Wisconsin 101

Read more about the article What is a Point Blanket Coat?

In 1818 Anna Maria von Phul painted this picture of a Native American woman wearing a white wool trade blanket. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

What is a Point Blanket Coat?

The practice of converting Hudson’s Bay Company blankets into coats began years before the company began mass-manufacturing point blanket coats in the twentieth century. During the fur trade, Native Americans hunters traded beaver pelts for wool point blankets. Point blankets were waterproof…

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June 7, 2018

Industry / Object Histories / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Hamburg / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / Fromm Fox Fur Coat

OBJECT HISTORY: Fromm Fox Fur Coat

This coat was made from the fur of foxes raised on the Fromm Fur Farm in Hamburg, Wisconsin. The jacket is covered in light-silver fox fur and lined with a taupe fabric. Straps allow the coat to also be worn as a cape. In the early decades of the 20th century, it was fashionable to use…

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December 9, 2017

Indigenous Wisconsin / Home Furnishings / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Everyday Life

OBJECT HISTORY: Cradleboard

Native Americans used cradleboards in North America to protect, carry, and entertain their babies. Cradleboards allowed women to keep babies close to their side. Women carried cradleboards on their backs. They also could rest them against a tree. The cradleboard protected babies from danger and kept them happy. Native tribes made cradleboards in many ways,…

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June 9, 2017

An advertisement for Fromm furs using their “bright with silver” slogan and printed on metallic silver paper, Women’s Wear Daily, March 11, 1936.

Industry / Wisconsin Made / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Related Stories / Hamburg / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center / Fromm Fox Fur Coat

The Fromm Brand and the Hamburg Fur Auction

Probably the biggest reason for the success of the Fromm Brothers’ fur farm was the particular color of fur that they bred. As fashions shifted to favor the trademark Fromm “bright with silver” color, the Fromms were in a position to capitalize on their control of…

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January 1, 2017

Read more about the article Fashion and Fur

The history of fur and fashion runs deep in North America. October 1953 issue of Vogue.

Industry / Prairie du Chien / Fur Trade / Broad History / Brown County / Columbia County / Crawford County / Milwaukee / Green Bay / Milwaukee County / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Related Stories / Hamburg / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Marathon County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 4 - Center / Region 5 - Center East / Region 6 - South West / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East / Fromm Fox Fur Coat

Fashion and Fur

The End of the Old Fur TradeThe development of fur farms at the close of the 19th century was perhaps the most revolutionary change in North America’s fur industry, and fashion played a significant role in that change. Beaver pelts had been the…

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January 1, 2017

Read more about the article The Vulcan Corporation

Inspecting pins coming off the Vulcan assembly line, 1954. Photograph courtesy of the Langlade County Historical Society.

Sports & Games / Industry / Wisconsin Made / Broad History / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Antigo / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Langlade County / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 2 - North East / Vulcan Bowling Pin

The Vulcan Corporation

The Vulcan Corporation was founded in 1909 in Ohio as a manufacturer of wooden shoe lasts. The business really took off once they developed a new shoe last turning lathe. In 1919, Vulcan started a plant in Crandon, Wisconsin, which made “rough-turned”—or unfinished—lasts.…

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February 1, 2016