About the Collection

The Ku Klux Klan in Northwestern Wisconsin, circa 1915-1950 is a digital collection of records, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and artifacts. These materials document a popular movement that most Americans would rather forget - a so-called "reform" movement driven by xenophobia and bigotry. In the post World War I era, however, the Klan was a popular and widely accepted organization that played a significant role in the social life of some American communities.

The KKK advocated patriotism, nativism, and anti-Catholicism. Although largely gone from Wisconsin by the late 1920s, the Klan persisted through the 1940s in northwestern Wisconsin. As evidenced by these materials, areas of Klan activity included Chippewa, Clark, and Pierce counties. Material for this collection has been drawn from the Wisconsin Historical Society, the University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire, and the University of Wisconsin--River Falls.

Additional Resources

• Michigan State University Digital Collections, American Radicalism, Ku Klux Klan
• Weaver, Norman F. The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, UW-Madison (1954)
• Shotwell, John Mack. Crystallizing public hatred: Ku Klux Klan public relations in the early 1920s (1974)
• Seaver, Darcy L. Women in the hood: women in 1920’s Ku Klux Klan publications (1992)
• University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Special Collections and Archives
• University of Wisconsin River Falls Area Research Center and University Archives
• Wisconsin Historical Society Library-Archives Division
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