – Points of Pride 2018
Our sincere thanks to everyone who supported and/or participated in Curating Community Digital Collections in 2018. We are grateful for your time and continued support of digital stewardship work throughout Wisconsin (and beyond!). Thank you CCDC students Jodi Kiffmeyer, Jessica Behrman, Sarah Lange, Kristina Warner, Cameron Fontaine and Steve Moray; mentors Stacey Erdman, Jesse Henderson,… Read More…
CCDC 2018 Resources: Student-created Policies, Workflows and Documentation
Last summer, our CCDC students worked with their host sites and mentors to develop digital preservation policies, workflows, and other documentation. Selected examples of these documents are now available on the CCDC website for other cultural heritage organizations to review and adapt for their own digital stewardship work. CCDC 2018 Resources/Student-created policies, workflows and other documents: https://recollectionwisconsin.org/digipres/2018resources… Read More…
Madison Public Library’s Living History Project
Recently added to Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA, the Living History Project is a multifaceted community history initiative launched by the Madison Public Library earlier this year. The goal of the project is to work with community members and organizations to gather and preserve Madison history. Within the larger project are several collections made up of… Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin Staff Share Projects Around the State (and Beyond!)
We’ve been on the road this fall, promoting Recollection Wisconsin and our projects that champion digital stewardship of local history resources –- Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) and Listening to War: Digitizing Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories. Here’s a recap of our adventures! We rolled into La Crosse, Wisconsin on October 24th for the 2018 Wisconsin… Read More…
Digitization and Public Libraries: SCLS Workshop
Workshop presented for South Central Library System directors meeting, Sun Prairie, November 15, 2018…. Read More…
CCDC 2019: Apply to Participate!
We’re now accepting applications from Wisconsin libraries, archives, museums and historical societies to participate in Year Two of our IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) program. In 2019, CCDC will support a cohort of ten teams. Each team will include a graduate student from the iSchool at UW-Madison or the School of Information Studies at… Read More…
Building the Community: NEDCC Symposium Keynote
Keynote presentation by Emily Pfotenhauer, WiLS, for a digital preservation symposium coordinated by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), Boston, November 9, 2018…. Read More…
CCDC Lightning Talk: Creating Community Through Digital Futures
Curating Community Digital Collections lightning talk by Vicki Tobias, WiLS, for Creating Community Through Digital Futures, a symposium hosted by the Art Institute of Chicago, November 1, 2018…. Read More…
CCDC: Collaborating to Build Digital Capacity
In this panel, participating students and site supervisors shared their experiences and lessons learned from the Summer 2018 IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) cohort. Presented for the Wisconsin Library Association annual meeting in La Crosse, October 25, 2018…. Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin at Fall Conferences
Are you headed to the Wisconsin Library Association conference in La Crosse or the Local History-Historic Preservation conference in Elkhart Lake later this month? Say hi to the Recollection Wisconsin team! CCDC Project Coordinator Vicki Tobias and Recollection Wisconsin Program Manager Emily Pfotenhauer will be in the WLA Exhibit Hall, Booth 13, Wednesday and Thursday… Read More…
Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference 2018
Registration is now open for the Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference (#UMDCC18) at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota November 8-9. Join your digital collections colleagues for 1.5 days of networking, sharing of best practices, and hands-on learning. View conference schedule Register The Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference features: Keynote speaker Abigail Potter (Digital… Read More…
CCDC 2018: That’s a Wrap!
