Wisconsin's Foundations


Book Description

Most Wisconsin citizens share a deep appreciation of the shape and texture of their familiar landscapes-the abundance of fresh water, the fertile soils, the northern forests, the varied landforms. All these features are directly related to a special set of geologic processes and materials that collectively define the land on which we all live, work, and play. But how did it come to be this way? How did it look in the past? What kinds of creatures lived here before us? In Wisconsin's case, the geologic story is long, complex, and incomplete, beginning over three billion years ago and still in progress. Wisconsin's Foundations is just the book for a broad audience of interested citizens who simply want to know more about the origins, evolution, and geological underpinnings of the Wisconsin landscape.




Guide to the Manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society (Classic Reprint)


Book Description

Excerpt from Guide to the Manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society Dr. Draper's respect and love for manuscripts have been shared by the staff of the Society since his day, and the state of Wisconsin, having become conscious of the value of bringing together the raw materials of her history, has furnished a fireproof building, ample equipment for preserving the manuscripts, and an adequate staff to make them available. The people of the state have cooperated by giving many important collections to the Society. This Guide shows what papers have been accumulated in more than ninety years. The Draper Manuscripts have not been included in the Guide since they are fully covered by the Descriptive List of Manuscripts published by the Society in 1906. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.




Old World Wisconsin


Book Description

A delightful survey of the ethnic traditions of Old World homes and the peoples who settled Wisconsin. First published in 1944, it is a "must read" for amateur historians, cultural history buffs, and anyone interested in one of the Heartland's true melting pots.




Vintage Wisconsin Gardens


Book Description

As Wisconsin’s population moved from farmsteads into villages, towns, and cities, the state saw a growing interest in gardening as a leisure activity and source of civic pride. In Vintage Wisconsin Gardens, Lee Somerville introduces readers to the region’s ornamental gardens of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, showcasing the “vernacular” gardens created by landscaping enthusiasts for their own use and pleasure. The Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, established during the mid-nineteenth century, was the primary source of advice for home gardeners. Through carefully selected excerpts from WSHS articles, Somerville shares the excitement of these gardeners as they traded cultivation and design knowledge and explored the possibilities of their avocation. Women were frequent presenters at the WSHS annual meetings, and their voices resonate. Their writings, and those of their male colleagues, are a remarkable legacy we can draw on today—learning how Wisconsinites past created and enjoyed their gardens helps us appreciate our own. Filled with period and contemporary images, recommended plant lists, and garden layouts, Vintage Wisconsin Gardens will interest those curious about the history of the state’s cultural landscape and inspire readers to restore or reconstruct period gardens.




Descriptive List of Manuscript Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin


Book Description

Excerpt from Descriptive List of Manuscript Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: Together With Reports on Other Collections of Manuscript Material for American History in Adjacent States Portrait of Lyman Copeland Draper Commission of Captain George Rogers Clark Map of headwaters of Clinch and Holston rivers Commission of Sieur Charles Langlade. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.







Wisconsin


Book Description

Robert Nesbit's classic single-volume history of Wisconsin was expanded by Wisconsin State Historian William F. Thompson to include the period from 1940 to the late 1980s, along with updated bibliographies and appendices. First paperback edition.




Fill 'er Up


Book Description

Step back to the day when a visit to the gas station meant service with a smile, a wash of the windshield, and the cheerful question, "Fill 'er up?" Since their unremarkable beginnings as cheap shacks and curbside pumps at the dawn of the automobile age, gas stations have taken many forms and worn many guises: castles, cottages and teepees, Art Deco and Streamline Moderne, clad with wood, stucco, or gleaming porcelain in seemingly infinite variety. The companion volume to the Wisconsin Public Television documentary of the same name, Fill 'er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Stations visits 60 Wisconsin gas stations that are still standing today and chronicles the history of these humble yet ubiquitous buildings. The book tells the larger story of the gas station's place in automobile culture and its evolution in tandem with American history, as well as the stories of the individuals influenced by the gas stations in their lives. Fill 'er Up provides a glimpse into the glory days of gas stations, when full service and free oil changes were the rule and the local station was a gathering place for neighbors. More importantly, Fill 'er Up links the past and the present, showing why gas stations should be preserved and envisioning what place these historic structures can have in the 21st century and beyond.




Taylor County


Book Description

When Wisconsin became a state in 1848, its densely forested north awaited railroad construction before settlement. Taylor County, the "Garden spot of Northern Wisconsin", was founded on March 4, 1875. The area was primarily forested with eastern hemlock. The county's early years were dominated by lumbering and leather tanning, the latter made possible by tannic acid leached from hemlock bark. Today, Taylor County's municipalities are home to diverse industries.




Steam & Cinders


Book Description

Based on the author’s extensive research into the early history of Wisconsin’s rails, Steam and Cinders chronicles the boom and bust of the first railroads in the state, from the charters of the 1830s to the farm mortgages of the 1850s and consolidation of the railroads on the eve of the Civil War. Featuring more than 75 period photographs, historic maps, and drawings, Steam and Cinders preserves the legacy of early Wisconsin railroading for railroad buffs and armchair historians alike.