We are thrilled to be working with the Middleton Area Historical Society (MAHS) as part of the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative!
The Middleton Area Historical Society was established in 1972 with a mission to preserve and publicize the history of the Middleton, Wisconsin area. It is two museums – the Rowley House Museum and the Historical Museum. These two museums contain a wealth of historical artefacts, photographs, documents and a large collection of Depression glassware. They actively document area history through their newsletter, historic fact sheets and other community activities and publications.
Their project includes digitizing and sharing online materials – photos, postcards, pamphlets, posters, maps – that document early Middleton history. Subject areas include hospitality, restaurants, street views, historic buildings, schools and transportation. It might surprise you to learn that Middleton traces its beginnings to an 1832 fur trading post along the northern shore of Lake Mendota. The Township of Middleton was founded in 1848 and about a decade later, in 1856, the much-coveted railroad arrived, establishing Middleton as a hub of activity for the area.
Leading Team Middleton is Russell Knapp. Russell is a graduate student in his last semester at the UW-Madison iSchool. He has been working in library and archives-related jobs for about four years. He is interested in archives, special collections, and rare books, and is especially interested in processing and digitization. Most recently Russell worked in Special Collections at the UW-Madison Libraries where he processed archival collections and helped patrons use rare books and materials.
Russell grew up in Freedom, Wisconsin, and received his bachelor’s degree at Taylor University in Indiana. Outside of work and school, Russell enjoys reading classic and fantasy literature and playing board games with friends. He is looking forward to working with the Middleton Area Historical Society to digitize and share their collections!
This spring, Russell will be working closely with two longtime MAHS staff and volunteers, Ruth Bachmeier and Carolyn Mattern.
Ruth Bachmeier is the current president of the Middleton Area Historical Society. Her background is in Journalism and Public Relations, having spent her career as editor of the local paper and then with the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District Community Relations and Media Department. This project combines her two favorite pastimes – photography and sharing Middleton history and people through stories. She is very excited to digitize and provide public access to the MAHS collection.
Carolyn Mattern has had a long archival career, including over 30 years at the Wisconsin Historical Society during which time she supervised practicum students in the archives program at the UW-Madison iSchool. Since retiring from WHS, Carolyn has volunteered in the archives at the First Unitarian Society in Madison, the Middleton Area Historical Society and the Oakwood Residents archive. We’re grateful to have both Ruth and Carolyn shepherding this project.
Shout out to Community CoWorks in Middleton for providing workspace for Russell and this project during the winter months. Community CoWorks is owned and operated by MAHS Board member, Kristi Warriner. Sometimes it really does take a village to build a digital collection! Thanks, Kristi, for your generous support of this project and our initiative.
The Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative brings together Wisconsin content partners and information school graduate students to create new digital collections. Content partners will choose collections to digitize, and student staff will handle the digitization, metadata work, and project documentation creation as part of a paid practicum or independent study experience. Most digitized collections will be added to Recollection Wisconsin throughout the year. Thanks to the State of Wisconsin for funding this important work.
Interested in participating in the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative? Visit our program website for more information.
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