Thank You!

The University of Wisconsin – Madison Society of American Archivists – Student Chapter would like to thank each of the participating institutions for their time and effort in contributing to our blog this year. We had contributions from a great variety of county and local historical societies, historical research centers, and public libraries from around the state. We have enjoyed working with them all and have learned a lot during the process.

Thanks also to all of our visitors. Our visitor traffic more than doubled this year compared to last year, which is great! We very much appreciate your stopping by, and we hope that you have learned more about some of Wisconsin’s local history institutions and the hidden historical treasures within them. If you’re inspired, we encourage you to check out the historical institutions in your own community to learn more.

Have any comments on this year’s blog? Please feel free to leave feedback about our efforts this year and/or what you might like to see in this blog in the future.

In addition to the blog, some members of the University of Wisconsin - Madison Society of American Archivists - Student Chapter arranged a display, using their own personal scrapbooks and scrapbook ephemera, in honor of Wisconsin's Archives Month. The exhibit was housed at the School of Library and Information Studies, Helen C. White Hall (Madison), and was displayed from October 17-31. Below are some images of the project and the students who assembled the display.



Again, thank you! We'll see you again next October for American Archives Month!

Madison Metropolitan School District Scrapbooks-Dane County Historical Society

Dane County Historical Society
Otto Schroeder Records Center
3101 Lake Farm Road
Madison, WI 53711
608-224-3605
dchs@danecountyhistory.org
http://www.danecountyhistory.org

Located in the Lussier Family Heritage Center, the Otto Schroeder Records Center is home to the Dane County Historical Society library and archives collection. It includes historical documentation of the people, places, businesses, and organizations with ties to Dane County, including: books, periodicals, maps, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, organizational records and other publications.

Madison Metropolitan School District Scrapbooks

Madison built three new schools in 1939! The history and immense growth of the Madison Metropolitan School District throughout much of the 20th century is documented in a large collection of scrapbooks that were maintained by the district. The new schools built in that single year were Washington School at 545 W. Dayton Street, Marquette School at 510 S. Thornton Avenue and Lapham School at 1045 E. Dayton Street. All three school buildings are still standing and are still in use by the school district.

The larger Madison Metropolitan School District Records collection held by the Otto Schroeder Records Center of the Dane County Historical Society consists of minutes, annual reports, curriculum studies and other assorted records and publications from 1928 through the 1960s.
Included as a part of this total collection are eighteen scrapbooks of news clippings covering events from 1871 to 1972 and five scrapbooks of photographs. Most of the scrapbooks contain clippings about the district from the “Wisconsin State Journal” and “Capital Times” newspapers. One scrapbook was created by a class at the Longfellow School for Crippled Children.

The scrapbooks containing the photographs are organized with each photo numbered and identified as to the school depicted. The Madison school buildings documented in the photo scrapbooks include Washington, Lapham, Marquette, Emerson, Franklin, Longfellow and West.
The photographs appear to be copies of items used in the annual report booklets and for other public uses such as newspaper articles and publications. Some of the photos carry “crop marks” indicating they were cropped for use in other materials. The photographs are not dated, and the children in the photographs are not identified, but as a whole they document every aspect of school life from every grade level during the 1940s: classroom activities, gym class, art class, home economics class, theater presentations, library activities, sporting events, etc. Some of the photos depict activities and services at the Longfellow School for Crippled Children.

Entry compiled by Tara Genske.

Images courtesy of Mary Hark.

A Few Words on Scrapbook Preservation

As we’ve seen in previous entries, preserving scrapbooks can often be a challenge. Scrapbooks can contain all sorts of materials – acidic paper, wood, metal, fabrics, newsprint, adhesives, ink, paints, photographs, and so on. Over time and without intervention, these materials will chemically react and degrade, leaving scrapbooks fragile or illegible. So what is an archivist to do?


