Research, Citation, & Class Guides: History 311: Wisconsin History: Primary Sources online

Finding Land Information

1825 Prairie du Chien Treaty Journal
(University of Wisconsin Digital Collections)."Ratified treaty no. 139, documents relating to the negotiation of the treaty of August 19, 1825, with the Sioux, Chippewa, Sauk and Fox, Menominee, Iowa and Winnebago Indians and part of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi of the Illinois Indians." Click the link under Contents to view.
Wisconsin Public Land Survey Records: Original Field Notes and Plat Maps
(Wisconsin Board of Commissioners of Public Lands). "The survey of Wisconsin was conducted between 1832 and 1866 by the federal General Land Office. This work established the township, range and section grid; the pattern upon which land ownership and land use is based." Search by township/range/section, or by county.
General Land Office Records
(Bureau of Land Management). This site "provide[s] live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present." Also contains images related to survey plats and field notes, dating back to 1810.
Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory Maps (Bordner Survey)
(University of Wisconsin Digital Collections). This "was a Depression-era project....Included on the maps are such features as houses, schools, churches, taverns, cheese factories, filling stations, and logging camps. Each map covers one survey township. Milwaukee County was not mapped, and maps for Lincoln, Manitowoc, and Sheboygan counties were not published."
Wisconsin Catalog of Aerial Photography
(Wisconsin State Cartographer's Office). This site "provides a comprehensive listing of aerial photography acquired by federal, state and local agencies and other groups, separated by county." Photographs date back to 1920.
Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder
(University of Wisconsin-Madison). These photographs are a project of the Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office, the Robinson Map Library at UW-Madison, the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. It provides free online access to over 38,000 aerial photographs of Wisconsin from 1937-41. The search screen can be slow to load.

Wisconsin History

The State of Wisconsin Collection
(University of Wisconsin Digital Collections). This collection "brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary materials: writings about the State of Wisconsin and unique or valuable materials that relate to its history and ongoing development. The collection includes published material as well as archival materials." Some of the materials contained in the collection include various county histories, local history collections, plat maps, atlases, and more.
Turning Points in Wisconsin History
(Wisconsin Historical Society). Articles, images, books, manuscripts, and other eyewitness accounts of key historical events of Wisconsin's history. Includes essays, lesson plans and reference tools for teachers.
Wisconsin Local and County Histories
(Wisconsin Historical Society). This collection contains histories for most of Wisconsin's 72 counties. Most are several hundred pages long and include detailed accounts of individual cities, townships and villages, as well as biographical stories of prominent residents.
The Antiquities of Wisconsin
The Antiquities of Wisconsin, Increase A. Lapham's most important published work, was the result of his interest in the Indian effigy mounds found on Wisconsin's Landscape. His research for the work was funded by the American Antiquarian Society and it was published in the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge series. Antiquities includes 92 pages of text, illustrated with 61 wood engravings, and 55 lithographed plates.
The Great Lakes Maritime History Project
The state of Wisconsin has a proud and colorful history. One of its richest and most romantic chapters is its maritime history, staged on the waters of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, on hundreds of smaller lakes and a whole network of rivers. Much of that fascinating story has been captured in photography and art and this material brings to the public eye some of its highlights.
History of Wisconsin Agriculture and Rural Life
The History of Wisconsin Agriculture and Rural Life collection is based on a bibliography compiled as part of the National Preservation Project for Agricultural Literature. Items in the bibliography, primary and secondary materials published through 1945, were initially ranked by a review panel for preservation microfilming. Now, through funding from the Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries, you will have access to a growing subset of this material through our digital collections.