The Origins of the Milwaukee Public Museum and its European Connections

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Milwaukee Public Museum, officially founded in 1882, but in fact in its early stages since 1851, was at the forefront of nineteenth-century museography at a crucial time for both the establishment of Wisconsin as a state of the Union and the institution of museums in the US. This paper investigates the historical, cultural and social context within which MPM was established in the late 1800s and explores the connections between MPM’s early history and that of similar museums in Europe. In Northern Italy in particular, museums emerged not only as a consequence of the origins of prehistory as a discipline and the idea of the Italian nation, but also as a cultural institution serving the community. The paper will explore similar trends in the early years of MPM and also consider the political role MPM played in the settlement of Milwaukee by Europeans.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53990