To stabilize scrapbooks, archivists will usually place them in archival boxes (acid-free and either pre-made or custom-made). Sometimes they will interleave the pages with archival tissue to keep photographs and other chemically unstable materials separate from acidic paper. The most important step is to make sure that they are stored flat, off the ground, and in dark and environmentally controlled areas, with low humidity and relatively cool temperatures. These guidelines also apply for family archivists.
For more detailed guidance, check out the following resources:


- Preservation of Scrapbooks and Albums, from the Library of Congress
- Preservation Options for Scrapbook and Album Formats, from the American Institute for Conservation
- Preparing, Protecting, Preserving Family Treasures, from the Library of Congress
- Preserving Memories: Caring for your Heritage, from the Clarke Historical Library

If you are a scrapbooker, you certainly want to take steps to ensure that future generations of your family can admire and learn from your lovingly and skillfully crafted works. And who knows? Your scrapbooks might even end up in an archives one day. Here are some resources with guidelines on how to create your scrapbooks in ways that will improve their stability and life spans:
- Preserving and Conserving Your Collection, from the National Postal Museum

- Scrapbook Preservation Society

Any other words from the wise? Post them in the comments!

Entry compiled by Erin Dix

Appleton Papermakers Scrapbooks-The History Museum at the Castle

Appleton Papermakers Scrapbooks
The History Museum at the Castle
330 East College Avenue
Appleton, Wisconsin 54911
(920) 735-9370
http://www.myhistorymuseum.org/default.asp

The History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, Wisconsin is proud to hold two important scrapbooks in its archival collection. These wooden-bound scrapbooks commemorate the first two seasons of Minor League Baseball in Appleton. Compiled in 1940 and 1941 by George Oudenhoven, the Papermakers’ vice-president, they contain photos of players both in uniform and at leisure.

Some ephemeral items, such as ballgame tickets, team schedules, and press passes, were also preserved in the scrapbooks. The History Museum used the information and some images from the scrapbooks in its latest major exhibition, Sports & Spirit. Scrapbooks are a rich source of information on the day-to-day lives of local residents of the past, and we are pleased to make use of them whenever possible.






The archival collection at the museum contains approximately 800 cu. ft. of manuscript collections from individuals and families, as well as records collections from business, clubs, and government offices. Approximately 35,000 photographic images are contained in the photograph collection.



Images courtesy of The History Museum at the Castle

Entry compiled by Erin Dix

The Sterling W. Schallert WWII Propaganda Scrapbook-Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center

The Sterling W. Schallert World War II Propaganda Scrapbook
Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center
30 W. Mifflin St.
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 267-1799
veterans.museum@dva.state.wi.us



Sterling Schallert, a Watertown, Wisconsin native, served as a supply officer on LST 465 during World War II, seeing action at New Britain, the Admiralty Islands, and Leyte. LSTs (Landing Ships- Tank) transported large vehicles, as well as troops, from island to island, including some Australian soldiers. It was probably from them that he acquired the colorful and fascinating propaganda that he put in today’s featured scrapbook.




Many associate propaganda with vilifying and dehumanizing the enemy on the home front and demoralizing the enemy on the front lines by convincing them that they cannot win and will only survive through surrender.


The leaflets in Schallert’s scrapbook, however, show a different angle. The Japanese military recognized that Australian troops were out fighting while American troops were arriving in Australia to organize before joining in the fighting. This line of propaganda is aimed at the Australian soldiers and, rather than tell them that they should surrender or be killed, it takes a little more personal approach.


The leaflets warn the Aussies that while they are out fighting the Japanese, American troops are in their homes chasing their wives and sweethearts.

There are also undertones of the American government using Australian troops to soften the Japanese to minimize American casualties. Seeking to sow dissent among allies rather than demoralize the entire opposition, this propaganda is incredibly interesting. In addition to that, the vivid colors and artistry make these exceptional.





Citation: Sterling W. Schallert. Papers and photographs, 1898-2001. WVM Mss 104.







Images and Information Courtesy of Russ Horton, Reference Archivist at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Entry Compiled by Meredith Lowe.

Nancy Troug Scrapbook-Wisconsin Historical Society

Nancy Troug Scrapbook
Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 264-6460
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org




Another of the many scrapbooks in the Wisconsin Historical Society’s expansive holdings, Nancy Troug’s scrapbook, kept from 1927 to 1939, is an intimate portrait of family life in Madison in the early 1900s. Presumably started as a baby book, it is also a journal detailing birthdays, holidays, and family vacations which Nancy was a part of. It contains many greeting cards, postcards, clippings, souvenirs, report cards, and other memorabilia, along with notes of people and places visited by the family. The call number for this scrapbook is M2002-066.

