Wisconsin 101

Read more about the article Increase Lapham and the Founding of the United States Weather Bureau

Studio portrait of Increase A. Lapham in suit and tie, photographic print, c 1859. Image ID: 43831 Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Increase Lapham and the Founding of the United States Weather Bureau

As immigration to Wisconsin swelled in the 1840s, so, too, did the state’s scientific and technological community, with innovations across industries ranging from agriculture and manufacturing to geology and environmental studies. Among Wisconsin’s first “pioneer scientists” was Increase A. Lapham, a young…

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September 8, 2020

Jefferson County / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Region 7 - South Center / Whitewater / Esterly Broadcast Seeder / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Food & Cooking / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / 1880-1900 / 1900-1920 / 1920-1940 / Education / 1940-1960 / Ethnicity & Identity / 1960-1980 / 1980-2000

Industry and Manufacturing in the Whitewater Area

Since the earliest settlers arrived in the Whitewater area in the 1830s, industry and manufacturing have played important roles in the establishment and continued growth of the area.One of the earliest industries in Whitewater was grain milling, performed at the Old Stone…

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June 29, 2020

Green County / Region 7 - South Center / New Glarus / 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

Read more about the article When Lake Koshkonong was a Marsh

An Ojibwe man and woman harvesting wild rice in 1966 near Ashland, WI. Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, image ID 133699.

Jefferson County / Region 7 - South Center / Pre-1600 / 1600-1800 / A Duck Decoy / Lake Koshkonong / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / 1820-1840 / Politics, Society & Government / 1840-1860 / Nature & Environment / Ethnicity & Identity

When Lake Koshkonong was a Marsh

Maintaining practices like an annual visit to Lake Koshkanong to hunt and harvest food is an important way for indigenous knowledge and culture to be passed-on to the next generation.

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September 30, 2018

Slavery in Wisconsin

1600-1800 / James D. Williams' Windlass / Related Stories / 1800-1820 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1820-1840 / Politics, Society & Government / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / Ethnicity & Identity

Slavery in Wisconsin

It may come as a surprise to learn that during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries slavery existed in the region that would become the state of Wisconsin. Over this period, thousands of enslaved African Americans or enslaved American Indians lived and…

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September 11, 2018

Read more about the article What is a Point Blanket Coat?

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 / Clothing & Fashion / 1840-1860 / 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