Wisconsin Historical Images

View Our Gallery Archive

Each of our galleries focuses on a compelling set of images drawn from our online image database. They provide an introduction to image research topics you will find in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Manitowoc-Two Rivers History Showcased The Manitowoc and Two Rivers gallery of images captures more than 150 years of life in these two cities. The images depict life on the lakeshore where various cultures merged to create two unique communities proud of their heritage.

A Century of Aviation Eight galleries document the Wright Flyers in Wisconsin, John G. Kaminski, military aviation, innovative speed and distance aviation, airplanes and airlines, airports, aerial enthusiasts, and the great space race.

Afloat on the Ohio: Reuben Gold Thwaites Photographs In the summer of 1894, Society Director Reuben Gold Thwaites and his family traveled the Monongahela and Ohio rivers. His photos offer a glimpse of the nation's interior.

An Artist on the Overland Trail Created by artist James F. Wilkins on his 151-day journey to the California gold fields in 1849, these sketches became the foundation for an enormous panorama of the route known as "The Moving Mirror of the Overland Trail."

An Earth Day Gallery in Gaylord Nelson's Honor The Society is proud to announce the completion of the first phase of the Gaylord Nelson Papers processing project. On the occasion of the 38th anniversary of Earth Day, we feature a selection of images from his career.

Angora: Rabbit Raising in Nazi Concentration Camps The Angora project was an SS-administered program to breed rabbits for their soft fur. Discovered by journalist Sigrid Schultz, the album serves as a stark reminder of a brutal regime that treated animals better than its prisoners.

A Summer Place: Images of the Apostle Islands Light houses, fishing boats, ferries, windsleds, picnics, celebrations and of course the people at the heart of it all, are chronicled in this gallery of images documenting life on and around the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior.

Brandel and Jones Family Gallery This collection of informal, spontaneous family photographs from the 1920s and 30s capture not only the Brandel-Hopkins family history, but also Wisconsin's history, artistic beauty and often a strange and beguiling charm.

Cigarette Trade Cards A variety of 27 colorful cigarette cards from the late 1800s in our collections, depicting people, sports, and birds.

Commemorating 50 Years of Integration September 25, 2007, marked the 50th anniversary of a pivotal event in the history of civil rights in America, the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Dickey Chapelle, Photojournalist Dickey was an adventurous woman who reported from the front lines of military actions worldwide, from WW II through Vietnam, where she was the first female journalist to die in action.

Edward A. Bass: Doctor and Amateur Photographer Dr. Edward Bass was a practicing physician in Montello when he purchased a Velox camera from the local newspaper office in 1892. More than 130 of his "most perfect pictures" are the subject of this gallery.

Falk Corporation: Milwaukee Manufacturing Giant Once known almost exclusively as a brewing powerhouse, Milwaukee owes part of its reputation to the Falk Corporation, an innovative leader in the manufacture of gears and gear trains for a variety of industry worldwide.

Fill 'er Up: A Historical Look at Service Stations Since their unremarkable beginnings as cheap shacks and curbside pumps at the dawn of the automobile age, gas stations have taken many forms and worn many guises. See how gas stations became icons of modern car culture!

From Water to Power: the Prairie du Sac Dam The Prairie du Sac Dam on the Wisconsin River has been powering communities in the area since 1914. The dam and power plant's construction was documented by local photographer Frank S. Eberhart.

Gerhard Gesell's Alma: Mississippi River Town During Gerhard Gesell's prolific career as a photographer, he carefully documented the town, people and culture of Alma, Wisconsin. He skillfully captured the integral role the Mississippi River played for this river town and its citizens.

H.H. Bennett — Photographer Between 1865 and 1908, H.H. Bennett captured the rugged landscape of the Wisconsin Dells. Bennett also created stunning images of Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago.

H.H. Bennett and Civil War Cycloramas Before motion pictures, cycloramas entertained audiences by depicting panoramic views of historic events. H.H. Bennett documented two Civil War cycloramas: the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Missionary Ridge.

Have You Seen This Madison? James T. Potter combined his architectural background and photographer's skills to create this photo feature for the Wisconsin State Journal. His popular column ran in the Sunday paper from 1969 to 1977.

Highlander Folk School The Highlander Folk School began in the 1930s as a social leadership center focused on labor organization and civil rights, reflecting an underlying belief that progressive advances depended greatly on defeating segregation.

Hölzlhuber Watercolors Austrian Franz Hölzlhuber visited the U.S. from 1856 to 1860. As he traveled, he sketched his observations and then enhanced them with watercolors.

Horses to Horsepower — Cars in Wisconsin History Take a drive through history and witness Wisconsin's dramatic transformation from a horse-dependent society during the 19th century to the automobile-based culture of the present.

Howard Hughes A collection of stills from "Hell's Angels" and "Sky Devils," movies made by Howard Hughes in the 1930s. Included are behind-the-scenes images of Hughes, Jean Harlow, and Wisconsin-born Spencer Tracey.

Images of Wisconsin's Holocaust Survivors More than 140,000 Holocaust survivors came to the United States after World War II. Two dozen of those who settled in Wisconsin are documented in images from pre- and post-war Europe and their early years in the state.

Images of the Underground Underground presses are most commonly associated with the countercultural movements of the 1960s. The WHS has one of the largest collection of underground newspapers in the nation, a selection of which are featured in this gallery.

Indian Portraits — Bureau of Ethnology De Lancey W. Gill was one of the photographers who took studio portraits of tribal leaders in Washington DC between the 1890s and 1930s.

