Virtual Exhibit – Online Collection
125 Objects, 125 Years
The Milwaukee Public Museum curatorial staff have selected 125 of the most important, unique, or interesting objects and collections to highlight during our 125th anniversary year. These items reflect the broad scope of the over 4 million plus objects in the Museum's collections.
Many of the items featured below are not on exhibit due to their fragile nature. One of the Museum’s primary goals is to preserve objects for generations to come. As a virtual exhibit we can share with people around the world our most rare and intriguing items without harm to them.
 Hebior Mammoth The Hebior Mammoth is the most complete mammoth ever found in North America with 85% of the bones recovered. Excavated in Kenosha County in the mid 1990s on the farm of John Hebior, the mammoth found with stone tools and butchering marks, has been radiocarbon dated to about 14,500 years ago. The Hebior Mammoth is one of the earliest pieces of evidence of human occupation in North America, predating the Clovis culture by more than a thousand years. The Milwaukee Public Museum purchased the mammoth skeleton thanks to the generous support of local donors John Brander and Christine Rundblad. See a cast of the mammoth skeleton in the Museum’s concourse. 1.) Hebior Mammoth |  Apache Playing Cards These playing cards are from the Apache, an American Indian tribe living in Arizona. Apache playing cards are thought to be influenced by the Spanish, however, the cards’ decorations are distinctly of the traditional Apache artistic style. Made of rawhide and decorated with a variety of pictorial designs, the cards represent numbers or face card values. Playing cards had widespread use by the Apache during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and were even traded for by non-Apache groups. There are not many complete card sets, such as this one, that exist today. These cards a part of a larger collection donated by G. E. Copeland of Milwaukee in 1922. 2.) Apache Playing Cards |  Bing and Grondahl Christmas Plate Collection The Danish firm of Bing and Grondahl manufactured their first Christmas plate in 1895. The Christmas plates are intricately designed to reflect an old Danish tradition. Hundreds of years ago, Danish masters would give their servants well designed Christmas plates and servants would have a competition to try and determine whose master had awarded them with the best plate. Today, Bing and Grondahl have kept the Christmas Plate tradition alive by producing a collectible ceramic plate each year at Christmas. The complete Milwaukee Public Museum collection includes every B&G Christmas plate, the first from 1895, “Behind the Frozen Window,” which features the skyline of Copenhagen, to the most recent “Christmas in the Woods,” from 2009. 3.) Bing and Grondahl Christmas Plate Collection |  Deakin’s Lilliputian Comic Opera Items This collection is comprised of a scrapbook and a complete female little person’s outfit associated with Deakin’s Lilliputian Comic Opera Company (DLCOC ). These artifacts date to the early 1880s during the company’s production of Jack the Giant Killer, a play that featured little people as regular sized people, and a tall man as a giant. The show was quite successful with high society and toured through the United States and Canada. DLCOC performed in dime theatres in the Milwaukee area. The clothing is an example of a small size middle class woman’s everyday outfit of the 1880s, and includes a dress, corset, camisole, bloomers, shoes and gloves. The scrapbook features pictures of the company of actors (almost all of the known little people actors of the era) in their costumes. The museum acquired the clothing and scrapbook in 1987. 4.) Deakin’s Lilliputian Comic Opera Items |  The DeFlores Disney Collection With 1500 pieces, the DeFlores Disney collection is one of the largest in a U.S. museum. The objects were collected by Lupe DeFlores and her son Cesar over a 25 year period from 1965 to the late 1980s, and include rare Disney memorabilia that shows the evolution of many of the best-known characters like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. The collection includes a range of items such as plates, figurines, games, lunch boxes, pails, Christmas ornaments, mugs, cookie jars, and watches. In 1981, the museum displayed the Mickey and Friends exhibit, highlighting items loaned from the DeFlores collection. The DeFlores family was so pleased with the museum’s exhibit, they decided to donate the entire collection to the museum in 1991 upon Mrs. DeFlores’s death. 5.) The DeFlores Disney Collection |
 Birdwing Butterflies Birdwing butterflies, genus Ornithoptera, are named “Birdwing” for their tremendous wingspan and body size. Native to the Indo-Australian region, there are about a dozen currently recognized species plus many subspecies and forms. The museum acquired a number of representative specimens through a donation from James R. Neidhoefer and his wife, Elaine, who amassed a large collection of worldwide Lepidoptera mostly through purchases and exchanges.
6.) Birdwing Butterflies |  I.A. Dinerstein Enamels Collection These enamels were a bequest to the Milwaukee Public Museum from Isadore A. Dinerstein, a local Russian immigrant, upon his death. The collection includes many decorative art pieces, and most notably 70 enameled objects. The enamels range in date from the 16th through 20th centuries, and come from France, Belgium, Russia, Turkey, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Japan, and America. All the enamels show vibrant colors, intricate designs, and incredible detail. 7.) I.A. Dinerstein Enamels Collection |  Japanese Friendship Doll In 1926, Dr. Sidney Gullick, a missionary and educator who had lived and worked in Japan since the 1890s, created an exchange program between the United States and Japan to promote peace, friendship and understanding. Children in almost every state raised money to send American dolls to many schools in Japan. Once the Japanese children received the dolls, they in turn raised money and sent dolls back to the United States. Kasumi Tsukuba, or Miss Ibaraki (the prefecture where she is from), was the doll sent to Wisconsin in 1927 and is now a part of Milwaukee Public Museum’s permanent history collection. She arrived in the state with a chest of clothes and a parasol, along with roughly 50 other accessories. In 2006, Miss Ibaraki was flown back to Japan and returned to the company that made her in 1927, the Yoshitoku Company, where she underwent restoration. 8.) Japanese Friendship Doll |  Works Progress Administration Handicraft Collection The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal that lasted from 1935-1942. In Milwaukee, the WPA had a division that provided work for women and African Americans. This was an integrated project, a rarity at the time. Workers began with simple handicrafts, like scrapbooks, but as their skills developed, they began to make more complex crafts such as dolls (like the Honey Chile doll depicted here), rugs and furniture. At any one time, the Milwaukee WPA had 250-1,000 people working for them and some of the women went on to start their own craft shops. The pieces at the Milwaukee Public Museum comprise the highest quality collection to come from the Works Progress Administration handicrafts era in Milwaukee. 9.) Works Progress Administration Handicraft Collection |  Peter Glass Marquetry Table A German immigrant, Peter Glass, crafted wooden tables with extremely intricate wooden veneer designs, which led him to win two major awards, one at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association exhibit in 1850 and one from the American Institute of New York in 1856. Shortly thereafter, Glass moved to Sheboygan, Wisconsin and began one of his greatest feats: a table containing nearly 20,000 pieces of wood. This design depicted faces of military and political heroes, with floral motifs. Today, very few Peter Glass Marquetry tables survive. Similar tables crafted by Glass are located at the Smithsonian Institution and the Illinois Governor’s Mansion. The table depicted here is on display in The Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit but remains covered to protect it from the damaging effects of the lights. 10.) Peter Glass Marquetry Table |
 Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Public Museum’s Milwaukee Bucks Collection holds the franchise establishment papers for the Bucks. The NBA awarded the franchise in 1968 to Wesley Pavalon and Marvin Fishman. That first season, the team struggled to win games, as is typical with new teams in the NBA, but they became successful their second season when Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Adbul Jabbar) joined the team. In addition to the papers, the collection also features the first Milwaukee game ball the Bucks used in competition plus game balls from the Bucks’ appearance at the National Championship game in 1971. 11.) Milwaukee Bucks |  Newhall House Fire Relics The Newhall House fire relics recall the story of one of the nation’s greatest hotel disasters. Before burning down, the Newhall House Hotel was one of the finest hotels in the country. Located in downtown Milwaukee, it attracted many guests from all over the world. Unfortunately, in January 1883, the hotel burnt to the ground, leaving at least 90 dead. After the fire, locals came to the ruins and picked through the ashes for Newhall House memorabilia to take home. Occasionally burned artifacts, like this goblet, are still being donated today. 12.) Newhall House Fire Relics |  “Tut” Clay Seal The “Tut” clay seal was acquired by the museum in the 1960s from a collector in New York. It was not until the late 1980s that a curator was working with the piece and saw the hieroglyphs for the syllable “TUT,” in the cartouche. “TUT” only appears in one Egyptian pharaoh’s name-Tutankhamen. The item was reviewed by a prominent Egyptologist from Chicago, and its relationship to Tutankhamen was tentatively accepted. 13.) “Tut” Clay Seal |  Dresden Tete-a Tete Tea Set This late 19th century porcelain tea set came from Germany. All the pieces have footed cups and the set includes a tea pot, cups, a creamer, and a sugar cup. The set has gold enamel and iridescent maroon colors. It is the finest and most beautiful tea set in the Milwaukee Public Museum. Dresden, Germany produces a significant amount of porcelain and is considered the “porcelain cradle of Europe.” 14.) Dresden Tete-a Tete Tea Set |  Japanese Censer from Schlitz Palm Garden The Schlitz Palm Garden was one of the most popular beer gardens (biergartens) of the late 1800s and early 1900s. It was a gathering place for politicians, celebrities, and local families. Inside, a bronze Japanese censer stood over sixteen feet tall. This censer was very typical of late 19th century Japanese exports and may have been made specifically for the Schlitz Palm Garden. Japanese artwork, like the Japanese censer, were very popular in America in the 1880s and the 1890s. The censer is currently on exhibit in the Sense of Wonder exhibit. 15.) Japanese Censer from Schlitz Palm Garden |
 Telephone Answering Machine The answering machine, a piece of technology people use all over the world, was invented here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The first answering machine was created by Joseph Zimmerman, a Milwaukee native, who had the idea for the invention after he spoke with an air conditioning and heating specialist who told him he did not want to leave his office because he had no secretary to take his phone calls. It weighs nearly 80 pounds and consists of two boxes; one had a record tape play and the other had a wire tape, which worked together to record the messages. Zimmerman created the answering machine in his Milwaukee home, patenting his creation in 1949. The museum currently has four different models of answering machines from the years 1949, 1965, 1968 and 1972. 16.) Telephone Answering Machine |  Ivory-billed Woodpecker The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is one of several species whose numbers have dwindled to the point where it is uncertain how many remain. The species is listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
17.) Ivory-billed Woodpecker |  Jones Island Figurines The Jones Island Figurines are rare folk art carved by John Mickowski during his retirement (from 1956 until his death in 1982). Carving close to 200 figures, Mickowski’s goal was to make art that depicted the life of people on Jones Island. Jones Island was a small community in Milwaukee on Lake Michigan. Carvings included members of his family and other area natives, such as the fisherman and the peddler. The Jones Island figurines range from a few inches tall to 7 or 8 feet. In 1968, John Mickowski donated three figurines to the museum, and since then three more pieces of Mickowski’s art have been donated. 18.) Jones Island Figurines |  Fortuny Dress Italian dress designer Mariano Fortuny was inspired by ancient classical style. Fortuny dresses display a consistent style throughout his career. Most dresses had pleated silk that was dyed in an elaborate style, which Fortuny never documented (and consequently, cannot be replicated today). The Fortuny dress at the Milwaukee Public Museum is rose colored, accented with small glass beads and a sash. The sash is gold print and says “Fortuny D s e” on it. This is a rare dress representing 1920s high culture. 19.) Fortuny Dress |  Indiana Wreath Quilt The Milwaukee Public Museum acquired the Indiana wreath quilt in the 1980s. This was one of four quilts designed (but not quilted) by Rose Kretsinger of Emporia, Kansas. Kretsinger was part of the “Emporia, Kansas phenomenon,” a small group of women who designed and crafted the most detailed and exquisite quilts of the 20th century. This quilt design dates to 1925. 20.) Indiana Wreath Quilt |
 Oleson Lifesaving Medal The U.S. Lifesaving medal was established in 1874 for anyone who saves or attempts to save a drowning person from a shipwreck or any other type of water related danger. It was originally granted by the U.S. Life Saving Service through the U.S. Treasury Department (now the United States Coast Guard) and is only awarded to United States citizens whose act of bravery occurs in U.S. waters. Citizens can be awarded a gold or silver medal. Anton Oleson was the head of a lifesaving station in Milwaukee’s harbor when on September 9, 1875 the bark “Tanner” was sinking in the harbor. Oleson saved the lives of several people onboard, for which he received this rare silver medal, one of the earliest awarded. 21.) Oleson Lifesaving Medal |  Dresden Doll WWII Jacket This rare WWII jacket was a donation to the Milwaukee Public Museum from its original owner, Staff Sergeant Byron Taylor Jr. A native Milwaukeean, Sergeant Taylor flew 39 missions over Germany with the Air Force. During WWII many airmen would decorate their flying jackets, making them both distinctive and unique. In Taylor’s division, all the men had the “Dresden Doll” on the back of their jackets, but each woman had a different face: the feminized caricature of the man who wore the jacket! 22.) Dresden Doll WWII Jacket |  William J. Uihlein Postage Stamp Collection The Uihlein Stamp collection was donated in 1928 by William J. Uihlein, an avid stamp collector who amassed 22 albums comprising 40,000 stamps from all over the world. Many of the stamps in this collection are pre-1900 and quite rare. Uihlein volunteered at the museum with his collection until his death in 1932. 23.) William J. Uihlein Postage Stamp Collection |  The Lalique Mask A valuable piece in the museum’s glass collection, the Lalique mask is an excellent example of glass artwork. It was crafted by Rene Lalique, known in the 1920s as Europe’s master of decorative glass. Although he is reknown for his work in jewelry, furniture accessories, vases and more, this piece of decorative glass is a product of Lalique’s shift in specialization after the world market’s collapse in 1929. Most of Lalique’s work after the Depression focused on architectural items such as rails and altars for churches and lighting fixtures and wall panels for department stores. 24.) The Lalique Mask |  Tiffany Mokume Vase Inspired by Japanese artifacts, the mokume vase is Tiffany’s recreation of Japanese metal work. This vase contains a square with panels of copper, silver and gold on a sterling silver frame. Tiffany and Company created a line of items displaying traditional Japanese metalworking techniques after Christopher Dresser, a long time friend of Louis Tiffany, returned from Japan with several artifacts. In 1878 Tiffany displayed his work at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, France. The international community believed these recreations to be some of the most important and significant metalworking creations of the time. 25.) Tiffany Mokume Vase |
 Northwood Cameo Plaque Dating to 1895 and depicting “Venus instructing Cupid,” the Northwood Cameo Plaque is unique. Although George Woodall is considered the greatest carver of English cameo glass, John Northwood was one of the first to carve this type of glass and is known to have made only seven works on cameo glass. He sparked a period of Greco-Roman recreations on glass and revitalized British interest in Greco-Roman glass works. 26.) Northwood Cameo Plaque |  1913 Harley-Davidson Motorcycle In 1903 Harley-Davidson began its motorcycle business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This item, a 1913 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, was manufactured during a time of great production and growth for the company. That year Harley-Davidson built a new, much larger factory. The following year production numbers soared to 16,284 motorcycles. After 1914 Harley-Davidson dominated the motorcycle industry. This machine serves as a marker of this time of economic and industrial growth for the Harley-Davidson motorcycle industry. 27.) 1913 Harley-Davidson Motorcycle |  Ferguson Breech Loading Rifle Unique to firearms history, this flint-lock Patrick Ferguson breech loading rifle is one of only 100 martial Ferguson’s rifles made and dates to 1776-1778. Prior to breech loading weaponry, muzzle-loading firearms were used. The breech loading rifle revolutionized firearm warfare with a design that enabled faster reloading during battle. Breech loading rifles had been used for more than 200 years prior to Patrick Ferguson’s design, but Ferguson’s version of this breech loading flintlock weapon, made possible by improvements in more precise engineering, was a more successful weapon. The Ferguson rifle provided for faster reloading time and a lesser threat of exposure to enemy fire. Had the British adopted this technology during the Revolutionary War, the consequences for the Americans could have been devastating. 