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History research needs two kinds of source. Secondary sources are what historians have written: books and articles you find in the catalog and databases. Primary sources are what people at the time left behind: letters, ledgers, photographs, newspapers, minutes. Every history course at Porter, from HIST 2100 to the senior seminar, asks you to work with both.
For anything about Porter Falls, the Porter River or the university, the best primary sources are two floors above you in Special Collections, and almost nobody else in the world has them. That makes local history the easiest place at Porter to write something original. Most students do not realize this until the second semester of senior year.
Databases and indexes
- History & Humanities Index. Journals, book reviews and dissertations in history, about 1,800 titles. Start here for the secondary literature.
- Porter County Historical Newspapers. Searchable page images of the Porter Falls Courier (1879–2009) and the student Porter Press (1921 to now). The Courier’s optical text recognition is poor before 1910, so try spelling variants.
- Primary Sources: The Industrial Midwest. Digitized company records, labor union papers and trade publications from across the region, 1850–1980.
- Census & Population Tables. Population schedules and county tables, useful for finding out who lived on which street.
- Porter Oral History Index. Summaries and transcripts of about 340 recorded interviews, including the Millwrights to Ironclads project.
Books and e-books
| Call numbers | Subject |
|---|---|
| E 151–889 | United States history |
| F 476–630 | The Old Northwest and Upper Midwest states |
| HD 8051–8085 | Labor history |
| HD 9850–9940 | Textile and clothing industries |
| T 15–35 | History of technology, for HIST 3100 |
| D, CB | World and European history; civilization |
Histories of Porter Falls, Porter County and the university are in the Local History alcove on Level 4. They are reference copies and do not leave the floor. Circulating duplicates of the most-used titles are on Level 2.
Specialized sources
Special Collections, on Level 4, holds the archival collections. Use them in the reading room, which is open to anyone by appointment, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Millrace Woolen Mill records (acquired January 2026, about 212 linear feet). Payroll ledgers from 1872 to 1971, about 1,400 glass-plate and film negatives, 90 fabric sample books, and correspondence about the 1938 flood and the 1946 strike (the acquisition story). The searchable index of employee names went live in September and covers the payroll ledgers from 1872 to 1930. The remaining decades are due by spring 2027. The glass plates are still being rehoused and can be viewed only as scans.
- University archives, including the 1893 manual-training charter, governance minutes, building plans, student organization files and photographs.
- Regional Industrial History Collection. Company records, oral histories and technical drawings from Wesconsin manufacturers.
- Elsewhere in town. The Porter Falls Public Library local history room has family files and city directories. The Porter County Historical Society holds the county’s court and land records.
Citing and getting help
History courses use notes and a bibliography. Cite an archival item from the specific to the general: item description and date, box and folder, collection name, and repository (“Special Collections, Halvorsen Library, UW–Porter Falls”). Newspaper articles need the page number, because the Courier ran four editions on some days.
Noemi Castellano, the arts and humanities librarian, helps with secondary sources and with framing a topic; book her through research consultations. Miriam Fosse, the university archivist, helps with the collections themselves. Email archives@uwporterfalls.edu or call (715) 555–0282 at least two working days before you visit, so the boxes are waiting when you arrive. For the bigger picture, start with Porter’s history page and the Millrace and Porter River.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. This history guide is fictional: the Millrace Woolen Mill, its payroll index, the Porter Falls Courier, the oral history interviews and the archivist are all invented, and there are no real records to request. The databases, call-number shelving, collections and librarians on this guide are invented, so nothing here can actually be searched, borrowed or booked, and none of it describes a real library.