From: "Seymour, Janet I" <DYKEMAJI@uwec.edu> Subject: FW: WHO News #20, June 2011 Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 14:28:14 +0000 Message-ID: <8FACD6FAA2A852459A94CEFB7C8F98700CAD74E8@EX2010-MBX1.uwec.edu>
From: Debbie Cardinal [mailto:cardinal@wils.wisc.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 9:20 AM
To: localhistory@listserve.uwec.edu
Subject: WHO News #20, June 2011
[Wisconsin Heritage Online News]
June 2011 #20
CONTENTS
News of the Day<http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/WHO/whonews20.html#news>
Featured Collections<http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/WHO/whonews20.html#coll
ections>
Project News<http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/WHO/whonews20.html#projectnews>
WHO Resources<http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/WHO/whonews20.html#resourceswi
ki>
Events to Note<http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/WHO/whonews20.html#events>
News of the Day
Announcement
We have moved the WHO resources wiki to a free and freely open version. The
old wiki, wilsnet-wiheritage.pbworks.com<https://wilsnet-wiheritage.pbwork
s.com/w/page/6672808/FrontPage>, will close after June 19. Please begin to
access the new wiki at wisheritage.pbworks.com<http://wisheritage.pbworks.c
om/>. You don't need a login to access the new wiki, but you can request a
login if you want the option to edit and comment on wiki pages.
Harvesting Update
The amount of content accessible through the WHO portal<http://wisconsinher
itage.org> has nearly doubled in the past two years, with more than 90,610
records from 27 content providers with 75 collections now available online.
In late fall 2010, using LSTA funds contributed by the Wisconsin Departmen
t of Public Instruction, the UW-Madison Shared Development Group revised an
d improved their data harvesting programs and began harvesting new collecti
ons into the portal. SDG tech whiz Jim Liedeka conducts a "refresh harvest"
of existing collections on a monthly basis and will harvest more new colle
ctions later this year.
Collections to be harvested include four new projects supported by the Nich
olas Family Foundation grant--Iowa County Historical Society, New Berlin Hi
storical Society, La Crosse County Historical Society, and the Whitefish Ba
y Public Library-as well as student newspapers and the Wisconsin artists co
llection from Carroll University, yearbooks and the Owen J. Gromme Field No
tes collection from Edgewood College, artifacts from the Logan Museum of An
thropology at Beloit College, UW-Milwaukee's Sanborn maps, and the Wisconsi
n Historical Society's Civil War materials.
Featured Collections
A Scrapbook History of the North Shore
The Whitefish Bay Public Library<http://www.wfblibrary.org/> has partnered
with WHO to digitize the Mimi Bird Historical Collection<http://content.mpl
.org/wfb>. A resident of Whitefish Bay since the age of four, Mimi Bird beg
an to research the history of the community and of Milwaukee's North Shore
in the 1980s. She compiled newspaper clippings, census records, and other m
aterials; photographed homes, businesses and landmarks; and organized it al
l into a set of thirty-nine volumes which she donated to the Library. The v
olumes cover a wide range of topics from early settlers in the Town of Milw
aukee to Whitefish Bay's centennial celebrations in 1992 to "Trees of the N
orth Shore area."
To make this popular resource available online, the Whitefish Bay Public Li
brary outsourced the document scanning to Northern Micrographics, an imagin
g firm based in La Crosse. Next, a team of catalogers at the library create
d detailed metadata for each volume. Finally, WHO staff loaded each volume
to a CONTENTdm collection hosted by the Milwaukee Public Library. The digit
al collection is fully searchable and will be an invaluable resource for ge
nealogists and local history enthusiasts in the North Shore area. Browse th
e collection here<http://content.mpl.org/wfb>.
[WFBphoto.jpg]
One Man's Wartime Story
[LAXimage.jpg]
The Brekke Collection<http://content.mpl.org/lacrosse> at the La Crosse Cou
nty Historical <http://www.lchsweb.org/> Society represents the things that
one man saved as mementos of his service in World War II. Kermit Brekke wa
s raised on a farm outside of Blair, Wisconsin to parents of Norwegian desc
ent; he was 23 years old when he enlisted in the US Army in 1942. While sta
tioned in Oregon his fiancee came out to see him and they were married ther
e. Kermit served in North Africa and Italy as a rifleman and a radio operat
or and repairman. All of this is recorded in a scrapbook his wife, Evelyn B
rekke, compiled after the war, filled with photos, telegrams, newspaper cli
ppings, menus, leave passes, greeting cards from family and friends, ration
cards, newsletters of the 363rd Infantry, and his handwritten notes on rad
io operation. Kermit also saved uniforms, including his wool great coat and
work dungarees, and souvenirs from Italy such as silk scarves produced for
sale to tourists.
La Crosse County Historical Society curator Peggy Derrick and intern Becky
Putzer, a recent graduate of UW-La Crosse, worked with WHO to photograph ob
jects, scan each page of the scrapbook, and organize the materials into a d
igital collection hosted by the Milwaukee Public Library. Peggy highlights
the significance of this collection for the local community and beyond: "Th
e La Crosse County Historical Society is proud to be the caretaker of the B
rekke Collection, which constitutes the material expression of world histor
y as lived by one man." Explore the collection here<http://content.mpl.org/
lacrosse>.
