Here are some objects other Wisconsinites have suggested would make good great object history stories.
To suggest an object for our website to profile, please email a high-resolution image and brief description of the local significance of this object to our Managing Editor at wi101@history.wisc.edu .
A Leopold Bench
Conservationist, forester, and the father of wildlife ecology, Aldo Leopold, invented this economic method for making simple benches. Leopold became famous after his death for writing The Sand County Almanac.
Image courtesy of Flickr, click image for attribution.
A Neenah Foundry Manhole Cover
Look down at a street anywhere in Wisconsin, and odds are you'll see one of these, a manhole cover made by the Neenah Foundry. Curious about the history of invention, public infrastructure, or sanitation in Wisconsin? This object will lead you to those stories.
Image courtesy of Flickr, click image for attribution.
Burt's Solar Compass
Every wonder why land in Wisconsin was laid out in a grid pattern? This compass can help you dive into that history. The Burt Solar Compass was used to survey land in Wisconsin in the 1840s and 50s.
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 99497
Dairyland Rat Poison
The discovery of the blood thinner Warferin by chemists at UW-Madison in dramatically influenced lives of Americans suffering from heart disease, but it also inspired new kinds of products, like this one: a rat poison produced in Milwaukee. Dig into the history of this object and find out about Wisconsin's history of invention and some of its unintended-- and surprising-- consequences!
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 100175
Dionne Quintuplets Fan
Lakeside dyeworks in Milwaukee printed this commemorative fan in 1936 to celebrate the Dionne quintuplets, the first quintuplets known to have survived infancy. Examining their lives and the way that Milwaukee celebrated their growth could tell you a great deal about childhood and health in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 97815
A Tophat
Made from beaver pelts, these hats help tell a history of the fur trade in Wisconsin, but depending on where you find this hat and whose it was, it could also help tell a story about the politics of clothing, class, and ethnicity in nineteenth century Wisconsin.
Image courtesy of Flickr, click link for attribution.
Beaded moccasins
These brightly beaded moccasins were made around 1900 in a style typical of the Potawatomi and Menominee. Investigating the history of craftwork and clothing could help tell new stories about Native American cultural persistence in Wisconsin.
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 84027
An Aluminum Tree
Aluminum trees like this one were the thing to have in the 1960s, and Wisconsin-made Evergleam trees led the way. What can the history of Wisconsin's fake tree industry tell us about American holidays, agriculture, or invention?
Image courtesy of Kevin Trotman through Flickr.
Appleton Woolen Mill Fabric Sample
Did you know that in the 19th century it was impossible to make paper without woolen felt? As one of the only paper-makers' felt manufacturers west of Ohio, the fabric made at the Appleton Woolen Mill became an essential part of Wisconsin's logging and paper industries. What can these scraps of felt teach us about agriculture, logging, and manufacturing in Wisconsin?
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 108048
Johnson Controls Super-Sensitive Thermometer
Like your AC in summer? Warren S. Johnson, a professor in Whitewater, WI, invented the first electric thermostat.
Image courtesy of wikimedia commons.
The Oscar Mayer Banjo-Ukulele
Richard Trentlage recorded the jingle "Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener..." on this banjo-ukulele in 1962. What could this object tell us about the meat industry in Wisconsin, advertising, or music in our state?
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 106251
A Birch Bark Canoe
Wisconsin is filled with rivers and lakes, and from the precolonial period to the twentieth century, birch bark canoes were an important way to navigate through the state-- and connecting the region to the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and beyond.
Christopher Sholes's Typewriter
In 1867, in a little shop in Milwaukee, Christopher Sholes invented the first typewriter. His successful trial sentence: "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party." His daughter, Lillian, is shown above at a prototype in 1872.
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID 5125.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
