News
07/31/2009
TGIF
Kind of makes you want to party like it’s 1915, huh? Find this testament to human ingenuity, and other inspiration as to how to spend this fine Friday afternoon, in our “Big Streets in a Little City - Downtown Street Scenes in Kiel, 1860-1980” collection. Have fun!
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.KielLocHist
07/17/2009
July is National Ice Cream Month
The "big cow" at Cedar Crest Ice Cream, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is a local landmark. Get the scoop on this, and other fun and educational images, in the Manitowoc Local History Collection.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.MTWCImage
06/19/2009
Happy Father's Day!
The Cover of the Dad's Day football program, October 17, 1931 (Wisconsin 21, Purdue 14). Dad's Day began in 1920, when a fraternity invited their fathers en masse to a football game. The idea caught on and became campus-wide in 1925. Find more images sure to make Dad's day in the University of Wisconsin - Madison Athletic Department Collection.
06/12/2009
“As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.” The Artists' Book Collection
As Sir John Lubbock aptly stated above in The Pleasures of Life, art has the power to enrich and brighten the world. Whether it be for scholarship or pleasure, explore this collection of visually striking and finely crafted books made by more than 150 artists and presses from around the world. The collection is an illustrated, descriptive index to the Artists’ Book Collection, located in the Kohler Art Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison. It features limited edition, one-of-a-kind, and offset books, representative of major book artists working during the past thirty years, including many who trained in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Art Department.
Clockwise from top left:
“Adagio” by John Eric Broaddus
“Anansi Company: a Collection of 13 Hand-Made Wire and Card Rod-Puppets Animated in Color and Verse” by Ronald King, et al.
“The Bread of Days (El pan de los dais)” by Carolyn Robertson, et al.
“1957 (04-05) 1993-2037” by Julie Voyce
“Another Blue Forest” by Carol Parker
05/19/2009
Gay Peoples Union Collection
Gay Peoples Union (GPU) was the most important gay and lesbian rights organization in Milwaukee during the 1970s. This new collection is comprised of primary source materials documenting GPU and Milwaukee's gay liberation movement, including annual reports, articles of incorporation and by-laws, fliers, and newsletters. The collection also features Gay Perspective, a radio program produced by GPU and broadcast on Milwaukee station WZMF from February to June 1971 and then on WUWM from July 1971 to May 18, 1972.
05/01/2009
May Day!
Gather round the old maypole, give a bouquet of lily of the vally to a loved one, or simply raise a toast to this holiday celebrating springtime goodness. In the image above, members of the Women’s Athletic Association dance around a traditional maypole. The maypole dance was the main attraction at May Fete, an annual event at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1903-1917. Find more interesting and educational images in our Selections from the University of Wisconsin Archives.
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/UW/subcollections/ArchivesAbout.html
03/24/2009
Women's broom hockey on Lake Mendota, 1950
Women’s hockey at UW sure has come a long way since these five students dusted off their brooms on Lake Mendota. Celebrate the Badger women’s shutout victory over Mercyhurst NCAA Frozen Four in Boston by learning more about the UW athletics, and the history of women at UW, in our University of Wisconsin Collection. New materials are added regularly. Soon to come – Women's hockey media guides!
02/13/2009
Minutes of the Meetings of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents from 1921-1991
1,039 issues, 54,634 pages, added 12/2/2008
2008 Board of Regents.
This new collection consists of the digitized minutes of the meetings of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents from 1921-1991. The 70-year scope of this collection captures the expansion of the University of Wisconsin from one four-year campus in Madison with 7,344 students to a statewide system of 26 campuses annually serving more than 173,000 students and over one million Wisconsin residents through statewide Extension. The minutes of the Board’s monthly meetings provide a well-rounded sense of life in the University.
02/05/2009
Selections from the University of Wisconsin Archives
88 images, added 12/2/2008
Members of Act-Up! Madison protest outside a daycare center which refused to accept a child whose mother had HIV.
The University Archives holds an impressive collection of historic images that document topics such as Chancellors and Presidents, Memorial Union, Student Activities, and Athletics. The most recent additions focus on student protest and the University. This image collection now has over 930 images and continues to grow.
