Wisconsin 101

OBJECT HISTORY: Aztalan Copper Maskettes

Aztalan Copper Maskettes, 1000-1200 AD. Courtesy: Milwaukee Public Museum Found at the Aztalan archaeological site in southeastern Wisconsin, these small copper artifacts were most likely used as ornate jewelry.[1] Specifically, Mississipian people likely wore the mask-shaped copper designs as earrings. Although Native…

Comments Off

December 18, 2020

Pre-1787 / La Farge / Education / Related Stories / Ethnicity & Identity / A Dam Tower in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve / Vernon County / Nature & Environment / Region 6 - South West

Wisconsin’s Ancient History in the Kickapoo Valley

If you look closely, the landscapes around us tell stories about the past. Sometimes in the curve of a road, a line of trees, or stretch of prairie careful observers can find evidence of the people and animals that used to call…

Comments Off

September 24, 2020

Indigenous Wisconsin / Aztalan / Pre-1787 / Food & Cooking / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Jefferson County / Nature & Environment / Region 7 - South Center

OBJECT HISTORY: Aztalan Fishing Weir

Fishing can take a lot of patience. A person could sit with their fishing pole for hours before they get a bite! Fishing weirs are time-saving technologies built in the water to trap fish. This fishing weir was created by the people who lived in the Early Mississippian settlement, Aztalan, sometime between the 10th and…

Comments Off

October 15, 2018

Home Furnishings / Indigenous Wisconsin / Object Histories / Pre-1787 / Industry / 1787-1848 / Clothing, Apparel & Fashion / Everyday Life / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Fur Trade

OBJECT HISTORY: Trade Blanket

This blanket, ordinary though it may seem, tells the story of an important meeting of cultures that occurred in Wisconsin between 1634 and 1763. Not long after the explorer Jean Nicolet first set foot in Wisconsin, French traders saw an opportunity to make money by sending beaver furs back to Europe for use in stylish…

Comments Off

October 15, 2018

Broad History / Lake Koshkonong / Industry / Pre-1787 / Ethnicity & Identity / Related Stories / 1787-1848 / A Duck Decoy / 1848-1877 / Jefferson County / 1877-1900 / 1900-1918 / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / 1918-1945 / 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.

Comments Off

July 1, 2018

Green Bay / Brown County / Pre-1787 / Industry / Related Stories / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Politics & Government / Society & Religion / Region 5 - Center East / Fur Trade / Le Maire Sundial

French Wisconsin at Fort la Baye

French explorers, voyageurs (fur traders), Jesuit priests, and other settlers began arriving in the Upper Great Lakes region of North America in the mid-1600s. Jean Nicolet supposedly landed near present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1634, naming the waterway La Baye des Puants, literally “Bay of…

1 Comment

December 24, 2016