Happy National Chocolate Lover's Month with a special UW-Stout inspired recipe

The past few years I have been recreating recipes for the modern day kitchen found in our 1950s Stout’s Favorites cookbooks, and writing about my trials and triumphs via the UW-Stout Archives Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UWStoutArchives/ . The archives started this blog back in 2012, but with all social media endeavors it takes a lot of time and commitment, and the blog is one endeavor that fell by the wayside. We are trying to revive the blog with new enthusiasm this school year. This is my first attempt at blogging, but I have looked at many recipe blogs and Pioneer Woman cookbooks, and always thought it would be fun to display my cooking and baking efforts that way. I am celebrating Valentine’s Day and National Chocolate Lover’s Month by writing my first ever recipe blog post and recreating one of my favorite dessert recipes that I originally baked back in March of 2016. I combined my love of chocolate and peanut butter to bake Chocodile bars from Stout’s Favorites cookbook, p. 74, available via the Internet Archive at  https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesFirstEdition

Original Recipe, Stout's Favorites, p. 74

The cookbook was published by the Home Economics Club of Stout State College, 1955, featuring favorite recipes of faculty and students, and "dedicated to all those people who enjoy preparing and eating good food.” The recipe was submitted by Louise Grant, a 1959 Senior Dietetics major from Almond, WI. While a student at Stout State College, Grant was involved in many activities including: Young Women’s Christian Association, Stoutonia newspaper, Pallas Athene Sorority, Alpha Phi, Phi Upsilon Omicron, and Dietetic Club.

Louise Grant, 1959 Tower Yearbook, p. 165

I am offering the same cooking tips as last time I baked these bars: You can use a regular baking sheet pan with deep sides vs. a jelly roll pan and I used a whole bag of milk chocolate chips vs. chocolate pieces for the Chocolate Crunch topping. I melted the chocolate and peanut butter together in the microwave vs. on the stove, and then mixed in the cereal. You will need to substitute a different cereal for corn soya cereal. The Kellogg’s company does not make corn soya cereal anymore. This time I used Special K Chocolatey Delight cereal (instead of Special K Oats and Honey cereal like last time), which has wheat and rice flakes with dark chocolate chunks, but you could use almost any cereal that would resemble the scales of a crocodile back, like corn flakes or All Bran cereal. Last time I said if using a corn flake based cereal to break down the flakes some to make the topping easier to spread, and I did not, but I should have. The large flakes and chunky peanut butter make the chocolate topping hard to spread, but it still tastes good. I wish we had smell-a-vision they smell of chocolatey goodness! Happy Chocolate Lovers Month! Bon Appetit!

Mixing the crust ingredients together with a pastry blender

The bars hot out of the oven

Chocolate Crunch topping ingredients: 1 bag of chocolate chips, Special K Chocolatey Delight Cereal, crunch peanut butter (not shown)

The finished product of chocolate and peanut butter goodness! Bon Appetit!

Roadtrip your way through history: Laura Ingalls Wilder edition

Do you want a fun way to learn about history? Take a road trip! About a 50 minute drive from Menomonie, WI, along Highway 25, is the small town of Pepin – the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura would be 153 years old today, born on February 7, 1867. Along Lake Pepin you can tour the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and a replica of the cabin the family lived in (7 miles north of Pepin on County Road CC). I have been to the museum twice and it is a great way to learn about Laura’s early days as a small girl and what Pepin was like during the late 1800s. Discover more information here: https://www.lauraingallspepin.com/ Pepin sits along HWY 35, or the Great River Road, and is a beautiful drive for a fun day trip.

Historical Marker at replica cabin in Pepin

Replica Cabin in Pepin

In the archives, we have area history books and documents related to Pepin County’s history as well as an exciting collection of letters written to Charles and Martha Carpenter of Stockholm, WI (north of Pepin), 1861-1919 and 1975-1977, Stout SC 142. They are letters from relatives, many serving in the Civil War. Martha Carpenter's maiden name was Quiner, sister to Caroline Quiner Ingalls, mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Also in the library’s 4^th floor main stacks, we have Pioneer Girl: an annotated bibliography, edited by Pamela Smith Hill, call #: PS3545.I342 Z46 2014. It follows the same timeline as the Little House on the Prairie book series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder; it is like the unedited version of her books. Hill gives context to the events in Laura's life, through research and footnotes written throughout the book.

Letters written to Charles and Martha Carpenter, sister to Caroline Ingalls, Laura's mother (Stout SC 142 located in the UW-Stout Archives)

If you are Laura Ingalls Wilder fans like we are, don’t just stop at Pepin. Laura lived in many places throughout her life, ending up in Mansfield, Missouri. Check out Julie’s fun 2011 road trip photos to the Laura homesites of Pepin, WI, Walnut Grove, MN, https://walnutgrove.org/museum.html and De Smet, SD, https://discoverlaura.org/:  

Map of Laura's Travels, located on outside of Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Pepin, WI

Depression where Laura's dugout home was along the Banks of Plum Creek, Walnut Grove, MN

Description of Ingalls's homes and schools in De Smet, SD

The Surveyors' House where the Ingalls lived their first winter in De Smet, SD

Charles Ingalls homestead site, with the Cottonwood trees still standing that Charles planted

Julie very excited to be standing next to one of the cottonwood trees Charles planted. I was touching a part of history!

Hallowe'en Penuche from Fannie Farmer

Historic Recipe Test Kitchen

Hallowe'en Peneuche

By: Heather Stecklein

As I was looking for a fun and easy Halloween themed recipe, I flipped through a few of the oldest cookbooks in our special collections. This 1911 edition of Catering for Special Occasions with Menus and Recipes was one of the earliest books in Stout's library collection. It includes specialty menus for holidays including New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Halloween.