12/11/2008
Let it Snow
Find these and other images in the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections at http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Clockwise from top left:
“Grouse tracks in the snow, Ridgeland ” - Ecology and Natural Resources Collection
“House and Horse in the Mountains in Winter" - Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent
“Birch seeds on snow" - Virginia M. Kline Collection: Ecological Communities of Wisconsin
“Snow” by Claire Van Vliet" - Artists' Book Collection
12/03/2008
Milwaukee Goodwill Thanksgiving for 400 – 1960 - The State of Wisconsin Collection.
The holiday season is a time for reflection on and appreciation of the people, places, and things that help to make us happy and make life so special. It is also a time to help others less fortunate. Wisconsin has a long history of social care. Find out more about it in our Wisconsin Traditions of Social Care Collection within our State of Wisconsin Collection.
11/11/2008
Today is Veterans Day. Mark the occasion by finding out more about military history with the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Commander “Buck” Weaver and his family ca. 1943-1944 Manitowoc, Wisconsin
From the Crusades through World War II and beyond, The UWDC provides a host of resources that will enhance and enrich the study of military history. Accessible to students of all types, from novice users to advanced scholars, our collection includes primary and secondary sources. In addition, a number of the items we digitize are rare or fragile, which often means restricted access to the physical objects. However, in digital form, those resources can be used whenever you need them and wherever you and your laptop can go. Our collection also offers materials that provide insight into Wisconsin’s unique role in our nation’s conflicts. These materials include:
A History of the Crusades - http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.HistCrusades
The focus of this collection spans from the first 100 years of the Crusades to their ultimate impact on the histories of the Near East and Europe.
Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience - http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.WIWar
This collection is comprised of first person narrative accounts of Wisconsin soldiers and citizens. Through their letters, diaries, poems and other records, we learn about the state's contributions to the Union victory that cost the lives of over 12,000 of the state's men.
E. Murray Bruner Philippine Image Collection - http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/SEAiT.Bruner
Part of our South East Asian Images and Text collection, these photographs were taken by E. Murray Bruner who was a member of the Philippines Constabulary, First Company Isabella, from 1906—1910.
World War I Collection - http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.WWIColl
These materials represent a sampling of UW-Madison's World War I Special Collection, which is available in the Special Collections Department of Memorial Library. Most of these materials were acquired by the University during or in the immediate aftermath of the war and they represent a direct and often very passionate or partisan viewpoint of that conflict.
The musical legacy of the 1st Brigade Band presented here consists of a set of twelve, leather-bound partbooks (although one of the twelve has lost its leather cover and some pages) and seven envelopes of other music manuscripts. The partbooks contain about 55 numbered selections and several unnumbered tunes. In addition, a small collection of photographs is included along with the band books, which contains several carte-de-visite–type images of several of the band members.
Lucien Hector Jonas (1880-1947) was a French soldier-artist and illustrator of World War I. This evocative 10-volume set of charcoal drawings emphasizes the men and places of the Western front, including not only the British and the French but also the Americans, Indians, Chinese, and others who fought in France.
This collection includes photographic images, oral histories, published materials, artifacts, and other resources which help to document and explain the history of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin during the period from 1939 to 1947.
Germany under reconstruction - http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.GerRecon
The Germany Under Reconstruction digital collection provides a varied selection of publications in both English and German from the period immediately following World War II. Many are publications of the U.S. occupying forces, including reports and descriptions of efforts to introduce U.S.-style democracy to Germany.
Great Lakes Maritime History Project - http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.GreatLakes
Wisconsin’s maritime history is captured in photographs and other materials, including military vessels.
For more information about the UW Digital Collections Center, visit the UWDCC Web site at http://uwdcc.library.wisc.edu
10/24/2008
Bill Sagal, the first human Bucky Badger mascot. He is assisted by Bill Sachse and Connie Conrad, who constructed "Bucky." 1949.
Homecoming is upon us. Make like Bill Sagal, and show some team spirit! Find many more images of UW athletics in our University of Wisconsin Collection.
