Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910

In a hurry? Save or print these Collection Connections as a single file.

Go directly to the collection, Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

The 138 books digitized for Pioneering the Upper Midwest, ca. 1820-1910 provide an in-depth study of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin from the era of colonization and settlement, from 1585 to 1763, through the emergence of modern America, from 1890 to 1930. The collection, however, provides more than a parochial history by offering insight into pivotal periods and events of the nation's history. Furthermore, there is a variety of sources, from journals, letters, and autobiographies to regional historians' monographs, that will appeal to readers and present history through multiple perspectives.

1) Colonization and Settlement, 1585-1763

Although the English colonists had the greatest impact on North America, the French dominated parts of Canada and the upper Midwest of America until the French and Indian War (1756-1763). This collection documents the era of French expansion in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. You can search on the names of early explorers such as Nicolet, Radisson, Groseilliers, Joliet, Marquette, or Perrot for journal entries including the following in which Radisson describes the arrival of Boeuf Sioux:

The day following they arrived wth an incredible pomp. This made me thinke of ye Intrance yt ye Polanders did in Paris, saving that they had not so many Jewells, but instead of them they had so many feathers . . . Most of the men their faces weare all over dabbed wth severall collours. Their hair turned up like a Crowne, and weare curt very even, but rather so burned, for the fire is their cicers. They leave a tuff of haire upon their Crowne Of their heads, tye it, and putt att ye end of it some small pearles or some Turkey [turquoise] stones, to bind their heads. They have a role commonly made of a snake's skin, where they tye severall bears' paws, or give a forme to some bitts of buff's [buffalo] horns, and put it about the said role. They grease themselves wth very thick grease, & mingle it in reddish earth, wch they bourne, as we our breeks. Wth this stuffe they gett their haire to stand up. They curt some down of Swan or other fewle that hath a white feather, and cover wth it the crowne of their heads. Their ears are pierced in 5 places; the holes are so bigg that yor little finger might passe through. They have yallow waire that they make wth copper, made like a starr or a half moone, & there hang it. . . .

Page 86 [Transcription]
Radisson And Groseilliers In Wisconsin [Transcription]

Make drawings based on one of the more descriptive journal entries. This will help you to pay attention to detail and use your imagination in conceptualizing and reading about history. Write descriptions of people you see or of images from newspapers and magazines.

The first footnote to Radisson's journal provides some background on the journal, its writer, the language, and plot. You may find it helpful to refer to this note on pages 80-84, or to the corresponding transcription before investigating the journal further. As you read, notice how many different names are used for each Native-American tribe and for geographical features. What does this suggest about the culture and history of America during the period of colonization and settlement?

Also browse the Tables of Content of the Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin volumes 16, 17, and 18. They contain journals and letters written by the French about Jesuit missionary work, fur trade, and Native Americans that will allow enhance understanding of the variety of motivations behind colonization and settlement.

2) Revolution and New Nation, 1754-1820s

The collection provides unique resources that can supplement a textbook study of the events leading up to the American Revolution, the war itself, and the subsequent building of a nation.

The British reduced colonial competition by defeating the French and their Native-American allies in the French and Indian War. You can learn more by examining instructions from King Louis XV written to his Lieutenant-General of New France in 1755. You can also refer to one of the Learning Page lessons for George Washington's correspondence regarding his encounters with the French in the Ohio Valley.

Though united by their victory over the French, England and its colonists in America were soon at odds over the Proclamation of 1763. Search on Pontiac for a contemporary account of the uprising that led to the Proclamation of 1763 and then access the proclamation in its entirety. You can also get a sense of the complex relationship between the British and Native Americans during the Revolution by searching on Haldimand (a British general) for correspondence such as the following:

. . . they have long requested assistance & it has been faithfully promised these three years past, but a want of Provisions, the difficulty of Transporting them to such a Distance, & the prodigious consumption owing, not only, to the necessity of feeding the Indians while collected, but supporting Entirely all Women & Children of the Mohawk, Cayaya, and many of the Onondaga nations, whose villages have been destroyed by the Rebels, & who have taken refuge at Niagara, has rendered it totally impossible for me to afford them any, although so much the object of my wishes. From the inclosed letters I have not a doubt that unless a well timed assistance may prevent it, they will be forced into a neutrality, which with Indians is little better than a Declaration of War against the weakest Party. . . .

Retaining the Indians in our Interests has been attended with a very heavy expense to Government but their attachment, has, alone, hitherto preserved the Upper Country, & the Devastation they have made upon the Susquehanna and Mohawk Rivers has distressed the Enemy prodigiously. . . .

"General Haldimand To Lord George Germain" [Transcription]

Following the war, the new nation needed to assimilate its lands west of the states, called the Northwest Territory. Read Thomas Jefferson's plan for governing western territories which, though never put into effect, became the basis of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The collection also includes an 1887 address and an 1899 address which speak to the importance of the Northwest Ordinance in determining how the entire nation was built.

3) Expansion and Reform, 1801-1861

Thomas Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana territory in 1803 extended America's empire, its government, and its espoused ideals. A paper by Nathaniel Pitt Langford brings the importance of this expansion into relief against the background of the geographical obstacles and Spanish intrigues that might have prevented it.