It’s cliché, but true, I can’t believe how quickly this summer flew by! Our first Curating Community Digital Collections cohort just wrapped up their summer work. Well done, folks, well done. (Cue Pomp and Circumstance.) Let’s crunch a few CCDC numbers . . . 6 host sites and 8 host site supervisors 6 graduate students… Read More…
WiLS interview: Vicki Tobias, Program Coordinator, Curating Community Digital Collections
Vicki Tobias, our coordinator for the IMLS-funded CCDC program, recently gave an interview to WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services), the 501(c)(3) member organization that manages the Recollection Wisconsin consortium. Read about her work with CCDC and with the iSchool at UW-Madison, her favorite podcasts, her forays into playing bass guitar, and her chihuahuas Peppi and Diego!… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: La Crosse Public Library Archives
Hello from La Crosse! I’m Scott Brouwer, Archivist at the La Crosse Public Library Archives. In my position, I enjoy the many things in which I am involved, including collection processing, website management, digital content management, research assistance, media consulting, local history reference, photo scanning, metadata creation, and extensive local history programming. I would encourage… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Barron County Historical Society
Hello from the Barron County Historical Society! I’m Tamera Schutz, the Executive Director. Three years ago, we started digitizing our photos, with vague thoughts of sharing them online and providing another way to ensure their preservation. The digitization of these photographs raised a lot of questions, as we did not know where to go from… Read More…
Supporting Digital Projects in Southcentral Wisconsin
This post is contributed by Tamara Ramski, Digitization Specialist, South Central Library System (SCLS). The South Central Library System (SCLS) provides services to public libraries in seven counties in south-central Wisconsin. In 2017, SCLS began offering member libraries assistance with local history digitization projects through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant funded by… Read More…
Railroad and Logging Photos, Langlade County Historical Society Case Study
The mission of the Langlade County Historical Society (LCHS) is to preserve, advance, and disseminate knowledge of the history of Langlade County. This is done by the maintenance of a museum, local historical artifacts and archives, and historic sites on the museum campus. In addition, the LCHS prepares programs and publications dealing with local history…. Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Rock County Historical Society
Greetings from the Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, WI! My name is Kristin Arnold, and I am the archives manager at RCHS, where I work alongside dedicated volunteers and innovative staff members. One of the most exciting projects happening at RCHS is the Story Squad program, led by our insightful and gracious History Teller,… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Outagamie Waupaca Library System
Hello! I’m Amanda Lee, the OWLSnet Manager with the Outagamie Waupaca Library System. OWLSnet is a library consortium consisting of 29 libraries (with 49 service locations) in the Outagamie Waupaca Library System and the Nicolet Federated Library System. One of my main goals as the OWLSnet Manager is to provide services for this consortium, including… Read More…
NEH-Funded Project “Listening To War” Moves Forward
This spring, we shared the news of a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support our project Listening To War: Digitizing Wisconsin’s Wartime Histories. This initiative builds on the NEH-funded planning work we undertook in 2016-2017 to identify veterans’ oral history interviews in small and mid-sized libraries and historical societies… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: Manitowoc County Historical Society
Hello from the Manitowoc County Historical Society! My name is Amy Meyer and I am the Executive Director of the museum. As an institution whose collection is managed and organized by volunteers, the knowledge gained through participating in the CCDC program has been remarkable. The work with the CCDC has already transformed the way our… Read More…
CCDC: Vicki on the Road, Part 2
Earlier this month, I wrapped up my “Tour de Year One CCDC Host Sites” with visits to Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, Outagamie Waupaca Library System in Appleton and College of Menominee Nation in Keshena. While all of our teams have similar broad goals for their summer projects — develop digital preservation workflows, best… Read More…
CCDC Host Reflections: College of Menominee Nation
This is Bethany Huse with the College of Menominee Nation. I am one of the Librarians here at the College, and one of my duties is that I spend half of my days in the Special Collections. Over this summer, we’ve had the privilege to participate in the CCDC project and have Steve Moray, a… Read More…
WiLSWorld 2018: Innovations in Digital Projects
This session for WiLSWorld 2018, July 24 in Madison, highlighted new tools and innovative approaches Wisconsin libraries are using to create, share and preserve digital collections. Presenters: Vicki Tobias, Program Coordinator, Curating Community Digital Collections, WiLS Ann Hanlon, Head, Digital Collections and Initiatives and DH Lab, UW-Milwaukee Randi Ramsden, Program Coordinator, National Digital Newspaper Program,… Read More…
CCDC: Vicki on the Road, Part 1
This month, I am thrilled to be visiting each of our Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) host sites for an extended check-in with each team. It’s been almost two months since our immersion workshop in Madison where we introduced CCDC participants to basic digital preservation concepts and best practices, tools and workflows for preservation tasks,… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Rock County Historical Society
I’m Sarah Lange, and I’ll begin my second year at UW-Madison’s iSchool in the fall. This summer I’m working at Rock County Historical Society in Janesville, Wisconsin. I’m developing a digital preservation policy as well as oral history best practices and a workflow for managing the society’s Story Squad collection, which includes story cards, short… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: La Crosse Public Library Archives
