Research Guides: History : Wisconsin: Explore Historic Wisconsin

Explore Wisconsin Historic Sites & Museums

History lives. It's not just a dry collection of dates to memorize. It's not just an indoor activity. It can be the focus of a weekend excursion or even a vacation.

Take the time to visit Wisconsin's great museums or even better explore some of the historic sites.

Wisconsin historic sites & museums

Milwaukee County Historical Museum

The Milwaukee County Historical Society
The Milwaukee County Historical Society preserves and exhibits our local history. It includes a research library, photographic and manuscript collections. It also maintains four historical sites.

Museums and Societies

Milwaukee Area Technical College Archives (MATC) Photo Archives This link opens in a new window
View the MATC Archives' digital collection of photographs on the Recollection Wisconsin Website. This website is a collection of historical images illustrating how the college’s academic programs have evolved to meet the changing needs of the Milwaukee business and manufacturing communities. The digital collection also depicts how the college helped support the needs of the country during World War II.

Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is a state funded organization which promotes the knowledge of Wisconsin history. This website has links to 10 historical sites owned by the Society and the Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison which is operated by the Society.
Neville Public Museum of Brown County
The Neville is a general museum of art, history and science, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is dedicated to the collection and preservation of significant objects relevant to Northeast Wisconsin, and, secondarily, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. - from the website.
Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear
The Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear, a non-profit organization, operates as a Milwaukee history museum in a historic building displaying the late Avrum Chudnow’s (1913-2005) extensive and eclectic collection of early 20th Century Americana.

Milwaukee County History Links

UWM Archives Milwaukee Neighborhoods 1885-1992
This collection presents 832 photographic images of Milwaukee neighborhoods and 12 historical maps of the city of Milwaukee.
UWM: March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project
Audio, video, images and documents related to the Civil Rights Movement in Milwaukee during the 1960s.
Milwaukee Ghost Signs
This website captures "ghost signs", the faded advertisements on the side of buildings found throughout Milwaukee.

Ozaukee County

Ozaukee County Historical Society
"The Ozaukee County Historical Society seeks to preserve, advance and disseminate knowledge of the history and heritage of Ozaukee county through historic preservation, education and programming."

Wisconsin's Ethnic Settlement Trail

Wisconsin's Ethnic Settlement Trail
Welcome to the beauty, the history and the culture of Wisconsin's Ethnic Settlement Trail (W.E.S.T.). Welcome to the warm hospitality of interesting early ethnic settlements. Join us as we wind our way over many routes, past settlement structures built more than 140 years ago. Tour the trails of our ancestors in this collection of Wisconsin's ethnic settlement groups. Follow the Green Bay Ethnic Trail, Wisconsin's original Native American, then Military Road overland settlement highway.

Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin
Return to Wisconsin of the late 19th century, when waves of immigrants came to America's heartland in search of a better life.
more...less...
It is appropriate that Old World Wisconsin was opened in 1976. There could no better way to commemorate 200 years of American history than by vividly re-creating the sights, sounds and spirit of this country at its birth.

The museum's more than 60 historic structures range from ethnic farmsteads with furnished houses and rural outbuildings, to the 1880s Village with its traditional small-town institutions. The efforts of countless historians have preserved an amazing slice of true Americana — one that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Waswagoning Indian Village

Waswagoning Re-Created Ojibwe Indian Village
Waswagoning has been uniquely created to assist families, communities, educators, and teachers who are actively involved in teaching Native American Studies to pre-school-age through PH-D's. Along with guided tours, a variety of special overnight programs can be arranged. -- from the Waswagoning website

Milwaukee Public Library

Milwaukee Public Library - Local History Collection
Milwaukee history is an area of great focus for the Humanities Department. Materials include books on the history of the City, Milwaukee City Directories, phone books, Milwaukee fire insurance atlases covering the mid-1870s through the 1960s, plat maps and atlases, and City of Milwaukee maps from all decades since Milwaukee’s founding.