Project News
Students Help New Projects Take Off
This summer, three undergraduate students at UW-Madison will partner with t
hree local historical societies around the state to help get new digital pr
ojects off the ground. The positions are sponsored by the Material Culture
Program at UW-Madison, with funding provided by a grant from the Caxambas F
oundation.
WHO is working with Dr. Ann Smart Martin, professor of American decorative
arts and director of the Material Culture Program<http://materialculture.wi
sc.edu/>, to encourage a "service learning model" for these summer opportun
ities.
The three summer partnerships are:
1) McFarland Historical Society<http://www.mcfarlandhistorical.org/>
Katie Dreps, a history major, will work with Dale Marsden at the McFarland
Historical Society to photograph, research and catalog selections from McFa
rland's extensive collection of early Norwegian and Norwegian-American arti
facts assembled in the mid-20th century by collector Albert Skare.
2) Portage Historical Society<http://portagemuseum.org/>
Portage has already worked with WHO to digitize the "Tales of Old Portage<h
ttp://content.mpl.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/portage>" collection, a g
roup of newspaper articles published by local historian Dorothy McCarthy. T
his summer, they will work with art history major Andrea Hudson to scan, re
search, and catalog photographs of historic buildings in Portage. Peggy Ame
nd, Judy Eulberg, and Joan Indermark are the local supervisors.
3) Three Lakes Historical Society<http://www.threelakeshistory.org/>
Breanna Norton, a recent graduate of the anthropology program at UW-Madison
, will work with curator Alan Tulppo on photos and documents related to the
history of camps and resorts in Three Lakes.
Early WHO members start new projects
Two of our earliest Content Providers, the Neville Public Museum of Brown C
ounty<http://www.nevillepublicmuseum.org/home> and the Central Wisconsin Di
gitization Project, are about to take on new digital projects. The Neville,
in Green Bay, is nearing the end of an extensive project to digitize photo
graphs and records from the Brown County War History Committee. This collec
tion<http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/npmh>
now includes information about more than 1,400 Brown County soldiers who se
rved in World War I.
The Neville's next project will build on an exhibition currently on view at
the museum: Badger Boys: Northeast Wisconsin and the Civil War<http://www.
nevillepublicmuseum.org/exhibits/temporary-exhibits>. This exhibit and the
corresponding digital collection focus on the stories of the local people w
ho lived through the war.
The Central Wisconsin Digitization Project<http://content.wisconsinhistory.
org/cwdp/cw_about.asp> is a collaborative endeavor of numerous libraries an
d historical societies in the north-central part of the state including the
Marathon County Historical Society, Marathon County Public Library, UW-Mar
athon County, T. B. Scott Free Library, and the Merrill Historical Society.
CWDP is currently wrapping up their Railroads of Lincoln and Marathon Coun
ties<http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/cwdp>
project. The next project centers on the community of Rib Lake and the surr
ounding area. Bob Rusch of the Rib Lake Historical Society<http://riblakehi
story.com/> has compiled thousands of photographs and documents from area r
esidents and will work with the Rib Lake Public Library and UW-Marathon Cou
nty to catalog these materials and share them online.
WHO Resources
WHO Wiki Has Moved!
We have moved the WHO resources wiki to a free and freely open version. The
old wiki, wilsnet-wiheritage.pbworks.com<https://wilsnet-wiheritage.pbwork
s.com>, will close after June 19. Please begin to access the new wiki at wi
sheritage.pbworks.com<http://wisheritage.pbworks.com>. You don't need a log
in to access the new wiki, but you can request a login if you want the opti
on to edit and comment on wiki pages.
Events to Note
Debbie Cardinal, WHO manager since 2005, retires, really, in mid-June
Dear colleagues from libraries, historical societies and museums,
I expect I will remember the rest of my life how fulfilling, satisfying, an
d fun it was to work with so many of you on laying a foundation for Wiscons
in Heritage Online or setting up a new digital project. Thank you all for y
our time, thought and enthusiasm over the years.
- Debbie
Emily Pfotenhauer
Emily is fully funded by the Nicholas Family Foundation through December 20
11. If you would like to talk with her about a digitization project contact
her at 608 265-2138 or epfotenhauer@wils.wisc.edu<mailto:<mailto:epfotenhauer@wils
.wisc.edu>.
________________________________
To Top<http://www.wils.wisc.edu/email/WHO/whonews20.html#begin>
Principal writer and editor, Debbie Cardinal<mailto:cardinal@wils.wisc.edu>
. Contributions from Emily Pfotenhauer<mailto:epfotenhauer@wils.wisc.edu>.
Wisconsin Heritage Online<http://wisconsinheritage.org/> | Wisconsin Herita
ge wiki<http://wisheritage.pbworks.com/w/page/39841072/FrontPage> [Facebo
ok WHO] <http://www.facebook.com/WisconsinHeritage> [WHO Twitter] <http:
//twitter.com/wiheritage>
Debbie Cardinal
Wisconsin Heritage Online Program Manager
cardinal@wils.wisc.edu
608 265-2138
http://wisconsinheritage.org
https:wiheritage.pbworks.com
728 State St., Rm 464
Madison, WI 53706