Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: CCC Pillow Sham

Created in 1933, this commemorative pillow sham was just one of a number of textiles created by second-generation Hungarian immigrant Rose Mary Drab to honor her brother Edward’s service in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Rose Mary appliquéd the black cotton sateen sham with a small cotton tent, a blue eagle and two small stars, and hills, pine…

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September 9, 2020

Women in the American Art Pottery Movement

Industry / Art & Design / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Curators' Favorites / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

Women in the American Art Pottery Movement

Women played a central role in the American Art Pottery movement, both as leaders like Pauline Jacobus and as workers like Lulu Deveraux Dixon.

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April 20, 2020

The Pauline Pottery

Art & Design / Industry / Wisconsin Made / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Edgerton / Dane County / Related Stories / Curators' Favorites / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / Region 7 - South Center / Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

The Pauline Pottery

Chicago-born artist and entrepreneur Pauline Jacobus was the central figure of Edgerton, Wisconsin's art pottery movement. In 1888, Jacobus and her husband Oscar relocated the Pauline Pottery from Chicago to Edgerton to take advantage of the area's quality clay.

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April 20, 2020

Industry / Home Furnishings / Object Histories / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / 1900-1918 / Science & Medicine

OBJECT HISTORY: Vacuum

People in the early 20th century witnessed the invention of all kinds of household tools we take for granted today, such as the vacuum cleaner, laundry machine, and refrigerator. This is a manual vacuum cleaner from 1911 at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. This small upright vacuum was designed to be operated by hand and easy…

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September 10, 2018

A trade blanket, with the "points" visible on the right side of the picture. Image courtesy of Ron Dennis.

Industry / Fur Trade / Indigenous Wisconsin / Home Furnishings / Pre-1787 / Object Histories / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / 1787-1848 / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade

OBJECT HISTORY: Trade Blanket

This blanket, ordinary though it may seem, tells the story of an important meeting of cultures that occurred in Wisconsin between 1634 and 1763. Not long after the explorer Jean Nicolet first set foot in Wisconsin, French traders saw an opportunity to make money by sending beaver furs back to Europe for use in stylish…

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September 10, 2018

Wisconsin Made / Industry / Home Furnishings / Port Washington / Related Stories / Ozaukee County / Everyday Life / Paramount Records 78 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Region 8 - South East

The Wisconsin Chair Company

Founded in 1888 by Frederick A. Dennett, the Wisconsin Chair Company (WCC) was perhaps the most important business in Ozaukee County at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century. The company, located along the northern shore of the…

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July 16, 2018