Wisconsin 101

A pasty. Image via Flickr.

OBJECT HISTORY: Pasty

The lead mining industry of the 1830s and 1840s brought miners from Cornwall, England to southwestern Wisconsin. The miners brought Cornish traditions like the pasty, a filling food for hungry miners. The availability of pasties today demonstrates the lasting traditions of early European immigrants in Wisconsin. Pasties are folded pastries filled with meat and vegetables.…

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September 10, 2020

Photo by Jared Schmidt.

Art & Design / Norwegian Genealogical Plaque / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Home Furnishings / Lake Koshkonong / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Everyday Life / Jefferson County / Global Connections / 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 / Oconto / Home Furnishings / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Migrant Worker's Cabin / 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

Sports & Games / Wisconsin Made / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Antigo / Object Histories / Langlade County / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / 1965-1987 / Mepps Fishing Lure

OBJECT HISTORY: Mepps Fishing Lure

The classic Mepps fishing lure the Aglia, was invented in France in the 1930s and patented in 1938. (Mepps is a French acronym for Manufacturier d’ Engins de Precision pour Peches Sportives, translated as “Manufacture of Precision Equipment for Sport Fishing”.) It was introduced to northern Wisconsin, and to the U.S., by a G.I. returning from France.…

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September 10, 2020

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

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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September 9, 2020

Vulcan Bowling Pin. Photo credited to Joe Hermolin.

Sports & Games / Wisconsin Made / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Antigo / Langlade County / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 2 - North East / 1945-1965 / Vulcan Bowling Pin

OBJECT HISTORY: Vulcan Bowling Pin

This bowling pin was produced by the Vulcan Corporation in Antigo, Wisconsin, sometime in the late 1950s after Vulcan had introduced its patented “Nyl-Tuf Supreme” plastic coating (as indicated by the pin’s red label).

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September 8, 2020