The Society archives provide resources for a variety of research topics pertaining to the history of the Ripon area. Documents, family records, pictures, AV materials, atlases, cemetery records, and books are available for use on the Ripon Historical Society premises by appointment and under the guidance of a curator.If you have taken the time to explore these links and still have not found what you are looking for, feel free to contact us here.Student research projects may be arranged through a teacher or professor, who would collaborate with the Society curator to oversee and support the student’s efforts. Nedra Martz, Curator of Archives, may be contacted at (920) 748-5354 weekdays between 9:30 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. to make arrangements.Shown below are some great resources to help you with local history and genealogy:
| Ripon Public Library | The Ripon Public Library has worked with the Ripon Historical Society to digitize the Pedrick Genealogy Notebooks for both preservation and online accessibility. These notebooks were developed by Samuel Pedrick, a local historian and long-time Ripon resident. The Pedrick Notebooks are the best source for genealogical research on Ripon area residents from 1857 to 1962. The Ripon Historical Society also maintains a digitized obituary database that is complete from 1960 to the current year. These sources are accessible at www.riponlibrary.org/localhistoryThis site also contains links to city directories, newspapers, high school yearbooks, genealogy resources, and cemetery records. |
| Local Funeral Homes | WACHHOLZ FAMILY FUNERAL HOME and BUTZIN-MARCHANT FUNERAL HOME, INC. have obituary files online at their websites. |
| Fond du Lac Public Library | A variety of digitized genealogy and Fond du Lac County history resources may be found at www.fdlpl.org/genealogy.html |
| The UW Oshkosh Area Research Center (ARC) | The UW Oshkosh Area Research Center is one of 14 statewide and provides access to hundreds of local interest collections of historical material owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Area Research Center serves a geographic region including Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Marquette, and Winnebago counties and holds records only from that region. There are two parts to the ARC collection: local government records and manuscripts. |
| Wisconsin Historical Society | Pre-1907 Wisconsin Vital Records Index at www.wisconsinhistory.org/vitalrecords includes a digitized version of a 1970s microfiche birth index–tens of thousands of delayed birth registrations, or births that were filed many years after the event–that were previously indexed separately, and Wisconsin death records. The index provides free public access to more than a million Wisconsin births and nearly 400,000 deaths, dating from the 1840s through 1907. |
| Ripon Main Street | Ripon history and a historic photo archive can be accessed at www.riponmainst.com/riponmainst/hist.html |
| Others | A list of historic sites and the story of the Little White Schoolhouse, birthplace of the Republican Party, are included at the Chamber of Commerce website at www.ripon-wi.com/. |
| Wisconsin Local History Network | This website, www.wlhn.org, provides online access to a variety of primary sources, searchable by county. |
| The Little White Schoolhouse | This website, http://www.littlewhiteschoolhouse.com/, provides online access to the website for Ripon’s Little White Schoolhouse, designated as a National Historic Site in 1974. |
