A statewide digital history hub, built by graduate students

Through the MA Library & Information Studies program, iSchool students are working with Recollection Wisconsin to digitize local histories across the state.

By Thomas Jilk

In Madison and Middleton, in Eagle River and Kenosha, in Whitewater and Wausau, pieces of Wisconsin history - physical manifestations of the state's collective memory - are being preserved by iSchool graduate students.

Through the MA Library & Information Studies practicum, students over the past three years have partnered with museums, technical colleges, libraries and historical societies statewide to digitize photographs, maps, yearbooks and more, gaining valuable experience in the information professions while piecing together a digital history hub, easily accessible to students and researchers.

That hub is operated by Recollection Wisconsin, a collaborative consortium funded by the state, administered by the non-profit WiLS and co-managed by a group of six Wisconsin universities, libraries, and historical societies. As part of the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative, students from the iSchool at UW-Madison and the School of Information Studies at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee travel to cities and towns near and far, working to preserve items that tell the centuries-long story of the state.

"These materials are one-of-a-kind, rare, unique, content you can't find anywhere else," said Vicki Tobias MA'03, project coordinator for the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative. "Digitizing them is an opportunity not just to share resources, but to preserve what [communities] have."

The iSchool's partnership with Recollection Wisconsin is the Wisconsin Idea at work: students using their skills to support communities statewide by preserving their interconnected histories for generations to come.

Building digital collections 'from start to finish'

The collaborations between students and information institutions are reciprocal - students get real-world experience; partner organizations get the support of "a fresh, enthusiastic student," Tobias said. "A lot of the smaller, less-funded organizations have a really hard time getting started doing digital work," she added, so having a student trained in digital preservation and information management can yield significant benefits.

At the same time, the students get a chance to apply the skills they learn in iSchool courses and apply them in diverse communities and contexts. Over the course of their 120-hour practicum, they "take a digitization project from start to finish," Tobias said.

The three MA students who worked on the digitization initiative this summer made the most of their projects. "I learned how to select materials, scan and digitize them following best practices, write metadata for each item, and use archival software to manage and upload these resources to an online platform," said Kathryn Kulie MAx'27, who worked with Northcentral Technical College (NTC) in Wausau, WI to digitize photographs from the school's archives. "This collection is a great showcase of how technical education in Wisconsin changed with new technologies, as well as how NTC changed," she added.

For Sophia Auron MAx'27, the project was closer to campus, in Middleton, working with the Wisconsin Library Association's historical materials, including newsletters, pamphlets, and photographs. "My digitization work means that the Wisconsin library community has easy access to learn about its history," Auron said. She noted that Tobias helped ensure she set up the next student for success, as well. "The beauty of this initiative is the host sites can continue the work," Auron said, as she and her peers pass the baton to the next cohorts of students in 2027 and beyond.

In Kenosha, Hazel Johnson MAx'27 partnered with Gateway Technical College to begin digitizing their entire collection. "I found it incredibly interesting to work with an almost fully unprocessed collection and look at materials that probably haven't been touched in years," Johnson said. "I know that my work will lead to a major increase in access to the Gateway Technical College collections," they added.

Prepared in Madison

Each student credited iSchool instructors and courses with laying the groundwork to prepare them for their summer projects. "My section of LIS 734: Intro to Archives and Records Management course was such a helpful and enjoyable inroad into the archival profession. Amanda Smith was a great professor," Kulie said.

Specific course topics also proved to be directly applicable. For Johnson, "Having previously taken Digital Curation and Collections (LIS 668) with Dorothea Salo helped a lot with creating a readable folder hierarchy and having previous knowledge to work within different collection management systems."

The rigorous preparation is by design, Tobias said. In addition to their coursework, "We give them extensive training to get started, but we also give them project documentation, ongoing support, and ongoing communications to keep the work going," she said. "Sustainability is really important to us."

As students from Madison and Milwaukee continue to partner with organizations around the state, Tobias is looking ahead at how to maximize the students' impact. "We've identified some geographic areas and some subject areas that we'd really like to flesh out and try and tell some unique, lesser-known stories about some of our communities," she said. In the future, she also hopes to increase the number of students involved in the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative. "We have discussed opening it up to undergraduate students. There are other fields - public history, museum studies, art history - where students might benefit from this experience."

Across Wisconsin, these partnerships reflect the missions of the iSchool and the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence : to advance people, information, and technology for the public good.

Interested students can apply to contribute to the Recollection Wisconsin Digitization Initiative in 2027. Prospective participants can learn more and apply on this webpage.

The state of Wisconsin provides funding, administered by the Department of Public Instruction, to preserve Wisconsin history through Recollection Wisconsin. Learn more about how Recollection Wisconsin is funded.

Learn more about the iSchool's MA Library & Information Studies program or its practicum requirement.