State and Local History

Milwaukee Annual Reports

These yearbooks for city government were produced by the Milwaukee Common Council from 1921 until 2000, after which they were replaced by the city’s website. Designed to be a way to communicate directly with Milwaukee’s citizens, they highlighted activities by the various departments and were a quick-reference guide for city information. In addition to yearly accomplishments, most of the later years’ editions feature biographies of elected officials, maps of aldermanic districts, budget summaries, phone directories, photos, and handy facts about the city.

Milwaukee County Historical Society

The Milwaukee County Historical Society (MCHS)’s photograph collection is one of its key archival collections, alongside county records, manuscript collections, maps, and a small non-circulating library of books. MCHS’s photograph collection documents the history of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County and comprises photographic prints, slides, and negatives. The bulk of the photograph collection documents the 1890s through the 1980s, although older and more recent materials are also represented. The collection is divided into multiple portions, including those corresponding to individual photographers, subjects, and streets in Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County Marriage Certificates

This collection of more than 20,000 marriage certificates dating from 1822-1876 was digitized from microfilm and indexed by the Milwaukee County Genealogical Society.

Milwaukee Historic Photos

Selections from the Milwaukee Public Library’s Historic Photo Collection. The full collection includes over 50,000 photographs of Milwaukee dating from the late 19th century to the present.

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s Guido Brink collection contains ephemera concerning the life and artwork of Midwest artist and educator Guido Peter Brink (1913-2002) in addition to the art collection endowed to the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design from his estate.

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 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.

Milwaukee Street Name Index

This collection of index cards, compiled by unknown city employees, lists locations of and changes to street names in the city of Milwaukee and neighboring communities in Milwaukee County, some of which were annexed by the city. As the card titled “Uniform Street Numbering System” explains, most of the city’s current street names were enacted in 1930, but many were changed individually by stand-alone legislation.

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