Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Le Maire Sundial

The Le Maire Sundial is a rare example of a mid-18th century French sundial (cadran solaire) compass (boussole). It was found near Green Bay in 1902 by a local antiquities collector, Frank Duchateau. The sundial is broken, missing its glass compass cover as well as the back of its gnomon holder. Located on the front surface,…

Comments Off

December 9, 2016

Wausau / Industry / Related Stories / Marathon County / 1900-1918 / Manufacturing & Trade / Society & Religion / Region 4 - Center / Science & Medicine / Employers Mutual Audiometer

The 1911 Workman’s Compensation Act and the Birth of an Industry

Wisconsin passed the nation’s first constitutionally upheld worker’s compensation law in 1911. It is one of the great successes of Progressive-era social legislation and a triumph of the Wisconsin Idea.1Previously, American workers toiling in industrialized workplaces had often faced the threat of…

Comments Off

November 24, 2016

Health & Medicine / Education / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1918-1945 / 1945-1965 / Science & Medicine / Employers Mutual Audiometer

Promoting Workplace Safety

For an insurance company like Employers Mutual, it made sense to try to promote safety in the workplace. Reducing the number of industrial accidents would naturally lead to less money lost to claims. But Employers Mutual was also very adept at translating its…

Comments Off

November 24, 2016

Health & Medicine / Science & Technology / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / 1945-1965 / Science & Medicine / Employers Mutual Audiometer

Preventing Hearing Loss

In 1953, Wisconsin added occupational hearing loss to the list of claimable conditions under workers compensation. Employers Mutual of Wausau quickly created a program that would make the company an industry leader in hearing loss prevention. Creating a hearing loss prevention program not only…

Comments Off

November 24, 2016

Health & Medicine / Wausau / Science & Technology / Object Histories / Marathon County / 1945-1965 / Society & Religion / Region 4 - Center / Science & Medicine / Employers Mutual Audiometer

OBJECT HISTORY: Employers Mutual Audiometer

This Maico Audiometer was one of many devices used by health and safety consultants of the Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. Employers Mutual was the very first workers compensation insurance company in the United States. The company was founded in Wausau, Wisconsin, in 1911 shortly after the nation’s first workers compensation law was…

Comments Off

November 9, 2016

Health & Medicine / Dairy Industry / Food & Cooking / Industry / Related Stories / Everyday Life / 1877-1900 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1900-1918 / 1918-1945 / Science & Medicine / Horlick's Malted Milk

Malted Milk and Infant Nutrition

Although known today mostly as a flavoring for milk shakes and chocolate-covered malt balls, malted milk made its first appearance in the 1880s as a substitute for human breast milk. At that time, breastfeeding babies began to lose its appeal among both…

Comments Off

October 3, 2016