Margaret Berres (center) smiles as she talks about the Wisconsin fish fry experience, as Tom Ludka (left) and George Wagner look on during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis. "It's not just the food you eat," Berres said. "That's wonderful, but it's getting together with family and other people. It's that experience that goes with it." 

Story and photos by Dean Witter
Wisconsin Historical Foundation

ST. FRANCIS — The St. Francis Civic Center was the perfect location for the Wisconsin Historical Society's final community "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session.

After all, the building not only houses the city's police and fire departments and other administrative services under its roof, but it is also home to the St. Francis Historical Society (SFHS).

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The St. Francis Historical Society uses eight large, built-in display cabinets in the lobby of the St. Francis Civic Center to share artifacts and informational panels that tell the story of their city, which dates to 1838 as the Town of Lake. The civic center is home of the St. Francis Historical Society, which hosted the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019.

The center's large circular lobby features eight tall built-in display cabinets full of historical artifacts and informational panels that the SFHS uses to share the story of the municipality on the Lake Michigan shore that the city of Milwaukee, its neighbor to the north, repeatedly attempted to annex out of existence. 

While many people visit the building for other reasons, they will also discover, thanks to the SFHS, that what began as the Town of Lake in 1838 finally ended Milwaukee's threats in 1951, when 2.9 square acres of the town's lakefront land was at last incorporated as the city of St. Francis. 

That regular access to the public in the civic center — which opened in 2014 — is why the St. Francis Historical Society, which was founded in 1977 but was in need of a permanent home, opted to join the project rather than attempt to build a separate facility. 

"The Society's dream of having a place of our own coincided with the planning for this new civic center," SFHS President Anna Passante told guests in her welcoming remarks. "The Society knew that being in a civic center would give it more exposure to the general public rather than being in a separate building of its own."

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Anna Passante, president of the St. Francis Historical Society, shares the story of her organization in her welcome remarks at the start of the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, at the St. Francis Civic Center.

Little-known stories similar to St. Francis' exist all across Wisconsin and are a big reason why the Wisconsin Historical Society is moving forward on its longtime dream to build a new, state-of-the-art Wisconsin history museum. The $120 million facility, which is tentatively set to open in 2024, will connect the museum and the Society with residents in all 72 counties and more than 400 local history organizations in ways never before possible. 

The June 27, 2019, "Share Your Voice" listening session was the last of 24 public community sessions — and part of more than 60 overall — that the Society has been holding across the state since November 2018. They were created to include residents in the early planning for the new museum that will replace and dramatically expand the footprint of the outdated, undersized, and technologically inferior Wisconsin Historical Museum, which has been located since the 1980s in the space of a former hardware store on the Capitol Square in Madison.

"If we're going to build a museum for the people, [we thought] 'Why not work with the people to design the museum for the people?'" Christian Overland, the Ruth & Hartley Barker Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, told guests in his opening remarks. "… This new museum is going to be different than anything that's ever been done before. We're looking at it as a different way to connect people to history and to share history."

The new museum project is by far the largest undertaking in the 173-year history of the Society and the extent and scope of the listening session tour is unprecedented among other state historical societies that have planned similar projects.

The Society is still in the process of holding sessions at all 12 American Indian nations of Wisconsin, as well as two of the eight special multicultural focus groups: On July 14, an all-Spanish session will be held with the Latinx community in Wautoma, and an event with the Hmong community of Eau Claire is being scheduled. Previous multicultural sessions were conducted with African Americans in Beloit, Madison and Milwaukee; the Latinx communities in Milwaukee and Madison; and Asian Americans in Milwaukee. In addition, the Society has gathered feedback from PK-12 and teen students to incorporate their ideas into museum planning, too.

The "Share Your Voice" events allow residents to offer story ideas that could be used in museum exhibits and provide feedback on preliminary concept exhibit design renderings. 

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Christian Øverland, the Ruth and
Hartley Barker Director of the
Wisconsin Historical Society,
welcomes guests to the "Share
Your Voice" new museum listening
session June 27, 2019, at the
St. Francis Civic Center.

"Tonight," Øverland said, "we're going to talk about the things you're interested in. It's about your stories and what stories you want to tell us about."

