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…



You must be logged in to post a comment.