MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- A traveling exhibit is educating Wisconsinites about German immigration to the state. Researchers from the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison, say 40% of people in Wisconsin claim German as their primary ancestry. The exhibit is a way of highlighting the German culture and traditions that are a part of Wisconsin history.

Antje Petty, an associate director at the Max Kade Institute, says german immigration in the region dates back to the mid 19thcentury. “In three waves of immigration in the 1850s, then again after the civil war then again in the 1880s people from the German-speaking lands in Europe came and settled in Wisconsin,” says Petty.

Petty says the quality of land was high in Wisconsin, with a low value. Perfect for Germans who were experiencing overpopulation and economic distress in Europe at the time. With each wave of immigration, more and more Germans ended up in both rural and urban cities across Wisconsin.

“Milwaukee is known as the German city, as the German Athens even,” says Petty, “Cause Germans had such an impact on the economy, the culture, and everything.” She adds that schools in Wisconsin began to accommodate the influx of European immigrants with education in both English and German. Today, the German Immersion School in the Milwaukee Public School System is the only school in the state where German is the language of instruction.

Petty says with a long history of German immigration, German traditions are intertwined in Wisconsin History and that’s exactly why they wanted this exhibit to be shown across the state

The exhibit will be at the Milwaukee Public Library through November. It will then head to the Appleton Public Library.

For a list of locations where the exhibit is heading to, visit here.