Research Opportunities
While in Madison, leave plenty of time for research at the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS). With a focus on Wisconsin, United States, and Canadian history and genealogy, the WHS Library & Archives is one of the top destinations for genealogy research in the country. A network of Area Research Centers located around the state provides access to Wisconsin state and local government records, including land deeds, tax rolls, and naturalization and probate records.
The Society’s family history collections are deep in breadth and scope. They include original Wisconsin records, genealogy books, local and county histories, published record indexes and abstracts, personal manuscripts, census records, court records, military records, and more. The Society also houses one of the nation’s largest newspaper and periodical collections.
A featured collection with extensive genealogical potential is the Draper Manuscripts Collection. Spanning 491 volumes, the collection is comprised of the research of scholar Lyman Draper and primarily covers the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812 (ca. 1755-1815). The geographic concentration is what Draper and his contemporaries called the “Trans-Allegheny West.” The collection features correspondence, interview notes, military records, extracts from newspapers and other published sources, and more.
Family historians with ancestors from Germany will be especially interested in visiting the Max Kade Institute. Its collections focus on German language materials created in America, including books, newspapers, letters, diaries, and church and business records that illuminate the German American experience.
Genealogists with ancestors from Norway will want to check out the Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library. Its resources include emigration lists, Norwegian farm histories and topographical maps, printed histories, and files with information on obituaries, wedding and birth announcements, feature stories, and other events.