Picturing Ourselves - Photographs of

PICTURING OURSELYES: PHOTOGRAPHS OF
BELGIAN AMERICANS IN NORTI-IEASTERN WISCONSIN, 1888-1950
by
Monique Berlier
An Abstract
Of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in Mass Communications
in the Graduate College of
The University of Iowa
May 1999
Thesis supervisors: Professor Hanno Hardt

Professor Albert D. Talbott
1
The dissertation looks at amateur photography within a cultural-historical
framework. Specifically, it uses a case-study approach to explore the visual records left
by photographers-the majority of whom are amateurs-in a community of Belgian
immigrants in rural Wisconsin between 1880 and 1950. The visual historical text is
exammed to see how a relatively unknown group of settlers perceived themselves, their
families, their rural community, and the time period in which they lived.
Three major premises guide this work. First, photographs are cultural artifacts
whose creation and interpretation are subject to culturally defined rules and
conventions. Adopting this perspective, the dissertation views photographs as the
results of specific choices of the photographer and his or her subjects within a specific
cultural, social, and historical context. Second, amateur photography is a medium in its
own right, and the visual records produced by nonprofessionals constitute informative
statements about the lives of the photographer and the photograph's subjects. Tirird,
because each photograph is by nature historical, a body of related images placed within
historical context can help form a valid narrative for study of past mentalities.
In addition to using vernacular photographs, the study draws from a variety of
sources, such as newspapers, censuses, immigrant letters, oral history, and consular
reports. The photographs are also discussed in relationship to better known depictions
of immigrant experience and rural life by professional artists, among whom Andrew
Dahl, Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, F.S.A. photographers, and Jean-Frarn;ois Millet.
By focusing on photographs, this project addresses several scholarly needs,
including more research on amateur photography as a medium of communication, more
systematic use of photographs as a means of recovering history, and further study of
rural settlements of European immigrants. In addition, it makes specific contributions to
the field of women's studies (many of the photographers were farm women), while the
2
emphasis on Belgian-Americans (a little known ethnic group) constitutes a departure
from scholarship that to date, with few exceptions, has dealt principally with more
dominant immigrant groups.
Abstract approved:
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Title and department
Date
PICTURING OURSELVES: PHOTOGRAPHS OF
BELGIAN AMERICANS IN NORTHEASTERN WISCONSIN, 1888-1950
by
Monique Berlier
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in Mass Communications
in the Graduate College of
May 1999
Thesis supervisors: Professor Hanno Hardt

Professor Albert 0 . Talbott
Copyright by
MONIQUE BERLIER
1999
All Rights Reserved
Graduate College
Iowa City, Iowa
CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL
PH.D. lBESIS
Titis is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of
Monique Berlier
has been approved by the Examining Committee
-Vl .
for the thesis requirement for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree in Mass Communications a J v
May 1999 graduati .
"v"v~
Thesis committee: ' ~
esis supervisor
LJ((/j/~.~ v~"'-.J ----·

( .. . <;::: ~ ..
rf!!(/j,o~ ·
Thesis supervisor
Member
A mes parents, Sabine Antoine et Louis Berlier;
A la memoire de mes grands-parents, Joseph Berlier et
Alice Lebrun, Arsene Antoine et Marie Schumer
ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to several individuals who have helped me along the way. I wish
to thank Professor Hanno Hardt for providing guidance when writing this
dissertation and steering me.back in the right direction when I was going off-track.
Many, many thanks also go to Professor Al Talbott for offering warm and steady
support throughout my stay at the University of Iowa and helping me to put things
back into the right perspective. I hope you have forgiven me for not doing a Q-study,
Al. Thanks also to Professor Jeff Smith for sharing relevant source material
(including Geffroy's study) and Professor Kay Amert for carefully editing the final
version of this manuscript. My outside committee member, Professor Shelton
Stromquist, introduced me to the field of immigration and rural studies, commented
on a previous draft of chapter three, and made helpful suggestions for revision.
It was my good fortune to meet Mary Bennett, photo historian at the State
Historical Society of Iowa four years ago. I owe a special debt of gratitude to her. As
a mentor and a friend, Mary showed infinite patience and offered much needed
encouragement throughout the project. She generously shared her resources, time,
insights, and knowledge about history and photography. This work would have
suffered incalculably were it not for her assistance. Still in Iowa City, a special thanks
goes to Bob Burch.field for the copy-editing and to Janice Frey for her input and, most
importantly, her friendship and sense of humor.
iii
Thanks to Shar Grant for providing me with a place to stay in Madison. In
Belgium, merci to Jean Ducat for sharing his knowledge on "nos cousins
d' Amerique," and to family members for patiently answering all the questions I had.
Stopping for dinner at Jim's 54 in Luxemburg, Wisconsin turned out to be a very
good decision, indeed. Not only was Jim's fish plate excellent, but it is also there that
I met Myra Mathu Tlachac. Myra and Jim have provided shelter during my
numerous stays in the Green Bay area, allowing me to transform parts of their
basement into a mini darkroom. Thanks, Jim, for putting up with yet another Belgian
in your house. Myra's enthusiasm for the project, her interest in her Belgian heritage,
and her unrelenting energy have been a source of inspiration to me. At times, they
even dragged me out of bed in the wee hours of the morning. Myra initiated many
of the contacts within the community and I will always remember the pleasure I
experienced during the first ride I took with her and her sister Elaine Wery in the
"Belgian country." Merci, m'feye; e co rnerci, ma bra.£ feye po m'ave fait onne bonne
place din voss majon. Vo m 'ave bin aide.
Djen rovie nin tot' la communaute: bramin des mercis a torto po vos dgentiyesse
po la bauchelle qui rwete de toles castes avu insistance et plaigi toles vis tchiniss de
par la. Special thanks are due to all the individuals and families who kindly hosted
me, shared their family histories and photographs with me, and allowed me to use
their family photographs in this dissertation. Without them, this project would not
be.
When it came time to meld together photographs and manuscript, Professor
Frank Petrella offered to scan all the negatives for me. Than.ks for performing such a
tedious job, Frank. Thanks also to Doug Allaire for providing much needed
computer assistance with a variety of computer programs I did not even know
existed. Finally, I am grateful to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication
iv
at the University of Iowa for their financial support, including a John F. Murray
Dissertation Scholarship. This project was also partially supported by a T. Anne
Cleary International Dissertation Research Fellowship.
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF MAPS xvii
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER
ONE THEORETICAL PERSPECTNES 12

Amateur photography as an area of study 21
Rules and conventions of amateur photography;
historical photographs and the problem of
interpretation 36
TWO PICTURING THEM 44
Visual depictions of immigrants 44

Visual depictions of farmers and rural life 56
THREE "VERY MUCH LIKE BELGIANS, ONLY MORE SO":
DOCUMENTING LIFE IN WISCONSIN'S BELGIAN
COMMUNITY 73
FOUR PHOTOGRAPHS AS HISTORICAL EVIDENCE 115
FIVE VISUAL CHRONICLES: PHOTO ALBUMS OF FARM
WOMEN IN WISCONSIN'S BELGIAN COMMUNITY 204
Pearline Fontaine Tielens's photo album 208
Virginia Lefevre Servais's photo album 218
Hazel Englebert Chaudoir's photo album 227
Eunice Bellin Wautlet's photo albums 236
Esther Willems Neuville's photo album 247
Conclusion 258
CONCLUSION 262
APPENDIX SOURCESFOR1HEPHOTOGRAPHSAND
PHOTO COLLECTIONS 280
BIBLIOGRAPHY 282
vi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. In the home of an Italian rag-picker Q. Riis - RII) 47
2. "Five cents a spot" 0· Riis - Rll) 47
3 Italian family on the ferry (L. Hine - TAY) 47
4. Shaping rods, Pittsburgh (L. Hine - TAY) 47

5. American families (ADA) 50
6. True Americans (ADA) 51
7. "Belgian" immigrant (A. Sherman -JON) 53
8. Roosters (MOND) 57
9. Mayer van den Bergh Breviary, detail (SME) 57
10. Woman feeding chickens Q.-F. Millet - HER) 59
11. Peasant spreading manure G.-F. Millet - HER) 59
12. "Garden of Eden" (HENR) 63

13. Cabbage, sweet com, and unimpeachable witness Prof. Goff (HENR) 63
14. Fine garden (HENR) 63
15. Christmas dinner in tenant farmer's home (R Lee - CURT) 65
16. Pee Dee, South Carolina (CAL) 66
17. Yazoo City, Mississippi (CAL) 66
18. Game of croquet on a 1870s Norwegian farmstead (A. Dahl - GJE) 70
19. Jack Bush, Sr., and family at their house near Sumner, Dawson
County, Nebraska (S. Butcher - CAR) 70
20. Isodore Haumont house on French Table, Custer County, Nebraska

(S. Butcher - CAR) 70
vii
21. Frank and Mary Martin in farm yard (BEL) 116
22. Mary Martin pumping water (BEL) 117
23. Woman with pail (BEL) 118
24. Virginie Laurent (SER) 119
25. Joseph Laurent (SER} 119
26. Auguste Fontaine and family (TIE) 120
27. Fran~ois Petigniot's farmstead (DER) 120
28. Pascal and Fabian Wautlet with horses and dog (BEL) 121
29. Elsie Wautlet and Catherine Willems in vegetable garden (BEL) 121
30. Fred Martin (BEL) 121
31 . Elsie Wautlet, school girl (BEL) 122
32. Michiels children leaving for school (MIC) 122
33. lhreesome (TIE) 123
34. Sawing firewood (BEL) 124
35. Ida Michiels and children by 1936 Chevy (MIC) 124
36. "4-H Club" (MIC) 125
37. Getting ready for the Brown County Fair (MlC) 126
38. Threshing crew at the Chaudoir farm (CHA) 126
39. Doing laundry (BEL) 127
40. "Old Fred" OAU) 127
41 . Sarah Vandertie Martin (BEL) 128
42. Helen Wautlet and stone boat (BEL) 129
43. Pearline Tielens and Frank Tielens with load of feed (TIE) 129
44. Evelyn Fontaine with team of horses (TIE) 130
45. Sadie Fontaine in farm yard (TIE) 130
46. Donat Willems and family (NEU) 131
viii
47. Annie and Edrm.md Ledoux shocking grain (LEC) 131
48. Lema Ledoux threshing (LEC) 132
49. Augustine Martin, George Wautlet, and Eunice Wautlet with load of
hay (BEL) 132
so. Threshing at the Wautlets (BEL) 133
51. Laura Delveaux and friend unloading sileage (DELL) 133
52. Zelie and Pascal Wautlet's wedding picture (BEL) 134
53. Zelie Wautlet feeding chickens (BEL) 135
54. Zelie Wautlet spinning wool (BEL) 135
55. John Bellin, Jenny Bellin, and children (MONF) 137
56. Ida Willems and children (NEU) 137
57. Celine Sonvaux Jeanquart and daughter, Charlotte OANQ) 138
58. Eugene and Celine Jeanquart QANQ) 138
59. Bertrand family by log house GAND) 140
60. Mary Martin's "official" portrait (BEL) 140
61. Delveaux family by old house (DELA) 143
62. Delveaux home (DELA) 144
63. Tureur family in front of log house OANQ) 145
64. Sacotte family and house, ca. 1907-08 (TUR) 147
65. Sacotte family and house, ca. 1912 (TUR) 147
66. Dyckesville stage post (NEL) 148
67. "Brussel House" (DES) 149
68. Store, Brussels (DES) 149
69. Teenagers by log construction (BEL) 150
70. Children by log construction (TEB) 150
71. Working crew by log construction (BEL) 151
ix
72. Showing off the family horse (BEL) 151
73. "Threshing by Fred" (LEC) 151
74. Dismantling the 1856 ancestral cabin (CHA) 152
75. Moving the summer kitchen (DELL) 152
76. Raising a new barn (TEB) 153
77. Putting up a new barn (HENQ) 153
78. Grandma Martin with two granddaughters (BEL) 154
79. Grandma Martin (BEL) 154
80. Helen Wautlet collecting eggs with Grandma Martin (BEL) 154
81. Alice Dejardin with wheelbarrow (TEB) 155
82. Owners and employees of the Van Dycke brewery in Green Bay
(JANQ) 156
83. "Drink up boys" (NEL) 157
84. Ben Lardinois's tavern in Brussels (TEB) 157
85. "Yes, Moonshine. Ha!" (SER) 158
86. Bob Klobecker's tavern in Casco (NEL) 159
87. Algoma boat factory (JAND) 159
88. Harry Chaudoir's sixth birthday (CHA) 161
89. Richard Neuville's first birthday (NEU) 161
90. "Santa was good to me, HA!" (SER) 162
91. Christmas at the Servaises, 1940 (SER) 162
92. Christmas at the Neuvilles, 1956 (NEU) 163
93. "Shelling peas, July 4th" (CHA) 164
94. Fete-Dieu procession (JANQ) 165
95. Communion, studio portrait (BEL) 166
96. Group of communicants (NEU) 166
x
97. Assumption Day (CHA) 167
98. Taking visitors to the Chapel (BEL) 167
99. Carol Servais in nun habit (SER) 168
100. Thiry-Daems kermesse (TIIl) 169
101. Namur brass band (CHA) 170
102. Kermesse Sunday at Sugarbush (MIC) 171
103. Brussels kermesse (DELA) 171
104. Gardner kermesse (HENQ) 171
105. Sunday gathering at the Tureurs in Namur OANQ) 171
106. After mass meeting "at Delwiche" (DES) 172
107. Couillon game (EUC) 173
108. Playing cards (EUC) 173
109. Homer Neuville wearing black ribbon (NEU) 175
110. Woman in coffin (TIE) 175
111. Deceased child on home-made quilt (EUC) 175
112. "Carla Jean LeCloux," 1931 (JAND) 176
113. Men carrying coffin (JAND 176
114. Celine Sonvaux Jeanquart's funeral card QANQ) 177
115. Tombstones with photographs, St. Francis-Xavier cemetery (BER) 178
116. Belgian house and American flag (BEL) 179
117. Dizeaux (SER) 180
118. Load of sorghum (TIE) 180
119. Spelling bee (DELA) 180
120. Dog hauling milk (BEL) 181
121. Horse hauling milk (BEL) 181
xi
122. Frank Tielens on his milk route (TIE) 181
123. Frank Tielens at the New Franken creamery 181
124. Earl Michiels with his father's 1936 milk truck and car (MIC) 182
125. Milk cans in water trough (TEB) 182
126. Earl Michiels with refrigerated milk truck (MIC) 182
127. Stone quarry (TAU) 183
128. "Clifford Counard, Henquinets' hired man" (HENQ) 183
129. Ice fishing (NEU) 185
130. Lumberjacks and family members OAU) 186
131. Sawing wood at lumber camp (TIE) 187
132. Horses hauling wood at lumber camp (TAU) 187
133. Caterpillar hauling wood at lumber camp (TAU) 188
134. Night crew at lumber camp (TIE) 188
135. "Anything to make a few dollars" (TAU) 189
136. Isaac Servais on his way to deliver Aladdin lamps (SER) 191
137. Isaac Servais back from the depot with a load of lamps (SER) 191
138. Isaac Servais on his mail route (SER) 192
139. Mailmen at the Brussels Post Office (HENQ) 193
140. Dandois farm after a snow storm (WAU) 194
141. Mailbox (HENQ) 194
142. Radio equipment (TIE) 195
143. Youths on a dirt road inRosiere (MONF) 195
144. Going for a bike ride (MIC) 196
145. Flying dog (TIE) 197
146. John Simonar at steering wheel (SIM) 197
147. "After a day's run" (TIE) 198
xii
148. Car accident (SIM) 198
149. Construction of Highway 57, Namur (CHA) 198
150. Fred Martin watering three horses (BEL) 201
151 . Neighbors (WAU) 202
152. Two farmers in farm yard (HENQ) 202
153. Page 41, Pearline Tielens's album (TIE) 209
159. Page l , Pearline Tielens's album (TIE) 215
161 . Page 2, Pearline Tielens's album (TIE) 217
162. Page 1, Virginia Servais's album (SER) 219
167. Portion of page 11, Virginia Servais's album (SER) 223
172. Page 2, Hazel Chaudoir's album (CHA) 228
xiii
175. Portion of page 20, Hazel Chaudoir's album (CHA) 230
176. Portion of page 22, Hazel Chaudoir's album (CHA) 230
177. Page 35, H azel Chaudoir's album (CHA) 231
178. Page 25,, Hazel Chaudoir's album (CHA) 233

'
182. Page 12, Eunice Wautlet's album (BEL) 239
183. Portion of page 3, Eunice Wautlet's album (BEL) 240
185. Page 29, Eunice Wautlet's album (BEL) · 241
189. Page 25, Euni.ce Wautlet's album (BEL) 244
190. Page 11, Esther Neuville's album (NEU) 247
193. Page 8, Esther Neu ville's album (NEU) 252
195. Portion of page 27, Esther Neuville's album (NEU) 254
xiv
201. Feeding chickens (ANT) 264
202. Doing laWldry (ANT) 264
203. Leading a team of horses (ANT) 264
204. Snack in the field (ANT) 264
205. Sunday visit (ANT) 265
206. Sunday promenade (ANT) 265
207. Premices (ANT) 265
208. Benediction at the grotto (ANT) 265
209. Hunting (ANT) 266
210. Peaceful evening (ANT) 266
211 . Fist fight (W AU) 268
212. Popular Man (HENQ) 268
213. Cow rescue (SIM) 268
214. Kermiss posters (MJ) 270
215. Farmer plowing (MJ) 270
216. Dance in the dust (MJ) 270
217. Beer and pies (MJ) 270
218. Belgian Belle (MJ) 270
219. Brussels classroom (MJ) 270
220. Belgian pies {MJ) 271
221. Belgian pies (Newspaper photograph/DES) 271
222. Belgian pies (BEL) 271
223. Future farmers (DELL) 273
xv
224. Knocking the pig down (BER) 273
225. Collecting the blood (BER) 273
226. Burning the pig's hair off (BER) 274
227. Straw pile (W AU) 275
228. Michiels children, March 1940 (MIC) 276
xvi
LIST OF MAPS
Map Page
1. Belgian settlement in northeastern Wisconsin. 88
2. Location of Pearline Fontaine Tielens (PFT), Virginia Lefevre Servais

(VlS), Hazel Englebert Chaudoir (HEC), Eunice Bellin Wautlet
(EBW), and Esther Willems Neuville (EWN) in the Belgian
community. 207
xvii
1
INTRODUCTION
This dissertation looks at photography within a cultural-historical framework. More
specifically, it uses a case-study approach to explore the visual records left by
photographers-the majority of whom are amateurs-in a community of Belgian
immigrants in rural Wisconsin between 1888 and 1950. While visual depictions of
immigrants were-at the beginning-mostly the work of professional artists and
(itinerant) photographers like Lewis Hine, Jacob Riis, Solomon Butcher, and Andrew
Dahl, Eastman's invention of the Kodak camera in 1888 opened up unprecedented
opportunities for amateurs. As the technology improved and photographic equipment
became more accessible, the popular appeal of the camera also increased. Its
uncomplicated use resulted in efforts by numerous amateur photographers to document

their lives and everyday experiences. The resulting documents individuals created in
immigrant farming communities have been virtually unexplored.
According to Challen, "the case-study approach is preferred when researchers are
exploring new areas, .. . when one objective is to generate as much qualitative data as
possible, [and] when there is more interest in stimulating new insights and speculations
than in formally testing hypotheses and axioms generated from previous work."1 My
general concern with this dissertation is not to reconstruct a pictorial history of the
Belgian community in Wisconsin but rather to explore topics including, (a) the usefulness
of historical photographs~specially amateur images-in historical research, (b) their
1
Richard Chalfen, Turning Leaves. The Photograph Collections of Two Japanese American
Families (Albuquerque, 1991), 26-27; 238-39.
2
value in revealing information on social life and culture, and (c) their ability to provide
avenues for further research.2
This study is guided by three major premises. First, photographs are symbolic fonns
of conununication and culturally structured artifacts whose creation and interpretation
are subject to culturally defined rules and conventions. Adopting this perspective, the
dissertation views photographs not merely as reproductions of reality but rather as the
results of the specific choices of the photographer and his or her subjects within a
specific cultural, social, and historical context. Second, amateur photography is a
medium in its own right, and the visual records produced by nonprofessionals constitute
informative statements about the lives and experiences of the photographer and the
photograph's subjects. Third, because each photograph is by nature historical, a body
of related images placed within historical context can help form a valid narrative for
study and interpretation of past mentalities.
More specifically, the dissertation argues that by analyzing and contextualizing a

