SEND US PHOTOS OF YOUR BARN!

We will post photos and a short history of your barn on this page – read on for details!

Wisconsin is known, of course, as the dairy state. Part of the romance of that honor is the image of the weathered red dairy barn overshadowed by silos with a herd of black and white Holstiens grazing in an adjacent pasture, and a spattering of tractors and farm machinery parked haphazardly nearby. However, as pleasant and nostalgic as this image is, because technology has moved on and barn designs of long ago are no longer very useful, we are saddened by the thought that these once ubiquitous buildings are slowly falling in on themselves and disappearing from the farmscape.

Although there is nothing at PAHS that we can do to prevent the demise of the barns in our area, what we can do is offer a space on our website to post pictures and histories of our local barns as a way of preserving the memories of the barns that were so loved by the families that depended on them for their livelihoods. So, whether your barn is still being used, has been abandoned, is falling down, or has long since passed into yesterday, we invite you to submit a photo of your barn along with a short description or history to post here on this web page as a way of preserving and sharing the memory of your family barn.

There are 3 ways to submit photos:

Send digital images or scan your photos (jpeg/jpg preferred) and attach them in an email to: info@pittsvilleareahistoricalsociety.org
Enclose paper photos in an envelope and mail them to:
Pittsville Area Historical Society, Inc.
P. O. Box 23
Pittsville, WI 54466
Drop photos off at our museum any time during our regular hours, or hand them to any of our members.

We will scan hard copies and return them to you (please include a stamped, self-addressed return envelope if mailed to us). Originals are preferred over photocopies or printouts.

Ideas to consider including in the story of your barn:

Date of barn’s construction
Owner(s)/families
Important events in the life of your barn
Storm damage, repairs, rebuilds, additions to, etc.
Timeline of your barn’s history
How the barn was used over time
Favorite memories
Photos of the barn in its prime as well as later photos as it has aged (past/present)
Identities of animals/people included in barn photos.

Whether your barn is still in use or not, whether it still exists or not – if not, perhaps you have a photo or two tucked away in a family photo album somewhere – consider sending us a photo of it. Barn photos can be of any type or architecture (they don’t have to be dairy barns), and preferably from the Central Wisconsin area, but please no photos of sheds or other outbuildings. We are seeking photos of exteriors, although photos of interiors may be included for our consideration. Please include the full name and contact information of the person submitting the photos. All scanned/electronic images become the property of PAHS, and we reserve the right to edit/alter (crop/resize/mask) images as necessary to make them presentable on our website. We also reserve editorial rights over any histories, stories, descriptions, or narrations submitted with photos. How, when, and where images and descriptions are posted is entirely up to PAHS. Our goal is to be as complimentary and historically accurate as possible regarding all images and histories/descriptions so that we may honor the memory of your barn.