Øverland told guests "this museum's not just an idea anymore," noting that the State Senate one day earlier had followed the Assembly's previous approval by passing the state's 2019-21 biennial capital budget, sending it to Gov. Tony Evers (who subsequently signed it into law on July 3). Thanks to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, the budget includes $70 million for the museum project, provided the Society, through the Wisconsin Historical Foundation, raises the remaining $30 million for the building in private gifts. The Foundation is also raising an additional $20 million in private gifts for an endowment for museum operating expenses. 

Øverland then introduced a video that offered more details about the project and shared the museum's main storytelling theme, "What Makes Wisconsin, Wisconsin?" Details on the project, as well as the video, can be found online at wisconsinhistory.org/newmuseum.

The group then began its first workshop activity, writing on Post-It notes things about their part of the state, or Wisconsin in general, that visitors should learn about and that would be good ideas to share in a new museum. 

Guests offered dozens of Post-It notes, which were placed on the five theme boards at the front of the room.

Among the suggestions: The "diverse ethnic and racial mix" of the population; "early settlers and their religious contributions"; "where are all the people from?"; "What are the oldest pieces of evidence of life, animals, humans, activities in Wisconsin?"; "Father Groppi and the civil rights movement"; "Milwaukee's annexation activities in the 1950s"; "Milwaukee's sewer socialism"; "The history of the socialist mayors of Milwaukee and their impact"; "Lakeshore development (greenspace vs. apartments/condos)"; "World's largest ethnic and music festivals"; "How the Great Lakes inspired the development of Wisconsin"; "Brewery histories"; and "The critical importance of water (lakes/rivers)."

Øverland asked guests to talk about their ideas. 

"The language that we use in Wisconsin that's different than other place," said Margaret Berres. "I have grown children that live in other states and I never realized that there's [Wisconsin-specific] language that I use."

That led to a discussion about terms like bubbler vs. water fountain, soda vs. pop, the definition of a fish fry and the fish boils of Door County and far northern Wisconsin.

"It means something else," Berres said when Øverland asked if the fish fry exists in other states. "The meaning here is it's not just the food you eat. That's wonderful, but it's getting together with family and other people. It's that experience that goes with it."

"It shows that we come from a very dominant Catholic area," said Passante, "because of the idea of eating fish on Fridays [was important for Catholics] because you weren't supposed to eat meat. Down South where it's Protestant" they don't follow those rules so the idea of a fish fry isn't integrated into their communities. 

"Now people maybe don't worry as much about not eating meat on Friday," Passante continued, "but it's such a cultural thing now that people have forgotten how it began."

Ken Germanson, president emeritus of the Wisconsin Labor History Society, spoke up to make sure the stories of workers — and their unions — would be represented in a new museum.

"I like to really think about the stories of working people because that's what we are, we're a working people," said the 89-year-old Germanson, who also attended a "Share Your Voice" session in Kenosha in May. "Whether it's farmers or industrial workers or construction workers or others, that's been the foundation of our state, so I think we need to talk about the workers."

Germanson noted how Wisconsin was the first to pass worker's compensation legislation and establish a state apprenticeship program, among many other "revolutionary ideas" that led the nation.

"It's the people and what they did when they joined together," he said, "whether it was the farmer's union or the labor unions or the civil rights marches or the suffragette marches, our people were always activating and combining together to create change."

George Wagner expressed a concern about the importance of balanced storytelling in the new museum.

"I like the idea of celebrating Wisconsin, of course," he said. "On the other hand, I don't want the museum to just be an exercise in booster-ism. I think we need to show our warts, our failings, as well as our successes, and how we've worked to overcome some of those things in our history that we look back on now and don't feel so good about."

 "George, you're not alone," Øverland said, noting similar comments at other sessions. He asked guests to share ideas about what needs to be talked about.

"Representing people who have not been represented in history before," said Jane Taugher, which led Øverland to reference the "Share Your Voice" sessions with American Indian nations and other multicultural communities in Wisconsin. 

Taugher also suggested the "crucial and probably underappreciated role that water plays," which led to a lengthy discussion about St. Francis' history on Lake Michigan and how the waterfront initially drew factories like the power plant but has evolved to meet more recreational and real estate needs.