10/06/2008
Wisconsin Fishes 2000: Status and Distribution - Ecology and Natural Resources Collection
1 issue, 104 pages, added 9/9/2008
The first complete assessment of Wisconsin fishes since George C. Becker's landmark publication, Fishes of Wisconsin, this book updates the current status and abundance of all fish species in Wisconsin (including non-native species). For species discovered since the publication of Becker’s book, the authors provide in-depth descriptions, including distinguishing features and information on reproduction, growth, feeding, population dynamics, interactions with other species, and management issues.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/EcoNatRes.FishesWI2000
08/29/2008
Stereoviews of the French Second Empire, ca. 1855-1870 collection
Grille du Jardin des Tuileries
201 stereoviews, added 8/5/2008
Stereoscopy is a technique for creating the illusion of depth by presenting two images (usually photographs) to the eyes, each one taken from a slightly different perspective (often about the same distance apart as human eyes). The resulting images, when viewed through a stereoscope, appear three-dimensional. From 1848-1870 the French government was headed by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, first as President of the Republic and then as the Emperor Napoleon III. To the astonishment of many (and to the dismay of some) he succeeded in reestablishing the political system of his uncle, the first Napoleon. During this period, known as the Second Empire, there were many changes in France and in French society. Some of these, particularly the more concrete examples, are documented in the stereoviews produced during that time. The rebuilding of Paris is one of the major projects mirrored in these images.
08/13/2008
In the Pink
The UW digital collections center hosts an array of resources sure add color to research and pleasure browsing alike. Explore for yourself at http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Clockwise from top center:
“Corydalis Sempervirens, Cactus Rock, Ferry Bluff, State Natural Area” - Ecology and Natural Resources Collection
“Handwork” by Walter Tisdale - Artists' Book Collection
“The Girls of St. Wode’s” by L. T. Meade - Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books
“Singing Girl Dressing her Hair” by M. Nakajima - The State of Wisconsin Collection
“The Quadrangular Passion Flower” by James Hopwood and Peter Charles Henderson - Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture
“Cream jug” ca. 1760 - Chipstone Ceramics Collection
“Aunt Sallie's lament” - Claire Van Vliet, Margaret Kaufman, Linda Wray, and Judi Conant - Artists' Book Collection
[center image] “Stamen hair of Setcreasea: five views at different focal planes” by Michael Clayton - University of Wisconsin - The Science Collection
07/30/2008
The Literature Collection - "Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama. A revised American ed. Of the Readers' Handbook" by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer
4 issues, 3,042 pages, added 6/3/2008
This four volume was published 1892 and is an American edition of Reverend Brewer’s reference work. Brewer wrote, "the object of this Handbook is to supply readers and speakers with a lucid, but very brief account of such names as are used in allusions and references, whether by poets or prose writers ;-to furnish those who consult it with the plot of popular dramas, the story of epic poems, and the outline of well-known tales." This edition includes references to American literature along with much of the material contained in the first edition.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Literature.CobhamSketches
07/23/2008
University of Wisconsin-Madison Zoological Museum Collection -- Galápagos Collection
6 issues, 1,695 pages, added 6/3/2008
The collection of Galápagos materials that includes anatomical specimens, images, and papers at the UW-Madison Zoological Museum (UWZM) is unique and rare. These additions include six volumes, including Paddlewings, the penguin of Galápagos, David goes voyaging and the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume 16.
07/10/2008
Featured Resource - The University of Wisconsin Collection - Women playing baseball at the University of Wisconsin--Madison
Summer is in full swing, and arguably nothing says summertime like baseball. While the two UW students featured in this photo from the 1950’s are taking matters into their own hands, numerous images of the UW baseball team, as well as well as all your other favorite sports, can also be found in our University of Wisconsin Collection.
06/13/2008
Featured Resource - Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books (PBO)
The title of this book offers good advice for the superstitiously inclined on this Friday the 13th. Furthermore it is only one of many attractive and interesting volumes that comprise our PBO collection. The project also enables students, teachers, binders, and scholars in many different areas the opportunity to study up to 5,000 decorative bindings from two different physical collections in a single, virtual location. In September 2003, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in partnership with The University of Alabama, received an IMLS National Leadership grant to create this digital resource.
06/08/2008
History Collection -- Public Libraries of the United States
1 issue, 1,250 pages, added 5/6/2008
Prepared by Samuel R. Warren and published in 1876, this report details the history and state of all types of libraries in the country. A search of Wisconsin returns information about how public, prison and the state historical society libraries were formed. You can also read about everything from reference books to reading rooms.
