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Ichthyology (fishes) collection is the largest in the department with about 685,000 catalogued specimens in over 35,000 lots and representing more than 2000 species and 300 families. The majority of the collection is Wisconsin freshwater fishes (29,000 lots), but more than 26 U.S. states and 15 countries are represented.

To date, 13 underwater archaeological sites have been found and all but one are in the northern half of the lake. Evidence of ancient agricultural terraces is evident on the hills of the northern and southern shores of Lake Amatitlán, and several Maya archaeological sites have been identified on the shores as well. The order and type of ceramic styles found at a site can provide clues to its age.

The Ho-Chunk are a Siouan-speaking people whose presence in present-day Wisconsin was known to the French at Quebec as early as 1616.

According to oral tradition, they originated at Red Banks, generally assumed to be a site on the Door Peninsula on Green Bay, where they were located at the time of French contact in the 17th century. Their language is related to the Chiwere branch of Siouan that includes the Ioway, Oto, and Missouria, who acknowledge having broken off from the Ho-Chunk and moved west.

This exhibit has closed.

Little is known about the history of Trinidad or Tobago before Christopher Columbus landed on their shores in 1498.  By the 1300s, the island was largely populated by Arawak and Carib Indian populations, of which little physical trace remains.  These populations were largely wiped out under the Spanish encomienda system, which pressured Indians to convert to Christianity and labor as slaves on Spanish Mission lands in exchange for “protection”.

Why is MPM moving? 

There are several reasons why MPM is pursuing a new facility, but the most important is that the Museum will not be able to sustain operations into the future in the current building.

The building, constructed in the early 1960s, has approximately $100 million deferred capital maintenance. Milwaukee County, despite its best efforts, simply does not have funds available to maintain the building — akin to the situation at the Domes and other county-owned facilities.

History and way of life before the arrival of Europeans

MPM – November 1967

A tribe is an Indian group which possesses certain qualities and characteristics that make it a unique cultural, social, and political entity.

The nature of what constitutes an Indian tribe and the very nature of tribes have changed considerably over the course of centuries, but certain characteristics have remained.

Group outings are returning!

To begin planning your group visit, please submit a Group Sales Request.

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The Oneida are unique among Wisconsin Indian tribes in terms of their treaty history, which dates back to the post-Revolutionary period before the establishment of the federal government.

They are also one of the few tribes to have made treaties with an individual state --  in this case, New York.