The Wisconsin Book Festival starts today and will run until October 3rd.  The festival attracts accomplished writers from all over America and encourages literacy across Wisconsin.  

One event that took place this year just before the Wisconsin Book Festival started was the Lorine Niedecker Wisconsin Poetry Festival.  Our Historic Fort Atkinson Collection contains manuscript materials, notes, letters, text & audio interviews with people who knew Lorine, video productions about Lorine and numerous photographs.  The image on the left is from the collection and shows Lorine sitting at her desk.  


One of the presenters this year is Curt Meine, Ph.D.  He is a conservation biologist, historian, and writer. Meine has edited and authored several books. His biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work, published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1988, was the first full-length biography of Leopold, and was named Book of the Year by the Forest History Society. 

Our Aldo Leopold Archive Collection houses the raw materials that document not only Leopold's rise to prominence but the history of conservation and the emergence of the field of ecology from the early 1900s until his death in 1948.


There are many other interesting presenters and events going on this week.  Check out the Wisconsin Book Festival Schedule for more information!

This weekend, March 5-7, marks the 11th annual Aldo Leopold Weekend in Wisconsin. According to the Aldo Leopold Foundation on March 4, 2000, the citizens of Lodi congregated to read A Sand County Almanac aloud, cover to cover. And in March 2004, Governor James Doyle signed legislation designating the first weekend in March Aldo Leopold Weekend across Wisconsin.

The UWDC is lucky to have the Aldo Leopold Archives in our collections. Aldo Leopold is considered by many to have been the most influential conservation thinker of the 20th Century. Leopold's legacy spans the disciplines of forestry, wildlife management, conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, restoration ecology, private land management, environmental history, literature, education, esthetics, and ethics.

He is most widely known as the author of A Sand County Almanac, one of the most beloved and respected books about the environment ever published. The Leopold Collection houses the raw materials that document not only Leopold's rise to prominence but the history of conservation and the emergence of the field of ecology from the early 1900s until his death in 1948.

We hope that you enjoy our collection of Aldo Leopold works and go out and participate in the Aldo Leopold festivities in your town!