Passante noted the importance of the aforementioned annexation battles between the Town of Lake and Milwaukee. Germanson, however, said "there are two sides of that story," which then led to a discussion about race relations between Milwaukee and its suburbs.

"It's an interesting story," Germanson said, "because the whole idea of creating suburbs locked the city in and created what we have now, which is a largely segregated county … that has caused all sorts of impacts within the central city. … We don't have the tax base to provide the best schools and those other services that most of the suburbs have because they have a wealthier per-capita tax base."

"I grew up on the South Side during those marches right off the area where they marched and I [saw] some nasty stuff," Tom Ludka said. "At the time I was a young man and the lesson I guess I got out of it was, No. 1, large groups of people don't like to be told what to do by some government official. I don't care which side of the aisle you're on on this issue."

Ludka said once bussing policies were instituted, "that's when people moved out of the city and into the suburbs. That's government always thinking they're fixing things for you when they're actually sometimes creating another problem."

He noted ethnic neighborhoods and unspoken "red-line districts," where landlords wouldn't rent to people of color.  

George Wagner noted the problem that certain policies "also mean that it gives us the ability to keep people out that we don't like."

"And unfortunately, [some people] don't like them only because their skin is a different color or they speak a different language," added Barbara Janiszewski, treasurer of the SFHS.

Ludka shared a story about his Polish background and how his father worked in the foundries and would tell him how German workers wouldn't drink out of the same bubbler as Poles. 

"So it's not unique to black and white," he said. "It's an ethnic thing, too."

"Except that black people are easily identified," Janiszewski said, "whereas I can't tell by looking at you that you're Polish."

"Some of these stories can best be told through the life and work of individuals who worked on these things," said Juliet Hills, a SFHS board member who shared an example of an individual residing in the same home for decades while the ethnic makeup of the neighborhood changed around him.

"Some of these people really stood up and made a fuss about the things that mattered to them," Hills added, "and those are the heroes of our state."

Øverland thanked the group for the thoughtful conversation and turned their attention to the museum project by going through a series of concept exhibit design renderings. Each guest had a packet with the renderings and Øverland asked them to write comments about why they liked, or didn't like, a rendering and to vote for the ones they liked most (and those they disliked the most). 

He then opened it up for conversation. 

The first renderings to be discussed showed the "Introduction and Orientation Area," a large, open space featuring a massive, 360-degree digital image wall that will welcome museum guests as they begin their museum experience.

One rendering showed how visitors could be greeted by dozens of photos (or one large one). The other showed how the space could be transformed with seating into a special program area that could digitally connect people at schools and organizations in cities across the state with guests at the museum. In the example, Society underwater archaeologists are shown in a large, main image, broadcasting live from a shipwreck on the bottom of Lake Michigan, taking questions from guests in cities across the state who appear in smaller boxes on the screen.

Germanson said he voted against the exhibit when he first saw it at the Kenosha listening session, but he was going to change his vote because he didn't realize how large the room would be.

"I thought it was too busy and too much," he said, "but this is such a large scale that I do like it. I didn't have that in mind."

"I like the idea of our constant search for our history," Bill Drefahl said, "and I think that really talks to that [idea] that it's ongoing."

A rendering titled "Agricultural Ingenuity" had examples of wild ricing and cranberry harvesting, and Øverland talked about how the floor could suddenly become a river for ricing.

"That looks boring to me," said Jane Taugher, who worried students wouldn't be interested. She added that as the daughter of a mechanical engineer, she was biased towards larger artifacts like machinery.

Ludka worried about the impact of the sudden changing of the floor, recalling how a similar effect caused problems at the World War I Museum in Kansas City.

"Some people can't do it because they have that spacial disorder," he said. "When you were talking about driving that boat, I think that's neat but … it might cause a little issue there."

Juliet Hills said she "would like to see some horses — real horses."

"Well, that's awesome!" said a surprised Øverland. 

"You'd go to an area where horses can be brought so kids can see how big they are and what they smell like and [learn] how hard they work," Hills said. "When farmers first started, they had real animals."

"You're talking about an area for live animal demonstrations," Øverland said. "That's very interesting. Nobody has suggested that before."

