Latest News – Recollection Wisconsin http://recollectionwisconsin.org Sharing our stories. Exploring our past. Fri, 20 Oct 2017 15:47:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.6 43126317 Listening to War: Directory and oral history tip sheets http://recollectionwisconsin.org/listening-to-war-directory-and-oral-history-tip-sheets http://recollectionwisconsin.org/listening-to-war-directory-and-oral-history-tip-sheets#respond Sat, 23 Sep 2017 14:08:35 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7618 An important product of our yearlong NEH-funded planning project was a directory of the audiovisual collections we identified around the state. The directory, Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories, is now available online. It includes descriptions of 35 A/V collections from 25 Wisconsin libraries, archives and museums. These oral history collections document Wisconsin residents’ experiences of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War.

Heading into the planning process over a year ago, we knew that many local organizations were actively creating new oral history interviews with veterans and other community members. Our Digital Archives Assistant Dana Gerber-Margie worked with grant Advisory Committee members and oral historians Ellen Brooks and Troy Reeves to draft a set of basic guidelines and recommendations to assist Wisconsin cultural heritage institutions in developing oral history initiatives.

Thanks to their work, we now have three two-page handouts available for anyone to download, use and share as they plan an oral history project:
Part 1: Questions to Consider
Part 2: Best practices for collecting veterans’ oral histories
Part 3: Curated Resource List

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Celebrating our first year in DPLA http://recollectionwisconsin.org/celebrating-our-first-year-in-dpla http://recollectionwisconsin.org/celebrating-our-first-year-in-dpla#respond Wed, 20 Sep 2017 21:35:55 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7612 In August, Recollection Wisconsin celebrated its first anniversary as a partner in the Digital Public Library of America. As the state’s DPLA Service Hub, Recollection Wisconsin shares almost half a million digital cultural heritage resources from dozens of Wisconsin libraries, archives, and museums on this national stage. Here’s a look at what your DPLA Service Hub has been up to in the past year!

Added more than 40,000 new records to DPLA
New collections added to the DPLA portal since August 2016 include:

Contributed content to DPLA exhibits and primary source sets
Items from Wisconsin collections were highlighted in DPLA’s curated resource sets, which are used by teachers and students around the country. Images of the American colonial period in the Philippines, from University of Wisconsin Digital Collections, appeared in the American Empire exhibit. Primary sources from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, contributed to DPLA by the Wisconsin Historical Society, were featured in the exhibit Battle on the Ballot: Political Outsiders in US Presidential Elections. More content from Wisconsin libraries, archives, and museums will be highlighted in the coming months as DPLA rolls out a new website.

Officially joined the DPLA Hub Network
DPLA recently launched a paid membership program designed to build sustainability and give Hubs a formal voice and increased ownership of the network. As a member of the Hub Network, Wisconsin will be represented in DPLA governance and have the opportunity to participate in DPLA-led workgroups and other initiatives.

Image courtesy of UW Digital Collections and UW-Waukesha. See the full record here.

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Wisconsin state government documents online http://recollectionwisconsin.org/wisconsin-state-government-documents-online http://recollectionwisconsin.org/wisconsin-state-government-documents-online#respond Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:00:54 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7564 More than 15,000 state government documents are now available through Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA, thanks to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB). These collections are in active development, with new content added each month.

The Wisconsin Digital Archives, maintained by DPI, includes materials from the executive and judicial branches and various boards, councils, task forces and commissions as part of the statutorily mandated Wisconsin Document Depository Program. Since 1901, Wisconsin statutes have included provisions for the distribution of government documents to libraries for preservation and public access in order to “assist state offices, members of the legislature, and other citizens who are studying the growth and development of the affairs and institutions of this state” (1901 Wis. Laws, Chapter 168). The Wisconsin Digital Archives was established in 2004 to enable state agencies to participate in the Wisconsin Document Depository Program by depositing documents in digital formats.

