Activities
Member Events • July 23, 2023; 1:30 pm • Annual Meeting at the Museum of Badger Army Ammunition
BHG Public Lectures
2nd Thursday of the month, September through May
May 11, 2023; 7:00 pm:
From Sword to Plowshare: The 1970s at BAAP
Presented by Michael Goc, award-winning author of Powder, People and Place
Mike will talk about a decade of change at Badger. At the start of the ‘70s the plant was in full production mode, churning out more propellant than ever. By the end of the ‘70s, the plant was idle and about 1,700 acres were being leased to the new USDA Dairy Forage Research Station. A few other things happened along the way and we will cover many of them. The photo is from the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now.
Click here for Zoom link.
June 8, 2023, 7:00 pm:
Woods Around the Plant: From Logs and Lumber to Orchards and Plantations
Presented by: Heather Sonntag
Plantations on the prairie?! What’s the history behind trees, planks and orchards found in the natural and built environments at the former Badger Army Ammo Plant? This presentation will survey some origins, uses and values placed on the “woods” found in these environments from pre-settlement to post-commission. It draws on sources like the Erhart Mueller “Sumpter” series, state archaeological surveys, Dave Erickson films, US Forest Products Laboratory reports, and unpublished accounts from an Olin Corp. materials expediter. Illustrations include early Sumpter plat maps as well as images from the BHG and SCHS archives and the Inside the Fence exhibition.
BHG board member Heather Sonntag is an archivist of photography and visual materials at the Center for Railroad Photography & Art as well as the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Click here for Zoom link.
