The Rise of Skilled Manufacturing

Between 1870 and 1900 the United States became the world's foremost industrial nation, emerging as the leader in meatpacking, timber and steel production as well as in mining. The nation experienced a stunning growth in the scale and pace of industrial production, which transformed business, the environment, the workplace, the home, and everyday life. In Wisconsin, early manufacturing was primarily extractive - - removing raw materials such as fur, lumber, and lead from the landscape and processing them for market. In contrast, by 1860 Milwaukee had become a center of modern manufacturing - - creating finished consumer goods from those... more...

Original Documents and Other Primary Sources

	How aluminum becomes Mirro cookware
	The Sheboygan Press covers the strike in Kohler, 1934
	A tariff advocate seeks worker support, 1880
	A gas powered tractor for small-scale farmers
	Parker Pen trim lathe
	Annual summaries of Milwaukee industry, 1919-1929
	A look at Wisconsin industry on the eve of the Depression
	The National Labor Relations Board tries to settle the Kohler strike, 1934
	A Labor Day souvenir from the 1900 celebration
	A trip through an instrument factory in Elkhorn, 1920
	The history and making of Holeproof Hosiery
	An 1888 milling catalogue from the Allis Company
	A catalogue of industries from Milwaukee's Industrial Exposition in 1881
	A guide to Milwaukee's commercial industries, 1882
	A bathing suit catalog from Gimbel Brothers of Milwaukee
	A history of aluminum manufacturing in Manitowoc
	Three new flour mills open in Superior in 1893
	A colorful and opinionated guide to Milwaukee businesses, 1877
	The many products of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, 1948
	Kohler workers strike for Union recognition
	Kohler: A place to work and live (1920)
	The Kohler Company celebrates industrial progress, 1934
	Toy carriages and wagons from a Sheboygan factory, 1873-1875
	Images of the Winther Motor Truck Company
	Advertisements for farm equipment
	Photographs of automobile manufacturing in Wisconsin, 1905-1968.
	Photographs of Wisconsin workers and factories, 1900-1909
	The Kissel Motor Car Industrial District
	The Kohler Company Complex in Sheboygan
	The Harley-Davidson Motor Company

Primary Sources Available Elsewhere

	The tendency of youth to leave farm life, 1898
	Wisconsin Blue Books
	"Billie" the button describes how pearl buttons are made in La Crosse
	The economic and agricultural riches of La Crosse, 1904
	A study of women laundry workers in Milwaukee, 1913
	State regulations for women workers, 1920
	A history of the rubber industry in La Crosse, 1925
	Photographs of Wisconsin's heavy industrial manufacturing

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