Phil’s Take on Viewing the Lake

By Phillip Schauer, Past President

June brought a large dose of air pollution to many areas of the state. The ever-burning Canadian forest fires had finally been swept south, giving rural and small town residents perhaps their first dose of fire-generated air pollution. Dare I say smog! As I was headed east to Kenosha I thought that perhaps the large openness of Lake Michigan would act as a clearinghouse and chase the bad air away. However, the farther east I drove the landscape became more shrouded. Sure enough, the smoke-laden air only intensified the closer I got to the lake.

I was traveling to the FRIENDS of the Wisconsin State Historical Society’s annual meeting. It offered visits to the Civil War Museum, the Kenosha Public Museum with its extensive displays of the city’s automotive and industrial heritage, and also the 1867 Light Station keeper’s house and museum, including the 1866 Southport Lighthouse with a chance to trek up inside the lighthouse to catch the view. At 55 feet tall (plus a hilltop location added up to 74), thick Milwaukee cream brick walls, and a semicircular cast iron stairway, it was too good to pass up for myself along with past president of FRIENDS and wife Gwen. We carefully plodded up the 72 steps and were rewarded with a magnificent vista—the city, harbor, and a great lake!

Although the horizon was partially obscured by the smoke that I naively thought would be cleared by lake breezes, all was enjoyable! Perhaps I will return in the future and be able to fully appreciate the publicized view—“3 counties, 2 states, 1 Great Lake, and an unobscured Chicago skyline” on the distant horizon!

Posted in Tours & Trips | Leave a comment

A Tour and Luncheon Worth Archiving!

FRIENDS of WHS Members Tour SAPF

Friends of WHS board members and others toured the new State Archive Preservation Facility (SAPF) on Madison’s near-east side on Tuesday, September 18th. Led by board president Phil Schauer, Friends members were given a tour of the new state-of-the-art facility by Matt Blessing, WHS administrator of the Division of Library, Archives and Museum collections.

Blessing led the group through the new four-story storage facility that will eventually hold more than 500,000 artifacts. The facility will also contain 200,000 books and over 50,000 archival boxes with millions of pages of manuscript pages and documents from state agencies. The WHS is also moving 110,000 historic objects to the new facility, located at 202 South Thornton Avenue, along with hundreds of boxes filled with over 400,000 archeological objects. In addition, the new facility will house 22,000 objects and several archival collections from the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

SAPF d

Highlights of the tour of SAPF included a stop in the film storage room, where a temperature of forty degrees with a constant low humidity level will preserve the fantastic film and movie collection for the future. Blessing explained that when a film needs to be shown, it will be moved to a transition room where the temperature is gradually raised – again to preserve the quality of the film. Currently most of the film collection is still at the WHS headquarters on the UW campus. When the weather cools in October the collection will be moved to SAPF.

SAPF e

Blessing also explained the new digital identification system that helps staff locate objects and collections. Each object has a scanning ID code that is also on the storage box and the shelf where the box is stored at SAPF. When a researcher needs an object, they can identify it online at the WHS site. WHS staff at SAPF then can locate the needed document of object, pull it from its storage shelf, and by the next morning the researcher can access the needed material at the WHS headquarters building.

SAPF a

On the tour, Friends members saw an early version of the Oscar Mayer “Wiener Mobile,” the hamburger-carrying caricature of Marc’s Big Boy restaurants, and an early television camera from the WHA educational TV station. Stepping out onto the loading dock area of SAPF, Blessing explained that trucks arrive daily with materials from the WHS headquarters building. This process has been going on since early spring and will continue for several years before the move is completed.

Blessing stressed that the new SAPF facility helps the historical society meet its mission of “To collect, preserve and share.” The new facility was built with extra storage space so that the WHS can continue to meet its mission into the future.

FRIENDS of WHS Honor Fannie Hicklin

As part of the September meeting of the Friends of WHS board, a luncheon meal was shared at the Hungry Goat restaurant in Fitchburg. At the gathering, Friends’ President Phil Schauer honored Dr. Fannie Hicklin for her many years of service to both the Wisconsin Historical Society, where she served on the Board of Curators for 27 years including as President of the board, and the Friends of WHS group, where she served as a board member for many years.

SAPF fSAPF g

After her introduction at the luncheon Dr. Hicklin regaled the gathered Friends members with stories about coming to Madison to get her doctorate degree at UW. During that time she also worked at the historical society and first became aware of the importance of the institution. Her witty recollections entranced the gathering as the centenarian (Fannie recently celebrated her 100th birthday!) retired educator’s presence made for a wonderful time for all.

– Brad Steinmetz, FWHS Vice President

Posted in News, Tours & Trips | Leave a comment

A New Year, A New Adventure

Got the New Year blues?
Well, here’s something to look forward to in 2017:
Where on earth–or rather, where in Wisconsin–could FRIENDS be going for the Annual Meeting in the summer, and the Excursion in the fall? What history mysteries are waiting to be uncovered so close to home? And will you join us for the adventure of finding out?