The Wisconsin Historical Society was founded in 1846, and is one of the largest, most active, and most diversified state historical societies in the nation.The Wisconsin Historical Society's mission is to "help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories." In addition to Wisconsin history, special focus areas include labor history, mass communications, social action, trans-Allegheny frontier, film and theater, and McCormick-International Harvester. It contains the largest collection of published and unpublished material documenting the history of North America outside of the Library of Congress. Its holdings can be searched online at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/.








Entry Compiled by Duane Rodel

Badger History Group, Inc. Scrapbooks

Badger History Group, Inc. Scrapbooks
Badger Army Ammunition Plant
1 Badger Rd.
Baraboo, WI 53913
Website: www.badgerordnancehistory.org
Verlyn Mueller, President & Archivist
bhg-arch@tds.net

The Badger History Group was organized in 1998 as a committee of the Sauk County Historical Society. In November 2007 it was incorporated as an affiliate of the Wisconsin Historical Society and in March of 2009 it received IRS 501c3 status. To meets its mission “to collect, preserve and share the history of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant area,” the Badger History Group collects artifacts, archival materials and anything else that can be used to tell the story of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant Area.

The current archive includes materials brought to the Badger History Group by contractor employees cleaning out buildings in preparation for demolition. In addition the Badger AAP photo archive of an estimated 25,000 negatives is in the process of being scanned and cataloged. The archive also includes, scrapbooks from displaced farm families and other individuals; and materials collected and produced by Badger History Group staff. The Badger History Group currently occupies five rooms in the two-story Administration building at the Badger AAP.

This is a photo of some of the materials in the archive. The scrapbook in the foreground and the two open loose leaf binders are from an individual outside the Plant and contain photos, news clippings, and auction notices pertaining to Badger AAP from the Army’s selection of this site in 1942 to build this plant, to events leading up to plant closure. In back of these to the right is an expandable file of 8 x 10 photos from the Army archive. The stack of loose leaf notebooks and the materials to their left and in back are policies, operation reports, incident reports, training manuals from the Plant Guard and Fire Departments.

This is a close-up of the auction notice in the previous photo. In January 1942 the farmers received official notice to vacate with a deadline of March 1, 1942. During February there where actions like this one daily and sometimes two in one day.

This is a close-up of the 8 x 10 photos seen in the first image. The left image is an Instrument Man working on a Process control instrument with his supervisor looking on. The right photo is the installation of a mist eliminator at the Oleum (super strong Sulfuric Acid) Plant in the late 1960s.

This is a close-up of one of the photos in the scrapbook in the first image. The building is the two-story administration building built in the barnyard of the Anna M. Magli farmstead. The large tree was in the Magli front yard. Part of telling the story of the Badger AAP is to also tell the story of the people who lived on the farmstead that originally occupied a particular piece of land. When the Plant was built some of the farm buildings and houses were used for temporary warehouse and office space. That was the case with the Magli farm. The barn was used for warehouse space and the house for office and first aid station space. When they were no longer needed they were demolished. Anna Magli’s daughter lived on a farm south of the plant entrance and watched as the house she grew up in was burned.

This is a glimpse of the “story” that is the Badger Army Ammunition Plant Area; the story of the largest ammunition plant in the world. The story of an event that had the greatest cultural and economic impact on the Sauk Prairie since the pioneers started crossing the Wisconsin River to this new land in 1838.


Entry compiled by Carla Alvarez.
Photographs courtesy of Verlyn Mueller, President & Archivist of the Badger History Group.

