From: Kathryn Otto <kathryn.otto@uwrf.edu> Subject: RE: Local History Time line Publication Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:33:54 +0000 Message-ID: <0E4F7FA295932549B11B0357E427F22D03C6FB3C@UWRFMBX02.servers.uwrf.edu>
Hi Sara,
Another way of doing a timeline - that you can also use to highlight your c
ollections - is to use free online timeline software, such as Dipity (http:
//www.dipity.com/). From any entry you can add links to your collections, p
lus photos and videos from you collections. You can also embed the timeline
on your website.
I ran across Dipity when I was working at the Minnesota Historical Society
and oversaw putting a Minnesota history timeline online on Dipity (http://w
ww.dipity.com/MnHSreference/Minnesota_History/), and also embedded on the M
nHS website (http://www.mnhs.org/library/ - if you don't see it on your scr
een, scroll down). Go back in time a bit to find entries with links to col
lections, like Aug. 1, 2007 - I-35 Bridge Collapses, or Jan. 4, 1999 - Jess
e Ventura Becomes Governor, or Mar. 1, 1994 - Soul Asylum Wins Grammy (whic
h includes a link to museum collection items). Of course, I find the older
, more historical entries more interesting, but with the more recent ones y
ou can see the links to audio and video collection items.
Dipity can also be used to do a timeline to help you keep track of a large
archival collection that you are processing. If you have multiple family me
mbers, for example, and are having trouble knowing who is doing what and wh
en, you can use Dipity to help you track that kind of information as you ru
n across it. Dipity can also be used for a specific event, like your area'
s participation in the Civil War.
One warning, though: Dipity really tries to "help" you by adding modern th
ings to your timeline that it finds on the Internet (sometimes wildly inapp
ropriate to what you're trying to do). You can contact them and tell them t
o stop that!
For more help on learning about online timelines, you can read this blog po
sting: http://23thingsforarchivists.wordpress.com/beginning-things-1-23/thi
ng-19/. It includes links to other online timeline softwares and to "Resou
rces" you can read/look at.
Kathryn Otto
University Archives & Area Research Center
University of Wisconsin-River Falls
From: localhistory-request@listserve.uwec.edu [mailto:localhistory-request@
listserve.uwec.edu] On Behalf Of sara m steele
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 10:21 AM
To: localhistory@listserve.uwec.edu
Subject: Local History Time line Publication
Hi
Has your History Society published a local history time line? If so, what
years are covered? What do the items look like and what content areas are
included (businesses, farming, military, schools, churches, etc.? Was it
organized chronologically by years or was it organized by subject matter?
How did you expect it to be used?
This question came to mind as I was responding to the question about the la
st stages of producing a book. I have stayed clear of doing a general, comp
rehensive book called "The History of Cottage Grove" because I like detail
and it is impossible, even with as small an area and population as our tow
nship and village, to be both comprehensive and detailed. For example, in
a comprehensive book raising tobacco would only get one sentence--"Tobacco
was a main cash crop from about 1900 until about 1980. In our specific to
pic report we told the story with photos of how tobacco was raised.
Then I remembered. A few years ago I had started a general history using a
time lines format with only a little detail. (See the two examples below.)
The format permitted some detail, but still could have become very long c
overing covering more than 200 years (1824 until 2000).
Although it would be an excellent reference, it would be difficult to find
what you were looking for unless you knew approximately when something had
occurred. So I set it aside.
Examples: The 1830s items summarized info we had collected from a variety o
f sources. The 1910 items were taken from 1910 news columns.
1830s
1824 Ho-chunk (Winnebegos) transfer land which includes C.G. by means
of treaty thus preparing the way for the government to sell land.
1832 Illinois and Wisconsin militia chase Chief Black Hawk and 1,000
of his followers across Cottage Grove township on way from Hustiford to Wis
consin Heights. Although a small war with Indians who were not native to Wi
sconsin, the victory made potential settlers feel safer. Black Hawk was n
ot a Wisconsin Indian. His band had been moved off its lands in Illinois
and he was trying to regain them.
1834 The North West territory survey establishes township and sectio
n boundaries and sets the means of describing land when sold. Since then C
ottage Grove has been known as Town 7, 7 North. Range 11 East (T. 7- 7 N-R
.11 E)
.1838 The federal road from Madison and Milwaukee is completed about
where BB is today. It was meant to link to the Ft. Howard (Green Bay) and
Ft. Crawford (Prairie du Chien) military road. The two forts had been es
tablished in 1816 in the two areas where the fur traders came to ship their
furs by water to France. .
1838 Work begins on first capitol building at Madison. The lakes are
still known by numbers-First, Second, etc.--rather than names.
1838 First Cottage Grove land was purchased by Philip Kearney, east
ern army officer and land speculator who did not live on the land. He r
eached the rank of General and died in the Civil War. He and his father bo
ught up hundreds of acres with the help of a Beloit Lawyer.
- - - - -
1910 The hotel barn burned killing two horses. Irvin Witte is so anxiou
s to tell people that there are horses in the barn that he puts his head th
rough the window without opening it.
1911 Cottage Grove State Bank began operation south of the tracks on Ma
in Street.
1912 Witte and Steinhauer became Witte, Korfmaker and Farr. They sold
motorcycles.
1912 Sam Kennedy was killed when the morning train spooks his team as he
is returning from taking his niece to teach at Vilas. 1913 Witt
e, Korfmacher and Far acquire its first car, a second hand Model T Ford wit
h carbon headlights. It was put on jacks every night to save its headlight
s.
Sara Steele
Cottage Grove Text Archivist