Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
First Peoples
All communities have stories that describe their beginning. These stories connect the community to the world at large, and they establish the foundations for group behavior and unity. This traditional history is carefully nurtured, guarded, and passed from one generation to the next, for it serves as the soul of the community. Traditional stories incorporate factual accounts of events and the creative interpretations necessary to engage community members and weave diverse narratives into a coherent whole. Inappropriate behavior is identified and the punishments prescribed; appropriate behavior is extolled and the rewards detailed. These stories prepare individuals for membership in their... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
 | Ancient copper mines are discovered in 1848 |
| Menominee Vocabulary, 1893 |
| Ojibwe Place Names in Wisconsin, ca. 1890 |
 | Copper tools from Northern Wisconsin, 4000-1,200 B.C. |
| An Oneota ceramic vessel, ca. 1500-1625 |
 | The sports and games of Indians |
| Fr. Baraga's 1853 Ojibwe Dictionary |
| A Ho-Chunk grammar textbook, 1945 |
| A speech by Brothertown Indian leader Samsom Occom, 1771 |
| A guide to the Mohican language, 1789 |
| The language spoken by the Brothertown Indians when Europeans arrived in America |
| A modern dictionary of the Menominee language |
| A life of Jesus in Ottawa, 1837 |
| A religious primer in Mohican, 1818 |
| An Oneida prayer-book, 1816 |
| A missionary's speech in Oneida, 1815. |
| An Oneida spelling book for children, 1820 |
| The first book printed in Wisconsin, an Ojibwe almanac |
| Statistics on government schools for Indians, 1899 |
| The language of the Brothertown Indians' ancestors, 1722 |
| An Early Archaeological Report on the Old Copper Culture |
| Report on the Menominee at Termination, 1958 |
 | The creation narrative of the Ho-Chunk Indians, recorded about 1850. |
| Brief Ho-Chunk Language Vocabularies, 1830-1930 |
| A Long Ho-Chunk Vocabulary, 1880 |
| Brief Potawatomi Language Vocabularies, 1920-1932. |
| American Indian language manuscripts at the Wisconsin Historical Society, 2010 |
| Alfred Bridgman's English-Menominee word list from the 1870s |
| Frank Bridgman's Menominee vocabulary, 1878 |
| Journals, 1824-1831, of Rev. Cutting Marsh, missionary to the Stockbridge (Mohican) Indians. |
| Journals, 1831-1836, of Rev. Cutting Marsh, missionary to the Stockbridge (Mohican) Indians. |
| A missionary's handwritten dictionary of terms in the Sauk language, 1834 |
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