State Historical Society, Veterans Museum Will Get New Building For Archives

A new archive preservation facility in Madison will give much-needed storage space to the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Veterans Museum.

Ellsworth Brown, the director of the Wisconsin Historical Society, says the organization currently uses its headquarters and rents two warehouses to hold additional material.

That lack of space has hindered the collection of new materials, and a new building will solve that issue.

“It means the world to us,” says Brown. “We’ve had a need for this building for more than 25 years.”

Brown says the new building, which will cost more than $46 million, is slated to be a state-of-the-art storage space. It will include things like climate control and even a special freezer to keep old film.

Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, is a member of the Building Commission and is on the board of curators at the Historical Society. He says this new building will permit the state to keep a first-class historical society moving, and will be good for the Veterans Museum as well.

“This is great for the future of the state of Wisconsin,” says Risser.

Risser says the site on Madison’s east side is an ideal location. The state already owns the building that’s on the site and plans to tear it down later this year. The new facility is expected to be completed in 2016.