Historic Preservation and Archaeology Webinars
Join staff from the State Historic Preservation Office for free webinars on a variety of preservation topics
The State Historic Preservation Office hosts specialized webinars about historic preservation and archaeology topics. Below we have archived recordings of webinars presented in 2020. The audio transcripts are auto-generated by Zoom and may have been lightly but not fully edited for errors.
Historic Storefronts: A Brief History & Guidelines for Restoration
Monroe, Wisconsin
Recorded May 18, 2020
Presented by Jen Davel, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer
When we think about our downtown historic districts, what comes to mind, other than your favorite bakery? Storefronts are an integral component of historic commercial buildings. Join Jen Davel for a look at the development of storefront design in Wisconsin. You will learn how technology and new materials contributed to storefront design and its evolution. In addition we will review best practices for restoring an original sotrefront and recreating a missing one.
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Archaeology of Southern Wisconsin
Dr. Joan Freeman at the Millville archaeological site in 1962
Dr. Joan Freeman, Wisconsin's first State Archaeologist, draws maps of houses, hearths, and storage pits at the Millville archaeological site in Grant County where American Indians lived about 1800 years ago. Photo courtesy of the Museum Archaeological Program.
Recorded May 19, 2020
Presented by Amy Rosebrough, Archaeologist
An overview of 14,000 years of history in the southern half of our state, compressed into 50 minutes.
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Discover Great Lakes Maritime Archaeology!
The canal schooner LaSalle
Located just off Point Beach State Forest north of Two Rivers.
Recorded May 20, 2020
Presented by Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologist
Dive into history hidden beneath the waves with Wisconsin Historical Society's maritime archaeologist, Caitlin Zant. Explore maritime archeology and some of Wisconsin's 750 Great Lakes shipwrecks! Learn how maritime archaeologists document these time capsules, and help preserve and protect Wisconsin’s rich maritime past.
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Discover Great Lakes Shipwrecks!
The steamer Fedora shipwreck
The steamer Fedora caught fire and ran aground in September of 1901. The remains of the Fedora, consisting of the lower unburned hull, rests on silty, sandy bottom in 10 feet of water, and is largely intact.
Recorded May 27, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen, Maritime Archaeologist
Discover history hidden beneath the waves with Wisconsin Historical Society's maritime archaeologist, Tamara Thomsen. Explore easily accessible shallow water shipwrecks along Wisconsin's scenic shoreline through underwater video, historic photographs and archaeological discoveries. Hear stories of their tragic losses and learn how to visit, protect, and preserve these time capsules of our maritime past.
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Shipwrecks of Lake Geneva
Lady of the Lake on the bottom of Geneva Lake
Recorded June 3, 2020
Presented by Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologist
Join maritime archaeologist Caitlin Zant in exploring the history hidden beneath beautiful Geneva Lake. Learn about the two 18th century excursion vessels that now lie on the bottom of the lake, the Lucius Newberry and the Lady of the Lake, and the maritime history of the region. Hear stories of their losses and learn how to protect, and preserve these time capsules of our maritime past.
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Shipwrecks of the Apostle Islands
Exploring shipwrecks in Lake Superior
A kayaker drifts over the remains of the Finn McCool, located just outside the harbor in Bayfield, WI.
Recorded June 10, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen, Maritime Archaeologist
Discover the underwater world of the Apostle Islands with maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen as she explores the shipwrecks and submerged archaeological sites of Wisconsin's northern archipelago. She will share stories of the region through underwater video, historic photographs and archaeological discoveries! Learn how to visit these places whether by boat or kayak, snorkeling or scuba diving.
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Clam Lake Mounds
Creation Story: The Clam Lake Mounds
Recorded June 18, 2020
Presented by John Broihahn, State Archaeologist
Time travel back 1000 years to learn about the creation of the mounds on Clam Lake and how we know the story.
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Underwater archaeology in action
A diver descends to the bow of the SS Wisconsin, located 4 miles southeast of Kenosha, WI.
Shipwrecks of Southeastern Wisconsin
Recorded June 24, 2020
Presented by Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologist
Dive into the history hidden beneath the waves with maritime archaeologist Caitlin Zant as she explores the shipwrecks of southeastern Wisconsin. Learn how Wisconsin Historical Society documents these time capsules of our maritime past, and the stories they tell.
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Shipwrecks of Door County
Archaeologists explore an underwater shipwreck
Divers with lights swim above the Lakeland, located 7 miles east of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal.
