Science & Medicine

Sheboygan County / Region 5 - Center East / Greenbush / Manufacturing & Trade / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / Science & Medicine / Object Histories / 1900-1920 / Nature & Environment

OBJECT HISTORY: The Muley Sawmill

If you grew up in Wisconsin, you may be familiar with some of Wisconsin’s forests like the Black River forest, Menominee forest, or the Chequamegon-Nicolet forest. For hundreds of years these forests have provided Wisconsin with lumber used for building homes, factories,…

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September 10, 2017

The history of fur and fashion runs deep in North America. October 1953 issue of Vogue.

Fromm Fox Fur Coat / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Clothing & Fashion / 1860-1880 / Science & Medicine / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / Nature & Environment / Global Connections

Fashion and Fur

The End of the Old Fur TradeThe development of fur farms at the close of the 19th century was perhaps the most revolutionary change in North America’s fur industry, and fashion played a significant role in that change. Beaver pelts had been the…

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January 1, 2017

After the Fromm’s successfully supported development of a distemper vaccine in foxes, they started Fromm Laboratories as a commercial venture on their second property between Grafton and Thiensville, c. 1940s. Photograph courtesy of the Oazaukee County Historical Society.

Marathon County / Region 2 - North East / Related Stories / Hamburg / Fromm Fox Fur Coat / Manufacturing & Trade / Science & Medicine / 1920-1940 / Nature & Environment

Canine Distemper and the Fromm Vaccine

One of the most formidable problems that fur farmers faced in in the early twentieth century were the epidemic diseases that would strike their herds each year. Many fur farmers had come to see losses to distemper and other diseases as a…

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January 1, 2017

Bernhard Carl Ziegler (1884-1946). Image from Washington County’s Aluminum Industry, p. 11.

Washington County / Related Stories / Penguin Server / West Bend / Region 8 - South East / Food & Cooking / Manufacturing & Trade / Science & Medicine / 1900-1920

The West Bend Aluminum Company

On September 27, 1911, a group of businessmen headed by Bernhard Carl Ziegler founded the West Bend Aluminum Company. Ziegler was the director and president until his death in 1946. As one of the most influential people in the community, he was…

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August 1, 2014

Grade-school children using a Babcock butter fat testing device, Balsam Lake, Wisconsin, c. 1915. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Archives.

Related Stories / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Food & Cooking / Science & Medicine / 1880-1900

How Does a Babcock Tester Work?

Simplicity, Simplicity, SimplicityIn 1890, few farmers had ever taken a science class, and even if they understood the potential benefit, most lacked the cash to pay an expert for laboratory testing. Babcock’s great accomplishment was to develop a powerful, reliable test that was simple…

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December 1, 2013

The men behind the butterfat test. Left: Portrait of Stephen Moulton Babcock, 1890-1899. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Archives. Right: Portrait of F.G. Short, 1890-1899. Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Archives.

Dane County / Babcock Butterfat Tester / Madison / Region 7 - South Center / Related Stories / Food & Cooking / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Science & Medicine / Education

The Men Behind the Butterfat Test

The “Real” InventorAlthough Stephen M. Babcock has been immortalized for his work on the butterfat test that received his name, it was not really his idea. The Babcock test was originally conceived by the forgotten man of the dairy industry, Frederick Garland Short. Short,…

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December 1, 2013