Hi! I’m Jessica Behrman, and I am about to enter my second year at the Information School at UW-Madison. My practicum this summer is with the La Crosse Public Library Archives, where I’m working on creating workflows for digital photograph ingestion, migrating existing content into new digital collections, and implementing quality control measures going forward…. Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Outagamie Waupaca Library System
Hello, I’m Kristina Warner! I am starting my second year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Information School specializing in archival management. This summer I am working with the Outagamie Waupaca Library System in Appleton, Wisconsin. The biggest projects that we are working on are creating a digital preservation policy, workflow and data management… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Manitowoc County
My name is Cameron Fontaine and I am a UW-Milwaukee MLIS student working with the Manitowoc County Historical Society through the CCDC program. The Manitowoc County Historical Society is a gorgeous site comprised of historic buildings and artifacts which serve as a sort of living museum, the Pinecrest Historical Village. They host scores of school… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Menominee Nation
My name is Steve Moray and I am a graduate student at UW-Milwaukee in a coordinated MA History/MLIS degree program concentrating in archives. I am working with the College of Menominee Nation Library in Keshena, Wisconsin to help preserve their digital collections. It’s still early on in the process, but so far I have organized… Read More…
CCDC Student Reflections: Barron County
Hello! I’m Jodi Kiffmeyer, a student at UW-Madison’s iSchool. Last semester I rediscovered a passion for family and community history while taking a genealogy course at the iSchool. Unfortunately, I also discovered that it’s not always easy to find historical information online when your family comes from rural northern Wisconsin, as mine does. That’s one… Read More…
CCDC Workshop Wrapup
On May 22, Curating Community Digital Collections (CCDC) participants convened at the Lowell Center in Madison, Wisconsin for an intensive training experience – an immersion workshop focused on digital preservation. The event also functioned as the official launch of CCDC’s year one summer projects. Over three days, the workshop offered a range of presentations and… Read More…
WAAL and WAPL Conferences 2018
WAAL conference, April 27, 2018, Oshkosh Presented by Josh Hickman, Beloit College and Emily Pfotenhauer, WiLS. WAPL conference, May 4, 2018, Pewaukee Presented by Gail Murray, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Emily Pfotenhauer, WiLS…. Read More…
Announcing the 2018 CCDC Cohort
We are excited to announce the participants in our first IMLS-funded Curating Community Digital Collections cohort! This summer, each team — made up of a supervisor at a host library or museum, a library school grad student and a professional mentor — will work together to plan for improved management and organization of the host… Read More…
NEH Grant Will Digitize, Share Wartime Oral Histories
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently announced $18.6 million in grants for 199 humanities projects across the country. “These new NEH-supported projects deepen our understanding and appreciation of the traditions, values, and historical figures who have shaped our country,” said NEH Senior Deputy Chairman Jon Parrish Peede. We are thrilled to share the… Read More…
2017: Our Year in Review
What did Recollection Wisconsin get up to in 2017? A lot! Read all about it in our 2017 Year in Review…. Read More…
Call for applications: Curating Community Digital Collections
Do you have a digital preservation project on your list of new year’s resolutions? Are you starting to acquire digital materials without a plan to adequately deal with them? Perhaps you already have a few preservation projects in mind but don’t know where to start? Fear not! Recollection Wisconsin and WiLS are excited to offer… Read More…
IMLS-funded digital preservation initiative launches
Curating Community Digital Collections, our two-year IMLS-funded digital preservation initiative, officially launched on December 1. Recollection Wisconsin is thrilled to welcome Vicki Tobias as the Program Coordinator for this new project. In this role, Vicki will work with staff at small and mid-sized libraries and cultural heritage organizations, graduate students in the library schools at… Read More…
Wisconsin Local History and Historic Preservation Conference 2017
Workshop: Introduction to Digital Projects Wisconsin Local History and Historic Preservation Conference 2017 La Crosse, October 20, 2017 Presented by Ann Hanlon, UW-Milwaukee Materials: Presentation slides Digital Project Planning Worksheet Handout — Further Resources… Read More…
Movie-struck Wisconsin
Guest curator Katherine Quanz received her PhD from the Department of English and Film Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her work on sound design history and aboriginal media has appeared in Velvet Light Trap and the anthology Cinephemera. She is currently completing her Masters of Library and Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Despite… Read More…
Listening to War: Directory and oral history tip sheets
An important product of our yearlong NEH-funded planning project was a directory of the audiovisual collections we identified around the state. The directory, Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories, is now available online. It includes descriptions of 35 A/V collections from 25 Wisconsin libraries, archives and museums. These oral history collections document Wisconsin residents’ experiences of World… Read More…
Celebrating our first year in DPLA
In August, Recollection Wisconsin celebrated its first anniversary as a partner in the Digital Public Library of America. As the state’s DPLA Service Hub, Recollection Wisconsin shares almost half a million digital cultural heritage resources from dozens of Wisconsin libraries, archives, and museums on this national stage. Here’s a look at what your DPLA Service… Read More…
Wisconsin state government documents online
More than 15,000 state government documents are now available through Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA, thanks to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB). These collections are in active development, with new content added each month. The Wisconsin Digital Archives, maintained by DPI, includes materials from the executive and… Read More…
