2014 Wisconsin: Caxton and Cheese

Wisconsin: Caxton and Cheese April 24 – April 28, 2014

A journal kept by Susan Hanes on a trip with George Leonard to Madison for a Caxton Club symposium and through Wisconsin dairy land. April 24-April 28, 2014. Photos by Susan Hanes and George Leonard.

Cover: Along WI 69 between Monticello and Monroe

Wisconsin: Caxton and Cheese April 24 – April 28, 2014

Our attendance at the Caxton Club Symposium, held this year at the University of Wisconsin Madison, gave us an excuse for an early spring retreat to America’s dairy farmland in southwestern Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature was not in a tranquil mood and we had to cut the trip short when we saw that the storms that had been battering the Midwest were forecast to continue all week. Nonetheless, the symposium was a great success and the time away was a welcome break.

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Thursday, April 24

to Madison, WI

Clouds and intermittent rain accompanied our drive west to Rockford on I-90. We stopped at the Wisconsin Welcome Station just outside of Beloit to pick up maps and brochures before driving on into town. Drove through Beloit College, a small liberal arts college founded in 1846 and centered around a shady quad.

Main Street, lined with shops and small restaurants, was chosen as one of the top main streets in the United States in 2014; we were surprised that this rather commonplace town had merited such a distinction.

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We detoured down a county road to the village of Cambridge and visited Mark Skudlarek’s Pottery Studio, just outside of town. No one was around; a handwritten note on the door invited us to leave a check for anything we wanted and use the paper and string on the table to pack up our purchases. We went through much too fast and kept thinking of the interesting pieces we’d seen after we left.

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Wisconsin State Capitol Madison 4

We toured the Wisconsin State Capitol, completed in 1917. At the suggestion of a Capitol policeman, we saw the Governor’s Conference Room, heavily ornate and styled after the Doge’s Palace in Venice. We stopped to rub the (sticky) nose of Bucky Badger who resides on the second floor. The building echoed with numerous school groups. We noted how different our experiences have been in the state capitols we have visited. Some were silent and empty, while others teemed with visitors and tour groups. At some, we could walk in and look around unnoticed, while at others, we were met by guards and metal detectors.

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Governor’s Conference Room 6

Display in the Capitol hallway

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Fromagination, a specialty shop across the street from the Capitol, is resplendent with Wisconsin artisan cheeses and meats. After a discussion with the proprietor, Jake bought three award-winning Wisconsin cheeses.

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We checked into the Dahlmann Campus Inn and walked to the Wisconsin Historical Society on the campus of the University. I wanted to take a picture of the William Caxton imprint rendered in mosaic floor tiles; we also peeked into the newly restored library. We decided to skip going out for dinner and had vodka and cheese in our room instead. A program on TV about the Driftless Area (Paleozoic Plateau) of Wisconsin got us into the mood for our trip after the symposium. There will be time to get out and socialize tomorrow.

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Memorial Library 11

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Friday, April 25

Madison, WI

A brilliant spring morning made our walk to the Chazen Museum of Art a lot more agreeable that yesterday’s trek in the blowing rain. We spent a couple of hours immersed in the collections, many of them gifts of UW alumnae. The temporary exhibits, Marginalia in Cartography and Contemporary Native Art, were excellent. I told Jake that he needed to remember the Chippewa jewelry artist Samuel Greatwalker LaFountain when he thought about buying me a little gift sometime.

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At 1:30, members of the Caxton Club met at the Kohler Art Gallery in the lower level of the museum for a presentation about artist’s books from the University’s significant collection. Director Lyn Korenic showed us books by such artists as Clare Van Vliet, Walter Hamady, and Tim Ely, whose work we had seen at the University of Indiana. We were free to open the books and turn pages, which was a treat. Lyn led us back through the museum, where we happened to run into Simona and Jerome Chazen, the benefactors for whom the museum is named.

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At the Department of Special Collections, Director Robin Ryder had arranged for highlights from its significant collection of science books (many which were a gift of entrepreneur Chester Thordarson) to be made available for our examination. The tour culminated with a reception given by the Friends of the Libraries at the nearby Pyle Center, which gave symposium participants and attendees an opportunity to get acquainted over wine and hors d’oeuvres. Dinner followed at 7:00 at the University Club, with about 60 in attendance. The conversation was lively, and everyone seemed ready to enjoy the Symposium tomorrow.

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Saturday, April 26

Madison, WI

Following an early breakfast, Jake and I joined other Caxtonians at the Pyle Center on the campus of UW at 8:30 for the Caxton Club’s 2014 Symposium on the book, Bibliography, Collections, and the History of Science. Although this was the Caxton Club’s seventh symposium, it was the first to be held away from Chicago, and its first collaboration, partnering with the Bibliographic Society of America and the University of Wisconsin Madison Libraries. As Caxton Club President, it was my job to give the opening remarks. The speakers in the morning session were three science historians: Michael Shank of UW-Madison, who presented a paper on Regiomontanus, a Renaissance astronomer and printer/ publisher; Nick Wilding of Georgia State University, who spoke about a much-publicized forged copy of Galileo’s Starry Messenger; and Florence Hsia, also of UW-Madison, whose topic was Chinese astronomy in British libraries. After a box lunch, the afternoon session brought together Richard Lan of Martayan Rare Books (who had bought the Galileo forgery), collectors Daniel Albert and Ronald Smeltzer, and Bruce Bradley, the History of Science Librarian at UW-Madison. The presentations worked well together, and sparked lively discussion and numerous questions. At the end of the afternoon, I presented a signed Caxton publication to each of our speakers. Then it was time to adjourn to Der Rathskeller at the Union, where we pulled scratched and sticky tables together and continued the conversation over plastic pitchers of beer. Just before 7:00, a group of us walked to 43 North, near the Capitol Square, where we had dinner, seated at a long table. As we started to settle up the bill, we were informed that Richard Lan, the book dealer who had made the unfortunate forgery purchase, had paid for the evening. He later explained that the symposium had been something of a catharsis for him.

