#UWM History

[uwmspeccoll]

Yet Another Wood-engraved Feathursday

CINDY KOOPMAN

This 10 x 8 in (20.4 x 20.32 cm) wood engraving entitled Grasshopper (because, after all, there are some grasshoppers in it) by Minnesota artist Cindy Koopman is very reminiscent of our daily experience here in Special Collections. Every day, sometimes three or four times a day, the green roof outside our windows gets visited by a gang of 3-7 crows that investigate the undergrowth, jump and flutter about, toss random objects into the air, and on occasion actually take a slide down the solar panels on the roof just for fun! They are endlessly fascinating, and every day when they arrive all work stops in Special Collections and the entire staff line up along the windows to watch crows be crows for five minutes or so. It's just a part of our workday, but also one of its highlights.

Cindy Koopman is a Minnesota artist with an MFA in printmaking, and is a faculty member at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, MN. This print was selected for inclusion in the Fourth Triennial Exhibition 2020-2022 of the American wood engravers society, the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN), and the image is from the catalog for that traveling show.

View more Feathursday posts.

View more posts with women wood engravers.

View other posts with engravings from the WEN Fourth Triennial Exhibition.

View more engravings by members of the Wood Engraver’s Network.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[uwmarchives]

Pride Month Spotlight: Fr. Feldhausen, The Gay Rights Priest

As we get closer to pride month, the UWM archives wants to highlight the first gay wedding in our city and take a deep dive into a less popularized figure: the priest who married them. On Christmas Day, 1971 Donna Burkett and Manonia Evans were married by Father Joseph Feldhausen, an eastern orthodox priest. This article announcing their marriage ran in the January 1972 issue of Gay People’s Union Newspaper which circulated internationally out of Milwaukee. Their wedding marked the first gay marriage in Milwaukee and caused headlines for months before and after the date. While Donna Burkett would go on to do numerous interviews and tell her story, less is known about the life of Father Feldhausen.

Fledhausen was a somewhat well-known figure in the Milwaukee gay community through the 1970s. As a UWM student in the late 1960s, Fledhausen quickly became involved in groups on and off campus. In fact, he would go on to write occasionally for the UWM Post, host gatherings in the late 60s for students to “rap on the gospel,” become ordained in the Ukrainian Orthodox church, form an “underground” religious group of UWM students that would eventually turn into a self-run parish, buy a house to serve as a sort of commune for that parish, advocate for gay rights in religion, change religious denominations, and eventually preside over the Burkett Evans wedding.

These articles, interviews, and news footage provide only a brief glance at who Joseph Feldhausen was and his work in the Milwaukee LGBTQ+ community. Despite his eccentric nature and the role of St. Nicholas in the community at the time, Joseph Feldhausen is still most commonly associated with the historic wedding of Burkett and Evans. For more information on the Burkett and Evans wedding as well as the life of Father Joseph Feldhausen, check out the UWM Post, Kaleidoscope, GPU News, and the WTMJ-TV footage in the UWM Archives and Digital Collections!

[slapshot1977]

i got into uiuc's library science grad program!!!

[freemoneyfree]

the 1688 Tonson edition of Milton's Paradise Lost

feat. the original donor wall- the subscriber page

engravings by Robert White and Michael Burghers

[memory-overload]

Random Good Basilisk Luzura Headcanons Pt. 3

Luz keeps all of her sheds as little mementos, while Vee just buries hers in the backyard.

When regular humans question why Luz disappears for weeks/months at a time, Vee and Camila say that she’s “studying abroad” (during school season) or “visiting family” (as a fallback if school is out).

When Luz, Vee, and Camila reveal the truth to the rest of the human Noceda family, the reactions vary from fainting (Camila’s mom) to disbelief (Camila’s brother) to “woah that’s awesome!” (The younger kids)

(I really want to make a fic out of that concept.)

Luz and Vee, when they’re both grown up and out of high school, will drop by Camila’s vet clinic to help out

For Luz’s job, after college at UWM, she takes a position teaching her own class on the history of glyphs and BI history in general.