Interview with Dana Gerber-Margie
For the past year, Digital Archives Assistant Dana Gerber-Margie worked with WiLS and Recollection Wisconsin on the NEH-funded project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories to identify, inventory, and plan for the digitization and preservation of hidden, at-risk audiovisual collections across Wisconsin. This year-long planning project sought out oral history collections that capture… Read More…
Dispatches from DPLAfest
Post contributed by Gail Murray, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning. Reposted from WI Libraries for Everyone, Division for Libraries & Technology, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. In late April, 350 librarians, archivists, educators, developers, and scholars convened at the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago for the 4th DPLAfest, a 2-day gathering of individuals… Read More…
Wisconsin Historical Newspapers Online
Digital access to historical newspapers is always in high demand from genealogists and other researchers. Recollection Wisconsin harvests a handful of historical newspaper collections (see list below). However, due to lack of centralized full-text searching and other technical limitations, we don’t actively work to digitize or support access to newspaper content. Fortunately, there are many… Read More…
Federal funding and local history: Impacts of IMLS in Wisconsin
The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grants to States program is the largest source of federal funding for library services in the U.S. In Wisconsin, Library Service and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from IMLS are administered by the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries and Technology. Each year, DPI distributes nearly… Read More…
African American history materials available through Umbra Search
Recollection Wisconsin has partnered with Umbra Search African American History at the University of Minnesota — a program that makes African American culture and history more broadly available through a freely available search tool (umbrasearch.org), strategic digitization, public events and workshops. Digitized materials that document African American cultural history, held in the collections of Recollection… Read More…
2016: Our year in review
2016 was a busy year for Recollection Wisconsin, with lots of new partnerships, projects and presentations. Read all about it in our 2016 Year in Review…. Read More…
The Arctic Fox Valley
Like my trip to La Crosse, I didn’t let a snowstorm keep me from a two-day trip to the Fox Valley region. The first day was clear and cold with a drive to the Arvid E Miller Memorial Library Museum, a repository for the Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Community. The next day, I conducted an inventory… Read More…
Updated metadata guidelines
Recollection Wisconsin has finalized an updated, simplified set of metadata guidelines for our Content Partners. The new Recollection Wisconsin Metadata Essentials replaces the Wisconsin Heritage Online Metadata Guidelines (last updated 2009) and Wisconsin Heritage Online Quick Guide to Metadata (2010). The biggest change in the new guidelines is that now only four metadata fields are… Read More…
Service Hub Charter
In November 2016, our Governing Partners officially adopted a charter. This document affirms each partner’s commitment to access, collaboration, and sustainability of the Recollection Wisconsin Service Hub for the Digital Public Library of America…. Read More…
On the River: Oral Histories from La Crosse
Right after a snowstorm hit us on Saturday, I drove through subzero temperatures to spend a few days in La Crosse! La Crosse is a college town with a vibrant downtown right on the Mississippi River. I spent a full day at the La Crosse Public Library and the next day in the UW La… Read More…
Stories about Submarines
The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is yet another example of small staff museums doing big things to save its history. The museum is in a large space right off the Manitowoc River, off Lake Michigan. I had a lot to inventory, so unfortunately I had to bypass the exhibits and go straight to the archives. I… Read More…
Central Wisconsin: Four Organizations in Three Days
For my last post I talked about my trip to Stevens Point in central Wisconsin. Well, I must’ve liked it so much that I went back again to the center of the state. This time, I visited four institutions in four towns: Neillsville, Marshfield, Wausau, and Medford. The first leg of my trip was to… Read More…
Brisk Autumn Trip to Stevens Point
The end of October doesn’t just mean colorful leaves, warmer blankets and Halloween — it also means the Wisconsin Local History and Historic Preservation Conference! This year’s conference was held in Wisconsin Dells, which is kind of like one big pool party for families (it was a little too chilly for conference participants to partake… Read More…
Wisconsin Local History and Historic Preservation Conference 2016
Workshop: Digital Projects Clinic Date: October 21, 2016 Presenters: Emily Pfotenhauer and Melissa McLimans, WiLS Materials: Presentation slides Digital Project Planning Worksheet Handout — Further Resources… Read More…
Carson Gulley, Madison’s first celebrity chef
The following is an excerpt from Madison Food: A History of Capital Cuisine by Nichole Fromm & JonMichael Rasmus (Arcadia, 2015), shared here with permission of the authors. This section from Chapter 5, “Soul Proprietors: African American Restaurant Owners and Chefs,” recounts the stellar career and civil rights struggles of Carson Gulley, the first celebrity… Read More…
Veterans’ stories from Green Bay and Two Rivers
My trip to the Green Bay area covered the most institutions I’ve visited so far in a single trip: over two days, I worked at the UW Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center, in downtown Green Bay at the Neville Public Museum of Brown County, and then at the Lester Public Library in Two… Read More…
A Superior Lake to Match a Superior Collection
At the end of August, I had the pleasure of making the long drive north from Madison to Superior, Wisconsin to visit the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center. I had never been so far north in Wisconsin before, so this was a real treat – and I had a great time, meeting quite lovely… Read More…
Wisconsin goes live in DPLA!
