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…
NEH
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…
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…
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…
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…