Wisconsin Historical Society

Agency of Wisconsin, United States

The Wisconsin Historical Society (officially the State Historical Society of Wisconsin) is simultaneously a state agency and a private membership organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans Allegheny West. The society's headquarters are located in Madison, Wisconsin, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. TOC

The Wisconsin Historical Society is organized into four divisions: the Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections, the Division of Museums and Historic Sites, the Division of Historic Preservation Public History, and the Division of Administrative Services.

The Division of Library, Archives and Museum Collections collects and maintains books and documents about the history of Wisconsin, the United States, and Canada. The society's library and archives, which together serve as the library of American history for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, contain nearly four million items, making the society's collection the largest in the world dedicated exclusively to North American history. The Wisconsin Historical Society's extensive newspaper collection is the second largest in the United States after the Library of Congress. Visual materials in the archives include some three million photographs, negatives, films, architectural drawings, cartoons, lithographs, posters, and a variety of visual ephemera. The Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research is also housed within the division. The society's archives also serve as the official repository for state and local government records. The other historic sites are tourist attractions that display historic buildings reflecting Wisconsin history and provide exhibitions and demonstrations of state history, such as ethnic settlement, mining, farming, fur trading, transportation, and pioneering life. Historic Site LocationBlack Point EstateLake Geneva, WisconsinCircus World MuseumBaraboo, WisconsinFirst CapitolBelmont, WisconsinH. H. Bennett StudioWisconsin Dells, WisconsinMadeline Island MuseumLa Pointe, WisconsinOld World WisconsinEagle, WisconsinPendarvisMineral Point, WisconsinReed SchoolNeillsville, WisconsinStonefieldCassville, WisconsinSylvanus Wade HouseGreenbush, WisconsinVilla LouisPrairie du Chien, Wisconsin

The Division of Historic Preservation Public History administers the state's historic preservation program, The society maintains a fully digitized archive that contains more than 2,000 feature articles totaling more than 30,000 pages.

The Division of Administrative Services provides support and planning for the WHS and its divisions. The society's website include a large, searchable collection of historical images and a vast digital archive containing thousands of scanned documents relating to Wisconsin history. Wisconsin Historical Society employees are employees of the State of Wisconsin.