The federal government sought to make its new lands available to its people through the forced removal of Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi. Read "A Brief History of the War with the Sac and Fox Indians in Illinois and Michigan" to learn about one incident of violence incurred by this removal. A search on names of individual tribes such as Six Nations, Ottawa, Chippewa or Obibwe, Sac, Fox, Sioux, or Dakota will yield many of texts describing the history and culture of the quickly disappearing Native-American nations, though they are nearly all written from a white perspective.

Kaposia Village With Pen And Pencil On The Frontier In 1851

This collection may be used to study reform movements by searching on temperance and anti-slavery. Search on women for chapters from texts such as Lucinda Hinsdale Stone Her Life Story and Reminiscences and Bertha Van Hoosen's autobiography, Petticoat Surgeon, that deal with establishing a place for women in academia and medicine respectively.

4) Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877

Searching on Civil War yields several texts that afford views of wartime through personal perspectives. For example, Crusader and Feminist; Letters of Jane Grey Swisshelm: 1858-1865 offers the following firsthand description of Washington, D.C., after Lincoln's assassination:

It is sickening to pass the White House and adjacent Departments so recently all gorgeous with flags and all manner of festive devices blazing with many colored lights, and reverberating with triumphant music, and witness the change to the sable emblems of woe. It is sadder than these outside changes in other cities, for just behind that draped wall lies the mangled body of our sainted, martyred President, and this visible presence adds greatly to the sorrow and gloom . . . Then the presence of the thousands of Freed-people who regarded Abraham Lincoln as their Moses, adds to the impressiveness of the scene. With tears and lamentations they lean their faces against the iron fence around the Presidential Mansion, and groan with a feeling akin to despair lest now, that their friend is gone, they shall be returned to their old masters . . . One poor black woman . . . exclaimed: "My good President! My good President! I would rather have died myself! I would rather have given the babe from my bosom! Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!"

Page 286
Chapter XIII [Transcription]
Crusader And Feminist; Letters Of Jane Grey Swisshelm: 1858-1865

President Lincoln's Funeral Procession, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., April 19, 1865, Civil War Photographs, 1861-1865.

These and other interesting letters will captivate readers. They also offer insight into the minds of people during the Civil War era. Searching on Lincoln and funeral across all American Memory collections brings up numerous artifacts that also testify to the impact of this event, including the photograph to the left. Direct your attention to the people standing on rooftops and the cart-drawn casket in the upper right-hand corner. Other artifacts include sheet music of several funeral marches for the President, and a broadside announcing a reward for the apprehension of Lincoln's assassin.

Searching on slavery in Pioneering the Upper Midwest, ca. 1820-1910 locates texts such as the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, while reports of Civil War volunteers from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota can be found in the indexes to the collections of each state's historical society. For example, an account of the battle of the Monitor and Merrimac is included in the collection of the Minnesota Historical Society.

The collection also includes several accounts of the Dakota Uprising that took place during the Civil War. Search on Sioux Uprising for accounts such as that of Chief Gabriel Renville, a scout serving with General Sibley's Expedition.

5) Development of the Industrial United States, 1876-1915

Map of the Railroads of Minnesota in 1875 Volume 15, Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society

Using this collection, you can also study the ramifications of industrialization in labor and politics. Fifty Years on the Firing Line provides a portrait of the Populist movement, while the Minnesota Historical Society collection offers a brief history of the Granger Movement. Crusaders, the biography of Arthur and Marian Le Sueur, explores the lives of avid socialists.

The conservation movement developed concurrently with industrialization. Conservationist John Muir's autobiographical The Story of My Boyhood and Youth provides a good introduction to this movement and testifies to the importance of the individual in shaping history. You can learn more from the online collection, Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920.

6) Emergence of Modern America, 1890-1930

This collection's texts allow students to explore the Progressive reform agenda that emerged with modern America. An autobiography of Wisconsin Governor Robert M. La Follette, called La Follette's Autobiography; A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences, and Trials of a Lawyer, the autobiography of Minnesota lawyer and congressman James Manahan, are both interesting and instructive.

Searching on women and suffrage yields titles such as The Story of a Pioneer, an autobiography of Anna Howard Shaw. In addition to recounting her own experiences as a suffragist, Shaw provides a captivating anecdotal portrait of suffrage leader, Susan B. Anthony. Here, Shaw describes what happened when Anthony was unable to attend the first meeting of the International Suffrage Alliance:

When the meeting was opened the first words of the presiding officer were, "Where is Susan B. Anthony?" and the demonstration that followed the question was the most unexpected and overwhelming incident of the gathering. The entire audience rose, men jumped on their chairs, and the cheering continued without a break for ten minutes . . . Afterward, when we burst in upon her and told her of the great demonstration the mere mention of her name had caused, her lips quivered and her brave old eyes filled with tears. As we looked at her I think we all realized anew that what the world called stoicism in Susan B. Anthony throughout the years of her long struggle had been, instead, the splendid courage of an indomitable soul--while all the time the woman's heart had longed for affection and recognition.

Page 210
Chapter IX [Transcription]
The Story of a Pioneer