Recollection Wisconsin is celebrating today, as digital collections from our partners across the state are now available in the Digital Public Library of America! After three years of collaborative planning and development, Wisconsin’s libraries, archives, historical societies and museums are joining their peers around the country in providing free online access to their digital collections… Read More…
Finding Oral Histories in Eau Claire
As a proud new team member of Recollection Wisconsin, I’ll be writing a series of dispatches from my travels all over Wisconsin to find oral history collections at libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and other memory organizations. I have this rare opportunity thanks to our NEH grant-funded yearlong project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime… Read More…
Introducing our NEH project
In March, we announced the news that we received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as part of the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources category, to identify, inventory, and plan for the digitization and preservation of hidden, at-risk audiovisual collections across Wisconsin. More than a month into the grant, it’s time to… Read More…
DPOE Workshop
Managing Digital Content Over Time An Introduction to Digital Preservation Sponsored by the Digital Initiatives Coordinating Committee Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries June 6, 2016 Pyle Center, Madison Presenters Sarah Grimm Electronic Records Archivist, Wisconsin Historical Society Emily Pfotenhauer Recollection Wisconsin Program Manger, WiLS Slide decks Intro Module 1: Identify Module 2: Select Module… Read More…
South Central Library System Workshop – Tech Day 2016
Slides_SCLSTechDay_2016 DigitalProjectChecklist2016 DigitalProjectPlanningWorksheet SampleMetadata_Photo Resourceshandout2016… Read More…
RW receives NEH planning grant
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $21.1 million in grants for 248 humanities projects. We are thrilled to share the news that among these is a $40,000 planning grant to WiLS, project manager for Recollection Wisconsin. Our NEH-funded project will identify, assess, and plan for the digitization of oral history interview recordings… Read More…
Save the Date: Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference August 9-11
The 2nd Upper Midwest Digital Collections Conference (#UMDCC16) will take place August 9-11, 2016 at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa (Quad Cities). The UMDCC provides opportunities for digital collections creators and curators in the region and beyond to network, share best practices, participate in hands-on workshops, and learn from leaders in digital cultural heritage…. Read More…
Digitizing at-risk media with RADD
Recovering Analog and Digital Data (RADD), in the Laboratory Library at the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at UW-Madison, is a collection of equipment for digitizing audio cassettes, VHS tapes, floppy disks and other outmoded media formats. The oral histories, musical performances, and other unique information stored on these types of materials are… Read More…
RW named to Family Tree Magazine’s Best State Websites list
Recollection Wisconsin has been named to Family Tree Magazine’s list of Best State Websites for Genealogy for 2015. This list honors the best websites that specialize in genealogy research for one of the 50 US states. The 75 websites represent the go-to online destinations for tracing American ancestors, state by state…. Read More…
Historic Preservation Workshop
Slides from a presentation for the Wisconsin Historical Society’s workshop for historic preservation consultants, November 13, 2015…. Read More…
Wisconsin’s Civil War monuments
In 2012, guest curator Melinda Roberts set out to visit every one of the state’s 532 Wisconsin Historical Society “official” historical markers. Since then, she has photographed and researched more than 5,500 Wisconsin historical markers and sites, museums, lighthouses, and veterans memorials, all documented on her website, Wisconsin Historical Markers (now defunct). Read more about… Read More…
ECHO: Exploring Cultural History Online, Winding Rivers Library System
This post was contributed by Barry McKnight, current Digital Assistant for the ECHO Project at Winding Rivers Library System and Cassandra Torgerson, who held the position of Digital Assistant at WRLS in 2014. The Winding Rivers Library System, based in La Crosse, wanted to increase access to the unique history materials owned by our system… Read More…
Wisconsin joins the Digital Public Library of America
On August 28, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) announced that Wisconsin is one of the newest additions to its growing roster of partners. DPLA brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives and museums and makes them freely available to the world. Since launching in April 2013, DPLA has aggregated over 11 million… Read More…
CCC Camp 657, Langlade County Historical Society
In March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the first New Deal programs designed to create jobs for Americans during the Great Depression. From 1933-1942, the CCC put nearly three million unemployed young men to work building parks, planting trees, stocking streams and rivers, and other environmental conservation projects. The… Read More…
Ice cream parlors
This exhibit was created in collaboration with Emily Nelson, who completed her B.A. in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Spring 2015. Several necessary establishments occupied Wisconsin towns at the turn of the 20th century: a blacksmith shop, a tavern, a bank, a drugstore. Other locations were novelty treasures, such as the ice cream… Read More…
Student spotlight
Recollection Wisconsin has been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with many UW-Madison students over the years. As the school year comes to a close, we wanted to highlight the work of three great students who have recently passed through our (virtual) doors. Jody Bembinster completed her required practicum as a distance student in… Read More…
