2020 Governor's Award for Archival Achievement | Wisconsin Historical Society

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2020 Governor's Award for Archival Achievement Winner Announced

2020 Governor's Award for Archival Achievement | Wisconsin Historical Society

The KOHLER Archives has received the 2020 Governor's Award for Archival Achievement from the Wisconsin Historical SocietyThe award is administered in cooperation with and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board. The award recognizes the archive's work to preserve and make available the records of the Kohler Company.

About the Archives

In 2017, the Kohler Company allocated funds to build a state of the art archives facility. The facility was planned with the help of the company's archivist and several other staff archivists. The KOHLER Archives officially opened in April 2019. The new archives facility includes display space, and displays to date include: recently discovered artifacts, a tribute to Kohler's connection to military service, a winter seasonal display of recreation equipment, and an exhibit celebrating KOHLER Power group's 100th anniversary.

In addition to the new space, the archives has worked to promote its collections through new associate tours, vendor and customer tours, and educational tours for area schools. The organization also hired a manager of storytelling to help distribute heritage content to audiences beyond the Kohler campus.

The KOHLER Archives has also put a focus on using tools and methodologies for preserving born digital content. Techniques include capturing Kohler websites and social media channels in real time, database access to digital archives, and collecting oral history interviews from retirees and staff upon the completion of significate projects.

About the Archival Achievement Award

The award recognizes a historical records repository's outstanding work in preserving and providing access to Wisconsin's historical records.

The Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board jointly sponsor the Governor's Archives Awards annually. A panel of judges from the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Historical Records Advisory Board recommended these organizations receive the award. The Wisconsin Historical Society's Board of Curators approved the 2020 Governor's Archives Awards.

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