MILWAUKEE – The Encyclopedia of Milwaukee (EMKE) is one of only 205 projects across the country to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The $250,000 grant for 2013-15 is the largest awarded in the State of Wisconsin and will support the research and development of both a printed volume and an interactive website chronicling the history of the Greater Milwaukee area from pre-settlement times through the present.
The coffee-table book and the website are intended to become a first-stop resource for K-12 teachers and students, the media, historians and scholars, and even families conducting genealogy research. The website content should continue to accrue and grow beyond the final publication date; people will be able to leave feedback, updates and corrections which a moderator will review and use to document ongoing revisions.
The collaborative project has many partners and contributors, including the history and urban studies programs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), the history department at Marquette University, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, local historian and writer John Gurda, and national historian Kenneth Jackson from Columbia University.
“Major metropolitan areas are distinguished by cultural and physical landmarks like theaters, museums, zoos and sports arenas. A comprehensive and publicly accessible urban history encyclopedia is a new kind of cultural landmark that signals Milwaukee’s importance in the region and nation,” said project leader Amanda Seligman, a professor of history and urban studies at UWM.
Other U.S. cities that have already completed or are in the process of completing their own encyclopedias include Chicago, Louisville, New York, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Philadelphia.
The funding will supplement existing support from the participating campuses and private donations to finance the research process and the creation of the interactive Web platform.
Project updates are being posted on the project’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/EncyclopediaofMilwaukee/. For more information, contact Amanda Seligman at seligman@uwm.edu.
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About UWM
As Wisconsin’s premier public urban institution, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee enjoys a growing national reputation for excellence in research, teaching and community engagement. On an operating budget of $700 million, it educates nearly 30,000 students and is an engine of innovation for Southeastern Wisconsin. The 104-acre main campus and satellite sites are located in the economic and cultural heart of the state. Expansion projects now underway include creation of the UWM Harbor Campus, the 80-acre Innovation Campus in Wauwatosa, and the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex on the university’s main campus. Recent program expansion includes the founding of the nation’s only School of Freshwater Sciences and the Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, the only comprehensive, dedicated public health school in Wisconsin.
