Happy American Archives Month!

Happy American Archives Month! During October, we like to share how awesome archives and history research can be. At the University of Wisconsin-Stout Archives, we have a wealth of online resources available to you to start your research journey. Two ways to view a slice of past UW-Stout student life is by exploring The Tower yearbooks and The Stoutonia student newspaper. The Tower was an annual publication produced by Stout students from 1909-1989, and The Stoutonia is a current publication produced by Stout students from 1915-present. They provide information and photographs about student activities, classes, organizations, staff and faculty, and the surrounding community. The archives houses physical copies of The Tower and The Stoutonia, and they are digitized and available on the archives website via the Internet Archive and Preservica:

Tower: https://archive.org/details/toweryearbook?&sort=date

Stoutonia: https://archive.org/details/stoutonia?&sort=date

Preservica:  https://uwstout.access.preservica.com/archive/

The UW-Stout archivist Heather Stecklein has also recorded video tutorials of where to find the Tower and Stoutonia on our website and how to conduct searches: https://library.uwstout.edu/tutorials/digitalprimarysources

1955-'56 Tower Yearbook staff

Tower Yearbooks

Another great resource to view past student and local life, and to understand the time period you are researching, is by looking at community and national newspapers. There are many great resources available via the UW-Stout Archives and Library website. Discover them here:

You can search the archives newspaper index, and request items to be scanned for you: https://library.uwstout.edu/arcarchives/arearesearchcenter

John Russell Articles Index (for Dunn County News): http://archives.lib.uwstout.edu/ics-wpd/russell_collection/index.shtml

New York Times Library database, etc.: https://library.uwstout.edu/az.php?a=n

Dunn County News via the Menomonie Public Library: https://menomonielibrary.org/databases/genealogy/

Rice Lake Chronotype via the Rice Lake Public Library: http://ricelake.advantage-preservation.com/

Newspapers via the Eau Claire Public Library: https://www.ecpubliclibrary.info/print-archives/

Wisconsin Newspaper Association Archive of WI Newspapers, 2005 to 90 days ago: https://badgerlink.newsmemory.com/wna/badgerlink/

Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub: https://www.mnhs.org/newspapers/hub

Printing the Stoutonia, 1950-'51

Stoutonia staff members getting the newspaper ready to distribute, 1950-'51

Happy American Archives Month!

Happy American Archives Month! During October, we like to share how awesome archives and history research can be. The University of Wisconsin-Stout Archives is part of a larger archival network in Wisconsin called the Area Research Center (ARC) Network. The ARC Network is a collaboration between the Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, the University of Wisconsin System, and the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. Each ARC houses university, county, government, and regional interest related records for the surrounding counties such as yearbooks, newspapers, and genealogy records. UW-Stout houses records for Dunn, Barron, and Pepin Counties. If you wanted to look at records housed at a different ARC, such as UW-Green Bay, most archival items can be requested and shipped between the ARC’s in the network, so researchers do not have to travel all over the state for research purposes. Now that sounds like a cool system! Discover more about the Area Research Center Network here: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS4000

March 8, 1973, Stoutonia article, "University Archives Preserved at Library"

Dec. 3, 1971, Stoutonia article "History Records find new Home"

There are also a wealth of online resources available to you to start your research journey. From the  Archives home page, there are 3 different links you can click on to find online resources and search indexes for items held at UW-Stout, and the surrounding community. You can search through the Tower Yearbooks, Stoutonia student newspapers, alumni publications, links to library databases and genealogical indexes, and the 1925 History of Dunn County. You can also access Ancestry with a Stout ID.

Digital Collections Link: https://library.uwstout.edu/friendly.php?s=digitalprimarysources

Collection Indexes Link: https://library.uwstout.edu/arcarchives/universityarchives

Area Research Center Link: https://library.uwstout.edu/arcarchives/arearesearchcenter

Preservica:  https://uwstout.access.preservica.com/archive/

County and state online resources available for historical and newspaper research:

Menomonie Public Library: https://menomonielibrary.org/databases/genealogy/

Dunn County Historical Society:  http://www.dunnhistory.org/

Mabel Tainter: https://mabeltainter.org/

Eau Claire Public Library: https://www.ecpubliclibrary.info/explore/

Wisconsin Historical Society: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/

Roadtrip your way through History: Caddie Woodlawn Edition

Do you want a fun way to learn about history? Take a road trip! About a 15-minute drive south of Menomonie, WI, along Highway 25, is the Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park. The park includes the original home of Caroline Augusta Woodhouse, for whom the Caddie Woodlawn book series is based on. The park was dedicated in 1970. Caroline Woodhouse’s home was moved in 1970 from the original site about 300 yards to the east. The park is operated by the Dunn County Historical Society (located in Wakanda Park in Menomonie, WI), and includes a covered picnic area and restrooms, and admission is free. I first visited the park in August of 2010, which is about the same time I visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder (who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series) site in Pepin, WI, for the first time. I read these books when I was younger and like learning about pioneering and Wisconsin history, and I realized I could explore these places I had read about, and they were just a short drive from Menomonie. I visited the Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park again a few weeks ago, and it was a farther drive to the park than I remembered. The place still looked the same, except there is a new yellow “Woodlawn House” sign by the front door of the house. The surrounding area by the park is very peaceful, and it is a good way to explore history close to home while social distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic. After visiting the park, you could keep driving south towards Durand and enjoy Wisconsin’s beautiful scenic landscape.

