Found: World's Record Black Bear, Glidden, WI

Found: World's Record Black Bear. 665 lbs. dressed. Shot 5 miles east of Glidden, Wis.
by 2 Milwaukee hunters: Otto Hedbany and Donal Streable. Now on display in
Glidden, Wis., for the public to see.
Photo and Published by G R Brown Co. 2329 Kane Rd. Eu Claire, Wisconsin 54703. Circa 1963.

Putting a stuffed bear on display on main street in mid-century small town Wisconsin helped spread the word that Glidden was the best place in Wisconsin to hunt the animals. Black bear open hunting season is usually in September in this region famous for its black bear population. When this large bear was shot dead and dragged from the woods by seven men near Glidden, Wisconsin, the town began calling itself the "Black Bear Capital of the World." The high school made the black bear its mascot and the Chamber of Commerce bought the stuffed bear in 1964 and kept it on permanent display ever since. Though logging and the railroad brought people to Glidden, changing times made snowmobiling, an annual toilet seat race, hiking and other recreational activities the big draw these days. A north woodsy company called Winter Woods markets wreaths, pine cones, birch bark, mosses, and twigs to craft stores and florists and today is among the largest employers in the town.

Found: View from Memorial Bridge, Appleton, WI

Found: View taken from Memorial Bridge across the Fox River at Appleton, Wisconsin.
Photo & Published by G. R. Brown Co., Rt. 5, Eau Claire, WI  54703-9990. Circa 1980s.

Found: Three States View, Iowa-Illinois, Wisconsin, from Eagle Point Park, Dubuque.
Published by Buettell Brothers Company, Dubuque, Iowa. Circa 1930s.

These views of rivers are "taken" from built structures revealing scenes of contrast. On the one hand, the river flowing through the landscape and on the other the buildings, docks, and gateways enabling human access.

Found: Historical Surgeons' Quarters, Portage, WI

Found: Historical Surgeons' Quarters, Portage, Wisconsin.
 Located just east of the city on Hwy. 33, this is the only remaining structure of FORT WINNEBAGO.
Built before 1828 as the home of a French Fur Trader, it was purchased by the army when the Fort was begun.
It was used to quarter Medical Officers at the Fort.
The quarters overlook both the Fox River and the WAUNONA TRAIL,
made famous by Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet in 1673.
Photo & Pub. G. R Brown Co., Rt. 5 Eau Claire, Wis. 54701. Circa 1970s.

These buildings seem to be the residue of the complex history of the white man settling in Wisconsin and negotiating with the Ho Chunk people. All that remains of Fort Winnebago in Portage on the Fox River are these log houses filled with 19the century artifacts operated by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  The Portage web post about the site boasts of featuring a period operating table as part of the displayed artifacts.

Found: Old Indian Agency House, Portage, Wisconsin. 
Built in 1832 by the U.S. Government for John Kinzie, the Indian Agent to the Winnebago.
Furnishings no later than that date. Restored in 1932 by WISCONSIN SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES.
Photography by P. Richard Eelis.

Found: Sheboygan Harbor Breakwater, Sheboygan, WI

Found: Sheboygan Harbor Breakwater, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Best of fishing off this breakwater.
Photo & Published by G.R. Brown Co., Rt. 5, Eau Claire, WI  54701-9990. Circa 1980s

Fishing without fear in the ceaseless blue of Lake Michigan in the 1980s appears idyllic in this postcard view of the Sheboygan Harbor.  DNR-posted warnings about the health risks of consuming fish caught in Lake Michigan more than one per month (due to PCB and mercury contamination from the boom of manufacturing along the great lakes) makes such a scene elegiac in the 21st century.

Found: General Motors Corp, Janesville, WI

Found: General Motors Corp., Janesville, Wisconsin 53545.
Home of the famous Chevrolet cars & trucks. Founded in 1923 (sic).
Celebrated 50 Golden Years in 1973. Located on banks of the beautiful Rock River.
Photo & Pub. by G.R. Brown Co., Rt. 5, Eau Claire, Wis. 54701 circa 1975

Less than 40 years after this proud postcard hit the streets, the General Motors plant in Janesville closed. Employing thousands of people over the decades, production at the plant ceased on December 23, 2008. The last Chevy Tahoe that rolled off the production line that day was raffled to raise funds for the United Way. Janesville wasn't the only Wisconsin town to make cars, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Racine and more did too. From the Kissel Kar, made in Hartford, to the Excalibur designed by Brooks Stevens to the Little Nash Rambler, Wisconsin is known to be home of about three dozen motor vehicle makers. As the 20th century wore on, workers making cars gave way to artists using them as subject matter, medium, and process. In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg asked composer John Cage to drive his Model A Ford over 20 sheets of paper to make Automobile Tire Print. Starting in 1959,  John Chamberlain made automobile "collage" sculptures. The Ant Farm buried 10 Cadillac fins-up along Route 66 in 1974 to make Cadillac Ranch, oft referred to as the most famous public art work in America. Artists and entrepreneurs have found that cars transport both the body and the mind making for eerie associations. That same year, performance artist Chris Burden had himself crucified to a VW Beetle for his Trans-Fixed piece. We remember seeing Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow's bullet-riddled 1934 Ford V8 getaway car displayed in a semi-trailer in a shopping mall parking lot in the 1970s. These days it's on display for free at a casino/hotel near Las Vegas. An upcoming gallery exhibition in Miami called Piston Head: Artists Engage the Automobile examines the use of the car in art since 1970. The organizers argue that cars are the symbol of American consumerism and the "quintessential machine of modern life." The show features work by trendy contemporary artists like Richard Prince whose Hood series uses 1960s muscle car hoods to conjure dreams fueled by a desire to escape and the Bruce High Quality Foundation, an enigmatic art collective that deployed an entangled Volkswagon in a recent work.  Displayed in the context of a parking ramp at one of the biggest international art events of the year, the car becomes sacred icon and cathedral (Barthes). Meanwhile in Kenosha, Janesville, and Milwaukee, the car plants have been abandoned or have disappeared altogether. 

Found: Evinrude Snowmobile, Eau Claire, WI

Found: Evinrude Snow Mobile Scene published by G. R. Brown, Co., Eau Claire, Wisconsin.