28.) Ferguson Breech Loading Rifle |  Schloemer Automobile The Schloemer automobile, on exhibit in Streets of Old Milwaukee, was the first internal combustion of vehicle to run on the streets of Milwaukee. This vehicle is a product of Gottfried Schloemer’s and Frank Toepfer’s interest in producing a self-propelled vehicle. After their first attempt, a bicycle-like vehicle that required its passengers to pull a bar back and forth to operate the crank shaft, Schloemer and Toepfer looked to other innovations. Schloemer and Toepfer borrowed the gasoline engine design from the Sintz Machinery Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The engine was a single cylinder, and ignition was provided by two steel points which made contact within the engine. The engine was placed below the seat, and was powered by a belt system. Improvements in steering were made in time and other features were added such as brakes. The vehicle was ultimately commercially unsuccessful but inspired others to improve on the design. The car was bought by the Museum in 1920 from Gottfried Schloemer who used it to promote his business. This is the only one of its kind in existence. 29.) Schloemer Automobile |  Cased Colt Paterson Pistol In 1836 a patent was created for a weapon that used a revolving cylinder coupled with a stationary barrel. This was the first design for a marketable repeating shot firearm. Samuel Colt is attributed with the design of the first firearm under the patent, the Colt Paterson Pistol. A loading lever was eventually added to the design, enabling the weapon to be loaded without disassembly. 30.) Cased Colt Paterson Pistol |
 Jeweled Ivory Elephant This rare carved ivory elephant was decorated with 428 precious stones set in gold trappings and dates to the late 18th century. It originated in India and is believed to be a gift to a raja. The piece was donated to the museum in 1964 from a couple in Chicago who found it a beautiful piece of art. It is currently on exhibit in the museum’s India area. 31.) Jeweled Ivory Elephant |  Connecticut Cherry Highboy In the history of American cabinetmaking highboys are particularly valuable and important because they show advanced craftsmanship and artistry. This Connecticut highboy, dating back to the 18th century, is cherry wood with a double block front with bonnet top. The top has spiral (flame) finials and the highboy is supported by ball and claw feet. This particular highboy was once owned by a governor of Connecticut. 32.) Connecticut Cherry Highboy |  Napoleon and Josephine portraits These ivory miniatures are the work of Jacques Louis David, a French neoclassic painter. The Josephine miniature contains an ivory oval signed by David in 1816, the year after Napoleon’s last defeat at Waterloo. The Napoleon miniature is set in a brass and the frame is decorated with fleur de lis and scroll, gold bronze frames. These items are a contribution of I.A. Dinerstein, a Milwaukee lawyer and avid collector of art and decorative art. 33.) Napoleon and Josephine portraits |  Cobb Decoy Canada Goose This decoy, obtained in 1967, was carved and painted to resemble a Canada Goose in a feeding position. Decoys are designed to attract birds from the sky and are often the products of expert craftsmen who are able to carve realistic ducks and geese from wood. This goose decoy is the work of Nathan Cobb Jr., a well-known artist in decoy carving from Virginia. 34.) Cobb Decoy Canada Goose |  Marklin Armored Toy Train This toy train, modeled after an engine car, is equipped with a key wind top, 4 wheels, and the removable top is painted gray with black trim. The Marklin Company, founded in Germany in 1859, once specialized in doll house design, but is now recognized for its toy train craftsmanship. In the late 1800s when Marklin began producing trains, the company created international standards for different gauges and scales for model trains that are still used today. In 1891, Marklin produced the first system railroad toy; this consisted of wind up trains capable of towing cars, and a new and unique track system. Marklin trains began to be powered by electricity in the 1920s. This train, however, is unique because it still operates by a key wind. 35.) Marklin Armored Toy Train |
 Tiffany Lamp This lamp from “Tiffany Studios New York” dates back to the early 1900s. The four-light lamp contains a glass shade decorated with a grapevine pattern and an antiqued wisteria bronze base. Tiffany lamps were first created in the late 1800s from the design of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany originally created stained glass for windows, and then transitioned to staining glass for lamps. Tiffany glass lamps are traditionally made by hand, not mass produced by machinery, making them an exceptional and unique piece of glass art. 36.) Tiffany Lamp |  Blaschka Glass Works Known for their precise detail and distinguishing color, the Blaschka glass models are accurate representations of biological specimens. Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolph, Blaschkas were Bohemian, or Czech, by birth but worked in Germany. The MPM purchased 70 invertebrate glass models which were offered for sale through Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, Inc.
37.) Blaschka Glass Works |  T’ang Horse This horse is made of pinkish buff clay and with a painted white slip. Its “cold pigment” colors include rust, orange, pinkish and traces of black. The horse dates to the T’ang dynasty in China which lasted from 618-907 A.D. The horse was extensively restored before it came to the Museum. 38.) T’ang Horse |  Museum Street Clock It wasn’t long ago that clocks decorated the streets of Milwaukee. As the city grew, buildings became modernized and development continued; the street clocks were greatly reduced in number. Most clocks were removed as they were an obstruction to urban development. Milwaukee mayor, Sherman M. Becker, known as the “Boy Mayor,” found the clocks to be particularly bothersome and took matters into his own hands by ordering their destruction. One morning in 1907, he and a team of firemen destroyed most of the city street clocks. In 1976 Milwaukee had only one remaining, located on the corner of South 16th and Washington Streets outside of Jensen Jewelry. Upon his retirement in 1972, Jensen donated the clock to the museum. Thomas J. Bliffert, president of Granville Lumber and Fuel Company, donated the funds for the clock to be restored. After hard work by the museum staff, the clock now stands outside the museum entrance on Wells Street. 39.) Museum Street Clock |  Netsuke Netsuke are artistic toggles that originated in Japan in the 17th century. These little figures of people and animals became a Japanese import to the states as early as the 1860s. They were made of many different materials such as ivory, wood, iron, or gold. Easily imported because of their small size, this factor contributed to their status as a very collectible object in America. In Japan, people used them to hang on the ends of their medicine boxes or on their kimonos. The Milwaukee Public Museum’s extensive carved ivory collection includes over 300 netsuke, many of them on display in the Asian exhibit. 40.) Netsuke |
 Nancy Ekholm Burkert’s Valentine and Orson Illustrations The museum holds the sketches, notes, and original artwork that was published in Nancy Burkert’s book, Valentine and Orson, the story of twin boys separated at birth; one was raised by royalty and the other by bears. The artwork in this book was inspired by Brueghel in its artistic style, and Burkert was praised for her stunning artwork. Burkert was a long time UW-Milwaukee art professor, and before working on this book, Burkert illustrated Roald Dahl books such as James and the Giant Peach. 41.) Nancy Ekholm Burkert’s Valentine and Orson Illustrations |  Darwin’s “Barnacles” book This first edition Darwin book, published in 1854, was originally cataloged in the San Francisco Library collection. By good fortune, the book was checked out during the 1906 fire that destroyed the building and made its way to the Milwaukee Public Museum’s library a few years later.
42.) Darwin’s “Barnacles” book |  Trenton Meteorite One spring day in 1858, a German farmer named Korb was plowing his 40 acres in the town of Trenton, northwest of Milwaukee. His plow turned up a metallic rock, and for a time Korb thought he'd struck a rich vein of iron ore. Eventually word got out, and the farm was visited by Increase Lapham, renown Wisconsin author, scientist, and naturalist, and Carl Doerflinger, a local collector of archaeological items and later director of the Museum. Lapham recognized the rock as a meteorite and disabused poor Korb of his get-rich-quick dream. One piece was as large as 60 pounds and others weighed in at 33, 16, 10, 8 and less. Lapham himself kept one of the larger pieces in his cabinet for a time (the one now in the Museum collection) and it became the prop for the most distinctive photo portrait of the scientist.
