Chapter 44

44.02(26) (26) With the department of administration, promulgate rules identifying historically significant materials and obtain historically significant surplus materials under s. 16.72 (5) (c).

44.02(27) (27) Administer the historical markers program under s. 44.15.

44.02(28) (28) Annually distribute the amount appropriated under s. 20.245 (1) (b) as a grant to the Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum to fund the operations of that society and museum.

44.02(29) (29) Support the Wisconsin commission for the U.S. semiquincentennial commission as provided for in s. 45.13 (4).

44.02 History History: 1971 c. 125; 1977 c. 26, 29; 1979 c. 34; 1981 c. 20; 1983 a. 27; 1985 a. 29; 1987 a. 27, 395, 399; 1989 a. 31; 1989 a. 56 s. 259; 1989 a. 359; 1991 a. 39, 226, 269; 1993 a. 437, 471; 1995 a. 3, 27; 1997 a. 27; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 16; 2007 a. 20; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 32; 2015 a. 196; 2017 a. 222; 2021 a. 95, 249.

44.02 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also ch. HS 3, Wis. adm. code.

44.03 44.03 Affiliated societies.

44.03(1) (1) County or local historical societies without capital stock may be incorporated as affiliates of the historical society, to gather and preserve the books, documents and artifacts relating to the history of their region or locality. No fees shall be charged by any register of deeds for recording nor by the department of financial institutions for filing the articles of organization or its amendments, or for a certificate of incorporation of any such society, but the department of financial institutions shall not accept articles of incorporation under this section unless they are approved by the board of curators of the historical society.

44.03(2) (2) Statewide, county or other patriotic or historical organizations, or chapters in this state may be incorporated as affiliates of the historical society under sub. (1) if their purposes and programs are similar to and consonant with those of the historical society and its affiliates, or if already incorporated, the organizations or chapters may apply to the board of curators for affiliation with the historical society. Upon incorporation under this section or acceptance of affiliation by the board of curators the applying organization shall as an affiliate accept the provisions and shall be entitled to all the benefits of this section. Any affiliated society shall be a member and entitled to one vote in any general meeting of the historical society. The board of curators may terminate the affiliation as an affiliate of the historical society under this section of any such organization by formal resolution, a copy of which shall be deposited with the department of financial institutions.

44.03(3) (3) Every affiliated society shall make a report of its work annually to the historical society that contains the information specified in sub. (3m), which, in its entirety or in part, may be included in the publications of the historical society, and upon application of any affiliated society the historical society may accept, in behalf of the state, custody of or title to the property, records and collections of the affiliated society or may assist in the disposal thereof. If any affiliated society becomes, in the opinion of the board of curators of the historical society, inactive or defunct, title to such property, records and collections not otherwise provided for in the grants of donors or in the articles of incorporation of the inactive and defunct society, shall vest in the historical society which shall take appropriate action in the public interest for the protection or disposal of such property, records and collections. Preference in disposition shall be given to historical or related organizations in the area or to whatever county or local governmental unit that has aided such affiliate financially.

44.03 Note NOTE: Sub. (3) is shown as amended by 2021 Wis. Acts 249 and 258 and as merged by the legislative reference bureau under s. 13.92 (2) (i).

44.03(3m) (3m) The report under sub. (3) shall include all of the following information:

44.03(3m)(a) (a) The name of the domestic nonstock corporation or foreign nonprofit or nonstock corporation and the state or country under whose law it is incorporated.

44.03(3m)(b) (b) The mailing address of its registered office and the name and e-mail address of its registered agent at that office in this state.

44.03(3m)(c) (c) The mailing address of its current principal office.

44.03(3m)(d) (d) The name and business address of each director and principal officer.

44.03(3m)(e) (e) A brief description of the nature of its business.

44.03(3m)(f) (f) Whether the nonprofit or nonstock corporation has members.