Medical College of Wisconsin
Six digital collections of documents, photographs and artifacts from the Medical College of Wisconsin can now be discovered through Recollection Wisconsin. The collections, created by the MCW Libraries, trace the development and consolidation of Wisconsin’s first medical schools beginning in the 1890s. Additional digital projects in the works from the MCW Libraries include an oral… Read More…
DPLAFest
This spring, Hannah Stitzlein, a graduate student in the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at UW-Madison, is working on an independent study project with Recollection Wisconsin to evaluate metadata in preparation for our participation in the Digital Public Library of America. Hannah is a distance student living in Ohio. In April, she headed… Read More…
Historic Trade Cards, Milwaukee Public Library
In the late nineteenth century, one of the most prevalent and eye-catching forms of advertising could fit easily in your pocket: the trade card. Retailers and manufacturers distributed small printed cards, known as trade cards or advertising cards, to shoppers along with packaged goods such as soap and medicines. Printers took advantage of the newly… Read More…
Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies 2015
Slides and handouts presented for the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies annual conference, Madison, Wisconsin, March 16, 2015. Handout: Teaching Visual Literacy (pdf) Handout: Using Recollection Wisconsin in the Classroom (pdf)… Read More…
Madison Central High School yearbooks, Dane County Historical Society
A digital collection of Madison Central High School yearbooks from the Dane County Historical Society has been added to the Recollection Wisconsin syllabus. Madison Central High School was Dane County’s oldest high school, opening as Madison High School in 1853 with 90 students and only one teacher. It became Madison Central High School in 1922… Read More…
Octagon houses
This exhibit was created in collaboration with Emily Nelson, an undergraduate History major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A tour of 19th century Wisconsin architecture brings up lumber baron’s mansions, dairy barns, and . . . octagon houses? It was once a craze among the stylish to structure their homes in the shape we now… Read More…
East Troy Electric Railroad Collection
A new digital collection has zoomed in from East Troy, providing a history of electric railroads, streetcars and buses in southeastern Wisconsin. The East Troy Electric Railroad dates to 1907 as a branch of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (TMER&L Co.). Established in 1896, TMER&L operated the largest electric railway system in Wisconsin…. Read More…
Eastern Shores Library System
Slides and handout from a webinar presented for Eastern Shores Library System as part of their Ozaukee and Sheboygan Memories project, February 20, 2015. The project is made possible with Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)…. Read More…
Mineral Point Library Archives
In A Field Guide To Mineral Point (Mineral Point Historical Society, 2012), Nancy Pfotenhauer writes: Mineral Point started as a wild and wooly frontier town. The discovery of lead in 1828 attracted dirt-poor hard-scrabble diggers, educated second sons, land speculators, lawyers, and lawless desperadoes . . . The very first to arrive were Yankees from… Read More…
Exploring effigy mounds
This exhibit was created in collaboration with Emily Nelson, an undergraduate History major at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. More than a thousand years ago, Indigenous people in southern Wisconsin sculpted the landscape into the shapes of the creatures they saw around them. These mounds in the earth continue to watch over the people of the… Read More…
2014: Our year in review
In 2014, Recollection Wisconsin focused on building connections both inside and outside the state. We reached out to K-12 educators with new materials for classroom use and surveyed libraries and museums in small communities across Wisconsin to collect feedback on their digitization needs and interests. We forged relationships in the region by helping to plan… Read More…
Tumblr top ten of 2014
And now presenting the ten posts that inspired the most comments, likes and shares on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, in 2014. For more great images, see which Tumblr posts got the biggest buzz in 2013. 10. Standing for indigenous people on Columbus Day, 1992 Tumblr likes and reblogs: 104 9. Nuns and books on… Read More…
Veterans Photographs, College of Menominee Nation/Menominee Public Library
Menominee County in northeastern Wisconsin has one of the highest per-capita rates of military service in the nation. A new initiative from the College of Menominee Nation’s S. Verna Fowler Academic Library and Menominee Public Library pays tribute to the many veterans in the community. Bryan Stevenson, Head of Special Collections at the College, invited… Read More…
McDonald’s in Wisconsin
Guest curator Nichole Fromm is a librarian who blogs about restaurants at Eating in Madison A to Z with her husband JM. She was also the proud recipient in 1986 of a Golden Arches Good Taste Award. For better or worse, McDonald’s has built up a place in American hearts and minds. This exhibit uncovers… Read More…
Scandinavia Memory Project
Twenty-two yearbooks and other publications from schools in the village of Scandinavia in Waupaca County, Wisconsin are now available online from the Scandinavia Public Library. Although no schools remain in the community, from 1877-1932 the village was home to Scandinavia Academy (renamed Central Wisconsin College in 1920), a junior college supported by the Norwegian Lutheran… Read More…
Marquette University History Online
