SUMMER EXHIBIT: Last summer, we introduced the community to the history of Rowe Pottery Works and the unique artisan culture. that business established in Cambridge. The 2nd phase of our pottery display and history will be highlighted this summer at the museum.
We will open June 1st with our Main Lobby display featuring the work of a “clan” of local potters. Our new elevator lift will be operational by then.. We will finally be accessible to all.
Tickets on sale for our fundraiser Lettice and Lovage. The play was written to take place in a historic English manor and has been adopted to take place in the Cambridge Historic School Museum. there will be one show on Sunday February 18 at the Cambridge Winery. Tickets are $20 that include desserts and beverage. Seating at 2 pm with play begiinning at 2:30.
A dinner menu will be aailable for those wishing to stay after the play for dinner. Proceeds from the play will go towards purchase and installation of a stair lift system at the museum. This will make it accessible for all. Help suport this project and enjoy a play with friensds and neighbors.
Advance tiickets will be availble Wedesday and thursday Feb. 14 and 15 from 4 to 6 pm at the museum or can be pruchased if still available at Cambridge Winery on Feb. 18th.
THIS WOULD MAKE A WONDRFUL GIFT FOR YOUR SPECIAL VALENTINE!
The museum is now open every Saturday, June through September from 10 am to 3 pm. You can also request a day/time for groups, families, and out of towners. Call 608-423-2630 to set a date/time by appoointment. There are new displays for 2022. Stop in and tour the Cambridge Historic School Museum again.
Margaret McFarlane Davidson
A New Book by Peg Sullivan
Early Cambridge resident, Margaret McFarlane grew up on Lake Ripley prior to becoming the mother of sons who founded the Harley-Davidson Company. This book chronicles her childhood in the Cambridge/Lake Ripley area. Provides background on her family and their connection to the community as well as many historical names and places long associated with Cambridge. She and her family were immigrants form Scotland who settled the Lake Ripley area.
As an older adult she returned to the lake each summer with three of her adult children who owned homes on Lake Ripley. The book focuses on the woman and her life. She was orphaned when both of her parents die just three years apart. Margaret and her three, younger siblings are separated yet maintain close relationships with their mother’s extended family. One uncle, her mother’s brother James, would play a key in the launch of the Davidson brothers’ motorcycle industry.
Margaret McFarlane was an independent, self-supporting domestic worker until her marriage to William Davidson. She worked both in Madison and Milwaukee during the 1860s. Like many women from the period, her life captures the hard work, determination, and strengthen that exemplifies the first-generation, immigration experience.
This book is now available in our museum book store. Until we re-open with normal hours, you can contact us at www.cambridgehistoricmuseum.org for ordering details. Cost is $10.99.
The 1906 Historic School Museum in Cambridge has featured an exhibit this summer on first 41 local women to vote in 1920. The local exhibit also includes pictures of local parades the women marched in and some national information/history on the movement. We have now added to our exhibit by bringing in a touring exhibit from the Wisconsin Historical Society entitled “We Stand on their Shoulders”. It covers the history of Wisconsin women and voting. It provides a timeline of when women in Wisconsin gained political rights and highlights some key leaders.
The combined exhibits will be up in October and open to the public on Thursday and Friday, October 15, 16, 22 and 23 from 1 to 3pm and on Saturday, October 17 & 24 from 10 am to 3pm. The exhibit is free to attend. We are following Dane County Health guidelines so we will limit the number of people going through the exhibit at any one time to allow for social distancing. Masks must be worn.
The first 41 women in Cambridge to register and vote in the 1920 election will be featured in a new exhibit in 2020. The CHS Museum is honoring these women during the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendement. These women helped to capture the wider history of women in the United States. They were business owners, mothers, grandmothers, teachers and farm wifes. The women of Cambridge marched in parades in white dresses. This became the uniform for the suffrage movement. A photo was taken of them during a Fall Festival parade around 1910. The exhibit will be open for touring during summer and fall 2020. Visit our Facebook page to see photos and bio of many of these women.
A Historic Structure Report is a prerequisite to establishing a long term plan for restoration, growth and grant writing in the museum world. The Cambridge 1906 Historic School and Museum now has one!
Working with a team of professionals, under the direction of Preservation Architect, Charles Quagliana, the Foundation created a comprehensive report. The structural report captures three critical components:
The history of the 1906 building.
The buildings existing condition.
Recommendations for the future.
The report was time a consuming, interesting and exciting first step in bringing new life to the 1906 Historic School. It diagrams the building’s solid history in the community and offers and intriguing glimpse into its future. Copies of the report will be available for review at the museum this spring and summer.
Historic School Museum received a preservation award recently.
The Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded their 2019 Preservation Award to Cambridge Historic School Foundation(CHSF). This annual award was presented to Nancy Amacher, president of CHSF at a ceremony in Oshkosh on April 12th.
Other nominees included Northland Hotel in Green Bay, Welford Sanders Lofts in Milwaukee and The Howard building in Oshkosh. The Wisconsin Trust committee was impressed with the efforts of restoration to the 1906 Historic School building. CHSF was the only organization recognized at this event who had accomplished so much through fundraising efforts, without using tax credits to date.
Ancestry.com is now available to all members of Cambridge Historic School Museum. Stop any Wednesday or Saturday from 12:30 to 3 pm to work on genealogy. We have a dedicated computer set up in the lobby of the museum for you to use. You can lookup census data, military records, birth, death or marriage information. Documenting your family’s history history can be an exciting and rewarding experience. And through the use of resources available through your museum membership you’ll begin finding your roots.