February 2007 Highlights
Increase Lapham's Circle of Friends
A self-educated engineer and naturalist, Increase Lapham was Wisconsin's first scientist and one of the state's foremost citizens. He wrote the first book published in Wisconsin; made the first accurate map of the state; investigated Wisconsin's effigy mounds, native trees...
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Posted February 28, 2007
Reed School Becomes 10th Historic Site
In the 1940s, the one-room school was still very much a prevalent fixture that characterized Wisconsin's rural landscape, but that would soon change. The 1940s and '50s saw a steady decline in one-room schools as farms grew larger, the number...
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Posted February 26, 2007
Dressed to Impress: Oscar Fashions
The 79th annual Academy Awards will be presented this Sunday, February 25, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, and while some will be watching anxiously to see who takes home the biggest awards, many others around the world will...
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Posted February 23, 2007
Barkers' $2.5 Million Gift to Fund Endowment
A $2.5 million gift from Hartley and Ruth Barker will fund an endowment to provide a permanent source of funding for the Wisconsin Historical Society director's position, according to an announcement by Mark Gajewski, president of the Society's governing Board...
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Posted February 21, 2007
A Treasure Restored for Presidents Day
Just in time for Presidents Day, the Wisconsin Historical Society is pleased to share one of the latest treasures from the painting collection to be restored by renowned conservator Barry Bauman. Portrait of George Washington by Thomas Sully is not...
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Posted February 19, 2007
Love and Courtship Among Native Americans
Every February 14th, flowers, candy and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. Among Wisconsin's Woodland Indians, the courting flute once played an integral role in love and courtship. Courtship was traditionally a public...
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Posted February 14, 2007
An Abraham Lincoln Remembrance
In the rare book collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society resides a nondescript brown volume whose history puts a human face on a famous episode in American history. The humble-looking book is a first edition of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates,...
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Posted February 12, 2007
The History of Wisconsin Winter Weather
Here in Wisconsin, the recent brutal winter weather served as a reminder that most of us are fragile, indoor creatures, unlike our ancestors who dwelt mostly outdoors. If we have to go out when the wind chill is 35 below,...
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Posted February 9, 2007
Pleasant Ridge a Refuge for Former Slaves
About five miles west of Lancaster, near present-day Beetown in Grant County, Wisconsin, a historical marker is all that remains of Pleasant Ridge, a unique community of African American farmers. In 1848, when his owner died and gave him his...
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Posted February 7, 2007
Happy Birthday University of Wisconsin!
February 5 marks the anniversary of the opening of Wisconsin's largest institution of higher education, the University of Wisconsin. But when the school opened its doors to 20 students under the direction of Professor John W. Sterling in 1849, it...
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Posted February 5, 2007
Discover Milwaukee's Bronzeville
Join cultural anthropologist Ivory Abena Black on Tuesday, February 6, at 12:15 p.m. at the Wisconsin Historical Museum, for an eye-pleasing journey through Milwaukee's Bronzeville neighborhood when she discusses her book Bronzeville: A Milwaukee Lifestyle. Bronzeville, bordered by State Street,...
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Posted February 2, 2007
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