Research

Archives and Special Collections preserves the historical records of UWM and its predecessor institutions. To assist in the preservation of UWM’s history, we coordinate the campus records retention program.

Archives and Special Collections also supports the research and instructional missions at UWM by providing access to rare books, special printed materials, and historically significant papers and records created or collected by individuals, families, and organizations (i.e., “manuscript collections”). Significant collections include the WTMJ-TV news film collection (1950-1980), the largest surviving body of television news footage in Wisconsin; the UWM Book Arts Collection, which documents and demonstrates the use of the book as an art medium; the Roman B.J. Kwasniewski photograph collection, documenting Milwaukee’s Polish south side from 1911 to 1947; the History of the Book collections which include manuscript facsimiles, incunables, and 17^th-century imprints; and the editorial files of the Little Review magazine.

As a research aid, Archives and Special Collections maintains in the reading room a reference collection of published sources that relate to its archival holdings and manuscript collections. It includes histories of area communities, businesses, organizations, and churches.

Collection strengths pertain to the following subject areas:

The George Hardie Aviation and Aerospace History Collection documents the development of modern aviation and aircraft, especially as they relate to contemporary society and popular imagination, through primary printed sources published from the 1890s to the mid-1960s. Areas of focus include military, commercial, instructional, and hobbyist aspects of aviation. Developed through gift and non-state funds.

The Book Arts Collection endeavors to document and demonstrate the use of the book form as an art medium. As such, it forms part of the larger Printing & Publishing History concentration in Archives and Special Collections. The book arts collection focuses primarily on examples of artists’ book works from the late nineteenth century to the present. Emphasis is placed on examples of American book arts, especially those of the Upper Midwest, although selected examples of non-American book work, especially British, are also represented. The collection includes artist-designed and handmade books; examples of fine printing; uses of handmade papers; examples of fine binding; innovative book structures; typographic design and experimentation. Emphasis is placed on the multiple or editioned work, although one-of-a-kind artist’s books are selectively acquired, especially those produced locally or regionally. Collection development is through gift and purchase.

This collection documents combat and support units on both sides of the American Civil War through primary printed sources published from the mid-nineteenth century to the early 1920s, or within the lifetime of those who would have witnessed or participated in the conflict. Areas of concentration within the collection include combat, medical, administrative, and civilian aspects of the war. Materials include military unit histories and rosters; published diaries, memoirs, and personal records; official government publications; reports, proceedings, and transactions of military societies and unit reunions; biographies of individuals engaged in the war. Developed through both gift and purchase.

The collection of comic books consists of thousands of comic and graphic-novel serial titles mainly from the late 1960s to the present. The collection is developed through gift and non-state funds only.

The John S. Best Collection focuses on the breeding, raising and showing of dogs, primarily in the United States and Great Britain, through materials published from the 1880s to the1970s. The collection is developed through gift and non-state funds.

Archives and Special Collections collects on the history of the archives profession including the records of regional and national archival organizations and the papers of prominent professionals in the field. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

Online collections:

SAA oral history

Archives and Special Collections holds a number of collections relating to nursing, health care, and health advocacy organizations in Milwaukee. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

History of American Nursing

Additionally, the History of American Nursing Collection documents the rise and development of American nursing issues, practice, and education through primary printed sources published from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1950s. Areas of concentration within the collection include early technical skills and general nursing care; the legal and ethical aspects of nursing and its development; obstetrics, pediatrics, and family planning; community and public health; nursing education; nursing and the military; Wisconsin and Milwaukee-area nursing history. This collection is developed through both gift and purchase.

Nurse Romance Novel Collection

A Nurse Romance Novel Collection can also be found in Archives and Special Collections. Consisting of over 425 items, the collection features books of the romance genre where nurses are featured as central characters.

This collection has emphases in three areas: eighteenth-century Irish imprints; materials from the Irish Literary Renaissance; and contemporary Irish poetry, particularly from Irish small presses. Developed through gift and purchase.

Materials in this collecting area document Jewish life, culture, and religious thought, primarily through materials published from the 1840s to the 1960s. Materials outside these parameters are acquired selectively, such as finely-produced facsimiles of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, or signed, first, and special editions of novels by contemporary Israeli or other Jewish writers whose works reflect Jewish life and thought. Developed through gift and purchase.

This collection, supported by the Louis P. and Ethel S. Setlick Fund for the Study of Jewish Society and Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, acquires published, primary-source materials that serve as documentary evidence of Jewish life in Latin American and Caribbean culture, from newspapers and announcements to original community-generated accounts to first and special editions of fiction and literary works.

The collection documents both historical and contemporary Jewish culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, and includes not only Jewish-generated materials, but also non-Jewish responses to Jewish communities, including anti-Semitism and pro-Jewish literature. Literary works include first and special editions by Jewish authors that focus primarily on Jewish themes.

The collection holds materials in several languages, including Spanish, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, and English. Generally, the collection does not hold secondary-source materials. The collection is developed through both purchase and gift.