05/30/2008
American Medical Botany in the Decorative Arts and Material Culture
3 issues, 766 pages, added 5/6/2008
Being among the first American botanical books, this title is of interest to historians of science. It also lends itself to the study of decorative arts and material culture since the work represents the state of early American book illustration. This work not only provides color illustrations of the specimens to aid in plant identification, but was also one of the first two American botanical books with colored illustrations. Prior books were customarily hand-colored after printing in a secondary process. As a "first" on many levels, this online book should be of value to researchers across multiple disciplines.
05/23/2008
Ecology and Natural Resources Collection – Fishes of Wisconsin
1 volume, 1,065 pages, added 3/17/2008
This single volume, published by the University of Wisconsin Press, represents an unmatched reference guide for those interested in species of fish in Wisconsin as well as fish that have been displaced from the state. With hundreds of photographs and drawings as well as comprehensive statistical data, Fishes of Wisconsin is a valuable tool for researchers, professionals and fishing enthusiasts.
05/06/2008
Mother’s Day Inspiration: "A Nation Wide Tribute to Motherhood"
Still not sure what to get your mom this year? This Mother’s Day window display from 1942 shows that regardless of the year, clothes are a pretty good bet! This tableau at the Henderson- Hoyt department store features women’s print dresses typical of the World War II era, dishes, a tablecloth or bedspread, and other items offered as Mother’s Day gifts. The Henderson-Hoyt store was located at 2-10 North Eighth Street in Manitowoc. Find more inspiration, and other great images from Wisconsin’s past, in our State of Wisconsin collection.
05/02/2008
Life During Wartime in Wisconsin
State officials this week unveiled a new project designed to enliven American history classes here in Wisconsin. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the “Life During Wartime” will partner educators with historians and veterans to enhance curriculum covering the Civil War to the present. The program will also include a web component that puts original historical resources online for teachers to incorporate into their lessons. UW Historians and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum will share their wealth of materials and experiences to help bring history to life. However, participants (and others) who are seeking additional materials need look no further than the UWDC! Our collection currently includes “Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience” – a collection of first person narrative accounts of Wisconsin soldiers and citizens. In addition, the UWDCC is in the process of digitizing World War II era cookbooks which feature recipes that stretch and substitute butter, meat, coffee, and other staples in response to rationing. For more information about our current collection, go to http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/Browse.html and click on “Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience.”
04/24/2008
Aldo Leopold and the UWDCC in the News!
As part of their Earth Day coverage, CBS affiliate Channel 3 of Madison produced pieces on Wisconsinites who led the way on Environmental issues, including Aldo Leopold. Leopold is often named as the most important conservation thinker of the 20th Century, and his work has influenced many disciplines, including forestry, wildlife management, sustainable agriculture, and private land management. He is most widely known as the author of A Sand County Almanac, one of the most beloved and respected books about the environment ever published. And as stated in the Channel 3 story, our Aldo Leopold Collection houses the journals and notes he created in preparation for that work, as well as other raw materials that document not only Leopold's rise to prominence but the history of conservation and the emergence of the field of ecology from the early 1900s until his death in 1948. Find out more by clicking on the links to the two different versions of the story below, or by exploring our Aldo Leopold collection.
04/17/2008
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections in the News
University Archives Director David Null discussed the project to digitize the University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives' complete collection of materials from Wisconsin conservationist Aldo Leopold with WisconsinEye on April 15, 2008. The collection consists of a collection of early diaries, notebooks and journals with a folio of loose drawings and U.S. Forest Service diaries covering 1899-1933, Leopold's hunting journals spanning 1917-1945, and Leopold's Portage-area "shack" journals covering 1935-1948. Null discussed the Leopold papers and other parts of the University’s online collection. Null was interviewed by WisconsinEye Public Policy Producer Craig Sauer in the station’s Madison Studio. Audio and video of this interview are available for download on the WisconsinEye website.
http://www.wiseye.com/wisEye_programming/ARCHIVES-april08.html
04/15/2008
The Literature collection
April is National Poetry Month, so get in the mood by exploring the Literature collection in the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. For example, delve into our collection of Parallel Press Chapbooks. The Parallel Press, an imprint of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, publishes print and digital publications featuring new works of scholars, researchers, and poets. The poetry chapbook series was launched in 1999 to revive the publication of small, collectible editions of poetry.
