Where can you see a Schotz Brewery smock worn in TV’s “Laverne & Shirley,” a gold top Gibson Les Paul owned by bluesman Luther Allison, a jacket worn by the late comedian Chris Farley in the film “Black Sheep,” an original “Happy Days” script and a toy Oscar Mayer wienermobile?
Why, at the “Homegrown: Wisconsin Pop Culture” exhibit that opens Thursday, Nov. 14 at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, 910 N. King Dr.
The exhibit – a rare collaboration between MCHS and Madison-based Wisconsin Historical Society runs through March 22 and presents a collection of objects, images and information about Badger State pop culture of all kinds, from sports to music to movies to television to food to entertainment like parades and more.
The show is the result of more than a year of collaboration between the two institutions, according to MCHS Executive Director, Ben Barbera.
“We settled pretty early on the idea of doing pop culture, but there were a lot of conversations about what pop culture meant, and how were we going to define pop culture,” he recalls, noting that the collab grew out of the fact that WHS is in the process of replacing its museum on Capitol Square in Madison.
“So we started getting into ideas of creative expression, and started to talk about art and writing and poetry and all these things. We realized that was way too big to handle. So we focused on iconic elements that people would recognize as being Wisconsin pop culture.”
To help further hone the subject into a manageable size, they agreed to focus mostly on pop culture in the southeastern part of the state.
“We brought things in closer, and then there were a few things that we knew of that were really important to the Milwaukee area that we made sure to get in,” Barbera says. “The BoDeans, for example, and Hildegard.
“Once we defined the geographic parameters, it became a lot easier to do it.”
Included subjects were also driven by the objects in the collections at MCHS and WHS.
The exhibit is located in 3,500 square feet of space on the mezzanine level of the MCHS’ stunning 1913 Kirchhoff & Rose-designed former Second Ward Savings Bank building.
The design is bright and inviting and consists of explanatory panels dotted with photographs interspersed with vetrines housing a variety of objects, including the ones mentioned above.
Other featured subjects include Liberace, Les Paul, Trixie Mattel, Harley-Davidson, the Violent Femmes, Al Jarreau, bratwurst, frozen custard, the Bucks, the Brewers, Tommy Bartlett’s Water Show and films like “A League of Their Own” and “Public Enemies.”
One iconic pop culture subject – beer – gets only a passing mention but that’s because the museum’s first floor still has a beer-focused exhibit on view.
"It’s exciting to see this collaboration with the Wisconsin Historical Society come to fruition,” says Barbera. “The pop culture exhibit is visually appealing, fun, and interactive. Coupled with our exhibit on Milwaukee’s beer and brewing history, visiting MCHS will be a good way to spend time during the cold winter months.”
The exhibit will be on display at the Milwaukee County Historical Society’s Historical Center Mondays and Wednesdays-Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Barbera says a number of related programming events are in the works and will be announced in the future.
“Every story featured in this collaborative new exhibit is grounded in Wisconsin history. From the Milwaukee Brewers to Harley-Davidson, it spotlights many of the household names that have come to be synonymous with Wisconsin pop culture,” says Angela Titus, assistant deputy director and chief program officer for the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Barbera says that “Homegrown: Wisconsin Pop Culture” has truly been a partnership.
“Really it has been a collaborative effort,” he says. “I brought in a consultant who did a lot of the content. (WHS) did the design and the layout, and then we both provided images, artifacts, all those things. Everybody did something.”
The Wisconsin Historical Society’s new Wisconsin History Center in Madison is expected to open in 2027. In the meantime, it plans to do more collaborations across the state with pop-up exhibits, artifact displays, public programs, art installations and other activities.
Meanwhile, Barbera says that the MCHS team is currently working on a big exhibition that will fill the entire venue in 2026.
“Organizations all over the country are really focusing on the 250th anniversary of the United States and figuring out how they're going to interpret it,” he says.
“Obviously, being in Milwaukee, we can't really do your typical patriot Revolutionary War type take on things. So we're going to twist it a little bit and actually really focus on immigration.
“Especially looking at citizenship and notions of why people choose to become naturalized citizens or maybe why they choose not to, and looking at some of the push pull factors, how people ended up in Milwaukee.”
Barbera says the exhibition will look at immigration across Wisconsin history, including right up to the present day.
“From a historical standpoint, we've got naturalization factors going back to the 1830s in our collection, so we can talk about early immigration, and we're working right now on an oral history project going where we're recording oral histories with first and second generation immigrants now.
“And then one of our goals – which came out of the fact that we hosted a naturalization ceremony here in 2023, which was just a really moving event – is on July 4, 2026 to do a naturalization ceremony here for 250 people to celebrate the 250th anniversary.”
Stay tuned for more on that.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
