Portrait of Milwaukee

What made Milwaukee into the city it is today, and what does it mean to call oneself a Milwaukeean?

Portrait of Milwaukee reveals a deep connection between the city of Milwaukee and its residents. Photographs from the 1930s through the 2010s highlight some of the people, movements, businesses, and neighborhoods that have helped make Milwaukee what it is today. From small businesses to community churches, tannery workers to New Wave rockers, the subjects of the pictures in the exhibition show a midwestern city that is just as dynamic and diverse as the people who call it home.

Photographs in the exhibition are drawn from the Museum’s collection, as well as from local collections that are rarely on public view.

Image: Murdoch & Co., View West of Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, from Pabst Building, ca. 1925. Gift of Friends of Art M1989.410. Photo by John R. Glembin.