December 11th, 2010 | by Amelia Klem Osterud | published in Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Your Stories
“With research like mine, there’s always something left to do, some fact left to dig up. I sit at my desk, surrounded by pictures of tattooed women that I’ve collected, and think about what else out there I think I need to find. My first new task: Betty Broadbent’s birth certificate.” Amelia Klem Osterud completes her blog series with EngageWisconsin this week, thinking about the journey she continue to to take with the Tattooed Lady.
November 27th, 2010 | by Amelia Klem Osterud | published in Best of Engage WI, Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Your Stories
In 1931, tattooed lady Ada Mae Vandermark commented, “When people ask me how come I’m a tattooed lady, I tell ’em it’s because I love Art…And that’s true, too—up to a certain point…I mean, I like to eat regular.”
November 20th, 2010 | by Amelia Klem Osterud | published in Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Your Stories
When I read for enjoyment, I read mysteries. I love a good mystery novel- I always have. One of the first “real” books I read was The Secret of the Old Clock, the first of the Nancy Drew mysteries. My mom bought it for me when I was in the second grade. I soon devoured [...]
November 13th, 2010 | by Amelia Klem Osterud | published in Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Your Stories
Last summer, we went to the Wisconsin State Fair. We saw sheep, cows, and horses, ate bison burgers and maple cotton candy and fried things on sticks, and we also went to the sideshow! Well, what passed for a sideshow at State Fair. No offense, but comparatively speaking, it wasn’t much of a sideshow. The [...]
October 30th, 2010 | by Amelia Klem Osterud | published in Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Your Stories
When I started my research back in 2002, I had no idea how much the circus impacted 19th century Americans. If you’re at all interested in how Victorians entertained themselves, you have to look at the circus. City-dwelling Americans at the end of the 19th century had steady access to some forms of entertainment, but for the rest of the country, entertainment options were pretty limited.
October 9th, 2010 | by Amelia Klem Osterud | published in Best of Engage WI, Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Your Stories
Follow Engage Wisconsin’s newest blogger Amelia Klem Osterud, a circulation librarian at Carroll University (Waukesha, Wisconsin) and author of The Tattooed Lady: A History. Over the coming weeks, Amelia will share stories behind, her passion for, and researched knowledge of “tattooed ladies of the circus”.
July 14th, 2010 | by Engage Wisconsin | published in Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Participate, Updates
Big Top Wisconsin Poster Contest Deadline Reminder
June 23rd, 2010 | by Engage Wisconsin | published in Best of Engage WI, Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Updates
Behind the Scenes Dispatch by: Amelia Pisapia, a member of the EngageWisconsin team, working on the Big Top Wisconsin: A Circus Digital Storytelling Project
June 21st, 2010 | by Engage Wisconsin | published in Best of Engage WI, Big Top Wisconsin, Engage WI, Updates
The circus was born in the amphitheaters of Ancient Greece and Rome. After centuries of evolution in Europe, the circus made its American debut in April 1793. Railroad expansion and improvement in tent technology in the 1800s allowed the American circus to flourish. By the mid-1800s there were nearly 30 circuses touring the country. At [...]
