Suburban high school students try to interpret Menominee culture in 1936

"Mishakwut": Wauwatosa Board of Education project scrapbook, 1936

This scrapbook documents the production of a film called "Mishakwut" by students in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa in 1936. The movie purports to depict the life of a fictional Menominee Indian, though it reveals more about suburban concepts of Native American culture than about its intended subject. The project was sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Wauwatosa Board of Education. The scrapbook was bound by the Milwaukee Handicraft Project and includes color photographs of costumes, newspaper clippings, advertisements, letters of support from WPA and school district officials, and an endorsement from W.C. McKern, Curator of Anthropology at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Users should note that the scrapbook documents mainstream white history rather than Menominee history. It shows what Wauwatosa students thought, not what Menominee Indians thought. For primary sources relating to the Menominee Nation, simply enter the tribe's name in the main search box at Turning Points in Wisconsin History.

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