2013 Local History Conference    

The seventh annual conference offers new topics and some of the traditional favorites to help our local volunteers and professionals continue the good work they do to preserve and share Wisconsin's history.

We'll bring together hundreds of local history leaders at the Hotel Mead in Wisconsin Rapids to learn, share ideas, and make new connections.

We will have 24 sessions and 12 workshops that will teach participants how to care for historic collections and buildings, educate the community, and strengthen local organizations.

Contact State Coordinator, Sarah Klentz to learn how you can get started with National History Day in your school.

On Saturday, September 7, 2013 the Wisconsin Historical Museum   hosted a reception for the students and families of the 2012 National History Day documentary finalists.  Families and supporters celebrated the students' accomplishments with a screening of their documentaries, which are now available for public viewing in the Museum Theater until March 29, 2014. Parent Liz King commented "Thank you for organizing the event!  It was a special occasion especially for Kristin.  Good luck with the exhibit.  I hope it's enjoyed and inspiring to other Wisconsin students."

If you are interested in making reservations for a fall of 2013 or spring of 2014 Wisconsin Historical Museum field trip please contact  Museum Education staff or phone 608-264-6557.

You can review your visit options by checking out the Wisconsin Historical Museum's Printable Field Trip Catalog. Museum Education staff look forward to working with you to identify your group needs and tailor a program to enhance your museum visit.

It's difficult to compete with National Pizza Month, but did you know that October is also Wisconsin Archives Month?  Co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board (WHRAB), organizers seek to highlight the value that historical records play in our everyday lives and in our democracy. Many archival repositories in Wisconsin use Archives Month as an opportunity to provide outreach services to K-12 schools, highlighting unique collections with curriculum potential.

October is also a great month to begin planning for National History Day. Consider introducing students to primary sources, arrange to visit a local archives program, or explore the expanding amounts of digitized content available online. The Society's Library-Archives website is a great place to start.

At Pope Farm, an education conservancy on Middleton's near west side, archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society work with 4th graders from the Middleton-Cross Plains School District to increase their understanding of Native Americans as well as the history of agriculture in Wisconsin. Students come to appreciate the important contributions Natives Americans have made to the foods we eat. Additionally, students come away with a greater understanding of the expertise it takes stay alive whether you are negotiating life in 2013 or 1013.

The Society works with partners from UW-Madison's Geology Museum (Rich Slattery) and naturalists from the Arboretum to provide an even richer experience for understanding the geology and natural environment of the park.

Sumpweed (Iva annua)

Each season brings its own unique experience for the students. In the spring students become archaeologists as they examine a recreated site, in this case a fairly recent summer family camping site. Students "discover" the artifacts scattered across the site including a fire pit with the ingredients for smors. Students keep a record of what they find, discuss the results and finally determine what type of site they have "discovered." Next, teams of students and staff forage through a prairie and forest (actually a section of lawn scattered with a series of paper tags naming different plants and animals). By making wise choices they accumulate enough foods and medicine to survive. Finally, Society archaeologists and the 4th graders plant a demonstration garden that represents what a "typical" Native American garden might have looked like 1000 years ago. (See sidebar 1,000 Year Old Garden, left) 

In the fall, students return to the Conservancy and head back to the garden. Now the emphasis is on harvesting, storing, and preparing for the coming year. Staff from the Society and the Arboretum discuss the food plants available in the fall, as well as the ancient technology available to the Native Americans. Students also explore how we learn about the past. Finally, small groups of students move through a series of stations designed to mimic both different times of the year and environments that a traditional Native American seasonal round might have entailed. Only by choosing wisely among the different foods, medicines, and materials to make tools and shelter will their group survive the entire year.

Jennifer Van Haaften, Curator of Interpretation

Halloween Fun for the Young and the Young-at-Heart

Halloween fun for all ages can be found at Old World Wisconsin. Get together a bunch of friends or bring family to one of our Halloween events.  

New this year is our family friendly Halloween Legends and Lore (October 18, 19, 25, and 26). We celebrate the legends and folklore of Wisconsin immigrants with a new activity and storytelling event featuring Wisconsin ghost stories from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Mingled with the folk and fairy tales of the Old World, Halloween Legends and Lore combines spooky and fun daytime activities with macabre and magical nighttime stories. No reservations required.

Find your way through fantastic mazes ranging. Burn off energy while fleeing ghosts or dancing in the fairy circle. Create and decorate macabre artifacts to take home and encounter cackling witches, gloomy grave diggers, strange beasts, eerie fortune tellers and bizarre entities. Witness Wisconsin ghostly tales come to life. Enjoy tasty and disturbing treats and drinks. The evening culminates with a wild bonfire finale.

If you're looking for another disturbingly good time, join us for our Halloween Dinner Theater featuring "Wake Not the Dead," a dramatic performance featuring "The Monkey's Paw" and tales of Poe, Stoker, Doyle and other high-spirited nightmares. Begin your evening's adventure with a themed, harvest meal, followed by a lamp-lit stroll to a live drama that will thrill and chill you. Enjoy a Victorian Halloween filled with ghosts, ghouls and other things best left at rest. This performance has been exclusively adapted for Old World Wisconsin and will take place on October 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and 27. Please call 262-594-6301 or visit our website for reservations.

Happy Halloween!