UWM Libraries Research and Course Guides: WAK HIS 204: Introduction to Public History: Local Archives

Getting started with archival collections

Using archival collections (both online and in-person) at area institutions can be an excellent source of primary source information on your research topics. We strongly recommend browsing to see what you can find online and then follow up with a call to the research help desk staff. Research hours can vary widely and are sometimes by appointment only.

Historical Societites

Milwaukee County Historical Society
The Research Library of the Milwaukee County Historical Society has a wide variety of information about the history of the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. The library contains more than 3,000 separate manuscript collections from various businesses, organizations and families/individuals – some of whom are among Milwaukee’s earliest settlers. The photograph collection is also housed in the research library and includes more than one million photographs. Limited online collections.
Waukesha County Historical Society & Museum
For more than 100 years the WCHSM has dedicated itself to preserving and sharing the county’s cultural heritage. The artifact and archival collection includes more than 18,000 objects, 250,000 images, millions of archival materials, and innumerable stories that make up the community of Waukesha County. Research Center appointments can be scheduled on Friday mornings only.

Museums

Milwaukee Public Museum
Collections include decorative arts, clothing and textiles, domestic life and folk arts, toys dolls and sports that include the history of Milwaukee. Almost all collections are not digitized.
Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear/Cedarburg History Museum
Extensive collection of artifacts from the late 1800s through 1970 that recently relocated from a museum in downtown Milwaukee to the Cedarburg History Museum.

Libraries and Archives

Milwaukee Public Library Historic Photo Archives
Includes both an online searchable collection of digitized photographs as well as a finding aid for un-digitized photographs in the Library's collections. Includes Milwaukee's "Remember When" collection.
Wisconsin Historical Society Image Collections
Formerly known as Wisconsin Historical Images (WHI), over 90,000 images are available online, and we continue to add over 8,000 images per year to the online resource. Digitized images include the full range of materials available in our physical collections. Image holdings are particularly strong in daily life from the turn of the century to the 1970s.

Note: searches can be refined by century/decade/year using filter on the left. Suggested searches include "TAVERN and INTERIOR" or "STORE and INTERIOR" and then narrow to the 1930s and 1940s. Additional keywords (e.g. "games", "furnishings", "decor", "clothing", or "drinking") can be searched on as well.

Area Research Center (ARC) Collections from UW Libraries

It is possible to request materials from UW Library archival collections through the Golda Meir Library Archives Department. Most archival records can be shared through the Area Resource Center network. Click here to request something from the Wisconsin Historical Society or a UW campus Archives collection.

Johnson's Tavern. Records, 1927-1960.
Call Number: See Librarian for assistance
Partial records of family-run businesses, principally Johnson's Tavern of River Falls, Wisconsin. Stanley and Emma Johnson opened the tavern with the repeal of prohibition in 1934. Previously, Mr. Johnson had hauled gasoline and, with his brother, operated a meat market. Mrs. Johnson retired in 1973 and in 1986, the business was known as Emma's Bar. The collection is composed almost entirely of financial records, primarily ledgers covering the operation of the tavern. Also present are a few family papers, 1936-1952.