Event Details

Name: Wisconsin's Evergleam Christmas Tree with Joe Kapler
Start: 2025-12-05
End: 2025-12-05
Location: Attic Angel Continuing Education

Friday, December 5, 2025

10:30am

Free & open to the public.

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Location

Attic Angel Continuing Education

806 Old Sauk Road

Middleton, WI 53562

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About the Event

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The Wisconsin Historical Society Speakers Bureau offers an exciting opportunity for our historians, curators and authors to visit your community and share the stories of our great state.

Discover how Wisconsin-made Christmas decorations became Space Age pop culture icons in 1960s America, and how they now serve as a window into both innovative mid-century design and nostalgic family holiday traditions. Joe Kapler will detail the story of the Aluminum Specialty Company of Manitowoc, who introduced the “Evergleam” aluminum Christmas tree in 1959. In the decade that followed, aluminum trees became wildly popular in American homes, and the Evergleam was the most popular brand of all.

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Joe Kapler

Joe Kapler received a BA from Loras College (Iowa), an MA in American history from Marquette University, and an MA in museum studies from Eastern Illinois University. Joe interned in several states, spent three years at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids (Michigan), and joined the staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 2001. Joe has curated ten major exhibitions and numerous smaller displays. His other major responsibilities include long-range planning, developing collections, and producing content for many outlets. He recently published his first book, "Wisconsin in Watercolor: The Life and Legend of Folk Artist Paul Seifert."