S.F. Bennett Scrapbook-Walworth County Historical Society

S. Fillmore Bennett Scrapbook
Walworth County Historical Society
9 East Rockwell (P.O Box 273)
Elkhorn, WI 53121
http://www.walcohistory.org/

Sanford Fillmore Bennett was born in Eden, Erie County, New York on June 21, 1836. His family moved to Illinois when he was five years old; after attending the Academy at Waukegan (Ill.) and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, he focused his efforts on teaching. In 1861, having moved to Elkhorn, Wis., he pursued his interests in journalism, becoming the associate editor and proprietor of The (Elkhorn) Independent, wherein he published poems and short stories, many of which are contained in this scrapbook.

In addition to his journalistic interests, he also studied medicine. In 1866, he had opened a drug store at 41 N. Wisconsin (Elkhorn). It was at this drug store that the lyrics and music for
“The Sweet By and By” were inspired and created. S. F. Bennett had produced sheet music and other musical works with Joseph P. Webster, a well-known composer who had also moved with his family to Elkhorn, Wis. In 1867, they had worked on “The Signet Ring; a new Sabbath School Book” of which “The Sweet By and By” was one of the songs. He attended and graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago, Ill in 1874 and died June 12, 1898.
The S.F. Bennett Scrapbook contains hundreds of clippings documenting Dr. Bennett’s writing and editorial career. Though the scrapbook is in a fragile state, it represents a prolific poet, lyricist, doctor, and citizen of Wisconsin and showcases a period of history via a journalistic medium. The scrapbook contains articles and illustrations from that time and reflects the values upheld by Bennett.

The Walworth County Historical Society has collections that include artifacts of Chief Big Foot and his Potawatomi tribe, Civil War guns, period portraits and musical instruments, and an assortment of American and international waterfowl specimens. Also on the property are the Doris M. Reinke Resource Center, which includes the Paul & Katharine Schmidt Library; the Boyd Carriage House, an 1850 hand-hewn oak beam barn named after General John W. Boyd, replete with his carriage; and the Webster House, a clapboard house containing Civil War and Victorian period items.






The Webster House, once owned by Joseph P. Webster, was opened as a museum for the first time in 1956. On August 8, 1970, the Webster House Museum was named a Wisconsin State Landmark and an official marker was installed.

Entry compiled by Tara Genske.

Images courtesy of the Walworth County Historical Society.

Norman Family Scrapbook and Miscellaneous Greeting Cards Scrapbook - Richland County

Norman Family Scrapbook and Miscellaneous Greeting Cards Scrapbook
Richland County History Room in the Brewer Public Library
325 North Central Avenue
Richland Center, WI 53581
Website: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~richlandcowi/
Email: richlandctyhistoryroom@yahoo.com
(608) 647-6033
Crystal Foley, Historian

Norman Family Scrapbook cover

Norman Family Scrapbook

The inside cover of this collection of Richland County news clippings reads: "A scrapbook given to Mrs. James Norman by her son, Elmer, 25 Dec 1903." It contains newspaper clippings of Henrietta, Woodstock, and West Lima, marriages and obituaries

Humorous headline: "Man, 102, Hurdles Chairs and Jigs Daily to Keep in Good Trim"

for many early Richland County pioneers, and abundant miscellaneous news regarding schools, jury selections, and delegates to conventions. The scrapbook was gifted to the history room by the Myra Poorman Estate. Myra Poorman was the head librarian when the new (Brewer Public) library was built in 1969. She was also librarian at the old Carnegie library in Richland Center. The Norman Family Scrapbook, indexed in 1987, is accessible under call number MSS 293.

Greeting Cards Scrapbook

Pre-1900 scrapbook of greeting cards and other miscellaneous cards

This pre-1900 scrapbook contains name cards, advertising cards, greeting cards, religious cards, programs, merit cards, and valentines that were pasted into a book. One of the cards is dated 1885. Gifted by Marcia Nobel, the scrapbook is accessible under call number MSS 1897. Richland County History Room has dozens of scrapbooks like these in its collection, including several scrapbooks of items pasted into school textbooks.

The Richland County History Room's mission is "To record and promote the heritage of Richland County, Wisconsin by collecting and preserving items related to persons, placed and events of Richland County, Wisconsin. We will oversee and maintain this collection for the use of the public now and for future generations." It maintains a collection of local history artifacts, cemetery records, census records, genealogies, histories, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, pictures, high school yearbooks, township records, and vital records.

The Brewer Public Library, site of the Richland County History Room

Images courtesy of Richland County History Room.

