UW-Milwaukee

Desi Wisconsin

Whether it was segregation in the 1950s or the cultural and political tumult of the 1960s and 1970s, South Asian immigrants to Wisconsin confronted a world fundamentally alien to that they had left behind. Neither black nor white, these individuals managed to raise families and often succeeded in their careers. From a few dozen students, professionals, and businessmen and their families who settled in Wisconsin, the presence of South Asian immigrants grew exponentially as they became tightly integrated into the fabric of their communities. The journey to develop a distinct identity as South Asian Americans in Wisconsin over the course of decades is highlighted in this collection of oral histories from some of the first South Asian immigrants to Wisconsin.

Digital Sanborn Maps of Milwaukee 1894 and 1900

Two fire insurance atlases featuring detailed color maps of Milwaukee. Produced by the Sanborn Map Company, the 1894 atlas includes four volumes consisting of 450 map sheets and the 1910 atlas includes eight volumes consisting of 830 map sheets.

Eldon Murray Papers

Eldon Murray was a prominent activist in the Milwaukee LGBT community. In addition to his work with the Gay Peoples Union (GPU) and the Milwaukee AIDS Project, Murray was the founder of SAGE/Milwaukee, the first organization in Wisconsin dedicated to serving the needs of older gay, lesbian, and bisexual people through community building and counseling services. The digital collection includes selections from the Eldon Murray Papers, including an extensive series of newspaper clippings from the 1940s to the 1970s, photographs, fiction and nonfiction writings, activist organization records, and a handful of publications.

History of UW-Milwaukee

The History of UW-Milwaukee Collection includes resources that document the history and evolution of this campus. The collection includes published material as well as archival materials and may eventually include additional books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps and other resources deemed important to the study of our state’s university system and its campuses.

Invictus

The Invictus, launched in 1977, was published by the UWM Black Student Union (BSU), giving voice to the University’s African American student body with news features, profiles, and poetry. The paper had two significant idle periods – one in the early 1980s and another between 1988 and 1993 – but was relaunched after both by the BSU.

Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details

The Jeypore Portfolio of Architectural Details digital collections includes two of the twelve volumes from an original 1890-1913 publication. The volumes include volume IX, Dados, with a note on the process of fresco paintings in Jeypore and volume X, Parapets.

March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project

Primary sources from the UW-Milwaukee Libraries and the Wisconsin Historical Society that provide a window onto Milwaukee’s civil rights history in the 1960s. The efforts of civil rights activists and their opponents are documented in photographs, unedited news film footage, text documents and oral history interviews.

Milwaukee LGBT Oral History Project Interviews

Oral history interviews conducted by the Milwaukee LGBT History Project 2003-2007. Interviewees describe their coming out experiences, the Gay Liberation Movement in Milwaukee, early LGBT organizations, the impact of feminism on LGBT politics, and LGBT social activities.

Milwaukee Neighborhoods – Photos and Maps 1885-1992

Images of Milwaukee neighborhoods from the Far Northwest Side to the Far South Side, providing a visual documentation of the development of the city of Milwaukee from the mid-1880s to the early 1990s. The image collection is accompanied by 12 maps of Milwaukee from the holdings of the American Geographical Society Library.

Milwaukee Polonia: The Roman Kwasniewski Photographs

More than 30,000 photographs by Roman Kwasniewski, who worked as a studio photographer in the Polish-American community on Milwaukee’s south side from 1907-1947, documenting social events such as First Communions, Confirmations, graduations, weddings, and anniversaries as well as day-to-day life in the neighborhood. Together, these photographs offer a portrait of Milwaukee’s second largest ethnic group in the first half of the 20th century.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater Photographic History

A visual chronicle of the artistic productions of Milwaukee Repertory Theater in the years 1977-1994. The collection presents 1,800 images documenting 195 performances during these 17 seasons.