43.) Trenton Meteorite |  Glass Cane Portraits The glass cane mini-portraits are Italian made. Glass cane is a way of stretching glass, making beautiful, colorful, and delicate artwork. The portraits are tiny round pieces of glass with a face of a person in the center. The glass cane portraits in the Milwaukee Public Museum are an example of true artistry and craftsmanship. 44.) Glass Cane Portraits |  Nunnemacher Decorative Arts Collection In 1886, a 14 year-old Rudolph Nunnemacher became involved with the new Milwaukee Public Museum when he donated his rock collection. His passion to collect continued through the years, primarily obtaining decorative arts items, guns, and East Asian religious imagery. When he died prematurely in 1900, nearly 2,000 items were willed to the Milwaukee Public Museum, including his housewares and paintings from all over the world. The Nunnemacher Decorative Arts collection has continued to grow through donations to the Nunnemacher Collection. 45.) Nunnemacher Decorative Arts Collection |
 Frackelton Pottery Susan Frackelton, born in Milwaukee in 1848, was a local artist for most of her life, but was internationally known and honored. She was a major supporter of the Arts and Crafts movement in Wisconsin and taught local women how to paint their own pots as a hobby. Frackelton's main type of artistic expression was pottery and she later started to experiment with salt glazed stoneware. Frackelton was honored for the first time for her ceramic expertise at the 1889 Paris Exposition and in 1893, she won many awards for her stone glazed stoneware at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. She also organized a large exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1900 that incorporated decorative arts and discussions on women's issues. She was an inventor and developed a gas kiln and she also developed and marketed her own brand of ceramic paints and brushes. Later in life, she devoted her full attention to lecturing on women's issues. She died in Chicago in 1932. 46.) Frackelton Pottery |  Works Progress Administration Murals One of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal administration policies, the Works Progress Administration, offered jobs to keep people employed during the Great Depression. At the Milwaukee Public Museum, Director Samuel A. Barrett wanted to keep his staff employed, so he designated space for murals throughout the museum to depict different exhibits and periods in world history. This endeavor allowed the current museum staff to stay employed during a time when many people were losing their jobs. This mural shown here is by Albert O. Tieman and is titled Milwaukee Workers Being Paid by Check in 1937. 47.) Works Progress Administration Murals |  Solomon Juneau Collection A French Canadian fur trader, politician and land speculator, Solomon Juneau was one of founders of the city of Milwaukee. In 1818, Juneau came to Milwaukee to work as a clerk at the American Fur Company’s trading post in Milwaukee and saw potential in the city. Shortly thereafter, he won a pre-emption from the government and acquired land between the Milwaukee River and Lake Michigan. Here, Juneau developed the Milwaukee Journal and became the postmaster for the emerging city. In 1846 he was elected the first mayor of Milwaukee. The Juneau collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum includes many of his personal papers, including his business as a fur trader and his land dealings. The collection also contains portraits of Juneau and his wife, Josette, and some of his guns and surveying instruments. 48.) Solomon Juneau Collection |  Park City Grays Uniform Park City was the original name of Kenosha, Wisconsin and the Park City Grays were the local militia. The group was mustered into the Wisconsin 1st infantry at Milwaukee and sent, wearing their gray coats, to guard Washington DC at the outbreak of the Civil War. Before the Civil War, the color of the 1st Wisconsin Militia (as well as many other states) was gray. However, gray was the color of the Confederate Army as well, and at the beginning of the Civil War, the Union quickly changed their color to blue. This coat was worn by Sergeant Warren Graham in 1861. Graham, a Milwaukee native, was the first casualty of the Civil War to be buried in Wisconsin. 49.) Park City Grays Uniform |  Mitchell Civil War coat This Mitchell Civil War uniform, part of a larger group of Mitchell militia material, belonged to John Lendrum Mitchell, son of prominent Milwaukee banker Alexander Mitchell. John served in the Wisconsin 24th Infantry and rose to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. After the Civil War, John was a gentleman farmer and had a large estate in what is today West Allis, Wisconsin. He was very well educated and served in the Wisconsin legislature and later served as a United States Senator. John’s second son, William, rose to prominence in the U.S. Army Flying Corps in WWII and was a strong proponent of American air power and founder of the modern Air Force. Mitchell International Airport is named for him. The Mitchell family is recognized as one of Milwaukee’s first families. 50.) Mitchell Civil War coat |
 Emerald Mound Pipes These limestone effigy pipes, excavated from the Emerald Mound site in southwestern Mississippi, were donated to the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1955. Emerald Mound served primarily as a ceremonial platform with a temple structure during the Mississippian period (AD 1250-1600). Tobacco was regularly used in Mississippian ceremonies to assist religious leaders in communicating with the spirit world. The pipes represent a cougar, two rattlesnakes, a kneeling human, and a bird/composite form. 51.) Emerald Mound Pipes |  Peruvian Mummies Three Peruvian mummies from the Chancay culture that inhabited the central coast of Peru from AD 1000 – 1450 are part of the Milwaukee Public Museum’s collections. Buried in either a flexed or seated position and wrapped in several layers of textiles, the bodies are not actually embalmed but preserved naturally by the extreme dryness of the environment. Little is known about the Chancay civilization as many of the sites were destroyed by looting or bulldozing. Two of the mummies can currently be seen in the Pre-Columbian exhibit on the 3rd floor mezzanine. 52.) Peruvian Mummies |  Red Hawk Ledger This ledger book was “captured” by Captain R. Miller from Red Hawk on January 8, 1891 at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, shortly after the Wounded Knee Massacre. The Milwaukee Public Museum purchased the ledger from collector H.H. Hayssen in 1897. Ledger art was a medium of Plains Indian art from the late 19th to early 20th centuries and illustrates the changes in Plains Indian life during this time. The Red Hawk ledger consists of 105 ink and crayon drawings done by Red Hawk and other Sioux men. Learn more about this collection at www.mpm.edu/collections/anthropology 53.) Red Hawk Ledger |  Knight Figurines Ancient burial mounds of the Hopewell culture were excavated on the Knight family farm in western Illinois. These mounds, dated to AD 150-400, contained human remains and six naturalistic ceramic figurines. These rare figures include four female individuals, two of which hold infants, one male, and one that cannot be accurately identified. It is believed that all were likely made by a single artisan. The figurines are intricately decorated and painted, revealing important details about Hopewell dress and adornment. Some scholars believe that these figurines may symbolize the importance of human and agricultural fertility, but they may also be portraits of deceased individuals. 54.) Knight Figurines |  Fon Boat/Shrine Piece This unusual 20th century carving is one of three such known. It is attributed to the Fon culture of the Benin Republic, but is most likely the creation of an Ijebu or Anago artist. These two ethnicities are Yoruba-speaking peoples living in Nigeria and Benin respectively. The meaning of this object remains as puzzling as its origins. The figures in the boat may represent members of the cult of the sea goddess Yemoja or one of her followers. Perhaps the entire composition is intended to represent the cult deities themselves in procession to some important feast. Though a mystery, this excellent composition is a tribute to the skill and creativity of African woodcarvers. This object is currently on exhibit in the 3rd floor African Hall. 55.) Fon Boat/Shrine Piece |
 Cherokee coat Two Cherokee women named Nancy A. Riley and Polly Webber are responsible for the intricate embroidery of this fringed leather coat made around 1865 for a William Gallaher of the Indian Brigade assigned to the Indian Territories. The coat was donated to the Milwaukee Public Museum by the Upham family in 1900. 56.) Cherokee coat |  James Howard Collection The Milwaukee Public Museum acquired the Howard collection, consisting of over 1500 items, in 1985, thanks to the generosity of Ethel Herzfeld, a devoted friend of the Museum. James Howard, a cultural anthropologist, was born in 1925 in Redfield, South Dakota. He enjoyed the respect and acceptance of Indian people acquainted with him and participated regularly in powwows throughout the Plains area.
57.) James Howard Collection |  Menominee Men painting In 1858, Mr. S.L. Rood commissioned Samuel M. Brookes to complete a painting of a group of Menominee men. The names of the five men are written on the back of the canvas as follows: standing left to right, Na-a-nos-a-ko-sa, and Tik-ko; seated left to right, Ne-kun-a-quak, Kis-kan-a-koem, and Na-ke-wai-mi. Aside from its value as an excellent painting, this piece is invaluable because it clearly depicts the way that these men dressed, wore their hair, and represented themselves at that time. 58.) Menominee Men painting |  Menominee Women painting This oil painting by Samuel L. Brookes from 1858 is the accompaniment to the painting of Menominee men from the same year. The subject matter is exceptionally rare because it is a portrait of American Indian women. It is a visual record of the ways in which these women used European goods such as textiles and glass beads, and fashioned them into their own aesthetic. The imagery also represents the gradual fading out of traditional Menominee materials due to trade. 59.) Menominee Women painting |  Spencer Lake Horse Skull The Spencer Lake site was excavated in 1936 by W.C. McKern, Milwaukee Public Museum Curator of Anthropology at that time. The site is an ancient (AD 1100 – 1400) burial mound located near Spencer Lake in Burnett County in northwest Wisconsin. At the bottom of the mound, an intact horse skull was discovered, a startling find as it was believed that horses had gone extinct in North America around 10 million years ago and not reintroduced until the arrival of the Spanish. Two students, upon hearing of the discovery, confessed to placing the skull at the bottom of a pit they had dug into the mound, but McKern and his crew were positive that there was no disturbance of the soils around it.