We have extensive holdings pertaining to the history of Milwaukee women and Milwaukee’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities as well as records relating to the HIV/AIDS crisis. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

Online collections:

Subject Guides:

LGBT People in Milwaukee

Materials in this collecting area document pre-Stonewall gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer life and culture, as well as the historical and contemporary Milwaukee-area LGBTQ+ community. Materials in this area are generally published before 1969, with the exception of local publications and pre-Stonewall autobiographical experiences. There is a particular emphasis on gay and lesbian fiction, especially pulp fiction and romance novels. This collection is developed through gift and purchase.

The Walter Sava collection on Martín Fierro consists of multiple editions of José Hernández’s nineteenth-century epic poem on the legendary Argentine gaucho, Martín Fierro. This collection is developed through gift and non-state funds only.

Archives and Special Collections documents the activities of artists, writers, and performing artists in the Milwaukee area, as well as the records of local galleries, production companies, collectives, and other artistic organizations. We also hold the records of local architects including architectural drawings. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

Online collections:

Archives and Special Collections documents the history of the brewing and beer making in Milwaukee including the corporate records of beer makers and organizational records of related associations. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

This collection endeavors to be a comprehensive collection of American Indian and Native Hawaiian thought and literary effort consisting of materials written or created by native peoples of the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada from all historical and contemporary periods. Materials in the collection include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, journalism, transcriptions of oral literature, and native language materials. Archives and Special Collections does not collect materials on Native American and Hawaiian themes and issues by non-Native writers, except in the case of anthologies, edited collections, translations, and collaborations with Native authors, where the intellectual content of the publication is primarily of American Indian or Native Hawaiian creation. The collection is developed through both gift and purchase.

Printing and Publishing History and the History of the Book

This broad category encompasses several areas of collecting emphasis, including the UWM Book Arts Collection described above, that demonstrate the development and uses of the book from the manuscript through the printing traditions. Many of Special Collections’ pre-nineteenth century imprints fall within this collecting rubric. There are several significant collecting areas, including the following:

Manuscript Facsimiles of medieval and Renaissance originals document early uses of the book form. These are collected selectively, primarily through gift and non-state funds.

The collection of Incunabula, or books printed before 1501, offers examples of the earliest printed books. These are collected very selectively, primarily through gifts and non-state funds.

The J. Max Patrick Literature Collection focuses primarily on seventeenth-century imprints. Additions to this collection are made mainly through gift and non-state funds.

The collection of Milwaukee German-Language Imprints attempts to be comprehensive in documenting Milwaukee as a center for German-language publishing in the United States. There is a particular emphasis on collecting the imprints established by George Brumder. This collecting area is developed through gift and purchase.

Collections in Archives and Special Collections document many ethnic communities in Milwaukee including the African American, German, Jewish, Latino, Native American, Polish, and South Asian communities. The Archives also documents the experiences of Milwaukee women, disabled people, and other historically marginalized groups. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

Online collections:

Subject Guides:

German Americans in Milwaukee
Jewish Americans in Milwaukee
Latinx History
Native Americans
Polish Americans
Polish-Jewish Relations in Milwaukee oral history
Women

This collection consists of comprehensive runs of science fiction periodicals published from the 1920s to the 1980s. This collection is developed through gift and non-state funds only.

Originally developed to support the Modern Language Association’s New Variorum Shakespeare Project, the Shakespeare Research Collection consists mainly of editions of the works of William Shakespeare from the Second Folio onward. This collection is developed through gift and non-state funds only.

Social action-based collections in Archives and Special Collections cover topics including peace activism, anti-discrimination and civil liberties, health, political and economic action, and community action/neighborhood revitalization, and are some of our most popular records. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

Online Collections:

March on Milwaukee

Subject guides:

African American Civil Rights Movement
Community Organizations

Fromkin Memorial Collection

The Fromkin Memorial Collection acquires monographs, pamphlets, newspapers and similar published materials documenting the history of the quest for social justice in the United States from approximately the end of the Civil War (1865) through the end of World War II (1945). Particular areas of emphasis include communism, socialism, the American labor movement, prison reform, women’s rights and suffrage, the temperance movement, and civil rights. Collection development is through gift and purchase.

This broad collecting emphasis cuts across all of the collecting areas detailed above in an effort to demonstrate the changing roles of women in all facets of human endeavor. There is a special emphasis on collecting materials that represent the struggle for women’s social, political, civil, military, sexual, reproductive, and employment rights, and that demonstrate women’s creative and intellectual activity. This collection is developed through gift and purchase.

Archives and Special Collections preserves and shares the historical records of UWM and its predecessor institutions. We acquire records from all levels of the university, including administrative and governance units; schools, colleges, and academic departments; athletic programs; and student groups and other affiliate organizations. The Archives also has a rich photograph collection, blueprints for most campus buildings, student newspapers, a complete run of yearbooks from 1896 to 1968, athletic films, and taped interviews with campus administrators. Significant and/or frequently used collections include:

Online collections:

Subject guides:

African-American Student Activism at UWM
Football at UWM
Latino Activism at UWM
Mascots at UWM
Men’s Basketball at UWM
UWM’s Predecessor Institutions
Vietnam War Protests at UWM