04/09/2008
Claytonia virginica in bloom, Ridgeland -- featured resource in the Ecology and Natural Resources Collection
It may not look like spring outside, but the flowers are always blooming in the UW digital collections! Find other images documenting the beauty of spring and all Wisconsin’s seasons by searching the Ecology and Natural Resources Collection.
04/02/2008
State of Wisconsin Collection - Annual reports of the officers of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, 1899-1905
1 issue, 505 pages, added 3/5/2008
The Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association Reports denote the moneys received and expended and work done by the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association in order to attract attention to the city's natural beauty and surrounding lakes. The impetus behind the association was that by making Madison's natural surroundings more accessible, visitors would get a better idea of the magnificence of the location, and advantages of Madison as a summer resort or place of permanent residence. The Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association Reports offer a glimpse into a time in local history when pleasure drives were first considered, and thought to be of skeptical benefit to the public.
03/26/2008
University of Wisconsin Collection - William J. Meuer Photoart Collection

8 issues, 952 pages, added 3/4/2008
The William J. Meuer Photoart Collection is an outstanding visual history of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its surrounding community. The collection was compiled by renowned local photographer William J. Meuer who with his brother, Roman, opened the Meuer Photoart House on State Street in 1916. Dating from 1888 to 1935, 25 large bound albums contain nearly 27,000 individual prints. The albums contain portraits of faculty and administrators, pictures of lectures and other academic functions of faculty and staff, as well as their social events and town and gown activities are documented. All aspects of UW student life are depicted, including dramatic and musical programs, intercollegiate, intramural and informal sporting events, and social activities.
03/26/2008
The Human Ecology Collection
All Sewn Up: Millinery, Dressmaking, Clothing and Costume
36 issues, 8,166 pages, added 3/4/2008
This digital collection includes millinery, dressmaking, clothing and costume books from UW-Madison collections. These books from the first half of the 20th century (1907 – 1940’s) include the history of clothing, styles of dress, fashion drawing, and design and construction of hats, clothing and costumes. Items in this collection will appeal to vintage clothing collectors, those studying costume design, fashion, and women’s history, and those who just enjoy reminiscing about days gone by.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HumanEcol.MillineryBooks
Carson Gulley Cookbook Collection
5 issues, 211 pages, added 3/4/2008
Carson Gulley was head chef of the Housing Division's Food Service for 27 years and gained such legendary status as a chef on the UW-Madison campus that both a building and a pie were named for him. His reputation as culinary master and authority on herbs and spices led to his development of the University's program to train U. S. Navy cooks and bakers for service during World War and while on leave from the UW Madison, he set up a very successful commercial dietetics training course at Tuskegee Institute. Carson Gulley's publications are presented here in the Carson Gulley Cookbook digital collection.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HumanEcol.CarsonGulley
03/11/2008
The German Studies Collection - The Brecht Yearbook
27 issues, 7,824 pages, added 3/4/2008
The Brecht Yearbook is the annual publication of the International Brecht Society (IBS), devoted to scholarly research on Bertolt Brecht's writings and to broader issues about the relationship between politics and culture. The first three volumes (1971-1973) were published in Germany under the title Brecht heute - Brecht Today (Athenäum Verlag) and volumes 4-10 (1974-1980) under the title Das Brecht-Jahrbuch (Suhrkamp Verlag); all contributions were in German. Thereafter the yearbook moved to the United States and has included since then contributions in German and English. Volumes 11-13 (1982-1986) were published by Wayne State University Press and since then all volumes have appeared under the imprint of the IBS, distributed by the University of Wisconsin Press
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/German.BrechtYearbook
03/06/2008
UW-La Crosse Steamboat Collection
362 images, added 2/5/2008
The UW-La Crosse Historic Steamboat Photograph collection consists of over 40,000 black and white photographic images of steamboats on the inland waterways of the United States, primarily the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers and their tributaries. Over the next several years all of the photos will be made part of this online collection. The photos depict steamboats in every phase of their life span, in every aspect of their daily operations from the 1850s to the present, and in all sorts of settings as they went about their everyday business of hauling freight and passengers and towing barges and rafts. For some steamboats, especially the bigger excursion boats, there may be over a hundred photographs to view; for other boats, there might be only a single photo to document its existence. Besides steamboats, other types of images in the collection include steamboat captains, engineers, pilots, passengers and crews; city and town waterfronts; levees; locks and dams; and river-related activities such as fishing, swimming and clamming.
