Back in the day, alright not that long ago, volleyball was my sport of choice.  I'm starting to miss playing a little and thought today would be a good day to celebrate UW Madison's Women's Volleyball. Tonight the women's volleyball team takes on Iowa and on Sunday they play Minnesota.  


In our UW Athletics collections contains media guides from the early years of UW Volleyball.  The image on the left is the cover of the booklet from the 1982 season. 


On the right is an image from a game in 1989.


The media guides contain images from games along with stats from previous seasons.  There are also small bios about the players, coaches and athletic department staff.  


Take a peek at the history of UW Volleyball and don't forget to tune in and support the volleyball team this weekend!

Today we thought we should alert everyone to the WLA conference coming up in November.  Some of our very own from the UWDC will be giving presentations.


The conference, titled Raiders of the Lost ARCs (and Public Libraries): Adventures in Local History Digitization, will be held on Nov. 3 in Wisconsin Dells.


Steven Dast and Catherine Phan, from the UWDC, will give a presentation on the challenges and downfalls of trying to maintain and digitize local histories.  


Also presenting is Leah Ujda, from the UWDC, with Jamie Stoltenberg, from the Robinson Map Library, on an important project for Wisconsin. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, there is a collection of ariel photographs of the state, the oldest in existance. The University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center, the Robinson Map Library, the State Cartographer's Office, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation received a three-year grant to scan and geo-reference the collection.  They are also building a web space to house the information.  Ujda and Stolenberg's presentation will describe the project and discuss certain details.  


It should be an interesting event.  Hopefully we will see some of you there!

Today we thought we'd share with you a little known gem in our collections.  Playing House: Homemaking for Children is a collection of manuals used to educate young girls on how to be a good housewife.

American domestic advice or homemaking manuals emerged in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and served to advise the housewife in the care and upkeep of the home and its contents and occupants. While most of these manuals were written to assist the “woman of the house”, others aimed at educating young girls, the homemakers of the future. 


These books provide instruction on a wide range of topics including cooking, cleaning, laundry, household management and occupational training for young maids. Through them, young girls could learn among other things, the proper way to make a bed, polish the silver, decorate a table, and prepare and serve a nice meal.


This book is interesting to look at.  Whether you are a modern day working woman or a homemaker, this book is cute and a tad comical. Enjoy!  

Recently we went live with the History of UW-Parkside collection.  The collection includes resources that document the history and evolution of this campus. The collection includes published material as well as archival materials and may eventually include additional books, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs, maps and other resources. The collection is particularly full of images from past theater productions.  Take a peak, you may have seen some of these plays!  

Scene from Hold Me, 1983

Scene from Peppermint Bear, 1985

Tomorrow our Wisconsin Badgers will face the Minnesota Golden Gophers. These teams will be competing for the ever famous Paul Bunyan's Axe. 

The trophy goes to the winner of the annual University of Wisconsin--Madison vs. Minnesota game, the longest football series in Division I-A football. The teams first met in 1890 and have played consecutively since 1907. The axe replaced other trophies in the rivalry, such as the walnut Slab of Bacon, and was a gift of the National W Club in 1948. The winners of all the Wisconsin-Minnesota games are engraved on the handle. In November 2003 the original axe was donated to the College Football Hall of Fame and replaced by a sturdier version with room for more names on the handle.

Now keeping in mind that the gopher is part of the badgers regular diet, I hope to see all of you out there supporting our team!

Also in the spirit of Homecoming, we have created a special Flickr collection dedicated to UW Madison Homecoming images through the decades.  Take a peek!

The Homecoming festivities have already started, this year's theme is the Legends of Bucky Badger. We wanted to take some time and show you how campus used to celebrate Homecoming traditions!  All of these photos and more can be found in our UW Madison Collection.

Get out your paper mache, all you student organizations and Greeks!  This years parade is on Friday, Oct 8 and will go from Gilman to State Street. The parade has been going on for years and the University community always has some great floats!  From Homecoming paper mache animals to a hobo band, in 1986 there was even a Homecoming camel! 

The pep rally is another time honored tradition on campus.  The image on the left is from the Homecoming pep rally in 1947.  This year's pep rally will follow the parade.  And don't miss out on the fireworks!


Homecoming is a fun time here at UW Madison.  Have you and your friends participated in any of the events in the past or this year?  


On Friday, we will blog about the upcoming rivalry game between Minnesota and our Badgers.  So look out for the axe.


If you want more information on the festivities this year go to the UW Homecoming site.

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!