This Racine Belles costume was worn in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.” The film focused on the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches, tracking a season in the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League. The Peaches played the Belles several times during the film.
Sports
OBJECT HISTORY: Mepps Fishing Lure
The classic Mepps fishing lure the Aglia, was invented in France in the 1930s and patented in 1938. (Mepps is a French acronym for Manufacturier d’ Engins de Precision pour Peches Sportives, translated as “Manufacture of Precision Equipment for Sport Fishing”.) It was introduced to northern Wisconsin, and to the U.S., by a G.I. returning from France.…
OBJECT HISTORY: Madison-Style Ice Boat Model
This miniature ice boat was originally built in Madison, Wisconsin about 1916-1917 by a member of the Bernard family. Carl Bernard grew up in the culture of ice boating and began making models of them at a young age. Creating models helped the Bernards try new innovative building techniques and were also raced for fun.
OBJECT HISTORY: A Duck Decoy
With its painted black bill, brown head, and white and black body, it is likely obvious to humans that this object is made out of wood. This object is called a duck decoy, and was …
OBJECT HISTORY: Vulcan Bowling Pin
This bowling pin was produced by the Vulcan Corporation in Antigo, Wisconsin, sometime in the late 1950s after Vulcan had introduced its patented “Nyl-Tuf Supreme” plastic coating (as indicated by the pin’s red label).
OBJECT HISTORY: Earlene Fuller’s Bowling Shirt
This shirt, which features an African kente cloth print, was designed, made and worn in the mid-1990s by Milwaukee’s Earlene Fuller, an African American bowler and seamstress.
OBJECT HISTORY: Happy Days Bowling Shirt Costume
This bowling shirt costume from the television series Happy Day speaks to Wisconsin’s association with bowling. Milwaukee, where the show was set, was known as the bowling capital of America.
The 1890s Bicycle Craze in Wisconsin
Bicycles entered the United States on the East Coast from Europe in 1869. By 1880, bicycling in the U.S. had become so popular that the League of American Wheelmen (LAW) was founded. One of LAW’s …
The Wausau Winter Frolic: Wausau’s History as a Sports Capital
In 1929 a teacher in Waupaca asked her pupils what Wisconsinites did for winter sports. According to one newspaper, the children “with one accord all exclaimed: ‘They go to Wausau!’” In the 1920s, when Wisconsinites …