On Thursday, Oct. 16, UW-Eau – Claire Barron County hosted its seventh installment of the Thursdays at the U lecture series: Bringing History to Life, presented by Mark Dobberfuhl and John Mitchell. 

This presentation focused on the history and future of the Pioneer Village Museum located in Cameron, Wisconsin.

According to the museum’s website, its purpose is “to safeguard the heritage of our ancestors and educate future generations through engaging exhibits and educational programs.”

Before beginning the lecture, Dobberfuhl and Mitchell introduced themselves to the audience.

“I practiced law in Barron (County) for 35 years and now am working in the administration of the Barron County historical society, which owns and runs the Pioneer Village Museum,” Dobberfuhl said.

Mitchell said he is a filmmaker and artist who grew up in Rice Lake, Wisconsin and moved to California before returning to Wisconsin and creating the documentary “Cheeseheads.” 

“It’s a travel documentary about running around Wisconsin to discover the deeper meaning of being a cheesehead,” Mitchell said. “I had a great joy in doing that and working in the industry.”

The presenters then delved into discussing the history and early beginnings of the Pioneer Village Museum.

“The museum’s been around since the early ‘70s, but the Barron County Historical Society started in 1960,” Mitchell said. “I thought it would be fun, instead of us blabbing about the history, to do it in two minutes or less.”

They then showed a quick video explaining the founding of the Barron County Historical Society.

According to the video, the historical society was founded by three community groups: the Cumberland Women’s Club, the Barron Women’s Club and the Fortnightly Club of Rice Lake. 

“In 1964, this group negotiated the use of the Barron County Game Farm, located just outside of Cameron, at what would later become the Pioneer Village Museum,” the video said. “Since then, the Pioneer Village Museum has grown from its humble roots of a few historical buildings … to a sprawling outdoor museum with nearly 50 buildings, hundreds of exhibits and dozens of educational and entertainment events each year.”

Next, Dobberfuhl said he emphasized the value of the museum and why it’s so important to keep history alive. 

“We try to educate, and it’s always fun to learn,” Dobberfuhl said. “We live in a pretty nice society, and most of the pain was suffered by generations before us. If we come to an appreciation of what they’ve done for us, that makes us a richer, better and more happy people … we like to preserve things from beautiful Barron County.”

He said they host between 12,000 to 15,000 visitors a year with around 2,000 kids coming in from schools around Barron County.

Dobberfuhl said this is in part due to the many events the museum hosts every year, including Aquafest Flea Market, Native American Heritage Days, a quilt show, strawberry festival and Pioneer Heritage Days, which features a tractor parade. 

“Anyone who knows somebody who used to farm — or has a grandparent who used to farm — has a deep appreciation for these old tractors,” Dobberfuhl said. 

Dobberfuhl then brought attention to a recent event the museum hosted called We Stand on Their Shoulders, which was meant to highlight an influential person in Wisconsin history. 

“This (subject) happened to be the wife of a governor who decided that the Civil War soldiers were not getting enough support, and upon that she developed a whole career, even after the governor was no longer relevant,” Dobberfuhl said. “She ended up running a bunch of hospitals for civil war veterans and received a lot of support.”

In addition to special events such as We Stand on Their Shoulders, the museum hosts historically-oriented classes such as yarn dyeing, grinding grain and needle felting. 

The entire Bringing History to Life presentation can be found at this link, and other lectures through the Thursdays at the U series are available at UWEC – Barron County’s website.

Garrison can be reached at [email protected].