Kenosha County is situated in the most southeastern part of Wisconsin adjoining the Illinois State border, and is this bloggers home town.

The C.E. Dewey Lantern Slide Collection contains images of this time period from the 1830s to the early 1940s. Cortland Ernest Dewey collected Kenosha County photographs, images, drawings, and maps and also provided detailed descriptions of these materials from old settlers, their descendents, and news stories.

The Louis M. Thiers Glass Negative Collection contains images from the 1880s into the 1910s. The Louis M. Thiers Glass Negative Collection is comprised of over 1,000 glass plate photographic negatives. In 1938 Mr. Thiers gave his glass negatives, albums, notebooks and other items to the Kenosha County Historical Society. The stability of the glass plates has wonderfully preserved the images of people, homes, buildings, industries, domestic and recreational scenes, animals, landscapes, and events in Kenosha County, primarily from the late 1880s into the early 1910s.

The eight books chosen for this collection represent the early days of European-American settlement in Kenosha County, document the history of Racine and Kenosha Counties, and profile prominent residents.

This collection contains amazing photographs showing Kenosha before my time. This picture on the left looks exactly like a log that me and my friends used to hang out at in Petrifying Springs park, who knows maybe it's the same one.

Check it out, Kenosha might surprise you!

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.

Well it's that time of year again, Thanksgiving! Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie... YUM I'm hungry already! For this UWDCC blogger Thanksgiving has always been about traditions, so I thought I'd share some images and collections dealing with Thanksgiving traditions.

Our Wisconsin Traditions of Social Care collection contains this great photo and more showing the generosity of Wisconsin charities. This photo was taken at a dinner in Milwaukee held by Goodwill and the Wisconsin Telephone Pioneer Women in 1960. All 400 people seem to be enjoying themselves, what a great image!

Another great collection that touches close to home for me is the Kenosha County History collection. Back in Kenosha there is a Thanksgiving Day Race that has been going on as long as I can remember called the Turkey Day Run. This collection contains images of this run dating back to 1907! That is 100 years of tradition for my hometown!

These are just some of our great holiday images. Check out the rest of our collections and see what you can find.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Veterans Day! Here in the office we can't have a parade like this one in Kenosha, WI, instead I thought I would highlight some of our war related collections. Maybe you can find an image of a family member in or find some of your war buddies!

The World War II Veterans of Mount Horeb collection just went live last month. The digital collection is an effort to honor the sacrifices and achievements of Mount Horeb veterans and to ensure their place in local history. The collection brings together several types of materials: books, photographs, audio interviews, slides, and personal scrapbooks and memorabilia. The Mount Horeb Public Library began this project by personally interviewing willing WWII veterans. Each of these men and one woman has compelling stories to tell about serving their country during WWII. Many had the opportunity to take pictures of a 1940s war-ravaged Europe, which are also included in the collection.

I would also like to highlight the Wisconsin Goes to War: Our Civil War Experience Collection. This collection is made up of first person narrative accounts of Wisconsin soldiers and citizens. Through their letters, diaries, poems and other records, we learn about the state's contributions to the Union victory that cost the lives of over 12,000 of the state's men.

Another great war related collection is The Home Front: Manitowoc County in World War II. This digital collection of photographic images, oral histories, published sources and documents, artifacts, and other resources helps to document and explain the history of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin during the period from 1939 to 1947—both the more universally shared home front experiences and activities as they played out in this specific county, and those more unique activities which especially defined the area during the War.

The UWDCC hopes that you enjoy the collections that we have highlighted here and all of our interesting war collections. We even have one about the Civil War Band! Check it out!