On September 10, 1875, six rescue boat volunteers were dispatched to aid the crew of the Tanner, a cargo ship foundering in Milwaukee Harbor after being struck by a powerful storm. All six of the rescue boat volunteers – but not the captain…
Scene from Poale Zion Chasidim, an Americanization pageant held in the Milwaukee auditorium to welcome Milwaukee’s new citizens, 1919. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ID: 5348. Mass immigration from eastern and southern Europe dramatically altered America’s ethnic and religious composition around…
The first generation of women—mostly white and middle- or upper-class—to graduate from college in large numbers left school full of promise and enthusiasm, but were largely denied employment in medicine, law, or business. Rejected by the professional world, many focused their energies…
Temple B’ne Jeshurun hosted early classes of the Settlement in its basement. The building has since been demolished. Photo courtesy of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee Having outgrown the basement of Temple B’ne Jeshurun, the mission moved to an old house at 507…
Northern Wisconsin Center Home Economics Class, c. 1930. Image courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Society, ID: 99239 By 1890, the majority of Milwaukee’s Russian and Polish Jews lived in the city’s Second Ward, also known as the Haymarket District. Lizzie Black Kander worked…
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…