body of photographs- produced by Belgian immigrants and their descendants-one can
better understand the "statements [that these individuals made] about themselves to
and for themselves and succeeding generations." 3 It further argues that a body of
photographs produced by an ethnic community helps develop a better understanding of
some of the core values, meanings, and sentiments of the community as it evolved during
a specific period. When put together, a collection of photographs reveals much about
immigrants and communities for which traditional sources of documentation are
contradictory, patchy, missing, or even non-existent. In this case, the rich pictorial
imagery from Wisconsin's Belgian American farming community provides an
2
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 22. As Chalfen cautions, however, it is important to remember
that although photographs offer information on cultural values, they do not reveal all cultural
values. Similarly, while the sample of photographs used in this project is relatively large, it
does not represent all the images extant in the Belgian American community.
3
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 5.
3
opportunity to demonstrate not only the centrality of photographs as objects of critical
inquiry in historical research, but also the unique potential of private images as a means
of recreating a sense of identity and community.
If we look at the sources historians have used since the Renaissance, it is dear that
for the most part they have kept visual artifacts-including photographic imagery-at a
distance, sometimes even going to great lengths to avoid contact with such 'disreputable'
witnesses. 4 Undoubtedly, the reluctance to bestow even the slightest documentary value
on photographic data lies in a firmly anchored belief in the sacrosanct authority of the
'written' record.5 For most historians, photographs and other visual sources cannot be
used, let alone trusted, as sources of evidence because of their inherent ambiguity, which
at best can be confusing, and at worst can '"pervert' history."6 Carter summarizes this
position most explicitly in a recent review essay on photography and history. He writes,
4
Francis Haskell, History and its Images: Art and the Interpretation of the Past (New
Haven, 1993).
5
It should be noted that, etymologically speaking, photographs also are "written
docwnents" since the word "photography" comes from the Greek, <pros (light) and ypa<pro
(write), hence, to write with light. Yet the idea that the written word should not be taken at
its face value has been advanced on numerous occasions by a variety of scholars. Caveats have
been proffered by Marc Bloch (The Historian's Craft [New York, 1953], 49-78), David Hackett
Fisher (Historians' Fallacies [New York, 1970}, 41-63); Louis Gottschalk (Understanding
History [New York, 1969], 86-117); Alan Nevins (The Gateway to History [Chicago, 1963], 189-
225); Robert Jones Shafer (A Guide to Historical Method [Homewood, Ill., 1980), 127-147, 149-
170); Maryann Yodelis Smith ("The Method of History," in Research Methods in Mass
Communication, ed. Guido Stempel and Bruce H. Westley [Englewood Cliffs, 1989), 323); and
other hlstorians, as well as by communication scholars, among them David K. Berlo (The
Process of Communication [New York, 1960)), who argues (p. 175) that since "meanings are in
people, not in words," the meaning of a message depends on how receivers interpret its words.
To John Fiske (Television Culture [London, 1987]; Understanding Popular Culture [London,
1989)), the meaning-making of the message itself is a process-conscious or unconscious-of
negotiation between the text and its variously socially or culturally situated readers.
Concurring with Berlo and Fiske, Stuart Hall (Representation: Cultural .Representations and
Signifying Practices [Thousand Oaks, 1997]) argues that "words shift their meanings" because
the relationship between the signifier and the signified is not permanently fixed. In the
context of history and historiography, then, the social, intellectual, and cultural values of
each reader lead to varying interpretations of the written record whlch, in tum, leads to
different perspectives .and understandings of history.
6
Haskell, History, 144.
4
It may have been as late as the 1960s when some nameless soul coined the
phrase "photograph as document" and changed everything. That simple aphorism
canonized the photograph, according it a status equivalent to the written word.
It also granted a license to sin. Calling a photograph a document implies that the
information it contains is intrinsically truthful, an argument that contains its own
refutation. It is true that what you see in a photograph faithfully represents the
reality that appeared before the camera at the time that the film exposure was made,
but less apparent are the cultural forces that led to the photograph being taken. To
assume the superficial appearance of the photograph to be its message risks
misinterpretation, or worse, naive underinderpretation.7
Acknowledging the ambiguous nature of the photograph but moving beyond it, some
historians maintain that although photographs do not contain any meaning per se, this
should not prevent them from being used as sources in historical or cultural studies.8 To
Malmsheimer, for instance, the open nature and flexibility of photographic imagery are
the very reasons why it should be widely utilized, rather than automatically rejected, in
scholarly inquiry. For Peters and Mergen,
Though each photograph records only one instant in an event, the cumulative body
of these photographic moments can provide information about cultural values and
attitudes as well as about the style and design of a society.9
7
John E. Carter, "The Trained Eye: Photographs and Historical Context," The Public
Historian 15 no. 1 (Winter 1993), 56. Although Carter points out the dangers posed by
photographs, he does not oppose a responsible use of photographic images to study the past,
and concludes his article by saying that, "more than mere illustration, photographs are
vehicles for time travel, and as such, the stuff of history itself" (Ibid., 66).
8
Historians who made this point include, James Borchert, Analysis of Historical
/1
Photographs: A Method and a Case Study," Studies in Visual Communication 2 no. 4 (Fall
1981): 30-62; idem, "Historical Photo-Analysis: A Research Method," Historical Methods 15
no. 2 (Spring 1982): 35-44; idem, Alley Life in Washington: Family, Community, Religion, and
Folklife in the City, 1850-1970 (Chicago, 1982); idem, Photographs and Historical Research:
Prospects and Problems (Iowa City, April 21-22, 1989); Robert M. Levine, ed., Windows on Latin
America: Understanding Society Through Photographs (Coral Gables, 1987); idem, Images of
History: Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Latin American Photographs as Documents
(Durham, 1989); Thomas J. Schlereth, "Mirrors of the Past: Historical Photography and
American History," chap. in Artifacts and the American Past (Nashville, 1980); Lonna M.
Malmsheimer, "Photographic Analysis as Ethnohistory: Interpretive Strategies," Visual
Anthropology 1 no. 1 (1987): 21-35.
9
Marsha Peters and Bernard Mergen, '"Doing the Rest,' The Uses of Photographs in
American Studies," American Quarterly 29 no. 3 (1977): 280-81.
5
Noting that "photographs unfailingly reflect the values and priorities of the
photographer and society at large," Levine argues that even if "photographs reduce
truth to facts, . .. these facts are potentially documents to serve as the basis of historical
research." 10 To him, all varieties of photographs are inherently valuable because they all
complement the historian's effort to reconstruct the past.
By focusing on photographic imagery and its potential use in historical and cultural
research, this dissertation addresses several scholarly needs, including more research on
amateur photography as a medium of communication; more systematic inclusion of
cultural artifacts, such as photographs, in the field of media and communication studies;
more use of photographic documents as a means of recovering history; and further study
of rural settlements of European immigrants.

In addition, this dissertation makes specific contributions to the field of women's
studies (many photographers were farm women), while the emphasis on Belgian
Americans (a little known ethnic group) constitutes a departure from scholarship that to
date, with few exceptions, has dealt principally with more dominant or visible
immigrant groups. Indeed, general studies of immigration usually do not mention

Belgians-not even under "Other," the last resource of the ethnic index. While Stephan
Thernstrorn' s Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups includes a short essay and
bibliography on Belgians in the United States, few sources are cited and the information
presented is questionable.11 Many histories of the State of Wisconsin show a similar
10
Levine, Images, 185.
11
Stephan Themstrom, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (Cambridge,
1980), s.v. "Belgians," by Pierre-Henri Laurent. For instance, Laurent argues that the Walloon
language died with the first generation of settlers and that communities usually did not
maintain their distinctly Belgian identity until World War I-a "tragic experience . .. that
led both Flemings and Walloons in America to stress their Belgian origins and culture." He
further argues that following the Peshtigo Fire of 1871, the "Walloon community was rebuilt by
non-Belgian neighbors and competitors." As we will see, such statements need to be reevaluated
based on (photographic) evidence located in Wisconsin's colony.
6
neglect of Walloon or Flemish immigrants. For instance, Thompson's five-volume, The
History of Wisconsin, makes references to Belgians in Wisconsin only in passing.12

Yet we know that Belgian immigrants settled in Wisconsin. Towns like Brussels,
Namur, and Rosiere were named after Belgian localities and testify to the origin of their
founders. By 1860, some 4,500 individuals of Belgian descent-mostly Walloons-were
living in Door, Brown, and Kewaunee counties. While in recent years (amateur)
historians in Belgium have expanded the study of Belgian emigration to the United
States, their research is made difficult by a lack of funding and limited access to sources
in the United States. Also, their results are not always published or are published
privately, which further limits their accessibility. On the other hand, vernacular
historical photographs, abundant within the Belgian-American community, constitute a
rich body of evidence from which new understandings of immigrant experiences and
immigrant community arise.

Unlike historical publications that use photographs from museums, libraries,
research centers, and other public archival institutions merely as illustrations, this
dissertation utilizes photographs from private sources in the Belgian community as its
primary source. 13 My attempts to collect photographs were scattered over a period of
12
Additional examples include Robert C. Nesbit, Wisconsin: A History, rev. William F.
Thompson (Madison, 1989) and Justus E. Paul and Barbara Dotts Paul, The Badger State. A
Documentary Histon; of Wisconsin (Grand Rapids, 1979), both of which do not mention Belgian
immigrants. Belgians are also not included in the index in La Vern J. Rippley's The Immigrant
Experience in Wisconsin (Boston, 1985).
13
Various reasons led me to work with private images. First, there was the difficulty in
obtaining photographs from institutions in charge of preserving them. For instance, one
research center allowed the photocopying of photographs of which they had a copy (rarely
the original print), but they did not allow researchers to make photographic copies of the
photographs. While it was possible to have some photographs copied in-house, additional
limitations placed on the number of photographs available for copy-work and the high costs
involved caused me to abandon that track entirely and start my own pictorial search in the
community. The idea of using photographs from private sources was tempting not only because
the process eliminated one intermediary (such as archival institutions) between the imagery
and myself, but also because it provided an alternate set of images-one that enabled me to
establish direct contacts with the owners of the photographs or the photographers themselves.
7
approximately two and a half years. If photographs were at first slow in coming, by the
summer of 1997 I fmmd myself dealing with an avalanche of images.14 At times, images
were unearthed from shoe-boxes in farm basements or dug out from attic trunks in
family homesteads. In other cases, they came from photo collections and family albums
preciously preserved by family members. In still other cases, they came from special
albums in which contemporary individuals of Belgian descent have painstakingly
constructed family trees or compiled family histories.
To make the most of the limited amount of time I was able to spend in Wisconsin,
and because descriptive notes-mental or written-are never as telling or precise as the
imagery itself, I made as many copies of the photographs as I thought were necessary for
the realization of the project. Since this dissertation is concerned more with amateur
photographs than with professional studio portraits, however, I was more conservative
in copying the latter, but I made notes about them. Following an initial interview with
community members who owned historical imagery, I borrowed photographs and photo
albums for careful inspection and independent analysis. This allowed me to examine
the imagery at ease and it avoided taking additional time away from individuals who
might have better things to do than watch me examine their family snapshots. Loose
photographs, specific photo album pages or images from photo albums were directly
copied on black-and-white film. Entire photo albums were photocopied so that
facsimile albums could be reconstructed and used as reference copies once the original
albums had been returned. For practical reasons, all the copy work was done at one
central location (the place where I stayed while conducting field work). Only when
absolutely necessary-it happened only once--did I take the equipment off-location.
14
Classified ads in local newspapers yielded minimal results. In the end, phone calls and
personal visits to corrunwlity members during longer stays in Wisconsin (especially during
summer, 1997, when I spent five weeks in the area), turned out the largest number of
photographs. I spent approximately two and a half months in the Belgian-American
commwlity between 1995 and 1998.
8
Each time photographs were examined, I asked individuals to share whatever they
knew about the imagery. The interviews were held informally, most while sitting at the
kitchen table at the homes of the respondents. At times, the information given related
simply to 'basic' details, including dates, names, or places. At other times, the imagery
served as a 'springboard' and led viewers to converse about family or community

matters or even more general topics. If the number of photographs was relatively small, I
simply noted the information. However, when larger collections of photographs were
explored or when family members or photographers reviewed individual pictures in the
photo albums, I tape-recorded the interviews and jotted down identifying notes to
ensure I would be able to easily identify the images. All interviews were later
transcribed verbatim. Photo custodians who had difficulty identifying some of the
images usually referred me to other individuals in the community who provided the
missing information. Questions that arose after re-examining the imagery on my own
were answered during subsequent visits and interviews. Questions that only came to
mind later were dealt with by phone.
While the work prints I made were often larger than the original images, none of the
photographs have been retouched, cropped, enhanced, or manipulated in any way. The
larger size (usually five-by-seven-inch) facilitated the reading of the image and enabled
me to distinguish details that might have remained undetected on a smaller print.

Although I had originally planned to identify the photograph's subjects at the back of
each print, the approach was quickly abandoned because of the large number of prints
and the fact that the information was available elsewhere-either in the notes I took or
the tapes I made and later transcribed. Eventually, the identifying data I wrote on the
back of each work prints-source of origin (family collection), date, and
location-proved adequate for this study's purpose. 15
15
A list with the sources for the photographs used in this dissertation can be found in the
appendix.
9
Even though I had some experience with historical photographs before I became
involved in this project-including examining pictures from my own family and working
on research papers in graduate school-I soon realized that the scope of the present
undertaking required additional visual preparation. This included further immersion in
photographic imagery preserved at the State Historical Society of Iowa and, most
important, frequent and lengthy conversations with Mary Bennett, the society's special
collections coordinator and photo historian. Following her advice, which is echoed by
other scholars, I surrounded myself with Belgian-American photographs for a long time
before developing any narrative about them- first formulating a general sense of what
the image was about, then examining specific details, finally looking for "patterns of
image content and photographic habits."16 Becker provides a detailed description of
the reading process. He suggests,
They [scholars interested in reading photographs] will have to learn to look at

photographs more attentively than they ordinarily do. Laymen learn to read
photographs the way they do headlines, skipping over them quickly to get the gist of
what is being said. Photographers, on the other hand, study them with the care and
attention one might give to a difficult scientific paper or a complicated poem. Every
part of the photographic image carries some information that contributes to its total
statement; the viewer's responsibility is to see, in the most literal way, everything
that is there and respond to it. To put it another way, the statement the image
makes--not just what it shows you, but the mood, moral evaluation, and causal
connections it suggests-is built up from those details. A proper "reading" of a
photograph sees and responds to them consciously.17
As mentioned, while this dissertation uses photographs as its major source of

information, it also uses additional materials to complement or contextualize the
imagery, and to provide background on the Belgian community. Newspapers, census

schedules and reports, official documents both in Belgium and the United States, county
16
See Challen, Turning Leaves, 22; and Borchert, Alley Life, 270.
17
Howard S. Becker, "Photography and Sociology," Studies in the Anthropology of Visual
Communication 1 (Fall 1974): 6-7.
10
histories, obituary cards, tombstones, and personal documents such as correspondence,
family histories, and genealogies were some of the 'written' sources. Other resources
included interviews with farmers in Belgium and community members in Wisconsin, oral
history audio tapes,18 and historical photographs from Belgium. Touring the
countryside and family homesteads with community members provided not only a sense
of place but also a feeling and better understanding of the vernacular landscape.
Finally, my own cultural background as a Belgian native gave me valuable insights,
allowing me to intuitively connect photographs with familiar stories of cultural heritage.

The first chapter of the dissertation discusses theoretical perspectives on
photography in relationship to issues of representation, history, memory, and
interpretation. It also proffers caveats and makes suggestions concerning the use of
photographs in historical research. Chapter two examines how farmers and immigrants
have been traditionally represented by visual artists, including painters and
photographers, both in Western Europe and the United States. Chapter three, which
presents a historical background on Wisconsin's Belgian community based on a wide
variety of written sources, covers the time period from the initial years of settlement in
the 1850s to the early twentieth century-when written materials about or by Belgian
individuals started to subside.
By the early h·ventieth century as well, photographic imagery began to flourish in the
Belgian community. Chapters four and five tum to the analysis of historical
photographs, most of which were created by Belgian farmers. The usefulness of

photographs in historical research is explored in chapter four. Chapter five is devoted
to photograph albums and specifically examines the visual chronicles of five farm
women in the first half of the century. The epilogue looks back at notions of
18
These tapes resulted from a pilot project conducted in 1975 and 1976 in an effort to
establish a Belgian-American Ethnic Resource Collection in the Special Collections
Department of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Library.
11
photography, representation, memory, and history in relationship to the imagery
collected within Wisconsin's Belgian farming community.

12
CHAPTER ONE
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Since the invention of photography in 1839, photographs have been described and
utilized in a variety of ways. Among the first virtues attributed to the camera was its
ability to produce images mirroring nature to the most minute details, a quality that
could assist painters as well as archeologists and anthropologists in their work. Quick
to recognize the value of photography as a recording tool that could supplement their
note-taking and aid their memory, ethnographers and anthropologi~ts, for instance, used
the camera extensively as early as in the 1850s to capture and, indeed, lay bare exotic
peoples and societies. The apparent truthfulness of photographs also made them
perfect tools for propaganda and social reform campaigns, such as those led by Lewis
Hine and Jacob Riis in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while their
aesthetic quality has at other times elevated them to "works of a.rt."
Whether one chooses to describe the camera as an exact pencil of nature, a useful
note-taking device, a convincing propaganda tool, or a modem painter's palette, a
photograph is primarily a record that bears witness that something-whatever was
before the lens-undeniably existed, even if for a fleeting moment.1 As Barthes said,
"in Photography I can never deny that the thing has been there. There is a
superimposition here: of reality and of the past."2 The correspondence with reality is
also noted by French film critic Andre Bazin. He writes,
1
Vicki Goldberg, The Power of Photography (New York, 1993), 27.
2
Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida. Reflections on Photography, trans. Richard Howard
(New York, 1981), 76.
13
Originality in photography as distinct from originality in painting lies in the

essentially objective character of photography. For the first ti.me, between the
originating object and its reproduction there intervenes only the instrumentality of a
nonliving agent. .. . The objective nature of photography [forces us] to accept as real
the existence of the object reproduced, actually, re-presented, set before us, that is to
say, in time and space.... The photographic image is the object itself, the object
freed from the conditions of time and space that govern it.3
Placing photography within the context of memory and history, Binney and Chaplin
further argue that, "because [photographs] freeze a moment, they record that moment in
ways which human memory and written words do not." 4
But a photograph is more than a witness to the past: it is also a representation that
produces meaning through visual language.5 It is a written statement that results from
the interaction between a photographer, a subject, and a reader. 6 As such, it is a
message that corrununicates something not only about the object or individual pictured,
but also about the photographer and the social, cultural, historical, political and
economic circumstances under which he or she operates.
Like any other message-written or not-a photograph needs to be deciphered. If
some critics believe in the transparency of photographic imagery,7 a majority of scholars
3
Andre Bazin, "The Ontology of the Photographic Image," trans. Hugh Gray in What is
Cinema (Berkeley, 1967), 13, 14. In his original essay, Bazin points to the fact that the lens,
the basis of photography, is called objectif in French-a nuance that is lost in English, as Gray
remarks.
4
Judith Binney and Gillian Chaplin, "Ta.king the Photographs Home: The Recovery of a
Maori History," Visual Anthropology 4 no. 3-4 (1991): 438.
5
Hall, Representation, 28.
6
Lonna M. Malmsheimer, "Photographic," 23-25; Joanna Cohan Scherer, "Historical
Photographs as Anthropological Documents: A Retrospect," Visual Anthropology, no. 3 (1990):
132.
7
Hall, Representation, 25. The reflective approach, which locates meaning within the
object, person, idea or event in the real world, is represented by G. Lewis, Photojournalism
(Dubuque, Iowa, 1991) and E. Stanley, "The Social Significance of Press Photography," in The
Complete Book of Press Photography (New York, 1950).
14
argue that the objectivity of the image is merely an illusion and that photographs have
an infinity of possible meanings contingent upon context and use. To these
constructionists, meaning is not inherent in things. It is produced and constructed.
Barthes introduces the paradoxical nature of the photograph in his essay, The
Photographic Message. 8 The paradox, he writes, is that while the photograph is by

nature an objective message (or "a message without a code"), it is inevitably subjected
to codification, either when it is produced, or when it is received. In other words, the
denotative message of the photograph (the exact representation of the world) is
inexorably subjected to connotation. Very few photographs escape the codification
process,9 and all photographic messages are at the same time denotative (culture-free)
and connotative (culturally determined). In Rhetoric of the Image, Barthes further
explores the way denotation and connotation come into play in the reading of
photographs and suggests that all images are polysemous, i.e., each of their signifiers
refers to several signifieds which the reader is free to retain or ignore.10 In other words,
different readers may come to different understandings of the same photographic
message depending on the decoding tools they use.
Barthes's viewpoint is shared by many scholars. Because "seeing is learned and
culturally influenced," Byers suggests that the same photograph may very well trigger
more than one single interpretation, with each of these interpretations being dependent
8
Roland Barthes, "The Photographic Message," trans. Stephen Heath in Image, Music,
Text (New York, 1977), 16-20, 30.
9
In Barthes's opinion, the only photographs that could escape connotation are those that
portray "absolutely traumatic" events, such as a fire, a catastrophe, or a violent death. What
Barthes seems to forget, however, is that the photograph of a fire will not elicit the same
feelings in a victim of a fire, a fireman, or ... an arsonist; in the victim or witness of a terrorist
act as in the terrorist who committed the terrorist act.
10
Roland Barthes, "Rhetoric of the Image," trans. Stephen Heath in Image, Music, Text
(New York, 1977) 32-51.
15
on the reader's experience. 11 Since "each person involved with the still photograph has
his own semantic tuning-knob," the number of possible meanings an image may have is
limited to the number of its viewers. Sekula argues that a photograph could not have a
universal meaning since every photographic message is "characterized by a tendentious
rhetoric" that causes its meaning to be "inevitably subject to cultural definition." 12
Wartofsky notes that the act of seeing is influenced by "social history" as well as by the
"cultural evolution of human visual perception."13 For Blyton, the photographer's goals
and values influence what he or she sees as much as the viewers' language, knowledge,
and experience influence the way they interpret the photograph. 14 To Nye, "the
meaning of a photograph does not reside in the image itself, but rather in the entire
process of photographic communication .... Ultimately, the photographer loses control
over the meanings that can be assigned to an image."15 Finally, Ball and Smith contend
that since "photographic literacy is learned," the interpretation of a photograph is
inevitably influenced by the cultural knowledge of its viewers.16
Since the relationship between a signifier and its signified results from a system of
conventions specific to each society and to specific historical moments, all meanings are
11
Paul Byers, "Cameras Don' t Take Pictures," Columbia University Forum 9 no 1 (Winter
1966): 30, 31.
12
Allan Sekula, "On the Invention of Photographic Meaning," Artforum 13 Ganuary 1975):
37.
13
Marx Wartofsky, "Cameras Can't See: Representation, Photography, and H uman
Vision," Afterimage 7 no. 9 (1980), 9.
14
Paul Slyton, "The Image of Work: Documentary Photography and the Production of
'Reality,''' International Social Science Journal 39 (August 1987): 415-24.
15
David Nye, "Photography as Communication," Journal of American Culture 9 no. 3
(1986): 35.
16
Michael S. Ball and Gregory W. H . Smith, Analyzing Visual Data (Newbury P ark,
Calif., 1992), 18.
16
constructed within culture and history. 17 Tagg goes as far as saying that photography
has no identity outside its historical specifications; it is always tied to specific
circumstances, and the images produced are only readable within the particular context
which has borne them. 18 According to him and other scholars, the only appropriate way
to make sense of photographs, then, is to look at them in a cultural/historical setting,

and to learn the system of social conventions used by their makers. 19 Eventually,
exploring the social processes involved in the construction of photographs, as well as

