Vernon County Historical Society

05/29/2026

Hope to see you at the Pizza Farm tonight! A portion of the night's proceeds will benefit our historical society. Come eat for a good cause!

05/27/2026

05/23/2026

Next Friday we'll be the featured non-profit organization at the pizza farm -- hope to see you there!

05/17/2026

Happy Syttende Mai! Have you been taking part in the festivities this weekend?

Photo: Bicentennial float, Westby Syttende Mai, 1976.

The VCHS has many historic photos like this one in our archives. We even have a whole box for all things Syttende Mai! These resources are available for anyone who's interested to look at, so stop by any time if you'd like to see more.

05/11/2026

Planning a research trip will be the topic of the next genealogy class. On Thursday, May 14, at 9AM, Rebecca Hopman from the Wisconsin Historical Society genealogy library in Madison will present a program about library resources called, “A Visit to WHS: Practical Tips for Planning Your Family History Research Trip”. Rebecca will appear via Zoom. Note the earlier than usual start time for this class. The genealogy class is going to the library in Madison on Thursday, June 11, so this will be a good introduction for that trip.

New students are always welcome to join the genealogy class. Vernon County Historical Society members attend for free, and non-members are asked to pay $5 per class session. Classes are held in the first-floor, wheelchair-accessible conference room at the Vernon County History Center.

05/08/2026

Tuesday's program, "Postcards of the Past," presented by Laura Godden, is now on our Youtube channel! If you missed it, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jqo4d17Stk

Laura Godden, assistant professor and archivist at UW La Crosse, gave us a fascinating presentation on postcards and their use for local history research. She showed us many examples of Vernon County postcards, and revealed some of the secrets they hold, including the fact that some historic postcards have been "photoshopped"! Postcards are often overlooked as a research tool, but they hold a wealth of information that can tell us a lot about the people, places, and time periods they come from.

Laura was an incredibly engaging speaker, and her enthusiasm for postcards was infectious! Thank you, Laura, for sharing your time and expertise with us!

If you can't get enough of postcards and want to learn more, Laura has co-authored a book on the subject: "Postcard History Series: La Crosse." You can also stop by the museum to see our postcard exhibit on the 2nd floor and check out our gift shop, where we have many postcards of historic Vernon County images for sale.