Page 6 - Annual Report FINAL
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Wienermobile Arrives smile. They light up.”
After restoration work, the
As you may have noticed in Society will make it available to
your community, the Society the public. It is one of many Oscar
made front-page news with the Mayer-related items the Society has
addition of a 1969 model of the acquired following the closing of
iconic Oscar Mayer Wienermobile the plant on Madison’s north side,
to its collection. which stood as a proud Wisconsin
“Everybody knows the icon for nearly 100 years.
Wienermobile,” said Ellsworth The Foundation thanks Kraft
Brown, the Society’s Ruth Heinz and the Mayer family for
and Hartley Barker Director. making this important acquisition
“Whenever you mention it, people and restoration possible. Inside the Wienermobile, which is undergoing restoration.
Massive Map Project Digitizing Newspapers
Amazing new materials are now available Thanks to a pair of two-year grants
to the public thanks to the completion of totaling $497,000 from the National
a six-year project to catalog and preserve Endownment for the Humanities, the
maps dating to 1513. Thanks to generous Society will be able to digitize 210,000 pages
funding from the Caxambas Foundation, from 16 historic Wisconsin newspapers by
the Society was able to catalog more than September 2019.
17,000 maps, digitizing a third of them, “The Society prides itself on its newspaper
while also preserving many deteriorating collection, but sometimes people are like,
rare atlases in our collection. ‘What newspaper collection?’” said Librarian
Supervisor Katie Mullen, noting that the
Lapham Manuscripts grants will allow staff members to spread
The Society also recently wrapped up word of the Society’s 8,000 papers dating
a 2½-year project to digitize the entire to 1704 (from every state and Canadian
Above: Library, Archives & province), making it the second-largest
Collections Director Matt 40,000-page manuscript collection of collection in North America.
Blessing looks over a book Increase A. Lapham (1811-1875), who
of maps preserved by Chris is considered to be Wisconsin’s first The state papers being digitized as part of
Brown, left. Right: One of scientist. The effort was possible thanks the project date to 1847, from cities such
Increase A. Lapham’s diaries, to a generous grant from the Council of as Superior, Wisconsin Rapids, Manitowoc,
now available online. University of Wisconsin Librarians. Watertown and Mineral Point.
6 ANNUAL REPORT SOCIETY HIGHLIGHTS | LIBRARY, ARCHIVES & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