60.) Spencer Lake Horse Skull |
 House Model This replica of the Haida Chief Skidegate’s house, as well as twenty-four other house models, was first exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The models serve as a snapshot of the 19th century village of Skidegate on the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. As the original houses were far too large to transport, anthropologists commissioned Haida craftsmen to construct smaller and thus more mobile versions that would allow for the exhibition and study of the Haida aesthetic around the world.
61.) House Model |  Tlingit Pole In 1904, this mortuary totem pole was exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. It was apparently too fragile to journey back to Alaska, and therefore entered into the collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum. “Totem Poles” are appropriately called crest poles because they display family-owned symbols of a particular kinship group. Crests can be compared with the “Coats of Arms” of European noble families.
62.) Tlingit Pole |  Kwakiutl Masks In the winter of 1914-1915, Dr. S.A. Barrett, the curator of Anthropology, traveled to Ft. Rupert, British Columbia to obtain a comprehensive collection of Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka’wakw) material culture. Like many scholars at the time, Barrett believed that the native cultures of North America were disappearing and that it was crucial to save them before they vanished entirely. Performance masks, like this wolf mask, form perhaps the most significant elements of Barrett’s highly regarded collection. You can see several of these masks on display in the Northwest Coast area on the 2nd floor. 63.) Kwakiutl Masks |  Sami Collection The Sami, sometimes called Lapps, are an indigenous European group who currently inhabit the northernmost regions of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and a small part of Russia. Our Sami collection of approximately 100 pieces is the largest in North America and possibly outside of Europe. The majority of the objects are utilitarian in nature, such as clothing and household objects, but there are some decorative pieces as well. The items were donated to the museum between the late 1800s and the 1990s. Learn more about this collection at www.mpm.edu/collections/anthropology 64.) Sami Collection |  DuBay Site Collection The DuBay site was excavated in November 1941 by Dr. Philleo Nash prior to him becoming the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. Located about 12 miles north of Stevens Point, the site contained items from the John B. DuBay homestead. DuBay was a prominent frontiersman and fur trader in Wisconsin and Michigan in the mid to late 1800s. The excavation was one of the first archaeological studies of a mid-19th century historic site in the Midwest and the artifacts represent the only comprehensive historical archaeological collection at the MPM. 65.) DuBay Site Collection |
 Riverside, Michigan Site Collection The Riverside site is located in Menomonee, Michigan, just over the Wisconsin border in Upper Michigan. It is a cemetery and village site composed of about 52 burial pits with village material in among the pits. Riverside was first excavated in 1956 and 1957 by Albert Spaulding and again in 1961, ’62, and ’63 by a joint excavation by the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) and Oshkosh Public Museum. The majority of the finds from the site are now housed at the MPM. Over 2600 items were recovered from the 1960s excavations. The site appears to be transitional from the Old Copper Culture to the Red Ocher Culture, signifiers for each culture being present at the site, radiocarbon dated to 1000-400 BC. Fragments of textiles from one of the burials are the earliest known fabrics from the Great Lakes region. 66.) Riverside, Michigan Site Collection |  Lizard Darting through the forest on an island in the Caribbean, a previously unidentified species of lizard forages for ants and termites in rotten wood and leaves. Thanks to the efforts of two scientists, this tiny, colorfully spotted lizard finally has a name. But its future may not be as bright as its scales.
67.) Lizard |  Padi-Heru mummy The Museum’s two Egyptian mummies, Djed-Hor and Padi-Heru, were acquired in 1887 and have been on display fairly regularly since that time. Both mummies came from Akhmim, Egypt and they were CT-scanned in 1986 and again in 2006. Padi-Heru is Ptolemaic (possibly 200-100 BC) and is probably under 30 years of age. He was a priest of the Min temple in Akhmim. (Min was the Egyptian ithyphallic god of fertility).
68.) Padi-Heru mummy |  Aztalan Site Collection Aztalan, located on the Crawfish River in south-central Wisconsin near present-day Lake Mills, is approximately 50 miles west of Milwaukee. Occupied from about AD 1100-1250, Aztalan is the northernmost known outpost of the Mississippian culture. The site consists of large earthen temple mounds, houses, and an enormous stockade that enclosed 20 acres of the site.
69.) Aztalan Site Collection |  Arkansas Ceramics Collection There are 256 complete ceramic vessels from Arkansas in the Milwaukee Public Museum’s collections, most dating to the Middle (AD 1200-1400) and Upper (AD 1400-European contact) Mississippian periods. A large portion of the collection came from three donors, C.W. Riggs, G.E. Pilquist, and T.M.N. Lewis. The first two were artifact collectors and dealers; Riggs’s material has no provenience other than “Arkansas,” but Pilquist’s items were collected from the Carden Bottoms area in west-central Arkansas. Lewis was an archaeologist at the University of Tennessee, but most of the ceramics were given to him by local farmers and thus again have no specific locality. 70.) Arkansas Ceramics Collection |
 Cudahy-Massee African Collection The Cudahy-Massee collection resulted from an expedition led by Milwaukee Public Museum Director Dr. Samuel A. Barrett in 1928-1929 to Sudan and British East Africa (the colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika (now Tanzania). The expedition was primarily sponsored by Burt A. Massee, a Chicago industrialist and Milwaukee native, and John Cudahy, a Milwaukee businessman.
71.) Cudahy-Massee African Collection |  Chilkat Blanket The Chilkat is a Tlingit band that lives in southeastern Alaska. Their blankets, woven from mountain goat wool and cedar bark, are five-sided, heavily fringed, and display stylized animal figure designs. During important ceremonies the blankets are worn as capes. The Chilkat blanket weaving tradition originated with the Tsimshian people who live south of the Chilkat, but the tradition spread to them through trade and marriage. The Chilkat refined this blanket weaving style to its highest level in the late 19th century but largely died out about 100 years ago; the traditional form is continued by only a few weavers. Dr. H.M. Brown of Milwaukee received this blanket as payment by an American Indian father for treating his daughter. It was donated to the museum in 1929 by Dr. Brown’s wife. 72.) Chilkat Blanket |  Zingg-Bennett Tarahumara Collection Robert Zingg and Wendell Bennett were graduate students at the University of Chicago when they led an anthropological expedition to study the Tarahumara in Chihuahua, Mexico for nine months in 1930-1931. The expedition was one of the first modern studies of remote Mexican Indians, and the work published from their studies is one of the few on a culture of Northern Mexico. The collection consists of approximately 400 items ranging from basic clothing and housewares to objects used for dances and ceremonies. It is one of the earliest, most comprehensive, and largest Tarahumara collections in the United States. Some of these items can be seen in the Mexican area on the 3rd floor. 73.) Zingg-Bennett Tarahumara Collection |  Navajo Rug Collection The Navajo rug collection is the largest museum-held collection of its type in the state of Wisconsin, comprising over 200 rugs representing all major types, ages, and styles. As early as the 1800s, the Navajo were recognized for their high quality of weaving by both neighboring American Indian groups and the Spanish. The changing designs of the rugs have been influenced by trade and later, tourism. Several examples of these rugs can be seen in the Southwest exhibit on the 2nd floor. 74.) Navajo Rug Collection |  Milford Chandler Miami Collection Milford Chandler was an automotive engineer and collector of American Indian material. He did most of his collecting between 1915 and 1926 while living in Chicago. The Miami material was collected by him in Peru, Indiana. The material includes a woman’s robe, a pair of woman’s leggings, a pair of men’s leggings, and a hair ornament. The majority of the Miami were relocated in the 1800s to Oklahoma. Those who stayed in Indiana became largely acculturated into American society; as a result, material culture from the Indiana Miami is quite rare. 75.) Milford Chandler Miami Collection |
 Ancient Oil Lamp Collection Oil lamps were used throughout the Roman Empire and consequently are common artifacts from the ancient Mediterranean. The Milwaukee Public Museum’s collection consists of over 200 lamps with examples from various time periods and regions, making it a very good study collection. The lamps were collected from a variety of sources over a span of about 100 years. Some of the lamps from this collection can be seen in the North African area on the 3rd floor. 76.) Ancient Oil Lamp Collection |  R.N. Hawley Collection R. N. Hawley, a native Milwaukeean, was a surgeon on the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear in the late 1800s through the early 1900s. While on several voyages to northern Alaska and Siberia, Hawley collected material from various Inuit (Eskimo) groups. The collection, acquired by the Museum in 1900, consists of 255 objects that include fishing equipment, models of kayaks, carved walrus tusks, and housewares made from bone and wood. The early date of Hawley’s collection illustrates the more traditional forms of these types of native items, prior to the groups modifying items for tourism. Objects from this collection are currently on display in the 3rd Floor Arctic exhibit. 77.) R.N. Hawley Collection |  Old Copper Complex Collection The Old Copper Complex (Culture) Collection contains native copper items made in the Great Lakes region from 3000 - 1000 B.C. The source for the copper was a Wisconsin quarry on Lake Superior; the raw copper and finished items were traded throughout the Midwest. The earliest copper items were utilitarian in nature, such as fish hooks and projectile points. Around 1500 BC more items of personal adornment were appearing, a change thought by archaeologists to signify increased social stratification.
