Beginnings Massachusetts had formed its state historical society 170 years after the
Pilgrims arrived. Because of that delay, parts of that colony's early history were lost. With that in mind, some of
Wisconsin Territory's early history-minded leaders began advocating in 1845 for creation of a state historical society. In late 1846 during the convention to write a state constitution, two meetings were held to organize a state historical society. They adopted a constitution for the society, chose
A. Hyatt Smith of Janesville as first president, and chose
Governor Doty as one of the vice-presidents. But the newborn historical society seems to have done little for its first few years. In January 1849, after Wisconsin became a state, interested parties met in the
Senate chamber and revived the society, electing
Governor Dewey as president and
Increase A. Lapham as corresponding secretary, among other officers. They drafted a constitution for the society which laid out its purpose, including: "...to preserve the materials for a complete history of Wisconsin embracing the antiquities, and the history of the Indian tribes." This iteration of the society arranged annual speeches and started a book collection, but didn't accomplish a lot because it still had no paid secretary.
Early progress With these changes and with Draper carrying the ball, the new Society began making progress. Draper asked for donations of publications from historians and public figures, narratives and old letters from early settlers, descriptions of Indians and Indian mounds, newspapers, pamphlets, and so forth. In 1855 the Society began publishing the
Wisconsin Historic Collections every three years, which printed some of the accounts of early Wisconsin which the Society was receiving. At the start of the
Civil War Draper asked several Wisconsin army officers to send him relics of the war and encouraged soldiers to keep diaries of their experiences. When the South Wing of the
Wisconsin State Capitol was completed in 1866, the Society was allowed to occupy the entire second floor with its "Historical Rooms". In 1875 the Society acquired the Perkins Collection of 9,000 stone and copper Indian artifacts. The Society was seeing 20,000 to 35,000 visitors each year and by 1876 had the largest library west of Washington DC. The new building was just in the nick of time. In pitching the new building, Thwaites had described the state capitol as a fire-trap, and indeed most of the capitol burned in 1904. The footprint was U-shaped, with the colonaded front the base of the U. Behind the colonade, in the base of the U, is a large reading room a full two stories tall, which was shared by the UW and the Historical Society. Only one upright of the U was initially built, for lack of funds; it extended back from the south end of the base of the U and in the first years held the stacks of both the Historical Society and the UW. By 1914 that wing was filled and the state financed building the northern wing of the U. By the late 40s the whole building was again bursting at the seams, so the state financed a new, separate library for the UW. The UW moved out of the shared building in 1952, leaving the whole building to the Historical Society. "State Historical Society of Wisconsin" remains the official name of the institution in state law, after an attempt by legislators to change it failed. The shorter name had long been used unofficially, and the Society's name was already abbreviated as "WHS" in many cases rather than "SHSW". As of 2024, the Society is replacing its 40-year-old museum with a newer museum building on the same site, planned to open in 2027. == Modern Organization ==