(Lilith will make guest appearances to bring that Bad Girl Historian touch every so often.)

Vee, meanwhile, gets a job at the Gravesfield Zoo teaching humans about snakes and other reptiles.

On Luz’s first day as professor, she’d take on a disguise as a student and play the whole “If the professor doesn’t show in 15 minutes we’re allowed to leave.” thing until she eventually drops her disguise after playing dumb for a few minutes to shock the class.

For people who take higher level courses with her, she makes a game out of “Figure out which ‘student’ is actually Luz.”

If a student can figure out who Luz is in under… three minutes or so, they get a prize.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dion J. Pierre

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s (UWM) chancellor has apologized to the Jewish community for reaching an agreement with an anti-Zionist group which ended a “Gaza encampment” in exchange for the school’s issuing a statement calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas and considering an academic boycott of Israel.

“It is clear to me that UWM should not have weighed in on deeply complex geopolitical and historical issues,” UWM chancellor Mark Mone said on Tuesday. “And for that, I apologize. I acknowledge that it is an increasingly difficult time for many Jewish students at UWM and across America.”

He added, “Let me be clear: UWM resolutely condemns antisemitism, just as we do Islamophobia and all other forms of hatred. Our campus must be a place that welcomes all students and the full expression their history, culture, identity, and ethnicity. But words alone cannot create the culture of inclusion we desire, which is why we must transform our words into commitment and action. This work will take time, as all hard work does, and it will also take the openness of our entire community.”

Mone did not say whether he intends to honor the deal he brokered with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group that has been linked to terrorist organizations and is a source of a substantial number of antisemitic incidents on college campuses. In addition to agreeing to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, on May 12, he issued a statement describing Israel’s war to destroy the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza as “genocide,” citing figures reported by Hamas-controlled authorities which have been lambasted by experts as unreliable. The deal also stipulates UWM’s reviewing “its study abroad policies” and pressuring a local environmental organization to cut ties with two Israeli companies, which Mone has already done.

“University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone capitulated to protesters who violated UWM codes of conduct and state law, vandalized university property, and used harassment and intimidation to fuel antisemitism on campus,” the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Hillel Milwaukee, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said about the deal in a joint statement. “The agreement is amongst the most offensive and dangerous of any university agreement reached with encampment protesters over the last two weeks.”

Mone is not the only university leader accused of injuring Jewish university life to appease anti-Zionist protesters.

[kentuckybats]

 Zero Down Payment Assistance Programs for Homebuyers in Kentucky

There are several programs in Kentucky  to help homebuyers purchase a house with zero down payment. The various Kentucky down payment assistance programs in Kentucky, including KHC, FHA, VA, USDA, UWM’s $15,000 Welcome Home Grant, the $25,000 Kentucky Welcome Home Grant, and the 5% grant. We will also detail the qualifying criteria, such as credit score, income, work history, and assets. Kentucky…

[sneezest]

Yesterday the UWM Popular University for Palestine's instagram account was permanently disabled, only 5 hours after being launched. Their new account is uwm4palicoalition. Here is their response to UW-Milwaukee's statement made on April 29, 2024:

We have read the "UWM statement on free speech and campus protests" issued by the UWM administration on Monday, April 29, 2024, and we continue to be disappointed by the university's inaction.

While we share the administration's goal of maintaining a campus that provides a safe and welcoming environment for students, employees, and visitors, we do not want our university to be in any way involved or complicit with an occupying and oppressive foreign regime that is engaged in war crimes and ethnic cleansing against the families of some of our students.

