February 2007 Odd Wisconsin
Almost every day we add a dozen or two new photographs to our online collection, Wisconsin Historical Images. This means that peculiar pictures are published online fairly frequently. One can only wonder, for instance, what made this toddler's parents pose it in a mixing bowl. Or why Gov. Emanuel Philipp would have thought it politically wise to have his picture...
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Posted in Children on February 28, 2007
"I am trying as you will perceive, to make the most of this fearfully wearisome summer. . . I live in a retired manner in a private house on the outskirts of the town where there are no other borders and have all the advantages of the country. . . . I am so miserable over my great sorrows,...
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Posted in Odd Lives on February 25, 2007
Last weekend's polar plunges in Oshkosh, Madison and other Wisconsin cities called to mind the involuntary dunkings of the workers who long ago harvested Wisconsin forests. Here, for example, is a recollection by John E. Nelligan (1852-1937), head of a logging crew in northeastern Wisconsin, concerning a novice lumberjack who got too near the edge of a jog jam in...
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Posted in Odd Lives on February 19, 2007
Gov. Doyle’s proposal last night of a $50 billion state budget made us wonder what the first state budget looked like. When Wisconsin became a state on May 29, 1848, the fiscal and legal apparatus of Wisconsin Territory simply transferred over to the new state apparatus. Territorial lawmakers convened a week later as state officials, and the state commenced business...
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Posted in Curiosities on February 13, 2007
Twice in the last two weeks we’ve had requests from readers asking us to explain where these odd stories come from. One came from a local historical society that invited us to deliver a talk on the subject. The other was from the editor of Columns, the Society’s newsletter for members (you might want to become a member if you’re...
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Posted in Curiosities on February 8, 2007
That was the name Rev. Samuel Peters (1735-1825) gave to his hypothetical 10,000-square-mile empire in northern Wisconsin. Like most dreams, it didn't come true. But it's an amazing story. It all began with Jonathan Carver (1710-1780), the first English-speaking traveler to journey through Wisconsin. Carver crossed from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien in 1766-1767 on reconnaissance for a military...
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Posted in Bizarre Events on February 4, 2007
In January of 1899 a resolution was introduced in the Wisconsin Assembly to prohibit tight lacing of women's corsets. Corsets were undergarments stiffened with whalebone that could be tightened by laces to reduce the size of a woman's waist. They had been worn for decades by the time this bill was introduced, with laces adjusted and re-adjusted to conform to...
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Posted in Bizarre Events on February 1, 2007
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