Entry compiled by Kara Blue

Vernon County Scrapbooks - Vernon County Museum

Vernon County Scrapbooks
Vernon County Museum
410 S. Center Avenue
Viroqua, Wisconsin 54665
Website: http://www.frontiernet.net/~vcmuseum/
Email: vcmuseum@frontiernet.net
(608)637-7396
Judy Mathison, Curator

The Vernon County Museum at 410 S. Center Avenue in Viroqua, Wisconsin is dedicated to the preservation of Vernon County, Wisconsin. It is operated by the Vernon County Historical Society. The large four-story brick building, formerly the Vernon County Teacher’s College, holds two floors of historical artifacts and the first floor has an extensive area for genealogy and Vernon County history research. Among these resources is a large collection of scrapbooks donated to the museum by many different donors. The scrapbooks date from 1856 to the present and hold thousands of obituaries, marriages, family histories and other area history collected from various area newspapers and magazines. One person alone donated over 50 scrapbooks to the Museum.

The scrapbooks where originally wrapped in archival white paper to keep articles from falling out and to protect the books from dust and misuse. They were then tied with a soft ribbon. This preserved the books, but Museum staff and volunteers found them cumbersome to untie and hard to file on the racks without catching the neighboring books on the ribbon when removing or replacing the scrapbooks on the shelf. Many times the paper was torn in the process.



The Museum staff sought an alternative and found it in clear archival storage bags purchased from Light Impressions. The scrapbooks fit perfectly in the various size bags that were ordered in bulk. The bags were then marked in felt-tipped marker with the name or accession number that was assigned to each scrapbook. The new system makes the scrapbooks easy to open and allows them to fit neatly on the shelf and be easy to removed or replaced. Light Impressions has since discontinued selling the bags, the Museum staff hope to find another supplier. Not all scrapbooks have been re-housed in the bags. However, they are gradually being re-housed as they are being indexed.

The scrapbooks were rarely used until the Museum staff and volunteers started to index the articles in each book. The Museum did not have a computer when the project was started, so the indexing was done by writing the main person’s name in each article, the event, scrapbook name and page number on index cards. The Vernon County Museum has continued to index the scrapbooks this way as many of our volunteers and researchers do not have computer knowledge and it is something volunteers of all ages are able to do. The volunteers really enjoy reading the articles that bring back memories of years past. Many are surprised when they find information about themselves or their relatives. Researchers are also delighted to find articles to help them in their quest for area history or ancestry information.

The Vernon County Museum is regularly open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 12 P.M. to 4 P.M. in the winter and open every day except Sunday in the summer (same hours). No fee is charged but donations are accepted. Phone the Museum at 608-637-7396 for possible changes in the schedule.

Entry compiled by Sloan Komissarov.

Madison Central High School World War II Scrapbook, 1941-1947 - Wisconsin Historical Society

Madison Central High School World War II scrapbook, 1941-1947
Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
(608) 264-6460
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org



Madison Central High School was located in Madison, WI from 1854-1969. This oversize scrapbook contains clippings and letters from former students serving in the armed forces between the years of 1941-1947. The clippings, letters, cards, and information represents students serving in all branches of the armed forces including the Army, Army Air Corps, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and others. The scrapbook was maintained by various student organizations. Not only does this scrapbook honor Madison WWII veterans, but it also serves as a memory of the student body of a Madison high school no longer in existence. The call number for this scrapbook is M81-428.



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/.

Images courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Entry compiled by: Emily Christopherson

Doctors of Iowa County - Iowa County Historical Society

Doctors of Iowa County
Iowa County Historical Society
1301 North Bequette Street
P.O. Box 44
Dodgeville, WI 53533-0044
Phone # 608-935-7694
Email: ichistory@mhtc.net
http://www.iowacountyhistoricalsociety.org

Consisting of a collection of pictures, articles, and clippings, the Doctors of Iowa County scrapbook provides a valuable historical resource for anyone interested in the area’s chiropractors, dentists, veterinarians, or medical doctors. From the dozens of other scrapbooks available within the Iowa County Historical Society’s holdings, this particular scrapbook has been selected as the featured item of interest for its exceptional usefulness in fulfilling requests for information that may not be easily fulfilled by other means.

Other scrapbooks available to visitors in the archives encompass subjects such as the Iowa County Home and Asylum, churches, judges, lawyers, organizations, parks, and trains. When the society was first organized in 1976, members collected articles and similar media in scrapbooks as a practical and inexpensive way to preserve them. Once the extra space of a new museum building was made available in 1985, this collection was expanded. A current work-in-progress is the computer archiving of obituaries, family histories, and local area histories as well as photos.

The Iowa County Historical Society is presently guided by a 9-person Board of Directors and a Museum Curator with the mission to preserve the history of people and places of Iowa County and create a memory thereof in the collection and computer archives.

Above: Cover of the Doctors of Iowa County Scrapbook.	Above: Newspaper clipping: "New Doctor Joins Hollandale Clinic." January 21, 1982.
	Left: Newspaper clipping: "Medical Center is Now Ready for Business." 1957.

Images courtesy of the Iowa County Historical Society.

