We are thrilled to be working with the Milwaukee Art Museum this spring as part of the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative!
Their project focuses on digitizing, creating descriptive information for and providing public access to materials from the Brooks Stevens Archive, one of several special Museum Collection archives acquired from the Stevens family in 1997. The archive is composed of nearly 20,000 visual materials spanning Stevens’ entire career.
Brooks Stevens (1911-1995) was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles, passenger railroad cars, and motorcycles, and a graphic designer and stylist. During his career, Stevens worked on designs for iconic Wisconsin companies including Harley Davidson, Miller Brewing Company, and Oscar Meyer. From his Milwaukee office, he created more than 3,000 products in his lifetime including the Miller Brewing logo, the Jeep station wagon and the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. He was also a master salesman and design theorist, teaching and lecturing on the practical applications of industrial design. His design firm, Brooks Stevens, Inc., still operates today.
Joining Team Milwaukee Art Museum is Rebecca Silber. Rebecca Silber lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and began studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies (SOIS) in January 2024. She is working toward an MLIS degree with an archives concentration. Rebecca has a particular interest in archival outreach and promoting the use of archives.
In addition to her current fieldwork assignment with Recollection Wisconsin, Rebecca also interned at the Milwaukee County Historical Society’s Research Library in the summer of 2024. Rebecca has been working as a freelance graphic designer for quite some time, and holds a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis with majors in both graphic communications and art history. Upon completion of her MLIS degree, Rebecca intends to pursue a career in archives.
Rebecca will be working closely with Frank Violette Foss, a multimedia artist and archivist from Maine who currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prior to earning their MSLIS with a concentration in Archives Management from Simmons University in 2023, Frank was a direct support professional for individuals with disabilities in a variety of environments while concurrently laboring as a farmer, cheese monger, and baker in their rural Midcoastal Maine community. When they’re not in the stacks or thinking about Archives, they’re going for long walks to the library and stopping to have conversations with the neighborhood crows and cats.
Rounding out Team Milwaukee Art Museum are Heather Winter, Director of Knowledge Management & Digital Assets, and Beret Kohn, Manager of Digital Assets who will provide ongoing support for the project and Team. Thanks, Heather and Beret! We’re looking forward to learning more about Brooks Stevens, the archival collection and the Museum’s work to digitize, preserve and provide access to this and all of the Museum’s amazing collections!
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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