When I Was a Kid: Toys, Tasks, and Technology opens at noon on May 3.
Sauk County Museum, 531 4th Avenue, Baraboo
The Sauk County Historical Museum in the Van Orden Mansion is open Friday and Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 pm.
Hands-on activities can be found throughout the mansion like vintage-style toys to play with, working rotary dial phones, push-button exhibits, and much more. There will even be a history hunt for kids with prizes. Admission is free.
That’s Quite the Tooth!
Wooly Mammoth skeleton
Sara Oostdik,
SCHS Curator
A large part of why I love curation and working in museums is the opportunity to explore history and the past through hands-on interaction with objects and records. Through this work, there are opportunities to research items from modern history to thousands of years ago.
While sorting through fossil and geology boxes in one of our storage areas, a volunteer and I recently relocated a donation from 1916 that I had only briefly read about in our old record books…a tooth from a wooly mammoth! This tooth was discovered in November of 1913 by August Platt (an early ice dealer in Baraboo), his son Harold, Julius Hass, and others while hauling gravel from near the Baraboo River in Lyons (now West Baraboo). The tooth was found not far from the current location of the SCHS History Center, four or five feet below the surface. The base of the tooth has been heavily ground, possibly from glacial and other movement over the years. It is possible the tooth may be more than 10,000 years ol
Sauk County Historical Society
Museum
The Van Orden Mansion has served as the home of the Sauk County Historical Museum since 1939. Finished in 1904, the mansion contains over one hundred years of artifacts donated to the society. Original features include woodwork, wall coverings, light fixtures, carpets and some of the family's furniture.
Location: 531 4th Ave., Baraboo, WI
When: May 3 through October - Friday and Saturday afternoons from 12 to 4 pm.
Admission: Free
History Center
In December of 2006, the Sauk County Historical Society acquired the historic Island Woolen Mill office building from the city of Baraboo for $1. Fundraising and renovations then went hand in hand until the building was renovated and restored for use as the Sauk County History Center opening in 2013. The building now houses the offices, archives and research center for the historical society.
Location: 900 2nd Ave., Baraboo, WI
Open: Wed - Fri noon to 4 p.m. / Saturdays by appointment. Please call 608-356-1001 to schedule a Saturday research time.