Diane Kane shakes her fist as her husband, Rich, and other guests laugh while she tells a funny story at the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in the north Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay. Kane jokingly recalled "nearly getting in a fist fight" with a man in Las Vegas who told her that when they ran out of water for their many golf courses and pools there, they'd take water from the Great Lakes.

 
Story and photos by Dean Witter
Wisconsin Historical Foundation

WHITEFISH BAY — Area residents arrived in this beautiful suburb north of Milwaukee near the Lake Michigan shoreline full of ideas about what they'd like to see in a new Wisconsin history museum.

They offered names of famous actors and civil rights leaders, important current and long-gone businesses, key characteristics about the landscape and important points of interest. It all paved the way for robust discussions — and lots of laughs — during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, at the bustling Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center. 

Topics included the area's waterfront and connection to Lake Michigan, as well as the longtime cultural diversity of Milwaukee, evidenced by its many ethnic heritage festivals and celebrations. 

“It's growing and groups are always coming and adding more flavor," Barbara Fuldner said of the city's diversity. “I would hope that with a new museum, every cultural group in Wisconsin would find themselves in this museum.”

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Patti Sherman-Cisler, Executive Director of Jewish Museum Milwaukee, welcomes guests to the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session at the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay.

Patti Sherman-Cisler, Executive Director of Jewish Museum Milwaukee, welcomed guests to the event, which was one of more than 40 public listening sessions the Society is holding across the state to include residents in the early planning for a new $120 million state history museum it plans to build on the state's Capitol Square. It is by far the largest undertaking in the 173-year history of the Society and the extent of the listening session tour is believed to be unprecedented among other state historical societies planning similar projects in the past.

The Society is also holding sessions at all 12 American Indian nations of Wisconsin, as well as eight special multicultural focus groups, with African Americans in Beloit, Madison and Milwaukee; the Latinx communities in Milwaukee, Madison and Wautoma; Asian Americans in Milwaukee; and the Hmong community in Eau Claire. In addition, the Society is gathering feedback from PK-12 and teen students to incorporate their ideas into museum planning, too.

These events allow residents to offer their ideas and provide feedback on preliminary concept exhibit design renderings. As part of a public-private development, the new museum, scheduled to open by 2024 or 2025, will replace and dramatically expand the footprint of the current aging and undersized Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison, located since the 1980s in the space of a former hardware store.

"This very important initiative will focus on what we at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee know: that history packs a punch, it gives a frame of reference for current events, it connects us to our ancestors and to our neighbors," said Sherman-Cisler.

She highlighted past collaborations with the Wisconsin Historical Society on exhibits at her facility, including a current one that includes artifacts from Circus World, one of the Society's 12 historic sites and museums across the state. 

"These are just our experiences with the Historical Society," she added. "Multiply this a hundredfold across the state for other museums. You go to any museum in the state and I'm sure they've borrowed something from [the Society] or learned something from [the Society]."

Sherman-Cisler then introduced Christian Øverland, the Ruth & Hartley Barker Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, who facilitated the session. 

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"We want to hear from you about your ideas for the new museum. Right now, this is all about you," Christian Øverland, the Ruth and Hartley Barker Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, said in his welcoming remarks at the "Share Your Voice" listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay.

Øverland shared details about his background, noting that he's a Minnesota native and took on his new position at the Society in February 2018 after a long career working for history organizations across the country — including the previous 26 years at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Mich., where he was executive vice president.

"Right now we’re at the beginning of the [new museum] process," Øverland said. "Today we're going to be showing you some initial thoughts, but more importantly, we want to hear from you about your ideas for the new museum. Right now this is all about you."

Øverland added that the Society wants the new museum to be different from those of the past, one that will provide a meaningful experience for all visitors. 

"We want this to be a museum not only about history," he said. "We want this to be a museum that uses history to inspire to build a better future. We want to tell the stories that are impactful, that provide teachable moments, that people can share and also take pride in. Stories that bind us." 

Øverland explained the process for the project, noting that the Society was currently in the engagement phase, during which the organization is gathering input from residents across the state while also raising funds. The State Legislature's Joint Committee on Finance included $70 million for the project in the 2019-21 Biennial Capital Budget it submitted for approval by the full Legislature, assuming the Society (through the Wisconsin Historical Foundation) will raise the remaining $30 million for the building. The Foundation is also raising an additional $20 million in private gifts for an endowment for museum operating expenses.

Guests learned more background about the project thanks to a Society video about the museum's main storytelling theme, "What Makes Wisconsin, Wisconsin?" Details on the project, as well as the video, can be found online at wisconsinhistory.org/newmuseum.