44.03(4) (4) The historical society, for the purpose of establishing uniformity in organization and methods of work, may prepare and furnish uniform articles of organization and bylaws to any affiliated society, but the affiliate may adopt additional bylaws.

44.03(5) (5) The historical society may provide for annual or other meetings of officers or representatives of affiliated societies at times and places to be fixed by its director, or by such officers or representatives, and the proceedings of such meetings, or portions its director selects, may be included in its published reports. Each affiliated society shall receive a copy of each of the publications of the state society on the same terms as those granted to life members of the state society.

44.03(6) (6) Custody of public records of county, village, town, school district or other governmental units may be accepted by any affiliated society which has been designated a regional depository under s. 44.10, but title to these records shall remain with the historical society. In the event of the dissolution or incapacity of any affiliated society, it shall be obligatory on the last group of officers and members to notify the director of the historical society that the affiliated society can no longer retain custody of these records and to deliver them to a depository designated by the historical society.

44.03 History History: 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 213; 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 79; 2021 a. 249, 258; s. 13.92 (2) (i); 35.17 correction in (3).

44.04 44.04 School services.

44.04(1) (1) The historical society, as part of its program as an educational institution, shall offer to the schools and teachers in this state all of the following:

44.04(1)(a) (a) Materials as the society shall prepare or make available to facilitate instruction in the history and civil government of Wisconsin, including curricula, lesson plans, classroom projects, facsimiles of historical materials and other instructional materials for the teaching of state and local history.

44.04(1)(b) (b) Seminars for teachers, including continuing education programs, in-service training and programs at teacher conventions.

44.04(2) (2) To accomplish its duties under sub. (1), the historical society shall do all of the following:

44.04(2)(a) (a) Prepare, publish, issue, loan or circulate such magazines, books, aids, guides and other publications, such visual aids, special exhibits, and other teaching materials and aids as it, in consultation with the department of public instruction, deems advisable.

44.04(2)(b) (b) Provide information to schools and teachers regarding the materials and services available from the historical society to assist in the teaching of history.

44.04(2)(c) (c) Promote cooperation between schools and historical organizations.

44.04(3) (3) The historical society may charge such fees as its board of curators shall establish as just and proper to defray in part the costs of this program.

44.04 History History: 1983 a. 412; 1991 a. 161; 1995 a. 27 s. 9145 (1); 1997 a. 27; 2021 a. 249.

44.05 44.05 American history research center.

44.05(1) (1) The historical society, in order to promote the wider understanding of the significance of the American heritage, shall encourage research in American history in general, and in the history of Wisconsin and the west particularly, through its American history research center and the other divisions of this agency, and interpret to the public the nature of the said heritage, and the role of state and local history in elucidating and facilitating the understanding of the American democracy, social, political, cultural and economic.

44.05(2) (2) The society, in pursuit of these goals, may be the beneficiary of bequests in any form, may undertake research projects, make grants-in-aid to students of particular topics germane to the purposes of the center, publicize the American story or parts thereof through publications of various types, exhibits, photographic or microphotographic reproductions, radio, pageantry and such other media as may best lend themselves to its work.

44.06 44.06 Depository of public documents.

44.06(1) (1) In this section, “state document” has the meaning given in s. 35.81 (3).

44.06(2) (2) The director of the historical society shall file with the department of administration, and may revise, lists of state, county, municipal, federal, or other agencies to which state documents shall be distributed in accordance with interstate or international comity, with or without exchange, as provided in s. 35.86, in order to maintain or enlarge the reference collections of the society and the state. The department of administration shall obtain the state documents so specified from the agencies publishing them, at the expense of the agencies, and shall ship the state documents to the addressees provided by the director. The department of administration shall prepay carriage charges and shall collect the charges from the agencies publishing the state documents being shipped.

44.06(3) (3) The historical society shall keep available to other state agencies and to citizens of Wisconsin and other states its public document collections under such proper and reasonable regulations as may be deemed advisable.

