Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2025 i Wisconsin Magazine of History

“Light discontinued this 30th day of June 1907. Correct Statement. Georgia A. Stebbins, Keeper.” So reads the final entry in the daily log kept by Stebbins, who, as head keeper of Milwaukee’s North Point Lighthouse, tended the light for thirty-seven years. When her service ended, she was not only the longest serving keeper in the lighthouse’s history but the longest serving woman lighthouse keeper in Wisconsin—a feat that was never matched as lighthouses were gradually automated and the need for beacons changed. As one among many stories about Wisconsin’s water history, the profile of Georgia Stebbins, written by Barb and Ken Wardius, is a perfect entrée into our summer 2025 issue. Kendra Kennedy, a maritime archaeologist with the Society, brings us along as she and her team of fellow staff…

No structure is more synonymous with Wisconsin’s rich maritime history than the lighthouse. From the early 1800s through the 1950s, more than three hundred lighthouses dotted the shores of the Great Lakes, guiding ships through the waters under the careful watch of lighthouse keepers—a title only a few women possessed. On Lake Michigan, for example, only about 4 percent of keepers during the active lighthouse era were women, and even fewer ever obtained the highest rank of head keeper. Occasionally, a keeper’s wife or daughter would hold the official position of assistant keeper. More often, though, these women worked without formal recognition from the federal government. In Wisconsin, only five women officially held the prestigious role of head lighthouse keeper. The North Point Lighthouse in Milwaukee was home to one…

Most Wisconsinites have experienced the phenomenon: hopes for a refreshing dip in the lake spoiled by floating mats of green scum, plans for a summer picnic ruined by the faint smell of rot, or a sign on a lakefront warning residents not to let their pets venture too close to shore. Many of the state’s best-known lakes suffer from these algal blooms, including Lake Winnebago, Green Lake, and Lake Monona. Even Lake Superior, known for its clear waters, has experienced algal blooms in recent years. Sometimes blooms are more than unsightly—they can be dangerous. Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, contain toxins that are dangerous to humans and animals, forcing the closure of beaches when levels grow too high. In Wisconsin and around the country, harmful algal blooms, or HABs, have impacts…

Excerpts from more than 100 years of the Wisconsin Magazine of History 25 YEARS AGO | 2000 At first glance, the Burning Bush Movement might appear to be merely a quixotic cult of little social significance…. The MCA (Metropolitan Church Association), however, may be more important than its better-known contemporaries because of the important role it played in the Holiness and Pentecostal movements that today have more than 400 million adherents worldwide. William Kostlevy, “The Burning Bush Movement: A Wisconsin Utopian Religious Community,” vol. 83, no. 4, Summer 2000 50 YEARS AGO | 1975 After the spectacle of 1912, voters began to doubt that there would ever be a final victory over industrial capitalism, for the leaders were flawed, interested more in personal power than in the majoritarian movement they…

  The following excerpt is from I Live Underwater: The Thrilling Adventures of a Record-Breaking Diver, Treasure Hunter, and Deep-Sea Explorer, released in spring 2025 by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. I Live Underwater is the posthumous memoir of Max Gene Nohl, a thrill seeker and treasure hunter who revolutionized deep-sea diving. Nohl’s groundbreaking work and thirst for adventure propelled him to transcend fear and become one of the field’s great innovators—shattering the world diving record in 1937 as the first person to dive deeper than 400 feet. In this excerpt, a teenage Nohl—accompanied by his friend and future business partner, Jack Browne—takes his first ever dive in Lake Michigan. My raft was anchored about half a mile off the shore of Fox Point in front of my family’s summer…

$25,000+ Anonymous (4) The Al. Ringling Theatre Endowment Fund at the Community Foundation of South Central Wisconsin Alliant Energy Foundation Diane Ballweg Ruth and Hartley Barker Advised Fund through Incourage Community Foundation Thomas and Jill Barland Jane A. Bartell and John W. Thompson Bruce and Melissa Block The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Anthony P Brzezinski Foundation Kathleen Burke Circus World Museum, Inc. Cranberry Museum, Inc Culver’s Dr. Joyce (Carpenter) Degenhart Robert C. Dohmen Ray and Kay Eckstein Charitable Trust Estate of Nancy A. Richardson J.H. Findorff & Son Inc. Jerry Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland Friends of the Wind Point Lighthouse FRIENDS of the Wisconsin Historical Society Erica Fox Gehrig, in honor of Johanna Heileman Conrad and Sandra Goodkind Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Inc. Black Point Horticulture Fund William O. Petersen…

Let Us Know What You Think Each year, the William B. Hesseltine award is given to the author of the best original article of the previous volume year. We’d love to hear what you loved most about the last year of articles. Please visit wihist.org/Hesseltine2024 to tell us which stories were your favorites and why. We’ll include your comments in the Winter 2025 issue along with the results of the contest, which will be determined by a juried panel. Praise for Spring Really great Spring issue! I am especially interested in the feature “Hot Off the GI Press” by Ron Carver. I was drafted in 1968, six months after graduation from college. They put me in the infantry and flew me to Vietnam for a year of combat. Fortunately, I…