The Kenosha’s Lost Industries: Photographs and Corporate Materials, 1850s-1990s digital collection contains over 1,600 images and 35 supplemental items owned by the Kenosha County Historical Society and Museum.  This content, within the State of Wisconsin Collection, documents the impact former major manufacturers had on the area and the global economy.  The items complement and enhance understanding of the Kenosha County materials digitized in 2008 and 2009.  Many of the selections are rare or unique.  The companies and corporations with the strongest representation are as follows: N. R. Allen Sons, American Brass, Bain Wagon Company, Dynamatic, Thomas B. Jeffery, Nash Motors, American Motors, MacWhyte, Pirsch, and Simmons.  Most of the companies no longer have physical remains due to demolition, fire, and the course of urban development over the decades.  Corporate materials for these industries have largely disappeared or are not available to the general public or researchers in libraries, archives, or museums. 

 

 

The Louis M. Thiers Glass Negative Collection captures nearly 1,000 subjects and scenes from the late 1880s into the early 1910s. This local resident’s background, devotion to family, friends, civic life, the enjoyment of simple pleasures, and the beauty of nature are described in the book Focus on Louis Thiers: a Photographer’s View of Kenosha by local authors Diane Giles and others.