Chippewa Valley Museum — PO Box 1204 — Eau Claire WI 54702 — (715) 834-7871 — info@cvmuseum.com

Chippewa Valley Museum Press The Chippewa Valley Museum Press was founded as a way of reaching those who may be unable to visit the Museum, or who would like a more detailed account of the stories presented in the Museum's exhibits. You'll find four CVM Press books below.
Looking for the Eau Claire County book? You can buy it at the CVM Store in Eau Claire's Carson Park, several Eau Claire retailers, or directly from Arcadia Publishing or Amazon. Click either logo below for a link (will open in a new window; close that window to return here).

Farm Life : A Century of Change for Farm Families and Their Neighbors Winner of a 2005 Wis. Hist. Soc. Book Award! In the forward to this visually rich account of twentieth-century farm life in northwestern Wisconsin, Michael Perry introduces the stories told as "part celebration, part history, and part elegy." He also calls the book "a clear-eyed report on the gritty aspects of farm life." It is all these. There is much here to look at, reflect on, and return to. The emphasis is on how change has affected farm families and their neighbors. It explains well the way the first farm families on the land arranged their lives, men working at lumbering during the winter and women and children maintaining the farms. It also shows how farming changed drastically after the 1940s. The author is not afraid to deal with the risks of farming. He notes the increase in suicides as farm families faced hard times in the 1990s. He even explains the "Eau Claire Rule" that paid bonuses to farmers based on how close their cows were to Eau Claire, the geographic center of the United States dairy industry. Books such as Farm Life can play an important role in maintaining the continued involvement of people in creating the interpretations of our rural past that help define our contemporary lives and what is valuable in them. -- Joan M. Jensen New Mexico State University   Tells the story of Chippewa Valley dairying and ties it to larger national and historical issues. Highly illustrated with more than 100 compelling photos and documents. Lets the voices of farm families come through in hundreds of direct quotations. Brings this history into the new millenium. In 1900, 42 percent of the American population worked in agriculture. In 2000, there were so few farmers that the US Census Bureau considered removing them as a separate occupational group. The survivors have retained their connection to farming, and even particular farms and rural neighborhoods, sometimes through many generations. What compels one family to stay while a score of others departs? $14.95 ISBN#0-9636191-4-4 Downloadable Excerpt Printable Order Form

Farm Crossing : the Amazing Adventures of Addie and Zachary Charming adventure story uses true-to-life stories of area farm families through children's eyes; excellent for ages 9-14. Written by award-winning children's author Jack Bushnell (Circus of the Wolves; Skydancer). Illustrated by artist Laurie Caple (When Mammoths Walked the Earth; Mama Loves Me from Away). "What you're about to read will seem unbelievable. It all started with a trip to the museum and a brand-new exhibit on farming. I think museums are interesting places, but I had no idea how interesting they could be." These words start an adventure, funny and sad, strange and familiar. Addie and Zachary find themselves in a world that's close-by but far, far away. Whom will they meet? How will they find each other? and how will they ever get home again? $14.95 ISBN#0-9636191-5-2 Downloadable Excerpt Printable Order Form

Paths of the People: The Ojibwe in the Chippewa Valley "...Indian history told from the voices of the people themselves." -Richard St. Germaine, former tribal chair, Lac Courtes Oreilles   Interesting, informative reading Based on research conducted for the Chippewa Valley Museum's award-winning Paths of the People exhibit. 100 pages, with 80 illustrations and photographs Recipient of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's 1994 Book Award of Merit. Anishinabe, Saulteur, Ojibwe, Chippewa -- all names of a people who have lived in the Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin for the past three centuries. Ojibwe oral tradition speaks of life as a circular path, with parents passing on knowledge to children and grandchildren. Over the past 300 years, contact with Europeans and settlement by Americans have forced them to adapt in order to survive. The challenges each generation has faced--whether at treaty grounds, boarding schools, or boat landings--have influenced what knowledge has been passed down, what paths taken. $14.95 ISBN#0-9636191-0-1 Printable Order Form

Ralph Owen's Eau Claire: Character of a City, 1884-1909 Owen, Wisconsin. The Owen Park bandshell. Lake Owen. Wisconsinites and Eau Clairians speak the Owen name quite a bit, especially in the summer, when there’s a concert at the bandshell, or their kids are at the Lake Owen sports camp. John S. and his son Ralph W. ran the John S. Owen Lumber Company for almost 90 years between them. Through that company, Ralph’s father left his name all over the Chippewa Valley. And Ralph was a driving force behind some of Eau Claire’s leading institutions, including Luther Hospital, the Red Cross, and the public library. But he was also a kid. He and his friends collected (iron) bottles, hung out at the theater (in the days before the movies), tried to hypnotise each other, raced along the (wooden) sidewalks with pockets full of candy, and scouted the local parks on the hunt for strange plants and dangerous wildlife. As the son of a leading citizen, he was welcome to play in some of the city’s finest homes. He remembers it all in astonishing detail. Ralph Owen’s Eau Claire: The Character of a City 1884-1909 is the city of Owen’s youth. It is a portrait of a particular era and way of life. But it’s also a place you’d like to visit. Thanks to his remarkable reminiscence, you can. $9.95 ISBN#0-9636191-6-0 Printable Order Form

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