analyzing the way(s) in which the images are subsequently put to use reveals
something both about the culture depicted and the culture of those who produced the
vision. 20 As Pierre Bourdieu writes,
17
Hall, Representation, 30-32.
18
John Tagg, The Burden of Representation. Essays on Photographies and Histories
(Minneapolis, 1995), 3, 35, 63-64.
19
Richard Chalfen, Turning Leaves; Gisele Freund, Photographie et Societe (Paris, 1974);
Michael Griffin, "History and Ethnographic Method in Visual Communication Research," in
Visual Explorations of the World: Selected Papers from the International Conference 011 Visual
Communication, ed. Martin Taureg and Jay Ruby (Aachen, 1987), 240-254; Larry Gross, ed., "Sol
Worth and the Study of Visual Communication," in Studying Visual Communication
(Philadelphia, 1981), 1-35; Sybil Milton, "The Camera as Weapon, Voyeur, and Witness:
Photography of the Holocaust as Historical Evidence,'' in Visual Explorations of the World:
Selected Papers from the International Conference on Visual Communication, ed. Martin Taureg
and Jay Ruby (Aachen, 1987), 80-114; Barbara Rosenblum, Photograp11ers at Work: A Sociology
of Photographic Styles p(New York, 1984); Allan Sekula, "On the Invention"; Alan
Trachtenberg, Tlie American Image. Photographs from the National Archives, 1860-1960 (New
York, 1979).
20
Kiku Adatto, Picture Perfect (New York, 1993); Malek Alloula, The Colonial Harem
(Minneapolis, 1986); Pierre Bourdieu, ed., Art moyen. Essai sur les usages sociaux de la
photographie (Paris, 1965); Larry Gross, "Sol Worth," ibid.; Catherine A. Lutz and Jane L.
Collins, Reading National Geographic (Chicago, 1993); Jay Ruby, Secure the Shadow: Death
and Photography in America (Cambridge, 1995); Joanna Cohan Scherer, "You Can't Believe
Your Eyes: Inaccuracies in Photographs of North American Indians," Studies in the
Anthropology of Visual Communication 2 no. 2 (Fall 1975): 67-79; Susan Sontag, On
Photography (New York, 1977); Judith Williamson, Decoding Advertising: Ideology and
Meaning in Advertising (London, 1978).
17
Adequately understanding a photograph ... means not only recovering the meanings
which it proclaims, that is, to a certain extent, the explicit intentions of the
photographer; it also means deciphering the surplus of meaning which it betrays by
being a part of the symbolism of an age, a class or an artistic group. 21
It would appear that, given the soaring production and consumption of
photographic images since 1839, communication and mass media scholars would have
devoted considerable attention to photography. Yet, paradoxically, they have been
slow in exploring the medium. As Brennen and Hardt explain, among possible reasons
for American scholars' disinterest in photography is a fascination in American culture
for technology (and therefore film and television, rather than still photography), and
economics (it pays to conduct media studies; it does not to study photography).22
These are mere extrapolations, as the authors suggest, but the fact is that in the 20 years
since Becker Ohm nudged communication scholars toward expanding the traditional
boundaries of their research materials to include photographic documents,23 only about
15 pertinent articles have been published in leading communication research journals,
seven of which concerned with advertising images.24 The fact that nineteenth-century
21
Translation taken from Pierre Bourdieu, ed., Photography: A Middle-brow Art, trans.
Shaun Whiteside (Cambridge, England, 1990), 5-6.
22
Bonnie Brennen and Hanno Hardt, ed., Picturing the Past: Media, History, and
Photography (Champaign, Ill., in press).
23
She writes, "Photographs can offer insights into the structure and content of human
communication, for they illustrate how people frame reality when translating it into a static
mode for particular purposes. To continue to ignore photographs as research resources for
communication research in favor of modes of communication which appear more amenable to our
understanding and which have established methods of analysis is to ignore the impact of what
we see on how we think" (Karin Becker Ohm, "Making Belief: Context for Family
Photography," [Boston, October 27-30, 1977], 31).
24
The journals consulted were: Communication Studies; Communication Research; Critical
Studies in Mass Communication; Journal of Communication; Media, Culture and Society, and
Journalism Quarterly. Six of the articles appeared in the journal of Communication, and journal
of Communication Inquiry. This number does not take into consideration communication scholars
concerned with how variations in technical variables affect viewers' responses to the images.
Even though these researchers do investigate photographic material, they omit to explore the
meanings which viewers attach to the photographs and they do not pay attention to
18
and early twentieth century cartes de visite and picture postcards are still poste restante
among communication researchers further confirms mass communication scholars' failure
or reluctance to consider photographic images as sources worthy of analysis. On the
other hand, picture postcards have been well received and studied by anthropologists
and ethnographers for the last 15 years or so.25 Central to these scholars' philosophy is
the understanding that the value of photography is not limited to that of an 'objective'
mapping instrument, and the belief that images are cultural artifacts that can serve as
"evidence of imagemaking, for understanding how photographers and their public

visually interpret a people's culture and history."26
Like their corrununication colleagues, academic historians have also by and large
neglected photographs, and they have focused almost exclusively on written sources of
evidence.27 According to Haskell,28 historians' reluctance to use the visual arts as a
form of evidence dates back to the recovery in the fifteenth century of a vast variety of
photographs as cultural artifacts. See, for instance, J. W. Click and Guido H. Stempel Ill,
" Reader Response to Front Pages with Four-Color Halftones," Journalism Quarterly 54 no. 4
(Winter 1976): 737-738.
25
Albers and James argue that picture postcards were "one of the more popular media from
which the public has drawn its visual impressions of culturally different people and places"
(Patricia C. Albers and William R. James, ''Private and Public Images: A Study of
Photographic Contrasts in Postcard Pictures of Great Basin Indians, 1898-1919," Visual
Anthropology 3 [1990]: 344). See also idem, "Utah's Indians and Popular Photography in the
American West: A View From the Picture Postcard," Utah Historical Quarterly 52 no. 1 (1984):
72-91; idem, "Images and Reality: Postcards of Minnesota's Ojibway People, 1900-1980,"
Minnesota History 49 no. 6 (1985): 229-240; idem, "Illusion and illumination: Visual Images of
American Indian Women in the West," in The Women's West, ed. Susan Armitage and Betsy
Jameson (Norman, Okla., 1987), 35-50. Annelies Moors and Steven Machlin ("Postcards of
Palestine-Photographic Essay," Critique of Anthropology 7 no. 2 [1987]: 61-77) and Alloula
(Co lonial, 1986) have also studied postcards extensively.
26
Albers and James, "Private," 344.
27
Such claims have been made by historians such as Borchert (See "Analysis"; Alley Life,
269-275; and "Photographs") and Schlereth (See "Mirrors").
28
Haskell, History, 1-2.
19
ancient literature which propelled historians to pay increasing and almost exclusive
attention to written documents. Before that, Haskell argues, it was not unusual for
historians to make use of visual artifacts when trying to interpret the past, and
historians such as Herodotus (fifth century B.C.) or Procopius of Caesarea (fifth century
A.D.) were among those who relied on such evidence.
Among the factors accounting for historians' neglect of visual sources are the
preponderance of written records for most topics of interest to historians and the
preconceived idea that visuals are subordinated to the written word. 29 Collier and
Collier, for instance, remind us that while the verbal in Western culture is associated
with reason, fact, and objective information, the visual is often associated with intuition,
art, and implicit knowledge. 30 This, along with the fact that visuals are typically
considered a popular medium, can explain why historians have traditionally shurmed
photographs and considered them intellectually suspect at best, morally subversive at
worst. 31 Furthermore, while words are perceived to be finite-therefore
economical-images are perceived to be infinite. As such, they can oftentimes overload
the intellect.32
If the polysemic nature of the photographic image is at times considered a major
drawback to its scholarly use, other critics argue that the propensity of photographs to
"deconstruct themselves so easily" makes them "ideal documents with which to begin
and end any cultural inquiry for which they are relevant." 33 Photographs are ideal,
Malrnsheimer writes, because
29
Schlereth, "Mirrors," 15.
30
John Jr. Collier and Malcolm Collier. Visual Anthropology: Photography as a Research
Method (Albuquerque, 1990), 169-170; Scherer, "Historical," 132.
31
Scherer "Historical," 133.
32
Ibid.; Collier and Collier, Visual, 13; Halla Beloff, Camera Culture (Oxford, 1985), 7-9.
33
Lonna M. Mahnsheimer, "Photographic Analysis," 34.
20
[T]hey prod and nag, forcing the analyst to a continuous awareness of the tenuous
grounds of cultural inference. If the fundamental rule of cultural analysis, informally
stated, is "never assume," working with photographs is both good training for the
inexperienced and an extreme exercise in interpretive discipline for the experienced.
Far more than any verbal record ... photographs press the interpreter outward from
the object itself into the contexts essential to the establishment of meaning in any
cultural system and then keep the scholar aware that there are always at least two,
often quite complicated, contexts (that of the actors and that of the analysts)
interacting in interpretation. Photographs, therefore, force reflexivity and prompt
questions which might not otherwise be asked. 34
More recently, Thomas has emphasized the importance of studying artifacts when
analyzing culture. To him, artifacts are important not just because they represent ideas
and issues significant to social life, "but also because they are artifacts (that is, not
merely texts but cultural by-products - remains) with a longevity that permits their
delivery to successive generations, thereby contributing to social continuity."35 More
important to us in the context of this research, however, is Thomas's claim that, while
there are vast numbers of cultural artifacts, "particularly those having obvious narrative
dimensions, [emphasis mine] are important means by which customs and beliefs [of a ·
society] are collectively expressed."36
Among such artifacts are photographs, and particularly amateur (or vernacular)
photographs, and it is to those that we now turn our attention.37
34
Ibid., 34-35.
35
Sari Thomas, "Artifactual Study in the Analysis of Culture: A Defense of Content
Analysis in a Postmodern Age," Communication Research 21 no. 6 (December 1994): 686.
36
Ibid.
37
In this thesis, vernacular, or amateur photographs refer to photographic images
produced by individuals for personal use. Contrary to professional photographers, amateurs
have no or little formal training, and they are not making a living out of their photographic
work
21
Amateur photography as an area of study
Pierre Bourdieu's 1965 Un art moyen. Essai sur les usages sociaux de la photographie is
one of the earliest studies on amateur photography. Conceived as an examination of the
practice of photography among different social classes in French society, the work
argues that what constitutes the photographable is determined by norms extant within
each social group. For our purposes, Bourdieu's importance lies not in his examination
of aesthetics in photographic imagery but in his discussion of the role of photography in
family life. His analysis of the use of photography by the peasantry in the early 1960s
and the first half of the twentieth century is particularly relevant to us, and it remains by
and large unchallenged today.
Thus we learn from Bourdieu that while French peasants reject photography as a
practice (because it does not fit with their value system), they show an interest for
professional photographic portraits that etemalize and solemnize decisive moments in
the life of their family or their community. Early on in the century (1905-1914) peasants
called upon professional photographers to document rites of passage such as weddings,
communions, and other ceremonials whose significance was already well recognized
prior to the introduction of photography. In other words, photography was not used to
commemorate new events, and strict rules governed what was, and what was not, to be
photographed. Bourdieu writes, "Nothing may be photographed apart from that which
must be photographed.''38
Given the fact that rural celebrations and ceremonials were by and large the concerns
of adults, not children, men and women were the principal subjects of early peasant
photography. However, as children became increasingly important in post-1945 France,
they were photographed more frequently, and the old hierarchy of subjects was
reversed. By 1945, 50 percent of all the photographs taken in French rural communities
38
Bourdieu, Photography, 4.
22
depicted children. Peasants' interest in photography, however, remains sociological in
nature rather than aesthetical or technical. If peasants call upon professional
photographers on specific occasions, the practice of photography is rare and tolera ted
only when it fulfills a specific social function. Only mothers have a legitimate reason for
taking photographs, Bourdieu suggests, and when they do,
What is photographed and what is perceived by the reader of the photograph is not,
properly speaking, individuals in their capacity as individuals, but social groups, the
husband, first communicant, soldier, or social relationships, the American uncle or
the aunt from Sauvagnon.39
By rejecting photography (an urban pastime) male peasants disassociate themselves
from city life, and they stay true to the 'peasant ethos' that puts farm expenditures
ahead of consumer goods expenses. Likewise, everyday environment and mundane
objects are not deemed worthy of documentation and villagers do not photograph them.
According to Bourdieu, even the postures peasants take on when posing for a
photograph are dictated by rural cultural norms. Because peasants are well aware of
the disparaging attitude of other social groups toward the rural class, they are ill at ease
with their bodies, self-conscious, and clumsy when they appear in front of the camera.
However, Bourdieu argues, by facing the photographer and taking on a reverential
stance, peasants reduce their feelings of inadequacy, and they project themselves as they
would like to be seen and remembered. "Striking a pose means respecting oneself and
demanding respect," Bourdieu writes. 40 He continues,
In this society which exalts the sen se of honour, dignity and respectability, in this
closed world where one feels at all times inescapably under the gaze of others, it is
important to give others the most honourable, the most dignified image of oneself:
the affected and rigid pose which tends towards the posture of standing at attention
seems to be the expression of this unconscious intention. The sitter addresses to the
39
fbid.
40
Ibid., 80.
23
viewer an act of reverence, of courtesy, according to conventional rules, and

demands that the viewer obey the same conventions and the same norms. He
stands face on and demands to be looked at face on and from a distance, this need
for reciprocal deference being the essence of frontality.41
Yannick Geffroy's examination of some 2,500 photographs collected in two French
rural communities sheds additional light on villagers' use of photography.42 The
images, which were gathered in the 1970s, ranged from the end of the nineteenth century
up to 1950, a time when a new, more leisure-oriented photographic culture was
gradually replacing the old, more ritualistic practice. Geffroy does not provide specific
statistical data, but he indicates that most of the photographs were professional, or
semi-professional portraits, rather than snapshots. None depicted "grief, illness, or
death," and the rare photographs that alluded to work were entirely posed in the sense
that, "people .. . donned tools and "posed" on the spot. [They] are not pictured frozen
in mid-action, they are really posing." 43 Drawing from Bourdieu, Geffroy argues that
photographs portraying work, grief, illness or death could not have been taken because
they contradicted rural cultural values according to which villagers should always
"display and sustain the best appearances of [themselves]" in front of the camera eye.
Although Art Mayen was originally published in 1965, it is not until 1990 that an
English translation appeared on the American market. As one critic put it, the long
delay in translating the work has meant that many American studies scholars have
overlooked the study. Whether a more synchronous English translation would have
triggered early scholarly interest for amateur photography in the United States cannot
be known. But the fact of the matter is that while amateur photographs represent the
most common forms of picture-making and self-representations in the world, and
41
lbid., 82.
42
Yannick Geffroy, "Family Photographs: A Visual Heritage," Visual Anthropology 3
(October 1990): 367-409.
43
Ibid., 395.
24
although they provide the widest variety of images of ordinary Americans, it is only
recently that they have retained American researchers' attention. 44
Leaving the delayed publication of Bourdieu's work aside, several factors can
account for the paucity of studies on vernacular photographs: despite their
omnipresence, nonprofessional photographs are not as readily accessible as, for
instance, photographs that pertain to the documentary, commercial, or photo-
journalistic genres. Because amateur photographs are produced for private rather than
public uses, they remain in the hands of their creators or their descendants.45
Researchers interested in studying that kind of imagery are therefore forced to draw on
their own resources-which very few may be willing to do-or go out of their way to
gain access to other people's private visual records. Graves and Payne, for instance,
literally went from door to door asking to see people's home snapshots in order to
produce their book, American Snapshots. 46 Another reason for the paucity of research
involving nonprofessional photographs lies in the fact that, although there have been
several attempts to conceive a decoding system for amateur imagery,47 no clear-cut
repertoire of rules that would help evaluate amateur photographs has ever been
co.n structed and widely recognized. 48 Without a guiding framework, the researcher must
either use decoding tools from various other disciplines, or prepare a research design of
44
Borchert, "Photographs," 8-13; Challen, Turning Leaves, 2-6; Schlereth, "Mirrors," 20.
45
46
Ken Graves and Mitchell Payne, eds., American Snapshots (Oak.land, 1977).
47
See, for instance, Richard Chalfen, Snapshot Versions of Life (Bowling Green, 1987);
Graham King, "Say Cheese"! Looking at Snapshots in a New Way (New York, 1984);
Christopher Musello, "Studying the Home Mode: An Exploration of Family Photography and
Visual Communication," Studies in Visual Communication 6 no. 1 (1980): 23-42; Ohm, "Making
Belief."
48
Mary Bennett, interview by author, 1994; David L. Jacobs, "Domestic Snapshots: Toward
a Grammar of Motives," Journal of American Culture 4 no. 1 (Spring 1981): 93-105.
25
his or her own devising. The common assumption that "all members of our society
'understand' (vernacular photographs] and have similar connotations for them," may
also partly explain why they are investigated only minimally.49 Uthe prevailing belief
is that everyone interprets family photographs in the same way, it is only natural that
researchers see little need to investigate them. Disdain for the plebeian photograph
perhaps also accounts for scholars' unwillingness to deal with nonprofessional images.50
In 1897, Alfred Stieglitz poured scorn on "every Tom, Dick and Harry [who] could,
without trouble, learn how to get something or other on a sensitive plate .... "51
Although little less could have been expected from someone who considered that "art
[was] for the few and by the few,"52 it seems that Stieglitz's contempt for
nonprofessional photographers was, and still is, shared by many critics and scholars.53
For instance, Terry Barrett's Criticizing Photographs, An Introduction To Understanding
Images (1990) does not make any reference to vernacular photography. Likewise, many
histories of photography pay only scant attention to amateur photography,54 and
although the number of books focusing on the topic has increased in recent years, it still
remains limited . Finally, the scarcity of research or publications focusing on
nonprofessional photographs may be blamed on the small recompense-financial,
49
Ohm, "Making Belief," 2.
50
Jacobs, "Domestic," 93-94.
51
Alfred Stieglietz, "The hand camera: Its present importance," in Photographers on
Photography, ed. Nathan Lyons (Englewood Cliffs, 1966), 108.
52
Quoted in Jacobs, "Domestic," 94.
53
In 1899, photography critic Kelley ridiculed the work of "art-babbling, plate-spoiling"
non-professional photographers (quoted in C. Jane Gover, The Positive image [New York, 1988],
22). For other critiques of amateur photographers, see Gover, ibid.
54
See, for instance, Naomi Rosenblum, A World History of Photography (New York, 1984);
Jean-Claude Lemagny and Andre Rouille, A History of Photography, trans. Janet Lloyd
(Cambridge, 1987); Helmut Gemsheim and Alison Gemsheim, A Concise History of
Photography (New York, 1965).
26
scholarly, or other-that usually accompanies that type of research. Printing a book on,
or studying the imagery of Tom, Dick, or Harry will without any doubt raise less
attention, secure fewer kudos, and yield smaller revenues than V'.rriting on, or publishing
the work of a Lange, an Eisenstaedt, or a Cartier-Bresson.
While the sheer ubiquity of amateur snapshots is not an adequate justification for
their study, as Ohm rightly points out, several scholars contend that vernacular imagery
is worthy of analysis.ss To these researchers, amateur photographs ought to be
examined because they, like professional images, are cultural artifacts, objects
(productions) of a culture in which they are deeply embedded. Therefore, like other
artifacts-visual or not-they are sources that can be studied in the context of the
culture within which they are produced and used. As demotic artifacts, vernacular
photographs can be used to explore the texture of daily life and the culture of ordinary,
working people.56 Talbot, for instance, views the popularization of photography as a
trump card given history. He writes:
If photography hadn't fallen from grace-if it had gained general access to the art
museums in the 1900s, if it had remained a professional and well-considered
enterprise-would it have been free to produce a record so rich, incisive, and
detailed?s7
Lamenting the lack of research on historical amateur photographs, Schlereth goes as
far as to suggest that this type of imagery "may prove to be one of the most productive
research frontiers for academic and museum historians and their students."58 To
Kenyon, who defines vernacular photography as "the shared picture language of
55
Ohm, "Making Belief," 1.
56
Chalfen, "Redundant Imagery: Some Observations on the Use of Snapshots in American
Culture," Journal of American Culture 4 no. 1(Spring1981), 106, 108-109.
57
George Talbot, At Home: Domestic Life in the Post-Centennial Era (Madison, 1976), 66.
58
27
ordinary people," amateur photography is an interesting area of study because it is "one
of the few areas which bridges our public and private worlds."59 Not only can
individuals use snapshots to document the private occurrences of everyday life, but they
can also use them to share their everyday assumptions, hopes, and fears with others.
For Chalfen, snapshots and family photographs constitute a "medium of
communication.... examples of interpersonal and small group communication," whose
analysis can shed light on human social communication.60 As to Hill and King, they
argue that ordinary photographs have revolutionized the way we see the world in the
sense that they heighten the degree of awareness that we have of our surroundings, our
O\\'TI lives, our past, and our present. "There is nothing quite like the informal work of
the talented amateur ... for revealing life, styles, customs, and details of everyday life,"
Hill writes.61 Snapshot photography has so much power on us, King adds, that even if
we looked for several minutes at a magazine photograph, it would not make as strong
an impression on us as a snapshot that we have taken ourselves.62
Of all the qualities heretofore mentioned that make amateur photographs valuable
sources of information, it is their unique and intrinsic ability to provide an insider
perspective, rather than an outsider view, which ultimately makes them extraordinary
documents. Malcolm Collier, for instance, recalls an incident that happened during his
study of the weaving culture of the Otavalo Indians in Ecuador. An Indian weaver was
so disappointed with the way Collier and his colleague Buitron had photographed him
and the weaving operation that he ended up directing the course of the rest of the
photographic coverage. Collier concluded that the cooperation of the Indian weaver
59
Dave Kenyon, Inside Amateur Photography (London, 1992), 7, 10.
60
Challen, Turning Leaves, 5.
61
Mary Davis Hill, "Historic Photographs," History News 32 (August 1977), 222.
62
King, Say Cheese, xii.
28
made the study of the Otavalo textile industry more complete than if he (Collier) and
Buitron ~ad tried to oversee the photo-reportage themselves.63 Echoing Collier's
position and putting vernacular photographs into a historical context, Borchert argues
that the work of amateur photographers offers a perspective of history that is different
from that of professional documentary photographers. While snapshots come directly
from ordinary people and offer an insider perspective, he writes, photographs taken by
professionals do not: "Unlike snapshooters, documentary photographers generally work
from outside the world view and experience of their subjects; this ... limits the kind of
behavior they are able to record." 64 Using FSA photographers as an example, Borchert
claims that because they had little time to complete their assignments and forge
relationships necessary to penetrate a household or community, their work has

sometimes been referred to as "front porch" documentary.65 As to photo-journalists,
Dominy shows that the time constraints within which they operate do not even let them
approach the "front porch" of the people or communities they photograph.66 They and
other professional photographers or visual artists have also been found guilty of
falsifying, fictionalizing, dramatizing, or romanticizing the subject they portrayed, be it
by reason of necessity (to follow shooting scripts or other directions given to them), love
63
Collier and Collier, Visual Anthropology, 71-73.
64
Borchert, "Photographs," 4.
65
Diana Papademas, quoted in Borchert, "Photographs," 14.
66
Not only does time limit the type of behavior that photo-journalists are able to record,
it can also influence the kind of activities performed by the subjects (See Michele D. Dominy,
"Photojournalism, Anthropology, and Etlmographic Authority," Cultural Anthropology 8 no. 3
[1993], 321-24.) In this particular case, New Zealand high-country farmers were asked to make
changes in their clothing and alter their way of doing things to conform to the photo-
journalists' desiderata. The fact that some farmers observed that they were "bloody sick and
tired" of being into their "high-country role" suggests, Dominy argues, that the photographing
was "consciously constructed and not quotidian" (Ibid., 324). In Another Way of Telling (with
John Berger [London, 1982], 17-37), Jean Mohr also tells the story of Marcel, a French farmer who
shaved, combed his hair, and put fresh clothes before being photographed by Mohr.
29
of artistry (to produce a beautiful image), sheer ignorance (because they do not know
enough about their subject, or because they do not know any better), formal artistic
education (to follow pictorial traditions in existence), or vanity (to produce a
photograph that will make them famous). Goldberg, Trachtenberg, and Mitchell are but
a few of the many scholars who have reported or made such accusations against FSA
photographs or the imagery produced by Matthew Brady, Robert Capa, or Joe

Rosenthal. 67
Closely related to the value of the insider perspective is the notion that ordinary
people who take unambitious photographs of themselves and their surroundings do not
anticipate that the images they create will become data for scholarly inquiry.68 In that
respect their collections of photographic records might be.more authentic than those of
individuals who know that their photographs will (or could) be scrutinized by external
agencies. Given the fact that manipulation of photographs occurs most frequently when
the photographer is highly skilled, amateur snapshots may prove more useful than
photographs taken by professionals.69 Finally, since amateur photographers are not
67
Goldberg, Power, 142-47; Alan Trachtenberg, Reading American Photographs (New
York, 1989), 83-84; William Mitchell, The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-
Photographic Era (Cambridge, 1993), 43-46. Brady has been accused of moving corpses around in
his Civil War photographs; Capa and Rosenthal have been blamed for faking at least one
photograph (either that of a Spanish soldier hit by a bullet du ring the Spanish Civil War
[Capa]), or that of the four marines planting the American flag at Iwo Jima {Rosenthal]). It
should be noted that misrepresentations by professional visual artists unfamiliar with their
subjects are to be found in pictorial genres other than photography. Painting is a good example:
when contrasting the "realist" and "anti-realist" tradition in peasant painting in nineteenth
century Europe, Brettell and Brettell forcefully note, "It is necessary to stress the fact that, of
the great anti-realist painters of the peasantry, none was reared as a peasant or in close touch
with rural civilization. By contrast, every great realist painter of the peasantry, at least in
France, was familiar with them from childhood and felt at home living and painting in a rural
milieu. . . . As a result of this sociological distance from their subject, the anti-realist painters
were unable or unwilling to portray peasant life fully" (Richard R. Brettell and Caroline B.
Brettell, Painters and Peasants in the Nineteenth Century [Geneva, 1983], 52-53).
68
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 217-18.
69
Levine, Images, x.
30
always aware of existing pictorial or photographic conventions, or since they may obey
conventions of their own, they may also document things and events that are closely
related to their lived experiences but have traditionally been left unrepresented by
professional artists, and they may therefore broaden the range of ideas, subjects or
motifs usually found in pictorial or photographic imagery.

