About Wisconsin Historical Society

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Wisconsin Historical Society headquarters building in Madison, WI

The Wisconsin Historical Society is one of the largest, most active, and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. Founded in 1846, the Society is governed by a 27-member Board of Curators and is led by a management team. It is both a state agency and a private membership organization. It receives about 60 percent of its funding from the state of Wisconsin, and the other 40 percent comes through fundraising, federal grants and earned revenues.

Our Mission & Vision

The Wisconsin Historical Society helps people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. Learn more about our mission.

Visit Our Historic Sites and Museums

Black Point Estate, Lake Geneva, WI

Historic Home and Garden

Circus World, Baraboo, WI

Experience the Thrill that Never Grows Old

First Capitol, Belmont, WI

The Birthplace of a Great State

H.H. Bennett Studio, Wisconsin Dells, WI

The Man Who Made Wisconsin Dells Famous

Madeline Island Museum

A Place of Encounters

Wisconsin Historical Museum, Madison, WI

Explore Wisconsin's Distinctive Heritage

Old World Wisconsin, Eagle, WI

Relive the Spirit of America's Heartland

Pendarvis, Mineral Point, WI

Discover Cornish Culture during the Lead Mining Boom

Reed School, Neillsville, WI

When One Room Shaped Many Lives

Stonefield, Cassville, WI

The Roots of Rural Wisconsin

Villa Louis, Prairie du Chien, WI

Enter the World of Victorian America

Wade House, Greenbush, WI

Explore the Era of Stagecoach Travel

State Historic Preservation Office

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Underwater Historic Preservation

The Society is a federally designated state historic preservation office. In partnership with communities, organizations and individuals, we work to identify, interpret, and preserve ancient and historic places for the benefit of present and future generations through our programs:

• Administer the Wisconsin portion of the National Register of Historic Places
• Administer tax-credit programs for historic building rehabilitation
• Administer the State Archaeology Program and conduct underwater archaeological research through the Maritime Preservation Program
• Provide assistance and funding to organizations and local government
• Review public projects for their effects on historic properties
• Protect human burial sites, mounds, and cemeteries
• Maintain historic building, archaeological and burial site inventories in the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Database

Programs & Outreach

The Programs and Outreach staff support educators, students, and lifelong learners who don’t necessarily visit any of the Society’s sites or consult its collections:

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Hold a mammoth tooth!

• The Coordinator of Primary Education helps teachers use our fourth-grade textbook and brings historical objects into classrooms through the Hands On History program. These activities are both based on our Thinking Like A Historian curriculum.
• The Coordinator of Secondary Education brings the National History Day program to hundreds of classrooms around the state each year. Through NHD, more than 15,000 students learn how to locate, analyze, and create performances, Web sites, films, or papers using original historical documents. The very best go on to a national competition in Washington DC each spring.
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  Great Lakes Small Streams" on display at Kettle Moraine Middle School

• The Wisconsin Historical Society Press publishes books, a quarterly magazine, and educational materials for readers of all ages. It reaches more than 50,000 people each year through its publications and events like book launches and author talks. Two-thirds of fourth-grade classrooms use its textbook, Wisconsin: Our State, Our Story
• The Local History staff provide expert advice and guidance to more than 400 historical organizations in cities and towns from Bayfield to Beloit. They also teach local historians through workshops, webinars, and an annual conference.
• Traveling exhibits on Wisconsin history and a Speakers Bureau with dozens of presenters are also available to community groups, schools, colleges, public libraries, and local historical societies.

Library

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 Wisconsin Historical Society Library Reading Room

Within the Division of Library-Archives, the Library is the official state historical library as well as an internationally-recognized U.S. and Canadian history library, being designated as an official documents depository by the governments of Wisconsin, the United States and Canada. As a University of Wisconsin-Madison library, it provides reference services in person, by phone, by mail and online. It lends in person, statewide and nationwide through interlibrary loan. Holdings include:

• 3.8 million volumes in the North American History Collection with extensive U.S. and Canadian history holdings
• Second largest American newspaper collection in the U.S.
• Extensive online collections focusing on Wisconsin history 

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 Wisconsin Historical Society Archives Research Room

Archives

The Archives serves as the official state archive and holds all historical state records. It collects manuscripts and artifacts from private individuals and organizations. It also holds extensive visual and sound records, including more than 4 million historical photographs, posters, oral history recordings, and motion picture films. A network of 14 area research centers makes the collections readily available statewide. In addition to Wisconsin history, holdings include several collections of national scope:

• Early American exploration and settlement, including the Draper Manuscript Collection
• Social action movements, such as civil rights
• Mass communications history
• U.S. labor history and business records

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Wisconsin Historical Museum on Madison's Capitol Square

Wisconsin Historical Museum

The Wisconsin Historical Museum, located on Madison’s Capitol Square, contains four floors of permanent and rotating exhibits, an orientation theater, and a Museum store. Exhibits, collections and programs document Wisconsin’s history from prehistoric times to the present day, focusing on:

• Prehistoric history and Wisconsin’s settlement
• Agricultural history, industry and tourism
• Political and environmental history
• Extensive collections containing historical objects and archaeological artifacts 

Historic Sites

The Society's Division of Museums and Historic Sites hosts a network of 12 historic sites and museums that promote tourism and provide for the comprehensive study, appreciation and enjoyment of Midwestern frontier history for more than 300,000 visitors annually. The historic sites and museums, located throughout Wisconsin, include the Wisconsin Historical Museum in Madison.