The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Digital Collections, launched in 2015, contain documents by and for the Wisconsin Legislature and its service agencies: the Legislative Reference Bureau, Legislative Council, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau and the Legislative Audit Bureau. The Legislative Reference Bureau was founded in 1901 as a nonpartisan legislative service agency providing legal, research, and information services to the Wisconsin Legislature.

The LRB collections and the Wisconsin Digital Archives bring together a wealth of information about state government programs and initiatives through reports, plans, studies, statistics, newsletters, manuals and guides. The annual State of the Tribes addresses, the Wisconsin Briefs series and Information Memorandums published by the Legislative Council are all available through the LRB collections. Notable materials in the WDA collections include the DNR’s master plans for state parks since the 1970s and an array of statistics about life in Wisconsin, encompassing health, natural resources, environment, transportation, crime and corrections, the economy and workforce, education and agriculture.


Explore the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Digital Collections.
Visit the Wisconsin Digital Archives.

Trends in Wisconsin community health nursing services, 1965-1975

Trends in Wisconsin community health nursing services, 1965-1975. Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services via Wisconsin Digital Archives.

Map of detected wolf packs in Wisconsin, 2015.

Detected wolf packs, 2015. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via Wisconsin Digital Archives.

The use of voting machines in Wisconsin municipalities (Mar. 1952)

The use of voting machines in Wisconsin municipalities, 1952. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library.

Wisconsin's "right-to-work" law (Mar. 19, 2015)

Information Memorandum: Wisconsin’s “right-to-work” law (Mar. 19, 2015). Wisconsin Legislative Council.

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Interview with Dana Gerber-Margie http://recollectionwisconsin.org/interview-with-dana-gerber-margie http://recollectionwisconsin.org/interview-with-dana-gerber-margie#respond Wed, 14 Jun 2017 19:14:34 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7555 For the past year, Digital Archives Assistant Dana Gerber-Margie worked with WiLS and Recollection Wisconsin on the NEH-funded project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories to identify, inventory, and plan for the digitization and preservation of hidden, at-risk audiovisual collections across Wisconsin. This year-long planning project sought out oral history collections that capture personal accounts of Wisconsin veterans and civilians during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War. Dana visited more than two dozen cultural organizations across Wisconsin to assess audiovisual materials and worked with the project partners to develop a plan to digitize, preserve, and share these oral histories online and pursue additional funding to put the plan into action.

As her grant-funded position came to a close, WiLS interviewed Dana about her experience.

Dana Gerber-MargieTell us a little about your background. How did you come to this work?
I’m originally from California, but moved to Wisconsin six years ago to attend the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) at UW-Madison. Most of my time in Wisconsin has been working in Madison in communications and audio archives, which I was able to translate into this amazing opportunity: getting to travel all over Wisconsin, visiting tremendous people at institutions big and small.

Tell us about a collection that really engaged you.
It’s hard to say, since by actually visiting the various institutions, getting to meet the managers, and touch and examine the collections, I felt a kind of kinship to each one. That said, it’s been really important to me to hear the stories that tell the full lived experience of war and all of its deep effects on society as a whole. I was really drawn to oral history collections that centered on women, the home front, underrepresented populations, and refugee experiences. Some notable collections that come to mind were of Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans veterans at the Arvid E. Miller Library-Museum, Holocaust survivors at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, submarine workers at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, women who served in World War II at UW-Green Bay, Hmong refugee settlement at the Chippewa Valley Museum, and a female veteran’s experience in the Persian Gulf War at UW-Eau Claire.

What surprised you? What unexpected things did you experience or uncover?
We went into this planning grant with expectations to inventory a lot of at-risk analog collections, such as recordings done on audio cassette, open reel, or VHS tapes, but instead found that probably the most at-risk material is born-digital recordings, which include formats like mp3, WAV, or Sony camcorder specific AVCHD. It was eye-opening about how much the future grant could assist with demystifying the most foundational of digital preservation strategies, for every type of cultural organization around Wisconsin.