Øverland then began the first activity by asking the group to write on Post-It notes what it was about their community or the state that helped make Wisconsin, Wisconsin, or what new visitors to the state should be told. That was followed by a discussion of some suggestions.

They included the maritime history of the Great Lakes and the beauty of other lakes and rivers, ethnic celebrations, and Milwaukee's unique architecture. George Gonis talked at length about the city's key role on the Underground Railroad as a hotbed for abolitionists. Other guest suggestions included the Wisconsin Idea, the fact that former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir grew up in Milwaukee, and that the city was the birthplace of legendary actor Spencer Tracy and other famous actors such as Gene Wilder and many others.

Diane Kane drew a huge laugh from the crowd when she talked about the importance of the Great Lakes and jokingly recalled with a clenched fist how she "almost got in a fist fight" with a man in Las Vegas who wasn't worried about running out of water for the city's many golf courses and pools in the desert because when they ran out, "they'd just take the water from the Great Lakes."

"Water's important, isn't it?" Øverland said. "We care about our Great Lakes and we care about the water that comes from them. That's something that's going to come up a lot [in the new museum]." 

One guest mentioned the city's long love affair with its sports teams like the Braves, Brewers and Bucks, and another pointed out the long history of the Milwaukee VA Soldiers Home, which is one of only three remaining original Soldiers Homes first ordered built by President Abraham Lincoln to house soldiers during the Civil War. 

Rachel Arndt mentioned the Fair Housing Marches of the 1960s and the city's long civil rights history, which Øverland noted was one of many important stories that transcend our borders and will help make Wisconsin's new state history museum a national attraction.

"That's a good example of something that's not only a local story, but it's a regional story and a national story from here in Wisconsin," said Øverland, who highlighted the Society's vast, world-renowned collections, which date to the 16th century. "We have a lot of stories that are more than Wisconsin. We've been collecting stories from all over the United States, and when it comes to civil rights, we have a HUGE collection. … "

"We have those archives and we want to share them, with you and the rest of the country," Øverland continued. "We want to make [the new museum] a [national] destination."

A woman mentioned "the wonderful accomplishments of the University of Wisconsin."

"How many people who are taking Coumadin to keep them healthy have any idea that it came from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation?" she asked. "And [they should learn about] Babcock ice cream and what Professor [Stephen] Babcock was able to accomplish."

Both Sherman-Cisler and Arndt spoke up about the role of manufacturing in Milwaukee, which was once known as the Machine Shop of the World.

"At one point we were an epicenter of manufacturing and food production," Arndt said. "The grain exchange was the center of that market. Obviously, we're different at this point, but we really were a marketplace for all of those goods and services.” 

"Early on we had German and Polish immigrants getting manufacturing started," Sherman-Cisler said. "Then things kind of staled but now Milwaukee is going through this kind of Renaissance. ... I think there's this whole sense of innovation going on [here now]."

"There's a buzz going on in Milwaukee, isn't there?" Øverland said. "… As a person who moved to Wisconsin not too long ago, I can feel that."

Øverland transitioned the group to another activity during which they reviewed and discussed concept exhibit design renderings and the overall museum experience. Øverland explained each one and asked guests to vote for which ones they liked, or didn’t like, and asked them to explain why. 

He noted that the renderings were produced by Washington, D.C.-based Gallagher & Associates (www.gallagherdesign.com), which has designed many well known museums, including the World War II Museum in New Orleans; the Gettysburg Museum; the presidential library and museums of Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan; the National Constitution Center; state museums in Tennessee, New Mexico and New York; and the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Ill.

Sherman-Cisler, of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee (www.jewishmuseummilwaukee.org), pointed out that G&A also designed the exhibits at her museum, which opened in 2008.

The first two renderings depicted an "Introduction and Orientation Area," a large, open space which will welcome museum guests and surround them with a massive, 360-degree digital image wall.

One rendering showed how visitors could be greeted by a wall filled with dozens of photos (or one large one). The other showed how the space could be transformed with seating into a special program area that could digitally connect people at schools and organizations in cities across the state with guests at the museum. In the rendering example, Society underwater archaeologists are broadcasting from a shipwreck on the bottom of Lake Michigan and are able to take questions from guests gathered in many cities across the state. 

"I like how flexible it is, how many things you can do with it and tailor it to your audience," Sherman-Cisler said.  

"There's a variety of subjects that you can choose to look at," added Holli Rosenberg. 

"I do like it," Rachel Arndt added, "[but] I think the [large amount of] visual and the audio, I’m just thinking about the accessibility of that. If you have low vision, how are you experiencing that? If hearing is challenge for you, how are you experiencing that? I think there's a lot of good things there, but [I worry about] just making sure that that first experience isn't troublesome for someone."

