OF SOUVENIRS SERVICE

From touristy trinkets to deeply meaningful mementos, there is a story behind every souvenir. In November 2020, the Wisconsin Veterans Museum invites you to come experience the diverse histories behind the keepsakes of U.S. service members in the new exhibit Souvenirs of Service: The Things They Kept. Through 150 years’ worth of souvenirs originating from around the world, you will learn how the universal human impulse to collect leaves us with both significant and uniquely personal ways to continue to connect with veterans of every era.

By: Andrea Hoffman Collections Manager

Ira Dutton, a Janesville, Wisconsin resident at the time of the Civil War, enlisted into the 13th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment in 1861 and rose in ranks from a private to the Quartermaster of the regiment. Almost two decades after this service, he spent time at a Trappist monastery in Kentucky and joined the Secular Franciscan Order. Going by the name “Brother Joseph,” he traveled to Hawaii and spent the rest of his life on the island of Molokai, serving a leper colony located there. In 2015, a group in Hawaii began exploring the process of seeking Dutton’s canonization as a saint. WVM proudly preserves his story through papers and photographs that document both his Civil War service and his post-war life.

EVERY VETERAN IS A STORY

Roberta Wells, a Madison, Wisconsin veteran, volunteered for the US Marine Corps Reserve Women Marines in May 1943. She was one of the first female Marines sent overseas when she deployed to Hawaii. She initially recruited additional female Marines but later worked in the public affairs office. There, according to family lore, Wells was one of the first people to see the photograph of the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima as it was being developed in a dark room. WVM proudly preserves her story through her uniform, letters, and photographs that her family donated to the museum in 2005.

EVERY VETERAN IS A STORY