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: Piano and Song Recital Poster
Milwaukee County / Milwaukee / Migrant Worker's Cabin / Region 8 - South East / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1880-1900 / Object Histories / Ethnicity & Identity

OBJECT HISTORY: Piano and Song Recital Poster

Mr. Raphael Baez, a well-respected violinist, pianist, composer, and music professor, and his wife Mrs. Mary Schoen Baez, a noted vocalist, had performed together in various music halls in the city of Milwaukee since 1889. The Athenaeum, home of the Women’s Club of Wisconsin, had hosted Mr. Baez and his students throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth…

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September 10, 2020
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Pauline Pottery Covered Jar
Dane County / Region 7 - South Center / Edgerton / Pauline Pottery Covered Jar / Home Furnishings / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / 1880-1900 / Object Histories

OBJECT HISTORY: Pauline Pottery Covered Jar

Between 1888 and 1909 the city of Edgerton, Wisconsin was home to six different companies producing nationally recognized ceramic art. The art potteries of Edgerton were part of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century trend known as the American Art Pottery movement. This covered jar, made at Pauline Pottery, represents one example of this broad movement in American ceramics.

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September 10, 2020
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Pasty
A pasty. Image via Flickr.
Manufacturing & Trade / Food & Cooking / 1820-1840 / Object Histories / Global Connections

OBJECT HISTORY: Pasty

The lead mining industry of the 1830s and 1840s brought miners from Cornwall, England to southwestern Wisconsin. The miners brought Cornish traditions like the pasty, a filling food for hungry miners. The availability of pasties today demonstrates the lasting traditions of early European immigrants in Wisconsin. Pasties are folded pastries filled with meat and vegetables.…

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September 10, 2020
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Paramount Records 78
Paramount Records 78 / Ozaukee County / Port Washington / Region 8 - South East / Manufacturing & Trade / Art, Sport & Entertainment / Object Histories / 1900-1920

OBJECT HISTORY: Paramount Records 78

Created by the management of the Wisconsin Chair Company, a furniture making business based in Port Washington, Wisconsin, Paramount Records was initially incorporated to help sell phonographic cabinets in the late 1910s. Relying on resourceful talent recruiters and a relatively cheap production process, Paramount Records became one of the leading blues music record producers in the 1920s, and is today recognized by…

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September 10, 2020
Read more about the article OBJECT HISTORY: Old Abe, the Live War Eagle
Old Abe, the Live War Eagle / Madison / Region 7 - South Center / Dane County / Politics, Society & Government / 1900-1920 / Object Histories

OBJECT HISTORY: Old Abe, the Live War Eagle

A bald eagle stands guard over the State Assembly Chamber in Wisconsin’s Capitol building. Between two and three feet tall, the raptor has the characteristic white head and tail feathers, a brown body, and a yellow beak and talons. He sits atop a tree stump in front of a large mural called Wisconsin that represents the state’s…

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September 10, 2020

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