How can a shirt show us what people did for fun back in the day?

Bowling got its start at least as far back as the Middle Ages, but the game we know today became big in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, and Wisconsin got in on the game. Bowlers like Earlene Fuller made and wore custom-made shirts and sets that matched their team, showing fashion and cultural connections to bring them luck at the lanes.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

What do stories of kids running away to join the circus tell us about Wisconsin’s history?

Circus shows were in their golden age during the late 1800s. Behind the amazing feats and fun the shows promised was a major business enterprise. Circus workers formed a traveling city that was on the road nearly every day from spring through fall, thanks to the railroad. Today, Circus World stands at the site where circus history began right here in Wisconsin!

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

How do amateur newspapers document the experiences of young people during the Progressive Era?

Young people writing and printing their own newspapers became popular in the late 1860s and 70s. This was a time of significant industrialization in the United States. With the invention of a small, hobby printing press, young people could make and share news via their own newspapers and grow communities by printing and swapping them.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

What do hit records tell us about life and business in post-WWI Wisconsin?

After World War I, factories and mass production were booming—and so was the record business! People had income to buy records and record players, and companies took notice. Paramount Records, started by the Wisconsin Chair Company based in Port Washington, sold records by well-known musicians of the time until the Great Depression crashed the party.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

Airplanes are more than just a way to get from one place to another quickly—they are historical artifacts! To keep those planes flying high and on the right route, lighted airway beacons and radio communications were developed during the “Golden Age of Aviation” between World War I and World War II. Even during the challenging years of the Great Depression, these innovations propelled the use of planes by services like the United States Postal Service to get mail across the state, country, and world faster than ever before.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

How do faked photos on postcards poke fun at the reality of life in the Midwest over 100 years ago?

Tall-tale postcards—photographic postcards showing greatly exaggerated produce and animals–emerged as part of the “postcard mania” in the United States in the late 1800s to the 1920s. Life on the plains and prairies at that time was tough. Droughts, storms, swarms of insects, and other disasters plagued places like Wisconsin and made growing food far from easy. The tall-tale postcard emerged as a humorous response–with supersized fruits and vegetables making the Midwest seem like the land of plenty and problem-free.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

How does toast tell us about the time of the fur trade in Wisconsin?

Before and after the American Revolutionary War, French explorers were coming to the area we now know as Wisconsin. One of those people was a blacksmith named Joseph Jourdain. He and other blacksmiths used fire to heat metal so it could be shaped into tools like an iron toaster, which was used to make toast over a fire.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

The Kindness Curriculum is a free 24-lesson mindfulness guide designed for early learning classrooms, researched and developed by the Center for Healthy Minds at UW-Madison. The curriculum is accompanied by a multi-part video series produced by PBS Wisconsin, which is designed to give educators insight into the positive impacts of teaching mindfulness and support educators in implementing the lessons in the Kindness Curriculum;

The Kindness Curriculum introduces techniques to help students self-regulate and improve peer relationships. Participation in the curriculum has been linked to academic achievement and increased performance in areas that predict future success.

The Kindness Curriculum video series provides insights from educators and a guided mindfulness exercise. On the project website, you can watch the series, download the Kindness Curriculum lessons, view the learning standards met and explore research behind the curriculum.

The Look Back is a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The series is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

The series is a collaboration between PBS Wisconsin Education, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Rebecca M. Blank Center for Campus History, University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries, Wisconsin educators and learners, and museums and historical preservation and interpretation organizations throughout Wisconsin.

© 2024 Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Funding Provided By
Timothy William Trout Education Fund a gift of Monroe and Sandra Trout
Eleanor and Thomas Wildrick Family
Focus Fund for Education
Friends of PBS Wisconsin

This resource offers a selection of primary sources related to Mildred Fish Harnack. These sources include: photos, admission papers, letters of recommendation, a poem written by Harnack, and an article related to outstanding UW Alumni. Mildred Fish Harnack's life before leaving for Germany comes to life through these sources.

How can a sculpture shape ideas about a well-known leader and the ending of slavery?

After Thomas Ball learned that President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated in 1865, he decided to make a statue in his honor. His work helped form Lincoln’s legacy as ‘The Great Emancipator,’ but a closer look at the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation and responses to the sculpture help shape a more complex story about the freeing of enslaved people.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

This site is a collaborative effort between the herbaria of the UW-Madison (WIS) and the UW-Steven's Point (UWSP), along with most of the other herbaria located in the state of Wisconsin. It contains information on each of the more than 2600 vascular plant species that occurs in Wisconsin, including photos, distribution maps, specimen records, and more.

How can a bike help us travel through time?

When bikes became available to more people in the late 1800s, they offered a way of getting around for lots of people who couldn’t afford a horse. While cars have grown in popularity over the years, bikes continue to be used for recreation, sport, and travel. What’s more, bicycle production has put Wisconsin on the map.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

This video resource explains and demonstrates how to plant Fast Plants in a bottle growing system made from recycled soda/water bottles was made by the instructors at UW-Madison who teach Biocore (a foundational undergraduate biology course). In this planting approach, vermiculite is used along with a soil-less potting mix (e.g. Redi-Earth).

What Works for Health is a resource from the Population Health Institute at UW-Madison and provides communities with information to help select and implement evidence-informed policies, programs, and system changes that will improve the variety of factors that affect health. The research underlying this site is based on a model of population health that emphasizes the many factors that can make communities healthier places to live, learn, work, and play.

This is an interactive open textbook that features a number of activities and audio clips for learners to use as they anchor language materials. In addition to being a great resource for learning Portuguese, it provides useful examples of ways to use H5P activities to increase formative assessment opportunities for students.

This Scientific Writing Manual guides students through the process of writing a college-level lab report, poster presentation, and other assignments specific to the UW-Madison Biocore program. This is the first component of what will soon be a three-part textbook called The Process of Science Companion.
(Please stay tuned for the expanded and updated textbook link once the statistics primer and additional resources are also complete!)

Because students are often able to learn about genre conventions more effectively when they have models to refer to, Dr. Batzli and Dr. Harris also include annotated examples of strong student writing. They also provide models of weak hypotheses, titles, and other forms of writing and outline how to make them stronger.

Excerpts from this writing manual may be of use to students in courses outside of UW-Madison Biocore program. The assignment descriptions and rubrics may be useful for instructors who are looking for materials to adapt to their own teaching contexts.

How do bunk beds hold the history of agricultural production in Wisconsin?

After World War II, agricultural production in Wisconsin was growing, and farms needed more workers. Large companies brought in workers from southern states to harvest fruits and vegetables, which spurred the creation of migrant worker camps. Harsh working conditions and poor accommodations led workers to organize and demand better from their employers.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

How do the stitches of a sampler tell us about the past?

Using a needle and thread was considered a necessary household skill for girls and women in the 1800s. They made samplers to practice stitches and show off what they could do. Margaret Miekel’s sampler helps us stitch together the living and learning in the area before Wisconsin was officially a state!

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.

How does a sundial compass give us direction about people coming to the area that is now Wisconsin?

The first Europeans in the area that is now Wisconsin were likely French explorers and fur traders who began arriving in the 1600s and continued trading in the area after the French and Indian War. The Le Maire Sundial points us to this time and the history of northeastern Wisconsin.

This episode is part of The Look Back, a series made for learners in grades 4-6 that explores eras from Wisconsin’s history through artifacts. The collection is hosted by historians who model an inquiry process: sharing artifacts, asking questions, visiting archives and museums to learn more, telling the story of their findings as they go, and making connections to our lives today.