As many scholars further suggest, the value of the insider perspective does not end
with the act of photographing. Quite the contrary. Albers and James, for instance write,
When photographs are taken for private use, their meaning is embedded in a rich
and varied tapestry of experience that is drawn from the actual lives of the subjects
depicted. Not only are the photographs usually faithful to the lives of the subjects
at the time the picture was taken, but the pictures are seen and understood largely ~ the
people who know the subjects and the history of their personal lives [emphasis mine).
Commenting upon visual studies of people acting in natural settings, Wagner notes,
[T)here are too few [of them]. We simply have not seen enough of what people do
and the physical contexts in which it is done. In the second place, we know too little
about how people themselves see the settings and their activities. Even when we have
images of people in the setting, we have little sense of what they make of it all or of the
images themselves [emphasis mine].71
Pushing the argument even further, Collier and Collier argue that "Ultimately, the
only way we can use the full record of the camera is through the projective interpretation by the
native [emphasis in original text]." 72 Thus, in recent years Binney and Chaplin, Blinn
and Harrist, Chalfen, Geffroy, and Kaplan have interviewed the current picture 'owners'
as a means to obtain additional information about the images.73 According to
70
Albers and James, "Private," 347.
71
Jon Wagner, ed., Images of Information: Still Photography in the Social Sciences
(Beverly Hills, 1979), 286.
72
Collier and Collier, Visual Anthropology, 108.
73
Binney and Chaplin, "Taking"; Lynn Blinn and Amanda W. Harrist, "Combining Native
Instant Photography and Photo-Elicitation," Visual Anthropology 4 (1991): 175-192; Challen,
Turning Leaves; Geffroy, "Family Photographs"; Flora S. Kaplan, "Some Uses of Photographs
31
Chalfen,74 such photo-interviews serve at least three functions: they elicit pieces of
information which would only be known and remembered by family members or the
photographs' current custodians; they trigger comments and bring up topics of
discussion which, while not directly related to the imagery, are, nonetheless, relevant to
more general concerns of the research; and they serve as a cross-check on the information
obtained from other sources.
Another value inherent in amateur photographs that is of particular interest to us in

the context of this research, is their ability to disclose how family traditions and
corrununity patrimony are passed from generation to generation.75 Borchert, for
instance, claims that the study of family snapshots and portraits over time can provide
important clues of changing attitudes toward age or gender based on the
inclusion/exclusion and placement of family members.76 By showing the presence,
placement, and use of material culture, photographs can also illuminate changing
attitudes and life styles, and they can demonstrate not only how individuals use their
environment, but also how they reconstruct it.n Like Ohm and Musello, Chalfen argues
that nonprofessional photographs are symbolic representations that make important
statements about patterns of cultural behavior.78 For Chalfen, family photographs can
in Recovering Cultural History at the Royal Court of Benin, Algeria," Visual Anthropology 3
(1990): 317-341.
74
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 225.
75
Anna Helene Tobiassen, "Private Photographic Collections as an Ethnological Source,"
Ethnologia Europaea 20 no. 1 (1990): 86.
76
Borchert, "Photographs," 11-13.
n Ibid.
78
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, l, 2, 12-18.
32
reveal "new and important relationships about personal reports, identity, and
ethnicity."79 Drawing from the writings of anthropologist George De Vos, he writes:
the ethnic identity of a group of people consists of their subjective symbolic or

emblematic use of any aspect of culture, in order to differentiate themselves from
other groups. These emblems can be imposed from outside or embraced from within.
Ethnic features such as language or clothing or food can be considered emblems, for
they show others who one is and to what group one belongs.80
Put into the context of photography, this means that the imagery produced by
members of a specific ethnic group can reveal the ethnic identity of the image creators or
of the group which is portrayed. As time goes by, the photographs that are taken can
become informative statements about how the ethnic group adheres to, transforms,
and/or reformulates its cultural values.81 Once again, Chalfen draws on De Vos to
illuminate his point:
Ethnicity ... is in its narrowest sense a feeling of continuity with the past, a feeling
that is maintained as an essential part of one's self definition. Ethnicity is also
intimately related to the individual need for collective continuity.... Ethnicity,
therefore, includes a sense of personal survival in the historical continuity of the
group.s2
To some extent, then, elder generations stay alive as long as some of their own
cultural symbols are passed on into the present and the future from the past. When the
image takers have passed away, as is the case with nineteenth century or most early
twentieth century photographers, the imagery and the photo-interviews become, in turn,
bridges, communication vehicles between generations, "reunion[s] between the living and
79
Ibid., 5.
so George De Vos and Lola Romanucci-Ross, eds. Ethnic Identity. Cultural Continuity and
Change (Palo Alto, 1975), 16; quoted in Challen, Tuming Leaves, 16.
81
82
De Vos, Ethnic Identity, 17; quoted in Challen, Turning Leaves, 17.
33
the dead, ... means by which a people's history [can be] recovered and their particular
understanding of it brought into the world of light."83 As points of junction between
memory and history, or what Pierre Nora has termed lieux de mimoire,84 Hardt observes
that
Family photographs ... deliver the text of memories; they refer to the shared
experiences of the past, which rely on the proximity between community and
communication .... [They] provide the opportunity for the reader-as-relative to
penetrate the surface of the image and its aesthetic qualities and to enter into the
concrete details of previous existences. They always invite looking but expect the
reader to see through the surface phenomenon of the image to recognize and
acknowledge kinship .... Photographs as text invite interpretation, but since they
also facilitate instantaneous storage and recall of experience, they represent the
inability to forget. Memory depends on it, and photographs assist in the process of
remembering as open, yet undeciphered texts.85
Another peculiarity of vernacular photographs, ther efore, lies in what economic

historian Harold Adams Innis would have labeled the "time-bias" they exhibit, that is,
their ability to stay with the same subject(s) over a long period of time. Contrary to
documentary photographers and particularly photo-journalists whose job requires
frequent changes of subjects, family photographers often create visual chronicles that
can extend over several decades.86 If several generations of photographers record family
83
Binney and Chaplin, "Taking," 431, 432.
84
Quoted in Marianne Hirsch, Family Frames: Photography, Narrative, and Postmemory
(Cambridge, 1997), 22.
85
Hanno Hardt, "Pierced Memories. On the Rhetoric of a Bayoneted Photograph," (Iowa
City, 1998), 9.
86
Because American media are obsessed with present-mindedness, Innis argues, they are
constantly looking for change and they are unable to focus on any subject for any lengthy period
of ti.me (See Daniel J. Czitrom, "Metahistory, Mythology, and the Media: The American
Thought of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan," chap. in Media and the American Mind From
Morse to McLuhan [Chapel Hill, 1982], 158-161). Though Innis did not apply his analysis of
American media and culture specifically to photography, the fact is that, with ra,re
exceptions, the work of photo-journalists and documentary photographers is characterized by a
spatial, rather than temporal, bias. It is only rarely that professional photographers return to
their original subjects to re-photograph them over time, and while "before-and-after"
pictorial books are plenty, they remain mostly concerned with the changes that have occurred
34
events and happenings, the visual narrative may exceed a lifetime. When individual
photographs are combined, like in a photo album, they become a visual autobiography
or a narrative rather than just a list of randomly taken pictures.87 Since the histories we
tell about ourselves help shape our personal identity, and since self-narratives provide
individuals with a sense of meaning and direction,88 visual narratives in the forms of
photographic collections or photo-albums may be essential in helping us understand

some of the meanings individuals give to their existence.
Concluding her study of photograph albwns of tum-of-the-century mid western
women, Motz remarks that women who had less education tended to follow
predetermined conventions of photo-albums and constructed "serious" albums that
focused on family and travel. On the other hand, better educated women, or women
from upper-middle-class backgrounds were more creative and even "parod[ied] the
artistic conventions of family photographs and, by implication, the social conventions of
courtship, marriage, and motherhood."89 For Motz, photo-albwns are expressive forms
of conununication accessible even to women who lacked artistic talent or the ability to
record their impressions in writing. She concludes,
in urban landscapes. For an exception, see Bill Ganzel (Dust Bowl Descent [Lincoln, 1984]),
where the author re-photographed some of the people who had been photographed by FSA
photographers in the 1930s and 1940s. But here again, the photographer was more interested in
documenting change than continuity.
87
Jaap Boerdam and Wama Oosterbaan Martinius, "Family Photographs. A Sociological
Approach," The Netherlands' ]oumal of Sociology 16 (1980): 95; Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 12,
13; Marilyn F. Motz, "Visual Autobiography: Photograph Albums of Tum-of-the-Century
Midwestern Women,"_American Quarterly 41 (March 1989): 63-65, 89-90.
88
Lewis P. Hinchman and Sandra K. Hinchman, eds., Memory, Identity, Community. The
Idea of Narrative in the Human Sciences (New York, 1997), passim; Kenneth J. Gerden and
Mary M. Gerden, "Narratives of the Self," in Memory, Identity, Community. The Idea of
Narrative in the Human Sciences, 161-186.
89
Motz, "Visual Autobiography," 89.
35
The albums ... reflect the tendency of their creators to view themselves and others
in the context of their enviromnents and then to manipulate images of those
environments within a new artistic context. Through their photograph albums,
women were able to construct identities for themselves----exam.ine their pasts, place
themselves in the setting of their families, friends, and environments, and even
comment on the choices they made. They thus created visual autobiographies that
sketched the significant elements in their lives and outlined the parameters of their
experiences.90
Boerdam and Oosterbaan Martinius similarly comment,
Together these photographs form a pictorial record of the life and history of people,
families and relations. Sometimes family albums are true chronicles of family life;
they are the modem forms of the written diary and the written family chronicle. For
many ~eople photographs are the only biographical material they leave behind after
death. 1
Noting the close relationship between photographs and memories-as in "an album
of memories," or "don't let your valuable memories become dog-eared"-Boerdam and
Oosterbaan Martini us further note that when photographs are shared, it really is
memories which are "exchanged, compared and as far as possible adjusted within the
family." And they continue,
Memories of individual pasts are integrated in this process into ... a collective
memory .... In other words members of the family create a social definition of
situations from the past. Family photography plays an extremely important part in
this process. Photographs make past situations visible once more for those who
took part in them and do this in the same way for everyone concemed .92
In her study of six generations of Pomeranian immigrant farmers in Wisconsin,
Mclellan also cautions that,
the collection of photographic essays is not an exercise in nostalgia or a eulogy for a

rural, ethnic family past. Rather it is a study of how generations have, over time,
90
Ibid., 89-90.
91
Boerdam and Oosterbaan Martinius, "Family Photographs," 95.
92
Ibid, 115-16.
36
merged what has been transmitted from the past with both their own experience and
the popular developments of their day into a personal and collective identity.93
Thus as we examine an increasing number of photographic collections or photo-
albums from several families, we can not only see patterns and similarities in the ways
in which they use photography,94 but also W1cover what the family's collective memory
will hold. Likewise, when collections of photographs from several individuals in a

specific ethnic community are brought together and analyzed, the collective body of
photographs becomes a variable through whlch communal modes of self-identifying,

thinking, valuing, and behaving can be ascertained.
Rules and conventions of amateur photography;

historical photographs and the problem of interpretation
Positing that amateur photography is an area well worthy of study does not mean,
however, that it constitutes a perfect, objective, and transparent window to the past.
Like other forms of historical evidence, photographs- vernacular or not-can be made
or used to distort, bias, abridge and even misrepresent reality.95 As Barbara Rosenblum
points out, there are several genres in photography, and each genre comes with its own
conventions, prerogatives, motives, abilities, limitations, and taboos. She writes,
[C]ertain distinctive social processes dominate in each setting where pictures are
made and they affect what photographers can and cannot do, what kinds of images
93
Marjorie L. Mclellan, Six Generations Here: A Farm Family Remembers (Madison, 1997),
7.
94
Christopher Musello, "Family Photography," 101-18.
95
Schlereth, "Mirrors," 43-47; Goldberg, Power, 94-101, 163-164. In the same way as
"Cameras Don't Take Pictures" (Byers, "Cameras," 30, 31), photographs do not tell lies. As
Lewis Hine rightly pointed out, "while photographs may not lie, liars may photograph" (see
Lewis Hine, "Social Photography: How the Camera May Help in the Social Uplift," in
Alexander Johnson, ed., Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections
[Fort Wayne, Ind., 1909), 357.
37
they can and cannot make, what kinds of visual data they can include in the
pictures or leave out.%
While Rosenblum's comment originally applied to professional photography
genres-news, advertising, and fine arts-it can characterize the relationship between
amateur and professional photography as well. What this means, then, is that the
difference between the work of a professional photographer and that of an amateur
photographer does not lie in the presence or absence of an agenda, but in the nature of
the agenda that guides either photographer's work.
To Borchert, the fact that amateur photographers are not affected by time
constraints as much as professional photographers are, does not mean that they work
uninhibitedly. Their images, like those of professionals, are the product of a set of
interrelated issues that involve technological, cultural, and personal restrictions, as well
as limits imposed by the subject.97 For instance, when examining photographs taken in
French villages, Bourdieu and Geffroy observed that if events that celebrated the "temps
forts de la vie collective" [important moments or events of collective life] had to be
photographed, those that opposed rural values could not be recorded. Similarly, Julia
Hirsch, Marianne Hirsch, Chalfen, and Boerdam and Oosterbaan Martinius remark that
family albums usually record only the happy times of family life.98 Photographs that
digress from the familial narrative tend to be rejected as bad, unrepresentative, improper
or even insulting.99
96
Barbara Rosenblum, Photographers at Work: A Sociology of Photographic Styles (New
York, 1978), 1-2. See also Borchert, "Photographs," 7-8.
97
Borchert, "Photographs," 20.
98
Julia Hirsch, Family Photographs. Content, Meaning and Effect (New York, 1981}, 12-13,
32; Marianne Hirsch, Family Frames, 7, 100, 107; Challen, "Redundant Imagery," 108; Boerdam
and Oosterbaan Martinius, "Family Photographs," 101-103.
99
Boerdam and Oosterbaan Martinius, ''Family Photographs," 102; Hirsch, Family
Frames, 107.
38
Talking more specifically about the relationship between photographic imagery,
history, and memory, Sontag argues that photographs do not only "give people an
imaginary possession of a past that is unreal," they also "turn the past into an object of
tender regard, scrambling moral distinctions and disarming historical judgments by the
generalized pathos of looking at time past." 100 As to photo-histories such as
photographic albums, they are nothing but unsatisfactory "collage" exercises which alter
our sense of time past. Indeed, while the order of the pages tells the sequence in which
the photographs are to be viewed (and the order may be altered any time and in any
way by the editor/author), nothing suggests how much time should be spent looking at
each photograph. As a result, and because the act of photographing confers the same
importance on each photograph, readers may be spending too much time on one
photograph and too little on another.101
In recent years, several scholars have proposed strategies for using historical
photographs. 102 Many of them suggest that competent use of historical imagery is
contingent upon knowing and understanding the circumstances which surround the
creation of photographs, including the agenda of the photographer. For instance, Talbot
writes:
100
Sontag, On Photography, 9, 71.
lOl Ibid., 5.
102
See, for instance, Stanley Bums, Sleeping Beauty: Memorial Photography in America
(Altadena, 1990); Borchert, "Analysis"; idem, Alley Life; idem, "Photographs"; Carter, "The
Trained Eye"; James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lyle, "The Mirror with a Memory,"
chap. in After the Fact (New York, 1986); Peter B. Hales, Silver Cities: The Photograph of
American Urbanization, 1839-1915 (Philadelphia, 1984); Levine, Images; Motz, "Visual
Autobiography"; Ohm, "Making Belief'; idem, "Re-Viewing Photographs"; Ruby, Secure the
Shadow; Scherer, "Historical Photographs"; Schlereth, "Mirrors"; Joan L. Severa, Dressed for
the Photographer (Kent, 1995); Talbot, "Being Selective: What to Collect and Preserve," (Des
Moines, 1978).
39
When they [photographers] created records, they created them for their own
purposes. Their purpose may have been related to the operation of government;
their purpose may have been to simply let friends and family know how they 'were'
by means of letters, photographs or other messages-to show how they were 'getting
on.' ... We are not so naive as to think that any records of these sorts are, in fact, a
representation of the past as it was. The records that we have from the past are
things that people made in the past to show something they wanted to show. lf we
think that by collecting historical materials we are collecting the past as it was, we
are on the wrong track. What we need to recognize is that in the past there were
many different kinds of people with differing positions and experiences which led
them to have widely different views of the world they lived in and even of the past
they grew out of. Somehow ... we need to recognize all of those positions,
experiences, and differing views of history.103
Photographs must be analyzed like written narratives, beginning with their historical
context, i.e., how the photographs were made, who made them, with what intentions or
interests, and to whom they were addressed. Rundell further suggests that those using
photographs as historical documents should immerse themselves in the secondary

literature to grasp the dimensions of the subject under study.104
However, acquaintance with the context surrounding the creation of photographs is
not the only means to avoid misinterpretation. According to Schlereth, other ways to
enhance an understanding of the historical amateur photograph include using as wide a
data base as possible, avoiding inappropriate standards of evaluation, and resisting the
temptation of overinterpreting what is pictured on the photograph.105 A large data
base can be constituted by juxtaposing photographs from varying collections-as in the
work of Bums, Hales, Kaplan, Ohm, and Ruby, for instance106 -and by supplementing
photographic records with a variety of oral or written sources (see, for instance, Binney
103
Talbot, "Being Selective," 26.
104
Walter, Jr. Rundell, "Photographs as Historical Evidence: Early Texas Oil," The
American Archivist 41 no. 4 (October 1978), 375.
105
schlereth, "Mirrors," 43-47.
106
Bums, Sleeping Beauty; Hales, Silver Cities; Kaplan, "Some Uses"; Ohm, "Making
Belief"; Ruby, Secure the Shadow.
40
and Chaplin, Burns, Kaplan, Motz, Ruby, or Severa). 107 As Scherer argues, although a
single, isolated photograph may be open to a multiplicity of readings, "a body of related
and contextualized photographs ... can be reconstructed to become a significant whole
that contributes to the understanding of cultures in the past." 108 When more than one
source is utilized, the verification process can be conducted photograph to photograph,

photograph to text (written or oral), or text (written or oral) to photograph. Eventually,
th.is provides the researcher the chance to discover patterns and information on cultural
data. Scherer also notes that groups of photographs are of most value to researchers
investigating non-traditional subjects for which (whom) other (written) sources are
lacking or scarce-such as the Belgian farming community in Northeastern Wisconsin.
As suggested before, combining the use of photographs and interviews can furthermore
bring decisive supplementary information for the understanding of what the
photographs convey. 109 Most important, maybe, is the fact that in addition to
generating dialogue about what is represented on the photographs, photo-interviews can
also trigger revelations about what the family photographs fail to show, such as
discords and tensions,110 thereby somewhat invalidating one of the major criticisms
against family or amateur photography.
Appropriate standards of evaluation consist in resisting applying contemporary
criteria when judging documents of the past,111 and in avoiding looking at historical
107
Binney and Chaplin, "Taking"; Bums, Sleeping Beauty; Kaplan, "Some Uses"; Motz,
"Visual Autobiography"; Ruby, Secure the Shadow; Severa, Dressed.
JOB Scherer, "Historical," 134.

109
Collier and Collier, Visual Anthropology; Schlereth, "Mirrors"; Tobiassen, "Private."
no Binney and Chaplin, "Taking"; Collier and Collier, Visual Anthropology; Geffroy,
''Family"; Schlereth, "Mirrors"; Tobiassen, "Private."
111
This is due to the fact that conventions-whichever kind they are--are subject to
change over time. What is a candid shot today might very well have sparked most
scandalized reactions yesterday, and vice versa. Looking at photographs from the beginning of
the century may sometimes lead one to wonder whether babies were not born in cabbages, after
41
snapshots with the eyes of an esthete. As Schlereth points out, while art photography
and photographic esthetics play an important part in American cultural history, they
can only be of little help to-or worse, mislead-historians trying to classify and
decipher esthetically insignificant photographs. 112 Passing over photographs because of
their lack of estheticism can lead to missing important or interesting data, as Talbot
suggested: "really ordinary pictures of apparently common repeated events can tum into
a revealing record of the kind of things that don't find their way into written history." 113
Just as over-reliance on esthetic criteria can lead to ignoring valuable photographs,
overuse of psychology can cause historians to overinterpret photographic data.

