[shimmery music] - We're touring the State Archive Preservation Facility in Madison to learn about historical conservation.

[whimsical theatrical music] I started my archive adventure by chatting with Christian Overland, the Wisconsin Historical Society Director and CEO.

- Overland: Well, the State Archive Preservation Facility is actually where all Wisconsin's historic treasure is housed.

I think of it, actually, as the nerve center of everything that we do.

We have everything from film to 3D objects.

We have archives.

We have library materials here, too.

- Are there just items from Wisconsin that are stored here or from other places as well?

- What's fascinating about the Wisconsin Historical Society, we're the only state historical society in the union that's charged to collect North American history, as well as Wisconsin history.

So, we can tell the story of Wisconsin in the context of the United States.

- That's amazing.

Approximately-- and I know this may be hard to give an exact number-- but approximately how many items are you all storing in this space currently?

- In this space, you're thinking about archival materials, libraries, and 3D artifacts, and film.

We're in the couple of hundreds of millions.

- Wow.

- It's a huge collection.

It's an extraordinary space.

- An extraordinary space filled with extraordinary relics from the past.

Estella Chung, Chief Curator, showed me just a few of the awe-inspiring artifacts stored here.

- Estella Chung: With our first stop, we're really looking at something that evokes the sky and the air.

And this ultralight is from Operation Migration and it helped establish the Whooping Crane more firmly in North America.

- Oh, wow.

- And if you can imagine a pilot wearing a bird costume.

So, we're really happy to have it in the collection.

- From Wisconsin's natural history, Estella brought me back on land to check out Tesla's Dynamo, a shawl Abraham Lincoln wore while traveling to his inauguration, and a rich collection of historical periodicals.

- Estella Chung: Here is a anti-slavery publication called "The Emancipator."

And if you look at this date here, it dates to 1836.

So many interesting things in here.

- Then, we dove into the world of entertainment.

♪ ♪ - And from "Happy Days," there was one episode where Fonz was accidentally enlisted.

So, we have the Fonzarelli jacket from the US Army.

Also have in the collection, celebrities that are from the state.

And Chris Farley is from Wisconsin.

And we have this really fun prop from the film "Beverly Hills Ninja."

Pardon me as I open this up [laughing] so you can see it.

But really, really fun.

- Angela: Learn something new.

- You always learn something new when you research in our archives.

- Thank you so much for your time today.

- Oh, it was a pleasure just to share some of the highlights that we have in the collection.

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