Major Themes & Important Figures

Organized around major themes, Madison's Treasures transports the reader from the pre-contact artifacts of its “First Peoples” to a lively pictorial examination of the lives of our immigrant forebears in “Tools of the Trade” and “Inside the Home.” Further on are stunning examples of handicrafts in “Needles and Thread,” an intriguing selection of the MHS’s “Portraits of the Past,” and a charming stop at “From the Playroom” to see childhood toys of a bygone age. “From the Armory” explores Madison’s role in the wars and turbulence of the outside world through images of some of our military heroes and the implements of the soldier’s life. On a lighter note, two sections look at the clothes we wore in “All Dressed Up” and the ways we decorated ourselves in “All that Glitters.”

Accompanying the hundreds of photographs are explanatory captions and brief biographies of important figures in Madison’s history. Readers will learn the stories of philanthropist Daniel Hand; Captain Frederick Lee, the decorated military hero who established Madison’s first academy; financier Cornelius Bushnell of USS Monitor fame; renowned poet Grace Miner Lippincott; celebrated botanical artist Clarissa Munger Badger; and playwright Constance Wilcox Pignatelli, whose Garden Plays and its troupe of actors led to the nation’s first incarnations of summer stock theater.