Highlights Archives
Wisconsin: Documenting a Sense of Place
The Wisconsin Historical Society has finished mounting more than 8,000 images of Wisconsin communities online. Beginning in the 1960s and continuing into the present day, the Society's visual materials archivists have created the Wisconsin Place File, consisting of views of main streets and the built environment, prominent points of interests, and some rural scenes. It depicts most Wisconsin towns, large and small, through pictures dating back to the mid-19th century. Many cities, towns and villages are documented in dozens of different images and image formats, including cyanotypes, black-and-white and color photographic prints, watercolors, reference prints of architectural drawings, pencil sketches and more.
Collection Not Available Online Until Now
Until now, only people visiting the Society's headquarters in Madison could see this massive collection. But in 2004 the Society received a grant to begin scanning and cataloging the Wisconsin Place File. When grant funding ran out, staff carried on the work and have now published the entire Wisconsin Place File in Wisconsin Historical Images. Users may search the database by locale, subject, photographer, description or date. To see samples of some of the historical photographs, organized alphabetically by community, visit our Wisconsin Place File gallery.
:: Posted April 29, 2010
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