The first quarter of the nineteenth century was marked by westward migration into the regions north and west of the Ohio River. Though Wisconsin was initially a distant frontier, the small numbers of French, English, Americans, and American Indians who resided there had nonetheless explored and used the rich land and water resources that would soon bring thousands of immigrants into Wisconsin.
Prior to the Black Hawk War in 1832, Indians primarily inhabited much of Wisconsin. By the mid nineteenth century, though, Indians had been induced to cede most of their lands to the federal government. Some were relocated west of... more...
| The first Norwegian immigrants are recalled. |
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| An Immigrant Who Became a Northwoods Missionary |
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| Madison's Italian community in the early 20th century |
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| A Polish immigrant recalls coming to Milwaukee as a boy in 1868 |
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| A Connecticut Yankee writes home about Wisconsin's virtues in 1847. |
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| A real-life "Little House" girlhood in Waupaca County. |
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| Carl Schurz describes why he settled in Wisconsin. |
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| The first German women to settle in Milwaukee. |
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| An overview of Polish immigration through 1896 |
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| Recollections of Wisconsin slaves by pioneer settlers. |
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| Early History of the Brothertown Indians |
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| A Yankee Childhood in Dodge County |
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| A description of the early Polish immigrants to Wisconsin, 1901 |
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| Milwaukee's 19th-c. Jewish neighborhood recollected |
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| Theodore Rodolf recounts his life in the lead region in the 1830s |
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| Recollections of Old Superior |
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| Milwaukee's Irish neighborhood in the 19th century |
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| A Polish couple braves the loneliness to settle Pike Lake |
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| A little bit of Italy in Vernon County |
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| The early Jewish history of LaCrosse |
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| The character and activities of Bohemian immigrants, 1901 |
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| Fifty years of Polish settlement in Portage County, 1857-1907 |
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| Czech immigrants settle in Langlade County in the 1880s |
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| The history and settlement of Langlade County |
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| The roots of Milwaukee's Jewish community in the mid-19th century |
| A Norwegian trinket box |
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| Rosemaled Norwegian Immigrant Trunk, 1845 |
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| Two sausage stuffers |
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| The oldest toast in Wisconsin |
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| A violin becomes a Norwegian fiddle, 1893 |
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| A traditional Ukrainian Easter egg |
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| A costume from a Racine Purim carnival |
| A popular handbook teaches immigrants about Wisconsin, 1851. |
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| Barron County officials encourage settlers to emigrate to the northwoods. |
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| Northwoods officials try to attract settlers onto cutover lands, 1902. |
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| A teenager's diary of coming overland from Ohio in 1846 |
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| A German immigrant advises others about coming to Wisconsin (1849) |
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| Promoters try to entice settlers to Bayfield County |
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| Promoters describe Superior in its infancy |
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| An 1875 history of the Chippewa Valley |
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| A survey report of migratory labor in Wisconsin in 1962 |
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| The state markets itself to immigrants, 1867-1896 |
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| An Abolitionist Recalls Anti-Slavery Days in Wisconsin |
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| A German emigrant guidebook, 1841 |
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| Folklore and folktales collected by Charles E. Brown |
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| A speech by Brothertown Indian leader Samsom Occom, 1771 |
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| Horse thieves on the Wisconsin frontier, 1832-1865 |
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| A guide to the Mohican language, 1789 |
| Stories by and about immigrants from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. |
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| Stories by and about Dutch and Belgian immigrants. |
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| Stories by and about Italian immigrants.
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| Stories by and about Norwegian immigrants.
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| Stories by and about German immigrants. |
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| Stories by and about Swiss immigrants. |
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| Stories by and about Czech and Hungarian immigrants. |
| An Austrian painter depicts Wisconsin in the 1850s |
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| An advertisement tries to attract settlers to the cutover region. |
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| Pictures of John Muir |
| 30 original manuscript letters of John Muir, 1861-1914 |
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| John Muir's younger brother recalls their boyhood. |
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| An Austrian painter describes sketches made while traveling Wisconsin, 1856-1860 |
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| A Norwegian immigrant describes coming to Wisconsin in 1840. |
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| A German immigrant describes coming to Wisconsin. |
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| Ma Ingalls describes family life in 1861 |
| Photographs of a Finnish homestead in northern Wisconsin |
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| Miners build a little "Cornwall" in Mineral Point |
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| Tobacco farming takes off in southern Wisconsin |
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| An Italian missionary who designs his own churches |
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| Golda Meir's school in Milwaukee |
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| A Polish neighborhood in Milwaukee |
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| A showcase of German American culture in Milwaukee |
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| Four-star accommodations in 19th century Sheboygan County |
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| Milwaukee's East Village Historic District |
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| Namur Belgian-American Historic District |
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| An examination of the narratives of four immigrant women |
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| The people and places of Fond du Lac County |
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| Travel Guide to Lake Superior in 1872 |
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| Collected historical documents from the Wisconsin Historical Society |
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| An 1874 guide to travel on the Great Lakes and Rivers of America |
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| An 1896 guide to settlement in Northern Wisconsin |
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| Reminiscences of early La Crosse by L.H. Pammel |
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| Wisconsin Blue Books |
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| A popular German American cookbook (1897) |
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| A minister seeks to attract settlers to La Crosse in 1854 |
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| A historical, documentary, and descriptive history of Wisconsin to 1854 |
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| An 1855 guide to Wisconsin for emigrants. |
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| A prominent Norwegian-American remembers his life in Wisconsin (1915) |
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| Harvard's Online Immigration Research Collection |
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| Belgian-American Research Collection |
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| Biographical sketches and writings of some Wisconsin pioneer women |
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| Over 2000 more pages of immigrant experiences |
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| Letters from a pioneer African American community in Wisconsin |