Over 11,000 photographs illustrating the history of Marquette University in Milwaukee are now available online thanks to the University Archives’ ongoing scan-on-demand program. For the past six years, the Archives has digitized materials in response to research requests from students, faculty, alumni and the general public. Some of the most heavily-requested subjects include athletics, campus… Read More…
Tumblr top three: September/October 2014
Counting down the most popular posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, in September and October. 3. Warming up with a hot toddy 2. Celebrating Labor Day 1. Observing Indigenous Peoples’ Day Art Shegonee, executive director of the Native American Center, watches speakers during a rally celebrating cultural resistance and survival on Columbus Day, 1992. UW-Madison… Read More…
Recollection Wisconsin reaches a milestone
We’re very excited to have hit a major milestone this fall — more than 200,000 photos, maps, books and other digital historical resources can now be discovered through the Recollection Wisconsin portal. We’ve grown so much since the portal first launched (as Wisconsin Heritage Online) in 2006, thanks to expanding digitization efforts from libraries, archives,… Read More…
South Wood County Postcards
The South Wood County Historical Museum in Wisconsin Rapids has shared online nearly 200 postcards from the cities of Grand Rapids, Nekoosa and Port Edwards. This new digital collection showcases just some of the Museum’s sizable archive of postcards. Intern Emily Ho worked with Museum board president Phil Brown to create descriptions and build the digital… Read More…
The art of rosemaling
This exhibit was created in collaboration with Emily Nelson, an undergraduate History major at UW-Madison graduating in May 2015. She’s volunteering with Recollection Wisconsin in order to gain experience in historical writing and social media. Emily is a native of Ladysmith, Wisconsin and her Norwegian heritage inspired her to explore the art of rosemaling. Rosemaling… Read More…
World War I Military Portraits, Milwaukee Public Library
At the centennial of the start of World War I, the Milwaukee Public Library has launched an extensive new digital collection documenting the men and women of Milwaukee County who served in the war. The bulk of the collection consists of more than 30,000 handwritten service record cards compiled by the Milwaukee County Chapter of… Read More…
Tumblr top three: July/August 2014
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for July and August. 3. Celebrating Bastille Days in Milwaukee 2. Traditional Norwegian craft and music in southwest Wisconsin 1. College recruiting in another era Blogger Cool Chicks from History shared this post and added: “Apparently the “femininity” campaign was unsuccessful as Viterbo… Read More…
Milwaukee Polonia, UW-Milwaukee
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries has launched an exciting (and enormous!) new digital collection — Milwaukee Polonia: The Roman Kwasniewski Photographs — now available for searching through Recollection Wisconsin. Roman Kwasniewski was a studio photographer in the Polish-American community on Milwaukee’s south side from 1907-1947. Using a unique rapid-capture system that we blogged about last year, UWM has… Read More…
Local history regional meeting, Brodhead
Slides from the Capital Region’s regional meeting for the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Council for Local History, hosted by the Brodhead Historical Society, Brodhead, Wisconsin, August 14, 2014…. Read More…
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Wisconsin Historical Society
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps are essential resources for historic preservationists, genealogists and other researchers looking for detailed documentation of American cities and towns and how they’ve changed over time. Thanks to a generous grant from the Caxambas Foundation, the Wisconsin Historical Society is currently building a digital collection of its Sanborn maps, representing more than… Read More…
Survey results: Digital Heritage in Wisconsin’s Small Communities
This spring we surveyed libraries, historical societies and museums in small Wisconsin communities (defined as population under 6,000) to find out how we can help them build and grow digital collections of historical materials. Many thanks to all 140 organizations that took the time to respond to our survey! Read on for a summary of the… Read More…
Tumblr top three: June 2014
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of June. 3. LGBT Pride Month 2. Wisconsin’s founding member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) 1. Celebrating Juneteenth Highlights from digital collections across Wisconsin are added to our Tumblr blog several times each week. Check out our monthly top posts… Read More…
Antigo soldiers in World War I, Langlade County Historical Society
More than 200 of William H. Wessa’s photographs of the 107th Trench Mortar Battery Company (TMB) of Antigo, Wisconsin are now online from the Langlade County Historical Society. Wessa was a professional photographer and lifelong Antigo resident. He brought his camera with him when he signed up for service with the TMB during World War… Read More…
Best Practices for Managing Born Digital Content
Webinar presented for WiLS by Emily Pfotenhauer, Recollection Wisconsin Program Manager, June 24, 2014. Based on information from the Demystifying Born Digital reports from OCLC Research and the Digital Preservation Education and Outreach (DPOE) curriculum developed by the Library of Congress. Handout – Resource links… Read More…
Winding Rivers Library System digitization project
Slides and handout from the Winding Rivers Library System’s Exploring Cultural History Online kickoff event, La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 19, 2014. The WRLS ECHO project is an LSTA-funded initiative to digitize photographs and postcards held by member libraries and local historical societies in the region. Handout (pdf)… Read More…