Wilbur Dehmer Scrapbook-Albany Historical Society Museum

Wilbur Dehmer Scrapbook
Albany Historical Society Museum
117-119 North Water Street
Albany, WI 53502

Online Information

The Albany Historical Society Museum is home to the Wilbur Dehmer Collection and his personal scrapbook. A local druggist (or pharmaceutist, in modern parlance), collector, outdoorsman, and musician, he ran Albany’s locally owned Dehmer Rexall Drugs from 1940 to 1973, and along with Wilbur’s personal scrapbook, the museum is also home to the soda fountain and decorations that were once used in Wilbur’s drug store.

The scrapbook itself is actually much older, dating from the 1800s, having originally belonged to one James E. Liter. It served as a ledger and day book in its original capacity, and the Helena Shot Tower scrapbook featured on October 2, it was repurposed by a later owner for personal use.

Wilbur’s additions included a hand-written subject index and table of contents, and clippings of personal interest that he pasted onto the pages, usually corresponding to the index, which now cover about a third of the scrapbook. The clippings pictured here are, for example, from National Sportsman Magazine. The scrapbook was then donated to the Albany Historical Society Museum by Wilbur’s daughter and son-in-law in 1999.



Entry Compiled by Duane Rodel

Happy Wanderers 4H Club Scrapbooks-Dane County Historical Society

Dane County Historical Society
Otto Schroeder Records Center
3101 Lake Farm Road
Madison, WI 53711
608-224-3605
dchs@danecountyhistory.org
http://www.danecountyhistory.org

Located in the Lussier Family Heritage Center, the Otto Schroeder Records Center is home to the Dane County Historical Society library and archives collection. It includes historical documentation of the people, places, businesses, and organizations with ties to Dane County, including: books, periodicals, maps, photographs, diaries, scrapbooks, organizational records and other publications.

Happy Wanderers 4H Club Scrapbooks

4-H is a national youth organization which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative Extension System, and through state and county branches on a more local level. 4-H seeks to empower youngsters, by encouraging them to “learn by doing.” While 4-H has its roots in agriculture, and is traditionally associated with rural topics, it has grown to encompass many other interests and hobbies of young people, such as computers, art, cooking, history, and photography. The group’s motto is "to make the best better,” and the 4 H’s in the name represent head, heart, hands, and health

4H had its roots in Wisconsin. There were over 2,100 4-H clubs operating in Wisconsin as of 2006, with about 50,000 youth enrolled. Wisconsin 4-H began in turn of the 20th century crop growing contests for youth. University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture Professor Ransom Asa Moore came up with a plan to involve farm youth in growing small plots of improved grain varieties in order to show their parents the potential economic advantages of the improved crop strains. Traditional farmers were slow to accept technological changes on the farm, and it was felt that through a program of youth experimentation, changes would occur at a faster pace. Contests and programs similar to the Wisconsin one popped up, and in 1914, when Congress created the Cooperative Extension Office, there were provisions included to organize boys and girls clubs. This is where the 4-H got its start.

Our Happy Wanderers 4-H Club Records collection consists of official record books (1961-1988) and four scrapbooks (1961-1976) that fully document the activities of a very active youth organization over the course of several generations. The scrapbooks include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, the group’s recognition certificates, award ribbons, programs, and detailed activity reports. It appears the scrapbooks were created simultaneously with the records files in order to save all of the materials that would not fit into the organization’s official record books. Of particular interest are the many programs for county and statewide 4-H activities that the Happy Wanderers participated in, including various music festivals, drama festivals, fairs, talent shows, dog shows, a foods revue, and speaking contests. There are also numerous items documenting the group’s yearly celebration of "June Dairy Month,” a statewide event to educate the public on the values of dairy products. There are several club-produced cookbooks and other dairy promotional items that were distributed to the public included within the collection.

The group was known as the Glendale Glowers 4-H Club until November 1965. The Happy Wanderers 4-H Club was one of many Madison, Wisconsin area branches of 4-H. The records do not indicate when the group formally disbanded, but there is no longer a 4-H chapter in Madison operating under this name.



Entry compiled by Sloan Komissarov.

Images Courtesy of the Dane County Historical Society.