78.) Old Copper Complex Collection |  Thunderbird Suit This rare thunderbird suit was acquired by Milwaukee Public Museum Curator of Anthropology, Samuel A. Barrett during a 1914 - 1915 expedition to the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) territory on northern Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland of British Columbia, Canada. The mask and leggings are mostly wood, while the headdress and suit are primarily eagle feathers. The thunderbird is an important figure in the Kwakwaka’wakw culture and is considered an ancestor in some tribes. The suit is displayed on the 2nd Floor in the Northwest Coast exhibit. 79.) Thunderbird Suit |  Hopi Collection This collection came to the Museum through a 1911 summer expedition to the Hopi reservation in Arizona led by MPM Curator of Anthropology, Samuel A. Barrett. The collection consists of about 3300 items. The collection documents a wide variety of items from baskets and clothing to spiritual items, as well as pigments and tools used in their production.
80.) Hopi Collection |
 Waiwai Collection The Waiwai are a native Amerindian group living in southern Guyana (formerly British Guiana) and northern Brazil. There are approximately 200 Waiwai living in Guyana and 2000 in Brazil. Of the native groups in Guyana, the Waiwai have remained the most traditional, but have still been influenced by missionaries to the region. The 33 items in this collection mainly represent everyday items such as basketry, bow/arrows, and body ornamentation. The collection was acquired in 1965 on an expedition led by Lon W. Mericle, a Museum Research Associate in Anthropology. Few museums in the United States have material produced by this tribe. 81.) Waiwai Collection |  Mambila Collection The Mambila (Mambilla) are an agricultural group that inhabits northern Nigeria and western Cameroon. Gilbert Schneider of Ohio University collected in the Mambila grasslands of northern Nigeria from 1947 to 1951. Schneider tried to obtain materials relating to all aspects of Mambila life ranging from ancestral objects, such as this terra cotta shrine figure, to clothing. He kept detailed records on how the items were used by the Mambila, key information for museum collections. In addition to the Mambila exhibit in the Museum’s African hall, see the Museum’s webpage on the largest Mambila collection outside of West Africa. Learn more about this collection at www.mpm.edu/collections/anthropology 82.) Mambila Collection |  Kiowa Cradleboard and Cover This cradleboard and cover were collected in Oklahoma City by George Gorton of Racine, WI who donated it to the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1962. It was made by a master beadworker named Doyetone around 1904 for her grandson William “Bill” Bear.
83.) Kiowa Cradleboard and Cover |  Dogrib (Tłįchǫ) Collection Dr. Nancy Oestreich Lurie, then with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, collected these items in 1967 from the Tłįchǫ (tɬhĩtʃhõ), formerly called Dogrib for the Milwaukee Public Museum during a research trip with Dr. June Helm of the University of Iowa. The Tłįchǫ live in the Northwest Territories, Canada between Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake. Dr. Lurie and Dr. Helm were the first anthropologists to conduct extensive ethnological research with the Tłįchǫ. The Museum’s collection reflects a variety of aspects of Tłįchǫ domestic life. 84.) Dogrib (Tłįchǫ) Collection |  Siberian Coat The Milwaukee Public Museum purchased this coat from the Commercial Museum in Philadelphia, PA in 1919. Thought to be collected in the 1890s, this child’s coat is made from fish-skin and decorated with a red and black border. Fish-skin coats are warm and waterproof, and are typically used as a kind of raincoat, usually large enough to be worn over a skin or bird parka for added protection from the wind and rain. Garments made from fish-skins are more often used by groups that live near rivers or the sea. Intact fish-skin clothing from such an early date is quite rare. 85.) Siberian Coat |
 Lacandon Collection The Lacandon are an indigenous Mayan-speaking group living in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Today, only 300-500 Lacandon remain. One of the few groups not fully colonized by the Spanish, the Lacandon retained their indigenous religion until recently. The Museum’s collection includes 113 objects widely representative of the group’s material culture. Peter Thornquist collected most of the items in 1979 while visiting the Lacandon village of Metzabok, Mexico. The collection is important since it reflects items before tourism encroached the area. The Milwaukee Public Museum currently has a page on its website on the Lacandon collection and culture (www.mpm.edu/collections/anthropology). Also, see the Lacandon exhibit in the Latin American Hall on the Museum’s 3rd floor. 86.) Lacandon Collection |  Feather Cape This feather cape was bought at an auction in England by William Sturtevant in 1987 with funds from the Milwaukee Public Museum’s Friends of the Museum. It is believed to date to the 1830s and was made as part of the Iroquois “whimsy” complex, possibly by the Ottawa or Huron. The cape’s feathers come from male and female mallard, gadwell, peacock, goose, and pheasant. The cape is sewn together with feathers, and the neck ties are made from yellow silk. It is thought that the cape was produced for sale specifically to Europeans as it matches the European fashion requirements of that time. However, the techniques utilized are based on older traditions of the tribes. At least 50 or so capes of this type are known to exist and few are in such good condition. 87.) Feather Cape |  Comanche Cougar Skin Quiver As an incredibly ornate piece of hunting equipment, this quiver and arrow set that came to the Museum in 1900 is a stunning example of Comanche craftsmanship. The shafts of all the arrows are stained a different color and are adorned with feathers. The quiver itself is made from cougar fur and has a fringe of cougar skin pieces that hang from the bottom. White, yellow, red, and blue beads are woven in a geometric pattern on the shoulder strap, as well as on the fringes. 88.) Comanche Cougar Skin Quiver |  Winter Count This large cotton cloth covered in drawings from the Rosebud Reservation in south-central South Dakota is known as a winter count and came to the museum in the late 19th century. Sketched in pencil, the cloth is adorned with an array of figures and objects from Sioux culture including tipis, houses, animals, trees, and horses with riders. This object held much importance as the historical record of the tribe. Images representing special events would be sketched onto the count to aid the memory in keeping history alive. 89.) Winter Count |  Lakota Girl’s Dress Children’s clothing from North American Indian cultures, other than moccasins, is unusual to find in many museums. This little girl’s dress is in exceptional condition and is among the earliest items to be cataloged in the Museum. 90.) Lakota Girl’s Dress |
 Mathiak Collection The Mathiak Collection of Freshwater Mussels of Wisconsin includes specimens from over 250 rivers and creeks in Wisconsin, provides information regarding the mussel population in Wisconsin over time, and gives rise to future research topics. The collection also features endangered species in the state of Wisconsin such as the Villosa iris, or Rainbow Shell mussel.
