Music, Theatre & Cinema

A fiddle from a lumberjack camp. Image courtesy of Ron Dennis.

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Industry / Lumber Industry / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900

OBJECT HISTORY: Fiddle

As the lumber industry flourished in Wisconsin beginning in the 1840s, immigrants from all over Europe and Canada came to live and work in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. All winter, men called lumberjacks would cut down pine trees, preparing the timber to be used as building material, or sometimes to be turned into pulp or…

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September 10, 2020

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Sports & Games / Milwaukee / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Milwaukee County / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Curators' Favorites / 1965-1987 / Region 8 - South East / Happy Days Bowling Shirt Costume

OBJECT HISTORY: Happy Days Bowling Shirt Costume

This bowling shirt costume from the television series Happy Day speaks to Wisconsin's association with bowling. Milwaukee, where the show was set, was known as the bowling capital of America.

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September 8, 2020

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Pulaski / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / Curators' Favorites / Oconto County / Region 2 - North East / 1965-1987 / Polka Rhythms Bandstand

Pulaski – A Polka Town

Pulaski, like some Wisconsin communities, possesses a disproportionate number of polka bands, and some have boasted that the town of 3000 has more bands per capita than even Nashville. The strongly Polish community located just outside of Green Bay is still a thriving locale for the polka tradition.

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May 18, 2020

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / Curators' Favorites / Global Connections / 1945-1965 / 1965-1987 / Polka Rhythms Bandstand

Polka’s Popularity in the United States

After World War II, polka made its first mainstream American appearance thanks to Cleveland, Ohio’s celebrated “Polka King,” Slovenian-American Frankie Yankovic. The genre remains popular today, especially with the older crowd in the Midwest.

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May 17, 2020

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Pulaski / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Oconto County / Region 2 - North East / 1965-1987 / Polka Rhythms Bandstand

OBJECT HISTORY: Polka Rhythms Bandstand

This bandstand, used by Chad Przybylski and his band the Polka Rhythms, represents Wisconsin's polka tradition.

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May 10, 2019

Louis Armstrong bezoekt Amsterdam *29 oktober 1955

Music, Theatre & Cinema / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Port Washington / Related Stories / Ozaukee County / Ethnicity & Identity / Paramount Records 78 / 1918-1945 / Region 8 - South East

Recruiting Talent

With a roster that included Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and Ethel Waters, Paramount Records became perhaps the most important blues recording company of the 1920s. Their success was dependent on their ability to recruit black performers and reach a broad black…

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August 24, 2018