Schlereth argues that,
Too often, interpreters of a historical photograph move from the literal content of a
single document to its alleged symbolic meaning, deducing, from such symbolism,
far-reaching conclusions supposedly applicable (despite the limited data base) to a
vast expanse of historical time and universal human experience.114
While Schlereth believes that it is the duty of the interpreter to get in the mind of the
photographer, he cites Trachtenberg to remind us that the researcher needs to have
"some controls upon his own imagination, some limits, and a boundary between sense
and non-sense. ;,ns Dufour further suggests that disregarding the main subject of the
photograph-Le. that which the photographer purposefully set out to document-and
all. Knowing that socio-cultural conventions of the time did not encourage the photographing
of expecting women may, among other things, convince us of the contrary (Bennett, 1994). In the
same vein, photographs of pregnant women are rather commonplace today, but photographic
records of some social and/ or religious grot!pS may still lead us to believe that only married
women carry children.
112
113
Talbot, At Home, passim.
114
115
Alan Trachtenberg, The American Image, xxv.
42
focusing on details which are only accidentally included on the image can reveal
information about the past that would otherwise not have been detected. 116 Finally,
Scherer argues that one needs to ask questions from historical imagery which are capable
of being tested.117
To conclude, while (vernacular) historical imagery shows something, it never shows
everything. Photographs are culturally structured symbolic representations which are

created by members of a given society in a given time period. The glimpses that they
offer are mediated reconstructions of things, relationships, and events which the
photographer happened to find worthy of documentation. Individually or collectively,
photographs present an eyewitness account of history and proof of past lives,
experiences, and relationships. They also hint at attitudes and values. They
complement historical narrative while providing "evidence on which to frame new
hypotheses or with which to test old ones." 118 Although amateur photographs are not
"a magical mirror of past and present 'true' situations," 119 the perspective they provide
is one of exclusivity: unlike other forms of photography, they are able to capture scenes
of life as they unroll on the back porch. However incomplete the visual records
produced by ordinary people are, they do constitute informative statements about the
life and experiences of the photographer, the ordinary subjects of the photograph, and
116
Bernard Dufour, La pierre et le seigle: album compose et legende par Bernard Dufour
precede d'une etude d'Emmanuel Le Roi Ladurie (Paris, 1977), 135-36.
117
Although Scherer provides examples of pertinent questions that can be asked about
photographic images (such as, "What kinds of information do these photographs contain
which are useful for scholars today?", or "Did the subjects also take photographs themselves
and if so, did they have a native vision which is unique?"), she also provides some bizarre
examples: "What did the subject think about early photography?"; "Were they fearful,
antagonistic, or full of wonder, excitement, and pleasure?"(Scherer, "Historical," 137).
118
Levine, Photographs, ix.
119
Chalfen, "Redundant Imagery," 109.
43
their ordinary, everyday affairs. However incomplete, these statements are
communicative. And it is in this respect that they should be explored and studied.
The second part of this dissertation explores how individual photographs, photo
albums, and a community's photographic imagery can be used in cultural studies and
historical research. In order to determine the significance of the findings, however, it is

necessary to locate them vis-ii-vis at least two sets of backgrounds. Chapter two
exam.ines how immigrants and farmers have traditionally been pictorially represented.
Chapter three provides a historical background on the Belgian community in Wisconsin
based on written sources.
44
CHAPTER TWO
PICTURING THEM
Visual depictions of immigrants
The arrival of some 35 million people in the United States in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries has been a subject of study for many decades, and changing
historiographical interests have produced a multifaceted field of research. 1 Thus,
depending on the time period of the study, the theoretical framework, the intellectual
motif in vogue, and the personal background and interest of the researcher, immigration
studies have looked into a wide variety of issues concerning the transatlantic migration.
During the earliest stage of study (between 1875and1925) the theme of migration
was mainly the province of filiopietistic amateur researchers who represented their own
ethnic groups and made every effort to demonstrate that their particular nationaJity-by
reason of its own worth-was entitled to exist on American soil alongside the Anglo-
Saxons. In their eagerness to prove that the ethnic minority to which they belonged was
closely related to the dominant group, they tended to stress conformity with the larger
community in their writings and omit aspects that made the group stand out against the
rnajority.2
After 1925, and following government-subsidized studies about immigration,
several professional scholars started to investigate the phenomenon. To a majority of
them, the history of immigration was primarily the history of assimilation. They
1
Jon Gjerde, From Peasants to Farmers: The Migration from Balestrand, Norway, to the Upper
Middle West (Cambridge, 1989), 295.
2
Ibid.; Edward Noman Saveth, American Historians and European Immigrants, 1875-1925 (New
York, 1965), 202-15.
45
recognized the existence of distinctive cultures and immigrant groups, but they were
equally confident that cultural differences were temporary, and that all cultural
variations would eventually be submersed into a larger American culture.3 Because
scholars were interested in the national results of immigration, the second phase of
scholarship also dealt more with the impact of migration on national economy and the
institutions of immigrant life than with the migrants themselves. 4
With the advent of the 'new social history' in the 1960s, however, this approach was
reversed. As professional social historians studied American history "from the bottom
up," they began not only to explore the lives of the immigrants, but also to investigate
cultural pluralism, as well as the historical and current realities of American ethnic
group life.5 Social historians of the new generation have used a variety of tools, such as
diaries, immigrant letters, oral accounts, census data, and private, personal documents
to fill in the gaps left by more traditional written records. These new sources, which
shed a more intimate light on the immigrant experience, have enabled the study of
ethnic enclaves, or aspects thereof, which had previously been left unexamined.6
Despite a diversity of approaches, however, all immigration studies-with a few
exceptions noted below-use written documents as their primary sources of evidence.
3
James P. Shenton, "Etlmicity and Immigration," in The New American Histon;, ed. Eric Foner
(Philadelphia, 1990), 251.
4
Gjerde, From Peasants, 295-296.
5
Ibid.; Shenton, "Ethnicity," 251-252.
6
Peter N. Stearns, "The New Social History: An Overview," in Ordinan; People and Everyday
Life. Perspectives on tl1e New Social History, ed. James B. Gardner and George Rollie Adams
(Nashville, 1983), 4, 5; see also Howard N. Rabinowitz, "Race, Ethnicity, and Cultural Pluralism
in American History," in Ordinary People and Everyday Life. Perspectives on the New Social History,
ed. James B. Gardner and George Rollie Adams (Nashville, 1983), 24. Examples of such
scholarship include John Mack Faragher, Sugar Creek. Life on the Illinois Prairie (New Haven,
1986); Joan J. Jensen, Loosening the Bonds, Mid-Atlantic Farm Women, 1750-1850 (New Haven, 1986);
idem, Promise to the Land: Essays on Rural Women (Albuquerque, 1991); and Linda Schelbitzki
Pickle, Contented Among Strangers. Rural German-Speaking Women and Their Families in the
Nineteenth-Century Midwest (Urbana, 1996).
46
When photographs are utilized, they usually become an afterthought and are used quite
sparingly and merely as illustrations, sometimes along with reproductions of drawings,
cartoons, engravings, and paintings. Among most frequently depicted subjects are
views of the "old country" at the time of emigration, scenes of departure from the native
town or village, emigrants awaiting departure, vessels and ships, emigrants on board,
emigrant depots such as Castle Garden, immigrants and facilities at Ellis Island, and
immigrants in their new surrmmdings. 7
Among the photographs used to illustrate accounts of immigration are those taken
by Ellis Island personnel (including Augustus F. Sherman, Chief clerk at Ellis Island,
1890-1925), and others taken in the 1880s by Jacob Riis, a police reporter for The New York
Tribune who exposed the conditions of life in New York City tenements and crammed
police lodging houses. Some of Riis's images were eventually published in How the
Other Half Lives (1890), a book that precipitated the rewriting of the New York Tenement
House Law, first passed in 1867 (figs. 1 and 2).8 Without doubt, however, the most
widely and commonly used photographs are Lewis Hine's portraits of immigrants and
immigrant workers. A documentary photographer and a social reformer, Hine took
some 200 photographs of immigrants as they arrived at Ellis Island and passed through
7
See, for instance, David Brownstone, Irene M. Franck, and Douglas L. Brownstone, Island of
Hope, Island of Tears (New York, 1979); Roger Daniels, Coming to America. A History of Immigration
and Ethnicity in American Life (New York, 1990); John Higham, Strangers in the Land (New
Brw1Swick, 1955); Alan M. Kraut, The Huddled Masses: Tlte Immigrant in American Society
(Arlington Heights, 1982); Robert Mirak, Torn Between Two l..nnds. Armenians in America, 1890 to
Word War I (Cambridge, 1983); or Philip Taylor, The Distant Magnet: European Immigration to the
U.S.A. (New York, 1971). Robert C. Ostergren's A Community Transplanted. Tire Trans-Atlantic
Experience ofa Swedish Immigrant Settlement in the Upper Middle West, 1835-1915 (Madison, 1988) is
one of the rare recent immigration works where the author gleans information from historical
photographs.
8
Goldberg, Power, 165-69.
47
the island's facilities (fig. 3). By depicting immigrants as "people, not hordes'' Hine
hoped to show that they were not the dregs of European society.9
Figure 1. In the home of an Italian Figure 2. "Five cents a spot"

rag-picker (J. Riis - RII) (J. Riis - RU)
Figure 3. Italian family on the ferry Figure 4. Shaping rods, Pittsburgh

(L. Hine-TAY) (L. Hine -TAY)
Determined to document their everyday life experiences, he followed them with his
camera into the populous streets, the slums, and the overcrowded tenement buildings
where they worked and lived, be it in Chicago, New York, Boston, or Philadelphia.
Hine's compassionate vision also led him to serve as photographer for the Pittsburgh
9
Peter Seixas, "Lewis Hine: From 'Social' to 'Interpretive' Photographer," American Quarterly
39 no. 3 (Fall 1987): 385.
48
Survey, a ground-breaking sociological study conducted in 1907 and 1908 about life in
an industrial community that wanted to offer a sympathetic portrait of immigrant
workers by focusing not only on laborers and their places of work, but also on their
homes, schools, neighborhoods, places of recreation, and families (fig. 4). 10
While Hine's portraits of immigrants and immigrant workers have been widely
praised and extensively reproduced, social historians now speculate that his
compositions, as well as those of his Progressive colleagues, might have, in fact, created
and perpetuated a stereotypical, indeed, an inaccurate picture of the immigrant for the
American audience. 11 Seixas, for instance, contends that,
[W]hile [Hine's] portrayal of individual workers may have had some efficacy in
establishing the image in readers' minds of the workers' humanity, the captions
express a certain replaceability: none has a name, not even "a leader in the
Homestead Sh·ike." At best they are "types": their individual identity is not
relevant.12
In chapter one I mentioned the fact that photographs are not transparent
representations of reality, and that photographers' motives and agenda do influence the
way they communicate photographically. In this particular case, Hine's priority lay not
in the truthful representation of the immigrant worker's actual nationality, but in the
portrayal of the social conditions in which the worker lived, and in the impact that the
photograph made on the reader. The latter was so important that Hine is reported to
10
Jeffrey, Photography, 156; Kaplan, Photo-Story, xxvii-xxviii; Seixas, "Lewis Hine," 385-86;
Alan Trachtenberg, America and Lewis Hine: Photographs 1904-.1940 (New York, 1977); idem,
Reading American Photographs (New York, 1989), 171, 175-176; Newhall, History, 235.
11
Victor Greene, "Old Ethnic Stereotypes and the New Ethnic Studies," Ethnicitt; 5 no. 3
(September 1978): 335; Seixas, "Lewis Hine," 386-389; Schlereth, "Mirrors," 38.
12
Seixas, "Lewis Hine," 386.
49
have on several occasions written captions indicating different ethnic origins for
different prints of the same person. 13
In his discussion of old ethnic stereotypes and ethnic studies, Greene also points to
the inaccuracy of immigrant photographs that were taken in the early twentieth century.
The photographic record.s may be true representations of much of immigrants' life,
Greene argues, but they fail to give the viewer much of an idea of the dynamic etlmic
social communities to which these immigrants belonged. To him, the visual records left
by Hine and his colleagues are not just "embarrassing" portraits that "disturb later
generations who yearn for middle-class status"; they are also misleading because they
document the poor migrants to the detriment of the elite immigrants, thereby
"obscur[ing] the important upper class superstructure of ethnic America." To be
accurate, Greene insists, ethnic studies of immigrants should also include visual
documents picturing the group's elite, its leaders, upper class figures, and heroes. 14
Another problem raised by Riis's and Hine's photographs of immigrants in
tenements, one could further argue, is that these images help perpetuate what historian
Jones considers the well-established, yet inaccurate idea that,
the bulk of south and east Europeans came to the United States in the hope and
expectation of obtaining land, only to find themselves trapped in their cities by their
poverty and their consequent need to obtain immediate employment. 15
If these Europeans came to the United States, Jones argues, it was because they were
attracted by American industrial development, and "had they not known that work
13
Jonathan L. Doherty, comp., Lewis Wickes Hine's Interpretive Photography: The Six Early
Projects (Chicago, 1978), 2; Seixas, "Lewis Hine," 388-89.
14
Greene, "Old Ethnic," 339-41.
15
Maldwyn Allen Jones, American lmmigration (Chicago, 1992), 184.
50
awaited them in the mines, mills, and factories, they would not even have crossed the
Atlantic." 16
But Riis's and Hine's photographs are not the only ones used as illustrations by
immigration researchers. At times, scholars have also used images created by Farm
Security Adminish·ation photographers or various photographers working for other
public, private, or governmental institutions which portray immigrants in a more
positive light than Riis's or Hine's imagery. Adamic's 1945 A Nation of Nations, for
instance, illustrates well both the genre of works produced during the second wave of
immigration scholarship and the way photographs were and still are put to use. Buried
in the middle of the book is a group of 30 photographs representing individuals from a
variety of ethnic groups. These photographs, whose sole purpose is to illustrate the
assimilation thesis in vogue during the era, bear very brief captions which refer to
immigrants as "[nationality of origin] - American(s)," the latter adjective emphasizing
the fact that while these inclividuals were either born in foreign countries or were of
foreign descent, they have, nonetheless, become true Americans (figs. 5 and 6).
Figure 5. American families (ADA)
16
Jones, American, 184-185.
51
Figure 6. True Americans (ADA)
Immigrants are portrayed in a non-threatening, most favorable light and presented
as hard-working, successful individuals who have assimilated well into American
society. American core values such as work, family, religion, education, and healthy
leisure are emphasized in photographs depicting, for instance, a "Yugoslav-American"
in an Indiana steel factory, "Polish-Americans" on their family farm, an "American
family" from Holland playing dominoes, an "Irish-American" bartender, immigrant
youth at school or at church, or a Greek grandfather "reading" newspaper funnies with
his American-born granddaughter. Immigrants portrayed in the photographs have
every reason to be smiling: they have jobs, their religions mix well, they have access to
Irish pubs and American education, and they can even be successful and own their own
business, such as a "Swedish-American" who manages a dairy farm in Minnesota, or
various individuals who have accessed important social, military, or political positions
despite their foreign ancestry. When one sees a German-born General, a Yugoslav-
American Captain, an Italian-American Gunnery Sergeant, and American Negro
Colonel and General, one ca1mot but come to the conclusion that immigrants are not
such a bad lot, after all.
52
So, what is an "accurate" visual depiction of immigration? What can we make out of
these apparently contradictory portrayals of immigrants? On the one hand, there are the
photographs left behind by Hine, Riis, and their colleagues which emphasize the
precarious circumstances in which immigrants lived. On the other hand, there are
photographs such as those used in A Nation. of Nations which highlight the positive
aspects of immigration and the success of immigrants. One way to make sense of this
apparent contradiction is to consider the time factor and argue that the changes in
photographic representations merely reflect the fact that the immigrants' living
conditions improved over time. But examining the use to which these images were put
(tools for social reform or evidence of successful integration into American culture)
might also help explain why one set of images would supplant the other. Yet another
way to make sense of the contradiction is to take a look at who created the images and for
whom. In both cases the photographs were taken for an agency other than the
immigrant groups, and both kinds of imagery represent primarily an outsider
perspective: the heretofore described images were by and large created by
photographers who were either drawn to immigrants because they had a keen and
humane interest in them, like Hine, or who were required to photograph them because
of their position, like Sherman and other photographers employed at Ellis Island. The
relations between photographers and their subjects were minimal and usually lasted
only the time it took to take the photograph. For instance, Riis "would burst into a room
at night firing a flashlight that looked like a pistol, and the terrified poor would leap out
of windows after being caught by his camera." 17 Similarly the contemporary New York
Sun reported,
Somnolent policemen on the street, denizens of the dives in their dens, tramps and
bummers in their so-called lodgings, and all the people of the wild and wonderful
variety of New York night life have in turn marvelled [sic] at and been frightened by
17
Goldberg, Power, 167.
53
the phenomenon. What they saw was three or four figures in the gloom, a ghostly
tripod, some weird and uncanny movements, the blinding flash, and then they
heard the patter of retreating footsteps and their mlsterious visitors were gone
before they could collect their scattered thoughts. 1
Though Riis was himself a Danish immigrant, scholars argue that his northern
European background "made it more difficult for him to empathize with the immigrant
cultures of southern and eastern Europe," and that he ".tnight best be understood as a
tourist of the slums." 19 Because photographers knew nothing or very little about their
subjects, mistakes were sometimes made, such as when a Danish man in full native
costume was wrongly identified as "Belgian" on a photograph taken by Sherman (fig.

7).20
Figure 7. "Belgian" immigrant

(A. Sherman - JON)
While these outsider perspectives shed some light on varying aspects of
representing immigration, they are not the only sources in existence, as Schlereth argued
18
As quoted in Davidson and Lyle, "The Mirror," 219.
19
Idem, 226.
20
Susan Jonas, ed. Ellis Island: Echoes from a Nation's Past (New York, 1989), 35.
54
in 1980 when he expressed concern for whose visual records immigration historians
should use in their research. 21 In this particular case, 'whose' does not merely allude to
the people depicted on the photographs, but refers to the people who actually created
the visual records. Thus, according to Schlereth, whereas it is important to have access
to photographs that portray "anonymous masses," "middling sorts," as well as "the
ethnic elite," it is of greater importance still that historians go beyond the photographs
taken by famed or professional photographers and recognize the value of local,
vernacular, or amateur photography left by the different ethnic groups in America.
Along the same lines, Harney and Troper argue that,
such photographs [taken by the immigrants themselves] were not an attempt to

