Since launching in Fall 2024, the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative (RWDI) has connected graduate students with cultural heritage organizations across Wisconsin to digitize and share local history collections.
So far, the numbers tell a pretty exciting story:
- 57 host site applications
- 49 graduate student applications
- 21 students matched with 21 host organizations
Behind those numbers are 21 projects and 21 successful connections between Wisconsin organizations and graduate student interns, eager to put their skills to work as part of a paid practicum or fieldwork experience.
Our host sites include public libraries, local history and art museums, academic institutions, technical college libraries and archives, and other organizations preserving Wisconsin history in communities across the state.
Students from the UW–Madison Information School and UW–Milwaukee School of Information Studies, representing both online and in-person programs, work side-by-side with these organizations and their staff and volunteers and gain valuable hands-on experience managing digitization projects.
Over the past two years, they’ve digitized a little bit of everything: yearbooks, photographs, postcards, archival materials, artifacts, artwork and illustrations, and newspapers. Along the way, students hone their skills, host organizations expand their capacity for digitization, and more of Wisconsin’s history is made available for everyone to discover online. We’re particularly proud that at least eight of our past student interns are currently working in the field, and many of our past host sites continue their digitization work and are adding to their Recollection Wisconsin collection.
Join Us in 2027!
We’re now looking ahead to the 2027 Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative and another round of student-host partnerships. Visit the RWDI website for more information about the program and the application process. You can also read more about past RWDI projects, students, and host sites on our blog.
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