Cosmic Curiosities

“Antarctica is a paradise compared to Mars.”
- Sandra Faber, American Astrophysicist

Four to Mars This July

Early Life in Wisconsin

The Menominee, an Algonkian-speaking people, are the only present-day tribe in Wisconsin whose origin story indicates they have always lived in Wisconsin. 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.

One of Aztalan's most famous and intriguing discoveries was the burial of a young woman known as the "Princess Burial." This large conical burial mound measured about 50 feet in diameter and stood about six feet above the ground when it was originally constructed.

The 12 samplers of the ABCs of Schoolgirl Samplers exhibition are drawn from more than 40 examples within the Milwaukee Public Museum’s extensive textile and clothing collection. They are representative of school-related samplers during a narrow 66 year period of time, 1790-1856, and include examples from the United States, England, Germany, and Mexico.

Potawatomi Culture

Potawatomi speak a language of the Algonkian language family and have lived in the Great Lakes region for at least four centuries. Throughout their history, the Potawatomi have moved and been moved many times, but their aboriginal territory was in Michigan’s lower peninsula. Oral traditions of the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Ottawa assert that at one time, all three tribes were one people who lived at the Straits of Mackinac.

The Kwakiutl are one of several indigenous First Nations that inhabit the western coast of British Columbia, Canada, from central and northern Vancouver Island to the adjacent mainland coast. In the 1980s, the Kwakiutl officially changed their name to Kwakwaka'wakw, meaning “Kwak'wala speaking tribes”, though the two names are often used interchangeably by scholars and some Kwakiutl bands.

Ho-Chunk Culture

The Ho-Chunk -- formerly called the Winnebago -- are members of a Siouan-speaking tribe who were established in Wisconsin at the time of French contact in the 1630s. The oral traditions of the tribe, particularly the Thunderbird clan, state that the Ho-Chunk originated at the Red Banks on Green Bay.

The Milwaukee Public Museum holds the most comprehensive collection of Mexican Kickapoo material in the United States.

This is due to the fieldwork conducted by Ritzenthaler and Peterson in the 1950s and Felipe and Dolores Latorre in the 1960s and 1970s.