The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin ) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America , with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West. Founded in 1846 and chartered in 1853, it is the oldest historical society in the United States to receive continuous public funding. The society's headquarters are located in Madison, Wisconsin , on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison .
15-716: Madeline Island Museum is a museum owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society . Opened on June 15, 1958, the museum is in the town of La Pointe, Wisconsin on Madeline Island , one of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior . Madeline Island Museum was developed on the former site of the American Fur Company Northern Outfit , and its main building once served as an American Fur Company warehouse. The museum can be reached by boat or by
30-471: A post on the island. Because it was an ancient Native American settlement, and had served for so long as a fur trading site, as well as being the center of early missionary efforts in the area, Madeline Island was deemed an ideal location for a museum relating to important aspects of Wisconsin's history. Inspired by the island's history, two longtime summer residents of the island, Leo and Bella Capser, began organizing in 1955 to create Madeline Island Museum. With
45-478: A wider audience, including narratives about people and events, explorations of historical topics, and stories that speak to a regional community but also reach across borders. The Press began publishing a series of books for young readers in 2005 called The Badger Biography series that tells the stories of Wisconsin people to a new generation of readers. The Wisconsin Magazine of History , the quarterly magazine given as
60-682: Is the second largest in the United States after the Library of Congress. Visual materials in the archives include some three million photographs, negatives, films, architectural drawings, cartoons, lithographs, posters, and a variety of visual ephemera. The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research is also housed within the division. The society's archives also serve as the official repository for state and local government records. The society coordinates an Area Research Center Network, an alliance between
75-681: The Madeline Island Ferry . Madeline Island is the only member of the Apostle Islands that is not included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore , and is therefore the only island in the group open to commercial development. The historic unincorporated community of La Pointe, was established by French fur traders as a trading post in 1693. Later, in the 19th century, the American Fur Company established
90-582: The Wisconsin Historical Collections, in 1855 to showcase some of the holdings of the newly founded Wisconsin Historical Society. Since then, the Press has explored Wisconsin history topics in a variety of formats, from booklets and research guides to the six-volume History of Wisconsin series and softcover titles. In recent years, the Press has concentrated on creating books that appeal to
105-760: The Wisconsin Historical Museum in downtown Madison and 11 historic sites throughout the state. The museum has an archaeology program in collaboration with the Department of Transportation and the Department of Natural Resources that undertakes research, and collects and preserves historical artifacts. The other historic sites are tourist attractions that display historic buildings reflecting Wisconsin history and provide exhibitions and demonstrations of state history, such as ethnic settlement, mining, farming, fur trading, transportation, and pioneering life. The Division of Historic Preservation-Public History administers
120-648: The 1990s. As of 2004, the museum had approximately twelve thousand visitors annually. Wisconsin Historical Society The Wisconsin Historical Society is organized into four divisions: the Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections, the Division of Museums and Historic Sites, the Division of Historic Preservation-Public History, and the Division of Administrative Services. The Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections collects and maintains books and documents about
135-766: The Historical Society in Madison and four-year campuses of the University of Wisconsin System throughout the state and the Northern Great Lakes History Center in Ashland, to make most of the archival collections accessible to state residents. The society's museum collections are maintained in the Collections Division containing objects relating to Wisconsin history. The Division of Museums and Historic Sites operates
150-741: The State of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Historical Society Press The Wisconsin Historical Society Press , operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society , in Madison, Wisconsin , is Wisconsin 's oldest book publisher and has more than 100 titles in print. The Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) Press publishes books that connect people in Wisconsin and the Midwest to their past. WHS Press published its first book, Volume I of
165-550: The WHS since September 1917. The society maintains a fully digitized archive that contains more than 2,000 feature articles totaling more than 30,000 pages. The Division of Administrative Services provides support and planning for the WHS and its divisions. The society's website include a large, searchable collection of historical images and a vast digital archive containing thousands of scanned documents relating to Wisconsin history. Wisconsin Historical Society employees are employees of
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#1733106062449180-574: The help of many other residents of the island, they compiled a large collection of local artifacts for the museum. To house the artifacts, a wooden structure was constructed by combining pieces of several of the island's historic buildings, including a former La Pointe jail and the American Fur Company's post. The museum opened on June 15, 1958. Ten years later, it was transferred to the Wisconsin Historical Society, which has operated
195-452: The history of Wisconsin, the United States, and Canada. The society's library and archives, which together serve as the library of American history for the University of Wisconsin–Madison , contain nearly four million items, making the society's collection the largest in the world dedicated exclusively to North American history. The Wisconsin Historical Society's extensive newspaper collection
210-484: The museum ever since. Today Madeline Island Museum features exhibits on several aspects of Madeline Island history. The main displays focus on the area's Native American tribes, the fur trade , early missionaries who visited Madeline Island, and the region's maritime history. These exhibits are housed in two buildings, the original museum building built in the 1950s and the Casper Center, an exhibit hall constructed in
225-559: The state's historic preservation program, the state's burial sites preservation program, and the Wisconsin Historical Society Press , which publishes books on Wisconsin and American history and a quarterly magazine, the Wisconsin Magazine of History . The division also provides outreach to local historical societies. The Wisconsin Magazine of History ( ISSN 1943-7366 ) is a quarterly journal published by
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