91.) Mathiak Collection |  Quiver This rare quiver, now attributed to the Nez Perce tribe, was originally thought to be either Shoshone or Arapaho. Made from otter skin, this cylindrical case is covered with geometric patterns of pigment. There is a bull’s eye design on the bottom of the case. 92.) Quiver |  Mandan Shirt In the late 1870s, U.S. Senator Daniel Voorhees was given a Mandan man’s shirt by a member of an Indian delegation to Washington D.C. The shirt was later passed on to Professor John D. Mack of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who sold it to the Milwaukee Public Museum in 1921. This elaborate tunic style garment consists of two buckskins sewn together. Four large extensions of fabric hang down from the central and most decorated portion, and extensive bead and quillwork adorn the shoulders of the garment. Based on the amount of porcupine quillwork versus beadwork present, it can be determined that this shirt was made prior to the reservation period of the Mandan people, probably between 1845 and 1879. 93.) Mandan Shirt |  Menominee dream board An intricate system of incised images on wooden boards such as this served as a visual record of an event. Dream or memory boards were typically an Ojibwe tradition, but tribes, including the Menominee, produced them as well. The figures on horseback, buildings, and geometric designs served as mnemonic devices for the owner of the board. 94.) Menominee dream board |  Sioux painting on cloth Paintings from the 19th century Plains tribes serve as narratives of important historical events. This piece was made at Standing Rock Agency (now Reservation) in North Dakota. Painted on a large sheet of muslin, nineteen male figures and fifteen horses are complemented by an additional thirty-five horse heads in the lower left hand corner. Each individual figure appears to float on the surface of the muslin, as there is no evidence of a horizon. The scene represents the heroic deeds of the members of a Sioux group known as Gall’s Band, one of the last American Indian bands to surrender to the US army, as they waged hand-to-hand combat with a group of Crow warriors. 95.) Sioux painting on cloth |
 Portrait of Chief Oshkosh? Originally from England, Samuel M. Brookes moved to Milwaukee in the 1840s and found a niche in the local art scene by painting portraits. He was commissioned by the Wisconsin State Historical Society in 1858 to paint important Native American chiefs and settlers of the area. This large oil painting is supposedly of the Menominee chief named Oshkosh. A tremendous amount of dignity is visible in the expression and posture of the man in the painting, along with a sense of his importance in Wisconsin history. 96.) Portrait of Chief Oshkosh? |  Spiro Mound Collection Spiro is an archaeological site in eastern Oklahoma consisting of 12 mounds. Occupied from AD 1100-1450, the site was a ceremonial, mortuary, and trade center. The elite of Spiro had the power to obtain materials exotic to the region from such places as the Appalachian Mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of California. The site of Spiro Mound was destroyed in the mid-1930s by treasure hunters. Perishable materials such as textiles were well preserved and widely sold and dispersed by the looters to individuals and museums. The severity of the looting left little other than these collections as the basis for any analysis of the site. The Milwaukee Public Museum’s Spiro collection is composed of 22 items, primarily textiles and sheet copper fragments. 97.) Spiro Mound Collection |  War Shirt This Shoshone war shirt was collected by E. C. Leffingwell of Milwaukee in 1878 north of Fort Washakie in west-central Wyoming and purchased by the Museum in 1900. War shirts were decorated with the owner’s individual war triumphs, common materials being quills or beadwork, ermine tail pendants, red stroud, and tassels of horsehair or human hair wrapped in strips of trade blanket. 98.) War Shirt |  Caribou Teeth Belt This belt was obtained along the Kuskokwim River in southwestern Alaska. The Unegkumiut, Kiatagmiut, and Ingalik groups are the most likely sources for its production. 351 sets of caribou incisor teeth are attached to leather, with a fringe of Russian trade beads and fox canine teeth. The belts were made by men but worn by women as displays of the man’s hunting ability. Each set of teeth represents one caribou. These belts were usually family heirlooms that were thought to have curing powers which increased with the age of the belt. This belt, the only one of its kind in the Milwaukee Public Museum’s collections, is approximately 300 years old. 99.) Caribou Teeth Belt |  Peruvian Featherwork There are 115 pieces of archaeological Peruvian featherwork in the museum’s collection. A majority of the items come from the collection of Malcolm Whyte, a former Milwaukee attorney and civic leader, who donated them in 1964. Most of these items come from the southwest coast of Peru, and some are believed to be from the Inca civilization (approximately AD 1400-1532). The items are very delicate and rare. The dry air and heat of Peru preserved them in burials for several hundred years. Objects from the collection can be seen on the 3rd Floor Pre-Columbian Mezzanine. 100.) Peruvian Featherwork |
 Mandan Bull Boat and Paddle The boat and paddle were made by the Crowsheart Mandan at Fort Berthold, North Dakota in the early 1900s. This boat is made from a large cowhide, though traditional boats were made from buffalo. The bull boat has a bent-pole framework covered by the hide, which makes it waterproof. Circular boats are rarely found in North America and were only used for crossing rivers and streams, not for long journeys. This boat is 5.5 feet in diameter with sides 1.5 feet high and could carry up to five people. 101.) Mandan Bull Boat and Paddle |  Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Collection Milwaukee Public Museum Curator of Anthropology Dr. Samuel Barrett collected these items while on a museum expedition to the Lac Courte Oreilles reservation in 1910. He witnessed an eight day dance which brought Native Americans from all over Wisconsin and as far away as Oklahoma to the reservation. In addition to collecting material objects for the Museum, he recorded field notes about the dance and other cultural aspects of the Ojibwe that would rarely have been seen or documented otherwise. This collection contains over 1000 objects that are primarily everyday items such as cooking utensils, baskets, and this pair of snowshoes. Many of these items are on display in the 2nd floor Woodland exhibit area. 102.) Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Collection |  Koniag Eider Skin Blanket This blanket is thought to have come from the Koniag people of Kodiak Island, Alaska. It is made of two layers of tan eider skins sewn together with 52 eider throat skins along the edges. These blankets are very rare and were prized for their warmth. The museum is fortunate to have one other in its collection, which also comes from Alaska. 103.) Koniag Eider Skin Blanket |  Ndyuka Collection This collection was obtained from the Ndyuka of Suriname, a small Caribbean country on the northeast coast of South America. The Ndyuka are one of the six major Maroon groups living in either Suriname or nearby French Guiana. Maroon is a term used to denote the descendants of African runaway slaves from Dutch plantations during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The culture is thus strongly rooted in West and Central African cultural traditions with some Amerindian influences. The collection of over 50 items, the majority donated by Peter French in 1945, relates to everyday activities, such as kitchen utensils, a laundry beater (as pictured here) and hammocks. Few museums in the United States have collections from the Ndyuka. See Ndyuka items exhibited on the Museum’s 3rd floor where the African and Latin American Halls converge. 104.) Ndyuka Collection |  Iowa Effigy pipes Several pipe bowls and pipe stems of the Iowa tribe have entered into the collection of the Milwaukee Public Museum thanks to the efforts of Alanson Skinner, a former curator of Anthropology. The exquisite craftsmanship of each pipe is a testament to the importance of the ritual of smoking during ceremonies by the ruling members of society. The bowls of the pipes are made from a stone known as catlinite, and the stems are made from ash wood. Decorations on the stems include wrapped porcupine quills and feathers and sometimes bird skins. Each pipe is a representation of a different creature, including a lizard, a raccoon, a wolf, pigeons, and black bears. 105.) Iowa Effigy pipes |
 Lapham Book The Increase A. Lapham Memoir Book is a collection of dried, pressed plant specimens and other mementos collected by Lapham or sent to him. The front page is signed by Lapham and dated 1867. Plants include seaweeds, mosses, lichens, ferns and flowering plants collected throughout the United States and Scotland mainly in the 1860s and early 1870s. Lapham, who came to Wisconsin in 1836, was a true renaissance man who had many interests including the flora of the state, fossils and minerals, Indian mounds and weather. 106.) Lapham Book |  Tennessee Quillwort This item is the type specimen of Tennessee quillwort, Isoetes tennesseensis. A type specimen is the plant or animal used to describe a new species or variety and is the specimen which the new name is permanently attached to. The Tennessee quillwort was discovered in the Hiwassee River in Tennessee and its name and description was published in 2003 in the American Fern Journal. All of the Botany Department’s type collection has been scanned and the digital images will soon be available on the Museum’s website. 107.) Tennessee Quillwort |  Bruhin Botanical Collection This early plant specimen was collected by Thomas Bruhin, a Catholic priest who came to Wisconsin in 1869 and was assigned to a parish in New Coeln, now part of Milwaukee County. Bruhin collected many plants from the surrounding area and gave them to the Wisconsin Natural History Society which, in turn, donated them to the newly formed Milwaukee Public Museum in 1883. 108.) Bruhin Botanical Collection |  Harbinger-of-Spring The Harbinger-of-Spring, Erigenia bulbosa was thought to be gone from the state of Wisconsin; its last state record was this 1932 collection specimen. Once found in late April and early May in rich mesic woods in the southeastern part of the state, it was rediscovered 68 years later in a rich sugar maple-beech woods farther north than it was believed to exist. 109.) Harbinger-of-Spring |  Huron Smith Ethnobotanical collection This specimen is part of the Huron Smith Ethnobotanical collections. It was gathered during the 1920s when Smith was doing fieldwork among the Indian tribes of Wisconsin. He recorded the native name and use for the 1600 plants he collected. This important collection was recently conserved using archival materials and rehoused in new cabinets, thanks to an IMLS grant. Smith’s specimens, field notes and publications can now be viewed on the Museum’s website at www.mpm.edu/collections/research/ethnobotany 110.) Huron Smith Ethnobotanical collection |
 Pre-Columbian Gold The Milwaukee Public Museum’s Pre-Columbian Gold collection comes from Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Mexico. Until the mid-1900s such items were worth more as scrap than as artifacts and were melted down, losing a great amount of information. For this reason, museum collections are vital in providing information on Pre-Columbian gold working.