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Bruce Bradley

Florence Hsia

Susan Hanes 21

Nick Wilding

Richard Lan 22

Michael Shank

Ronald Smeltzer

Robin Rider

Martin Antonetti

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Sunday, April 27

to Spring Green, WI

We woke up to the sound of rain splashing on the windows: a quick indication of what was in store for us today. Just made it to breakfast before it was over; after saying our goodbyes, we were on our way by 10:30. Headed 25 miles southwest through rolling dairy country, to New Glarus, “America’s Little Switzerland.” While I braved the chilly, blustery wind to take pictures of plaster cows dressed in dirndls, chalet-like shops with heart-adorned shutters, and signs in Old German lettering that all seemed to end in “Haus,” Jake checked the map. I took a minute to poke into a cluttered antique shop where mountains of bric-a-brac included shelves of beer steins that made a colorful display.

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We drove south through Monticello where we checked out The Dining Room at 209 Main, an award-winning fine dining restaurant. The chef, Wave Kasprzak, has produced his own cookbook, which we saw displayed in the window. It was too bad that our timing was off so that we could not enjoy a meal there. In Monroe we saw the Romanesque Green County Courthouse, surrounded by small shops in 19th century buildings. We headed west on highway 11, through Shullsburg (stopping at an antique shop where I found a miniature cast iron Wagner pot), to Benton, the town that was to have been Wisconsin’s State Capitol. Nothing remains to suggest the town’s near greatness, however. In Platteville, we learned that the city was founded by John Rountree in 1827 when he discovered minerals in the rich soil and established a mining community there. Although some lead and zinc are still mined, the economy is now based on cheese production. It was fun to find Rountree Hall and Rountree Gallery. Unfortunately, the museum was closed, so we could not seek out further documentation of John’s contribution to the history of Platteville.

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The afternoon continued to be very windy, with periods of sun and rain as we drove through the Driftless Area. The highway cut through golden limestone mounds and the occasional bright sun glistened on the exposed levels; high hills were evidence that the area had avoided glacial intrusion. We were hoping to stay at the Brewery Creek Pub in Mineral Point, but there were no rooms available and when we followed up the owner’s suggestions, they looked anything but inviting. What is probably a lovely little town in season did not entice us to stay on this miserable afternoon—most of the shops were closed and several had For Sale signs in the windows. We did drive along the perimeter of Pendarvis Historic Site, where emigrant miners from Cornwall settled in the mid-19th century and built their sturdy limestone houses. Dodgeville had nothing to offer us either, and we skirted the House on the Rock and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, both closed until May. We finally stopped for the night in at a small motel on the highway outside of Spring Green. Fatty prime rib and a watery Shiraz restored our spirits somewhat, although the wet, blustery weather is not supposed to let up for days.

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Monday, April 28

to Chicago

We dashed to the car in a downpour and set out on Wisconsin’s Scenic Byway 60, a 100-mile road that follows the graceful curves of the Lower Wisconsin River.

Known as the “River of 1000 Isles,” the Wisconsin continuously sculpts its sandbars and shifts its channels, offering glimpses of raw nature. Today, however, the river was flooded and there was little to see besides leafless trees poking through the muddy water. After we passed Gotham, we could see that on other days, this must truly be a beautiful area.

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Near Wyalusing State Park, where the Wisconsin River meets the Mississippi, we pulled off the road at a boat ramp to get a closer look at the river. It was raining and windy; a couple of hardy souls were fishing from the muddy bank.

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At Praire du Chien we found a pleasant café where we stopped for breakfast; hot coffee and pancakes were just what we needed. Further up the road, we pulled in to see the US Army Corps of Engineers Lock and Dam Number 9. Jake waited while I got out and photographed a tug pushing a large coal barge through, but it was too nasty to stay there long.

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We bravely continued as far as La Crosse in torrential rain that was so heavy that it was difficult to see the road at times. At last, we knew we were beaten. Stopping to consult the map in a vacant lot, we decided that we would head east on I-90 and go home. This was not to be a peaceful spring week in dairyland; snow was predicted for the following two days and precipitation for days following. As the rain pounded the roof and Jake maneuvered past endless trucks spraying the windshield, we headed for Chicago, arriving home just as night was falling.

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A journal kept by Susan Hanes on a trip with George Leonard to Madison for a Caxton Club symposium and through Wisconsin dairy land. April 24—April 28, 2014. Photos by Susan Hanes and George Leonard.