Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Wild Rice Threshing Machine

Harvested in the early autumn, wild rice has long been an important commodity to Native Americans, including the Ojibwe, who lived in areas where it grew abundantly. This improvised wild rice threshing machine was made and used by Duane Poupart, Sr., a…

0 Comments

November 17, 2024

Indigenous Wisconsin / Agriculture / Broad History / Lac du Flambeau / Ricing Sticks / Odanah / Ashland County / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Nature & Environment / Region 1 - North West / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

Wild Rice and Wetland Conservation

Wild rice grows only in the Great Lakes Region in shallow and calm waters. It requires specific conditions, nutrient-rich muddy soil and stable water levels, in order to properly grow to maturity, to produce the seeds able to be harvested. Damaging the…

Comments Off

November 17, 2024

Lac du Flambeau / Odanah / Ricing Sticks / Broad History / Indigenous Wisconsin / Agriculture / Ashland County / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / Region 1 - North West / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

Ricing (Manoominikewin)

Wild rice was depicted in an Ojibwe prophecy before there was even a name for the grain. When the Ojibwe people began to migrate west, they were prophesied to settle where food grows on water. The westward migration was in part because…

Comments Off

November 16, 2024

Odanah / Agriculture / Indigenous Wisconsin / Broad History / Ricing Sticks / Lac du Flambeau / New Object Histories / Ashland County / Object Histories / Food & Cooking / Ethnicity & Identity / Region 1 - North West / Region 2 - North East / Vilas County

OBJECT HISTORY: Ricing Sticks (Bawa’iganaakoog)

Bawa’iganaakoog, threshers, or knockers, are all words used to refer to the sticks used for the harvesting of wild rice. Wild rice holds extreme cultural importance to Ojibwe culture for several reasons beyond basic sustenance; not only can it be dried and…

0 Comments

November 16, 2024

Agriculture / Industry / Dairy Industry / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / Society & Religion / National Guard Nightstick

The Wisconsin Milk Strikes of 1933

As the effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression rippled through the United States, many working-class Americans felt the economic impacts, including Wisconsin’s farmers. Midwestern farmers were already suffering even before the Depression, and since Wisconsin served as…

0 Comments

June 27, 2023

Industry / Agriculture / Shawano / Food & Cooking / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Politics & Government / Region 2 - North East / Shawano County / 1918-1945 / National Guard Nightstick

The Consolidated Badger Cooperative and the Shawano Milk Strike of May 1933

In the aftermath of the 1929 Wall Street Market Crash and the subsequent Great Depression, Wisconsin farmers struggled to meet the costs of production associated with dairy commodities. As a tool to improve their standard of living, some of Wisconsin’s farmers turned…

0 Comments

June 27, 2023