March is Women's History Month and today specifically, March 8th, is International Women's Day!

One collection in particular that highlights women is our History of Women at the University of Wisconsin. The collection augments the general histories of the University by focusing on the roles and activities of women students, faculty, and staff and on the development of women's studies throughout the UW System.

It consists of seven works published by the University. Four are part of a series of essays entitled University Women. The collection includes writings on how women's education changed over time at University of Wisconsin system schools.

Women at Stout: A Centennial Retrospective specifically highlights the history of women on the Stout campus.

These collections are a great way to learn about the history of women on UW campuses. Take a look and maybe you will learn a little something.

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!

March is finally here and all I can think about is spring coming. For the Zazzle print of March we wanted to pick something that made us think of spring. These daffodils are perfect for spring time.

This image comes from Bowles's Florist: Containing Sixty Plates of Beautiful Flowers, Regularly disposed in their Succession of Blowing, To Which Is Added, An accurate Description of their Colours, With Instructions For Drawing and Painting them according to Nature. Being A New Work Intended for the Use and Amusement of Gentlemen and Ladies Delighting in that Art. This small volume, hand-colored and ornately bound with gilt edges, intended for the "amusement of gentlemen and ladies," exemplifies the refined taste of 1777 London.

This image, along with other flower prints from this book, can be purchased on our Zazzle.com store. Take a look and think spring, it will be here soon!

In the spirit of the Academy Awards this Sunday, we thought we should share with you our collection of Haresfoot Club production images and programs in the Selections from the University of Wisconsin Madison Archives collection.

The Haresfoot Club featured all-male casts in their productions. They performed throughout the state, known for their actors in drag.

More of these great images can also be found on the UW Digital Collections Flickr page! Take a peek at the costumes and chorus lines in the UW Haresfoot Club Set!

The African Studies Collection is new to our archives this year. This collections houses The Harold E. Scheub Collection.

Dr. Harold Scheub is one of the world's leading scholars in African oral traditions and folklore and can be found on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus as the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities in the Department of African Languages and Literature. To record oral traditions he has walked more than 6000 miles through South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho. Dr. Scheub has published more than two dozen books and more than 70 articles.

Within his collection are two sub-collections. South African Voices is a three-volume work of audio files. The image collections contains images from his journey through Africa.

His images are beautiful and interesting. I would encourage you to take a look, you will be happy you did.

The History of Science and Technology Collection contains interesting materials worth highlighting. One in particular is The Book of Beasts. White's The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts was the first and, for a time, the only English translation of a medieval bestiary.

Bestiaries were second only to the Bible in their popularity and wide distribution during the Middle Ages. They were catalogs of animal stories, combining zoological information, myths, and legends. Great attention was given to bizarre, exotic, and monstrous creatures. Much of the content of bestiaries was drawn from much older sources including Aristotle, early English literature, and oral traditions.

White provides an excellent appendix that explains how the creatures of the bestiary influenced the development of allegory and symbolism in art and literature.

The book contains interesting images of beasts with descriptions of their nature and behavior. I would encourage you to take a peek at the book, it's surprising and entertaining.

The Olympics bring out the best athletes in Wisconsin. Sunday night's USA Men's Hockey win over Canada has inspired the UWDC to tweet images of Suter, Rafalski, Heatley and Pavelski. Follow us on Twitter @UwDigiCollec!

Many athletes have pasted through the University of Wisconsin Madison and gone on to become Olympians.

Our University of Wisconsin Archives contains pictures of these athletes from there college days!

Mark Johnson, son of legendary Wisconsin coach Bob Johnson, was the first Badger to win WCHA Rookie of the Year honors (1977), 1978-79 WCHA MVP, two-time All-American, and one of the leaders of the US Olympic gold-medal team in 1980. Johnson became head coach of Wisconsin's women's hockey team in 2002 and is the women's hockey coach at the 2010 Olympics.

Suzy Favor Hamilton of the University of Wisconsin--Madison won the Honda-Broderick Cup Trophy as the 1989-1990 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Favor Hamilton was the NCAA indoor mile champion in 1987, 1989 and 1990 (when she was also 3000 meter champion). She was the NCAA outdoor 1500 meter champion in 1987 through 1990 and also 800 meter champion in 1990. Favor Hamilton competed on the US Olympic teams in 1992, 1996, and 2000.

Russ Hellickson was an outstanding wrestler at Wisconsin, and he also a member of the U.S. Olympic freestyle wrestling team in 1976 and 1980, winning a silver medal in 1976. Hellickson also played football for the Badgers.

These are just a few of the Olympians that are pictured in our collections. Check out more images of Carie Graves, Cindy Bremser, Bob Suter and the many other athletes that have been Badgers!