Scrapbook of Mrs. Margaret Ellis-Caledonia Historical Society

Scrapbook of Mrs. Margaret Ellis
Caledonia Historical Society
Caledonia Township, Columbia County, WI
Jennifer Blau, President of the Caledonia Historical Society
Contact her at: 608-697-0279
jenablau@hotmail.com

This beautiful scrapbook dates from December 25, 1886. It was created by Mrs. Margaret Ellis, the great-great grandmother of Ms. Blau, who is the current owner. Mrs. Margaret Ellis came to America in 1854 as part of the Potter Immigration Society. When Margaret's husband John (who was in the Civil War) died in the 1890s, she became postmistress of Moundville, WI and ran the Post Office out of her house which was across the street from the railroad station. The scrapbook contains wedding announcements, obituaries, local and national information, valentines, scraps of wallpaper, pictures from magazines, postcards, and photos.

	Left: Scrapbook inscription reads, "Mrs. Margaret Ellis/Moundville/Marquette County/Wis."

The Caledonia Historical Society meets every other month on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 in the Town Hall. Their biggest current project is creating a historical library where future generations can come and do their family and farm histories. They are always looking for information, especially family histories, from Caledonia from its beginning in the mid-1800s to the present.

Images courtesy of Jennifer Blau

Entry compiled by: Emily Christopherson

Albums from Aldo Leopold Archives & the William J. Meuer Photoart Collection-Unversity of Wisconsin Digital Collections

Albums from the Aldo Leopold Archives & the William J. Meuer Photoart Collection
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/index.shtml

Contact Person:
Peter C. Gorman, Head
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center
Contact him at: (608) 265-5291
pgorman@library.wisc.edu

In early 2000, the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections was founded with the intent to provide access to digital resources that support research and educational needs, document the university, and explore Wisconsin heritage and history. All resources are free and publically accessible online. The content of the collections are extensive, encompassing such subjects as art, ecology, literature, history, music, natural resources, science, social sciences, and more. Featured in this post are two albums: the first from the Aldo Leopold Archives, and the second from the William J. Meuer Photoart Collection.

From the Aldo Leopold Archives, we present a photograph album documenting the Leopold families life 1913-1930. Born in Iowa, Aldo Leopold (1886-1948), went on to earn his B.Ph. (Bachelor of Philosophy) and M.F. (Master of Forestry) degrees from Yale in 1909. Then began a career that eventually led him to become one of the most influential minds in 20th century conservation.



From the William J. Meuer Photoart Collection, we present the first volume of the University of Wisconsin photographic history, spanning the years 1889-1910. The album has the feel of a yearbook, with carefully posed portraits of sport and social clubs, honor societies, and members of the faculty. Each page reveals a brief glimpse into life on campus in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.



Images courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

Entry compiled by: Nichole Chisholm.

Helen Bulovsky World War I Nurse Scrapbook-Wisconsin Veterans Museum Reserach Center

Helen Bulovsky World War I Nurse Scrapbook
Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center
30 W. Mifflin St.
Madison, WI 53703

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum collects materials from the brave men and women from Wisconsin who served in the military. Some of the scrapbooks at the Research Center give a glimpse in to the lives of these men and women before they entered service. Helen Bulovsky was a Madison native who served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War I and provided medical care to injured soldiers in field and evacuation hospitals that were often very near the front lines. Her letters home and diary entries described the horrendous conditions she faced and the intense nature of life near the front lines.
Before she treated doughboys in France, Bulovsky helped the men, women and children of Dane County at Madison General Hospital (now known as Meriter Hospital). Helen trained at and was graduated from Madison General’s nursing program. Bulovsky used a method still popular with scrapbooking today: cutting words and phrases out of newspapers and magazines, using them to caption her photographs. This resulted in some very humorous pages, but also relied on inside jokes that leave current readers feeling a little out of the loop. Photographs show the nurses and doctors of Madison General in serious and silly poses, babies from the relatively new obstetrics wing, and some candid shots of the nurses having fun outside of the hospital.
Aside from providing some insight into Bulovsky’s pre-military life, this scrapbook is a great source for images from Madison General Hospital, which was less than two decades old at this time.

Entry compiled by Emily Johnson
Great thanks to Russell Horton, Reference Archivist, Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Citation: Helen C. Bulovsky Papers and Photographs, 1914-2001. WVM Mss 536.