Speakers Bureau

Mary Elise Antoine

Mary Elise Antoine, author of Enslaved, Indentured, Free: Five Black Women on the Upper Mississippi, 1800-1850 and The War of 1812 in Wisconsin: The Battle for Prairie du Chien and co-author of Frenchtown Chronicles of Prairie du Chien: History and Folklore from Wisconsin's Frontier, is president of the Prairie du Chien Historical Society and former curator of Villa Louis. Her research focuses on the material culture and mix and confrontation of cultures on the upper Mississippi prior to Wisconsin statehood.

Susan Apps-Bodilly

Susan Apps-Bodilly, author of Seeds in Soil: Planting a Garden and Finding Your Roots and One Room Schools: Stories from the Days of 1 Room, 1 Teacher, 8 Grades and co-author of Old Farm Country Cookbook: Recipes, Menus, and Memories and Timber! A Northwoods Story of Lumberjacks, Logging, and the Land, worked as an elementary and middle school teacher for more than twenty years and recently retired from teaching second-grade students. She has a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is happy to do hands-on activities with families and kids to demonstrate projects and recipes from any of her books.

Felipe Avila

Felipe Avila is the GIS Coordinator for the Wisconsin Historical Society. He has a BA in Political Science and Anthropology from the Ohio State University and graduate certificate in GIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has given talks on practical applications of technology in archaeology, including LIDAR, aerial photography, and environmental monitoring, and using GIS technology for analysis in archaeology, stormwater management, crime analysis, emergency management, and business.

Leslie Bellais

Leslie Bellais is the former curator of social history at the Wisconsin Historical Museum. She retired in January 2019. She gives a wide range of programs on the history of clothing, textiles, quilts, dolls, and toys, including:

• Boys in Dresses, Girls in Pants: Dressing Children in the 19th Century
• Civil War Memories & Mementos
• Clues in the Dress: Dating Photographs from Clothing
• Doll Play, 1850-1930
• Dressing the Lady Cyclist
• Flapper Fashion
• Hoops & Bustles: A Look at Victorian Women's Fashion
• Over Here: The Wisconsin Homefront in World War I
• The Rise and Fall of the Long White Baby Dress (1790-1920)
• Rituals of Romance: A History of Courtship and Weddings, 1830-1990
• Trends in American Quilting
• Victorians' Secrets: The Revealing History of Women's Underwear
• Zoom! Whiz! Wow! A Hi-Speed History of Madison's Soap Box Derby

Note: A fee and mileage (outside of Dane County) will be charged.

Bob Birmingham

Bob Birmingham, author and editor of many publications on Wisconsin archaeology, including his most recent Society Press books Skunk Hill: A Native Ceremonial Community in Wisconsin, Life, Death and Archaeology at Fort Blue Mounds: A Settlers' Fortification of the Black Hawk War and Aztalan: Mysteries of an Ancient Indian Town, is the former Wisconsin State Archaeologist (1989-2004) at the Wisconsin Historical Society. He teaches anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha.

Susan Caya-Slusser

Susan Caya-Slusser is the Wisconsin Historical Society's Director of Southwest Regional Sites, providing vision, leadership, and general management to First Capitol, Pendarvis, Stonefield, and Villa Louis. Susan is based at Pendarvis in Mineral Point.

Topics:

• Breakfast in a Victorian Kitchen
• Growing Up Victorian
• The Victorian Home

Dave Desimone

Dave Desimone is director of Black Point Estate, the Wisconsin Historical Society's historic house museum in Lake Geneva. He talks not only about the history and management of Black Point but also a variety of related subjects. Dave is based at Black Point Estate in Lake Geneva.  

Topics:

• 1871: Hinge Year of the Victorian Era
• 1888, The Year in Review: A Look at the Victorian Era
• The American Rural Cemetery Movement
• Posters and Propaganda
• Why Old Places Matter

Kurt Dietrich

Kurt Dietrich earned degrees from Lawrence University and Northwestern University before joining the progressive jazz band Matrix. He toured with Matrix through the second half of the 1970s, recording four albums with the band. He began teaching in the music department at Ripon College in 1980, remaining there for the rest of his career (also earning a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), retiring in 2019 as professor emeritus. He has written two books on jazz trombone, as well as Wisconsin Riffs: Jazz Profiles from the Heartland and Never Givin’ Up: The Life and Music of Al Jarreau. Dietrich remains an active trombonist in Wisconsin’s jazz scene.

Jim Draeger

Jim Draeger, co-author of Bottoms Up: A Toast to Wisconsin's Historic Bars & Breweries and Fill 'er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Stations, worked in the field of historic preservation and architecture at the Wisconsin Historical Society for more than 20 years, most recently as the State Historic Preservation Officer. From roadside architecture to Northwoods resorts, Jim celebrates the importance of ordinary buildings to our daily lives through his research, writing, and lectures.

Kurt Griesemer

Kurt Griesemer is the Wisconsin Historical Society's specialist in elementary education. He speaks to educators and the general public about curriculum, the Society's textbook, Dungeons & Dragons history, and classroom applications and runs the artifact-based "Hands-On History" program to nurture critical thinking.

