Lagoon in Tenney Park

At this point in winter, I am starting to think about how excited I am for summer to come so I can spend some lazy summer days in Madison's beautiful parks.  But I've never thought about how those parks came to be. Recently we went live with a collection dedicated to the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, these are the people who helped create the parks we have today.

Maple Bluff, Farewell Drive

The Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association Reports and Related Materials collection provides accessibility to early information about the City of Madison around the turn of the 20th century.  The reports detail money coming in and going out and work done on various parks and pleasure drives. The drives and parks that this group helped create are an integral part of our Madison community. 


During the turn of the 20th century, the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association wanted to attract attention to this cities beautiful lakes. They wanted to make Madison a popular place for summer vacation homes and visitors. 


If you've ever wondered how our parks and pleasure drives were constructed take a look at this new collection.  And cross your fingers that we will be able to enjoy our Madison parks soon. 

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.

February is nationally known as Black History Month. University of Wisconsin Madison campus organizations have prepared various activities to celebrate. Visit the UW Madison events calendar for more information on the films, art exhibitions, dance performances, and other Black History events planned around campus.

Our State of Wisconsin Collection contains great archive documents of the first African-American settlement in Wisconsin. Papers of Charles Shepard and other residents of the black settlement of Pleasant Ridge(now Beetown), Wisconsin,

including letters, tax receipts, and community history. Shepard (Sheppard) was the head of the first African-American family to settle in what became a pioneer black community about five miles west of Lancaster, Wisconsin.

This collection of documents is a celebration of Black History in Wisconsin. We hope that you will take the time to look at the collection and are able to attend some of the activities on campus.

The University of Wisconsin will celebrate Darwin Day tomorrow, February 13th! A full day event will be held at the Microbial Science building on the UW campus. The event is free and open to the public. Check out the activities planned for Darwin Day 2010!

The UWDC wants to help you get in the Darwin spirit with our Galápagos Collection. The collection of Galápagos materials that includes anatomical specimens, images, and papers at the UW-Madison Zoological Museum (UWZM) is unique and rare. Ten expeditions since 1969 to the Galápagos by UW-Madison scientists and researchers have produced a wealth of invaluable museum specimens: approximately 669 complete and 675 partial skeletons. In addition these expeditions have produced thousands of images and papers that up until now have not been preserved in any format.

The images in the collection are great examples of the animals found on the island and provide great views of the land. The image on the top left shows the Galápagos Tortoises with a great view of the landscape of the island. On the right is an image of the Galápagos Penguin and Marine Iguanas sitting on lava.

Celebrate Darwin's 201st birthday by taking at look at these images.

Raise your glass in honor of the Beer and Cheese Fest in Madison this weekend! We thought we would take a look through our collections for images to celebrate those two things we love here in Wisconsin!

The State of Wisconsin Collection brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary materials: writings about the State of Wisconsin and unique or valuable materials that relate to its history and ongoing development. And of course features some of the best images of CHEESE AND BEER!

This a view from the steps of the Court House in the center of the square in the business section of Monroe, Wisconsin, on Saturday, September 14, 1940 - Cheese Day. This celebration was held every 5 years. The crowd has gathered to witness a Dairy Maid milking contest.

This collection also contains a great book titled Cheesemaking in Wisconsin: a short history! The book contains text and great pictures of cheese factories all around Wisconsin!

And we can't forget to mention the great breweries here in Wisconsin. In the Kenosha City directory of 1858-9, it was recorded that this brewery was located on North Water Street, on the corner of the first alley south of Lemon Street. The brewery annually converted seven to ten thousand bushels of malt into beer. Conrad Muntzenberger came to Kenosha in 1847 and operated this brewery until 1875.

This month we thought we would share with you The Real Estate Collection. The Real Estate Collection is intended to provide online access to scholarly research, teaching materials and examples of commercial work in real estate done by celebrated University of Wisconsin professor James A. Graaskamp and others.

James Graaskamp taught real estate at the UW-Madison from 1964 to 1988 and was chairman of the Real Estate Department from 1968 until his untimely death in 1988. Graaskamp built the teaching side of the Real Estate program into national prominence.

This digital collection contains over 165 of Landmark Research’s consulting reports completed between the late 1960s to the early 1990s. There are appraisals, market and feasibility studies as well as other types of research and analysis. The collection provides a sampling of the extraordinary work of this truly remarkable man. We are all proud to have played a small role in preserving it and making it available to others with the support of the Counselors of Real Estate and the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association.

Take a look at the appraisals from some prominent Madison locations.

Oh Halloween in Madison, what a fun and crazy time of the year. To celebrate here in the office we started looking through our collection of past badger yearbooks to see how UW Madison students used to celebrate.

I found this article from 1977 about the state street chaos that still lives on today! Check out those great costumes! I love the ghosts with a small hole for the mouth, just big enough for a straw to fit in! Click on the image for a closer look at these hilarious pictures or to read the article. Maybe it will help you come up with a costume idea for this weekend!

If you liked this picture, check out our twitter and facebook pages! This week we will be posting images from all of our collections that remind us of the Halloween season. Or check out the collections for yourself and see what you can find!