From your work on this project, what do you see as bigger-picture issues facing the archival community and the archivist’s work?
Besides tackling digital preservation, there are two issues that rise to the top for me: the first concern being the need for more funding — for storage, supplies, and most importantly, fair labor. Preserving collections for the long term takes staff care, time, and energy! Every staff member deserves a living wage to do so.

Secondly, archivists everywhere have a responsibility to document the full diversity of experiences in their communities. This should absolutely be done with careful and respectful consideration of each community — and ideally in collaboration with the community! But it is absolutely essential for professionals to include the stories of all genders, all sexualities, all ethnicities, all religions, all income levels, because they all make up the community as a whole. Our work is so important for the future — include everyone!

What is your hope for the future of the work that you have done?
This grant was a Foundations grant from the NEH, which means that it was awarded to purposefully give us time to plan and assess the success of a bigger grant. It’s such a great and smart idea because so much work and thought have to go into a statewide project like this! My biggest hope for the future is that we’re awarded the second phase, the Implementation grant, which will let us carry out all of the work we’ve been planning. The NEH has been in the budget news a lot lately, but we’re truly hopeful!

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Dispatches from DPLAfest http://recollectionwisconsin.org/dispatches-from-dplafest http://recollectionwisconsin.org/dispatches-from-dplafest#respond Tue, 16 May 2017 15:46:34 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7530 Post contributed by Gail Murray, Resources for Libraries & Lifelong Learning. Reposted from WI Libraries for Everyone, Division for Libraries & Technology, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

In late April, 350 librarians, archivists, educators, developers, and scholars convened at the Harold Washington Library in downtown Chicago for the 4th DPLAfest, a 2-day gathering of individuals doing work related to the national platform of digital collections that is the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). This year’s DPLAfest was sponsored by Chicago Public Library, the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, Chicago Collections, and Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS). DPLA is a single interface where users can search a wide range of digital collections from institutions across the country, from large libraries like the New York Public Library to smaller local organizations like the Mineral Point Historical Society in Wisconsin.

Speakers and attendees included representatives from state, public, academic, and K-12 libraries across the country, vendor and non profit organization representatives, and international attendees representing their region’s versions of aggregated digital collections, such as Trove in Australia and Europeana in the European Union.

Outgoing DPLA executive director Dan Cohen addresses attendees in the Winter Garden.

Outgoing DPLA executive director Dan Cohen addresses
attendees in the Winter Garden. Photo via DPLA Flickr.

Programs covered a broad range of topics, including the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF), access issues, using digital collections in K-12 classrooms, measuring the social impact of library programs and services, and cultivating partnerships across institutions and sectors. The gathering offered attendees the opportunity to connect with representatives from other states who are at varying stages of involvement in DPLA, some longstanding and some just coming on board. The full schedule can be found here, with descriptions for each session, including presentation slides for many sessions.

Wildflowers near Moen Lake, Wisconsin, 1973.

Wildflowers near Moen Lake, Wisconsin, 1973.
From the National Archives at College Park.

While the conference covered broad issues and developments in digital collections and related resources, a central theme that emerged was that of relationship-building, between institutions and organizations, communities and resources, and professionals who attended. A representative from the Georgia Library Service’s HomePLACE described it best when speaking about her program as “both a relationship and a resource.” This can be said about Wisconsin’s DPLA service hub as well.

Postcard: Bookmobile, Madison WI .

Postcard: Bookmobile, Madison WI
From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Wisconsin Service Hub of the DPLA is a joint project of the Milwaukee Public Library, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, WiLS, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Marquette University, and it builds upon and draws from the Recollection Wisconsin statewide digital collections program. These organizations work together to ensure that Wisconsin’s rich history is accessible online to all, drawing from collections from 66 contributing institutions across Wisconsin.

For example, a search for Trempealeau, a place name unique to Wisconsin, returns over 820 results from 36 institutions across the country, including a majority from Wisconsin organizations. These results include a 1975 radio show recording about Trempealeau County via the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a 1961 supper club menu from Wason’s in Galesville held by the Culinary Institute of America, and scans of a WWII diary from a rural Wisconsin farm boy who became a soldier and bronze star recipient, from a collection owned by the La Crosse County Historical Society.