create an ethnic record; they were personal, amateur, and completely unself-
conscious. They will ultimately be the richest source for immigrant history, if they
can be saved, organized and brought into the public domain, with the proper
safeguards for family privacy where it is called for. 22
As an example of this approach, Schlereth cites George Talbot and Marjorie
McLellan's analysis of photographs, artifacts, and oral folk traditions of a German farm
family near Watertown, Wisconsin.23 By interpreting a variety of records left by six
generations of Kruegers, Talbot and Mclellan were able to get an insight into the themes
of ethnicity, continuity of traditions, family, and self-identity within one family of
immigrants and their descendants. In 1991, visual anthropologist Richard Chalfen also
published Turning Leaves, an in-depth study of Japanese-American photo-albums
21
Schlereth, "Mirrors," 38-39.
22
Robert F. Harney and Harold Troper, Immigrants. A Portrait of the Urban Experience, 1890-
1930 {Toronto, 1975), ix.
23
McLellan is wrongly identified as Majorie Mellon in Schlereth's article (see Schlereth,
"Mirror," 39).
55
probing the ways in which immigrants describe themselves to themselves and future
generations.24
To be sure, Mclellan and Chalfen are not the only scholars who have acknowledged
the power of immigrant photography and grounded their work in visual records of
immigrants. Pictorial histories of immigration that portray "the big family of
immigrants" or specific ethnic immigrant groups do indeed abound. 25 To some extent,
these pictorial histories of immigration resemble McLellan's or Chalfen's research
projects inasmuch as they use large numbers of photographs. However, whereas
McLellan uses insider images, pictorial histories of immigration rely by and large on
outsider photographs, including images taken by professional photographers such as
Hine, Riis, Sherman, F.S.A. photographic staff, and other documentary photographers
and photojournalists. McLellan also explores immigrant life in a rural environment,
while pictorial histories for the most part stay within urban surroundings-sometimes
they do not even leave Ellis Island-and limit themselves to tracing the portrait of urban
immigrants, and then mainly those who remained on the East Coast.26 Also, McLellan
and Chalfen focus on ordinary people and their everyday affairs; most of the pictorial
histories, on the other hand, devote some space to famous immigrants, such as Albert
Einstein, Irving Berlin, Samuel Goldwyn, Ben Shalm, or Father Edward Flanagan.
Finally, whereas McLellan and Chalfen construct meaning from the Krieger collection of
photographs and other artifacts, authors of picture books do not attempt to construe
24
See introduction and chapter one.
25
See, for instance, Center for Migration Studies, Images: A Pictorial History of Italian-
Americans (New York, 1981); Philippe Dasnoy, Vingt millions d'immigrants (Paris, 1977); Oscar
Handlin, A Pictorial History of Photography (New York, 1972); Ann Novotny, Strangers at the Door.
Ellis Island, Castle Garden, and the Great Migration (Riverside, Conn, 1971); and Abraham Shulman,
The New Country (New York, 1976).
26
See, for instance, Allon Schoener, The Italian Americans (New York, 1971); and Wilton S.
Tifft, Ellis Island (New York, 1971). In addition to showing Ellis Island "the way it used to be,"
picture books also show what the island's immigration facilities look like today. See, for instance,
Jonas, Ellis Island; or Wilton S. Tifft, Ellis Island (Chicago, 1990).
56
meaning from the photographs they utilize. Because of these significant differences in
the approach to using photographs of immigrants, they are the only two major works
that make a significant contribution to showing how photographs can be used as
evidence in historical immigration research.
Visual depictions of farmers and rural life
By the late nineteenth century, three factors were in place in the United States that
could have encouraged the production of rural photographic imagery. First, there was a
large farm population. In 1840, 77.5 percent (3,717,756 individuals) of the whole active
population in the United States was engaged in agricultural pursuits.27 From 1870 to
1900, the number of males working on a farm increased from 5,525,503 to 9,349,922.
Similarly, the number of farms increased from 1,449,073 in 1850 to 5,739,657 in 1900.28
Second, there was a preexisting pictorial tradition as peasants and rural life had been
sources of iconography for painters and other visual artists for many centuries. 29 For
instance, labors of the months served as motifs on sculptured doorways of Romanesque
and Gothic churches, as well as on illuminations on medieval calendar pages and other
manuscripts, including psalters and books of hours (figs. 8 and 9).30
27
Bureau of the Census, Seventh Census of the United States (1850): Employments (Washington,
1853), lxxx.
28
Bureau of the Census, Twelfth Census of the United States (1900): Agriculture, vol. 5, pt. 1
(Washington, 1902), xvii, lxxix.
29
Jerome Blum, ed., Our Forgotten Past: Seven Centuries of Life on the Land (London, 1982);
Madeleine Fidell Beaufort, "Peasants, Painters and Purchasers," in The Peasant in French 19th
Century Art, ed. James Thompson (Dublin, 1980), 45-51.
30
Beaufort, "Peasants," 47.
57
Figure 8. Roosters (MOND)
Figure 9. Mayer van den Bergh Breviary, detail (SME)
While artists drew inspiration from daily events, long standing conventions and an
unchanging world help explain why rural motifs remained unaltered over several
centuries.31 Madeleine Fidell Beaufort explains,
The peasant was in fact so rooted in a world and system of great permanence that
until the second half of the nineteenth century rural life changed so little that French
artists were able to observe values and practices established hundreds of years
earlier.32
31
These conventions associated each month of the year with a specific labor. For example,
February was illustrated with a man warming himself in front of a fire; August, with threshing or
reaping grain; September or October with sowing or treading grapes (Ibid.).
32
Ibid.
58
When printed books replaced manuscripts, wood engravers perpehtated the
tradition and depicted scenes of agrarian life in Bibles, almanacs, and calendars.33 As
farming became more modernized in the second half of the nineteenth century,
European and American painters continued to depict rural scenes from a preindustrial
era for personal, economic, social, or political reasons. 34 The French artist, Jean-Frarn;ois
Millet, for instance, had a predilection for the most old-fashioned peasant tools, and as a
result, he excluded from his paintings all references to modernization.35 His work is
particularly relevant to us because he painted rural life from an insider perspective (he
had worked as a youth on his parents' farm), and he was the first visual artist of his
generation to treat rural labor as the central theme of his art (figs. 10 and 11).36
33
Ibid.
34
Personal reasons could include romanticism while economic reasons were dictated by
market demands (Ibid., 45, 49,71-72, 74-77; Patricia Hills, "Images of Rural America in the Works
of Eastman Johnson, Winslow Homer, and Their Contemporaries. A Survey and Critique," in The
Rural Vision: France and America in the Late Nineteenth Century, ed. Hollister Sturges (Omaha,
1987), 63. Artists who were more socially or politically conscious used their work to draw
attention to social problems, including the poverty of the peasantry.
35
Robert L. Herbert, "City vs. Country: The Rural Image in French Painting from Millet to
Gauguin," Artfornm 8 (February 1970): 49. Adams's research, for instance, shows that the farms
located in the district where Millet lived were generally quite productive, and that they enjoyed
many of the advantages of industrialization by the 1830s. The first chemical fertilizers were
available as early as in the 1830s, the first metal plows were used in the Seine et Mame around
1850, and steam-drawn plows appeared around 1857. Yet, Millet chose not to represent these
new technologies. His peasants spread manure on the fields and use spades and hoes (Steven
Adams, The Barbizon School & the Origins of impressionism [London, 1994), 154, 157, 158).
36
The breadth of activities his imagery comprises includes: domestic scenes (feeding
chickens, sewing, knitting, cooking, etc.); agricultural chores accomplished at home (spinning,
making lye, churning butter, winnowing, carding wool, baking bread, etc.); peasants working in
the fields (sowing, reaping, raking, spreading manure, harvesting, gleaning, planting, digging,
etc.); and other scenes of rural life (pasturing animals, washing clothes, wood cutting, hog killing,
etc.). Some of these activities, such as digging, sowing, or gleaning, became Millet's favorites,
and he tackled them many times in drawings and paintings (Herbert, "City vs. Country," 49;
Alexandra R. Murphy, fean-Frm1fois Millet [Boston, 1984]; Griselda Pollock, Millet (London,
1977]). Millet's influence on artists can be seen in the work of American photographer Emma
Coleman, Belgian photographer Leonard Misonne (Maisie Conrat and Richard Conrat, The
American Farm (San Francisco, 1977], 17, 18, 19, 20; Marian Schwabik and Maurice Misonne,
Leonard Misonne. Ein Fotograf aus Belgien 1870-1943 [Seebruck am Chiemsee, 1976]), and Vincent
van Gogh (Louis van Tilborgh, ed., Van Gogh & Millet [Zwolle, The Netherlands, 1988]).
59
Figure 10. Woman feeding chickens Figure 11. Peasant spreading manure
(J.-F. Millet - HER) (J.-F. Millet - HER)
In addition to broadening up the range of rural motifs, he also treated familiar
subject matters in an unprecedented fashion. 37 Furthermore, by making ordinary
peasants the heroes of his art, he "elevat[ed them] to the rank of history painting."38 To
some extent, then, one could say that Millet did to history painting what new social
historians did to the field of history: he moved the genre away from "theocracy and
monarchy,"39 and he made peasants visible to contemporaries and future generations.
37
The potato, which periodically appears in Millet's work, will serve as an example.
According to van Tilborgh, not only was the potato virtually unknown in art before Millet, but
the subject matter itself had an implicit social message. Usually scorned as fit solely for animal
feed, the potato became more and more important as a staple food of the rural poor in the
nineteenth century, and it almost came to symbolize rural poverty. By repeatedly representing
peasants planting and harvesting potatoes, van Tilborgh argues, Millet drew attention to the
indigence of the peasantry (van Tilborgh, Van Gogh & Millet, 34-35).
Robert L. Herbert, jean-Fran~ois Millet (London, 1976), 12. The dominant genre in the early
38
nineteenth century, history painting glorified the great deeds and actions of heroic men. Peasants
had been the subjects of oil paintings before, but most artists felt it necessary to "coat their images
with the veneer of tradition" (Beaufort, "Peasants," 49, 57).
Herbert, jean-Fran~ois Millet, 12.

39
60
The third factor that could have contributed to the creation of rural imagery was the
camera. Not only was photography available, but there were historians advocating its
use to record rural life. 40 In 1888, for instance, George E. Francis suggested that
photography should be used to document local lands, buildings, and ways of living. He
argued:
Local histories tell us a great deal else that is interesting and valuable, but they do
not show how a town grew up. They give figures and facts; tell us that in such a year
was the first settlement; that twenty years later there were so many farms; and that
after twenty-five years more there were so many children at school. ... Facts of all
sorts, with authorities quoted, from which we can form a fair opinion of the rate of
growth of a given community; of its prosperity in a business way; of the public
spirit .. . ; but nowhere, as I believe, can we trace the process of evolution of a farm
into a hamlet, into a village, into a town. This is indeed impossible to be done by
literature: such changes can only be recorded pictorially. No words can adequately
bring to our minds the chain of little, gradual alterations in the houses, the roads,
fields, woods, water-courses, as would a series of accurate pictures taken at short
and regular intervals: something like the family photograph album, where are
treasured all the likenesses, it may be, of the youngest son, from his infancy to his
manhood. 41
40
George Francis, "Photograph as an Aid to Local History," American Antiquarian Society
Proceedings 2 no. 5 (1888): 274-282. While the potential of the camera as a recording device and
the power of the photograph as an infallible witness had been recognized early on by a variety of
scholars, historians were slow in adopting the medium (Goldberg, Power, 19; Richard Rudisill,
Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society [Albuquerque, 1971]; Dan
Schiller, "Realism, Photography and Journalistic Objectivity in 19th Century America," Studies in
the Antlzropology of Visual Communication 4 no. 2[Winter1977]: 87-89). In fact, attempts to use
photographs as historical sources remained scarce and isolated throughout the first half of the
twentieth century among professional historians and history academicians (Borchert, "Analysis,"
30-31; idem, Alley Life, 270-75; idem, "Photographs," 1-7; Schlereth, "Mirrors," 12, 14, 15). In
addition to advocating the use of the camera to record rural life, Francis also promoted the
creation of a new department of photographic records in the American Antiquarian Society's
library in an attempt to "bring together pictorial records with the same thoroughness that marks
our storing of books and manuscripts" (Francis, "Photograph," 282; see also Borchert, "Mirrors,"
12; and Schlereth,"Analysis," 30; idem, Alley Life, 271). Some 30 years before Francis's appeal,
American poet, essayist, and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes had already proposed to create a
stereograph library (Trachtenberg, The Anterican Image; Schlereth, "Mirrors," 12). As Borchert
argues, while Francis and Holmes deserve praise for their efforts to collect photographs, their
interest lay more in recording and archiving than in analyzing and interpreting the visual data
(Borchert, Allet; Life, 271).
41
Francis, "Photograph," 274.
61
Pointing to the value of the 'back porch' approach in photographic reportages,
Francis furthermore suggested that,
To show the buildings, the camera must be brought much nearer, and the rear view
is even more essential than that of the front of the house; much more individuality is
apt to be shown on the side away from public view. 42
Given the presence of these three factors in the later part of the nineteenth century, it
seems reasonable to suggest that their combination might have produced a large amount
of mral photographic imagery by (professional) photographers. Indeed, several critics,
among them Freund, Linkman, Ruby, and Scharf,43 have noted the close relationship
between painting and early photography in a variety of genres-including portrait,
landscape, nudes, and mortuary-and there is no reason why photographers would
have discontinued the tradition inherited from the graphic arts when it came to rural
motifs. Whether or not such that was the case, however, remains to be seen. Indeed, a
search of the existing literature on rural photography reveals a dramatic paucity of
published research, books, or articles on the subject.44
42
Ibid., 277.
43
Freund, Photographie; Audrey Link.man, The Victorians: Photographic Portraits (London,
1993); Ruby, Secure the Shadow; Aaron Scharf, Art and Photography (New York, 1986).
44
Rural topics have attracted the attention of an increasing number of scholars in the last 20
years-possibly following calls by historians such as Peter H. Argersinger ("The People's Past
Teaching American Rural History," The History Teacher 10 no. 3 [May 1977}: 403-424); Kathleen
Neils Conzen ("Historical Approaches to the Study of Rural Ethnic Communities," in EtJmicihJ on
the Great Plains, ed. Frederick C. Luebke [Lincoln, 1980], 1-17); and Swierenga ("Agriculture," 91-
113). However, the lack of interest for rural and agricultural matters is also manifest in another
visual medium-television. Between 1955 and 1989, the three national networks broadcast fewer
than 20 documentaries or special news reports on agriculture and farms. Fourteen of these
reports were produced during the 1980s, at the time of the 'farm crisis.' Between 1980 and 1989,
however, ABC, NBC, and CBS produced some 100 reports on New York (City) and 45 programs
on Los Angeles. With 19 special reports broadcast in the 1980s, the fashion industry was doing
better than farmers (calculated from data provided by Daniel Einstein, Special Reports. Guide to
Network Television Dowmentary Series and Special Reports, 1955-1979 [Metuchen, N.J., 1987}; idem,
Special Reports. Guide to Network Television Documentary Series and Special Reports, 1980-1989
(Lanham, Md., 19971).
62
As Taft (1938) notes about photographing the frontier, it is possible that many
records made by the camera in the later part of the nineteenth century were either
destroyed or so widely scattered that they can only be tracked down with great
difficulty. 45 It is also plausible that the names of several itinerant photographers never
found their way into accessible sources of information, or that their records remain
uncatalogued and dusty in private attics or local and state historical societies. Books
cataloging the imagery of individual photographers do exist, but they remain isolated
publications. For instance, photographic evidence of settling of the Midwest may be

found in at least one scholarly publication on Solomon Butcher,46 but it is more difficult
to trace a published repertoire for the work of Andrew Dahl, a well-known Norwegian
immigrant and itinerant photographer who documented Wisconsin's settlements. His
photographs appear frequently, yet eclectically, in a number of books on (Norwegian)
immigrants in Wisconsin or the Midwest.
If private collections are difficult to find, rural images produced by official sources
or for goverrunent-sponsored projects are easier to locate. Capitalizing on the power of
photography and preying on readers' gullibility and inexperience with the medium, the
University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture created in 1895 the promotional book,
Northern Wisconsin: a Handbook for the Homeseeker for the State of Wisconsin.47 The
publication, "perhaps one of the most convincing con jobs perpetuated in Wisconsin
history," combined text and photographs to attract immigrants and farmers from other
45
Robert Taft, Photography and the American Scene: A Social History, 1839-1920 (New York,
1964), 248-50, 259.
46
See John E. Carter, Solomon Butcher: Photographing the American Dream (Lincoln, 1985).
Isolated publications include Fegley H. Winslow, Farming, Always Farming (Birdsboro, Pa., 1987);
Grand Heilman, ed., Farm Town. A Memoir of the 1930's (Lexington, 1987); and Sara Rath, Pioneer
Photographer: Wisconsin's H. H. Bennett (Madison, 1979).
47
William Amon Henry, Northern Wisconsin: A Hand-Book for the .Homeseeker (Madison, 1896).
63
states to the pine cutover in northern Wisconsin. 48 With its gargantuan produce and
lilliputian farmers, the book sought to convince farmers that northern Wisconsin was
another "Garden of Eden" (figs. 12, 13, 14).49
Figure 12. "Garden of Eden" (HENR) Figure 13. Cabbage, sweet corn, and
unimpeachable witness Prof. Goff (HENR)
Figure 14. Fine garden (HENR)
It takes some time to unearth "unimpeachable witness, Prof. Goff" (fig. 13), but only an
instant to realize that figure 14 is a montage-the woman on the photograph is, in fact,
copied from another photograph in the book.
48
Carl E. Krog, "The Retreat of Farming and the Return of Forests in Wisconsin's Cutover.
Change and Continuity in Marinette County," Voyageur, 12 no. 2(Winter/Spring1996): 2.
49
Ibid., 3.
64
There is no doubt that the compilers of Northern Wisconsin believed strongly in the
authority of the photographic image. They were not the only ones. In the 1930s and
early 1940s photographers from varying backgrounds rallied under Roy Stryker-head
of the Historical Division of the Farm Security Administration-to document Depression
America. According to Borchert, the Great Depression moved historians to take a new
interest in the 'common man' and apply innovative methods, including photography, in
their research.50 In 1939, for instance, the national convention of the American
Historical Association devoted one of its sessions to the theme of "Sources and Materials
for the Study of Cultural History: Documentary Photographs."s1 Conceding that a
photograph could not ordinarily stand by itself and that it could be perverted to serve
almost any end, Stryker and Johnstone also argued that photography could be used to
document the lives and experiences of those human beings who are usually absent from
literary sources or formal imagery such as paintings. 52 According to them,
documentary photography offered "a new means with which the historian can capture
important but fugitive items in the social scene."53 While FSA photographs constitute
"the most comprehensive visual record of rural America in the 1930s,"54 scholars now
argue that they were the products of government propaganda campaign designed to
create public support for the Roosevelt administration's agricultural policies.ss As a
so Borchert, Alley Life, 272; idem, "Analysis," 30.
Sl Schlereth, "Mirrors," 14.
52
Roy E. Stryker and Paul H. Johnstone, "Documentary Photographs," in The Culhtral
Approach to History, ed. Caroline Ware (New York, 1940), 327; Borchert,"Analysis," 31.
53
lbid.
54
Goldberg, Power, 96.
s 5 James Curtis, Mind's Eye, Mind's Truth: FSA Photography Reconsidered (Philadelphia, 1989);
Maren Stange, Symbols of Ideal Life: Social Documentary Photography in America (Princeton, 1989),
89-90; 107-108; 130-131; Beloff, Camera Culture, 117; Joel Eisinger, "Documentary Photography,"
chap. in Trace and Transformation: American Criticism of P!Iotography in the Modernist Period
(Albuquerque, 1995), 82-83, 87. Eisinger, for instance, writes that, "It [the Roosevelt
65
result, the message by FSA photographers was shaped by preexisting scripts written by
Roy Stryker, rather than expressions by concerned, independent artists.56 In their
efforts to follow the predetermined point of view and amplify rural suffering,
photographers did not hesitate to place their subjects in the most dilapidated settings.
They also occasionally directly manipulated the records they created to construct more
powerful images of hardship or conform to the dominant cultural values of the urban
middle class.57 With the empty place at the end of the table, Russell Lee's Christmas
Dinner in Iowa (fig. 15) gives the feeling that the four children are left to provide for
themselves on what should be one of the happiest times of the year.58
Figure 15. Christmas dinner in

tenant farmer's home (R. Lee - CUR)
Administration] used photographs to convince the country how badly land had been managed,
how badly funds were needed for sanitary camps for migrant workers, and how well its
employment projects were working" (p. 87).
56
Eisinger, "Documentary," 83.
57
In a well known case, FSA photographer Rothstein played around with a steer skull,
dragging it on an alkali flat and rearranging it so that it would make the best picture. The
photograph was used mistakenly by an Associated Press editor who had never been out west,
and its publication became the object of a much publicized national controversy involving not
only the steer and the photographer, but also Stryker, the FSA, various newspapers and
magazines, and Roosevelt himself (see Goldberg, Power, 96-98). See also Curtis, Mind's Eye, viii-
ix; and Eisinger, "Documentary," 87-88.
58
Curtis, Mind's Eye, 51.
66
Yet, Lee took another photograph inside the cabin showing the father sitting at the table
with his children. The image, however, has rarely been published.59 Since a family of
seven children exceeded contemporary social norms, Curtis argues that Dorothea Lange
also reduced the size of Migrant Mother's family to suit prevailing cultural biases.
Like Northern Wisconsin and the FSA project, You Have Seen Their Faces (1937) also
seized upon the power of the image to tell readers about rural poverty in the southern
states. According to Hurley the book was "exploitative," 60 and its
authors-photographer Margaret Bourke-White and her husband, Erskine
Caldwell- played upon physical deformities of the subjects to strengthen their message
that tenant farmers were in desperate need of help (figs. 16 and 17).
Figure 16. Pee Dee, Figure 17. Yazoo City,

South Carolina (CAL) Mississippi (CAL)
You Have Seen Their Faces was such a commercial success, however, that other publishers
started producing books on rural suffering. After Land of the Free (1938), which
59
Ibid.
60
Forrest Jack Hurley, Portrait of a Decade. Roy Stn;ker and the Development of Docurnentan;
Photography in the ThirHes (Baton Rouge, 1974), 137.
67
combined poetry and photographs, publications using FSA imagery proliferated.61 The
1980s and early 1990s have also witnessed an explosion of publications using FSA
photographs from various states.62
Quite different in style from You Have Seen Their Faces, but equally successful, is
Michael Lesy's Wisconsin's Death Trip (1973) which originated as a doctoral dissertation
in the department of history at Rutgers University. In his book, Lesy employed
photographs and newspaper clippings from the end of the nineteenth century to present
a much distorted image of Black River Falls, a community in rural Wisconsin. By
carefully selecting and manipulating text and photographs, Lesy presented Black River
Falls as a place where the American dream had collapsed-a place doomed to sickness,
perversion, abnormality, evilness, degeneration, and mental illness. Although the book
was highly successful in grabbing readers' attention both in the academic and the non-
academic milieux, and although the book sold quite well in the whole country,63 it did
very little to promote the status and value of photographs as historical sources. As a
61
Hurley, Portrait, 137; Penelope Dixon, Photographers of tlte Farm Security Administration, An
Annotated Bibliography, 1930-1980 (New York, 1983).
62
See, for instance, [Akron Art Institute] Ohio: a Photographic Portrait 1935-1941: Farm
Security Administration Photograplzs (Akron, OH, 1980); Michael L. Carlebach and Eugene F.
Provenzo, jr., ed., Farm Security Administration of Florida (Gainesville, 1993); Robert L. Reid, ed.,
Picturing Minnesota, 1936-1943. Photographs from the Farm Security Administration (St. Paul, 1989);
Herbert K. Russell, ed., A Southern Illinois Album. Farm SecurihJ Administration Photographs, 1936-
1943 (Carbondale, 1990); Robert L. Reid, Back Home Again. Indiana in the Farm Securihj
Administration Plwtographs, 1935-1943 (Bloomington, 1987).
63
With the exception of Black River Falls in Jackson county, Wis. (the town which was the
object of Lesy's phantasm), since according to at least one reviewer "no one in town was selling
the book" (See Gerald Weaies, Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In the New York
Times Book Review, 14 October 1973: 55). There is little doubt, however, that the eccentric-not to
say aberrant-use of photographs by Lesy may have done a disservice to the field of history not
only by discouraging scholars who might otherwise have been tempted to use images to study
the past, but also by providing ammunitions to historians who do not believe in the capability of
the photographic record to serve as historical evidence.
68
result, Lesy received a couple of favorable reviews,64 but he was by and large severely
criticized by his fellow academicians for having too little control over his imagination
and overstepping the boundary between sense and non-sense. 65 1n 1976, Wood
published Wisconsin Life Trip, a written narrative about Whitewall, a community 25
miles northwest of Black River Falls, to debunk the view portrayed by Lesy and
demonstrate that in spite of adversity and seclusion, life in small town America had
many good moments.
Lesy's Wisconsin Death Trip is not the only book that utilizes photographs taken
around the turn of the century to offer a glimpse at the past. As it often happens in
works on immigration, however, historical photographs published in rural studies
solely serve an illustrative purpose. Though legion, pictorial histories of cotmties, states,
or the United States remain often underdeveloped: the photographs are typically
decontextualized and very little (if any) explanation is offered as to their meanings,
significance, and origin.66 As a result, while these books may fulfill the needs of a
certain market and create or encourage feelings of romanticism and nostalgia, they
contribute little to the body of knowledge about picture makers of the past and the
significance of their imagery. As to pictorial histories that provide a more recent look on
agriculture, or its demise, they also tend to play on emotions.67
64
See, for instance, Doris Grumbach, Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In The
New Republic, 27 October 1973: 33; or Duane Ball, Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael
Lesy, In Journal of Economic History 34 Gune 1974): 409-10.
65
Schlereth, "Mirrors," 46. Negative reviews include Judith Maria Gutman, Review of
Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In Reviews in American History (December 1973): 488-92i
Phoebe Lou Adams, Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In Atlantic Monthly 231
Gtme 1973): 123; Susan Sontag, Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In the New York
Review of Books, 18 April 1974, 22-23; Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In Antioch
Review 32 no. 4 (November 1973): 709; Review of Wisconsin Death Trip, by Michael Lesy, In
Virginia Quarterly Review 49 (Autumn 73): R172.
66
See, for instance, Ron Ryder, Tire Way It Was Saved by the Camera (Boonville, N.Y., 1975).
67
Examples include: William D. Adams, Abandoned. A Nostalgic Look at Rural America (Waco,
TX, 1986); Richard K. Seim, The American Farmer. A Glimpse Into the World and Heart of the
69
To this date, the most comprehensive pictorial look at mral life in the United States
remains The American Farm (1977), a photo-essay in which Maisie and Richard Conrat
use written essays and about 200 photographs by well-known and anonymous
photographers to show the changes in American agriculture from the hard but simple
way of life of the pioneers to the highly mechanized industry of the 1970s. In the last
decade, Dona Schwartz, Stan Sherer, Michael Gery, and Drake Hokanson have also
relied on photography and other sources to offer a more intimate look at farmers and
their communities. 68
The common thread running through the publications previously described is the
fact that they mostly re1y on images taken by individuals who-no matter how keen
their interest was-did not have much in common in terms of work or life experiences
with the people they photographed. As is the case with photographs of immigrants, the
visual records provide an outsider-or front-porch-rather than an insider perspective.
In many cases, people are conventionally photographed standing or sitting in front of
their home, as in Dahl's photograph of Norwegian farmers in Wisconsin (fig. 18), and
Butcher's depictions of American and Belgian settlers in Nebraska (figs. 19 and 20).
American Food Grower and His Family; Shaped by All Seasons, Sustained by a Belief in Spring (Chicago,
1974), or Archie Lieberman, Farm Boy (New York, 1974). While The American Farmer explores the
world and work of farmers season after season during a whole year, Fann B01; documents the
experiences of a single family of farmers over 15 years. Both books, however, focus on the
positive sides of farming and rural life.
68
In Waucoma Twilight: Generations of the Farm (Washington, 1992) Dona Schwartz documents
the decline of an Iowa farming corrummity through the use of her own photographs, historical
imagery, and interviews with members of the community. ln Founding Farms: Portrait of Five
Massachusetts Family Farms (Amherst, 1993) Stan Sherer and Michael Gery examine how five
Massachusetts family farms resist economic hardship and continue to function as homes and
productive economic units. ln Reflecting a Prairie Town., A Year in Peterson (Iowa City, 1994) Drake
Hokanson also combines words and photographs to present a "vernacular landscape study" of a
small Iowa town where he spent parts of his childhood.
70
Figure 18. Game of croquet on a 1870s