"That's a very good point," Øverland said, recalling that the question has come up at other listening sessions. "People have different learning styles and different abilities, too. My own son, he's deaf to the point where he can't hear the first two octaves on the piano. ... We're thinking about people hearing, visibility, all the different things that guests will face. We're looking to create a platform of technology so that we can always upgrade."

Jim Neuner said he liked the concept, "but I don't feel that it works for an introduction and orientation [area] because it is so much and so much information overload in the first thing [a guest sees] in the museum."

Like at most previous sessions, guests were split over a rendering of an art installation depicting a giant cow made out of objects representing all 72 counties of Wisconsin.

"I can see kids looking at that and thinking, 'What's the thing from my county?'" said Rich Kane. 

Barbara Fuldner, however, wondered how "if it's not shaped like the state, how are you going to find your county?"

Sherman-Cisler worried that a cow was too stereotypical of what people already think of Wisconsin, while Cletus Hasslinger acknowledged "we are the Dairy State."

A rendering called "Natural Resources" showed an outdoor scene with a cabin, maple syrup being tapped from a tree, and a Packers ice fishing shanty, among other items.

"I'm worried that you mentioned the north," Rich Kane said. "We have natural resources throughout the state that are not understood. I grew up in the drifted area ... [and] the story of the glacier forming the shape of this state is a phenomenal event and a great story. ... I hope we don't just focus that the natural resources are in the north."

"I like the idea of natural resources as an immersive experience," Sherman-Cisler said. "I worked at the [Milwaukee] Public Museum for a decade, and the Streets of Old Milwaukee and European Village [exhibits] remain the most popular places because you feel like you were there."

The concept of a "Supper Club Experience" elicited cautionary rhetorical questions from Rachel Arndt that echoed feedback from previous listening sessions with African-American, Latinx and American Indian communities.

"I like it," she said, "but it feels like a very limited experience. If you're not white and middle class or upper middle class, does the supper club mean anything to you? And does it exclude our other food traditions of our Hmong immigrants? What does it say about the cultural experience of the inner city of Milwaukee and your food options?"

"I think it is a fun concept and feels fantastic," Arndt continued, "but I think it's the most limited audience of anything that is in the presentation."

George Gonis mentioned a display of current and historic food that was once included in Milwaukee's Grand Avenue Mall. "That has been taken down," he said, "but maybe that could be part of this."

Jim Neunder followed up on that idea by proposing the possibility of "pop-up restaurants" featuring different ethnic foods, similar to the food carts that now dot many high-traffic urban areas.

"That's a good idea. Rather than one restaurant, you'd have pop-up restaurants. Can we use that?" Øverland said with a smile, drawing laughs from the audience.

A rendering called "Industrial Innovation" spoke to the idea of Milwaukee once being known as the Machine Shop of the World. It showed a recreation of a large turbine that local West Allis company Allis-Chalmers manufactured for Niagara Falls within a larger machine shop exhibit including children creating objects at a lathe. Øverland imagined how that older manufacturing process could be juxtaposed with modern-day technology like a 3-D printer.

Barbara Fuldner liked it because "it's real. It's showing how we're changing the world in some way. It's [workers of Wisconsin] making a difference."

Diane Kane mentioned that the typewriter was invented and made in Wisconsin, leading to other examples of the state's manufacturing heritage.

Rich Kane added, "it would be nice to see Wisconsin inventions."

A rendering titled "Agricultural Ingenuity" showed examples of wild ricing and cranberry harvesting with guests interacting with actual artifacts like a birch bark canoe.

George Gonis liked the concept and the fact that it brought the outdoors inside and let guests enjoy "things that you can't possibly experience."

While Barbara Fuldner said, "I want reality," Diane Kane talked about a similar experience in which children could interact with and immerse themselves in an exhibit activity, which left them with a long-lasting memory about the museum.

"Kids like to manipulate things," she said. "They like to push a button and make something happen. And they'll remember it."

Finally, guests discussed a "Laboratory of Democracy" rendering, which features a large window looking across the street to the Capitol and digitally projected historic newspapers on screens high on the walls. 

Øverland pointed out that the Society has the second-largest historic newspaper collection only to the Library of Congress and imagined guests interacting with the exhibit by calling up historic newspapers of their choice.

George Gonis liked the idea, saying political influence "is such an important part of Wisconsin and has had such a huge impact [nationally]."

Marilyn John added that "it's something that [will help] people [who visit from] outside Wisconsin understand that Wisconsin was so important."

Øverland closed the session by asking guests to share their favorite museum experiences, since the Society's aim will be to create similarly lasting memories. 

