Village of Colfax, Wisconsin after June 4, 1958 tornado. Closing in on #1 … our #2 most-liked and most-reblogged post of the year was this dramatic image of the aftermath of the tornado that struck the village of Colfax in 1958. Photo by Ron Blakeley. via: Colfax Public Library by way of Barron, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin, St. Croix, and Rusk Counties: Local History Collections, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
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Village of Colfax, Wisconsin after June 4, 1958 tornado.

Closing in on #1 … our #2 most-liked and most-reblogged post of the year was this dramatic image of the aftermath of the tornado that struck the village of Colfax in 1958. Photo by Ron Blakeley.

via: Colfax Public Library by way of Barron, Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin, St. Croix, and Rusk Counties: Local History Collections, University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

Source: digital.library.wisc.edu

Search for EfficiencyWe all want to be more efficient in the kitchen, don’t we? Kitchen efficiency was a major concern of the national home economics movement. Their efforts led to smaller kitchens, space-saving cabinetry, and countless time and motion studies to map every movement involved in meal preparation. Home economists gave us the “work triangle,” which specified where each cabinet and appliance should be to maximize production and minimize time. It’s an idea still in use today.  In 1958, University of Wisconsin home economist May Cowles calculated the time and walking distance saved using a more efficient, “synthesized” kitchen for the Journal of Home Economics. via: UW-Madison Archives by way of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Our guest curator Erika Janik joins us for the entire month of May, taking a look at the diverse histories of cooking and eating in the Badger State. Janik is an award-winning writer, historian, and the producer and editor of “Wisconsin Life” on Wisconsin Public Radio. She’s the author of Odd Wisconsin, A Short History of Wisconsin, Madison: A History of a Model City, and Apple: A Global History.
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Search for Efficiency
We all want to be more efficient in the kitchen, don’t we? Kitchen efficiency was a major concern of the national home economics movement. Their efforts led to smaller kitchens, space-saving cabinetry, and countless time and motion studies to map every movement involved in meal preparation. Home economists gave us the “work triangle,” which specified where each cabinet and appliance should be to maximize production and minimize time. It’s an idea still in use today. 

In 1958, University of Wisconsin home economist May Cowles calculated the time and walking distance saved using a more efficient, “synthesized” kitchen for the Journal of Home Economics.

via: UW-Madison Archives by way of University of Wisconsin Digital Collections

Our guest curator Erika Janik joins us for the entire month of May, taking a look at the diverse histories of cooking and eating in the Badger State. Janik is an award-winning writer, historian, and the producer and editor of “Wisconsin Life” on Wisconsin Public Radio. She’s the author of Odd Wisconsin, A Short History of Wisconsin, Madison: A History of a Model City, and Apple: A Global History.

“American Lass Studies at Source,” Milwaukee Journal, 1959. In 1958, 27-year-old Mary Jeanne Bowen became the first student to take part in Marquette University’s Junior Year Abroad program. Bowen spent two semesters at University College in Dublin, Ireland and sent monthly letters to the study abroad program coordinator, Rev. Virgil C. Blum, to report on her experiences. In February 1959 she wrote:  I found it very difficult at first to believe or get used to the fact that I had the accent. I thought every one else had one. Somehow it just never occurred to me to think of there being any such thing as an “American Accent.” via: In the Spotlight, Marquette University Raynor Memorial Libraries
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“American Lass Studies at Source,” Milwaukee Journal, 1959.

In 1958, 27-year-old Mary Jeanne Bowen became the first student to take part in Marquette University’s Junior Year Abroad program. Bowen spent two semesters at University College in Dublin, Ireland and sent monthly letters to the study abroad program coordinator, Rev. Virgil C. Blum, to report on her experiences.

In February 1959 she wrote: 

I found it very difficult at first to believe or get used to the fact that I had the accent. I thought every one else had one. Somehow it just never occurred to me to think of there being any such thing as an “American Accent.”

via: In the Spotlight, Marquette University Raynor Memorial Libraries

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