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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.
From telegraphy to auto repair to engineers, the UW campus organized to prepare student soldiers for war.
UW Archives [UWYearBk1920.p0371]
The war yielded some positive outcomes for female students. Many gained leadership positions on campus that had previously been closed to them, including editorship of the Badger yearbook. Twelve agriculture students established the first Women’s Agriculture Society in the United States, and…As sharply divided opinions about the war drew unwanted national attention to the state, the UW was eager to show its loyalty.
From meatless Tuesdays to research aimed at improving agricultural production, food was deemed a key weapon against the Germans.
UW Archives S16748
The greatest impact on the home front was the rationing program. To save coal, Lathrop Hall was closed in the winter of the 1917–18 academic year, and physical education activities were reduced to outdoor winter sports, including skiing on Bascom Hill.…
When war broke out in Europe in 1914, a UW English professor proposed another path.
The First World War changed the course of history and — for a time — the UW’s mission. To help with the war effort, the campus shifted much of its focus to educating and training future soldiers. “When the war was declared … there was not an instant’s hesitation in…
Scientists weren’t the only faculty members to assist the government — historians, geologists, and others pitched in, too.
When the U.S. entered the First World War, the UW joined the fight by training soldiers, conducting poison-gas research, and sending students to work on Wisconsin farms.
A capacity crowd of students, faculty, and community members gathered inside the Field House on December 12, 1941. UW Archives S07306.
No exclamation point was needed, but the editors of the December 9, 1941, Daily Cardinal used one anyway: “We Are at War!” The…
Jeff Miller
When some schools barred the door, UW–Madison welcomed black students from around the country who then went on to successful careers in journalism, law, medicine, and a host of other fields.
“When I told my dad I was going to Wisconsin, he…
From urban gardening to Southern black farmers who organized against oppression, UW assistant professor Monica White’s research reveals a missing chapter in the civil rights narrative.
A UW wood scientist became the star witness in a trial that captivated the nation, garnering comparisons to Sherlock Holmes for his role in solving the Lindbergh-baby kidnapping case.
After 25 years of covering UW–Madison, a university photographer revisits the people and places he’s captured to show how they’ve changed.