Wason's Supper Club Menu, 1961 From the Culinary Institute of America.

Wason’s Supper Club Menu, 1961
From the Culinary Institute of America.

Through stewardship of cultural heritage resources, and through collaboration and vision, DPLA and its many state and regional hubs enables the public to connect with resources that may otherwise be inaccessible. DPLA is both an invaluable resource on the basis of the vast collections it enables access to, and a network of crucial relationships among collaborating institutions all working to expand the reach of our nation’s cultural heritage collections.

For more first-hand accounts of DPLAfest, check out DPLA’s Storify, a collection of tweets from event attendees.

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Wisconsin historical newspapers online http://recollectionwisconsin.org/wisconsin-historical-newspapers-online http://recollectionwisconsin.org/wisconsin-historical-newspapers-online#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2017 16:32:17 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7515 Digital access to historical newspapers is always in high demand from genealogists and other researchers. Recollection Wisconsin harvests a handful of historical newspaper collections (see list below). However, due to lack of centralized full-text searching and other technical limitations, we don’t actively work to digitize or support access to newspaper content. Fortunately, several of our partners have taken on projects to meet this need!

Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers

The Wisconsin Public Library Consortium (WPLC), Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA), Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and WiLS are working together to provide digital access to Wisconsin’s historical newspapers through the Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers, freely available to Wisconsin residents through BadgerLink.

This project builds on a longstanding partnership between WHS and WNA to digitally archive the state’s currently-published community newspapers. More than 85,000 newspaper pages representing thirteen titles from the 19th and early 20th centuries are now fully searchable in the Archive, alongside hundreds of titles from 2005 to 90 days ago. This project was launched with support from Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds awarded to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), as well as funding from WPLC. Another 100,000 pages will be added to the Archive this spring, thanks to contributions from participating libraries.

National Digital Newspaper Program in Wisconsin

In 2015 the Wisconsin Historical Society joined the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC) to provide access to historically significant American newspapers published between 1836 and 1922. WHS is in the process of digitizing 100,000 pages of newspapers to be added to LC’s Chronicling America website. Titles contributed to Chronicling America so far include the Wood County Reporter (Wisconsin Rapids) and the Watertown Republican. More titles will be added in the coming months, representing a diverse geographic, social and political picture of the state.

Independent projects and other access points

Several libraries and local historical societies in Wisconsin have taken on projects to share their community’s newspapers online, independently or in partnership with a vendor. The Wisconsin Historical Society has put together a map of newspapers available online across the state (scroll to bottom of the page). The genealogy blog Ancestor Hunt also offers an extensive list of digitized newspapers in Wisconsin.

Newspaper collections harvested by Recollection Wisconsin

A few newspaper titles can be found through the Recollection Wisconsin portal, primarily student publications from colleges and universities:

  • Carroll Echo (and other titles), Carroll University
  • Delavan Republican, Aram Public Library
  • Marquette Tribune, Marquette University
  • UWM Post, UW-Milwaukee
  • Wisconsin Times, Wisconsin School for the Deaf
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    Federal funding and local history: Impacts of IMLS in Wisconsin http://recollectionwisconsin.org/imlsinwisconsin http://recollectionwisconsin.org/imlsinwisconsin#respond Mon, 03 Apr 2017 18:13:22 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7498 The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grants to States program is the largest source of federal funding for library services in the U.S. In Wisconsin, Library Service and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from IMLS are administered by the Department of Public Instruction’s Division for Libraries and Technology. Each year, DPI distributes nearly $1 million in sub-awards to support literacy, accessibility and technology projects in Wisconsin’s public libraries. In 2016, Recollection Wisconsin received a $50,000 grant from DPI (70% of our operating budget) to continue the development of Wisconsin’s DPLA Service Hub.