03/03/2008
PrimateImages: Natural History Collection
2,010 images, added 2/5/2008
The PrimateImages database is a collection of photographs and information about nonhuman primates. These images were contributed by numerous photographers through the Lawrence Jacobsen Library at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin in an effort to preserve the visual record of nonhuman primate species. This site contains photographs of most known primate species as well as related images such as habitat, maps and food sources.
3 issues / 2,330 pages, added 12/18/2007
This short story can be found in the June 1904 issue of The Wisconsin literary magazine. It tells the tale of the head games played by two college students who are preparing to attend a Leap Year dance. 177 volumes of this journal comprise just one part of our Literature Collection. Find these and other works, here:
02/20/2008
Historical County Plat Maps from South Central Wisconsin and Early Madison City Directories
3 issues / 2,330 pages, added 12/18/2007
This digital collection of historic plat books, city directories, and atlases provides accessibility to early information about South Central Wisconsin, specifically Columbia, Dane, Portage and Wood counties. A variety of the oldest plat books, atlases and city directories were chosen because of their frequent use and delicate condition. Materials recently added to the collection include several city directories. This project was funded by a 2007 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant
02/15/2008
The Beauties of Flora by Eliza Eve Gleadall
1 issue / 102 pages, added 1/8/2008
In The Beauties of Flora (1834), Eliza Eve Gleadall combines poetry, prose and illustration to convey the sentimental as well as scientific and aesthetic aspects of flowers. The author was an instructor of young ladies at a Yorkshire school offering tutelage in English grammar, history, reading, "fashionable works," French, Italian, music, drawing, dancing, writing, geography, and astronomy. The book is intended as a "chaste recreation" for such suitably educated youth. The 1834 volume contains 20 lithographed plates and was privately published by the author at Heath Hall near Wakefield. A second volume, not available in our collection, followed in 1836. The digital facsimile provided here was made from the 1834 volume held at the UW-Madison, Memorial Library Special Collections, at Thordarson T 1722.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/DLDecArts.BeautFlora
02/07/2008
New Lesson Plans Available
Integrate primary sources into your curriculum with the click of a button. We now have additional lesson plans available on our website. Topics include a historical look at agriculture and sociology in the United States, Wisconsin’s connection to the Galapagos Islands, and an exploration of primary sources related to the Irish Famine. Using primary sources enables users to make their own interpretations of historical events and build critical thinking skills. In addition, use of these vetted materials can help students develop the tools needed to assess web content for quality and dependability – an essential skill as more and more school work is done online.
02/05/2008
Founders’ Day is February 5, 2008
UW’s first ever day of class occurred 159 years ago today, and since 1924 the anniversary has been observed as Founders’ Day. The image above shows Bascom Hall as it stood in 1859, just ten years after that first day. The building was called Main Hall at the time of the photo, and it still has its original rounded portico and dome. Don’t wait until the next Founders’ Day to celebrate UW’s rich history. Find out more by exploring our University of Wisconsin Collection.
Featured in the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians (WAAL) Newsletter Volume 25, No. 1, Winter 2008
The La Crosse Public Library is pleased to announce receipt of an LSTA grant for 2008 to digitize maps and atlases of La Crosse County and the Upper Mississippi River. The grant will give access to material physically belonging to the La Crosse Public Library, UW-La Crosse Murphy Library, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. The award in the amount of $5506 will allow the digitization by UWDCC of over 100 maps both in published and manuscript form.
This group of materials includes maps and atlases of La Crosse County of a variety of types, including plat (ownership), highway, soil, topographic, city of La Crosse including zoning, parks, and street, other La Crosse County municipalities, and selected pre- and post-lock and dam charts and maps of the Upper Mississippi River. The date range of the maps is approximately 1854-1987 and will demonstrate the rich history of the area from the days of logging to the post-lock and dam system on the Mississippi River.
This proposal forges new boundaries by considerably increasing the amount of La Crosse resources available on the Internet. It focuses on materials that are oversized and thus difficult and expensive to host locally with the existing talents and equipment available and probably would not be digitized otherwise. By grouping these materials together intellectually in a database regardless of holding library, and sharing the best of these collections with users, everyone will benefit. Users of all types will therefore be more likely to capture a solid, representative body of material that can be found in one central location on the Web that is currently not digitized.