Gary Jones

Gary Jones, author of Ridge Stories: Herding Hens, Powdering Pigs, and Other Recollections from a Boyhood in the Driftless, has written professionally as a freelancer since the 1970s, publishing in the Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee Sentinel, Milwaukee Magazine, and several Door County publications. He taught high school English for many years and in retirement has taught college composition courses at University of Wisconsin–Platteville. Gary Jones earned a bachelor of science degree from UW-Platteville, a master's from UW- Madison, and a PhD from UW-Milwaukee.

Jenny Kalvaitis & Kristen Whitson

Jenny Kalvaitis and Kristen Whitson are co-authors of We Will Always Be Here: A Guide to Exploring and Understanding the History of LGBTQ+ Activism in Wisconsin, which draws on a rich collection of primary sources to highlight the powerful stories of LGBTQ+ activists and allies who worked to make a positive change in the world.

Jenny has a master's degree in Public History from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, and she has worked in informal education and museum education for over ten years.

Kristen has a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and she has worked in digital preservation, community and indigenous archives, and LGBTQ+ archives.

Pao Lor

Pao Lor joined thousands of Hmong who fled for their lives through the jungles of Laos in the aftermath of war as a five-year-old boy. After more than two years in Thai refugee camps, Pao and his surviving family members journeyed to the United States, eventually settling in Green Bay. His memoir Modern Jungles: A Hmong Refugee's Childhood Story of Survival recounts the challenges he faced navigating a frightening and unfamiliar new world while struggling to fulfill the hopes his parents had once held for his future. Today, Pao is Associate Dean for the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Michael Rehberg

Michael Rehberg is lead interpreter at Black Point Estate, the Wisconsin Historical Society's historic house museum in Lake Geneva. He gives presentations including:

• Beer Barons of Geneva Lake and Their Milwaukee Neighbors
• Pull up a Chair... Let's Take a Walk Through Lake Geneva
• The Golden Era of Steam Yachting: Geneva Lake and its Sailors

Dean Robbins

Dean Robbins is the author of Wisconsin Idols: 100 Heroes Who Changed the State, the World, and Me, offering a unique perspective on legends and trailblazers with sometimes surprising Wisconsin connections who made their mark on the world. He has spent a lifetime researching and revering such heroic figures as Jackie Robinson, Oprah Winfrey, the Beatles, Harrison Ford, and Georgia O’Keeffe, and he relates their experiences in the state with little-known details and dramatic storytelling. An award-winning journalist, arts critic, and children’s author, Robbins has contributed to USA Today, The New York Daily News, Wisconsin Public Radio, and dozens of other media outlets. He has also served as editor of Isthmus newspaper and On Wisconsin magazine.

Robert Silbernagel

Robert Silbernagel is the author of The Cadottes: A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior. He studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin and was the editorial page editor for The Daily Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction, Colorado, for nineteen years. Now retired, he continues to write a history column for the Sentinel. Silbernagel's previous books include Troubled Trails: Historic Adventures on the Colorado Plateau and Dinosaur Stalkers: Tracking Dinosaur Discoveries of Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. Silbernagel has written a number of history articles for periodicals, including the Wisconsin Magazine of History and Colorado Heritage.

Scott Spoolman

Scott Spoolman, author of Wisconsin Waters: The Ancient History of Lakes, Rivers, and Waterfalls and Wisconsin State Parks: Extraordinary Stories of Geology and Natural History, is a science writer who has focused on the environmental sciences, especially those stories of natural science and the environment related to Wisconsin and surrounding states. After earning a master's degree from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, he worked for several years as an editor in the publishing industry, specializing in textbooks and other educational materials. Since 1996, he has worked as a freelance writer and editor for a variety of outlets and has co-authored several editions of a series of environmental science textbooks.

Jason Tish

Jason Tish has worked with historic preservation policies at the national, state, and local levels since 1996. He has worked in the public and private sectors as an archaeologist, architecture historian, historic preservation consultant, and executive director of an advocacy organization. He has extensive experience developing and administering local historic preservation policies and practices. He currently serves as the Certified Local Government and Preservation Education Coordinator at the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office, where he administers a grant program for Certified Local Governments in Wisconsin and advises Wisconsin municipalities on planning for cultural resources and leveraging them for economic and community development.

Topics:

• Certified Local Government Program
• Local Historic Preservation Advocacy
• Local Historic Preservation Ordinances
• National Register of Historic Places

Ken & Barb Wardius

Ken and Barb Wardius, coauthors of Wisconsin Lighthouses: A Photographic and Historical Guide, are lighthouse historians and photographers. They offer several lectures that highlight Wisconsin's historical beacons. The presentations comprise stunning images, both historic and contemporary, in a combination of history and storytelling. Narrated live, the shows conclude with a question and answer segment. Programs can also be tailored to your individual group.

Jim Willaert

Jim Willaert is a curator at Wade House, the Wisconsin Historical Society's living history museum in Greenbush (near Sheboygan). He gives talks about the history of transportation in Wisconsin. James is based at Wade House in Greenbush.