Old Suitcases

Keep a lookout for the next issue of Pillars, when maybe at least one of these questions might be answered!

tour bus

Posted in Tours & Trips | Leave a comment

Recapping the Great River Road: Autumn Excursion 2014

The 2014 Autumn Excursion, sponsored by FWHS, traveled the Great River Road along the mighty Mississippi River from September 4-6. The 28 travelers on the excursion enjoyed the fascinating history and beautiful scenery of the river.

Traveling first to La Crosse, the group enjoyed the breathtaking vistas of Grandad Bluff, a personal tour of historic Hixton House, and lunch aboard a paddle wheeler that “locked thru” on the Mississippi. Dr. Frank “White Beaver” Powell mesmerized the group as he told of his life in the “Gateway City” of La Crosse. After heading south and hearing the story of the Black Hawk War along the way, the group stopped for the night in host city Prairie du Chien, where a delicious supper at The Angus Supper Club was followed by Mary Antoine, President of the PDC Historical Society, telling all about the earliest days of her historic hometown.

Day 2 of the Autumn Excursion began with a ride to Dubuque’s Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, followed by a narrated tour of the city of Dubuque and a delicious lunch at the city’s Eagle Point Park overlooking the Mississippi River below. In the afternoon, the group stopped at Moundview Park in Platteville to see a historic reenactment of the War of 1812. A stop at Jamison Museum included a tour of the museum, a descent deep down into a once-working lead mine, a mining tram ride around the grounds, and an interesting presentation on the ethnic settlement of the lead mining region. Back in Prairie du Chien for the evening and after a pasta supper at the motel, the group learned about the 19th century Ho-Chunk Treaties.

The last day of the tour began with Mary Antoine rejoining us for a tour of Prairie du Chien, which included a visit to the oldest house in the city (a fascinating restored French-Canadian log cabin), stops at the oldest cemetery and church in the state, and a tour of the historic Ft. Crawford museum. The group was then led on a personally-guided tour of the magnificent Villa Louis mansion and participated in the Carriage Classic event on the grounds. The excursion then traveled to Cassville for guided tours of several different sites in Stonefield Village and the Governor Nelson Dewey House.

Once again FWHS has hosted a wonderful historic tour of a great part of the Badger State (the name taken from those early lead miners digging their homes in the ground). Thanks go out to FWHS board members JoEllen Hegwood, Frances Kravenik, and Brad Steinmetz for arranging the excursion and making it such a memorable experience for all the participants!

2014-09-04 13.00.10 (2) excursion2014-09-05 13.53.54 (2) excursion CANNON2014-09-05 16.02.55 (2) excursion2014 excursion - FWHS Mem. Frank chats with Twain

Posted in News, Tours & Trips | Leave a comment

Lincoln Trip Highly Rated

The FRIENDS Annual Time & Place Trip for 2009 was to Springfield Illinois to “walk in Abe Lincoln’s Footsteps” as he became the icon his is known as today.

The three day, two night coach adventure was highly rated among the travelers. Perhaps it had to do with the special “behind the scenes” segments that were added to the usual historic Springfield itinerary. Added value specialty items were welcomed at all points of the tour.

Lunch at the Lincon Library, experiencing the Vault, seeing where Lincon lived and worked, and meeting “Lincoln” (expert Lincoln character presenter, Mr. Klein) were just some of the highlights of a history adventure to remember.

FRIENDS conducts “Time & Place” Tours annually. Watch for the details of the 2010 adventure into the past.

Posted in News, Tours & Trips | Leave a comment

Frocks and Farthings

BIKE CROP HORIZIt’s Feminine Frocks & Penney Farthings

On October 24th Volunteers from the FRIENDS offered a free program at the Headquarters building of the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison.  Two members of the FRIENDS Board of Trustees, Beverly Wassam and Mark Mittag, put together this light hearted and high spirited romp into the past. [Continue reading Frocks and Farthings …]

Posted in Events, News, Tours & Trips | Leave a comment

Abraham Lincoln Springfield Trip

On September 14th FRIENDS and their guests, walked in Lincoln’s footsteps on a dream trip to Springfield Illinois.

This 3 day 2 night coach trip was another spectacular “Time And Place” adventures sponsored by the FRIENDS. These Lincoln fans visited many significant historic locations, including behind the scenes offerings that the public rarely witnesses. Lunch at the Lincoln Library and meeting “Lincoln himself,” were some of the memorable highlights.

Not only was this an eye-opener and an experience to remember, it was lots of fun!

Watch for the pictures coming up soon!

Posted in Events, Tours & Trips | Leave a comment