La Crosse Public Library and Murphy Library have a long standing cooperative relationship in regard to the digitization of local history content. Winner of the 2005 WLA/Highsmith Award, their La Crosse History Unbound web site has helped many local history students, researchers and genealogists.
Anita Taylor Doering, La Crosse Public Library, is the project manager; Bill Doering, Murphy Library, is the metadata guru; and UW-Milwaukee MLIS student Daniel Nelson will be helping with the metadata. Vicki Tobias will be the UWDCC coordinator on this project.
01/29/2008
Belgian Survey Maps and Log Structures
247 images, added 12/18/2007
One of the country's largest concentrations of Walloon-speaking Belgians is found in northeastern Wisconsin, resulting in a unique cultural and social flavor. A pilot project was undertaken in 1975-1976 to establish a Belgian-American Ethnic Resource Collection in the Special Collections Department of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Cofrin Library. The objective was to record the undocumented historical, social, and cultural legacy of this unique ethnic group. Images of the farms as well as oral history interviews had previously been digitized by the UWDCC. New materials include nine in-depth architectural surveys maps, which were drawn to scale showing the location (both past and present) of structures, gardens, orchards fences, fields, driveways, etc, and include materials such as draft maps and deeds, as well as a large collection of log structure images.
As the temperature dips into negative numbers, it’s the perfect time to stay home and read a book. And wouldn’t it be even better if the book could come to you? Bookmobiles can do just that, such as the one picture here. This wintry scene shows teacher and students in front of the Marathon County Bookmobile. Find more images of bookmobiles (not to mention thousands of other things) in the State of Wisconsin Collection.
1 issue / 384 pages, added 1/8/2008
Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937), second Baron Rothschild, was a British zoologist and lifelong collector of insects, birds, and mammals. He founded the Rothschild Natural History Museum in London; and his collection of bird specimens was sold in 1932 to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. After reading a paper on extinct and vanishing birds before the 1905 IVth International Ornithological Congress, Rothschild was persuaded to compile a more comprehensively illustrated volume on the topic. The result, Extinct birds. An attempt to unite in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times..., was published in 1907 in a limited edition of 300 copies. The digital facsimile provided here was made from copy No. 23, held at the UW-Madison, Memorial Library Special Collections, at Thordarson T 1496. Among the volume's 49 plates are a number of theoretical illustrations reconstructing the possible appearance of birds known only from verbal accounts a nd skeletal remains.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/DLDecArts.RothsExtinct
266 Images, added 1/8/2008.
Following Argentina's economic collapse in late 2001, the Eloisa Cartonera company arose from the ruins in Almagro, a lower middle-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires. In a broken-down shop on Guardia Street, young writers and artists have established an art gallery and bookshop that serves as the public face of Eloisa Cartonera, a publishing house that makes original books from recycled cardboard and cheap prints and sells them for less than 5 pesos ($1.60) each, about a third the price of a conventional paperback. The book covers are printed with rough stencils and poster paints. UW-Madison, Memorial Library Special Collections houses the collection.
Apparently, January is National Hot Tea Month, and these students at UW- Marathon County are ready for it! This image is from 1964, but find other images documenting Wisconsin’s rich past throughout the years by searching the state of Wisconsin Collection at http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/ and clicking on the “Search the Collection” link.
As we welcome in 2008, a new year’s message from another time helps to illustrate the struggles that were facing the world more than 50 years ago. This address, from U.S. High Commissioner for Germany John J. McCloy, was broadcast in German (though transcribed here in English) over RIAS, the American-sponsored ration station in West Berlin on New Year’s Eve 1951. The Federal Republic of Germany was experiencing a period of economic growth, and hopes still were high for an expeditious unification of Germany. This is just an example of what can be found in the History Collection. The items assembled here were selected by librarians, scholars, and other subject specialists along a wide range of criteria. They include a variety of formats such as books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps, and, more.
12/19/2007
Wilhelmy family & others Manitowoc Local History Collection in the State of Wisconsin Collection
Friends and family enjoy a snowball fight at Henry Wilhelmy farm in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Those pictured include Lucy Lyon, Linda Drumm, Pondo the dog, Augusta Wilhelmy, Bessie Drumm, and John Skrypzinski. Find other fun, distinctive, and compelling images from Wisconsin’s past by searching the state of Wisconsin Collection at http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/ and clicking on the “Search the Collection” link.
