Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Lifesaving Medal

All along Wisconsin’s 820 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, storms could mean the difference between profit and financial ruin, survival and terrifying death. This lifesaving medal reminds us of the risks that sailors and Wisconsin’s maritime communities have routinely faced since the early 19th century, and it documents the personal bravery, dedication, and ingenuity of those who would rescue their fellows…

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September 9, 2020

Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Aztalan Fishing Weir

A Cherokee weir similar to the one the people of Aztalan built, showing what it looked like 1000 years ago. Image courtesy of Western Carolina University's Digital Heritage Project.

Pre-1600 / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 7 - South Center

OBJECT HISTORY: Aztalan Fishing Weir

Fishing can take a lot of patience. A person could sit with their fishing pole for hours before they get a bite! Fishing weirs are time-saving technologies built in the water to trap fish. This fishing weir was created by the people who lived in the Early Mississippian settlement, Aztalan, sometime between the 10th and…

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September 9, 2020

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Lake Koshkonong / Object Histories / Jefferson County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1860-1880 / Nature & Environment / 1880-1900 / A Duck Decoy / Region 7 - South Center

OBJECT HISTORY: A Duck Decoy

With its painted black bill, brown head, and white and black body, it is likely obvious to humans that this object is made out of wood. This object is called a duck decoy, and was intended to fool other ducks into settling…

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September 9, 2020

La Farge / Object Histories / Vernon County / Nature & Environment / Politics, Society & Government / Transportation & Tourism / 1960-1980 / Region 6 - South West / A Dam Tower in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve

OBJECT HISTORY: A Dam Tower in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve

This concrete obelisk stands near the Kickapoo River and is located a mile north of the village of La Farge. It rises nearly a hundred feet above the river valley floor. The tower was constructed more than forty years ago as part…

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September 9, 2020

Studio portrait of Increase A. Lapham in suit and tie, photographic print, c 1859. Image ID: 43831 Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Increase Lapham and the Founding of the United States Weather Bureau

As immigration to Wisconsin swelled in the 1840s, so, too, did the state’s scientific and technological community, with innovations across industries ranging from agriculture and manufacturing to geology and environmental studies. Among Wisconsin’s first “pioneer scientists” was Increase A. Lapham, a young…

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September 8, 2020

An official WPA poster. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons.

The Works Projects Administration – An Answer to the Great Depression

In 1929, the United States fell into the deepest economic hole the country has known: the Great Depression. Over the three years following the economy’s collapse in 1929, 3,392 banks across the country closed their doors and over $1 billion in deposits…

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September 8, 2020