Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Paramount Records 78

Created by the management of the Wisconsin Chair Company, a furniture making business based in Port Washington, Wisconsin, Paramount Records was initially incorporated to help sell phonographic cabinets in the late 1910s. Relying on resourceful talent recruiters and a relatively cheap production process, Paramount Records became one of the leading blues music record producers in the 1920s, and is today recognized by…

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February 10, 2014

Dairy Industry / Agriculture / Education / Industry / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / Manufacturing & Trade / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Region 4 - Center / Region 6 - South West / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East

Becoming the Dairy State

The Decline of WheatFrom 1840 to 1880, Wisconsin produced about one-sixth of the nation’s wheat. But soil depletion, insect infestations, plant disease and competition from other states lowered Wisconsin yields and eroded profits. By 1880, wheat supremacy had passed westward to Minnesota…

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December 1, 2013

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Milwaukee County / Music, Theatre & Cinema / Milwaukee / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / 1900-1918 / Region 8 - South East / Recital Poster

OBJECT HISTORY: Piano and Song Recital Poster

Mr. Raphael Baez, a well-respected violinist, pianist, composer, and music professor, and his wife Mrs. Mary Schoen Baez, a noted vocalist, had performed together in various music halls in the city of Milwaukee since 1889. The Athenaeum, home of the Women’s Club of Wisconsin, had hosted Mr. Baez and his students throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth…

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October 15, 2013

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Milwaukee County / Milwaukee / Music, Theatre & Cinema / Related Stories / 1848-1877 / 1877-1900 / Region 8 - South East / Recital Poster

Milwaukee’s Music Scene in the Late Nineteenth Century

The Wisconsin music industry experienced a dramatic growth in the second half of the nineteenth century, as Milwaukee became a national leader in musical performances and a manufacturing center for the production of musical instruments. The city was home to a vibrant…

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October 15, 2013

Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / Region 8 - South East / Recital Poster

Milwaukee’s Early Mexican Community

Milwaukee’s Mexican community began in 1920, when the Pfister and Vogel Tannery recruited a handful of men from the midwestern states of Mexico to work in their Menominee and Bay View plants on the city’s near south side. Unaware that they had been…

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October 15, 2013

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Music, Theatre & Cinema / Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / 1877-1900 / Society & Religion / Region 8 - South East / Recital Poster

The Milwaukee Athenaeum

Built in 1887, the Athenaeum has been home to the Women’s Club of Wisconsin since its founding. Situated in Milwaukee’s East Town at 813 Kilbourn Ave., the building and the organization that calls it home can lay claim to a number of…

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October 15, 2013