"Sawdust and Spangles": An 8th Grader's Scrapbook of the Historymobile

Photo of the 1954 Historymobile, "Historymobile Photographs, 1954-1966, 1975-1976"

When I came across a “Badger History” scrapbook in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society last summer, I was expecting some notes and newspaper clippings hitting the traditional highlights - maybe Wisconsin becoming a state, the Progressive Era, events from the Great Depression or World War II. But what I found was something much more colorful and eccentric. 

I’d been exploring the catalog when an object titled simply “Scrapbook, ca. 1964” caught my eye. Its description included mentions of a “Historymobile” and "circus history", unusual keywords that sparked my interest. I put in a request to see it.

The reading room was busier than I had imagined, and I sat down at one of the few open tables near the back. Behind me, three women--sisters?--pored over a box of letters. They seemed to be exploring their family history with enthusiasm as they worked together to decipher the cursive handwriting and giggled at the letters’ contents. 

In front of me were multiple scholarly researchers, elbow-deep in large cardboard boxes full of folders with papers and wordy documents. I wondered what they were working on. It looked important, and they were as excited about it as the women behind me, although somewhat less giggly.

I anxiously awaited my turn, and soon the archivist brought out a large gray archival box. Upon opening it, I realized what I’d found was certainly unique. I admit to feeling a little silly lifting the scrapbook with a binding made of two planks of wood for covers and four circular metal binder clips for a spine in a room full of folders with important-looking documents and old professionally-bound books. But I was also intrigued. 

The scrapbook was clearly handmade. Its creator had carefully painted the title “Badger History” in yellow across the top and bottom of the front cover and traced a silhouette of the state of Wisconsin in the center. Each letter of the title had been outlined in pencil and measured to be perfectly spaced across the large wood surface. The image of the state of Wisconsin, painted in green, had pin-sized holes all around the edges, signifying that some sort of tracing process had taken place. Unusual as it was, I could immediately feel that whatever was inside was important to the person who had made the book. I lifted the cover, and a story began to unfold.

Bernard the Historian

Front cover, “Scrapbook, ca. 1964”

Opening the book, I found a note from 8th grader Bernard James Tschudy, the book’s creator. I was reminded that every 8th grade kid has a hobby–something to keep them busy between school and hanging out with their friends. For me it was reading and writing down quotes from my favorite TV shows; for my brother it was collecting baseball cards and playing video games. In 1950s New Glarus, Wisconsin, Bernard James Tschudy created a scrapbook of his parents’ experiences as curators of the Historical Society’s Historymobile. 

Bernard’s handwritten note describes its contents as “a brief summary of my mother and dad’s experiences as curators of the Historymobile in 1955-56.” Each page was meticulously organized, and many were carefully annotated by hand. Newspaper clippings, pasted down and folded, revealed detailed accounts of Jake and Irene Tschudy and their adventures. Mixed in was a variety of circus memorabilia and photographs, most likely artifacts or small items collected for the exhibit. 

Page 8, “Scrapbook, ca. 1964”

My favorite page of the scrapbook may also be the one that scared me the most. On it were two colorfully illustrated Christmas cards with clowns on the front and a photograph of Emmett Kelly, a Ringling Brothers clown, holding a pickaxe. That photo, pasted neatly in the corner, reminded me a little too much of a horror movie. Next to it, luckily, was a welcome distraction: a photograph of “Mr. and Mrs. George Edward Holland, retired bareback riders” with a detailed family history written by Bernard. Nowhere else did he go into this much detail about one photo, and I wondered what it was about bareback riders George Holland and Elise Dockrill that sparked his interest. 

Bernard’s effort and painstaking attention to detail was clear across every page of the scrapbook. Each word was written in blue pen so precisely that the letters fell perfectly between penciled guide lines and their impressions could be felt and read on the other side of the page. A tiny open circle dotted each “i,” and loops began each capital “T, H, and M.” 

