Wisconsin Historical Society History Center & Archives + Services

The Wisconsin Historical Society has a satellite operation located in the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center offering a history center and genealogy services. The Ashland ARC is the state repository for 8 northern Wisconsin counties providing researchers with access to public records and private manuscripts collections for Ashland, Bayfield, Forest, Iron Oneida, Price, Sawyer, and Vilas counties. There is also an in-house research library that includes over 400 donated volumes from Ben Guthrie’s extensive library of fur trade, Native Americans, and Wisconsin History dating back to 1833.

Genealogists will find a wealth of information including citizenship records; pre-1907 vital statistics; microfilm newspapers; Northern Wisconsin Native American census rolls; court and tax records; and research assistance with Ancestry and other online databases.  Onsite genealogy group programs available upon request.

The Ashland ARC is open Tuesday – Friday, 1:00 – 4:30 and by appointment. Call (715) 685-2647 for more information. The archives will be open on December 26, 27 and January 2, 3 over the holidays.

View the Archival Catalog

Learn more about Wisconsin’s 14 Area Research Centers

Linda Mittlestadt, Archivist
(715) 685-2649
[email protected]

Pam Ekholm, Program Assistant
(715) 685-2647
[email protected]