Norwegian farmstead (A. Dahl - GJE)
Figure 19. Jack Bush, Sr., and family at Figure 20. Isadore Haurnont house on
their house near Sumner, Dawson County, French Table, Custer County, Nebraska
Nebraska (S. Butcher - CAR) (S. Butcher - CAR)
As is the case with immigrant imagery as well, the photographs were taken and/ or
used to support preestablished theses and scripts, be it the psychosis of tum-of-the-
century small town America (Lesy) or rnral poverty in the 1930s and early 1940s (FSA
photographs).
As mentioned in chapter one, however, other photographic sources go beyond
showing the state of despair of their subjects, or depicting people in their best clothes in
front of their house. They are private photographs taken by ordinary farmers and
71
family members living on the farm. In 1888, Eastman invented the Kodak camera which
opened unprecedented opportunities for photographic self-depictions by people,
including farmers in immigrant communities. No specific statistics regarding the sales
of amateur cameras in Wisconsin in the late 1890s are available, but, according to
Jenkins, the national amateur market exploded during the decade. 69 By 1900 amateur
photographers had purchased 100,000 Kodak cameras70 and when Eastman Kodak
released the "Brownie" one-dollar box camera in 1900, which was especially designed
for amateurs, the company sold 35,047 of them within a year. 71
These amateur documents have been left virtually unexplored by rural and
immigration scholars although they may have been produced in numbers far exceeding
those of traditional written records. In some cases, these are the only records left by
rural people (many of them immigrants) who had previously been unable, uninterested,
or unwilling to define and identify themselves through written records. Judging from
the number of photographs collected in the Belgian community, some area residents
were not only interested but also involved in photography. Their visual records raise
several questions: What did these people photograph? What do their photographs say
about them? What do they reveal about the ways in which they perceived themselves
and the rural immigrant communities in which they lived? Can their imagery serve
more than an illustrative purpose? What can scholars of communication, immigration,
and rural history learn from the analysis of their imagery?
Chapters four and five seek to provide answers to these questions by examining
some of the images created by photographers in rural Wisconsin. Before studying the
69
Reese V. Jenkins, Images and Enterprise: Teclmologtj and the American Photographic Industry
1830 to 1925 (Baltimore, 1975), 177.
70
William Welling, Photography in America. The Formative Years 1839-1900 (New York, 1978),
395.
71
Jenkins, Images, 210.
72
photographs, however, it is necessary to see how the Belgian community came into
being. Chapter three retraces the background of the Belgian settlement in northern
Wisconsin and explores the elements that helped weave the social and cultural fabric of
the rural community until the time photographers started documenting it with their
cameras.
73
CHAPTER THREE
"VERY MUCH LIKE BELGIANS, ONLY MORE SO":
DOCUMENTING LIFE IN WISCONSIN'S BELGIAN COMMUNITY
Anyone who travels through Wisconsin or peruses its map is bound to see the
multi-nationality of toponyrns in the state. In fact, according to one geographer,
nowhere in the United States is the ethnic diversity of European pioneers better
represented than in Wisconsin.1 By 1860, European immigrants provided one third of
the state's population; by 1900, 71.1 percent of Wisconsin residents were of foreign
stock.2 While the ethnic origin of the settlers can often be easily assessed by looking at
place names (Berlin, New Berlin, Germantown, Sussex, Denmark, Poland), it may
sometimes take more than a casual observer to trace the lineage of other localities,
especially those in unrenowned rural areas. Only a traveler well versed in Belgian
geography, for instance, would recognize Namur or Rosiere on the Green Bay Peninsula
as homonyms of places located in Wallonia, the southern part of Belgium; and only a
well-read historian would know that Nouveau-Grez, Grez-Daems, Walhain, La Misere,
or St.-Sauveur- names which can be found on nineteenth century Wisconsin
documents-are actually named after Belgian localities.
The presence of Walloon place-names in Northeastern Wisconsin is by no means
accidental. Approximately 104,000 Belgians (Flemish-and French-speaking) emigrated
1
William G. Laatsch, "Wisconsin's Belgians," The World and I, A Chronicle of Our
Changing Era, October 1988, 499.
2
Nesbit, Wisconsin, 148; Robert C. Ostergren, "The Euro-American Settlement of
Wisconsin, 1830-1920," in Wisconsin Land and Life, ed. Robert C. Ostergren and Thomas R.
Vale (Madison, 1997), 150.
74
to the United States between 1820 and 1910, and while some of these immigrants
remained on the East Coast, the majority moved west and settled in the states around
Lake Michigan-Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan.3 Because of language
differences between the two groups, settlements were rarely mixed. While most
Flemings settled in Michigan, many Walloons bought land in Wisconsin. In time, the
rural area between Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay became almost exclusively Belgian and
the largest Walloon settlement in the United States.
This chapter retraces the history of the Belgian community in northeastern
Wisconsin. As suggested in chapter one, pictorial works reflect topics and
perspectives related to the cultural and social conditions of specific historical periods
and the particular interests and backgrounds of their authors. To contextualize the
imagery created by amateur photographers in Wisconsin in the later part of the
nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, it is necessary to take
a look at the comm.unity's history and to examine not only the cultural background of
these photographers, but also the history of the Belgian colony as told to them by
family members or the community's elder generations. Indeed, from the time the first
Belgian settlers arrived in northeastern Wisconsin to the era during which the
photographs were taken, story-telling was an important part of the immigrants' lives.4
While these stories are often "colored by hindsight, recent events, and the efforts of
generations of storytellers to dramatize the past," as McLellan observed regarding the
stories told within the Krueger family, they can also disclose valuable information
3
Jozef H. Kadijk, "Belgium's contribution to American Life," M emo from Belgium:
Belgians in the United States (1976): 5-13.
4
Many Belgian-Americans interviewed for the 1975-1976 oral history project recount 'old-
time' stories that were told to them by family members (especially grandparents). See, for
instance, the interviews of Frank Ausloos, Pearl Fashion and Helen Naze, Harold Herlache,
Thelis Noel, Harry Chaudoir, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Wautlet and Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Lemense,
Frank and Grace LeGrave, and Frank Jilot.
75
"about the family's understanding of who they are and 'how they fit'," and, thus, they
can influence the interests and pictorial choices of the picture-takers.5 Examining the
evolution of the settlement and retracing the everyday life and day-to-day experiences
of the Belgian pioneers-through existing written documents-may also help the

outside observer to better ascertain the 'essence' of the Belgian community until the time
individuals began to photograph themselves and their environment.

Scholars agree that migration is often driven by 'push' forces that compel
immigrants to leave their homeland, and 'pull' forces that attract them to a new place.6
For the Belgians, recent scholarship has shown that the push factors included a huge
population increase,7 land shortage and excessive parceling,8 slow development of
farming techniques and technology} crop failures in the 1840s and early 1850s,1° and
5
McLellan, Six Generations, 103.
6
See, for instance, Ostergren, A Community Transplanted, 124; idem, "The Euro-
American," 150-151; and Walter D. Kamphoefner, The Westfalians: From Germany to
Missouri (Princeton, 1987).
7
Belgium's population increased by 50 percent between 1820 and 1845 (Mary Ann Defnet et
al., De Grez-Doiceau au Wisconsin. Contribution a l'etude de /'emigration wallonne vers les
Etats-Unis d'Amerique au XIXeme siecle [Brussels, 1986), 29).
8
The agricultural census of 1846 shows that 84.S percent of Belgian farms were smaller
than 5 ha. (12.35 acres), and that 66 percent of farms were smaller than 1 ha. (2.47 acres). See
Thierry Eggerickx and Michel Poulain, "Le contexte et les consequences demographiques de
!'emigration des Brabarn;ons vers les Etats-Unis au milieu du 19e siecle," Anna/es de
Demographie Historique (1987): 313-36.
9
Eggerickx and Poulain (ibid.) argue that "the technological and scientific development
of Belgian agriculture was excessively slow-not to say non-existent-until 1856." According
to them, four factors at least explain this lack of development: (a) the smallness of the lots,
which made mechanization and chemical fertilizers unnecessary; (b) the fact that
peasants-most of whom renters-could not afford to buy chemical fertilizers or new farm
equipment; (c) the conservatism of country people and their attachment to traditional
agricultural methods; and (d) investors' preference for industry, which they considered to be a
'safer' investment than agriculture.
10
Potato production in Belgium fell from a yearly average of 850,000 tons to 110,000 tons in
1846; in Brabant Wallon, potato yield dropped by 46 percent in 1848, by 52 percent in 1850, and
by 42 percent in 1852. Overall, potato output remained below average from 1848 to 1855, with
the exception of 1859. Rye harvest in Belgium declined by 61 percent in 1846. See ibid.
76
famine, typhus, and cholera in the late 1840s.11 As industrialization focused
employment in larger towns and cities, local industries declined. Faced with these
internal and external pressures and encouraged at times by their own government,12
some Belgians looked for opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic where they
could buy plenty of land at a reasonable price. 13
The first mass departure for the United States took place on 17 May 1853, when
74 Walloons from Grez-Doiceau and its immediate vicinity and seven Flemings from
Sint-Joris-Weert, a neighboring village, embarked on the three-master, The Quinnebaug,
in Antwerp and set sail for America. It is not known whether these emigrants followed
the example of two other Grez-Doiceau families who had left for North America the
year before, or if they emulated their Luxembourg compatriots who had crossed the
11
According to Gustave De Baelen, the number of people livmg in rural areas who
received welfare services increased from 401,675 in 1840 to 462,999 in 1844, It reached 645,712
in 1846 (14.9 percent of the population). By 1850, 902,067 paupers (20.6 pe.r cent of the
population) were welfare recipients. See Gustave De Baelen, Extinction du pauperisme par la
fondation d'une societe nationale d'avances pour favoriser la Colonisation Iibre de Families
Beiges aux Etats-Unis d' Amerique (Brussels, 1855), 5-6.
12
The Belgian government encouraged emigration with a plan, attributed to King Leopold
I, for sending Belgian (especially Flemish) paupers to Algeria, Guatemala, and the United
States. Due to senseless recruitmg, this particular enterprise, which was based on the
phalanstery model, was not very successful (the longest lived of these colonies lasted only ten
years), but private institutions and societies kept petitionmg the government to allocate
subsidies for supporting organized emigration to the United States (See Antoine De Smet,
"Agriculteurs beiges aux Etats-Unis d' Amerique,'' Journal de la Societe Centrale d'Agriculture
de Belgique (1957-58): 2-31; and Jean Ducat, Namurois au nouveau monde (Biesme-Mettet,
Belgium, 1995), 10. For an excellent example of such petitions, see De Baelen, Extinction du
pauperisme, 5-33.
13
Scholars have shown that it was easy at the time, even for the common folk, to obtain.
information about America. Land opportunities in the American Midwest were advertised in
guides, pamphlets, and handbooks which were widely distributed in Europe, and numerous
advertisements sang the praises of the "New World" in local newspapers. Shipowners in
Antwerp also had recruiting agents who combed the countryside in search of passengers. For
examples of recruitment policies in Europe, see Ostergren, A Community Transplanted, 112,
157-158, 173; Gjerde, From Peasants, 116-17. For availability of information in Belgium, see
Defnet, De Grez-Doiceau, 36, 40; Jeanne and Lester Rentmeester, The Flemish in Wisconsin/De
Vlamingen in Wisconsin (Wisconsin, 1985), 21-25; Antoine De Smet, La Communaute beige du
Nord-Est du Wisconsin. Ses origines, son evolution jusque vers 1900 (Wavre, Belgium, 1957), 9-
15; and Eugene Felix Roussel, Guide de l'Emigrant Wallen (Antwerp, Belgium, 1856).
77
Atlantic between 1830 and 1844,14 but these 81 Brabanc;ons were in the vanguard of
what was to become the largest movement from Wallonia to the United States. The
nucleus settlement they founded in Northeastern Wisconsin was to expand into the
largest French-speaking Belgian colony ever established in the United States.
In his discussion of the settlement of Wisconsin, Ostergren suggests that most

immigrants left Europe having at least some idea of where they were going and what
they might expect there. 15 In the case of the Belgian passengers, however, historical
sources disagree as to whether or not the migrants knew about their destination. It has
long been held that none of these 81 Brabanc;ons knew where exactly in the United
States they would settle. Holand wrote that the inunigrants had no particular
destination in mind when they left and that it was only during the crossing that they
decided to follow Dutch fellow-passengers to Wisconsin, "wherever that was." 16
Reminiscing about the old days, Xavier Martin-one of the 81 voyagers who would
later play an important role in the development of the Belgian settlement in
Wisconsin-wrote in 1895 that the families sold their homes in Belgium, bade farewell
to their relatives and friends, and departed for the United States "before deciding
14
According to some estimates, some 1,150 Walloons from the Luxembourg Province settled
in the United States between 1830 (Belgian Independence) and 1844 (See Jean Ducat and
Thierry Eggerickx, The Walloons in the U.S.A./Les Wallons aux U.S.A. [Brussels, n.d.]), n.p.)
15
Ostergren, "The Euro-American," 150.
16
Hjalmar Rued Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian Community (Sturgeon Bay, 1933), 10. In a
chapter in a later book, however, Holand writes that the departing men knew that they
would be heading to Wisconsin. According to this 1959 version, a Grez-Doiceau farmer by the
name of Frani;ois Petiniot mad e a trip to Antwerp and, while staying in a tavern, he picked up
a Dutch pamphlet that mentioned the availability of cheap and fertile farming land in
Wisconsm. He took the pamphlet home, and soon convinced several farmers from his
township to sell their farms and buy tickets to Wisconsm. See H oland, "The Belgian
Settlement," ch_ap. in Old Peninsula Days (New York, 1959), 222-223. This story, however,
was never corroborated by Frani;ois Petiniot's son, Arthur S. Petiniot. See De Smet, La
Communaute belge, 8-9.
78
what State they would settle in." 17 Heads of households gathered during the voyage
to discuss which of the states would be the best. Using a brochure that advertised
farming opportunities in several states of the Midwest, they agreed upon Wisconsin on
account of its land, water, timber and climate, which was similar-if somewhat colder
in the winter-to that of Belgium. The American oral tradition, however, has recently
been challenged by one historian who suggests that the immigrants did not venture out
blindly but rather moved to northeastern Wisconsin after learning from a local Catholic
priest that workers were recruited for the construction of the Fox-Wisconsin canal in
that part of the state.18
However that may be, on 5 July 1853 after a dreadful crossing of almost 60 days,19
The Quinnebaug finally landed in New York, and some 60 Brabarn;ons proceeded
17
Xavier Martin, "The Belgians of Northeast Wisconsin," Wisconsin Historical
Collections 13 (1895): 375.
18
See Jean Ducat, "Origine de la colonie belge au N.E. du Wisconsin," Emigration de
Belgique meridionale 42 (February 1997): 11-12.
19
There is little doubt that the voyage was anything but a horrid experience for some of
the Belgian voyagers. A report by M.S. Mange, Consul of Belgium in Philadelphia, and dated
2 October 1854, recounts the visit to the Consul by two families on board of The Quinnebaug
who complained about the lack of food and water they received during the crossing. "Jean
Martin, his wife, and their eight children aged two to 24, ... did not get the advantages [food
and water] that were due to them." As to Martin Paques, his wife and four children aged 10 to
18, they received for the entire crossing only "one pound of coffee, one pound of sugar, four
pounds of butter, 30 pounds of salted pork, eight potatoes (per week), 10 pounds of flour, some
beans and peas, and enough rice; one liter of water per day-so brown, so bad, and so thick
that it was hardly drinkable; it was kept down in the hold; the water for the crew was good
and if a child ventured to touch it, (s)he was beaten. By showing a silver coin to the cook, [the
cook] picked up with his hands, and threw away in a handkerchief, leftovers from the
captain's table, as it pleased him to give ... Paques had to spend 26 frs., and, despite this
expenditure, his wife and children as well as the Martins and others, could not walk without
assistance, or with difficulty; they only had one biscuit per day. Those with more means did
not suffer to that extent. ... At the landing, and in order to be able to come to Philadelphia,
these families were forced to sell parts of their belongings at one fourth of their value, which
reduced them to almost complete destitution." (Mange, Archives of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, file 2020, 2 Oct. 1854). Numerous letters of complaint kept in file 2020 indicate that
the crossing was a dreadful experience for many other immigrants, even those who emigrated
in later years.
79
°
toward Wisconsin, arriving in Milwaukee at the end of the month. 2 From there, they
went to Green Bay where they met the Belgian pastor of Bay Settlement, the last
frontier post located some ten miles north of the city.21 A friendly and dynamic young
man who could offer his religious services to the devout immigrants, Father Edouard-
Fran~ois Daems had no problem convincing the Brabarn;ons to buy government land
located at the western limit of his parish, "many miles back in a deep, primeval forest,
where not a ray of sunlight filtered through." 22 Considering the fact that land in
Belgium sold for the equivalent of approximately $353 an acre at the time, it is clear
that the American price of $1.25 or even $.50 an acre must have seemed, at the very
least, "a mere bagatelle" for the Belgian settlers.23 The specific area where the pioneers
20
One child died during the crossing, and the families of Jean Martin and Martin
Paques-by then destitute-as well as Xavier Martin, remained some time in Philadelphia
before joining the rest of the immigrants in Wisconsin.
21
According to the American oral tradition, the Belgians first stopped in Sheboygan,
where they started prospecting for land. Soon after their arrival, however, they met a
French speaking man who told them that nearly half the population in Green Bay spoke
French. Although they had found a suitable location in Sheboygan, the Walloons decided to
go to Green Bay to see if they could settle among French-speaking people. Indeed, most of the
Brabant;ons could only speak French and Walloon, and they were "considerably annoyed at not
being able to communicate with the [Dutch- and German-speaking} people of Sheboygan."
Leaving their families in town, the men started looking for land. After a couple of days of
investigation, they decided to settle near Kaukauna, some 15 miles southwest of Green Bay.
Upon their return to Green Bay, however, they found that a child of Philippe Hannon, one of
the settlers, had died the day before, and needed to be buried. On the day of the funeral, the
officiating priest was visited by Daems who persuaded them to forfeit the payments on the
entries of land they had made in Kaukauna, and to buy land in Door County. See Martin, "The
Belgians," 377-378; Holand, "The Belgian," 223; and idem, Wisconsin's Belgian, 12-14.
22
Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 14.
23
An hectare of land was worth 4,800 Belgian francs at the time, and one American dollar
equaled 5.52 Belgian francs. See Ducat, Namurois, 14 and Rentmeester, The Flemish, 27.
Sources provide the following prices per acre of land: $1.25 (Martin, "The Belgians," 378;
Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 11), or $.50 (De Smet, La Communaute beige, 16; Adolphe
Poncelet, Recueil Consulaire 2 (1856], SO).
80
settled was named "Aux Premiers Belges."24 It lay about ten miles northeast of Bay
Settlement and 20 miles northeast of Green Bay ["La Baie Verte").
Although there is no first-hand testimony as to how these pioneers spent their first
days and weeks in their new 'home,' Martin's account bears witness to some of the
hardships the frontier men and women encountered. He writes,
For several days and nights, they were obliged to live and sleep in the open air,
with nothing above their heads but the canopy of heaven. On the second night
after their arrival, there came a terrific rain-storm which drenched them to the skin.
Philip Hannon and wife ... informed the writer that all they had to l?Jotect
themselves and their goods from that pouring rain was one umbrella.
One of the first tasks of the Braban<;ons was to build log-houses to protect
themselves from bad weather and the "occasional visit of a wolf, a deer or a bear,
coming around their little huts, and on more than one occasion taking the pork they
had brought with them."26
In seeking to account for patterns of emigration from Europe, historians mention the
important influence of immigrant letters on prospective migrants.27 The Belgians were
no exception. Soon after their arrival, they wrote to friends and family in Belgium
telling them about their voyage and their new environment. Before the year was over
other Brabant Wallen families had followed in the footsteps of those settled at Aux
Premiers Belges. A chain migration was well established, and Belgian rural exodus to
northeastern Wisconsin had begun. By 1860, approximately 4,000 Belgians, most of
24
The name of the settlement was "Aux Premiers Beiges" before becoming
"Robinsonville." The place is now known as "Champion." Ibid.; De Smet, La Communaute
beige, 15-21.
25
Martin, "The Belgians," 378.
26
Ibid.
27
See Gjerde, From Peasants, 12, 116-117,123-133. Also Kamphoefner, The Westfalians,
75.
81
them Walloons from the Provinces of Brabant Wallon and Namur had moved to
Brown, Door, and Kewaunee counties.28 There they founded other settlements which
they called La Sucrerie (Sugar Bush), La Riviere Rouge (Red River, later renamed
Dyckesville), La Riviere des Loups (Wolves' River, now named Algoma), La tvtisere,
St-Sauveur, Rosiere, Walhain, L'Union, Brussels, TIUry Daems, Granlez, A la Petite
Baie (Little Sturgeon Bay), Aux Flarnands (Tonet), Dehviche and Namur29 (see map l,
page 88).
Letters emphasized the advantages of life in the United States, reassured, and even
tempted family and friends in the Old Country. For instance, on 1October1855, three
months after his arrival in Wisconsin, Charles Lhost sent a letter to his family in Grez-
Doiceau asserting that after working six weeks in the area, he had bought 40 acres and
already built his house. Now, he said, "I am going to work on my own land ....
.Anyone who has enough money to live on for one year in America has his fortune
made." 30 Such news would have tempted more than one individual. By 1859 Charles's
sister-in-law and her family had joined him and become proprietaire of 40 arpents of
land adjoining Charles's property.
Although local newspapers mostly took little interest in the immigrants and
restricted their coverage of Belgians to the number of recent arrivals in the area and
28
According to Martin, 15,000 Belgian immigrants would have arrived between 1854 and
1856 (Ibid., 379). This figure, however, is not corroborated by 1860 census data. By this
researcher's counts, there were approximately 4,500 Belgians living in Door, Kewaunee, and
Brown counties by 1860 (this number includes children of Belgian stock who were born in the
United States). Some 45 percent of the immigrants lived in Brown county, about 37 percent
lived in Kewaunee county, and 18 percent lived in Door county. The inflated numbers provided
by Martin could be the results of too much pride and too little restraint, a characteristic of the
filiopietistic research of the era (see chapter two).
29
°
3
Charles Lhost, Green Bay, to Jean-Joseph and Jeanne Lhost, Grez-Doiceau, 1 October
1855. Copy of the letter kept in Special Collections, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
82
those that were expected, their treatment was remarkably sympathetic. Thus, a
typical newspaper report read as follows:
CHICAGO STEAMER-Since our last issue the steamers Cleveland and Huron have
arrived from Chicago and Milwaukee with immense loads of passengers and
freights. The Cleveland brought in 175 Belgians and the Huron about 240. This
makes nearly 900 Belgians, alone, who have arrived in our city so far this spring, by
land and water, and we learn that there is from 3000 to 4000 more on the way
here. They settle principally on the Peninsula between this city and Sturgeon Bay
and will in a short time make that point which has heretofore been considered as
out of the world, and almost past redemption, blossom as the rose.- They are as
strong and healthy looking emigrants as we have seen in years and we learn that
the greater part of them have abundant means to maintain them while "opening
up" their farms. 31
At times, the press went as far as expressing its concerns for immigrants who were
"cheated and gouged in every possible shape" on their way to Green Bay.32 The
newspapers never justified their generosity vis-a-vis the Belgian immigrants, but there is
little doubt that it was caused by the positive impact their settling had on Wisconsin.
If land that had until then been considered "out of the world and almost past
redemption" was, indeed, turned into soil that could be cultivated, the value of the
land in the area would inevitably increase, and neighboring towns and cities would
constitute new poles of new attraction for investors. For developers new settlements
on the Peninsula could also be a pretext for developing railroad connections or other
businesses in the area. Finally, at a time when newspapers remained partisan, it
would have been unwise to directly or indirectly attack potential subscribers and
voters. 33
31
Green Bay Advocate, 8 May 1856.
32
Green Bay Advocate, 15 May 1856; see also ibid., 29 May 1856; ibid., 12 June 1856.
33
See, for instance, the Green Bay Gazette, 30 October 1869 and ibid., February and March
1871.
83
Judging from various newspaper articles, Belgian immigrants who arrived in

