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As a nun, Keller defied traditional expectations in becoming the first woman to earn a PhD in computer science. Courtesy of Clarke University
In 1965, Sister Mary Kenneth Keller PhD’65 became the nation’s first woman to earn a PhD in computer science. She came close…
When popular graduate student Jenny Morrill MA1905 left campus for the summer, librarians found evidence of “a most awful crime” that she blamed on her morphine addiction.
In 2009, copilot Jeff Skiles ’84 played a key role in the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing.
Bryce Richter
After 70 secretive years, a gargoyle has been reunited with its twin. One of the sandstone statues, which sat atop the old Law School, was thought to have been destroyed during the building’s 1963 demolition. But the children of Paul Been ’49 LLB’53 grew…
UW Archives 2018s00431
In 2017, the Badgers lost just one football game. In 1968, they couldn’t win one.
It’s almost impossible to believe in these days of annual bowl game appearances, but the UW once suffered through 23 straight winless games — 22 losses and…
Dutch elm disease claims Elmer, a campus tree more than a century old that stood outside the Hector F. DeLuca Biochemistry Building.
For nine decades, Memorial Union has been a favorite spot on campus for fun and games. See how it's changed and how it remains the same.
Bryce Richter
Between 1919 and 1926, two UW student organizations took the name Ku Klux Klan, and a report delving into that era of campus history “does not make for comfortable reading, nor should it,” says Chancellor Rebecca Blank.
In the wake of a white nationalist…
The Law School’s diplomas were much larger in 1876 than they have been in recent years. Compared to his “postcard”-sized diploma, Peter Christianson ’71, JD’77 says, they are “small billboards.” Mary Jo Koranda, Head of Circulation, UW Law Library
For years, the diploma for Clarion Youmans…
The List Issue featured four University Archives images in search of captions. Readers answered the call and helped identify three of them, with the first image (below) generating the most replies.
The dueling knights were part of an event sponsored by the Society for Creative…
Meet a Badger who made one of the most important contributions to public health in the 20th century.
In October 2017, when Steve Miller played a concert at the Union Theater, he became just one in a long line of major acts who have appeared there. Here’s a sampling of some of the other stars who have graced the Union’s stage.…
Researcher Eloise Gerry blazed a trail for female scientists during her four decades with the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory in Madison. Photo courtesy of USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, Madison
I always knew my children would be smarter than me — I just didn’t expect…
If you had been a female student at the UW in the late 1860s, your first year would have included the not-so-challenging courses listed below. For a brief period in its early days, the University of Wisconsin had a special college known as the Female College. Although the…
Jeff Miller
To thank the university that launched you into the real world, sometimes writing a check doesn’t feel like enough.
That was certainly the case for Tom Koehler MS’96, who gave his 40-acre yak farm to UW–Madison in 2012. The aptly named “Green Bay Yakkers”…
Photo Illustration By N. B. Rinehart; Istock Huad262; Jeff Miller; Bryce Richter
UW–Madison can lay claim to something no other college can: an entire era of campus pranks.
Neil Steinberg, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and something of an expert on college pranks, devoted a…
Suomi NPP satellite
Named after Verner Suomi, who founded the UW’s renowned Space Science and Engineering Center in 1965 and is often called the father of satellite meteorology…
A moment in history that transformed the lives of many students and the UW campus.
From scientific marvels to meaningful mementos, items found in the offices of UW professors help tell their stories.
It’s part of the campus master plan’s big picture: better managing space while protecting historic buildings and campus landscapes.
UW Archives is working to digitize each piece of UW history for people to both use and share, but with limited resources, that’s easier said than done.
UW Archives is home to items that belonged to the ecologist who became the most influential conservation thinker of the 20th century.
After hitting bottom, Dean Olsen ’82 used his love for maps and support from UW–Madison to create a tool for preserving the memories of others and build a new life for himself.
A resource center for African American students has a new home on campus.
For one night a year from 1911 until 1930, the shores of Lake Mendota sparkled with old-world charm.
A submarine detector tested in Lake Mendota is just one of the contributions UW faculty members made to the war effort.
