Wisconsin 101

UW-Eau Claire & The Council Oak Tree

Oak Trees have been regarded for centuries as a symbol of strength, moral, and knowledge, and throughout history have been represented in different mythologies to show these attributes. And for the original Council Oak Tree, grown in Eau Claire, it also held…

0 Comments

October 5, 2021

Read more about the article Christopher Latham Sholes

Portrait of Christopher Latham Sholes posing at a typewriter, n.d., Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, ID 3218.

Milwaukee / Milwaukee County / Education / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / Global Connections / 1860-1880 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Region 8 - South East / Sholes and Glidden Typewriter

Christopher Latham Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes worked with his brothers at a Green Bay newspaper after having completed a printing internship in 1837, and in 1840 he moved to Kenosha to serve as the owner and publisher of the Southport Telegraph for a number of…

0 Comments

September 22, 2021

Home Furnishings / 1800-1820 / Ethnicity & Identity / 1820-1840 / Global Connections / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Transportation & Tourism

OBJECT HISTORY: Norwegian Trunk

In the 1800s, European immigrants coming to America had to find a way to preserve the objects indispensable to their lives, bringing their most precious belongings on an ocean voyage to a far-away new home. Most families were only able to bring…

0 Comments

October 6, 2020

Greenbush / 1800-1820 / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / Politics, Society & Government / Sheboygan County / Region 5 - Center East

OBJECT HISTORY: A Ballot Box

When was the last time you voted? Today? Yesterday? Maybe last week? Voting can be simple and a good way to let people know what you want. You may have voted, for example, on where to get dinner. You and one family…

0 Comments

September 9, 2020

New Glarus / Food & Cooking / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / Ethnicity & Identity / 1820-1840 / Green County / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 7 - South Center / The Hefty-Blum White Barn

The Swiss Roots of America’s “Dairyland”

When the wheat crop failures of the late nineteenth century jeopardized the incomes of many of Wisconsin’s immigrant farmers, the region’s Swiss population transitioned to a trade that they knew from the Old World: dairying and cheesemaking. To do this, Swiss farmers…

0 Comments

October 1, 2018

Read more about the article When Lake Koshkonong was a Marsh

An Ojibwe man and woman harvesting wild rice in 1966 near Ashland, WI. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, image ID 133699.

Pre-1600 / 1600-1800 / Lake Koshkonong / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / Ethnicity & Identity / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / Jefferson County / Nature & Environment / A Duck Decoy / Politics, Society & Government / Region 7 - South Center

When Lake Koshkonong was a Marsh

Maintaining practices like an annual visit to Lake Koshkanong to hunt and harvest food is an important way for indigenous knowledge and culture to be passed-on to the next generation.

0 Comments

September 30, 2018