COVID-19 Information

To protect your safety and ours, if you are not feeling well please plan to visit us at another time.;

General Information

The Wisconsin Historical Society's headquarters building (map) is located on Library Mall of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. We are free and open to the public.

Wisconsin Historical Society
816 State Street
Madison, WI 53706

Library & Archives

Library Reading Room: M - TH: 8 AM -7 PM | F: 8 AM - 5 PM | Sat: 9 AM - 4 PM | Closed Sundays
Archives Reading Room: M - F: 8 AM - 5 PM | Sat: 9 AM - 4 PM | Closed Sundays
For information on exceptions to our hours (e.g. for holidays and private events) please review our Scheduled Closures. 

VIRTUAL SERVICES

In addition to our in person services, we also provide a number of virtual services including:

• Research inquiries via email
        Library questions: asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org
        Archives questions: askarchives@wisconsinhistory.org 
• Virtual Records & Obituary Search Services
  
• Digital Collections
• Pick-Up Access to Collections (see information below)

PICK-UP ACCESS TO COLLECTIONS

The Wisconsin Historical Society Library is fulfilling requested items from the library for those who have a UW-Madison ID or a Wisconsin Historical Society library card. 

To request items patrons should visit the library’s catalog at library.wisc.edu and request the item they need. All items that are available will be listed as “requestable”. Patrons will pick up items at the UW - Madison Memorial Library and not at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.

For questions, please contact the library directly at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org.

For questions and FAQs regarding UW library services please click here. 

HAVE QUESTIONS?

Contact our Library and Archives staff at 608-264-6535 or by email below:

asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org

askarchives@wisconsinhistory.org

Historic Preservation Office 

Our hours are Monday - Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm, appointments are strongly recommended but not required.
For information on exceptions to our hours (e.g. for holidays and private events) please review our Scheduled Closures. 

To schedule an appointment:

• Access to Archaeological Site Files and Archaeological Reports (SHPO only):
  Contact Amy.Rosebrough@WisconsinHistory.org to schedule an appointment. 
• Access to Architectural Files, NRHP files, and Building/Architectural Survey Materials:
  Contact Ian.Gort@WisconsinHistory.org or Leah.Penzkover@WisconsinHistory.org to schedule an appointment. 

All appointment requests must be accompanied by a full list of requested materials. Access to files and scheduling is subject to staff availability. 

For all other services visit us at wisconsinhistory.org/hp or email your request to askshpo@wisconsinhistory.org

Scheduled Closures

The chart below reflects our typical schedule for when the Library's hours are shortened, and when the Library and Archives are closed for holidays and other events. This schedule may change without notice. Before traveling to Madison to use our collections, please call 608-264-6534 to confirm operating hours.