Wisconsin 101

Curling’s Growth in Wisconsin

When the Scottish migrated to the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they brought more with them then just bagpipes; they brought the growth of curling, a winter sport in which the players slide heavy granite blocks across icy terrain…

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June 20, 2024

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Wauwatosa / Milwaukee County / Related Stories / Everyday Life / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / Region 8 - South East / Lefeber Glass Plate Negatives

Images of a Treasured Childhood: At Home in Wauwatosa with the Lefebers

In the first decades of the 20th century, Wauwatosa was well on its way to becoming a bedroom suburb of Milwaukee. Families were moving into newly developed subdivisions built on land that once grew grain, fruit, and vegetables for the large Milwaukee…

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February 21, 2024

Wauwatosa / Milwaukee County / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / Region 8 - South East / Lefeber Glass Plate Negatives

Wauwatosa’s Lefeber Brothers Department Store

“A clerk had to show Mother each item. She retrieved a pair of folded silk stockings and carefully inserted her hand to show how the color looked against the skin.”--Jean Lobe, from her memoir recounting her experiences growing up in Wauwatosa in…

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January 25, 2024

Art, Sport & Entertainment / New Object Histories / Wauwatosa / Object Histories / Milwaukee County / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / Region 8 - South East / Lefeber Glass Plate Negatives

OBJECT HISTORY: Lefebers’ Glass Plate Negatives

Kodachrome? Fujifilm? Ektachrome? All too modern! We're stepping back more than a century to an era when photographers used glass plates – not film – to capture an image. Glass plate negatives can be professionally restored and digitally scanned. These before-and-after images are…

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January 25, 2024

Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Politics, Society & Government / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / Transportation & Tourism / The Harley-Davidson V-Twin Engine / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Region 8 - South East

Beyond the Dirt Track: Harley-Davidson Expands to New Markets

“Typical Bikemen of the 1920’s,” Courtesy of the Milwaukee Police Historical Society. Harley-Davidson motorcycles may have had their first exposure on the dirt-track racing circuits of the early 1900s, but their legacy did not end with extreme sports. 1908 marked the Milwaukee…

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June 18, 2022

Milwaukee / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Milwaukee County / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / Transportation & Tourism / The Harley-Davidson V-Twin Engine / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Region 8 - South East

Harley Davidson and Milwaukee

It’s no secret that Harley-Davidson’s history is deeply rooted in Milwaukee. From dealerships to museums, the motorcycle giant serves as a cultural landmark and has become synonymous with the sprawling city. Thus, one may be surprised to learn of its humble beginnings.…

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June 18, 2022