A Service Learning Post by Andrea Hudson--Portage Historical Society

With support from the Caxambas Foundation, the Material Culture Program is sponsoring three undergraduate service learning opportunities this summer. Each student has partnered with a local historical society in Wisconsin to help them digitize and share their collections through Wisconsin Heritage Online, a statewide digitization program. Our second progress report comes from Art History major Andrea Hudson. The photos she describes will be available online this fall.

This summer, I am working with the Portage Historical Society and Portage Preservation Consultants to digitize a collection of 19^th century photographs of local residences.  These photographs have been in the hands of the Portage Public Library for all of the 20th century.  And their collection doesn’t stop with the 72 photographs that I am digitizing.  They have an extensive (and incredibly interesting) collection of anything and everything related to local history.  My hope is that once this project is completed, through our collaborative efforts, Portage can digitize more of their local lore.  As just one example, they have a journal from a 1940’s Portage photography club that highlights all of the members’ experiences and recommendations behind the lens. Anyway, back to the project that I am working on, which is just as exciting.

The photographs that I am working with are quite impressive in detail—especially when scanned at high resolution.  They are all turn-of-the-century images of Portage residences. The main goal of the Portage Historical Society was to preserve these physical examples of community culture.  I am scanning these images and researching the context of each individual photograph. Though the photos were all taken around the same period of time, through our collaborative research, we have discovered that it is likely that the collection is made up of photographs from two different studios.  It is difficult to confirm this—but it is our suspicion.  Also, some of the photographs have the homeowners posed in front of their residence, while other photographs do not.  Finally, within the collection, there are repeated residences—but the photographs were taken at different points in time.  They are separated by a few years.  These variations have made the dating process more difficult. Nonetheless, these challenges have made the process far more intriguing.  

With the photographs highlighting the posed residents, I have attempted to determine who is in the photograph, as well as when the photograph was taken.  For example, in the image entitled, “Residence of James Baird,” I was able to identify (with a moderate level of confidence) the members of the family, through census data.  In this photograph, which has been dated around 1902, are James Baird, his wife, Jessie R Baird, and their children, Agnes, Mary, Janette, and James G Baird.  One wonderful aspect of the digital image is that the viewer is able to zoom in to see details that aren’t necessarily noticeable with the material original! This allows the viewer to observe, in greater detail, anything from architectural elements to reflections in the windows to the clothing worn by individuals in the photographs. In this manner, the digitization gratifies all types of curiosities. 

Moreover, in each photograph’s summary, I will attempt to include architectural, biographical, and other historical detailing, so the images will cater to all types of researchers. Not all of the images have been as uncomplicated as the “Residence of James Baird,” in determining the who, how, and when, however.  These challenges have allowed me to grow as a researcher.  These sources include newspapers, censuses, biographical sketches, and property deeds, oral histories, surveys, and discussions with local historians. 

It has been wonderful working with these individuals in Portage (shout out to Judy Eulberg, Peggy Amend, and Joan Indermark) and Wisconsin Heritage Online (shout out to Emily Pfotenhauer), as this project has been a collaborative effort.  While I work on it in Madison, I have kept in constant contact with my partner institutions and made regular visits to Portage. I have shared the entire process and all of my progress (including frustrations) with them, so that we can learn from one another and achieve our separate goals, together.  It is my hope that the product of this “Historical Residences Collection” will not be limited to the collection itself.  I hope (and I know that the Portage Historical Society and the Portage Public Library hope, as well) that the aforementioned collection of primary documents in the Library’s collection will be digitized one day, as well, for preservation purposes.  I even presented my progress to the Portage Historical Society, at one of their monthly meetings.  They were enthused by our efforts and progress and excited about the project.  

I have discussed some projects to finalize my efforts with this individual online collection.  Specifically, my Partner Institutions and I have talked about having a workshop, where I can show individuals how to digitize artifacts; a symposium to present the complete online collection; and a photography comparison project—one that would use the photographs I have digitized, juxtaposed against the present condition of the residences.  As photography is a great passion of mine, that potential project could meld my efforts as an Art History student and novice photographer. These are all dependent on what my partner institutions would like to do, but I think they would all be a great way to involve the community in the process! Thus far, this internship opportunity has offered me indescribable benefits for professional and personal growth.  

--Andrea Hudson