Identifier
CSUMC0004-CG (local)

Repository
Wisconsin Historical Society, Museum Division Wisconsin Historical Society, Library-Archives Division Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin--Madison Janet C. Gilmore

Date
1987 - 1995 (Inclusive dates)

Summary
The Rosemaling in the Upper Midwest collection documents the Norwegian-American folk painting tradition of rosemaling in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and the greater Upper Midwest region. Phil Martin and Jean Johnson of the Wisconsin Folk Museum interviewed rosemalers, while Martin and Lewis Koch photographed them and their work. Martin and Johnson borrowed, commissioned, and purchased artifacts, and produced several versions of a rosemaling exhibit, representing the work of more than 50 rosemalers. The first exhibit was installed in 1988 at the Folk Museum, and the last one ran into 1995. The book and exhibit catalog, Rosemaling in the Upper Midwest: A Story of Region and Revival, also resulted from this research.

Creator and/or Contributor
Wisconsin Folk Museum (creator)

Scope and Content Note

The Wisconsin Historical Society Museum Division holds the artifacts, and most photographs, negatives, and slides associated with this project. These photographs, negatives, and slides are arranged according to the Wisconsin Folk Museum cataloguing scheme, and include both field and studio photography. Slide sheets 84-100 contain the 35 mm color slides related to the Rosemaling in the Upper Midwest book project. Sixteen slides are fieldwork images while the rest are studio shots. Most of the 4x5 color transparencies are studio photographs that appeared in the book, and show the work of Gladys Fossum, Verna Spaanem, and Gold Medalists Violet Christophersen, Ethel Kvalheim, Irene Lamont, Susan Louthain, and Vi Thode. Copy slides of 4x5 color transparencies, which are studio shots used in the book, are also present. Three 4x5 black-and-white internegatives show rosemaled furniture and a large plate by Per Lysne. Images of Nordic Fest, a rosemaled Stoughton Laundromat, rosemaled skis and furniture can be found within the 35 mm black-and-white negatives. Contact sheets of those images are present as well. Nine black-and-white negatives exist and 13 slide sleeves hold several color transparencies, including 18 images related to the book production.

The WHS Museum Division also holds the artifact collection, which includes the work of more than 35 rosemalers ranging from Ethel Kvalheim to Oljanna Cunneen. The rosemaled items include chairs, panels, plates, bowls, trunks, tines, and other small objects.

Mills Music Library's Wisconsin Music Archives has one taped interview of Marion Nelson, Director of Vesterheim, interviewed by Phil Martin on January 26, 1989 at the Vesterheim, in Decorah, Iowa. The tape is part of the Archives' Wisconsin Folk Museum Collection, Box 6, no. 257.

Artist files on roughly 50 rosemalers can be found in the Wisconsin Historical Society Library-Archives Division in the “Wisconsin Folk Museum Records” (Call Number M98-044) collection. These files variously contain correspondence--often regarding acquisition of artifacts--as well as news clippings, ephemeral publications, some biographical materials, and sometimes original field notes.

Exhibit materials for “Roses in the Upper Midwest” in Janet C. Gilmore's possession include five mounted black-and-white photographs, one of the Stoughton Laundromat, one of Ethel Kvalheim, another of Thelma and Elma Olsen, one of Vesterheim's main exhibits hall, and a classic portrait of Per Lysne (all of which appear in the book). Four folders hold original and final versions of exhibit text, and an artifact list for the final exhibit. Additional color slides, prints, and negatives, show the final exhibit's installation before tear-down in 1995.

Administrative/Biographical History Element

Funding from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission supported the establishment of an exhibit at the Wisconsin Folk Museum in 1989. The exhibit focused on the role of Per Lysne of Stoughton, in Dane County, Wisconsin, and Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, in the art form's revival. It featured the work of the Dane County area's locally-inspired “community” rosemalers as well as 20 of the then 31 Vesterheim Gold Medalist rosemalers from the Upper Midwest.

A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (Folk Arts) resulted in the publication of Phil Martin's Rosemaling in the Upper Midwest: A Story of Region and Revival in 1989, which fleshed out the exhibit's format. Additional funding was received from the Sons of Norway Regional District 5, the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Evjue Foundation, and the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission. The book received the 1989 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association for “literary merit as well as the quality of writing, editing, printing, and publishing.”

Conditions Governing Access

Contact records custodians for access information.

Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum Division
816 State St.
Madison, WI 53706
Email: paul.bourcier@wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: (608) 264-6573
Web site: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/collections/

Wisconsin Historical Society
Library-Archives Division
Reference Services, Archives
816 State St.
Madison, WI 53706
Email: askarchives@wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: (608) 264-6460
Web site: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/

Wisconsin Music Archives at Mills Music Library
University of Wisconsin-Madison
B162 Memorial Library
728 State St.
Madison, WI 53706-1494
Email: askmusic@library.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 263-1884
Web site: http://music.library.wisc.edu

Janet C. Gilmore, Folklorist
209 S 4th St.
Mount Horeb, WI 53572
Phone: (608) 437-4816
Email: jgilmore@facstaff.wisc.edu

Conditions Governing Reproduction
Consult institutional repositories for specific information on use restrictions. Review of the materials held by Janet C. Gilmore for non-profit personal, educational, and research purposes may be arranged.

Custodial History
The materials were accessioned and catalogued for the Wisconsin Folk Museum collections during 1991-1992 by Ruth Forrester (formerly Fahnestock) under the supervision of Phil Martin, Director. They were transferred from the Wisconsin Folk Museum upon its closure in 1996 to the Wisconsin Historical Society and Mills Music Library. Some exhibit materials and related records remain in files maintained by folklorist Janet C. Gilmore.

Bibliography

John Michael Kohler Arts Center. From Hardanger to Harleys: A Survey of Wisconsin Folk Art. Ed. Robert T. Teske, with James P. Leary and Janet C. Gilmore. Sheboygan, WI: John Michael Kohler Arts Center. June 1987.

Gilmore, Janet C. “Rosemaling.” In Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. Ed. Gerard C. Wertkin. New York: Routledge. 2003.

------. “Art to Enjoy, Art to Use: Oljanna Venden Cunneen (1923-1988)” Wisconsin Folk Museum exhibit documentation, 1995.

Govenar, Alan. Masters of the Traditional Arts: A Biographical Dictionary. Dallas:Documentary Arts, Inc. 2002. [Ethel Kvalheim]

------. Masters of Traditional Arts: DVD-Rom. Dallas: Documentary Arts, Inc. 2002.

Nelson, Marion. Norwegian Folk Art: The Migration of a Tradition. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers. 1995. [Judith Nelson Miner bowl]

Siporin, Steve. American Folk Masters: The National Heritage Fellows. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1992. Pp. 54-58, 66, 232-33 [Ethel Kvalheim]

General Note
Productions resulting from the described fieldwork were:

Martin, Philip N. Rosemaling in the Upper Midwest: A Story of Region and Revival. Mount Horeb, WI: Wisconsin Folk Museum. 1989.

“Roses of the Upper Midwest” exhibit. Wisconsin Folk Museum. 1989-1995.

Extent
622 (graphic images)
63 (artifacts)
48 (folders)
1 (audiocassette)
1 (exhibit photographs, text, artifact lists, and photographic documentation of exhibit installation (approximately 1 cubic foot))

Language
English (Languages)

Other Subject Headings
Norwegian Americans (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Norwegians (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
English language (Local)
Norwegian language (Local)
Middle West (Local)
Illinois (Local)
Iowa (Local)
Michigan (Local)
Minnesota (Local)
North Dakota (Local)
South Dakota (Local)
Wisconsin (Local)
Dane County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Eau Claire County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Grant County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Iowa County (Wis.) (Local)
Langlade County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Mahaska County (Iowa) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Marinette County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Monroe County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Oneida County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Racine County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Ramsey County (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Rock County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Saint Croix County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Walworth County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Waukesha County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Vilas County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Antigo (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Aurora (Ill.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Cashton (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
De Soto (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Dodgeville (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Dubuque (Iowa) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Eau Claire (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Elkhorn (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Fargo (N.D.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Janesville (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Lodi (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Madison (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Marinette (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Marquette (Mich.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Minneapolis (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Milan (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Milwaukee (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Monticello (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Morris (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Mount Horeb (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Muskego (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
New Berlin (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Newton (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Oregon (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Platteville (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Rhinelander (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Richfield (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
River Falls (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Saint Germain (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Saint Paul (Minn.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Shawano (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Sioux Falls (S.D.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Sparta (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Stoughton (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Waukesha (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
West Des Moines (Iowa) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Whitefish Bay (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Decorative Arts (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Folk painting (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Rosemaling (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
American Rogaland style (Local)
Rogaland style (Local)
Telemark style (Local)

Preferred Citation
Please consult repositories for guidelines. We suggest the following citation form when using direct quotes from a person documented: [Name of person documented]. [Date]. [Tape/video/other]-recorded interview by [Fieldworker name]. [Place interviewed]. [Name of collection/project]. [Repository, city, state]. When using a specific image: [Identify subject matter/people in caption]. Photo/image by [Photographer/fieldworker name]. [Date]. Courtesy of [repository]. To quote fieldworker, follow bibliographical style

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