Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Norwegian Trunk

In the 1800s, European immigrants coming to America had to find a way to preserve the objects indispensable to their lives, bringing their most precious belongings on an ocean voyage to a far-away new home. Most families were only able to bring…

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October 6, 2020

Sports & Games / Music, Theatre & Cinema / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Racine / Object Histories / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Racine County / 1987-2011 / Region 8 - South East / Racine Belles Movie Costume

OBJECT HISTORY: Racine Belles Movie Costume

This Racine Belles costume was worn in the 1992 film "A League of Their Own." The film focused on the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches, tracking a season in the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League. The Peaches played the Belles several times during the film.

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September 10, 2020

Indigenous Wisconsin / Military History / Art & Design / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Door County / 1900-1918 / Politics & Government / Region 5 - Center East / Potawatomi Beaded 'Soldier Coat'

OBJECT HISTORY: Potawatomi Beaded ‘Soldier Coat’

An elder spokesman for the Potawatomi Indians, Chief Simon Onanguisse Kahquados made a number of trips to Washington, D.C. in the early twentieth century in an effort to regain land that his people had lost through treaties with the United States government in the 1800s. Kahquados wore this coat on his last trip to Washington and also wore it on other important occasions, such as trips to the state capital in Madison where he often spent time researching and presenting information about his ancestry.

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September 10, 2020

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Milwaukee / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Milwaukee County / Ethnicity & Identity / Migrant Worker's Cabin / 1900-1918 / Region 8 - South East

OBJECT HISTORY: Piano and Song Recital Poster

Mr. Raphael Baez, a well-respected violinist, pianist, composer, and music professor, and his wife Mrs. Mary Schoen Baez, a noted vocalist, had performed together in various music halls in the city of Milwaukee since 1889. The Athenaeum, home of the Women’s Club of Wisconsin, had hosted Mr. Baez and his students throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth…

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September 10, 2020

Art & Design / Wisconsin Made / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Edgerton / Object Histories / Dane County / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Region 7 - South Center / Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

OBJECT HISTORY: Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

Between 1888 and 1909 the city of Edgerton, Wisconsin was home to six different companies producing nationally recognized ceramic art. The art potteries of Edgerton were part of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century trend known as the American Art Pottery movement. This covered jar, made at Pauline Pottery, represents one example of this broad movement in American ceramics.

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September 10, 2020

Wisconsin Made / Music, Theatre & Cinema / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Port Washington / Object Histories / Ozaukee County / Paramount Records 78 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / Region 8 - South East

OBJECT HISTORY: Paramount Records 78

Created by the management of the Wisconsin Chair Company, a furniture making business based in Port Washington, Wisconsin, Paramount Records was initially incorporated to help sell phonographic cabinets in the late 1910s. Relying on resourceful talent recruiters and a relatively cheap production process, Paramount Records became one of the leading blues music record producers in the 1920s, and is today recognized by…

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September 10, 2020