FEATURED GALLERY | Highlights from over three million photographs, negatives, cartoons, lithographs and posters in our holdings

Man Standing by Generators in Power House, Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, ca.1915. WHS Image ID 48686

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 idea of constructing a hydroelectric power plant to harness the power of the river came from Norwegian immigrant, engineer and inventor Magnus Swenson. Although it took a little more than a decade for the dam to prove profitable, Swenson was ultimately proven correct and the surrounding areas of Sauk and Columbia counties have benefited from the dam's electric power production as well as the creation of Lake Wisconsin behind the dam. Images taken by local photographer Frank S. Eberhart are the subject of this month's featured gallery.

View the Gallery »

BROWSE THE COLLECTIONS | A selection of the more than 30,000 digitized visual materials in our online image database

WHS Produces Digital Reproductions

The WHS Images Digital Lab produces quality giclée print reproductions made from high resolution scans of original source material from our holdings. Custom orders are printed on matte or semigloss papers using large format printers and archival pigmented inks.

Additionally, our lab will produce custom digital file reproductions for commercial publishers in traditional print, editorial and advertising as well as for new media projects like websites, CD-ROMs and podcasts. All sale proceeds directly benefit the acquisition, preservation and maintenance of the physical and online collections.

Contact business manager Lisa Marine by email at lisa.marine@wisconsinhstory.org for details.

Subject: Electric Power

The nation's first commercial electric plant began operation in Appleton in 1882 and the availability of electric power transformed cities across the United States. While rural electrification efforts began primarily to assist farmers, electric power also contributed to the growth of the tourist industry in northern Wisconsin. Today, more than 34 million people are served by rural electric systems in the US, including more than 520,000 in Wisconsin alone.

Melvin E. Diemer Photographs

Born in 1885, Diemer received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1911 and immediately started in photography at the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison. He became head of the university's photo lab in 1931, set up his own business in 1933, and retired in 1955 to concentrate on education and science with a special interest in nature photography and the rural scene. Over 6,000 of his negatives are in the Society's collections.

Place File: Prairie du Sac

Over the last two years, WHS has been scanning and cataloging its collection of images of Wisconsin places. Consisting of over 10,000 items, the collection highlights main street views, prominent buildings in each community, local monuments and other features of interest. Each month our newsletter features a selection of images from a Wisconsin place. This month's featured city is Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin.

DISCOVER THE VISUAL MATERIALS COLLECTIONS

Currently less than 2% of our total visual materials collections are available online, but we continue to add hundreds of new images to our online image database each month. The Archives online catalog (ArCat) provides access to information about thousands of collections containing photographs and other images. Need help with your search? Drop us a line and we'll be happy to help you find the image you're looking for!

The WHS Images Update is a monthly email newsletter that features gallery exhibits drawn from the Wisconsin Historical Society's visual materials archives as well as highlighting collections in our online image database. To join our mailing list, see our newsletter sign up page. You may unsubscribe from our email updates at any time by clicking here.

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Available online | www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/