Park sign next to HWY 25

Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park Marker, 1970

The original Woodhouse family home

Peaceful farmland scenery surrounding the park

Other side of the park, including the block of Dunnville Sandstone

Looking out towards HWY 25 from the historical marker

Caddie Woodlawn was published in 1935, and its sequel Magical Melons was published in 1939, during the same time frame the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder was published. The author Carol Ryrie Brink wrote about her grandmother’s adventures growing up as a tomboy in 1860s Dunnville, Wisconsin, about a 20-minute drive south of Menomonie on HWY 25. Brink’s grandmother’s name was Caroline Augusta Woodhouse, which was changed to Caddie Woodlawn for the books. The UW-Stout Library houses a 1973 edition of Caddie Woodlawn in the Education Materials Center on the 2^nd floor, Young Adult Fiction, call number: BRINK Caddie 1973.

1973 book cover

In the archives, we have area history books and documents related to Dunn County’s history as well as archival collections related to Caddie Woodlawn and the historical park site. Some collections are:  Manuscript 82, Dunn County Historical Society Records, 1950-1982; Stout Mss O, Downsville Cut Stone Company, 1928-1968 (a block of Dunnville Sandstone is located at the historical park); Stout Small Collection 52, a 1981 term paper by Martha Stratton about Caddie Woodlawn and creation of the Caddie Woodlawn Memorial Park by the Dunn County Historical Society; Stout Small Collection 40, a copy of a talk given by Carol Ryrie Brink, author of Caddie Woodlawn, ca. 1960; and Vertical File 18, Caddie Woodlawn: A Pioneer Girl on Wisconsin’s Frontier, compiled by the Dunn County Historical Society and edited by John M. Russell. There is also a Caddie Woodlawn Country Map prepared by John M. Russell available on the Wisconsin Historical Society website, and articles in the Dunn County News and Stoutonia student newspaper about the Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park dedication and site available online (links available below). When the archives reopens to the public, you could always set up an appointment with us to investigate all the treasures we have relating to Caddie Woodlawn.

Vertical File 18 book cover

Caddie Woodlawn Country map located in Vertical File 18 book

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Sources:

• ·         Caddie Woodlawn. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddie_Woodlawn  (accessed 4/21/2020)
• ·         Caddie Woodlawn Historical Marker. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=31194&Result=1
• ·         Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park. Dunn County Historical Society. http://www.dunnhistory.org/sitecw.html
• ·         UW-Stout University Archives and Area Research Center Historical Driving Tour. http://archives.lib.uwstout.edu/ics-wpd/DrivingTour/index.html,

http://archives.lib.uwstout.edu/ics-wpd/DrivingTour/caddie_main.html

• ·       Caddie Woodlawn. 1973. UW-Stout Library. https://uwi-primoalma-prod.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=UWI71301783620002121&context=L&vid=STOUT&lang=en_US&search_scope=Search_Stout&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&isFrbr=true&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,%20caddie%20woodlawn&sortby=rank&facet=frbrgroupid,include,553543901&offset=0

• ·         Dunn County News. July 8, 1970. “Mrs. Brink Receive Key to City During Ceremonies Saturday.” Menomonie Public Library Dunn County News Archive, 1862-2020.   https://menomoniepubliclibrary.newspapers.com/image/542311775/?terms=caddie%2Bwoodlawn  (accessed 4/21/2020)
• ·         History of Dunn County, Wisconsin. Minneapolis, Minnesota: H.C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., 1925. http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.IHDunnCounty
• ·         Stoutonia. Internet Archive. Caddie Woodlawn searches: https://archive.org/search.php?query=caddie+woodlawn&and[]=collection:%22stoutonia%22&sin=TXT
• ·         Wisconsin Historical Society. Caddie Woodlawn Country Map, 1974. Dunn County Historical Society, prepared by John M. Russell. http://cdm15932.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/maps/id/1686

Discover Your History in the Library Lobby

Now Showing in the Lobby of the UW-Stout Library:
An American Archives Month Exhibit!

October is American Archives Month, and we're celebrating with an exhibit of collection highlights from the UW-Stout Archives and the Area Research Center.

This year, Wisconsin's Area Research Centers celebrate their 50th Anniversary. The UW-Stout and thirteen other University of Wisconsin system locations house the official government records of Wisconsin counties. The UW-Stout holds the historical records of Barron, Dunn, and Pepin Counties.

We featured some of our area history papers in the American Archives Month exhibit:

 

 

 In this 1852 Pepin County Naturalization Record, Irishman Patrick McInerny renounced his allegiance to Queen Victoria so that he could become an American citizen.

Many historians and genealogists visit the Area Research Center to trace the lives of particular residents of Dunn, Barron, and Pepin Counties.

Sometimes, researchers uncover information that surprises them. On more than one occasion, documents like this reveal unexpected countries of origin or even previously unknown relatives! 

A recent genealogical researcher at the Stout Area Research Center discovered that her grandfather had two sisters and a brother that her family had never mentioned.

The Area Research Center also includes school and company records from the area. 

The Knapp, Stout, and Co. Records at the UW-Stout Archives document the evolution of the lumber company that served as the primary industry in this area for decades. In this letter from 1889, a supervisor complains about a "sneak thief" lumberjack to company owners Henry E. Knapp and Louis Smith Tainter.

Personal correspondence provides unique accounts of daily life that are rarely replicated in official publications and histories.

We will feature more exhibit highlights throughout the remainder of American Archives Month.

Next up: pictures, papers, and articles from Stout student organizations!