Research in Madison, WI

We had planned to visit the Wisconsin State Historical Society for research in the library during our two weeks in the Madison area. Imagine our surprise to find that our motel in Fitchburg provides a shuttle almost to the door of the library! Delivery and pick-up right across the street from the campus union...

Our first goal was obituaries, as we were aware of the library's large collection of newspaper microfilm. Dick had created a list from Family Tree Maker called "Died in Wisconsin" so that we had the name, date and place of death for reference. At the library we used a book called Guide to Wisconsin Newspapers 1833-2004 to find out which newspapers were available on microfilm for the locations. (This book is also available to download as a PDF file.) Then the librarian printed a list of film numbers; we located the films and got set up at a film reader. As we found each obit, we passed a flash drive back and forth to copy the information.

Second floor reading room; microfilm readers in back corner

According the the librarian newspapers for several cities in Wisconsin have been digitized, but Dick found that the search field for the database was not as effective as he had hoped. It was also tedious to copy to the flash drive; it didn't seem to work unless you made a word document first. Using microfilm was more efficient!

Where do I take the cart full of microfilms?