Local history abounds

May 10-16, the Brown County Federation of History Organizations will host the fourth annual Brown County History Days, a weeklong celebration of local history.

“Brown County is one of the first counties for the state, founded in 1818, so as you can probably guess, our history is very diverse and vast,” said James Peth, curator at the Neville Public Museum and member of the Brown County Federation of History Organizations Membership Committee. “I think it’s important for people to get out and see that there’s been a lot going on in our community in terms of history, and now there’s a lot of places where you can learn about it… This event shows that there’s a lot more history being recorded and presented here than you would think.”

Twelve Brown County historical organizations will provide a week filled with free programs spread throughout Brown County, inviting the public to visit Brown County’s historical organizations, while enjoying exciting and diverse programs presented by expert staff in unique historical environments.

“History Days provides a way for people to [explore local history] in a kind of choose-your-own-adventure, leisurely way,” Peth said.

A complete schedule of this year’s Brown County History Days events can be found on the back page of this issue of City Pages, or at browncountywihistory.com/historydays.

While all History Days events are free to attend, reservations are required for select programs.

Peth said he hopes that Brown County History Days programming can serve as a way of introducing attendees to local historical organizations and encouraging them to dive deeper.

“I want them to have a really good time and learn a lot and I want them to have a lot of fun, but I also want them to realize that the history in Brown County is rich and it’s all around them and there are multiple venues to experience that at,” Peth said. “I’m really hoping there’s an opportunity, if they didn’t know a lot about a specific history organization or they didn’t know a lot about where they could find out about history in Brown County, that this is kind of an introduction… And they’ll love it so much that they end up looking at other events that these organizations are doing.”

Participating organizations include:

Ashwaubenon Historical Society