Mission Critical - Now is the Time to Act
For Your Situational Awareness
The current Wisconsin Veterans Museum has been in its current location, which is leased, for nearly 30 years. It has functionally outgrown this space which inhibits the ability of the staff to tell the stories of all Wisconsin Veterans from all eras of service. We need to do better for our veterans.
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM) with the Wisconsin Department of Affairs (WDVA) and Department of Administration (DOA) Secretary’s offices jointly studied future facility requirements and options in downtown Madison for the museum. Concept A of that study, which involves acquiring the museum site and constructing a new building on the museum’s current location, was selected as the preferred course of action. It is a compelling vision that will secure WVM’s future for the next 50-75 years.
This project will be a public-private partnership similar to other museum projects in Madison. W. Jerome Frautschi has already pledged $10 million towards the new museum, contingent on the museum's current site being acquired by the state of Wisconsin.
To move the project forward, the Governor's proposed biennial budget includes $9 million for acquisition of the current site and preliminary engineering. The balance of the project will be addressed in the 26-27 Biennial Budget. Budget hearings for public comment with the Joint Finance Committee have concluded. You still can help.
The current museum lease ends November 2025, right after the 250th birthdays of U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines. There are no more renewals - without action, the museum will be forced to close and move into storage.
What You Can Do to Help
Concept Rendering Only of Future WVM Building
Contact Your Elected State Representatives
If you support a new Wisconsin Veterans Museum your state representatives need to hear from you now. Who are my state representatives? Find out here.
If you aren't sure what to write, we have drafted suggested language below. Click the black box below to view the letter, then copy for your letter or email as you wish.
[Your Legislator]
As your constituent, I am writing in support of the land acquisition and preliminary engineering for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum at the $9 million level as initially proposed in the biennial budget. The state must act now as the lease for the current museum space ends November 2025, which ironically follows the 250th birthdays of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines. Without action to approve this funding, the museum will be forced to close and move into storage.
The museum was created by Civil War veterans for the people of Wisconsin and beyond. Clearly, the present location, in a leased space, does not fully support the mission of the museum to honor and affirm the service of the military veterans of our great state. The museum needs funding for a new space. Staff from the Museum, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Administration jointly conducted a study, which concluded in 2022, that determined that its current location is the best location for the Museum with a new building being built in the place of the current one.
Our Wisconsin veterans from all eras of service deserve a better facility where their stories are preserved and shared. Our children and families deserve a better venue in which they can develop an intelligent love of country. Our state deserves a modern space where its stewards of military history can adequately show why the sacrifices of our veterans still matter.
It’s now your turn to serve our fellow Wisconsinites who gave so much. Please vote to fund this project. If you vote against funding this project, your legacy will be that you denied our veterans the honor they rightly deserve.
[Signed]
[Name]
[Address]
About the Wisconsin Veterans Museum
The Wisconsin Veterans Museum (WVM), founded 1901 as the Capitol’s GAR Memorial Hall, is Wisconsin’s premier military museum and a key educational component of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). WVM preserves, interprets, and affirms the service of Wisconsin veterans from 1861 to the present. The museum was created by Civil War veterans for the people of Wisconsin and beyond; the first museum caretaker, Civil War veteran Hosea Rood, charged the institution to honor the past and “transmit an intelligent love of country” to future generations. The museum teaches that Every Veteran Is A Story, Wisconsin Was There, and This Still Matters.
The museum staff is seizing opportunities to showcase the stories of Wisconsin veterans of all services from the Civil War to present; demonstrate the continuing relevance if these stories; reinforce WVM as a community asset to Madison, the state of Wisconsin, and the nation; attract diverse audiences; and promote WVM to the region, state, and beyond.
More About the Project
WVM has worked with the WDVA and DOA Secretary’s offices to determine the future of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. DOA and DVA jointly studied future facility requirements and options in downtown Madison for the museum – as WVM has outgrown the current facility and the 1993 exhibits. WVM also has many more veteran stories that cannot be shared due to space limitations, especially those covering the eras from Vietnam to the present.
The museum study, conducted between 2020 and 2022, considered many locations outside, in, and around Madison. Among its findings, the study determined that the top of State Street (right outside WVM’s doors) is the most-trafficked pedestrian corner in the entire state. The study further validated WVM’s future program requirements, location options, and related matters. Concept A of that study, which involves acquiring the museum site and constructing a new building on the museum’s current location, was selected as the preferred course of action. It is a compelling vision that will secure WVM’s future for the next 50-75 years.
The vision incorporates the needs of the current historical collection while making room for current and future veterans. It includes expandible and changeable exhibit space, plus expanded amenities that will add capacity to the museum’s ability to execute its mission. In addition, the programming space, lobby, and classroom requirements were conceived so they could be used by WDVA, VSOs, the National Guard, and other veteran community partners for events, veteran assistance programs, veteran outreach, unit changes of command, artist shows, historian talks, educators, and student groups of all ages. An expanded research facility will help make our stories even more available to researchers, families doing genealogy, and scholars, among others.
Have Additional Questions?
Contact Jennifer Carlson
Executive Director | Wisconsin Veterans Museum Foundation
(608)576-2553