These 50-minute, guided explorations take place wihtin the museums galleries. Each program includes hands-on, interactive experiences connecting exhibits and topics to your classroom curriculum.
Lesson Guides: Click on each topic title to open a printable lesson guide.
Availability: These programs are available Monday-Friday at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. *subject to availability
Requirements:
MPM's curatorial and collections staff have selected more than 100 important, unique or interesting objects to highlight from the more than 4 million items in the Museum's care. These items reflect the depth and breadth of the 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.
Walking was the most common way of moving, and personal possessions were limited largely to what the people could carry themselves.
That the MPM endures as one of the finest institutions of its kind in the world is due in no small part to efforts of the Museum’s first Curator of Anthropology, Samuel A. Barrett (1879-1965). Barrett, born in Conway, Alaska, was a student of University of California anthropologist Alfred Kroeber and the first person to receive a PhD in anthropology west of the Mississippi (Lurie 1983: 48).
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.
The Ho-Chunk signed a total of six treaties with the United States. The first three were efforts to create peace with the United States and neighboring tribes. In 1816, the first treaty between the United States and the Ho-Chunk was signed to end hostilities heightened by the War of 1812 in which the two nations were on opposing sides. After the war, the Ho-Chunk and other Midwestern tribes began to fight among themselves, with war parties avenging past wrongs and fighting to secure new hunting territories.
Located in the Future Museum’s outdoor Plaza will be an Indigenous art installation titled The Gathering Place, designed and created by artist Mark Fischer of the Oneida Nation.
The Scandinavian archaeology collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum is predominantly from Denmark. During the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, these three countries separated into three kingdoms. One area of Denmark, called Jütland, will be mentioned frequently because it is the origin of several artifacts of the collection.