Museum on Wheels

Photographs, “Historymobile Photographs, 1954-1966, 1975-1976” Collection

From the newspaper clippings, photographs, postcards, schedules, and myriad other related documents and ephemera, I pieced together that the Historymobile was a traveling local exhibit run by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Over the course of the year, excluding the summer months, the curators–at this time, Bernard’s parents–traveled around the state with a 43-foot trailer set up as a museum on wheels. Each year the theme of the exhibit changed, and the 1955-56 season showcased “Sawdust and Spangles: the Circus in Wisconsin.”

With the help of Wisconsin Historical Society archivists, I turned to photo collections and newspaper archives to learn more about the Historymobile. Just about every small town in Wisconsin was at one point visited by the Tschudys, and there were hundreds of newspaper articles documenting their journey across the state, a handful of them having been preserved in the scrapbook itself. After combing through more of them in online databases, I learned that the Historymobile ran for over 20 years (1954-1977) and displayed a wide variety of exhibits, covering topics from the Civil War to lumberjacking.

Page 2, “Scrapbook, ca. 1964”

In 1955, Jake and Irene Tschudy sold their lumber business in New Glarus and applied to be drivers of the Historymobile. They transformed the tiny 8 by 12-foot space in the back of the trailer into their home for the next 10 years as they traveled from town to town, parking on Main Streets and relying on locals for food and hot water (The Appleton Post-Crescent, 1963).

The Historymobile attracted a large number of visitors in every town they visited. Many were children and belonged to school groups. While all accounts point to the Tschudys’ experience as curators of the Historymobile to have been a pleasant one, they did have a few mishaps. In a 1963 newspaper interview that Bernard seems to have taped into the scrapbook years later, the Tschudys recalled a couple of incidents of vandals attempting to break into the trailer. There was also one day when they opened their door in the morning to a line of people looking to donate blood, mistaking the Historymobile for the Bloodmobile.

Bernard James Tschudy’s scrapbook offers a unique perspective on life in 1950s Wisconsin, taking those who encounter it beyond the newspaper headlines and Historymobile exhibit titles. His secondhand account reached across decades and brought this piece of history to life while also shedding light on the effort required to preserve local history, as a professional museum curator or an amateur family historian. 

This careful scrapbook told a story that introduced me to a piece of history I hadn’t encountered. But it also left me with questions; stories in the archives are often incomplete. Where was Bernard while his parents were driving the Historymobile? Was the scrapbook a school project? In the book, the author signed his name in full on the front and back pages: “Bernard James Tschudy.” However, the accession record from the Wisconsin Historical Society, which indicates that he himself donated the book, listed his name as “B. James Tschudy,” and his obituary from 2018 referred to him as “Jim.” The archives can’t tell me what his teacher called him in school, and yet I know exactly what his handwriting looks like and feel like I could pick his parents out of a crowd.  

Visiting the Archives

The Wisconsin State Historical Society is located at 816 State St. on the west end of Library Mall. The Archives Reading Room is on the fourth floor and open Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm and Saturdays from 9am-4pm. To explore their collections, put in a request using the UW-Madison Libraries Catalog, visit the front desk and speak to an archivist, or contact the archives staff at askarchives@wisconsinhistory.org or (608) 264-6535. To see Bernard's scrapbook or an additional collection of Historymobile photographs in person, go to the Archives Reading Room and request the materials using the catalog information below:

"Scrapbook, ca. 1964"

M95-272 MAD 2M/75/E3

Tschudy, B. James (Bernard James). Scrapbook, Ca. 1964.

"Historymobile photographs, 1954-1966, 1975-1976"

PH 994 MAD 4 /89/C5

State Historical Society of Wisconsin. State Historical Museum. Historymobile Photographs, 1954-1966, 1975-1976.

Thanks to the UW-Madison Sophomore Research Fellowship for funding this series, to Professor Joshua Calhoun (English Department) and Holding History, and to the archivists at the Wisconsin Historical Society for sharing their knowledge and materials.