Digital Collections @ MPL

The Milwaukee Public Library is launching its latest digital collection: Milwaukee Mayors.

This collection includes photos or drawings of all but one of Milwaukee mayors, past and present. A biographical sketch of each mayor is also included. This is a great way to see what the leaders of the City of Milwaukee looked like, and also learn a little about them.

Most of the information, and many of the images for this collection come from the book Biographical sketches of the mayors of the City of Milwaukee, a volume of images and information put together by MPL's staff over the years.

Additional photos were pulled from the Humanities Department's Historic Portrait Collection, which has portraits of many prominent Milwaukee citizens and visitors.

MPL's digital collections have just expanded to include its first collection not covering photographs but records instead.

MPL was designated as the official archives of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad in 1981, when documents were first received from the Railroad. Additional material was received in 1985, after the CMStP&P was incorporated into the Soo Line Railroad.

MPL's Milwaukee Road Archives are extensive and the various collections include corporate records, photographs, drawings and a small selection of employee records.

The records covered in the Milwaukee Road Archives digital collection relate to those Milwaukee Road employee records. This collection represents the initial stage in providing electronic access to these various materials included in the Milwaukee Road Archives.

In this initial stage, the digital collection includes indexes to the selection of employee records that are part of the physical Milwaukee Road Archives. The records themselves come from nine different collections of employee records. The dates covered by these collections range from 1817 through 1985. While the records are by no means a comprehensive listing of every employee who ever worked for the Milwaukee Road this digital collection is a great resource for researchers, historians, hobbyists and family genealogists with an interest in, or a connection to the Milwaukee Road.

Check MPL's website for this and more digital collections.