Industrial Milwaukee: Images of P&H Electric Cranes Alonzo Pawling and Henry Harnischfeger revolutionized the machinery industry with the invention of the electric crane, depicted in photos from the early 20th century.

J. Robert Taylor: Milwaukee's First Photojournalist Although he had no formal training in newspaper photography, J. Robert Taylor's one-man photo department helped to shape modern photojournalism by documenting city life along the Milwaukee shores of Lake Michigan.

Kehl School of Dance — Madison Photos of the school include students in costume, the inside and outside of the studio, and marquees advertising performances.

Larger Than Life: Tall-Tale Postcards Tall-Tale postcards emerged in the early 20th century, functioning as surrogates for travel that extolled Wisconsin's agricultural abundance through images of mythic harvests and gargantuan animals.

Let's Go to the Circus! See what the circus looked like years ago in our selection of about 100 photographs spanning almost 100 years.

Madison People's Poster and Propaganda Collection From the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, Madison was a hub of social, political and cultural change. The onset of countercultural ideologies permeated the city's social landscape as groups formed and distributed propaganda.

Madison Sesquicentennial Created to honor the 150th Anniversary of the granting of Madison's city charter on March 4, 1856, this gallery groups hundreds of photographs, maps, drawings and paintings of Madison by subject.

McCormick-International Harvester The largest and most influential farm equipment manufacturer of the twentieth century, we feature 3,000 images from 1840s to the 1980s, organized by subject.

Paul Vanderbilt's Landscapes Paul Vanderbilt, one of the premier landscape photographers of the 20th century, portrayed the essence of the rural Wisconsin landscape in his images of small towns, farmlands, and shorelines across Wisconsin.

Photo Copy Service — Madison Angus McVicar and other Photo Copy Service photographers captured the soul of Madison from the 1920s through the 1960s. Images include businesses, social groups and people engaged in daily work.

Picturing Madison: Winifred Ford's Watercolors In 1938-39, Winifred Ford created over 40 stunning watercolors of historic Madison buildings, many of which no longer exist.

Planned Community of Greendale, Wisconsin Built as part of a New Deal construction project, "Greenbelt Towns" like Greendale had housing only steps away from parks, employment, and the town center. View 200 images of the village from the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Political Maverick William Proxmire From 1957 to 1988, Democratic Senator William Proxmire represented the state of Wisconsin in Congress. Proxmire's 32-year career is the subject of this featured gallery.

Politics and Elections: Documents and Pictures This gallery documents notable moments in Wisconsin’s political history and the history of political parties and ideological movements.

Portraits of Scientists Collected by pioneering Wisconsin antiquarian Increase Allen Lapham between 1862-75, this album of carte-de-visite photographic portraits depicts many notable 19th-century scientists from America and Europe.

Remembering Madison: the Lloyd Jones Album The Richard and Georgia Lloyd Jones family photo album captured life in Madison from 1911 to 1919 and documents the city's rail lines and stations, homes, buildings and street scenes, as well as neighbors and relatives.

Remembering McCarthy: A Visual Biography May marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, who for four years in the early 1950s, held the nation in his grasp with his anti-Communist rhetoric. This gallery documents his career in images.

Simon L. Stein's Portraits of Leading Citizens In 1913 prolific Milwaukee portrait photographer Simon L. Stein proposed providing portraits of leading Wisconsin citizens to the Wisconsin Historical Society. Stein and his son would donate a photo collection of 429 portraits.

The 1913 Teasdale Vice Committee Investigation In a Progressive-era crusade against "social evil," Senator Howard Teasdale documented debauchery and sin in the dance halls, saloons and wine bars of 35 Wisconsin towns. Images also include undesirable conditions for children.

Things Once Seen: Richard Quinney Photographs Richard Quinney has spent more than 40 years documenting his life, time and community through photography. Intimately tied to and intrigued by place, this gallery features images from his newest book.

Up in Smoke: The Story of the Capitol Fire of 1904 On February 26-27, 1904, fire destroyed the third Wisconsin State Capitol; images of the capitol fire and Wisconsin's Capitols.

William A. Jones — Native American Photographs A resident of Wisconsin most of his life, William A. Jones served as U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1897 to 1905, when he acquired almost 400 photographs documenting Native Americans and their lives.

William Donahey's Teenie Weenies Created by William Donahey, the diminutive Teenie Weenies, a self-sufficient group of hardworking and courteous two-inch tall people, appeared in newspapers, books, and household merchandise from 1914 to 1970.

Winther Motor Company, Kenosha These 1921 photographs of the Winther Motor Company's truck and automobile plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, give unusual insight into manufacturing at the time.

Wisconsin at Play Wisconsin offers endless opportunities for recreation. See hundreds of images showing how and where people have enjoyed themselves in the Badger State through the years.

Wisconsin Bird's-Eye Maps Everyone loves these appealing artistic renderings that were created from a bird's eye viewpoint.

Wisconsin Centennial Stamp Contest A selection of stamps entered in a contest to design a commemorative stamp heralding the Wisconsin centennial.

Wisconsin Folk Music Project Over thirty ethnic and regional performers were captured in photos and on audiotape in the early 1940s by Helene Stratman-Thomas, from Ho-Chunk drummers to a one-man band to Swiss bell ringers.

Wisconsin State Fair Not just tractors, cows and pigs, but everything from brass bands and locomotive demolitions to auto daredevils and Alice in Dairyland.

Wisconsin Women Selected images of exceptional women, as well as those who are often unheralded as they go about the tasks of daily life.

World Trade Center Construction Native Wisconsinite Richard Quinney took these color slides of the World Trade Center construction in 1969.