Wisconsin 101

The Early History of the Kohler Company

As was so often the case with major American businesses in the 1800s, the Kohler Company grew from modest roots. The company’s founder, John Michael Kohler, began his working life first as a delivery truck driver and then a salesman. Born in…

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November 10, 2020

Industry / Home Furnishings / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Science & Medicine / The 1904 Kohler “Armeda” Toilet

The Bathroom as a Household Space

When we think of a “bathroom,” we usually imagine a room containing three standard fixtures—a bathtub, a sink, and a toilet. Bathrooms such as these are so universal in homes today that we can hardly imagine a time when they did not…

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November 10, 2020

Art & Design / Norwegians / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Everyday Life / Global Connections / 1848-1877 / Transportation & Tourism

OBJECT HISTORY: Norwegian Trunk

In the 1800s, European immigrants coming to America had to find a way to preserve the objects indispensable to their lives, bringing their most precious belongings on an ocean voyage to a far-away new home. Most families were only able to bring…

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October 6, 2020

Art & Design / Wisconsin Made / Edgerton / Home Furnishings / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Dane County / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Region 7 - South Center / Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

OBJECT HISTORY: Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

Between 1888 and 1909 the city of Edgerton, Wisconsin was home to six different companies producing nationally recognized ceramic art. The art potteries of Edgerton were part of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century trend known as the American Art Pottery movement. This covered jar, made at Pauline Pottery, represents one example of this broad movement in American ceramics.

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September 10, 2020

Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Norwegian Genealogical Plaque

Photo by Jared Schmidt.

Art & Design / Norwegian Genealogical Plaque / Norwegians / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Object Histories / Lake Koshkonong / Ethnicity & Identity / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Jefferson County / 1877-1900 / Region 7 - South Center

OBJECT HISTORY: Norwegian Genealogical Plaque

Created in 1879, this beautiful plaque features the genealogy of Sara Magelssen's family, including the story of her and her husband's immigration to Wisconsin in the 1860s.

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September 10, 2020

Migrant Worker's Cabin

Agriculture / Home Furnishings / Oconto / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Migrant Worker's Cabin / Manufacturing & Trade / Oconto County / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965

OBJECT HISTORY: Migrant Worker’s Cabin

This cabin, once occupied by a family of migrant workers employed by the Bond Pickle Company, is located at the property of Thomas and Jamie Sobush of Pensaukee, Wisconsin. The cabin was originally one of many other small cabins, clustered together at the Bond Village Migrant Camp on Van Hecke Avenue in Oconto, Wisconsin. The…

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September 10, 2020