Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2021 i Wisconsin Magazine of History

Over the past few years, we have been asking what makes Wisconsin, Wisconsin? Is it our perseverance; our celebrations of family, food, and identity; our love of sports; or our appreciation of the natural world? The Society feels a sense of responsibility to provide context to today’s history in the making, to share the stories that are often obscured, and to lift up the achievements of those who have come before us. In 2021, as we mark the Wisconsin Historical Society’s 175th anniversary, we celebrate our state’s many visionaries, changemakers, and storytellers. They represent the beloved stories of classic Wisconsin, but also the stories that are less frequently told, yet equally important to our state’s history. I hope you will find the stories we present in WMH throughout the year to be…

WHEN I PULLED INTO THE PARKING LOT AT Badger Army Ammunition Plant in May 1966, I had no intention of working there. That morning, Mom had said, “Why don’t you stop by the plant? I hear they’re hiring because of the war.” I had just completed my freshman year of college, and her well-meaning suggestion grated against against my newfound independence. As I surveyed the chain link fence surrounding the facility, a wave of resentment rose in me. It looked like a prison. But I was eighteen and I needed a summer job. The Vietnam War had become a stark reality in my life a year earlier when some of my high school classmates enlisted before graduation; others were drafted. Several family members had fought in World War II and…

The William B. Hesseltine Award Each year, we ask readers to vote for the best original full-length article in the Wisconsin Magazine of History. The Hesseltine Award was established in 1965 in memory of historian and past Wisconsin Historical Society president William B. Hesseltine. The winner will be announced in the Winter 2021 issue and will receive a small cash prize. Here are the entries for volume 104: Autumn 2020 Broken Stars & Silk Dreams: Treasured Quilts of Wisconsin, by Leslie Bellais All Roads Lead to Pendarvis House: Celebrating a Preservation and Culinary Legacy, by Bethany Brander Winter 2020 The Ice Boat & Mr. Wiard, by Tim Ernst Reading the Landscape: Aldo Leopold’s Use of History, by Matt Blessing Glad to Be Gay: Gay Cable Access Television in Madison, by…

Each year, we ask readers to vote for the best original full-length article in the Wisconsin Magazine of History. The Hesseltine Award was established in 1965 in memory of historian and past Wisconsin Historical Society president William B. Hesseltine. The winner will be announced in the Winter 2021 issue and will receive a small cash prize. Here are the entries for volume 104: Autumn 2020 Broken Stars & Silk Dreams: Treasured Quilts of Wisconsin, by Leslie Bellais All Roads Lead to Pendarvis House: Celebrating a Preservation and Culinary Legacy, by Bethany Brander Winter 2020 The Ice Boat & Mr. Wiard, by Tim Ernst Reading the Landscape: Aldo Leopold’s Use of History, by Matt Blessing Glad to Be Gay: Gay Cable Access Television in Madison, by Scott C. Seyforth Spring 2021…

STANDING TALL IN A CHARMING BUT UNASSUMING WAY, his bronze statue greets the thousands of fans who pass by the paddock area on race day. From his tipped fedora to his cross-armed stance overlooking the rolling Kettle Moraine hills that host America’s first permanent road course, Clif Tufte is Road America. Sculpted by Wisconsin artist Tom Holleran and unveiled on October 9, 2020, the statue immortalizes a trailblazer whose foresight and determination transformed a quiet tourist town into an international road race mecca, thanks to Road America’s sprawling 640-acre facility just south of Elkhart Lake. Inscribed on a nearby bench is a quote from the 1955 edition of the Chicago Region Sports Car Club of America publication Piston Patter: “Let there be no mistake, when the record of Road America…

Genial industrialist Julius Heil didn’t just beat Progressive governor Philip La Follette in the 1938 Wisconsin gubernatorial race—he trounced him. It wasn’t all Heil’s doing, though. Thirty years of Progressive policies had convinced Republican and Democratic Party regulars to band together for the express purpose of defeating the Progressives and throwing La Follette out of office. When the ballots were counted, Heil, who had never before held political office, won 543,675 votes to Governor La Follette’s 353,381.1 After three terms, La Follette had left his mark on state agencies with more government control over the electric utility and banking industries, but when Heil swept in, the industrialist promised voters that he would reorganize the government along business lines. Progressives, he suggested, had squandered their mandate and ignored what the people…

It is with deepest thanks that the Wisconsin Historical Society recognizes individuals and organizations who contributed $5,000 or more cumulatively between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, including pledges and gifts of membership. $25,000+ Anonymous Ruth and Hartley Barker Advised Fund through Incourage Community Foundation Angela and Jeff Bartell Black Point Historic Preservation Operation and Maintenance Fund at the Greater Milwaukee Foundation The Boldt Company The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Mr. Craig C. Culver Robert C. Dohmen Ray and Kay Eckstein Charitable Trust Dan and Natalie Erdman The Evjue Foundation, Inc., the charitable arm of The Capital Times Pleasant and Jerry Frautschi John J. Frautschi Family Foundation Jeffris Family Foundation Ltd. Robert D. Kern Kohler Trust for Preservation Mark and Ilene* Laufman Irving & Dorothy Levy Family Foundation…

The following is an excerpt from Birdman of Koshkong: The Life of Naturalist Thure Kumlien, by Martha Bergland, released by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press this spring. Kumlien settled on the shore of Lake Koshkonong, near Madison, Wisconsin, in 1843 and soon began sending bird specimens to museums and collectors in Europe and the eastern United States. Here, he begins a long correspondence with Boston naturalist Thomas May Brewer. In July of 1850, enclosed in a letter from Janesville newspaper man Charles Holt, Thure Kumlien received a letter from Boston naturalist Thomas Mayo Brewer asking if Kumlien would be willing to aid him in his endeavors to illustrate the eggs of North American birds.1 Kumlien had bird skins and mounted birds, but probably no eggs, ready to sell. Yet, he…

Wisconsin Historical Society Board of Curators Officers President: Gregory B. Huber, Wausau President-Elect: Angela B. Bartell, Middleton Past President: Brian D. Rude, Coon Valley Treasurer: Walter S. Rugland, Appleton Secretary: Christian Øverland, The Ruth and Hartley Barker Director & CEO Term Members Eric Borgerding, Madison Mary Buestrin, Mequon Ramona Gonzalez, La Crosse Mary Jane Herber, De Pere Joanne B. Huelsman, Waukesha Thomas Maxwell, Marinette Susan McLeod, Eau Claire Janan Najeeb, Mequon Lowell F. Peterson, Appleton Donald Schott, Madison Thomas L. Shriner Jr., Milwaukee Robert Smith, Milwaukee Leonard Sobczak, Milwaukee John W. Thompson, Madison Rebecca Webster, De Pere Chia Youyee Vang, Glendale Terri Yoho, Adell Aharon Zorea, Richland Center Governor’s Appointees Gov. Tony Evers, Madison Sherman Banker, Madison Keene Winters, Wausau Cate Zeuske, Green Bay Legislative Appointees Rep. Jill Billings, La…