Milwaukee Socialism: The Emil Seidel Era

This digital resource offers an introduction to some of the rich materials related to the history of socialist politics in Milwaukee contained in the collections of the UWM Archives. Our collections are focused especially on Milwaukee’s first socialist mayor, Emil Seidel. This digital collection includes the entirety of Seidel’s personal papers, his official papers from his time serving as Mayor of Milwaukee, and his unpublished autobiography. Additionally, the digital collection includes selections from the UWM Special Collections’ monographs by and about the Milwaukee Turners.

Oral Histories of the Wisconsin HIV/AIDS History Project

The Wisconsin HIV/AIDS History Project brings to light significant stories from the state’s history of HIV/AIDS through the medium of oral histories. This collection includes video interviews with physicians, nurses, social service workers, AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW) staff, and long-time survivors. The interviews were conducted by Linda Wesp at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2017-2018.

Picturing Golda Meir

This collection of images documents the life of Golda Meir from her childhood in Pinsk, Russia, through her school years in Milwaukee, her pioneer years in Palestine in the 1920s, to the peak of her political career as Prime Minister of Israel (1969-1974).

Shall Not Be Recognized Oral History Project Interviews

In 2007, author Will Fellows collaborated with photographer Jeff Pearcy to create “Shall Not Be Recognized,” an exhibit of photographic and verbal portraits of thirty same-sex couples in long-term, committed relationships, all residents of the Milwaukee area.

The Sphere: The Nation’s First and Only Grocery Fanzine

Published every full moon (approximately) from 1993-1995, The Sphere was a fanzine published in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Mike Koppa and distributed at Koppa’s Farwell Foods. This digital collection includes the full run of this unique publication, with the exception of Volume 1, Numbers 1, 2, and 4.

UW-Milwaukee Book Arts Collection

Digital representations of 31 artists’ books from the Special Collections at UWM Libraries. This collection presents artists’ books – books designed and handmade by artists – that provide examples of the expressive use of the book arts including binding, papermaking, printing, typography and page design.

UW-Milwaukee Latino Activism

This collection includes photographs, documents, newspaper articles and video documenting efforts during the 1970-71 academic year to improve conditions for the Latino community at UW-Milwaukee. In November 1970, UWM opened its Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute, a forerunner of today’s Roberto Hernandez Center.

UW-Milwaukee Photo Collection

To commemorate UWM’s 50th anniversary, the UWM Libraries prepared a digital collection of photographs documenting the history of the university and its predecessor institutions, the Wisconsin State College of Milwaukee (formerly the Milwaukee State Teachers College) and the University of Wisconsin Extension Center at Milwaukee.

UW-Milwaukee Post Newspaper

Since 1956, the UWM Post has served as UW-Milwaukee’s unofficial news outlet and a primary source of news about campus activities, the university administration, and the greater Milwaukee area. Published weekly and operated entirely by student staff, the Post printed its last issue in November 2012 and has published online exclusively since 2013. The digital collection represents an almost complete run of the Post; gaps in the digital collection reflect gaps in the physical collection housed in the UWM Archives.

UW-Milwaukee Yearbook Collection

UWM’s yearbook, The Ivy, was named for the ivy-clad campus buildings, which symbolized a tradition of knowledge and learning. The yearbook was published from 1942 to 1968. No volumes appeared in 1960 and 1961.

Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA 

This digital collection provides access to primary sources documenting the activities and output of Works Project Administration (WPA) arts projects in Wisconsin from 1935-1943, especially the work of the Milwaukee Handicrafts Project. Materials include design portfolios, oral history interviews with artists and selections from the papers of Elsa Emile Ulbricht, director of the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, and Charlotte Russell Partridge and Miriam Frink, co-founders of the Layton School of Art.

Wisconsin Pioneer Experience

A digital collection of diaries, letters, reminiscences, speeches and other writings of people who settled and built Wisconsin during the 19th century. These materials were selected from the collections of the Wisconsin Area Research Centers (ARCs) as well as the headquarters of the Wisconsin Historical Society.