Recorded July 1, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen, Maritime Archaeologist
Explore the shipwrecks of Door County with maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen! Discover the history of the many ships that came to rest on the peninsula's coastline. Hear stories of their losses and learn how to locate and protect these time capsules of our maritime past.
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Underwater Archaeology of Adriatic and Self-Unloaders of the Great Lakes
Adriatic on the cover of Labor Savor publication.
Recorded July 8, 2020
Presented by Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologist
Join maritime archaeologist Caitlin Zant in exploring the history of the Great Lakes' first converted self-unloading schooner barge, Adriatic. Explore the shipwreck through underwater archaeology, and subsequent excavation and removal of the resource from Sturgeon Bay. Hear what we learn about its construction features and adaptation for use, and compare with two other converted self-unloaders, E.M.B.A. and Transfer, both located in deep water off Milwaukee.
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Underwater Archaeology: Great Lakes Scow Schooners
The I.A. Johnson
The scow schooner I.A. Johnson lost in 85 ft of water off Sheboygan
Recorded July 22, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen, Maritime Archaeologist
There’s an old shipbuilder’s adage, “If you can build a barn, you can build a scow”. Scow schooners were well-suited for the unimproved harbors of the small lakeshore communities of the Great Lakes. Because of their boxy shape, the scow required the simplest construction techniques that any layman could reproduce for very little money. The scow schooner became the life-blood of immigrant families, providing an entry point into the Great Lakes maritime trades as sailors, masters, and vessels owners. Join maritime archaeologist Tamara Thomsen for an in depth look at scow schooner shipwreck sites across the Great Lakes to explore their history, the variety of vessel construction techniques, and their significance to community development as well as their impact on shipbuilding worldwide.
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Underwater Archaeology: Great Lakes Sailing Canallers
The Grace A. Channon
The sailing canaller Grace A. Channon lost in 170 ft of water off Oak Creek.
Recorded July 29, 2020
Presented by Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologist
Engineered with specific hull lines and unique adaptations that allowed a tight fit within the locks of the Welland Canal (the canal that bypasses Niagara Falls), sailing canallers carried grain harvested from Midwestern farmlands to ports on Lake Ontario and returned loaded with coal to heat cities and power factories. Much of our understanding of the construction, adaptations and use of these ships has been learned from shipwreck sites like Grace A. Channon, Daniel Lyons, Walter B. Allen, Floretta, America and others. Join maritime archaeologist Caitlin Zant for a look at these uniquely Great Lakes ships.
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Underwater Archaeology: Survey of the Goodrich Tug Arctic
Recorded August 5, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen, Maritime Archaeologist
Built in 1881, the tug Arctic was an ice breaking and harbor tug for the Goodrich Transportation Company. The Arctic was in service for forty-nine years, the longest continuous service of any vessel that served under the Goodrich Line. As the vessel aged, it required repair and overhaul more frequently and Goodrich Transportation Company ultimately determined that it had reached a threshold where it would cost more to rebuild the tug than to acquire a new vessel. In 1930, Arctic was abandoned north of Manitowoc harbor and allowed to sink. Manitowoc Herald-Times (1930) paid homage to the tug, “to recount the items of service this craft has rendered throughout its life, would fill volumes-- its responses to the four blasts of vessels on the lake in need of help; its assistance to grounded boats; its welcome stream of water on dock property being destroyed by flames; its charges into ice jams that threatened destruction of boats and bridges; and breaking of ice that enabled navigation to continue—all are legion in number, and no man can recount them all."
Arctic’s wreck site was surveyed during an archaeological field school held for members of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeological Association that lead to listing the site to the National Register of Historic Places. Discover Arctic’s history and hear what was learned from our archaeological survey of the site.
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Underwater Archaeology: Survey of the Goodrich Palace Steamer Atlanta
The Palace Steamer Atlanta
Photograph by C. Pat Labadie
Recorded August 12, 2020
Presented by Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologist
Built in 1891 by the Cleveland Dry Dock Company, Atlanta transported passengers and package freight around Lake Michigan for the Goodrich Transportation Company. On March 18, 1906 the Goodrich steamer Atlanta was heading south from Sheboygan to Milwaukee with 65 passengers and a cargo of porcelain, enamelware, metal ware, leather, and wooden furniture. Around noon, fourteen miles south of Sheboygan, crewmen discovered a fire in the hold of the vessel. The fire was fought with precision by the well-practiced crew to no avail. The Smith Brothers’ fishing tug Tessler witnessed Atlanta’s distress and came about to help the passengers and crew. Once free of passengers and crew, Tessler towed the burning Atlanta near shore where it to burn to the waterline and sank.