    The recently released federal budget proposal includes a recommendation to eliminate all funding for IMLS. The American Library Association, Society of American Archivists and the American Alliance of Museums are all taking action right now to advocate for IMLS and other federal agencies that support libraries, archives and museums.

    Source: The Washington Post

    Source: The Washington Post

    The IMLS Grants to States program not only supports Recollection Wisconsin, it’s also funded local history digitization projects in dozens of communities around the state. Just a few of these projects are highlighted below. You can find abstracts of all recently-awarded grants here.

    Winding Rivers Library System: ECHO Project
    WRLS provided training and equipment to 24 of its member public libraries to build a regional online collection of photographs and postcards representing western Wisconsin history and culture.

    Milwaukee Public Library: Dr. James Cameron Pamphlet Collection
    Pamphlets written by Milwaukee civil rights activist Dr. James Cameron (1914-2006).

    East Troy Public Library: East Troy Electric Railroad Collection
    East Troy Public Library partnered with the Milwaukee Transit Archives and Museum to digitize materials related to early electric railways in southeastern Wisconsin.

    Outagamie Waupaca Library System and Wisconsin Public Library Consortium: Historical Newspaper Pilot Project
    OWLS worked with WPLC, in partnership with the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and Wisconsin Historical Society, to launch a project to add historical community newspapers to the Archive of Wisconsin Newspapers database in BadgerLink.

    For many years, LSTA grants supported local history digitization projects by public libraries in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center. All of these projects are available through Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA via the UWDCC’s State of Wisconsin Collection.

    A few examples of these collaborations include:
    Bunny Berigan: Fox Lake’s Own
    The story of famed jazz trumpeter and Wisconsin native Bunny Berigan. (Fox Lake Public Library)

    The Home Front: Manitowoc County in World War II
    Homefront experiences of the Manitowoc area during WWII, including the shipbuilding industry and other manufacturing. (Manitowoc County Historical Society, Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc Public Library and Lester Public Library)

    Oshkosh, Omro, and Winnebago County
    Atlases and histories of northeast Wisconsin. (Oshkosh Public Library)

    Kenosha’s Lost Industries
    Photographs and documents from Kenosha manufacturers including N. R. Allen Sons, American Brass, Bain Wagon Company, Nash Motors, America Motors, MacWhyte, Pirsch, and Simmons. (Kenosha Public Library and Kenosha County Historical Society)

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    African American history materials available through Umbra http://recollectionwisconsin.org/african-american-history-materials-available-through-umbra http://recollectionwisconsin.org/african-american-history-materials-available-through-umbra#respond Sat, 18 Mar 2017 14:35:13 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7476 Recollection Wisconsin has partnered with Umbra Search African American History at the University of Minnesota — a program that makes African American culture and history more broadly available through a freely available search tool (umbrasearch.org), strategic digitization, public events and workshops.

    Digitized materials that document African American cultural history, held in the collections of Recollection Wisconsin partners around the state, are now discoverable in Umbra Search alongside more than 500,000 records from libraries and archives across the country. Highlights include the March on Milwaukee collection and the African American Alumni Oral History Project from UW-Milwaukee, materials from the Ethnic Alumni Association at Marquette University, and the Wisconsin Historical Society’s 1964 Freedom Summer Project.

    Umbra Search is made possible through support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). Follow @UmbraSearch on Twitter and visit umbrasearchblog.org to learn more about upcoming events and news.

    Father James Groppi and members of the NAACP Youth Council march in support of Vel Phillips' Open Housing bill, 1967. Milwaukee Public Library.

    Father James Groppi and members of the NAACP Youth Council march in support of Vel Phillips’ Open Housing bill, 1967. Milwaukee Public Library.

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    2016: Our year in review http://recollectionwisconsin.org/2016-our-year-in-review http://recollectionwisconsin.org/2016-our-year-in-review#respond Mon, 13 Feb 2017 16:19:13 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7467 2016 was a busy year for Recollection Wisconsin, with lots of new partnerships, projects and presentations. Read all about it in our 2016 Year in Review.