44.06(4) (4) The historical society may loan public documents, except those of rare nature, to other state agencies for official use or on interlibrary loan to other reference libraries under such rules and regulations and for such period as may appear desirable.

44.06(5) (5) The historical society shall prepare a periodic checklist of state documents and shall publish the list in such form and with such notes as to show the scope and purpose of such documents as the society considers advisable.

44.06 History History: 1991 a. 285.

44.07 44.07 Museum extension service.

44.07(1) (1) The historical society, in conjunction with its museum program and in order to make its collections and the teaching values of museum materials available on a statewide basis and to stimulate more effective local museum techniques, may operate a museum extension service with or without the cooperation of other museums or its auxiliary societies.

44.07(2) (2) The said society may for such purpose lend to other museums, public libraries, art galleries, colleges, schools or other responsible institutions or organizations, under such rules and safeguards and for such period as it deems desirable, such items and objects from its collections as are not irreplaceable.

44.07(3) (3) The society may participate in cooperative or joint exhibits with other museums or auxiliary societies in this program, and may out of the appropriation in s. 20.245 (1) extend financial assistance not to exceed $1,000 in the aggregate in any year to other museums or auxiliaries where and only where such aid is found necessary to enable such other museums or auxiliaries to participate in this program.

44.07(4) (4) Transportation charges and other minor costs of such extension exhibits may be charged the exhibitor.

44.07 History History: 1993 a. 213.

44.09 44.09 District attorney, county, local and court records.

44.09(1) (1) Except as provided in sub. (2), the proper officer of any county, city, village, town, school district or other local governmental unit or a district attorney may offer, and the historical society may accept for preservation, title to such noncurrent records as in the historical society’s judgment are of permanent historical value and that are no longer needed for administrative purposes by the local governmental unit or district attorney. The proper officer of any court may offer, and the historical society may accept for preservation, on order of the judge of the court, title to such records as have been photographed or microphotographed in accordance with SCR chapter 72, or that have been retained for the period of time provided in SCR chapter 72, and that are deemed by the historical society to be of permanent historical value.

44.09(2) (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to patient health care records, as defined in s. 146.81 (4), that are in the custody or control of a local health department, as defined in s. 250.01 (4).

44.09 History History: Sup. Ct. Order, 136 Wis. 2d xi (1987); 1991 a. 39, 185, 226, 315; 1993 a. 27; 1997 a. 252.

44.10 44.10 Regional depositories for records.

44.10(1) (1) The historical society, through its board of curators, in its corporate capacity and as trustee of the state may enter into agreements with the University of Wisconsin System or such other public or quasi-public institutions, agencies or corporations as the board of curators of the society shall designate to serve as the regional records depository for a given area. Said agreements shall specify the area to be served by the depository, and the methods of accessioning, cataloging, care, housing, preservation and servicing of these and such other material as may be placed by the historical society or in the name of the historical society in such regional depositories under such agreements, it being the intent of this section to provide an orderly, uniform statewide system for the retention and preservation of important court, county and local public records on a manageable basis and under proper professional care in the region of origin. Only where such arrangements cannot be accomplished may the said society transfer such records to the state archives. Said society shall compile and maintain for reference purposes as soon as may be convenient a union list of the records of county, city, village, town, school district, or other local governmental unit, or court, title to which is transferred to it under s. 44.09 (1).

44.10(2) (2) The board of curators may establish county records depositories within the regions served by the regional depositories established in sub. (1). The board may enter into agreements with these county depositories similar to those provided above for regional depositories, and records may be loaned temporarily from regional depository to a county depository, title in all cases remaining in the state society. The union list of records of county, city, village, town, school district or other local governmental units, or court, provided in sub. (1) shall indicate such transfers or loans of records between depositories so as to show at all times the present location of each group of records.

44.10 History History: 1977 c. 26; 1991 a. 226; 1993 a. 213.

44.11 44.11 Central depository library.

