Object Histories

Enjoy a browse through Wisconsin 101’s collection of object histories. Click on the “Read More” button to view the full story and its accompanying related histories or explore the categories listed above each object history to learn more about certain themes, periods of time, and Wisconsin locales.

Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Employers Mutual Audiometer
Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / Wausau / Employers Mutual Audiometer / Science & Medicine / Object Histories / 1960-1980

OBJECT HISTORY: Employers Mutual Audiometer

This Maico Audiometer was one of many devices used by health and safety consultants of the Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of Wisconsin throughout the mid-to-late 1960s. Employers Mutual was the very first workers compensation insurance company in the United States. The company was founded in Wausau, Wisconsin, in 1911 shortly after the nation’s first workers compensation law was…

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March 9, 2019
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Hmong Baby Carrier
Oshkosh / A Hmong Baby Sash / Region 4 - Center / Winnebago County / Politics, Society & Government / Clothing & Fashion / 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
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Victor Berger Campaign Banner
Region 8 - South East / Milwaukee / Victor Berger Campaign Banner / Milwaukee County / Politics, Society & Government / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / 1900-1920

OBJECT HISTORY: Victor Berger Campaign Banner

Milwaukee teacher and newspaper editor Victor L. Berger was arguably the most successful Socialist politician in the United States. This large poster documents Berger's campaign for United States Senate in a special election in April 1918.

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September 10, 2018
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Trade Blanket
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
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: The SS Meteor
The SS Meteor / Superior / Region 1 - North West / Douglas County / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / Transportation & Tourism

OBJECT HISTORY: The SS Meteor

The SS Meteor was launched as the SS Frank Rockefeller in Superior, Wisconsin by the American Steel Barge Company in 1896. The last remaining of only 44 “whaleback” ships ever built, she was designed by a Scottish immigrant named Alexander McDougall. She is 380 feet long, 45 feet wide and 26 feet deep. You may notice that the SS Meteor looks somewhat different…

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September 10, 2018

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