Atlanta’s wreck site was surveyed by students from East Carolina University’s Program in Maritime Studies and the site listed to the National Register of Historic Places. Discover Atlanta’s history and hear what was learned from the archaeological survey of the site.
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Underwater Archaeology: Converted Steamer Antelope
Converted Steamer Antelope
An underwater photo of the shipwreck
Recorded September 9, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
Built in 1861 in Newport, Michigan, Antelope carried passengers between Buffalo and Chicago on a regular route opposite the steamer Montgomery for Eber B. Ward’s Ward Line of steamers. She operated as a passenger packet until an 1869 fire destroyed Antelope’s upper decks, passenger cabins, and cargo spaces. In 1883 the vessel’s original machinery was removed, and the boiler and engine rooms were converted to cargo carrying space and the ship operated as a tow barge in the grain, lumber, and coal industries. Ten years later, the vessel was registered as a schooner-rigged barge. In October 1897, Antelope sank with a cargo of coal enroute to the Ashland Coal Company in tow of the steamer Hiram W. Sibley. In choppy seas, its seams burst, the pumps were unable to keep up and the vessel foundered in 300 ft of water off Michigan Island, Wisconsin in Lake Superior.
The wreck site was located in 2017 by Ken Merriman and Jerry Eliason and examined during a survey by Wisconsin Historical Society and Crossmon Consulting LLC. Discover Antelope’s history and hear what was learned from the archaeological survey of the site that led to its listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
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Archaic Copper Economy and Exchange in the Western Great Lakes
The Bussey Collection
A collection of copper artifacts from avocational collector, James Bussey.
Hosted by Charles E. Brown Chapter of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, Robert Ritzenthaler Archeological Society, and Rock River Archeological Society on September 10, 2020.
Presented by Rob Alhrichs, Archaeologist, Commonwealth Heritage Group
The Old Copper Complex is a long-studied cultural phenomenon in the Western Great Lakes. This sometimes puzzling assemblage of Archaic period sites with copper artifacts has attracted rapt attention from both archaeologists and avocational collectors due to the nature of its distinctive artifacts and stubborn resistance to theoretical advancement. My dissertation research uses Mr. James Bussey’s copper collection to critically examine the Lake Superior Model of copper distribution during the Archaic period. This presentation will discuss our current understanding of Western Great Lakes Archaic foragers, the oft alluded to trade network presumed to have operated during that time and how Mr. Bussey’s extraordinary collection of copper artifacts fits or refutes these ideas.
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Underwater Archaeology: Converted Steamer Pringle
Recorded September 23, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
The Robert C. Pringle was built in 1903 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company as a packet steamer and named Chequamegon. The Chequamegon carried package freight between Ashland and the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior. In 1904, the steamer was moved to Lake Michigan. During the summer months she moved passengers between Milwaukee and Frederick Pabst’s Whitefish Bay Park, a resort for picnics and recreation. During fall months the vessel participated in the Lake Michigan fruit trade. She was sold in 1911 and put back to work as a package freighter for seven years and her name was changed to Pere Marquette 7. The ship was sold in 1918 to the Pringle Barge Line of Cleveland, Ohio, modified to a tug and renamed Robert C. Pringle. On June 19, 1922 while towing the steamer Venezuela, Robert C. Pringle struck a submerged object 12 miles off of Sheboygan. Although the tug sank immediately, the entire crew was picked up by the Venezuela and taken to Manitowoc.
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Underwater Archaeology: Survey of the Steamer Converted to Fish Tug Thomas Friant
Fish Tug Thomas Friant
Recorded October 7, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
The Thomas Friant was built by Duncan Robertson & Company in Grand Haven, Michigan in 1884. Originally the boat ran as a ferry on the Grand River at Grand Haven, Michigan. Shortly thereafter the vessel assumed lake routes between Grand Haven, Harbor Springs and Waukegan. By 1900 Thomas Friant was moved to the Keewanaw Waterway and then moved again to Sault Ste. Marie. In December 1908, she burned to the waterline and sank. The damage was so severe that the ship was removed from documentation. The vessel was raised and rebuilt in 1911 as a fish tug. In 1923 Thomas Friant was purchased by Einar Miller and Halvor Reiten of Bayfield, Wisconsin to be used as a coastal steamer hauling package freight on the south shore of Lake Superior. This business wasn’t successful, and shortly thereafter, her decks were enclosed, and a raised pilothouse added, so the boat could be used as a gillnet fishing tug. In January 1924, six commercial fishermen from Cornucopia, hired Captain Miller to take them deep water fishing in Lake Superior. They became trapped in ice which eventually crushed and sank the ship. Luckily, the men escaped in the work boat and rowed twelve miles to Knife River, Minnesota.