In addition, the UWM administration should not want or expect us to remain silent or passive in the face of those who promote or support such a regime. We are certain the the UWM administration would not be trying to appease Nazi, KKK or other such groups. In its more than 200-day assault on Gaza, the Israeli regime has destroyed EVERY university in Gaza and murdered hundreds of professors and thousands of students, in addition to over 15,000 children. Israel has decimated the infrastructure of Gaza, including its healthcare, water, sewage and all other life-sustaining systems. The Israeli regime committed these and many other atrocities while using water, food, and medical care as weapons against an innocent civilian population. These are all war crimes under international law. Why does the UWM administration continue to try and appease those who blatantly support the regime that is engaging in such crimes?

We are disappointed that the UWM administration has responded to these crimes that are unparalleled in modern history and that directly impact the families of UWM students by meekly calling for "an end to the violence", the "release of hostages" (which does not seem to include the thousands of Palestinian hostages held by Israel nor the millions of Palestinians held hostage under Israel's occupation).

We reiterate the demands that we have provided to the UWM administration. Demands that will simply require the UWM administration to adopt a moral and ethical position respecting the basic human and civil rights of all people.

[oldmke]

Milwaukee University School was founded in 1851 as the Milwaukee Educational Association by wealthy German families who sought more comprehensive educational facilities than were then available to their children. Conducted in a rented building on upper East (later N.) Water St., the school had 40 pupils in its opening year. Two years later, the state legislature chartered the association as the German Academy. In the same year, a site was purchased at N. Broadway and E. State St. and a new school was built. Peter Engelmann, the school's director, instituted a broad curriculum in the elementary and higher branches and revolutionized the educational plan by introducing such subjects as gymnastics and manual training long before they were available in public schools. His scientific training at German universities prompted him to add courses in general science and nature study. By 1865, the reputation of the "Engelmann idea" had increased the enrollment to 450. In 1873, the program was further broadened when the director started Milwaukee’s first kindergarten. In 1917 the students voted to change the name of the school from the German-English Academy to Milwaukee University School. The school was located on N. Hartford Ave., when this picture was taken in 1928. Designed by G. J. De Gelleke, the red brick, English colonial structure was built in 1926 at a cost of $500,000. Cornerstones of previous school buildings were placed in this one. The University School now has two North Shore campuses and this building is UWM’s Engelmann Hall. Photograph from the Wisconsin Architectural Archive in the Central Library with information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection. An exhibit of drawings and sketches from the Archive is now featured on the Library’s display balcony.

[alongthewithywindle]

In 1610, Thomas Milles, champion of exhausting exhaustive titles, wrote The Catalog of Honor; or, Tresvry of Trve Nobility, Pecvliar and Proper to the Isle of Great Britaine, or, Tresury of true nobility : peculiar and proper to the isle of Great Britaine : that is to say, a collection historicall of all the free monarches aswell kinges of England as Scotland (nowe vnited togither) with the princes of Walles, dukes, marquisses and erles, their wiues, children, alliances, families, descentes & achievementes of honor : wherunto is properly prefixed, a speciall treatise of that kind of nobility which soverayne grace and fauor, and contryes customes, haue made meerly politicall and peculiarly ciuill (neuer so distinctly handled before) / translated out of Latyne into English. It was published by William Jaggard, a printer and bookseller in London between 1594 and 1623. He published many religious commentaries, books on British heraldry, essays, and histories. Jaggard printed eight other of Milles’ works.

Milles, a customs official, bailiff, and intelligence agent, was born in 1550(?) in Ashford, Kent, England. An avid advocate of mercantilism and free trade, Milles authored at least twelve printed titles between 1599 and 1617. Many were concerned with influencing economic policy, critiquing Catholocism, and documenting royal lineages.

Milles seems to have been concerned with accurately documenting the histories and lineage of Great Britain’s “True Nobility” in The Catalog of Honor, perhaps in response to a century with multiple royal lineage disputes, rife with political and religious upheaval. The 16th century saw the rise and fall of Mary I, Elizabeth I selling much of her holdings to finance foreign and domestic wars, the failure of the Tudor government system, and the 1690s depression.  In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died without an heir and was succeeded by James IV of Scotland, her closest living relative (and son of Mary, Queen of Scots).