111.) Pre-Columbian Gold |  Lake Amatitlán Collection Milwaukee Public Museum director Dr. Stephan F. de Borhegyi spent many years excavating in and around Lake Amatitlán in Guatemala. This area was occupied over a great length of time by the Maya, from 500 BC to the Spanish Conquest (about AD 1500). Many items were brought up from the lake by divers, including several ceramic censers, containers used to burn copal incense, which played an important role in Maya rituals. The Milwaukee Public Museum is one of the primary repositories of artifacts from sites from this area. The Museum website has a page on the Lake Amatitlán collection and its history (www.mpm.edu/collections/anthropology). You can also see the Lake Amatitlán exhibit on the Museum’s Pre-Columbian mezzanine. 112.) Lake Amatitlán Collection |  Passenger Pigeon Once the most common bird in North America, the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) or wild pigeon lived in enormous migratory flocks that some estimate were between three billion to five billion upon European arrival.
113.) Passenger Pigeon |  Matteson Photograph Collection Sumner W. Matteson, Jr. was born in 1867 in Decorah, Iowa. He graduated with a B.S. from the University of Minnesota in 1888 – the very year that Kodak roll film was introduced.
114.) Matteson Photograph Collection |  Gynandromorphs Collection Over several decades, James R. "Jim" Neidhoefer, a local businessman with a passion for butterflies and moths, donated his collection of more than 100,000 specimens plus several hundred volumes of rare books and monographs on Lepidoptera.
115.) Gynandromorphs Collection |
 The Fifield Collection This collection of 21 items contains some of the most exquisite pieces in the Museum’s Mesoamerican archaeological collection. Thomas Fifield, lawyer and Museum board member and his wife Marilyn, amassed the collection through art galleries, primarily in New York. Promised as a gift to the Museum many years ago, they were formally donated in 2006, just months before Tom passed on.
116.) The Fifield Collection |  George West Pipe Collection George West, a Milwaukee lawyer with a strong interest in archaeology, helped found the Wisconsin Archaeological Society in 1903. West also served on the Board of Trustees of the Milwaukee Public Museum for 32 years, for most of which he was president. Particularly interested in Native American pipes and smoking customs, West began collecting pipes around 1873 and continued to do so for several decades. The West pipe collection consists of 516 pipes; the majority are Native American. They represent all typical pipe styles found in the United States, three-fourths of them from Wisconsin. His is the largest single collection of Wisconsin pipes, and his two volume set Tobacco, Pipes, and Smoking Customs of the American Indians is still a primary reference. 117.) George West Pipe Collection |  Trinidad Collection Trinidad, one of the islands forming the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean, has been ruled by several previous European powers, the last being Great Britain. On this small island, people from the various cultures of Asia, Europe, Africa, and native groups live and interact. This rare collection is from the East Indian peoples on the island, and was collected by Milwaukee Public Museum Curator of Anthropology, Dr. Arthur Niehoff, in 1957. The East Indians were brought to the island by the British as indentured servants. The collection, one of only a few in the United States, is important since it shows the cultural exchange and influence that has occurred between the East Indians and the other groups inhabiting the island. 118.) Trinidad Collection |  Swiss Lake Collection The Swiss Lake sites were first excavated in the mid 1840s and popularized by Swiss archaeologist Ferdinand Keller. Their interpretation as villages located over the lakes brought them much acclaim and made the collections from the sites’ excavations much sought after by museums world-wide. Today, it is known that some, but not the majority, of these sites were built over water. They date from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age (4,000 BC-700 BC). The sites are known for preservation of organic materials such as plant remains, wooden artifacts, bone, and textiles, like the one depicted here, that do not usually survive in the archaeological record. Most of the Swiss Lake collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum comes from the site of Robenhausen, Switzerland, located east of Zurich. 119.) Swiss Lake Collection |  Chamacoco Collection The Museum’s Chamacoco Collection consists of 70 objects, such as this belt ornament made of tropical bird feathers, and represent items both for everyday use and for ceremonies. Collected in 1925 by the Museum of the American Indian in New York, they came to the Milwaukee Public Museum that same year. The Chamacoco live in the Gran Chaco region of northwest Paraguay. The Chamacoco today alternate between their traditional hunting and gathering and more recent light agriculture, craftsmanship, or labor. Their population has dwindled from several thousand to approximately 1,000 people today, and few museums in the United States have such collections. 120.) Chamacoco Collection |
 Peruvian Textiles The Milwaukee Public Museum has approximately 860 Peruvian textiles in its South American collection, a large portion donated in 1964 by collector Malcolm Whyte. Most of these items were obtained from the southwest coast of Peru and are associated with burials. The intricate textiles preserved by the dry, hot climate of the Peruvian desert coast, illustrate a variety of weaving and decorative styles, representing several different cultural periods. Items from the collection can be viewed on the 3rd Floor Pre-Columbian Mezzanine. 121.) Peruvian Textiles |  Ostrich Shell Belt This ostrich shell belt was made by the San (Bushmen) of Botswana, a country in southern Africa. Ostrich shells play important roles in their culture, serving not only as beads for body ornamentation, but also as water storage containers, essential in the hot, dry environment in which the San live. To make beads, the egg shell is broken into small fragments, which are further shaped by hand into circular pieces. A small hole is drilled through the center of each bead. The whole process is by hand, so considerable time would have gone into the making of this belt. Jewelry made from ostrich shell is worn almost exclusively by women. 122.) Ostrich Shell Belt |  Blackfeet robe The painted Blackfeet elk skin robe in the museum’s collection came from Montana and is believed to have been painted by Mike Left Arm, showing his own exploits. The paintings depict primarily horse stealing scenes. Horses were important to the Blackfeet way of life, and it was a great achievement to acquire them through theft. 123.) Blackfeet robe |  Crow Gun Case This Crow gun case was collected by Colonel J.J. Upham, a Milwaukee native, during his military service in the mid to late 1800s on the Western frontier. Upham collected a variety of American Indian materials while stationed at military forts. His collection was donated to the museum by his wife shortly after his death in 1898. The gun case is an excellent and rare example of Crow leather craftsmanship and bead working ability. 124.) Crow Gun Case |  Mexican Kickapoo Collection The Mexican Kickapoo reside on a reservation in the Santa Rosa Mountains of Coahuila. They originally inhabited land in northwest Ohio and southern Michigan, but were forced westward to northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin in the mid-1800s. They slowly spread westward into Kansas and south into Oklahoma, some reaching as far as northern Mexico. This collection comes from 1954 fieldwork conducted by Dr. Robert Ritzenthaler, Milwaukee Public Museum Curator of Anthropology, and from anthropologists Dolores and Felipe Latorre between 1960 and 1972. The Mexican Kickapoo are relatively isolated and reluctant to allow visits by outsiders. The collection, primarily consisting of clothing, basketry and german silver jewelry and adornment is one of the largest collections of Mexican Kickapoo items in the United States. 125.) Mexican Kickapoo Collection |