    RecollectionWiYearInReview2016
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    The Arctic Fox Valley http://recollectionwisconsin.org/the-arctic-fox-valley http://recollectionwisconsin.org/the-arctic-fox-valley#respond Mon, 30 Jan 2017 23:50:16 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7447 Dana will be writing a series of dispatches from travels all over Wisconsin at cultural institutions, from libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and the memory organizations in-between. We have this rare opportunity thanks to our NEH grant-funded yearlong project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories. You can read more about it by visiting recollectionwisconsin.org/wioralhistory.

    Like my trip to La Crosse, I didn’t let a snowstorm keep me from a two-day trip to the Fox Valley region. The first day was clear and cold with a drive to the Arvid E Miller Memorial Library Museum, a repository for the Mohican Nation Stockbridge-Munsee Community. The next day, I conducted an inventory at the Oshkosh Public Museum. By the time I was done in the area, snow was still falling but the roads were clear!

    Koolamalsi, or "welcome!", to the Arvid E Miller Memorial Library Museum

    Koolamalsi, or “welcome!”, to the Arvid E Miller Memorial Library Museum

    When I arrived at the Arvid E Miller Memorial Library Museum, I had the opportunity to speak with Jo Ann Schedler, a member of the Mohican Veterans and a retired nurse who stays active by volunteering and doing research. She wrote a chapter on Wisconsin American Indians in the Civil War, featured in an official book by the National Park Service. She often helps at the Museum Library under the leadership of the Library’s Manager Nathalee Kristiansen and Specialist Yvette Malone. While the scope of our project does not include the Civil War (mainly because we didn’t expect many A/V materials to come out of the 1860s!), the chance to learn more about the Stockbridge-Munsee Community and the information collected on veterans by the library was invaluable to the project.

    After Schedler headed to another meeting, Kristiansen showed me the Library’s extensive collections in the vault, including Tribal Council minutes and tapes, research files on subjects and Community members, a reference area for Tribal members to use, and artifacts like beautifully ornate bead work, feathers, baskets, and more. The Library also holds the Tribes’ Bible from the 1700s, which is safely stored in a climate controlled case and shielded from light. I was there for an oral history interview series “Hear Our Stories” with Mohican Elders, a large videotaped collection done by the Stockbridge-Munsee Historical Committee and Tribal Council in 2008 and 2009. Working in the research room, I spent the afternoon watching and inventorying the veteran stories captured. Photos of the collection are restricted, so you’ll have to go visit yourself! There is a lot of history to be shared.

    The next day, I worked with archivist Scott Cross at the Oshkosh Public Museum, currently working on a new exhibit People of the Waters. Cross also showed me around the museum archive’s stacks, but for most of the morning I spent time with a shelf of oral histories. The Museum has a large collection featuring notable local people, but a smaller specific collection about World War II veterans from the Oshkosh area.

    In the future, Cross and I will be working together to see if there are more veteran or civilian homefront stories in the general collection. Cross generously understood the need for me to head home earlier than expected due to the snowstorm. Another reason to love the Wisconsin library/archives/museum community!

    As always, we are grateful for these two institutions to let us in for good conversation and rich learning experiences. We are optimistic for all of the collections in our inventory. Be back with more soon!

    We are currently reaching out to libraries, archives, museums and historical societies with relevant materials, but we may have missed you. Does your organization have oral histories? We’d love to hear from you! Please use this form to contact us about your collections.

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    Updated metadata guidelines http://recollectionwisconsin.org/updated-metadata-guidelines http://recollectionwisconsin.org/updated-metadata-guidelines#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2017 19:57:44 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7443 Recollection Wisconsin has finalized an updated, simplified set of metadata guidelines for our Content Partners. The new Recollection Wisconsin Metadata Essentials replaces the Wisconsin Heritage Online Metadata Guidelines (last updated 2009) and Wisconsin Heritage Online Quick Guide to Metadata (2010).

