Global Connections

Brown County / Region 5 - Center East / Green Bay / Le Maire Sundial / Science & Medicine / Object Histories / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Le Maire Sundial

The Le Maire Sundial is a rare example of a mid-18th century French sundial (cadran solaire) compass (boussole). It was found near Green Bay in 1902 by a local antiquities collector, Frank Duchateau. The sundial is broken, missing its glass compass cover as well as the back of its gnomon holder. Located on the front surface,…

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March 9, 2019

Winnebago County / Region 4 - Center / A Hmong Baby Sash / Oshkosh / Clothing & Fashion / Politics, Society & Government / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / 1980-2000 / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Hmong Baby Carrier

This Hmong cloth baby carrier was hand-stitched in Thailand around 1987, and its history helps tell part of the story of the Hmong community in this State. A young woman named Kia Vang crafted the carrier inside a refugee camp located in Loei province to transport her unborn child to Oshkosh, Wisconsin after the Vietnam…

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January 9, 2019

New Glarus / Green County / Region 7 - South Center / The Hefty-Blum White Barn / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / Manufacturing & Trade / Food & Cooking / 1820-1840 / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections

The Swiss Roots of America’s “Dairyland”

When the wheat crop failures of the late nineteenth century jeopardized the incomes of many of Wisconsin’s immigrant farmers, the region’s Swiss population transitioned to a trade that they knew from the Old World: dairying and cheesemaking. To do this, Swiss farmers…

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October 1, 2018

A trade blanket, with the "points" visible on the right side of the picture. Image courtesy of Ron Dennis.

1600-1800 / Manufacturing & Trade / Clothing & Fashion / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Trade Blanket

This blanket, ordinary though it may seem, tells the story of an important meeting of cultures that occurred in Wisconsin between 1634 and 1763. Not long after the explorer Jean Nicolet first set foot in Wisconsin, French traders saw an opportunity to make money by sending beaver furs back to Europe for use in stylish…

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September 10, 2018

Horlick's Malted Milk / Related Stories / Food & Cooking / Manufacturing & Trade / Science & Medicine / 1880-1900 / Global Connections

Malted Milk and Infant Nutrition

Although known today mostly as a flavoring for milk shakes and chocolate-covered malt balls, malted milk made its first appearance in the 1880s as a substitute for human breast milk.  At that time, breastfeeding babies began to lose its appeal among both…

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August 3, 2018

In 1818 Anna Maria von Phul painted this picture of a Native American woman wearing a white wool trade blanket. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / A Hudson's Bay Company Point Blanket Coat / Wausau / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / Clothing & Fashion / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Ethnicity & Identity / Global Connections

What is a Point Blanket Coat?

The practice of converting Hudson’s Bay Company blankets into coats began years before the company began mass-manufacturing point blanket coats in the twentieth century. During the fur trade, Native Americans hunters traded beaver pelts for wool point blankets. Point blankets were waterproof…

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June 7, 2018