PBS Wisconsin invites members of the Appleton area communities to participate in a photo gathering event for an original documentary about the city’s history. The film, to be released statewide in 2023, is the latest installment in PBS Wisconsin’s historical series, Wisconsin Hometown Stories.

The documentary’s producers and other station representatives welcome members of the Appleton community to bring archival photos, films and documents from their personal collections to help provide visual representation of the people and places that tell the area’s unique history. Photos brought to the event will be scanned on-site. Film and video content will be borrowed so they can be reviewed and possibly professionally transferred.

Thanks to previous community listening sessions and further research in Appleton, specific archival photo needs have been identified by the film’s producers, which include: Fox Valley First Nations, early Appleton (especially pre-1900), Lawrence University, civil rights events, the trolley system, the Fox River, locks and dams, factories on the river, paper mills, hydroelectricity, College Avenue and historic film footage.

The photo gathering session will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 19 at the Trout Museum of Art, 111 West College Ave. in Appleton.

Attendance is free and museum admission is included with participation. Masks are suggested for attendees.

Please RSVP at 800-422-9707 or [email protected].

“PBS Wisconsin is proud to focus on the rich history of Appleton in the next chapter of our Wisconsin Hometown Stories series,” said PBS Wisconsin Director of Television Jon Miskowski. “The series is built upon a deep collaboration with a community to preserve and share its story. Without archival images, making a history documentary simply wouldn’t be possible. We appreciate the community’s enthusiasm to help us make this a reality.”

Watch all of the Wisconsin Hometown Stories documentaries at wisconsinhometownstories.org.

Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Appleton is a partnership of PBS Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Current funding for Wisconsin Hometown Stories: Appleton is provided by The Doug & Carla Salmon Foundation, the David L. and Rita E. Nelson Family Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, Barb and Chuck Merry, Community First Credit Union, Connie and Peter Roop, the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs (supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities) and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

PBS Wisconsin is a service of the Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

PBS Wisconsin is a place to grow through learning on WHA-TV, Madison; WPNE-TV, Green Bay; WHRM-TV, Wausau; WLEF-TV, Park Falls; WHLA-TV, La Crosse; and WHWC-TV, Menomonie-Eau Claire.

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