Early Statehood

Gartner Diaries

Diaries of the travels of Austrian Norbertine priest Father Maximilian Gaertner of Wilten Abbey in Austria. Gaertner arrived in Wisconsin in 1846 and remained there until recalled to Wilten Abbey in 1858.

Henry and Elizabeth Baird Papers Collection

Elizabeth Baird (1810-1890) and Henry Baird (1800-1875) were prominent 19th-century Wisconsin settlers. They were connected to most of the founders of modern Wisconsin through family ties, marriage, business interests and politics. This digital collection includes all the Baird correspondence and selected business, family and personal papers.

Pionier Presse Translations

English translations of selected articles from the Pionier Presse, a German-language newspaper published in Sauk City 1853-1927. Alternate titles include Pionier am Wisconsin and Sauk City Presse.

Public Documents of the State of Wisconsin

Public Documents of the State of Wisconsin, commonly known as Wisconsin Public Documents (WPD), consists of the annual and biennial reports of all important Wisconsin state agencies from 1852 through 1914.

Reminiscences of Lucien B. Caswell

A 1914 memoir by Wisconsin pioneer and civic leader Lucien B. Caswell (1827-1919). Caswell was a lawyer in Fort Atkinson and went on to be elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly and later the United States House of Representatives. Part of the State of Wisconsin Collection, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

Turning Points in Wisconsin History

Primary sources, including eyewitness accounts, images and objects documenting key events in Wisconsin history. Resources are divided into ten topic categories: early Native peoples; early explorers, traders and settlers; the territorial period and statehood; immigration and settlement; the Civil War Era; mining, lumber and agriculture; the Progressive Era; 20th century wars; industrialization and urbanization; and 20th century change.

Wisconsin Census Records

Covering various counties in Wisconsin, page through these United States census books from the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Digitized by the Caestecker Public Library in Green Lake, with respect to the Dartford Historical Society for preserving the records in microfilm.

Wisconsin Citizen Petitions, 1836-1891

This collection comprises citizen petitions written to the legislatures of the Wisconsin Territory and later the State of Wisconsin, from 1836 to 1891. At the time, petitions were the only direct means for citizens to communicate with the government. From requesting dams, roads, and money to build schoolhouses, to recording views on slavery, suffrage, and statehood, these petitions reveal what settlers wished to achieve for their communities, and the ways in which they hoped to connect Wisconsin to the expanding commerce and intellectual life of the United States.

Wisconsin County Histories

More than 80 standard histories of Wisconsin counties. Most of these volumes include detailed accounts of individual cities, townships and villages, as well as biographical sketches of prominent residents. Most were published between 1850 and 1920.

Wisconsin Historical Collections 1855-1915

A serial publication issued every two or three years between 1855 and 1915 by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Twenty volumes of pioneer memoirs, archival records, original journals, explorers’ narratives, interviews and other eyewitness accounts of Wisconsin’s past.

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