44.11(1) (1) In this section, “board” means the board of curators of the historical society.

44.11(2) (2) The board may participate in the formation and maintenance of a nonprofit-sharing corporation sponsored by participating colleges, universities, and libraries for the purpose of providing and operating a central library depository at a location in a midwestern state for the storage of little used books and other library and research materials of participating institutions, and which corporation may also perform any other functions for the benefit of participating institutions, including correlating library catalogs of the participating institutions, coordinating and planning the purchasing by each institution of costly or infrequently used books and research materials in order to avoid unnecessary duplication, and facilitating the loaning of library books and other library and research materials between participating institutions. The board shall possess all powers necessary or convenient to accomplish the foregoing, including the authority to designate representatives or members of such corporation in accordance with its articles and bylaws.

44.11(3) (3) The board may make use of and pay for the use of the facilities and services of such nonprofit-sharing corporation, but the board shall retain title to all books and materials deposited with such corporation for storage or loaned to other participating institutions and the authority of the board to expend funds for the purchase of land, the construction of buildings and additions to buildings and the purchase of equipment for the purpose of providing such facilities shall be limited to funds appropriated under s. 20.245.

44.11 History History: 1971 c. 100 s. 23; 1973 c. 335 s. 13; 2015 a. 55.

44.12 44.12 Educational facilities at Nelson Dewey state park.

44.12(1) (1) The state farm and craft museum, located at Nelson Dewey state park, may be developed by cooperation of the department of natural resources, the society, and such other agencies as may be interested therein in accordance with such arrangements as the department of natural resources and society agree upon.

44.12(2) (2) The purpose of this museum as an educational facility shall be to portray graphically the farm and craft practices of bygone days, so that the difficulties of pioneer farming, the great changes in the productivity of farm labor and the rise in rural income and standards of living over the years may be made vivid to this and future generations.

44.12(3) (3) In operating this museum, the society may charge a resident an admission fee and shall charge a nonresident an admission fee to defray in part the costs of operation in accordance with s. 44.02 (5), and may loan objects or materials from this central collection for special occasions and for such special exhibits as it may desire to develop at its main building, at other historic sites within the state, with other historical societies or with other state agencies.

44.12 History History: 1981 c. 93; 1983 a. 27; 1997 a. 27.

44.13 44.13 Educational facilities at Old Wade House state park.

44.13(1) (1) The state carriage museum, to be known as the Wesley W. Jung Carriage Museum, located at Old Wade House state park, shall be developed by the society.

44.13(2) (2) The purpose of this museum as an educational facility is to portray graphically the hand and horse-drawn vehicle development in bygone days, so that the great and dramatic changes in land transportation may be made vivid to this and future generations. Selected examples of these vehicles illustrating the ingenuity, inventiveness and artistic skills of the pioneer craftsperson may be preserved and exhibited in a dignified, appropriate and effective manner.

44.13(3) (3) In operating this museum, the society may charge a resident an admission fee and shall charge a nonresident an admission fee to defray in part the costs of operation in accordance with s. 44.02 (5).

44.13 History History: 1993 a. 184; 1995 a. 27; 1997 a. 27.

44.14 44.14 Central depository loan collection, federal documents.

44.14(1) (1) It is the purpose of this section to establish a more economical system of handling federal documents in this state in such a way as to effect savings of staff and space to the participating libraries, both state and local; to make such documents more available to more of the people, colleges and libraries of the state, in accordance with the purposes of the federal depository act of 1895 and the needs of the citizens of the state; and to make possible substantial economies in the publication costs of such documents at the federal level as well. To this end the state documents depository established by s. 44.06 may acquire and establish a central state depository and loan collection of federal documents for the benefit of the University of Wisconsin System, the state law library, the depository libraries and such other college and public libraries in this state as may desire to share in the benefits of this loan collection.

