We Want You

If you've ever wanted to get involved in the Milwaukee County Historical Society, if you love arts & crafts, or if you just like to enjoy spending time amongst beautiful, historic, rustic architecture, we have the perfect opportunity for you. MCHS is looking for volunteers for the 30^th Annual Harvest Festival to do everything from selling raffle tickets to supervising the petting zoo (that’s right – petting zoo, full of baby animals). We are looking to fill shifts during both days of the festival, as well as event set-up on September 5, 6 or 7 and cleanup on Monday, September 10. This is a great opportunity to meet your local community and be a part of MCHS’ most anticipated yearly event. For more information, email jkollath@milwaukeehistory.net or call us at 414.273.8288.

Preparing for the Harvest

It’s less than one month away till the 30^th Annual Harvest Festival of Arts & Crafts on Saturday and Sunday, September 8^th and 9^th, and we can hardly wait. Preparations are underway to make this year one of the best in the thirty years since the first Harvest Festival first began.

The festival, held annually at Trimborn Farm in Greendale, features over one hundred exhibitors from the Midwestern Area, all specially chosen by a panel of judges for originality of design and quality of craft. See thousands of the finest pieces hand-crafted from a variety of media.

Start your holiday shopping early and enjoy food and musical entertainment all weekend. Come Saturday from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. for special family games and activities, and stop by our petting zoo to visit the baby animals.

Visitors are encouraged to take advantage of free parking at Southridge Mall. A complimentary shuttle is available to transport visitors between Southridge Mall and Trimborn Farm.

Regular event admission is $5.00 for adults. All proceeds go to the support of the Milwaukee County Historical Society for continuing educational and cultural programs.

Details:

Saturday and Sunday, September 8^th & 9^th

10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.

Trimborn Farm is located at:

8881 West Grange Avenue
Greendale, Wisconsin 53129
Phone: 414-273-8288

For more information, visit our website or email jkollath@milwaukeehistory.net.

Summer Interns 2011

The Museum Division has five new interns working on various collections projects during the summer of 2011. Sara Schneider and Amanda Strobel began their first day yesterday, working on various collections.

Sara has been assigned to work on W.P.A. theatre costumes that were made during the 1930's for various Milwaukee schools and theatre groups.

Amanda will be tackling the daunting task of cataloging over 500 World War II posters. Topics such as espionage, rationing, and bond drives are just a few of the programs that were promoted by the government during the war.

Welcome Sara and Amanda!!

New Intern!

As Curator of Collections, newsletter editor and much more, it is difficult to find time to update this blog, but much has gone on at MCHS since my last post.

MCHS is pleased to have Will Tchakirides, a graduate student from American University in Washington D.C. as a collections intern for the summer.

Will is assisting with cataloging our Brewery collection as a whole, in preparation for a potential exhibition on the topic sometime in 2010.

The Deaccessioning process has begun in the collections department as well. As a whole, the Society has collected items outside its collecting policy since its formation in 1935 and the time has come to remove objects that no longer fit the mission of the Historical Society. As summer progresses, I will keep you update on both projects.

Behind-the-Scenes Tours

Hi all,

Tonight, MCHS is serving as a "warming station" for those in Pere Marquette Park and citizens gather to witness the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

When people come in to get warm, I am offering $5 Behind-the-Scenes tours to anyone who is interested, with parties up to ten people. Steve Daily, our Curator of the Research Library will be promoting his trivia game, Miliwaukee: All About Town, by testing your knowledge of Milwaukee triva by reading off questions and demonstrating how the game is played.

We'll be here from 5:30 to 7! Come on down!!!

Care of Textiles I at the Campbell Center

Last week, I ventured to Mt. Carroll, Illinois to attend a conservation workshop, Care of Textiles I at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation.

Earlier this summer, I had attended Care of Furniture and Wooden Objects, so this was my second visit.

Situated on the grounds of a former woman's college, the Campbell Center has been devoted to historic preservation since 1980, which brings conservators and museum professionals from all over the conuntry to rural Mt. Carroll.

Becuase of the class' size (there were only five of us), there was the opportunity to much hands-on learning and instruction from our instructor, Harold Mailand who is a textile conservator from Indianapolis.

So, what did I learn?

1. Fiber Identification: By using a microscope, we studied different fiber structures to differentiate between the four main fiber types: wool, flax, silk and cotton.

2. Fabric patterns: By looking at the weave structure of fibers under a microscope, I can now identify between satin, plain and twill weaves. We also learned about more complex fabrics and differing manufacturing methods.

3. Textile Care/Storage: Most of this was a refresher for me, since I had already learned most of the information in graduate school. But I found out about the amazing properties of Abaca, a soft fabric that can be used to pad textiles that are fragile, or prone to tearing, like metallic silk.

4. Stitching: This was the most eye-opening for me. Sewing was a foreign concept to me, but after this class, I feel like a master! I master the running, back, blind and button-hole stitches.

For our final project, we were given a textile from the center's collection and tasked with identifying its fibers, agents of deterioration and to make recommendations in terms of storage and exhibition. All in all, it was a worthwhile class and journey and I'm looking forward to setting up a textile/furniture lab in our new warehouse space!

This is a photo of our class. Our instructor, Harold is to the right of me.