A woman mentioned a 4-D Revolutionary War film at George Washington's Mount Vernon, during which the ground shakes during cannon blasts, fog rolls across the audience and snow falls from above. "I loved that!" she said.

George Gonis talked about enjoying being enveloped by the water exhibits at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa, while another guest mentioned how the Civil War Museum in Kenosha "has you sit on a train and they talk to you."

Cletus Hasslinger hoped that "you would have experts come in and discuss the exhibits," he said. "I think having historians and people with perspective talk about what's there is so important."

Earlier in the session, Diane Kane mentioned how she and her husband "go to a lot of presidential libraries and we like it when we see that they talk about the negative parts of the presidency" and suggested the importance of balancing the storytelling.

"When we were at the Nixon library, they talked about Watergate [and] the Clinton library talked about his indiscretions," she said. "I think talking about Wisconsin politics, like the glory of Bob LaFollette and the negative of Sen. McCarthy ... [it's important to talk] about the good and the bad."

Øverland agreed and assured that would be the case with the new museum.

"It's important," he said. "Balanced history is important because we learn from both sides. You learn about the impact on our lives ... and there's lessons moving forward."

Word cloud from Whitefish Bay listening session

Suggestions made on Post-It notes during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session in Whitefish Bay were turned into this word cloud, with the most suggested words in the biggest type.

Jim Neuner explains why he's not totally sold on one of the new museum concept exhibit renderings during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay.

Rachel Arndt and others enjoy a laugh as another guest shares a story during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay.

George Gonis shares ideas for exhibits during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session in Whitefish Bay. Guests discussed plans for a new state history museum to be built on the Capitol Square in Madison. 

Marilyn John listens carefully as another guest talks about a new museum exhibit idea during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session June 18, 2019, at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in the north Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay.

Jody Steren shares her thoughts about plans for a new museum during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" session June 18, 2019, in the north Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay.

Guests enjoy a laugh as Holli Rosenberg shares a funny story during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay.

Patti Sherman-Cisler, Executive Director of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, offers her thoughts on concept exhibit design renderings for a new state history museum during the Wisconsin Historical Society's listening session June 18, 2019, at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay.

Cletus Hasslinger shares his thoughts during a discussion at the Wisconsin Historical Society's June 18, 2019, "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session in Whitefish Bay.

Barbara Fuldner smiles as she listens to another guest talk about a potential exhibit for a new state history museum during the Wisconsin Historical Society's listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay.

A guest writes her comments on a packet of new museum concept exhibit renderings during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay.

Guests watch a film about a new Wisconsin history museum — to be built on the Capitol Square in Madison but connect digitally to all 72 counties — during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" listening session June 18, 2019, at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay.

Jim Neuner smiles as another guest shares a story during the Wisconsin Historical Society's new museum listening session in Whitefish Bay.

Christian Øverland, the Ruth & Hartley Barker Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, listens as Cletus Hasslinger makes a comment about museum experiences during the "Share Your Voice" listening session June 18, 2019, in the north Milwaukee suburb of Whitefish Bay.

Marilyn John listens as Matt Blessing (right) of the Wisconsin Historical Society talks about a rare artifact from the Society's collections that was on display during the new museum listening session in Whitefish Bay: a sweater worn by a Holocaust survivor while he was a prisoner inside the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Blessing is the State Archivist and Director of the Society's Library, Archives & Museum Collections Division.

Two women examine a sweater worn by a Holocaust survivor while he was a prisoner at Auschwitz, a rare artifact that was on display before the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session at the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay.

(From left) Rachel Arndt, Rita Neuner and Mallory Hanson enjoy a laugh during the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay.

Christian Øverland, the Ruth & Hartley Barker Director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, points to the location on the Capitol Square in Madison where a new state history museum with an expanded footprint will replace the smaller and outdated Wisconsin Historical Museum, which has been housed since the 1980s in the space of a former hardware store.

Diane and Rich Kane visit with State Archivist Matt Blessing as he shows rare artifacts from the Wisconsin Historical Society's collections prior to the "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session June 18, 2019, in Whitefish Bay. Blessing is Director of the Society's Library, Archives & Museum Collections Division.

Patti Sherman-Cisler, Executive Director of Jewish Museum Milwaukee, looks over a brochure of information about the new Wisconsin state history museum project during the Wisconsin Historical Society's listening session in Whitefish Bay.

Cletus Hasslinger makes a point during a discussion at the Wisconsin Historical Society's "Share Your Voice" new museum listening session in Whitefish Bay.

"SHARE YOUR VOICE" STATEWIDE SESSION LOCATIONS

 Click here to return to the Share Your Voice page to see more dates!