Counting down the most-liked and most-shared posts on our Tumblr blog, Wisco Histo, in April and May.
3. Celebrating Syttende Mai
Syttende Mai — the seventeenth of May — is the day Norway (and many people of Norwegian heritage in Wisconsin) celebrates its independence. We celebrated by sharing this hand-painted 1775 trunk, which was most likely brought to Wisconsin by a Norwegian immigrant in the mid-1800s.
2. Remembering veterans on Memorial Day
1. Joyful dancing at UW-La Crosse
Margaret H’Doubler, the first dance instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, organized the Orchesis dance society in 1917-1918. The group’s name “came from the Greek word for the universal nature of movement, which incorporated H’Doubler’s ideas about synthesizing the physical with the spiritual and the intellectual.” (Chris Hartman, UW-Madison Archives) Versions of the society spread across the country as graduates of the UW-Madison dance program began to teach on other campuses. In 1932, professor of Physical Education Elizabeth Sehon organized an Orchesis group at UW-La Crosse.
Highlights from digital collections across Wisconsin are added to our Tumblr blog several times a week. Check out our monthly top posts from Tumblr here.