Highlights Archives
Magazine of History Archives Goes Online
The longest-running journal devoted to Wisconsin's past is the Society's quarterly Wisconsin Magazine of History. Volume I, number 1, rolled off the presses in September of 1917, and its successors have appeared punctually every 90 days ever since: 360 issues containing more than 2,000 feature articles filling more than 30,000 pages.
Unfortunately, this treasure trove of research, writing and pictures was largely hidden from view. A few hundred copies, or at most a few thousand, were printed every quarter and mailed to Historical Society members, most of whom probably threw the last issue away when the next one arrived (issues weren't sold in bookstores or on newsstands until quite recently). University libraries saved them and some large public libraries kept them on hand if space permitted. But most of the articles ever written about our heritage were beyond the reach of the general public — until now.
Thanks to a generous grant from Milwaukee's Schoenleber Foundation, all 30,000 pages of the magazine have been converted to digital form and are gradually being published on the Society's Web site. This week we are happy to issue the first 35 volumes (1917-1952), every page appearing exactly as it was first printed, thanks to the expertise of the University of Wisconsin's Digital Collection Center.
Each feature article is read, summarized and cataloged by Society staff, who have designed a powerful search interface that leads users to whatever subject interests them. Readers can also find any word or phrase on any page, or simply browse by date. Every article and its abstract will also be individually retrieved by Google and other search engines.
Interested in maple sugaring, how a log cabin was built, or what life was like in the trenches during World War I? Google will soon take you to the Society's Wisconsin Magazine of History article on that topic.
Volumes 1-35 — about 13,500 pages — are ready right now. Because staff are steadily abstracting and indexing, more articles will appear online every day until all 360 back issues, 1917 to the present, are available for free. Barring unanticipated problems, that should happen sometime this spring.
What can you find in the magazine archives at the moment?
- About 1,000 full-length features discussing virtually all eras and topics in Wisconsin history.
- Hundreds of shorter articles such as book reviews, obituaries and editorials.
- Regular columns like "The Question Box" (where staff answered readers' inquiries during the 1920s) or "Smoke Rings" (the musings of director Cliff Lord in the 1940s, when the Society rapidly expanded).
- Dozens of original historical documents, carefully edited and annotated, as well as hundreds of pictures and maps.
You won't yet find much about events after 1920, but staff are working on the later volumes now.
So visit the new magazine archives,
enter the name of your town, family, county, favorite historical figure or event, and see what turns up. Please remember two things: first, this is only the initial installment — twice as much is still in the pipeline; second, there's a conspicuous Feedback link at the top of every page. Don't be shy about using it. We'd love to hear from you, and can usually reply right away.
:: Posted January 8, 2007
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