What You Can Support

Museum Needs

Gifts to the Foundation are distributed to the museum staff to assist with

• developing award-winning exhibitions to engage our visitors
• caring for artifacts in the collections to preserve them in perpetuity
• acquiring artifacts and documents significant to the stories of Wisconsin veterans
• funding educational programs, both online and in-person

Please call us at (608)261-0536 if you are interested in sponsoring any of these activities.

Gifts from donors like you provided funds to restore the saddle of Colonel Henry Harnden of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, Company D. Pictured at left are staff reinstalling the saddle after its return from a conservator for cleaning and repair. This artifact is significant in the story of the U.S. Civil War as Colonel Henry Harnden led elements of the 1st  Wisconsin Cavalry that captured Jefferson Davis on the morning of May 10, 1865. 

Museum Programs and Events

The Foundation assists museum staff in the production and presentation of public programming such as

• Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours where actors present the stories of  people interred there. The tours have continued as a popular event than 20 years.
• Mess Night where people gather, enjoy dinner, and hear a speaker discuss relevant topics in military history.
• Online discussions and presentations to reach non-traditional audiences.
• Youth Summer Camps to educate the next generation of leaders.

Please consider sponsoring these events so we can continue to preserve our veterans' stories. Call us today (608)261-0536.

During a week in October, since 1998, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum has presented Talking Spirits Cemetery Tours at historic Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison. Actors dressed in period costumes portray featured people interred there. The tours are popular with school groups, adults, and families. Gifts from generous donors like you give the museum staff this opportunity to share the stories of our veterans and community members outside the museum. 

General Conservation, Acquisitions & Digitization

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Services preserves the materials that tell the stories of the Wisconsinites who valiantly served our nation in its times of need. The Wisconsin Veterans Museum Foundation has provided funds for acquisitions, digitization and preservation.

The Artifact Collection has over 26,000 objects and many are in dire need of care. In addition, there are thousands of oral histories in need of digitization efforts, so the museum can make them available to the public online. With the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Foundation’s financial support, an ambitious conservation effort has begun to make sure these items are available for future generations, give greater access to scholars, and allow the public the chance to view and appreciate them.

The Foundation’s goal is to provide $5,000 annually to purchase acquisitions for the collection, as well as digitize a number of oral histories annually, and between $8,000 to $10,000 to conserve items in need of conservation.

The public plays a significant role in saving these stories.  It truly is a race against time to save these artifacts before they are lost to history.

If you want to have a part in preserving these stories and the legacy of these veterans, please call us to learn how you can support this project, (608)261-0536.