OSHKOSH, Wis. — Passengers lost on the Titanic were from Racine, Merrill and Fond du Lac. Over the years, researchers have connected the stories of 50 people to Wisconsin.

"Titanic: The Wisconsin Connection" at the Oshkosh Public Museum details 20 passengers who were aboard the ship during the fateful voyage.

“This exhibit is absolutely unique to Wisconsin,” said Jeffrey Taylor, Titanic Director of Collections.

The majority of the Titanic’s passengers were third-class immigrants. Some were heading to Wisconsin for the first time. They were going to Milwaukee and New Glarus to begin a new life. 

The exhibit includes 100 items collected from the bottom of the ocean. Immigrants heading to America carried tools so they could start working immediately.

“Items in here are personal items,” said Taylor. “They are the things that these people chose to bring with them on this voyage. It wasn’t just like a pleasure trip. These were changing their lives fundamentally. These were choices they were making, taking out of their home to go over to the United States and begin new lives.”

Along with recovered items in display cases, faces of Wisconsin passengers and their stories line the walls. Peter and Jennie Hansen were returning from a trip to Denmark and booked passage home aboard the Titanic.

“Peter, unfortunately, did not survive,” said Taylor. “It was women and children first in the lifeboats. He was quite adamant. He told Jennie, “Jennie you better go so there will be one of us to tell the story back home.”

As the ship was sinking, a miscommunication led to a tragic ending for the Creightons. The family of four boarded the Titanic with their nanny.

“The mother and her daughter were able to get in a boat and realized they didn’t have their son," Taylor said. "They panicked and they got out of the boat."

Unbeknownst to the mother and daughter, the son was with the nanny, who secured him safely in a different lifeboat.

“Unfortunately, father, mother and daughter in this family perished,” said Taylor.

Artifacts were collected from the ocean floor, 12,000 feet below the surface of the Atlantic. Many items survived years of corrosion simply by being placed within leather satchels, which protected them from the elements.

Even some paper items, like a banknote from Merrill survived and is on display in Oshkosh.

“It was brought back up and conserved and has its triumphant return to Wisconsin today and is a direct artifact link to Wisconsin itself,” said Taylor.

The Titanic sank over 100 years ago yet this one-of-a-kind exhibit inspires a new fascination in the Badger State.

“I hope people can come to this exhibit while they see these personal artifacts and read these stories and feel something. Hopefully, they can really understand that Wisconsin connection.”

The exhibit runs until Oct. 13.