Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Hmong Baby Carrier

This Hmong cloth baby carrier was hand-stitched in Thailand around 1987, and its history helps tell part of the story of the Hmong community in this State. A young woman named Kia Vang crafted the carrier inside a refugee camp located in Loei province to transport her unborn child to Oshkosh, Wisconsin after the Vietnam…

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October 1, 2018

Home Furnishings / La Crosse / Object Histories / Education / Everyday Life / La Crosse County / 1900-1918 / Region 3 - Center West / La Crosse Normal School Fireplace

OBJECT HISTORY: La Crosse Normal School Fireplace

UW- La Crosse was once a smaller school that went by a different name. The original school, La Crosse Normal, was originally a training school for prospective teachers. It opened on September 7, 1909. Parts of the Normal School can still be seen on the UW-La Crosse campus, though they can be difficult to spot.…

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September 1, 2018

La Crosse / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Everyday Life / Global Connections / A Hmong Baby Sash / La Crosse County / Politics & Government / 1965-1987 / Region 3 - Center West

OBJECT HISTORY: A Hmong Baby Sash

We are surrounded by objects that seem very ordinary, but once we look closer, they often reveal deep connections to the history of our state and our communities. In this Object History, Pao Vue writes about the thread-bare baby sash he found in his mother’s room that, it turns out, once saved his life and…

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July 15, 2018

Wausau / Broad History / Industry / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Marathon County / Global Connections / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 4 - Center / Fur Trade

What is a Point Blanket Coat?

The practice of converting Hudson’s Bay Company blankets into coats began years before the company began mass-manufacturing point blanket coats in the twentieth century. During the fur trade, Native Americans hunters traded beaver pelts for wool point blankets. Point blankets were waterproof…

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February 1, 2018

Wausau / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Sports & Games / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Everyday Life / Marathon County / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center

OBJECT HISTORY: A Hudson’s Bay Company Point Blanket Coat

This wool coat was constructed from a ‘point blanket’ made by the Hudson’s Bay Company, likely during the early 1920s. A Wausau businessman wore it at one of the town’s early Winter Frolics, an annual winter sports festival that attracted tourists from as far as Chicago. The businessman belonged to a group of local business…

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February 1, 2018

Wausau / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Marathon County / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / 1918-1945 / Region 4 - Center

Emelie Manthei’s Point Blanket Coat

When the Great Depression hit Wausau in the 1930s, Emelie Manthei (now Emelie Borth) was a high school student from a working-class family. Her father lost his job before finding employment with the Works Progress Administration (WPA), where he helped construct the…

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February 1, 2018