Images of the Progressive Era Political Participation

This year Archives Month in Wisconsin celebrates “100 Years of the Wisconsin Idea.”  The Wisconsin Idea, which advocates community involvement by universities to help create good public policy, has its roots in the Progressive Era of American politics at the beginning of the 20^th century.  In light of the political side of the Wisconsin Idea and the upcoming election, I wanted to share some images depicting the people of Wisconsin engaging in political activities during the Progressive Era.  The images, which can be found online in Wisconsin Historical Society's Historical Images Collection, show citizens engaged in activities as simple as voting or as courageous as standing up for women's suffrage.

A poster from 1914 in favor of using schools as polling places.

A political cartoon from Milwaukee showing Hercules chopping off the heads of a snake representing the Democratic and Republican parties with a sword representing the ballot.

A photograph showing the members of the Oshkosh Equal Suffrage League in their 4^th of July float in 1912.  In addition to the 100^th anniversary of the Wisconsin Idea, 2012 marks the 100^th anniversary of a failed attempt to gain voting rights for women through a statewide referendum. Despite this failure, Wisconsin went on to become the first state to ratify the 19^thAmendment granting women suffrage nationwide.

These images are close to 100 years old, but the people of Wisconsin have remain politically active, as shown by events like the 2011 protests in the Capitol Building and campaigns for and against the recall of Governor Scott Walker. As Wisconsin prepares to go to the polls in a couple weeks, and as someone who is not a native of Wisconsin, I found it interesting to learn more about the Wisconsin Idea as well as the state's long history of politically active citizens.

Thank you to the Wisconsin Historical Society for helping me find these images and allowing me to us them.

[Post Created by Gwen Sieja]