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Charles E. Brown Lecture with Katherine Sterner: Use-Wear on Late Archaic Cache Bifaces from the Great Lakes
A blue gray chert biface goes under the microscope for research
Archaeologists study stone projectile points to learn more about how they were used.
Hosted by Charles E. Brown Chapter of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, Robert Ritzenthaler Archeological Society, and Rock River Archeological Society on October 8, 2020.
Presented by Dr. Katherine Sterner, Assistant Profesor of Anthropology, Towson University
During the Late Archaic to Early Woodland transition, caches of blue gray chert bifaces were deposited throughout the Midwest, often in association with burials. Despite a large degree of variation in their formal expression, these bifaces are usually all grouped together as one artifact type in cache contexts. In 2017, comprehensive use-wear analysis of a sample of bipointed bifaces from the Riverside site, often considered to be blanks for Turkey Tail projectile points, demonstrated that they were, in fact, used prior to deposition. These data are compared to use-wear on a cache of finished Turkey Tail points from the Altenburg View site, located approximately 120 miles southwest of the Riverside site.
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Underwater Archaeology: Wreck of the Car Ferry Milwaukee
Car Ferry Milwaukee
The ferry's pilot house with the name Milwaukee still visible.
Recorded October 7, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
At 3:00 pm on October 22, 1929, two days before Black Thursday set off the U.S. stock market crash and the Great Depression, the railroad car ferry Milwaukee pulled away from the Grand Trunk slip in Milwaukee, lowered her sea gate, and set out on her afternoon run across Lake Michigan with her hold full of freight cars. Although a tremendous storm was raging on the Lake and other vessels had cancelled their trips because of the gale, her Master, Capt. Robert “Bad Weather” McKay, kept to the railroad’s schedule. The ship never made Grand Haven, Michigan. Days later, bodies of some of her crewmen and lifeboats were picked from the water and a note in a message case was found on a Michigan beach. The car ferry Milwaukee rests in 125 feet of water. She has long been a favorite dive site in the Milwaukee area and featured in television shows and documentaries. The Wisconsin Historical Society completed the first comprehensive archaeological survey of the Milwaukee, which resulted in the nomination of the shipwreck to the National Register of Historic Places.
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Underwater Archaeology: Wreck of the SS Senator
The SS Senator Shipwreck
One of the Nash automobiles that sank with the SS Senator and is still in remarkable condition.
Recorded October 28, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
On Halloween day 1929—the same week as the Black Tuesday stock market crash-- the 4048-ton steel carrier Senator was steaming in dense fog off Port Washington, Wisconsin, when it collided with the freighter Marquette. The Senator split nearly in two and sank in over 450 feet of water, along with the 268 Nash automobiles it was carrying from Milwaukee to Detroit. The deckload of cars ended up in the sand aft of the vessel’s stern, but the cars within the ship’s hull remain in near pristine condition, still lashed in place. Partnering with Crossmon Consulting and Marine Imagining Technologies, in 2015 and again in 2017, the Wisconsin Historical Society used state-of-the-art remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) capable of operating in deep waters to capture the first-ever clear images of the S.S. Senator. Information gathered during the survey of the wreck has resulted in listing the S.S. Senator on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Underwater Archaeology: Wreck of the SS Wisconsin
Underwater archaeology in action
A diver descends to the bow of the SS Wisconsin, located 4 miles southeast of Kenosha, WI.
Recorded November 4, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
On the evening of October 29, 1929, just days after the loss of the car ferry Milwaukee, the Goodrich steamer Wisconsin foundered in a northeasterly gale. While off Kenosha, the ship's cargo of iron castings, automobiles, and a large quantity of boxed freight shifted. The pumps failed to handle the incoming water and the Wisconsin was in serious trouble. Being close to Kenosha, the tug Search was able to come to her assistance along with two Coast Guard vessels and a local fishing boat. The tug took off a portion of the crew and all of passengers aboard. The captain and some of the crew stayed on board and waited for the Wisconsin's running mate, the Illinois, to tow her to the port of Kenosha. The Illinois left Milwaukee right away but reached the Wisconsin too late. The ship sank in 135 ft of water, taking nine crew members with her.