The Catalog of Honor documents the titles and lineage of nobility, complete with engravings of their sigils. The first portion is a translation of Robert Glover’s Nobilitas politica vel civilis, with a title page engraving by Renold Elstracke.  The widespread concern with accurate lineage is evidenced in the multiple copies where Charles Bount’s illegitimate son Mountjoy Blount. He was later recognized and bestowed with the title of Baron and Earl a year later. In UWM’s copy, a paragraph referencing Mountjoy was cut out and later restored in manuscript.

A later book by Ralph Brooke, A catalogue and succession of the kings, princes, dukes, marquesses, earles, and viscounts of this realme of England…discouering, and reforming many errors committed, by men of other profession, and lately published in print; to the great wronging of the nobility, and preiudice of his Maiesties officers of armes, who are onely appointed and sworne to deale faithfully in these causes., was written in part to correct errors made by Milles in The Catalog of Honor.

[tumsozluk]

UWM football star signs professional contract in Italy, fulfills dream

UWM football star signs professional contract in Italy, fulfills dream

Elaina LaMacchia (red) makes a save during the UWM match. LaMacchia leads the nation in goals against average in 2021. (Photo by Milwaukee Athletics) One of the best women’s footballers in UWM’s history went on to a career in one of the great football nations in history. Elina LaMacchia, who spent her most recent season playing in her second division league in Italy, signed a professional…

[uwmspeccoll]

And Again -- Another Wood-engraved Feathursday

LESLIE EVANS

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is known to spear many things in our local ponds and waterways -- fish, crustaceans, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and even some small mammals -- but rarely cards with numbers on them. This wood engraving is by Watertown, Massachusetts artist, printmaker, and letterpress printer Leslie Evans (b. 1953), and it was one of the prints selected for inclusion in the Fourth Triennial Exhibition 2020-2022 of the American wood engravers society, the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN), and the image is from the catalog for that traveling show.

Evans is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where she was introduced to letterpress printing on the Vandercook proofing press. After stints working for artists and design studios, she founded her own press, Sea Dog Press, and came to wood engraving through annual workshops sponsored by WEN. So why the heron with the number 59? Because this engraving serves as the cover illustration for Block & Burin No. 59, Spring 2018, the official publication for members of the Wood Engravers' Network.

View more Feathursday posts.

View more posts with women wood engravers.

View other posts with engravings from the WEN Fourth Triennial Exhibition.

View more engravings by members of the Wood Engraver’s Network.

View more posts with wood engravings!

[uwmarchives]

Pride Month Spotlight: LGBTQ Film Festival

The first annual Milwaukee Gay and Lesbian Film Festival was organized by the Lavender Commitment, a student organization at UWM, in January 1983! While gay and lesbian films were screened by the Student Union in 1971, the ‘83 festival was the first annual event. From 1983-1988 the Lavender Commitment organized the festival.

In 1992, Great Lakes Film & Video (GLFV) and the Cream City Foundation began their own LGBT film and video series. This program ran annually till 1996. In 1996, GLFV programming joined with UWM’s School of Fine arts bringing the festival back home to UWM. 

The LGBT Film/Video Festival continued through 2017. For more information on the festival including original brochures and posters, check out the UWM Student Union Collection, 1948-2015, Box 6 and Box 43 Folders 6-16. 

[freemoneyfree]

details from:

Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Fifteen Books. Translated by the most eminent hands. Adorned with sculptures. 

Samuel Garth, ed. 

London: Printed for Jacob Tonson at Shakespear's Head, 1717. 

[hergracesathenaeum]

Charon (c.1695), Giuseppe Crespi

from the Emile H. Mathis Gallery at UW-Milwaukee.

[mediamilwaukee]

Atlas Obscura Co-Founder Dylan Thuras Celebrates New Book at UW-Milwaukee.

The New York Times called Atlas Obscura, “A wanderlust-whetting cabinet of curiosities on paper.” The book shows where places are and what you can do there, and gives the historical context behind each location.