Wisconsin Stories: Passing Through

resources: Mazzuchelli | Opera Houses | wrestling | postcards

Mazzuchelli

Jo Bartels Alderson and J. Michael Alderson. The Man Mazzuchelli, Pioneer Priest. Madison: Wisconsin House, 1974.

Samuel Mazzuchelli. The Memoirs of Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, O.P. Chicago: The Priority Press, 1967.

Mary Cabrini Durkin. OSU and Mary Nona McGreal, OP. Always on Call: Samuel Mazzuchelli of the Order of Preachers. Strasbourg, France.

Opera Houses

George D. Glenn and Richard L. Poole. The Opera Houses of Iowa. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1993.

Stoughton Opera House Web site
http://www.stoughtonoperahouse.com/index.php

Portal Wisconsin has a digital tour of the Stoughton opera house.
http://www.portalwisconsin.org/digital_media.cfm

Wrestling
These two books examine wrestling from an academic, rather than a fan's perspective, with mixed success.

Don Nardo. Wrestling. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books Inc., 2001.
This is a good, short history of the sport, dealing with the historical origins of both amateur and professional wrestling.

Sharon Mazer. Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998.

Michael R. Ball. Professional Wrestling as Ritual Drama in American Popular Culture. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1990.

Wrestling Perspective
This newsletter is one of the few wrestling publications to combine a fan's knowledge and enthusiasm with a critical, historical sensibility. Sample articles and book reviews are available on line at http://www.wrestlingperspective.com

Joyce Sports Research Collection
http://www.sports.nd.edu/Wrestling/pfefer.html
102 Hesburgh Library
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(219) 631-6506

The Jack Pfefer Wrestling collection at the University of Notre Dame is perhaps the best archival collection of historical wrestling documents in the country. Pfefer was a long-time wrestling promoter who was instrumental in transforming wrestling from a competitive sport to a theatrical entertainment. His collection consists over 100 cubic feet of business and financial records, personal correspondence, photographs, posters, newspaper clippings, wrestling periodicals and programs covering his career from 1924 to1969. A finding aid is available at http://www.sports.nd.edu/Wrestling/pfefer.html.

Milwaukee County Historical Society
http://www.milwaukeecountyhistsoc.org
910 N. Old World 3rd St.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203
(414) 273-8288

John Heim was a wrestling promoter active in the Milwaukee area in the 1940s and '50s. The MCHS archives houses a small collection of wrestling posters, photographs and programs used by Heim.

Charles & JoAnn Lester Library
100 Park Ave.
Nekoosa, WI 54457
(715) 886-7879
e-mail: nkpl@wctc.net

The Lester library has a small collection of materials related to Nekoosa-born wrestler, Ed "Strangler" Lewis.

Postcards

George E. Rogers. For The Love of Postcards: A Pictorial Celebration of Portage County Heritage from the Postcard Collection of John Anderson. Stevens Point, Wis.: Epitaph Press, c1998.

Hal Morgan and Andreas Brown. Prairie Fires and Paper Moons: The American Photographic Postcard: 1900-1920. Boston: D. R. Godine, 1981.

Richard Carline. Pictures in the Post; the Story of the Picture Postcard and Its Place in the History of Popular Art. Philadelphia: Deltiologists of America, 1972.