The Toolkit brings together resources for creating, managing, and sharing digital collections to address common concerns we often hear, like this one: What quick or simple improvements can I make to my metadata to help users find what they need? Recollection Wisconsin is the collective effort of 240 libraries, historical societies, museums, and other historical… Read More…
Latest News
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…
Building a Digital Readiness Community of Practice Update: Why Digitize?
As we continue to compile tools and resources for local history organizations to tackle digital readiness, we keep returning to one of the foundational questions of this initiative: why digitize? What motivates historical societies and public libraries to digitize their collections? During the 2019 planning grant that inspired our work, 85 Wisconsin history organizations answered… 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…
Recollection Wisconsin 2020 Year in Review
In this last extraordinary year, we’ve witnessed resilience and creativity from our partners and colleagues as they responded to both the global pandemic and powerful social justice movements. They documented the personal experiences of community members in challenging times, supported teachers and students as schools closed and learning transitioned to virtual environments, and turned a… Read More…
New Recollection Wisconsin Collections
The most recent ingest of the Recollection Wisconsin collection into the Digital Public Library of American is complete and we’ve surpassed 600,000 historical photos, documents, and other resources in the collection! Among the additions this quarter are these two new collections: Listening to War brings together first-person accounts of veterans and civilians in Wisconsin during… Read More…
Rolling Out the Digital Readiness Levels
Over the past few months, we have been busy gathering feedback from experts and colleagues and honing the Digital Readiness Levels. The Levels are a structured roadmap for organizations to plan and sustainably grow their digital initiatives in order to improve access to collections, and a foundational resource for the Digital Readiness Community of Practice…. 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…
