Monday, May 17, 2010

I. A. Lapham's "The Antiquities of Wisconsin, as Surveyed and Described"

Originally published in 1855
Now available at Google Books

Link to May 17 Baraboo News-Republic article, "Old book turns pages to the past".

Excerpt:    When Milwaukee author I.A. Lapham wrote "The Antiquities of Wisconsin, as Surveyed and Described," a record of the state's historic American Indian mounds, he had some help from an early Baraboo settler and surveyor.

In exchange for the assistance, Lapham offered William H. Canfield a copy of the book when it was published in 1855.

Canfield, who was fascinated with effigy mounds, used the blank sides of each page to sketch and map mounds as he continued to find them. Entries include a sketch of the Man Mound, located northeast of Baraboo, and a map of many mounds throughout the area that have since been destroyed.

That book is now in the hands of the Sauk County Historical Society. And its in remarkable condition.

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