Entry compiled by: Nichole Chisholm

Adams County Quilts and Quilters - Adams County Historical Society

Adams County Quilts and Quilters
Adams County Historical Society/Historic McGowan House and Archives
507 Main St.
P.O. Box 264
Friendship, WI 53934-8015
Phone: (608) 339-7732 or (608) 584-5727 after 10 am
Mary Lee Klaus, Director & Secretary


In the fall of 1991 and 2002 the Adams County Historical Society sponsored a quilt show featuring locally made or historic quilts. Local quilters and residents were invited to display quilts made by or for someone special in their lives and share their stories and memories about the quilts. For each quilt displayed at the event the Society documented firsthand from the quilter or donor how it was made (needle used, stitching technique), where it was made, the date it was made, for whom it was made, what fabrics having special meaning to the quilter were used to create the quilt, and the quilt's specifications (fabric, pattern, colors, set, border, backing, and binding). Along with these details about the quilt, the Adams County Historical Society recorded for its local history the quilter's maiden and married name, occupation, spouse's name and occupation, and parents' names, a photograph of the quilter if available, and photographs of the quilts. The society keeps these textual and visual artifacts to document and preserve within its historical records representations of culturally significant objects and the community relationships associated with those objects.



Displayed at the 1991 show, this "Peony" quilt was made in 1900 by a homemaker in Vermont - the great grandmother of an Adams County resident. The quilt design is "pieced" and "applique;" it was pieced, stitched, and bound by hand.



Displayed at the 1991 show, this "Rail Fence" quilt was made in circa 1920 by a homemaker in Adams, Wisconsin who was the great, great grandmother of a local resident. Its fabric is wool and velvet prints and plaids in a strip design. Its stitching is "tied" and its binding is "bottom folded over and turned in" by hand.



Displayed at the 1991 show, this "Drunkards Path" quilt was made in 1939 by the Buckhorn Prairie Homemakers Club in Lincoln Township, Wisconsin using new blue and yellow fabric. It was pieced and stitched by machine with embellishments added. The quilt is signed, dated, and embroidered with the names of members of the club.



This "Schoolhouse" quilt was created in 1998 by a farmer in Friendship, Wisconsin using old and new scraps of blue and white fabric. The quilt design and border is "pieced"; it was pieced by hand and by machine; its quilting stitches are "even"; and its binding is "top folded under".



This "Through the Woods" quilt was created in 1998 in Hancock, Wisconsin using new fabric colored brown and cream. The quilt design is both "pieced" and "blocks." Its piecing and stitches were done by machine. The quilter wanted to see "how perfect [she] could make a quilt" and at the time was "as close to perfect as [she] could get."

Images courtesy of Mary Lee Klaus and the Adams County Historical Society.

Entry compiled by Kara Blue

Helena Shot Tower Log Book-Sauk County

Helena Shot Tower Log Book/mid 19th century scrapbook

Sauk County Historical Society
531 4th Ave
Baraboo, WI 53913
Phone: 608-356-1001
Email: history@saukcounty.org
Website: www.saukcountyhistory.org
Mary Farrel-Stieve – Librarian

Carefully stored away amongst the collections of the Sauk County Historical Society in Baraboo, Wisconsin is an edge-worn ledger. Handwritten on the cover in black ink-almost hidden amongst the turquoise colored marbleized paper- are the words “Log Book.” At first glance it appears to be a scrapbook. Its pages are filled with sentimental stories and poems clipped from the Sauk County Standard or other regional newspapers. The clippings probably date to the 1860s or 70s judging by the quality of the newspaper.

Yet the scrapbook is in fact a rare glimpse into the business transactions of one of Wisconsin’s early industries—lead mining. If you flip to the inside cover you are greeted in bold, clear writing with the words "Wisconsin Shot Tower [Log] Book 1843—". A careful examination of the book reveals that it is a daily ledger noting the purchases and sales transactions of three men (Henry Hamilton, John B. Terry, and John Metcalf) who operated a store and shot tower at Helena from 1843 to 1845. The site is now the centerpiece of Shot Tower State Park near Spring Green.

But the scrapbook is also a study in how the meaning of objects can change and how artifacts survive through time. By the 1860s, the ledger had become a useless old book that no one was interested in. It became important again, probably in the 1870s, to a now nameless scrapbooker who carefully clipped and neatly pasted articles which eventually covered about 1/3rd of the book. Then, years later, the book was again tossed aside and forgotten. But over time, it again drew attention and sometime around 1952 was donated to the Sauk County Historical Society as a historical curiosity of a bygone era.

There it sat, and there it remains, but even now its importance has changed. In recent years staff at the Sauk County Historical Society rediscovered the ledger buried in a box of miscellaneous documents. Once again the book is viewed as a ledger for the Wisconsin Shot Tower. The old scrap clippings, however, have become somewhat of an annoyance because they hide the original scratchings of Misters Hamilton, Terry, and Metcalf. Its significance is not as a scrapbook, but rather as a document illustrating a formative era in our state.
The Sauk County Historical Society was founded in 1905 and is the 5th oldest historical society in Wisconsin. Its mission is to preserve collect and disseminate knowledge of Sauk County history. The society achieves this goal though maintaining a museum, library/archive and educational and public programs.

The Sauk County Historical Museum is open year round. Admission is free.

Compiled by Peter Shrake

Images by Sauk County Historical Society