    The biggest change in the new guidelines is that now only four metadata fields are required for harvesting — Title, Rights, Subject and Type — down from eight required fields.

    These changes do not mean we’re expecting our contributors to immediately overhaul their existing metadata! Metadata created using our earlier guidelines is still eligible to be harvested by Recollection Wisconsin and DPLA. However, working towards adopting the new recommendations will ultimately lead to higher quality metadata in the context of DPLA.

    Many thanks to the members of the Metadata Work Group and other experts for their work in creating and editing this guide!

    METADATA WORK GROUP

    Kendra Bouda, Internet Scout
    Andrea Coffin, WiLS
    Jonathan Cooper, Wisconsin Historical Society
    Nathan Humpal, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
    Emily Pfotenhauer, WiLS
    Cat Phan, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Lynn Whittenberger, North Carolina State University/Marquette University

    REVIEWERS
    Peter Gorman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Josh Hickman, Beloit College
    Cathy Markwiese, Milwaukee Public Library
    Jessica Williams, Mount Horeb Public Library

    RecollectionWisconsinMetadataEssentials
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    Service Hub Charter http://recollectionwisconsin.org/service-hub-charter Tue, 24 Jan 2017 17:37:21 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7435 In November 2016, our Governing Partners officially adopted a charter. This document affirms each partner’s commitment to access, collaboration, and sustainability of the Recollection Wisconsin Service Hub for the Digital Public Library of America.

    RWServiceHubCharter_Nov2016
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    On the River: Oral Histories from La Crosse http://recollectionwisconsin.org/on-the-river-oral-histories-from-la-crosse http://recollectionwisconsin.org/on-the-river-oral-histories-from-la-crosse#respond Fri, 23 Dec 2016 19:36:22 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7412 Dana will be writing a series of dispatches from travels all over Wisconsin at cultural institutions, from libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and the memory organizations in-between. We have this rare opportunity thanks to our NEH grant-funded yearlong project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories. You can read more about it by visiting recollectionwisconsin.org/wioralhistory.

    Right after a snowstorm hit us on Saturday, I drove through subzero temperatures to spend a few days in … La Crosse! La Crosse is a college town with a vibrant downtown right on the Mississippi River. I spent a full day at the La Crosse Public Library and the next day in the UW La Crosse Special Collections & Area Research Center.

    The Archives & Local History Room in the La Crosse Public Library is housed on the second floor, with shelves upon shelves of reference material as well as a dedicated stacks area. The Archives is especially used by genealogists researching family history. I was there for three collections in particular: Veterans History Project, an oral history program done in the early 2000s by students at LaCrossroads School; The Road She Traveled, interviews done by Longfellow Middle School students in conjunction with the La Crosse League of Women Voters; and StoryCorps, interviews from summer 2010 when the StoryCorps mobile booth partnered with Wisconsin Public Radio at the library.



    The next day I went to UW La Crosse to do an inventory of wartime oral histories done as part of the longstanding Oral History Program, which has been actively collecting stories since the 1960s. While the collection has close to 900 interviews, I worked with staff to choose roughly 200 for our purposes. That’s a lot of interviews! Recorded from the 60s onwards, the interviews include subjects such as women’s experiences on the homefront (including playing baseball!), Hmong immigration to the area after the Vietnam War, and veteran stories – even one veteran’s story from the Spanish American War of 1898, which we certainly didn’t expect to find!



    We really appreciate the fantastic staff members of the Public Library and the Archives for letting me in for a whole day to work on their collections, especially so close to the holidays. Our inventory wouldn’t be the same without you!

    We are currently reaching out to libraries, archives, museums and historical societies with relevant materials, but we may have missed you. Does your organization have oral histories? I’d love to hear from you! Please use this form to contact me about your collections.

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    Stories about Submarines http://recollectionwisconsin.org/stories-about-submarines http://recollectionwisconsin.org/stories-about-submarines#respond Wed, 07 Dec 2016 20:20:35 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7401 Dana will be writing a series of dispatches from travels all over Wisconsin at cultural institutions, from libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and the memory organizations in-between. We have this rare opportunity thanks to our NEH grant-funded yearlong project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories. You can read more about it by visiting recollectionwisconsin.org/wioralhistory.

