Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Lefebers’ Glass Plate Negatives

Kodachrome? Fujifilm? Ektachrome? All too modern! We're stepping back more than a century to an era when photographers used glass plates – not film – to capture an image. Glass plate negatives can be professionally restored and digitally scanned. These before-and-after images are…

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January 25, 2024

Home Furnishings / Beetown / New Object Histories / Object Histories / Food & Cooking / Grant County / Ethnicity & Identity / Pleasant Ridge / Everyday Life / 1900-1918 / Region 6 - South West

OBJECT HISTORY: Sanitary Metal Kitchen Cabinet

Kitchens form a central part of the American experience. The Sanitary Metal Kitchen Cabinet, also known as the Mound City Kitchen Safe (circa 1906), fits into the history of American cookery, American kitchens, and American consumerism. Originally owned by members of the…

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January 23, 2024

Maritime Industry / Industry / Manitowoc / Object Histories / Manitowoc County / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Politics & Government / 1900-1918 / Region 5 - Center East / Transportation & Tourism / Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse

OBJECT HISTORY: Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse

Many of us can easily picture a lighthouse in our minds. You may think of a tall structure that’s right along a lake or ocean, illuminating the water and land it protects. Whatever comes to mind, lighthouses have an everlasting cultural presence…

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May 29, 2023

Industry / Dairy Industry / New Glarus / Food & Cooking / Related Stories / Green County / 1848-1877 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Region 7 - South Center / Swiss Cheese Kettle

Early Cheese Factories in New Glarus

Green County has long been known for its cheese factories, particularly ones making Swiss cheese. However, when the first Swiss immigrants arrived it wasn’t at all clear that they would go into cheesemaking at all. New Glarus’s rise to prominence as a…

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April 17, 2023

The Saratoga of the West: Resort Culture in the Waukesha Springs Era

Bethesda Spring Park, ca. 1900. The springhouse stands on the right. The spring runs into the pond, which reflects the words “1868-Bethesda.” The Terrace Hotel can be seen in the left background. People sit on the lawn and stand around the springhouse.…

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February 20, 2023

Food & Cooking / Waukesha / Related Stories / Everyday Life / Manufacturing & Trade / Waukesha County / 1877-1900 / Nature & Environment / 1900-1918 / Science & Medicine / Region 8 - South East / Henk Mineral Spring Water Bottle

Nature’s Purest Drink: The Henk Mineral Spring Company

As a center of the mineral spring water industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Waukesha, Wisconsin, saw the rise of over 200 spring water companies during the period known as the Waukesha Springs Era. With over fifty mineral springs…

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February 19, 2023