UWEC Geography and the Wisconsin Historical Society



As they plan out the new Wisconsin History Center in Madison, the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) has invited our very own Dr. Ezra Zeitler to serve with scholars from around the state on a Content Advisory Team that will help inform museum content, exhibition design and educational approach.  This is a big deal project that will splendidly present and interpret the State’s history and preserve and present its artifacts. To help develop a plan for the new museum and to think about how to provide a rich experience for visitors, the WHS has brought in the same consultants who helped with such museums as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. and the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.   

According to the WHS, Dr. Zeitler’s background and expertise represent many areas that the Wisconsin Historical Society hopes to have covered by the Advisory Team. First of all, they want a geographer on their team.  Beyond that, he teaches “up north” and they want to make certain their team represents all of Wisconsin not just southeast Wisconsin!  His background and interest in cultural geography, human geography, Indigenous Peoples, Wisconsin geography, ethnicity, and the Northwoods are all “incredibly useful to this process.”  The Content Advisory Team includes an archaeologist who teaches at Beloit College to a Milwaukee history expert who teaches at UW-Milwaukee, a public history specialist who teaches at UW-La Crosse, a folklorist, Indigenous and African American scholars who teach at UW-Madison, and an environmental historian from Northland College.  We are excited, but not surprised, that Dr. Zeitler has been invited to this project.    Expect to experience the geography when you visit the new Wisconsin History Center in Madison when it opens in 2016 or so. 

 To learn more about Dr. Zeitler, his work and the courses he teaches, see his UWEC People Page.

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