In 2006, Wisconsin Historical Society completed the first comprehensive archaeological survey of the SS Wisconsin, which resulted in the nomination of the shipwreck to the National Register of Historic Places. Society archaeologists revisited the site in 2015 to conduct a degradation study. Here the history of this fabled ship and learn what the Society’s dive team found on the wreck site during both projects.
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Charles E. Brown Lecture: Connecting People, Past and Present: Collaborative Archaeology in Red Cliff, WI
Children learn about archaeology at a field school
Photo from the 2018 Gete Anishinaabeg Izhichigewin [Ancient Anishinaabeg Lifeways] Community Archaeology Project (GAICAP)
Hosted by Charles E. Brown Chapter of the Wisconsin Archeological Society, Robert Ritzenthaler Archeological Society, and Rock River Archeological Society on October 8, 2020.
Presented by Marvin Defoe, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Dr. Heather Walder, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
In northern Wisconsin, a new collaborative program, Gete Anishinaabeg Izhichigewin [Ancient Anishinaabeg Lifeways] Community Archaeology Project (GAICAP), is a shared effort between the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) and academic archaeologists. Our project began in 2018 with the return and reanalysis of pre-contact and historic artifact collections from a Beloit College 1979 field school for curation at THPO, followed by excavations in Frog Bay Tribal National Park. Work focused on a parcel of the park repatriated to Red Cliff through a purchase from a private landowner in 2017. Driven by shared interest in protecting and understanding the multicomponent Archaic through Late Woodland period occupations at the Frog Bay Site (47BA60) and others nearby, this project involves Red Cliff community members, students, and additional stakeholders in all stages of planning, research design, excavation, and interpretation. Distinctive aspects of the site – such as a lithic industry based on the reduction of locally available quartz cobbles – link its inhabitants with those of other nearshore sites in the Apostle Islands and wider western Lake Superior region, while non-local lithic materials speak of more distant social and economic connections in the midcontinent.
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Underwater Archaeology: Wreck of the Schooner Abiah
Wreck of the Schooner Abiah
An underwater archaeologist documents the shipwreck.
Recorded November 18, 2020
Presented by Tamara Thomsen and Caitlin Zant, Maritime Archaeologists
The Abiah was launched in 1848 from the hinterland shipyard of Charles Stevens in Irving, New York. The 134 ft. schooner had one deck and two masts, and her bow was adorned with a scroll figurehead. In September 1850, Abiah is noted for having delivered the first railroad locomotive to Wisconsin. The twenty-ton locomotive from Norris Locomotive Works was brought from Buffalo to Milwaukee for the opening of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad, the state’s first railroad. On the morning of 4 September 1854, Abiah was sailing north on Lake Michigan without a cargo and bound to Oconto to take on a load of lumber when she was struck by a squall from the southeast and immediately capsized. To survive, the seven-man crew and two passengers were forced into their small workboat. They were eventually picked up by the schooner Luddington and taken to Sheboygan. The tug Eclipse was hired to right and recover the capsized vessel. In doing this work, the Abiah’s hull was damaged to such an extent that the ship was abandoned and allowed to sink.
The Abiah shipwreck site was discovered in 2018 by Steve Radovan, 12 miles off Sheboygan in 210 feet of water. An archaeological survey of the wreck has been completed during of the summer of 2020. In this rare opportunity to evaluate a pristine shipwreck, untouched since the time of its sinking, learn what the Society’s archaeological team discovered.
View a recording of this webinar.
Charles E. Brown Lecture: From the Mountains of the Philippines to the Shores of Lake Superior
Recorded October 14, 2021
Presented by Dr. James Skibo, Wisconsin State Archaeologist
Dr. James Skibo explores why humble cooking pots are one of humanity's greatest inventions. How were early ceramic pots made? How were they used? What did the pottery designs mean to those who made and used them? Dr. Skibo has devoted three decades of research to this subject, interviewing potters in the Philippines, exploring how pottery has shaped human history.
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Charles E. Brown Lecture: Working to Stay Together in “Forsaken Out of the Way Places”: Investigating Anishinaabeg Family Logging Camps as Sites of Social Refuge and Resilience
Recorded November 11, 2021
Presented by Dr. Eric Drake
Dr. Eric Drake presents research on Anishinaabe survival at logging camps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Anishinaabe peoples engaged with logging, giving them an opportunity to hide and thrive in plain site during a period of forced assimilation and economic exploitation.
View a recording of this webinar.
Learn More
Historic Preservation Commission Training
Preserve Your Historic Building
Human Burials, Mounds, and Cemeteries
Tax Credits for Historic Building Rehabilitation
State Historic Preservation Officer Review Process
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