Search

Reciprocal Admission Benefits

Many MPM members enjoy reciprocal admission benefits at museums around the world. The Milwaukee Public Museum participates in two reciprocal networks: 

Our virtual resources provide teachers and students with the opportunity to enrich their perspectives on many of the traditions, material culture, and belief systems of various North American Indian tribes.

Video Resources

Compare & Contrast Tour 

In this series of five videos, we’ll discuss the resources Native Americans used to survive in their environments.

Menominee Culture

The Menominee, who speak a language of the Algonkian language family, are the only present-day tribe in Wisconsin whose origin story indicates they have always lived in the state. The Menominee refer to themselves as Mamaceqtaw (pronounced ma-ma-chay-tau), meaning "the people." Other Indians called them Menominee (also spelled Menomini), derived from manomin, an Algonkian word for wild rice, because it is a major food source for the tribe.

Pregnancy, Birth, and Infancy

The Great Lakes tribes observed specific taboos during pregnancy which extended to both parents. Both expectant parents, but particularly the mother, were warned not to look at deformed animals or people for fear it might harm the child. Eating or looking at turtles or rabbits could cause the baby to develop the jerky motion of a turtle or rabbit-like fits.

MPM houses an impressive collection of tens of thousands of fossils from around the world.

This includes Wisconsin’s Silurian Reef formation where, more than 400 million years ago, our State and much of North America was on the equator and covered by a warm, shallow sea. Many of these specimens can be found in The Third Planet and Exploring Life on Earth galleries.

The Milwaukee Public Museum’s ancient civilization collections and research resources include 60,000 objects from cultures around the globe.

These cultures include Sumeria, Rome, Egypt, Greece, and Aztalan, one of Wisconsin’s most important and extensive archaeological sites. Our virtual education resources are designed to support teachers and students in exploring many of these ancient civilizations in order to deepen their understanding and appreciation of different cultural beliefs and practices.