Archives Department
The Archives Department preserves the historical records of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as well as donated records collections relating to the history of Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin.
As the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Milwaukee Area Research Center, we also provide access to WHS’s collections from the convenience of our reading room.
Our historical records are available for research by students, faculty, staff, and the general public unless closed for confidentiality reasons.
Starting May 19, the UWM Archives will be open by appointment only. Please provide 24 hours notice so staffing can be arranged for your visit.
Library Catalog
Use Search@UW for materials in the UWM Archives, UWM Special Collections, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Finding Aids
Use Archival Resources in Wisconsin to discover primary sources around the state of Wisconsin.
Digital Collections
Search our Digital Collections to locate and access images, oral histories, and other digitized and born-digital content.
WTMJ-TV
Explore Milwaukee’s history day by day with the WTMJ-TV News Search, our searchable catalog of nearly 50,000 news stories broadcast from 1950 to 1980 by WTMJ-TV. Stories cover all aspects of Milwaukee history including politics, business and industry, sports, entertainment, and social justice movements.
News and Events
New Exhibit: Food History Personal Archives
Students from Professor Arijit Sen’s course “Topics in American History: Food as a Historical Artifact” created personal archives relating to the role of food in creating a sense of belonging in their lives and used those archives to curate this exhibit. The exhibit will be on display through Friday, May 16 in the Archives Gallery, 3rd Floor West, Golda Meir Library.
New Exhibit: Voices from Desi Wisconsin
This exhibit highlights the archives’s oral history collection of South Asian immigrants to the Milwaukee area and their experiences making a new home and life in Wisconsin from the 1950s-1970s, complete with QR codes to the online interviews, which were recorded in 2020 and 2021, as well as photographs and other records from the period. This exhibit will be back on display beginning Monday, May 19 in the Archives Gallery, 3rd Floor West, Golda Meir Library.
View the oral history collection and listen to the interviews
New collection: Esperanza Unida Records, 1982-1990
.2 cubic feet
Esperanza Unida is a non-profit organization founded in 1971 dedicated to helping Milwaukee residents, specifically Latine workers, with training for careers in order to bring better prosperity to Milwaukee’ South Side. The organization offered training programs in auto repair and sales, welding, metal fabrication, and construction, which doubled as businesses. After some financial struggles, the group lost its non-profit status, but this was restored in April 2012. In 2014, the organization’s building on National Avenue was seized for unpaid taxes and converted to an office space and apartments. The organization was also known for a famous mural in the city entitled the “Mural of Peace” which was completed in 1994; restoration of the mural began in 2012.
New accession: UWM Department of Music records, 1915-1991
5 cubic feet
The archives added a series of recordings of the UWM Orchestra and Band from the 1960s through 1980s to its existing collection.
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Hours
Mon-Fri: 9am – 4:30pm
By Appointment Only
Contact
(414) 229-5402
askarch@uwm.edu