A rendering called "Industrial Innovation" showed a large machine shop featuring a recreation of a large turbine the Wisconsin company Allis-Chalmers manufactured for Niagara Falls.

"I would hope that especially with this exhibit you would have something about labor and the development of labor unions in Wisconsin, not just showing the giant machines," said George Wagner, whose idea was seconded by Barbara Janiszewski. 

Jane Taugher added the importance of including exhibits about "the innovations of labor law, like how children used to work in the factories and had very dangerous jobs, and people did not work eight hours a day, they worked far longer than that."

The influx of factories and subsequent labor laws had a profound effect on Wisconsin's communities, she said. 

"I think this is really cool," she said of the exhibit, "because it is a huge reason why our cities and smaller towns grew and [it speaks to] the influx of immigration. Not just from other countries but the Jim Crow South during the Great Migration."

Like at most previous sessions, guests were split over a rendering of an art installation depicting a giant cow made out of objects representing all 72 counties of Wisconsin.

"I like the cow," Juliet Hills said. "It's cute."

"It honors our heritage as America's Dairyland," Taugher added. "… I think we need a little kitschy [in the museum]."

"I like how all the counties are represented," said Janiszewski.

Ludka, however, wasn't sold.

"It just doesn't speak to me," he said with a smile. "I mean, it's like, OK, that's cute, but you really want to take part of the museum to put that in? Really?"

"I like it," Dan Berg said. "I don't know. Different strokes for different folks. Kids will like it, I think."

A rendering called "Natural Resources" showed an outdoor scene with a cabin, maple syrup being tapped from a tree, and a Packers ice fishing shanty, among other items.

"Our natural resources are more than recreational opportunities and that's what bothers me about that [rendering]," Germanson said. "Besides the water, we have our swamps, we have our marsh areas … and they're very important."

"Even the mining industry [is an important part of Wisconsin's history]," Passante added. "I think kids would find [an exhibit on it] fascinating."

The outdoor scene made George Wagner think of one of his passions that he would like to see included in the museum.

"I'm personally very interested in maps," he said. "I think maps can tell stories in very interesting ways. The Wisconsin Historical Society has a fantastic collection of maps so I would love to see in each of these different areas some kind of showing of the maps that we [as a state] own."

Øverland elaborated on the Society's impressive map collections, which include the oldest surviving map that shows part of North America on it, from 1513. "Our school kids don't know it exists," Øverland said. "We could pull that out."

The concept of a "Supper Club Experience," which shows people in a log cabin-like restaurant, had supporters and detractors. 

"I'm a Wisconsin transplant from Illinois," said Stephanie Maxwell, secretary of the SFHS. "This [rendering] speaks to what I have tried to explain to people who aren't from Wisconsin. This is what I think about when I think of supper clubs. I think that's cool and … this is what I would bring my parents to when they come to visit."

Juliet Hills didn't like it "because it's so ethnically specific," she said, a concern that was shared at prior sessions with African American, Latinx and Asian American audiences. 

"It's the white population of Wisconsin that remembers these supper clubs and celebrates them," Hills added. "What do you do about Muslims who walk in who can't eat meat? There's something offensive about that."

"That's a good point," Øverland said, noting anecdotes shared in previous sessions about "sundown cities," which were cities that had laws prohibiting African Americans from being on the streets after dark. 

"The thing we're hearing," he said, "is that there's the supper club, but there's also other kinds of eating establishments. If we did more than just the supper club, then people would feel more connected."

The topic of racial sensitivity carried over into the final rendering showing a "Laboratory of Democracy," which features a window looking across the street to the Capitol and digitally projected historic newspapers on screens high on the walls.

"I'm just struck by what Juliet was saying about supper clubs," said SFHS board member Jan Pientok. "… Even though you have such a gigantic collection of newspapers, who's being represented in the newspapers? Who's writing the articles? Is it a fair depiction of every single resident of our state?"

Øverland said he understood the point but noted that the Society's newspaper collection — which is the second-largest in the country only behind the Library of Congress — includes "the oldest surviving American Indian newspaper, called The Cherokee Phoenix" and "the earliest African American newspapers." He also talked about German language newspapers and other publications. 

"We have this history," Øverland said. "We need to make it available. We need to democratize it."