    The Wisconsin Maritime Museum is yet another example of small staff museums doing big things to save its history. The museum is in a large space right off the Manitowoc River, off Lake Michigan. I had a lot to inventory, so unfortunately I had to bypass the exhibits and go straight to the archives. I had the chance to work with Caitlin Clyne, the Registrar, and Lisa Pike, Research Assistant.

    The museum’s oral history collection held a wide variety of formats, from born digital files, to donated DVDs, to cassettes recorded in the 1980s and 1990s. Being on the water, most of the subjects were about veteran experiences on submarines during World War II – the USS Cobia is also still sitting in front of the museum! Uniquely, there’s also experiences recollected from the home front of workers in the shipyard.


    As always, thanks to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum for letting me spend the day with you!

    We are currently reaching out to libraries, archives, museums and historical societies with relevant materials, but we may have missed you. Does your organization have oral histories? I’d love to hear from you! Please use this form to contact me about your collections.

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    Central Wisconsin: Four Organizations in Three Days http://recollectionwisconsin.org/central-wisconsin-four-organizations-in-three-days http://recollectionwisconsin.org/central-wisconsin-four-organizations-in-three-days#respond Tue, 06 Dec 2016 18:17:03 +0000 http://recollectionwisconsin.org/?p=7377 Dana will be writing a series of dispatches from travels all over Wisconsin at cultural institutions, from libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, and the memory organizations in-between. We have this rare opportunity thanks to our NEH grant-funded yearlong project, Listening to War: Uncovering Wisconsin’s Wartime Oral Histories. You can read more about it by visiting
    recollectionwisconsin.org/wioralhistory.

    For my last post I talked about my trip to Stevens Point in central Wisconsin. Well, I must’ve liked it so much that I went back again to the center of the state. This time, I visited four institutions in four towns: Niellsville, Marshfield, Wausau, and Medford.

    The first leg of my trip was to the Highground Veterans Memorial Park, a truly special place with monuments, a Learning Center, and walking trails for all to experience. In the Learning Center, I met with curator June Abrahamson, who leads Reunion/Education nights for everyone to attend. At these events, she’s taken it on herself to record interviews with veterans about their experiences. Some of the events recorded included Vietnam, World War II, Persian Gulf War, and the Korean War.


    After I completed my work at Highground, I had time to drive to the Marshfield Public Library, where I met Adult Services Librarian Mary Adler. The Public Library had a DVD of interviews recorded in 1995 with World War II veterans. It was a quick stop, but it was worth it to see the completely new library building! I saw many patrons using the new space and new computers, even on a Tuesday afternoon.

    View from the Marshfield Public Library at sunset

    View from the Marshfield Public Library at sunset


    The next day, I met Ben Clark, archivist at the Marathon County Historical Society in Wausau. The MCHS held a huge surprise for us: cassette tapes made by the DC Everest High School Oral History Program, which we thought had been lost to time after they had been published in a book. One collection was interviews with World War II veterans and the other was with Hmong community members, both about the experience of immigrating to and settling in Wisconsin. We were thrilled to find these tapes!

    Lastly, the next day I drove to Medford to visit the Taylor County Historical Society. I inventoried a collection of interviews done by a Boy Scout of local veterans, as well as VHS interviews done over 10 years ago. Society President Sara Nuernberger kindly took me and a volunteer out to a local catering shop run in Medford’s historic fire department, where we talked at length about A/V materials, oral histories, digital preservation, and funding for historical societies.


    I appreciate these four institutions taking me in for the week. I learned a lot about the area, and made some delightful discoveries for our project.

    We are currently reaching out to libraries, archives, museums and historical societies with relevant materials, but we may have missed you. Does your organization have oral histories? I’d love to hear from you! Please use this form to contact me about your collections.

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