History

(Formerly known as "Wisconsin Heritage Online")
An expanding digital collection featuring documentary sources and material culture from Wisconsin libraries, archives, and museums. The collections in this exhibition project are contributed by cultural heritage organizations throughout Wisconsin.

Designed for high school and college teachers and students of U.S. history survey courses, this site serves as a gateway to web resources and offers unique teaching materials, first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence.

We emphasize materials that focus on the lives of ordinary Americans and actively involve students in analyzing and interpreting evidence. We welcome your participation in expanding and improving the site.

For a guide to over 2600 sites on the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, visit ECHO Science and Technology Virtual Center.

HeritageQuest Online™ combines digital, searchable images of U.S.federal census records with the digitized version of the popular UMI® Genealogy & Local History collection and other valuable content. This online database is an essential collection of unique material for both genealogical and historical researchers, with coverage dating back to the late 1700s. Researchers can use HeritageQuest Online to find their ancestors, trace their paths across America, and learn what life was like in the areas where they settled.

HeritageQuest Online includes all of the images, and extensive
indexing, from the 1790 - 1930 U.S. federal censuses. It offers more
than 20,000 book titles, including nearly 8,000 family histories and
over 12,000 local histories. Additionally, there are more than 250
primary-source documents such as tax lists, city directories, probate records, and more.

Many other distinctive and invaluable sources of information can be found within HeritageQuest Online.
These include Periodical Source Index (PERSI), a widely recognized
resource guide, updated annually, that covers more than 6,300 genealogy and history periodicals written in English and French (Canada) since 1800. There are other valuable collections such as the Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, which identifies more than 80,000 American military, naval, and marine officers and enlisted men. The forthcoming Freedman’s Bank Records is a database that documents more than 70,000 bank depositors and their dependants and heirs. The Freedman’s Bank Records
is considered one of the most important resources for African-American
genealogical research. All of these resources are fully searchable
through HeritageQuest Online’s easy-to-use Web interface.

Take a look at Wisconsin DPI's YouTube channel for a video on using HeritageQuest to find Census Records.

This bibliographic database is a valuable index for libraries, scholars and individuals interested in European works that relate to the Americas. EBSCO Publishing, in cooperation with the John Carter Brown Library, has created this resource from “European Americana: A Chronological Guide to Works Printed In Europe Relating to The Americas, 1493-1750,” the authoritative bibliography that is well-known and respected by scholars worldwide. The database contains more than 32,000 entries and is a comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750. It covers the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of Native American peoples. A wide range of subject areas are covered; from natural disasters to disease outbreaks and slavery. The original bibliography was co-developed by John Alden and Dennis Landis, Curator of European Books at The John Carter Brown Library. The John Carter Brown Library, founded in 1846 is a foremost repository of rare books and materials and is a center for advanced research in history and the humanities.

An easy-to-use search screen for secondary students to find information in the following BadgerLink funded database found within EBSCO: Health Source - Consumer Edition, MAS Ultra - School Edition, Middle Search Plus, Newspaper Source Plus, History Reference Center, Book Collection Nonfiction: High School Edition, and Science Reference Center.

Information on over 500 Fox River area deceased veterans from the War of 1812 to World War I.

Selected local history resources, including four historical Outagamie County plat maps, five city directories from the late 1800s, two historic building surveys and two compilations of early pioneer biographies. There are also two historical overviews, one from Appleton's 75th Anniversary celebration in 1932, and one marking the 100 year period of 1857 - 1957. Click here for a partial index of the plat maps.

Name index to four plat books for Outagamie County: Platbook of Outagamie County, WI (1889), Platbook of Outagamie, WI (ca. 1910) Standard Atlas of Outagamie County (1917) and Atlas of Outagamie County (1942). The originals are shelved in the Wisconsin Collection at the Appleton Public Library. This index is a work in progress.

Partial index to photos from books in the Wisconsin Collection, generally scenes from Appleton history. The photos may be viewed in the library or requested as photocopies. Photos are not available online. Other historic photos are in Fox Valley Memory.

History Reference Center offers full text from more than 2,500 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, cover to cover full text for nearly 170 leading history periodicals, more than 112,000 historical documents, 113,000 biographies of historical figures, more than 112,000 historical photos and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video.

A rich research database for school and public libraries. It contains informative abstracts and searchable full text for 2,448 popular nonfiction books. The database includes high interest titles on careers, health, ethnicity, disabilities, technology, biographies, music, science, history, civics and more.

Primary Search provides full text for more than 70 popular, magazines for elementary school research. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles), and full text information dates as far back as 1990.