Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Jack Slaske’s Tool Set

In the holdings of the Greendale Historical Society is an unassuming set of tools, comprised of hand saws, planes, braces and drill bits, among other items. Though these were mass manufactured and similar tools exist all across the country, these particular tools…

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August 14, 2024

Wooden Curling Stone / Lodi / Sports & Games / Broad History / Milwaukee / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Columbia County / Madison / Milwaukee County / Dane County / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections / Region 7 - South Center / Region 8 - South East

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

Wauwatosa / Milwaukee County / Related Stories / Everyday Life / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / 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 / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / 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 & Design / New Object Histories / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Milwaukee County / Wauwatosa / Everyday Life / 1900-1918 / 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

Maritime Industry / Industry / Racine / Object Histories / Racine County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / 1877-1900 / Transportation & Tourism / Region 8 - South East / Wind Point Lighthouse

OBJECT HISTORY: Wind Point Lighthouse

Wind Point Lighthouse is located in the Village of Wind Point, which sits just north of the Racine harbor on Lake Michigan. The lighthouse was constructed in 1880 and stands 108 feet high. In 1870 the U.S. Lighthouse Board, a federal agency…

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May 10, 2023