Tumblr top three: April/May 2014
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, in April and May. 3. Celebrating Syttende Mai Syttende Mai — the seventeenth of May — is the day Norway (and many people of Norwegian heritage in Wisconsin) celebrates its independence. We celebrated by sharing this hand-painted 1775 trunk, which was most likely… Read More…
Grant County Historical Society
The Grant County Historical Society maintains two locations in southwest Wisconsin: the Cunningham Museum in Lancaster and the Mitchell-Rountree Stone Cottage in Platteville. They’ve also made many items from their extensive photo archives available online in a variety of ways — on Facebook, on their own website, and now through Recollection Wisconsin. Volunteer Dennis Wilson… Read More…
The Good Stuff: Wisconsin’s sausage heritage
Guest curator Terese Allen has written scores of articles and books about Wisconsin’s food traditions and culinary culture, including the award-winning titles The Flavor of Wisconsin and The Flavor of Wisconsin for Kids. She is food columnist for Edible Madison and Edible Door magazines, vice-president of the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) and a… Read More…
Tumblr top three: February/March 2014
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, in February and March. 3. A Wisconsin-born celebrity strikes a pose 2. Enjoying the ice in Milwaukee 1. A tough team from Wood County Highlights from digital collections across Wisconsin are added to our Tumblr blog several times a week. Check out our monthly top… Read More…
Tumblr top three: January 2014
Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, for the month of January. 3. An icy playground on Lake Michigan 1. and 2. Milwaukeeans remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Two photos we shared in honor of Martin Luther King Day show Milwaukee residents gathered on the first anniversary of King’s… Read More…
History of UW-Stout
A new digital collection from the University of Wisconsin-Stout Archives looks at more than a century of vocational education in northwest Wisconsin. In 1891, James Huff Stout, heir to the Knapp, Stout and Company lumber fortune, established a school in his home city of Menomonie. Inspired by the industrial arts education movement of its day,… Read More…
Lumber camp life
Logging has been a vital part of Wisconsin’s history since before statehood, and the life of the lumberjack remains a vivid element of Wisconsin folklore. Establishing a Logging Camp Most logging crews in Wisconsin operated only in the winter, taking advantage of hard, frozen ground to haul heavy loads of logs on sleighs rather than… Read More…
Tumblr top ten of 2013
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…
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 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…
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…
Jay “Ding” Darling Collection, Beloit College
This month we added the Jay “Ding” Darling Collection from the Beloit College Archives to our search engine. Jay Norwood Darling, better known as “Ding,” spent most of his career as an editorial cartoonist for the Des Moines Register and Leader. A dedicated conservationist, he also created the Federal Duck Stamp Program and, in 1936, founded the National Wildlife… Read More…
On the Road: Ashland and Three Lakes
Last week I spent two days in the far north for training visits with the Ashland Historical Society Museum and the Demmer Memorial Library in Three Lakes. I was excited to see several inches of snow on the ground, since we haven’t yet had any snowfall in Madison this season. My first stop was the… Read More…
Share your Wisconsin winter stories
All of us create Wisconsin through our contributions to this place and in knowing, remembering, and sharing our stories. We’ve teamed up with Wisconsin Life, an audio essay series on Wisconsin Public Radio that celebrates what makes Wisconsin unique, to collect and share your stories, memories and experiences of winters in Wisconsin. We invite you to contribute… Read More…
Deer hunting
Our guest curator for this post is Beth A. Zinsli, a member of a large deer hunting clan from central Wisconsin. She was raised on venison, Colby cheese, and other typical Wisconsin fare. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in art history and visual culture studies at UW-Madison. Hunting whitetail deer is an annual fall ritual… Read More…
Grand hotels
This gallery offers a closer look at some of the state’s grandest hotels and resorts built between the 1870s and the 1940s. Some, like Oakton Springs in Pewaukee, have long since vanished; others, like the Northernaire of Three Lakes and Milwaukee’s Pfister, continue to serve visitors from around the country. Use the arrows or thumbnails… Read More…
Bicycling in the 19th century
The guest curators for this post are Nick Hoffman and Jesse Gant. Nick is the curator at the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton and Jesse is a Ph.D. candidate in history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Together they are writing an introductory book-length history of 19th century bicycling culture in Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Historical… Read More…
Home economics education
Our guest curator for this exhibit is Erika Janik, an award-winning writer, historian, and the producer and editor of Wisconsin Life on Wisconsin Public Radio. Erika is the author of Odd Wisconsin; A Short History of Wisconsin; Madison: A History of a Model City, and Apple: A Global History. Originally from Redmond, Washington, she now knows more… Read More…
Welsh in Wisconsin
The earliest immigrants from Wales to Wisconsin arrived in 1840, with peak immigration between about 1850 and 1860. To read more about Welsh settlement in the state, see Phillips G. Davies, Welsh in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2006). Tell everyone who inquires after us that we think the country will prove very agreeable to us…. Read More…