44.14(2) (2) The University of Wisconsin System and the public and other participating libraries, federal regulations permitting, may transfer outright or may loan indefinitely to this central depository any or all federal documents now in their possession which in their opinion are so little used for ready reference purposes as to make their retention unnecessary if copies are available on loan from the central depository loan collection.

44.14(3) (3) Documents so transferred may be used by the society to furnish participating libraries with items needed for their permanent reference collections, for the central loan collection, or for exchange, trade or sale in order to make more complete and useful the central loan collection established by this section.

44.14(4) (4) The board of curators may promulgate such rules governing the loan of books from the central depository loan collection and may make such charges to cover shipping costs as may be deemed necessary and advisable.

44.14 History History: 1977 c. 26; 1985 s. 332 s. 251 (3).

44.15 44.15 Historical markers program.

44.15(2) (2) Creation. It is declared to be in the public interest to stimulate interest in and knowledge of the state by marking sites of special historical, architectural, cultural, archaeological, ethnic, geological or legendary significance, and maintaining and developing such sites approximately so as to preserve their individual characteristics. The historical markers program is created to call attention to the state’s historical, cultural and natural heritage through a system of markers and plaques and to supplement, wherever possible, information contained in the state register of historic places. It is the purpose of the program to significantly increase the number of historical, cultural and natural heritage sites that are marked in this state.

44.15(3) (3) Markers and plaques.

44.15(3)(a) (a) The historical society shall do all of the following:

44.15(3)(a)1. 1. Plan, develop and publicize a uniform system of marking for state and local sites of historical, architectural, cultural, archaeological, ethnic, geological and legendary significance. The marking system shall constitute large markers of standard design, in one or more sizes, with narrative text describing the associated site.

44.15(3)(a)2. 2. Plan, develop and publicize a system of plaques for the districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects listed on the state register of historic places and a system of plaques for marking state and local sites of special historical, architectural, cultural, archaeological, ethnic, geological or legendary significance. The system of plaques shall constitute small plaques of various types, each with a standard design, intended to identify the district, site, building, structure or object, and generally without narrative text. Any narrative text included on a plaque shall be standardized for a specific type of plaque. The historical society shall consider and respond to reasonable requests to establish new types of plaques.

44.15(3)(a)3. 3. Establish criteria for the selection of appropriate sites for markers and plaques under this subsection. The historical society shall accept applications for approval of the placement of markers and plaques, and for any narrative text for markers. The historical society shall approve those applications that meet the criteria established by the historical society.

44.15(3)(a)4. 4. Prepare the text for a book listing the locations and text of all markers in this state.

44.15(3)(b) (b) The markers and plaques approved by the historical society under this subsection may not be used to mark sites other than those approved by the historical society and shall be used subject to any conditions established by the historical society. No marker or plaque may include the name of the current owner of the property. Without the approval of the historical society, no person may erect or use a marker or plaque that is identical to or misleadingly resembles the markers and plaques approved under this subsection. The historical society may require the removal of any marker or plaque that does not meet the requirements of this subsection.

44.15(4) (4) State-funded markers. The historical society may identify and authorize construction of individual markers or plaques, or any series of markers or plaques, to be funded from the appropriation under s. 20.245 (1) (a). No matching funds are required for a marker or plaque that is constructed under this subsection. Funds under this subsection may be used for the purchase of plaques to be installed on historical properties and for the construction of markers or plaques in other states or countries.

44.15(5) (5) Maintenance. Any approval issued for a marker or plaque by the historical society under this section shall include a requirement that the applicant maintain the marker or plaque, and shall also include authorization permitting the historical society, if necessary, to enter the property and maintain the marker or plaque. The historical society may issue orders to maintain markers and plaques, and may maintain markers or plaques.

44.15(6) (6) State-owned property. Each board, commission, committee, department or officer in state government shall cooperate with the historical society in the placement of markers or plaques on state-owned property, and shall place and maintain such markers or plaques, as supplied by the historical society, at locations identified by the historical society.