Though time was short, Øverland asked guests to quickly share their favorite museum experiences, since the Society's goal will be to deliver similarly long-lasting memories.

Responses included the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Ill., the Veteran's Museum in Madison, an immigration museum in Germany, a Gettysburg museum, and the World War I Museum in Kansas City.

Jane Taugher talked about the moving experience of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

"You're given a name and you walked with that person throughout the museum," she said, "and at the end you found out what happened to them. … And then the piles of shoes [of victims]."

Barbara Janiszewski was still moved by her visit, pausing for a beat while recalling it. 

"I remember the end of the Second World War and the pictures in the newspaper," she said, "and when I went into that Holocaust Museum … there it was, right there in front of me. It was horrible."

"That's an important museum for the world because we never want to forget," Øverland said. "Everyone should see it."

St. Francis "Share Your Voice" Word Cloud

Suggestions made on Post-It notes during the June 27, 2019 "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session at the St. Francis Civic Center were turned into this word cloud, with the most suggested words in the biggest type.

Ken Germanson, president emeritus of the Wisconsin Labor History Society, talks about the importance of workers to the story of Wisconsin. "It's the people and what they did when they joined together," Germanson said, "whether it was the farmer's union or the labor unions or the civil rights marches or the suffragette marches, our people were always activating and combining together to create change."

Barbara Janiszewski, treasurer of the St. Francis Historical Society, laughs as she makes a comment during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis.

Jane Taugher said that "representing people who have not been represented in history before" would be important for the Wisconsin Historical Society as it plans for a new state history museum. She made her comments at the Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session June 27, 2019, at the St. Francis Civic Center.

Christian Øverland, the Ruth and Hartley Barker Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, shows guests where the new Wisconsin history museum will be located on the Capital Square in Madison, and how much larger it will be than the current Wisconsin Historical Museum, during the "Share Your Voice" listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis.

Bill Drefahl laughs after suggesting "beer" would be an important topic to be addressed in a new state history museum during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session in St. Francis.

Tom Ludka talks about how forced bussing policies led to suburban growth in Milwaukee county. Once bussing policies were instituted, "that's when people moved out of the city and into the suburbs. That's government always thinking they're fixing things for you when they're actually sometimes creating another problem." 

Juliet Hills, holding Post-It notes full of suggestions for a new state history museum, comments on the activist history of Milwaukee during the "Share Your Voice" listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis. "Some of these people really stood up and made a fuss about the things that mattered to them," she said, "and those are the heroes of our state."

A guest writes down story ideas on Post-It notes during a workshop activity at the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis.

St. Francis Historical Society board member Stephanie Maxwell reviews a packet of concept exhibit design renderings for the Wisconsin Historical Society's state history museum project during the "Share Your Voice" listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis.

Dan Berg reviews informational materials about the Wisconsin Historical Society's new state history museum project during the "Share Your Voice" listening session June 27, 2019, at the St. Francis Civic Center.

Anna Passante, Executive Director of the St. Francis Historical Society, and board member Jan Pientok share a laugh during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, at the St. Francis Civic Center.

"I would hope that especially with this exhibit you would have something about labor and the development of labor unions in Wisconsin, not just showing the giant machines," George Wagner said in reaction to a manufacturing-themed "Industrial Innovation" new museum concept exhibit rendering.

"This is what I think about when I think of supper clubs," Illinois native and St. Francis Historical Society board member Stephanie Maxwell said of a "Supper Club Experience" rendering. "This is what I would bring my parents to when they come to visit."

Jane Taugher enjoys a laugh during a discussion at the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis.

Ken Germanson (center) and other guests laugh at a funny comment during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 27, 2019, in St. Francis.

"This new museum is going to be different than anything that's ever been done before," Wisconsin Historical Society Director Christian Øverland said at the June 27, 2019, listening session in St. Francis. "We're looking at it as a different way to connect people to history and to share history."

Guests watch a film about the new Wisconsin history museum and its main storytelling theme — "What Makes Wisconsin, Wisconsin?" — during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session June 27, 2019, at the St. Francis Civic Center.

"SHARE YOUR VOICE" STATEWIDE SESSION LOCATIONS

 Click here to return to the Share Your Voice page to see more dates!