12/12/2007
A "Sane" Christmas By Minnie M. Hobbins
This article casts an interesting, if not rosy light on the holiday season around the turn of the 20th century, and draws attention to the difference between the past as it is remembered and the past as it truly was. Nearly 100 years ago observers were already lamenting the over-commercialization of Christmas. Even the practice of “Re-gifting” was already in play, and the author warns ” the friends who will become the possessors of the usually useless gifts will carefully wrap them up and place them in a corner of their closets, there to remain until passed on to some far off relative who will be ‘delighted with anything.’” Instead, the author urges, give simple gifts from the heart – advice that seems just as relevant today as it was then.
http://http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.ProgAmerOct11
12/5/2007
A Political Adolescence By Golda Meir
This excerpt from the book My Life by Golda Meir chronicles the years she spent in Milwaukee as a child. In 1906, eight-year-old Golda, along with her mother and two sisters, emigrated from Russia to the United States. They joined Golda's father who had come to Milwaukee in 1903 in search of work. Described here is the culture-shock and wonder experienced by Golda and her family as they opened a store, attended school, and otherwise established a new life in the bustling city on Lake Michigan. In 1921 Golda moved to Tel Aviv and eventually helped establish the state of Israel. She held a number of offices in the government and then served as prime minister from 1969 until her retirement in 1974. The excerpt includes the first known photograph of Golda Meir, ca. 1904, as well as a photo of her with President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1969.
This work tells the story of life in twentieth-century South Madison through the voices of those who lived there. For example, the culture shock experienced by Geraldine B. Bernard when she moved to Madison from New Orleans in 1967, or the experiences of Ines Flores-Grossen, who came from El Salvador in 1980 to attend school. The 20 interviews that comprise the book were conducted in community centers, houses, churches, and apartments over a two-year period beginning in 1998. The book also features images from Giffey’s Decades Mural Project. Located in the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, the piece includes four murals. Each one depicts a different decade of history beginning with 1950. The murals depict local, national, and international events and personalities related to African-American history.
11/26/2007
Beowulf: A New Translation for Oral Delivery
Beowulf is the oldest narrative poem in the English language. The story
represents historical traditions dating back to fifth-and-sixth-century Scandinavia,
and the written text first emerged in the form of a single manuscript around
the year 1000. In this tale the titular hero kills the monster Grendel, who
has been ravaging the Danes, as well as the monster’s mother who seeks revenge
for her son’s death. Beowulf becomes king and is killed in his old age while
slaying a dragon that was attacking his people. While the saga has been translated
into English many times, this version is noteworthy in that it is intended for
oral delivery, or to be read aloud. In addition this work includes an audio
stream in which the translator provides a reading of his version of the poem.
It can be listened to from start to finish, or it can be accessed at the beginning
of any of the forty-three sections into which it is divided. Translator and
reader Dick Ringler is professor emeritus of English and Scandinavian Studies
at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
"Young Joe McCarthy: the Folks Back Home Remember" by Michael O'Brien.
Wisconsin Academy review Volume 27, Number 2
This seven page article recounts the early years Republican Senator Joseph
McCarthy though the anecdotes of those who knew him. McCarthy was born to an
Irish Catholic family in Grand Chute, a farm community north of Appleton, Wisconsin
on November 14 1908, the fifth of seven children. Friends and teachers describe
a hard working daredevil, while other acquaintances depict a man who was at
turns generous and deceitful. The article traces McCarthy’s past from chicken
farmer to Marine and circuit judge to his 1946 election to the U.S. Senate.
McCarthy went on to garner national attention in 1950 when he charged the Truman
Administration with harboring 205 communists in the U.S. State Department. The
article includes several black and white photographs of McCarthy.
See the all archived news and updates in the UWDC News Archive
See the all archived news and updates in the UWDC News Archive





© 2006 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents.
These materials may be copied freely by individuals or libraries for personal use, research, teaching
(including distribution to classes), or any "fair use" as defined by copyright laws. Please include
this statement and author or photographer attribution with any copies you make. The materials may be
linked to freely in non-commercial, non-subscription Internet editions created for an educational purpose.