The Halloween section included three meal menus, and I set my sights on menu number three.

I chose the make the Peneuche fudge for two reasons. First, it works within my family's food allergy restrictions. I also couldn't resist its fencing cherub and crayfish illustration!

Adorable cherubs!

Some action shots:

 Adding the sugar and milk to the melted butter

Double double, toil and trouble

Ready for its closeup

I opted to use dark brown sugar for this batch, and it added an extra sense of earthiness (and maybe witchiness?) to the final product.

This is a fun and simple dish that I'll enjoy as I await the arrival of ghosts, goblins, and baby sharks at my door.

The Day that JFK Died: Stout Reactions

It was a day that defined a generation. On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy died from gunshot wounds he received as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The president was pronounced dead at 1:00PM, Central Time, and Americans continue to recall where they were in the hours that followed.

The Stout Campus Reaction

On the campus of Stout State College in Menomonie, Wisconsin, students gathered in the Memorial Student Center to watch the coverage together throughout the day and evening of November 22nd, 1963.

Stout students gather in the Memorial Student Center to watch news coverage of the JFK Assassination, November 22, 1963

Classes and all planned events and activities came to a halt as the university's administration grappled with options for how to address the event. Ultimately, the campus resolved to cancel three days of classes: the day following the assassination, the national day of mourning the following Monday, and the remaining Tuesday--which was the day before Thanksgiving break. Students attended a day of classes on Saturday, January 11th, to make up for the Tuesday, November 27th closing.

A Campus Convocation in Honor of the Fallen President in Harvey Hall

On Saturday November 24th, students assembled in the Harvey Hall auditorium for a special convocation honoring the president.

In the same room, three years earlier, President Kennedy had spoken to many of the same people assembled about the importance of contributing to the better good.

For the convocation honoring the the fallen president, Stout President Bud Micheels took the stage. Students widely regarded President Micheels a a personable man who cared deeply about student activities and ideas, and they filled the auditorium to listen to his words of comfort and reflection.

President Micheels Offered Words of Comfort and a Call to Duty

The following is the complete text of the speech President Micheels delivered in Harvey Hall to the Stout State College campus community:

"These are tragic and solemn days. In this time of national crisis, it is fitting that we should meet together as an educational family and in a manner which will serve as a collective tribute to our departed president. Individually, this is a time for introspection, for reassessment and for rededication. Our way of life, our basic faiths, and our set of beliefs are being challenged in many ways and in many places, both in and out of our country.
The tragic assassination of President Kennedy brings these smoldering elements into clear focus. It

President Micheels issues his address following the JFK Assassination

serves as a signal directive to those of us in education—both student and teacher.
As you look back on these past two days, and as you witness the events that are about to unfold, may you view these experiences as significant parts of your education. There is so very much for each of us to learn at this point of time in our history.
With this in mind, I would like to ask that we all stand and bow our heads in reverence to him who is gone, and to him who now becomes our leader. President Johnson has declared next Monday as a national day of mourning. This we will observe at Stout. All college activities will be cancelled. Because this comes just before our Thanksgiving recess, I have decided also that there will be no classes on Tuesday. This decision was made after consultation with students and faculty. I am asking our student leaders to help us decide how best to cover this loss of educational time. This means that there will be no formal classes during this next week. The student center will be open, and further announcements will be forthcoming.

Stout students reflect upon the address by President Micheels, 11/24/1963

Also we had planned important student meetings for next Monday in connection with our forthcoming Stout Days. I would like Dean Pederson to explain to you now the changes we have made in these plans. In bringing this meeting to a close, may I remind you again that we are proud of you—our students. You have given us cause to be proud. I hope you will consider these next few days not as extra days of vacation, but as days wherein you view, and evaluate, our present national crisis as a vital and important part of your education. You here at Stout and students in every college and university should remind yourselves that you are here preparing to become the leaders of the future." --Stout President Bud Micheels, November 24, 1963

Stout students returned from break on Monday, December 1, 1963, and their activities and classes quickly returned to normal. The following Friday, The Stoutonia student newspaper eulogized the president with fond memories of his visit to campus and a call for readers to perpetuate Kennedy's legacy of espousing peace and justice throughout the world.

Post by UW-Stout Archives/Area Research Center.

Harvey Hall Timeline

As campus prepares for a major renovation of Harvey Hall, the UW-Stout Archives has compiled an interactive timeline of events, programs, and archival material about the building. 

 Special thanks to Katie Borowski, a Stout Archives intern from the Public History certificate program at the UW-Eau Claire, for her assistance compiling the material featured in this timeline.

Winter Fun in Menomonie

Car on Lake Menomin, circa 1914. Tom Sievers Scrapbook, Iconographic Series 21. UW-Stout Archives.

Toboggan Track, Menomonie, circa 1950. 

Heather Stecklein, University of Wisconsin-Stout Archivist, will present "Frosty Fun: Outdoor Winter Activities in Menomonie" for the Dunn County Historical Society's Heritage Speaker Series at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb., 17, at the Russell J. Rassbach Heritage Museum.

The presentation will include stories and photographs from outdoor winter activities in Menomonie and at the UW-Stout and its predecessors. Included will be activities that date all the way back to the 1890s, including UW-Stout's Winter Carnival, car racing on the lake and much more.  The images in the presentation come from official university photographs, yearbooks, the student newspaper, and  students' personal scrapbooks.

Ice Skating on the UW-Stout campus, 1955.

 The Rassbach Heritage Museum is located at 1820 Wakanda St. in Menomonie's Wakanda Park.
The Heritage Speaker Series is presented the third Sunday of each month. For further information, visit www.dunnhistory.org or call 715-232-8685.