Throughout the 19th century, Wisconsin was home to dozens of foreign-language newspapers representing cultures from throughout Europe. These papers provided opportunities to create connections in America, maintain homeland networks, and keep current with news in their native language.
Race & Ethnicity
Norwegian Women Immigrants
Norwegian women played a vital role in the agricultural and social lives of rural communities. Spurred by a cultural acceptance of work, women on the farm took on both domestic chores and contributed to the family’s economy through production of food and material goods.
Norwegian Communities in Wisconsin
When Norwegian immigrants like Kristian Magelssen came to Wisconsin in the 1860s, they found an incredibly active Norwegian Lutheran Church. Comprised of fourteen distinct synods often divided by theology, these institutions provided a foundational compass …
Migrant Workers and the Bond Pickle Company
The Bond Pickle Company of Oconto, Wisconsin was founded in 1915 by five brothers. The Bond brothers quickly developed the firm, by 1917 acquiring 10 “salting stations” where the cucumbers were received from local farmers and a …
Wisconsin’s Migrant Housing Laws
Before World War II, most of the migrant workers in Wisconsin’s pickle fields were single young men, and pickle companies provided housing for workers in large dormitories. After World War II, however, farmers began to …
The Settlement House Movement
Mass immigration from eastern and southern Europe dramatically altered America’s ethnic and religious composition around the turn of the twentieth century. Unlike earlier immigrants, who had largely come from western European countries like Britain, Germany, …
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Black Kander
The first generation of women—mostly white and middle- or upper-class—to graduate from college in large numbers left school full of promise and enthusiasm, but were largely denied employment in medicine, law, or business. Rejected by …
The Settlement
Having outgrown the basement of Temple B’ne Jeshurun, the mission moved to an old house at 507 Fifth Street in 1900. It was simply called “The Settlement.” Programs expanded as space and resources did—the building …
Roots of the Settlement House
By 1890, the majority of Milwaukee’s Russian and Polish Jews lived in the city’s Second Ward, also known as the Haymarket District. Lizzie Black Kander worked as a truancy officer from 1890 to 1893, which …
Milwaukee: The Bowling Capital of America
Bowling evolved in the mid-nineteenth century United States from imported European games like the German kegling. Beginning with clubs in eastern U.S cities, bowling grew in popularity and spread to the Midwest—particularly cities like Milwaukee—as German-Americans …