Upcoming Library Presentations

Posted by :Yance On : May 1, 2013
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Category: Milwaukee Talk

The Central Library has a few upcoming programs of interest:

House History – An overview of resources the library has to research your house history. Space is limited so call now if you are interested – 414-286-3011
Saturday, May 4 – 9:30 to 11:30am, Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room

1890s Library Design Competition – John Chojnacki will talk about the design competition held by the City of Milwaukee in the early 1890s for the Central Library. He will show the different designs submitted by various architects.
Saturday May 11 – 10:30 to 11:30am, Meeting Room 1 This program has unfortunately been canceled. Sorry!

The Voice of Germania – Historian John Eastberg will offer a look in the world of Milwaukee publsiher Geroge Brumder, a 19th century immigrant to Wisconsin who, by 1910, became the nation’s leading publisher of German-language literature. Call 414-286-3071 to register
Saturday, May 18 – 2:00 to 4:00pm, Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room

Matthew Prigge Lecture

Posted by :Yance On : April 29, 2013
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Category: Milwaukee Talk

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee doctoral student Matthew J. Prigge will present a lecture about the incredible tale of Cora Anderson, a Milwaukee woman who passed for nearly a decade as a man named Ralph Kerwineo. As Kerwineo, Anderson lived openly with her partner, Mamie White, and was able to obtain “men’s work” and make a steady living for herself and White. In 1914, ‘Kerwineo’ left White and legally married a younger woman, driving White to expose her former partner to the police. The arrest of Anderson/Kerwineo set off a tumultuous week in which Anderson told her fantastic tale and the nation gaped in wonder at the “Girl-Man of Milwaukee.”

The lecture will take place 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 30 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Student Union, 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., Wisconsin Room, Second Floor.

This event is co-sponsored by the UWM Department of History and the Milwaukee Historical Society.

Milwaukee Civil Defense

Posted by :Yance On : April 14, 2013
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Category: Milwaukee Talk

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The late 1950s was a time of fear far beyond what we experienced post 9/11 and still today. The Cold War and nuclear armageddon hysteria was reaching its climax all across the country. The Civil Defense Administration spent untold billions building fallout shelters and mobilizing local governments for evacuation plans.

Milwaukee, as an industrial center was a potential target of Soviet long range bombers and later ICBMs. On July 20, 1956, the first of many large scale civil defense exercises was planned across the entire country. Two nuclear bombs, each with the equivalent of 100,000 tons of TNT were “dropped” on Milwaukee in the simulation. Evacuation plans had already been drawn up the previous year as shown in the map below. The day of the simulation at 2:10pm, Conelrad (Civil Defense Radio Network) halted all radio and television broadcasts to explain the exercise to citizens. The emergency government of Milwaukee including Mayor Ziedler had evacuated to St. John’s Academy in Delafield. The exercise was meant to acquaint civil and military leaders as well as the public with the realities of survival from a nuclear war. Approximately 180,000 people were anticipated to die in the Milwaukee area from the bombs.

The result of the simulation was a large push for building more public and personal fallout shelters and stockpiling them for survival in the aftermath. Evacuation plans were solidified and signs were placed along the routes to clearly mark where people were meant to escape. Even before this in the early 1950s, schools had naive educational programs to teach their students survival, including “Duck and Cover”.

The Neenah Historical Society will begin an exhibition on May 1st about personal fallout shelters and plans for surviving nuclear holocaust.

Charles Whitnall Lecture

Posted by :Yance On : April 14, 2013
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Historian Katherine Kaliszewski will be giving a lecture on the subject of her thesis, Charles B. Whitnall at the UWM Union this Thursday, April 18th at 2pm. Stop by and learn some insight about the father of Milwaukee’s park system.

Mayor Zeidler on WTMJ

Posted by :Yance On : April 12, 2013
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The UWM Digital Archives started a new blog earlier this year showcasing their collections and giving behind the scenes look at their work. An interesting blog post from last month shows the WTMJ Newsfilm collection and several films on Mayor Zeidler from the early 1960s.

A great segment that was broadcast in 1960 tells the story of all of the work the mayor does as part of his job and the employees that work under him.

UWM Archives also has a Youtube channel which shows these videos and several others.

H.C. Koch Civil War Diaries

Posted by :Yance On : April 5, 2013
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The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last week about the purchase of Civil War sketchbooks by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Bobby Tanzilo of OnMilwaukee.com found out about this book which was being sold by a dealer in Canada for over $10,000 and word must have got around to the Historical Society and they scraped together money to buy this one of a kind book for their collection.

Henry Koch spent his time during the war preparing many maps under the command of Lt. Col. G. L. Gillespie. His job was as an Assistant Cartographic Engineer and he prepared very detailed maps of various battlefields which were used for the reports of General Sheridan.

After the Civil War H.C. Koch returned to Milwaukee where he went on to become one of the city’s most famous architects. He designed the City Hall among many other well known buildings.

The Encyclopedia of Milwaukee Project

Posted by :Yance On : March 6, 2013
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Category: Milwaukee Talk

Join UWM professor Amanda Seligman Wednesday night at 7:30pm as she explains the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee project at the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

MKE Memoirs – Historical Society’s New Blog

Posted by :Yance On : February 12, 2013
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The Milwaukee County Historical Society has started to find new ways to engage the public in the last few years. With Scott Stroh as the new executive director since mid-2011, there have been many changes for the better including exhibitions and lectures which have been well attended. Because they are using more of the building space for these events, they are finding new ways to curate their collection and present history. One newer way they are doing this is with the introduction of a blog called MKE Memoirs with articles written by their archivists and curators. These blog articles allow the Society to reach a new generation with their collection of artifacts and archives. As an online blog it is easy to engage many people and to get feedback and discussion. The latest article from February 11th talks about the old Bijou Opera House and “How a Milwaukee Opera House Kick Started the Fight for Civil Rights.”

MKE Memoirs

Milwaukee County Interactive Mapping

Posted by :Yance On : February 9, 2013
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Milwaukee County has a powerful online mapping tool which integrates a fully featured Geographic Information System, GIS. There are many layers that give useful information including historic aerial photos of the city and county going back to 1936. The 1951 aerial photo layer was completed in January which shows a highly detailed view of the entire county. Hopefully later this year an additional aerial photo set from 1928 will be included.

Also for those interested, there is up to date housing foreclosure information updated at the end of the year. As with any government GIS map, finding information on property owners is a simple click away. There is a little learning curve for people unfamiliar with using GIS maps but you cannot break it so play with it to learn.

Grand Warner Theatre Trust

Posted by :Yance On : February 1, 2013
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I realize that not everyone uses Facebook but sometimes there are things you can only find there. This page is for a group called the Grand Warner Theatre Trust that is trying to resurrect the old theater on 2nd & Wisconsin. From the Facebook page:

Recently, a Trust headed by Myron Heaton was formed to explore purchasing and restoring the theatre. They met with architecture firm, contractors, representatives of the city, and potential funders of the project in December. Stay tuned for more info.

Hopefully they can get enough support to bring this ghost of the past back to life and I can encourage everyone interested in this theater to show their support. I will post more information as it appears.