Wisconsin 101

The Stout Institute and Educational Innovation

Wilson Place Mansion in Menomonie, Wisconsin, was once the home of James Huff Stout (1848-1910), a lumber baron, longtime state senator, and philanthropist. He is best known for founding the Stout Institute, now the University of Wisconsin-Stout. According to local tradition, Stout…

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March 9, 2016

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Education / Related Stories / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / Wilson Place Door

The Arts & Crafts Movement

Wisconsin’s Stout Institute is a major landmark of educational innovation in state history. With its emphasis on creativity as well as vocational preparation, the school was greatly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, then a major force in artistic, cultural, and progressive political…

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March 7, 2016

Read more about the article Daily Life in the Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp 657 temporary barracks at Summit Lake, WI, c. 1933. Photograph courtesy of the Langlade County Historical Society.

Elcho / Home Furnishings / Education / Related Stories / Langlade County / Nature & Environment / Politics, Society & Government / Region 2 - North East / CCC Pillow Sham / 1920-1940

Daily Life in the Civilian Conservation Corps

The young men who lived and worked at Camp 657 were typical of Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees throughout the country during the 1930s. The first enrollees were between 18 and 25 years of age, were unmarried and physically fit, and were willing to allot most of their earnings to their families. In 1937, with the CCC’s popularity growing, Congress expanded the age range to 17 to 28 and later extended enrollment to World War I veterans.

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October 1, 2015

Read more about the article The Babcock Tester and the Wisconsin Idea

Handlers exhibit the University dairy herd for students at the Farmers Course, UW Stock Pavilion, 1900-1920. Part of the Frank N. Campbell Slide Collection. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Archives.

Education / Food & Cooking / Dane County / Madison / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Region 7 - South Center / Babcock Butterfat Tester

The Babcock Tester and the Wisconsin Idea

Free As Well WaterIn 1894 Adolph Schoenman of Plain, Wisconsin, published a booklet extolling the virtues of the Babcock butterfat test. In a parable explaining its benefits, an astonished Farmer Jones exclaims, “Isn’t that a dandy little machine, though? I suppose, of…

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December 1, 2013

Read more about the article The Men Behind the Butterfat Test

The men behind the butterfat test. Left: Portrait of Stephen Moulton Babcock, 1890-1899. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Archives. Right: Portrait of F.G. Short, 1890-1899. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Archives.

Food & Cooking / Dane County / Madison / Education / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Science & Medicine / Region 7 - South Center / Babcock Butterfat Tester

The Men Behind the Butterfat Test

The “Real” InventorAlthough Stephen M. Babcock has been immortalized for his work on the butterfat test that received his name, it was not really his idea. The Babcock test was originally conceived by the forgotten man of the dairy industry, Frederick Garland Short. Short,…

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December 1, 2013