Wisconsin 101

Pulaski – A Polka Town

Pulaski, like some Wisconsin communities, possesses a disproportionate number of polka bands, and some have boasted that the town of 3000 has more bands per capita than even Nashville. The strongly Polish community located just outside of Green Bay is still a thriving locale for the polka tradition.

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May 18, 2020

Polka’s Popularity in the United States

After World War II, polka made its first mainstream American appearance thanks to Cleveland, Ohio’s celebrated “Polka King,” Slovenian-American Frankie Yankovic. The genre remains popular today, especially with the older crowd in the Midwest.

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May 17, 2020

Gender Norms and The All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League

Philip Wrigley, the gum manufacturer and owner of the Chicago Cubs, conceived of the All-American Girls' Softball League in 1942 as World War II and its drain on manpower threatened to shut down Major League Baseball. Wrigley's ideas about gender norms helped shape the league, from its strict rules to its uniform policies.

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April 25, 2020

Women in the American Art Pottery Movement

Pauline Pottery Covered Jar / Home Furnishings / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Ethnicity & Identity / Curators' Favorites

Women in the American Art Pottery Movement

Women played a central role in the American Art Pottery movement, both as leaders like Pauline Jacobus and as workers like Lulu Deveraux Dixon.

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April 20, 2020

The Pauline Pottery

Dane County / Region 7 - South Center / Edgerton / Pauline Pottery Covered Jar / Related Stories / Home Furnishings / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / Curators' Favorites

The Pauline Pottery

Chicago-born artist and entrepreneur Pauline Jacobus was the central figure of Edgerton, Wisconsin's art pottery movement. In 1888, Jacobus and her husband Oscar relocated the Pauline Pottery from Chicago to Edgerton to take advantage of the area's quality clay.

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April 20, 2020

Read more about the article Ice Boating in Madison: A Bernard Family Tradition

A gathering of gaff-rigged, stern-steering ice boats and their captains on Lake Mendota, 1896. Source: WHI 2074

Dane County / Madison-Style Ice Boat / Madison / Region 7 - South Center / Related Stories / 1840-1860 / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Ethnicity & Identity / Transportation & Tourism / Curators' Favorites / Global Connections

Ice Boating in Madison: A Bernard Family Tradition

Ice boating for sport began along New York's upper Hudson River around the Civil War and soon spread to other cold weather locations. An 1878 article in Harper's Weekly includes an engraving of ice boating in Madison. The city quickly became a center for ice boating in North America, a distinction held for over a century.

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March 27, 2020