Wisconsin were by and large well off. However, we also learn from other newspaper
accounts that "more than half of these emigrants arrive here destitute, having been
fleeced at every point between New York and their destination ... ".34 On Thursday
17 January 1856, a more detailed story in the Green Bay Advocate stated,
Suffering among the Emigrants.-Information was received here last week that a
party of Belgian emigrants, who have located near the Bay shore in the vicinity of
Red river ... were in a suffering condition for want of provisions. A generous
donation in the shape of flour and other supp1ies, was at once made up by some of
our citizens, and sent to them. Wholly in.used [sic] to provide for a Northern
winter, their houses or huts are entirely unfit to protect them from the cold, being
roughly built of logs and brush, the cracks and crevices of which are so open as to
admit the wind freely; and besides the horrors of starvation they have to face the
danger of death by freezing. Many of the men [have] already frozen their hands
and feet. ... Some of the families exhibits [sic] intelligence and evidence of having
seen better days ... one of the children, a boy, ... seems remarkably bright and
reads and writes fluently. They were all overjoyed at the receipt of the supplies,
and many of them cried outright with joy over the unexpected relief.
While these contradictory reports make any assessment regarding the immigrants'
exact wealth rather difficult, it appears that cases of extreme indigence or affluence
were exceptions rather than the rule. 35 If a few settlers had, indeed, "some resources,
even a good round capital," the majority were small peasants, day laborers, or artisans
with very limited means.36 After examining notary records in Grand-Leez in 1855 and
1856, Jean-Marie Defense found that the sale of personal property and real estate
returned an average of 700 Belgian francs ($127.3) per household.37 Considering the
34
Green Bay Advocate, 12 June 1856.
35
City Council proceedings published in local newspapers occasionally mentioned the
existence of pauperism among Belgians in Green Bay, but, considering the large numbers of
immigrants passing through the city at the time, these remained isolated cases. See, for
instance, Green Bay Advocate, 31 January 1856.
36
De Smet, La Communaute beige, 29.
37
The biggest sale brought in 1,585 Belgian francs ($288.2), the smallest returned 175
francs ($31.8). Twenty-eight families (totaling 150 individuals) left Grand-Leez for America
84
fact that a trip from Belgium to Green Bay cost approximately 180 francs ($33.7) per
adult, and half that price for young children, a family of five would have spent most, if
not all of that money by the time they arrived in Wisconsin, and they would have had
to draw on other personal savings or rely on friends and family already living in the
area.38
In addition to a lack of money, Belgian settlers were suffering from want of local
waged work, high prices, and hunger. 39 Many who had intended to become farmers
were also disillusioned, for very few had any idea of what awaited them before they
could actually tum their property into a productive entity. Martin noted, "the tilling
of the soil was one thing, while the clearing of the land of its heavy timber, in order
that the soil might ultimately be tilled, was quite another." 40 As a result, only settlers
with enough money to support their families for two years could start clearing their
land immediately after their arrival, so as to harvest their first crop the second year.
The less fortunate had no choice but to work at very low wages, oftentimes in distant
cities, to feed their families. Under such conditions it was common for many
immigrants to be without bread for weeks, and to eat whatever they could hunt, fish,
or find, even wild onions and roots. 41 To add to this misfortune, some immigrants
in 1855 and 1856. All household heads owned their own house and garden; eight of them
owned .62 acre of land while twenty-one owned .24 acre. See Ducat, Namurois, 14. The social
standing of Belgian immigrants appears to have been similar to that of immigrants from other
ethnic groups who were "poor, but not destitute." See Kamphoefner, The Westfalians, 40-69.
38
This is corroborated by correspondence kept at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Brussels. Sometimes immigrants departed before receiving their inheritance
portion-however small-or the money that proceeded from the liquidation of their business
(including, for instance, money proceeding from the sale of the last crops they had planted).
While these immigrants expected to have the money sent to them in Wisconsin, sources
indicate that many had much difficulty getting the money dispatched.
39
40
41
Ibid., 379-380.
85
who had arrived in 1854 had brought Asiatic cholera; by the end of the year, the
disease had claimed the lives of some settlers. Holand provides a most vivid
description of the disease,
It was a sudden and almost unconquerable disease. Strong men, apparently well at
night, would be found dead in the morning; the skin on their faces turned almost
black and their eyes sunk far back in the sockets. Father Daems's woodland parish
had by this time extended so far into districts yet inaccessible to wheeled traffic,
that he could attend to only a few of the burials. Most of the victims, attended
only by the nearest relatives, were therefore buried back in the woods, usually
without coffins and without the rites of the church or the sustaining presence of a
priest.42
.Needless to say, the "America fever" caught the attention of numerous officials in
Belgium and the United States. For instance, after three disappointed immigrants
informed him of the predicament of the Green Bay colony, Adolphe Poncelet-Belgium's
consul in Chicago-decided to visit Belgian settlements in Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin
to assess their condition. The Green Bay colony, he wrote the Belgian Minister of
Foreign Affairs in his 22 September 1855 report, was in dire straits:
[T]he first year, they suffered a lot from cholera and other diseases. Out of a
population of 76 people, seven ctied ... .
. . . As far as sanitary conditions are concerned, our settlers cannot be too
satisfied since fever, dysentery, and cholera did not spare them; the distance to
Green Bay makes medical help often impossible to get or useless.
I believe that I can say in good faith that the Belgians who are established in
Brown and Kewaunee counties are in the worst possible conctition, and that they
have totally deviated from the right track .... Their harsh labor [travail force] ... is
partly the source of all their illnesses, and it wears them out to such an extent that
they are all in a state of great meagerness, especially mature men. They aged more
in two years here than in 10 years in Belgium. . .. very few household heads who
are now between 50 and 55 will live to see their land totally cleared unless ... they
have many sons who are at least 10 or 12 years old, and even in this case, they will
not be able to fight off illnesses which strike here more than anywhere else because
of the harsh labor...
42
86
... if they still write friends and family in Belgium to come and join them, their only
goal is to get other work companions; they hope that the more they are, the more
easily they will endure their pains and their miseries. 43
In sharp contrast to Poncelet's report, settlers who were discouraged omitted to
send news of their tribulations to the friends and family in Belgium. In fact, they even
denied the veracity of such reports and boasted about their new environment in their
letters, such as this young man who wrote his fiancee that even the creek water in
America ran sweet in the springtime, and that they ate breakfast with a fork. The
sweetness of the water, it turned out, was produced by maple wood chips and "a too-
vivid imagination." As to the forks, they could be used for breakfast since the settlers
had only potatoes to eat.44 Charles Lhost, who had proudly written his family about
his new land and house, sent a letter in 1859 to his brother denying insinuations that he
was unhappy. He pleaded,
Dear brother, you were told, or even you believe that we are unhappy. The word
'unhappy' [malheureux] does not suit me because we are not unhappy, quite the
contrary. I thank God for leading me to a country so good, especially to the
cultivator. The one who says we are unhappy here is without the grace of God
because we are in a very fertile and productive country .... Don't grieve thinking
that I am unhappy because I am happier than many farmers [back home]. What's
more, I am independent. 45
In 1855, the priest of the parish of Gottechain (Belgium) wrote one of his former
parishioners asking him for news of the Belgian settlement. The letter was transmitted
to John-C. Perrodin, a French missionary in Green Bay who advised the parish priest
not to believe the "beautiful letters" [belles lettres] that were being mailed back home.
43
Adolphe Poncelet, "Memoire sur l'emigration," in Recueil Consulaire, Tome II (1856),
50, 52-53.
44
Lee W. Metzner, "The Belgians in the north country," Wisconsin Magazine of History
26 no. 3 (March 1943): 287.
45
Charles Lhost, Green Bay, to Desire Lhost, Grez-Doiceau, 1May1859. Copy of the
letter kept in Special Collections, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
87
"Among those who arrived last, there are many ... who wish they had never left their
native country," he wrote. And he continued,
How many of them are there who still believe that they need only to cross the sea
to become rich! This, Father, is a big mistake that you can easily [correct] by letting
[your parishioners] know about the kind of land that they can get for 10 francs per
hectare. 46
The letter, printed in the 1May1856 issue of Le Moniteur Beige, Belgium's official
publication, was not the first word of caution given prospective emigrants. On 23
February 1856, Le Moniteur published a translation of the Green Bay Advocate article
"Suffering among the Emigrants," which Poncelet had read in a Chicago newspaper
and translated. 47 Earlier, Poncelet's lengthy report, detailing his first visit to the
colony, had already informed the Belgian government and people about the deplorable
living conditions in the Green-Bay settlement; he had advised, "It would be necessary
to stop emigration and to divert it from [Green Bay]; it would be a real service done to
our emigrants were one to urge them not to go to Green Bay, whose situation is one of
the worst possible."48
Eventually, rumors or news of the difficult living conditions in the Belgian
settlement reached relatives and friends at home, especially in the villages and
townships which had produced the largest numbers of emigrants,49 and the first wave
46
John-C. Perrodin, Recueil Consulaire II (1856), 413-415. Perrodin replaced Father
Daems in 1855 and 1856 when Daems was in Holland. See De Smet, La Communaute, 46.
47
ln an effort to discourage emigration-as if the letter was not enough of a
deterrent-Poncelet actually "reinterpreted" the last sentence of the Green Bay Advocate
article in his translation for the Belgian Minister, and wrote that " ... other [children] threw
themselves as hungry wolves on the supplies which were so unexpected." See Poncelet,
Recueil Consulaire Il (1856), 254.
48
Poncelet, "Memoire," 50.
49
One of the measures taken by the Belgian government to discourage emigration was to
have public notices posted in rural areas that were particularly subject to immigration.
Notices that appeared in 1856, for instance, cautioned rura.l people against emigrating to "the
United States, particularly the State of Wisconsin (Green Bay, etc.)," and warned them
88
of mass immigration to Wisconsin started to decline; it eventually stopped in 1857, as
suddenly as it had started.50 It had barely lasted 3.5 years (see map 1).
• SETTLEMENTS FROM IOO-tOOO

o SETTLEMENTS FROM IOOO- ~O
:.~ BELGIAN SETTLEMENT AREA
, 1 3 .. ~ , .....u
I 2 ) 4 i i 1 t •ll&OC.l('IS
• Ma~~od
'\
3'
~ I
\
0 (
\ !
l
Map 1. Belgian settlement in northeastern Wisconsin.

Map by W. Laatsch 1992, 197.
against "agents who .. . produce letters which are supposedly written by Belgians who have
emigrated ..., in which the advantages [of moving to Wisconsin] are greatly exaggerated."
The notices went so far as to claim that "reports made to the government by a consular agent
[Poncelet] who visited the Green Bay colony [indicate] that the situation there is very
unfavorable, and that Belgian settlers have been forced to abandon the area and look for
another place." Public Notice, [August] 1856, File 2020, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brussels.
Two reasons come to mind when attempting to explain Poncelet's and other Belgian officials'
efforts to control emigration. First, Poncelet seems to have been truly horrified by what he
saw in the Green Bay colony, and his attempts to re-direct migrants to other parts of the
United States seem to grow out of genuine concern for the welfare of his fellow-citizens.
Second, the fact that it was artisans and farmers, rather than paupers, who emigrated, must
have alarmed Belgian officials since it led to a devaluation of the land and a paucity of main
d'oeuvre and skilled workers. See De Smet, La Communaute, 29-30.
so Defnet, De Grez-Doiceau, 43, 69.

89
For those who had settled in Wisconsin, there was hardly any choice but to stay,
work, and dear the land until they could start farming. If some left the Green Bay
Peninsula in the late 1850s or early 1860s for other destinations, there is no
information as to their numbers or final destinations. As to those who returned to
Belgium, they were very few because most of the settlers did not have enough money to
afford a trip home.51
While many inunigrants were peasants or small farmers used to working the land,
others were craftsmen or laborers, such as masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, barbers,
tailors, shoemakers, coopers, or stone-cutters; and still others were factory workers.52
If all dreamed of becoming farmers on their own land, none were used to transforming
hectares of forest into land suitable for cultivation. In his 1855 report, Poncelet also
remarked on the lack of experience among his fellow countrymen, claiming that he had
never seen a clearing so poorly done. The land they bought is nothing but virgin forest,
he exclaimed, and in many places, the trees are so close to each other that their roots
are intertwined, making it "impossible to set a foot on the soil."
He went on,
[O)ur settlers, instead of imitating the Americans and leaving one third of the trees
standing, ... felling only what is necessary so that the crops don't have too much
shade, did not leave anything. The land-even that which is planted-is covered
with logs, [and] huge wood heaps which they [the settlers] often set on fire two or
three times without being able to burn them out completely; had they followed the
example of their neighbors, girdled the beeches, ... cut down the smaller trees, and
then waited six or seven years before felling the larger girdled trees, ... they would
have saved much work and energy, and they would have easily gotten rid of the
trees which are now bothering them . ..53
51
De Smet, La Communaute, 29.
52
Martin, "The Belgians," 379; Defnet, De Grez-Doiceau, 36-38.
53
Poncelet, "Memoire," 51.
90
Ironically enough, the same forest eventually saved many settlers from misery when
they realized that they could make shingles out of the trees, and that shingles were
marketable. Soon the shingle-making industry soared in the Belgian colony.54 In
addition to enabling pioneers to earn money to buy necessities, shingle-making helped
farmers set aside capital for future use on the farm. The economic boom brought to
Green Bay by the shingle industry was not lost on reporters; beginning in 1857 local
newspapers regularly reported on the production of shingles, timber, posts and
cordwood by immigrant settlers, most of whom Belgians.ss
Shingle making was usually a winter chore, or one reserved for rainy days, and it
was one in which all family members participated. Men and women felled trees and
cleared the land, elders and children split the blocks, shaved the shingles, and bound
them in bundles. Once the shingles were packed, settlers would carry them to the
waterside on their backs. When they became available, yokes, oxen and horses were
also used to haul the shingles to shore. From there, the shingles were transported to
Green Bay to be sold.56
Reminiscing about the old days, 90-year-old Constant Delveaux whose family had
immigrated to Wisconsin in 1856, had the following to say in 1919:
54
De Smet, La Communaute, 28; Holand, "The Belgian," 225.
55
See, for example, Green Bay Advocate, 12 and 19 March 1857; 4 February 1858; 23
September 1858; 11November1858; 19 and 26March1863; 19October1865; 15 March 1866.
Keu;aunee Enterprise, 22 January 1962. Door County Advocate, 23 July 1863; 8 September 1864;
16 January 1867; 22 January 1868; 23 February 1871. A reporter for the Door County Advocate
wrote in 1864 that during a visit to Brussels, he had "heard of one Belgian family that in
seven days made 21,000 shingles. The father shaved the shingles alone, while the children
split and packed them. The shingles were sold for 31 shillings per 1,000, netting for the seven
days' work over $81.00." According to the 18 December 1868 issue of the newspaper, the
number of shingles shipped during 1868 totaled 9,800,000 for the towns of Brussels, Union, and
Gardner (all of which were inhabited by a majority of Belgian immigrants).
56
Martin, "The Belgians," 38; Holand, "The Belgian," 225.
91
When all the money that we had brought along from the old country was spent, we
were obliged to make shingles, a very rude labor, but we had to do so in order to
obtain flour to make bread. We went into the woods to cut big fir trees, sawed
them into suitable lengths, then carried them home on our backs to make shingles,
which again we had to carry to the bay. Even the children had to carry them in
bags according to their strength. Shingles were the only thing we could sell to make
money... . We actually had to eat dry bread .... All during winter we were making
shingles and when winter was passed, we worked in the fields .... I made ten
thousand large shingles 1 /2-inch thick and had to carry them to the bay. All this in
order to be able to buy a two-year old heifer which had not yet had her calf. It was
hard work to get a cow, but times were hard. Our parents did not see then what
we are seein~ now-automobiles at all doors, but they have seen misery and want
all the time.
There is no doubt that all that work sometimes came at a high cost for settlers.
Though relatively infrequent, accidents did happen to individuals working in the
woods or, later, in local saw mills.58 In 1860, for instance, F. Noel of the town of Green
Bay burned to death after falling into the fire he had made to clear his land.59
Needless to say, such accidents did not make it into immigrant letters, and if some
settlers emphasized the fact that "it is not by lying in bed that [one can get money); it
is wrong to believe that one can become a Monsieur in America by doing nothing,1160
others tended to play down the amount of work they generated and the necessity
behind it. In a remarkable letter he sent in 1863, Charles Lhost told his brother and
sister that it was easy to live in America and work three days a week only. He wrote,
If one can live easily by working three days only, you will wonder what we do the
rest of the time . .. well, the rest of the time, we work to expand the land and the
57
58
See, for instance, Green Bay Advocate, 29 May 1856; 2 July 1863; 29 June 1865; 12
February 1874; 1March1877; Green Bay Gazette, 24 November 1866; 13 April 1867; 1June1867;
17 October 1868. Expositor, 8 December 1876.
59
Green Bay Advocate, 12 April 1860.
6
°
Cordelie Jacqmot, Green Bay, to her brother and sister, 3 February 1863. Copy of the
92
... equipment. ... And to pass the time in the winter [emphasis mine}, when the
weather is bad and we don't fell trees in the forest, we make shingles. One man
can make 1,000 shingle per day. One thousand shingles go now for about $2 to
$2.5, depending on quality.
Slowly, as the land was being cleared and shingles manufactured and sold, the
farms were being developed. Seen from the distant shore and through the eyes of an
outsider, such as a reporter for the Green Bay Advocate, this is how the Belgian
settlement appeared in 1857:
All that waste, or unimproved, country northward along the peninsula, extending
through Kewaunee and Door counties, is being rapidly settled up, principally by
Belgians. Our citizens, who have been accustomed to regard that region as an
unbroken wilderness, would be astonished to see the change which has been
wrought within a year or two. We have noticed it along shore, in the clearings
which are being made, and the houses which begin to peep out, one after another,
among the trees
.. . there is a constant succession of substantial farms of from five to 40 acres, with
excellent crops growing. Green Bay will feel the effects of that new trade at once.61
What is perhaps most characteristic of th.is report, and many similar to it, is its
superficiality and its positive disposition towards foreign settlers. Had the reporter
been inland to take a closer look at the Belgian settlement, however, he would have
found what Xavier Martin did in 1857,
people apparently very poor, but a more industrious crowd of men, women, and
children I have never seen. Many of them were felling trees and clearing land;
others were busy shaving shingles by hand, ... old people were cooking meals;
some men were hauling shingles to Green Bay in lumber wagons drawn by oxen;
some men were harvesting, others threshing with flails, others burning logs and
branches; many making or brewing their own beer, and nearly all the men were
smoking tobacco which they raised on their own land. Many of them had cattle,
some of them had wagons and yokes [or] oxen, a few had teams of horses; men
raised their own pork; those having maple trees on their land would make their
own sugar from maple sap; and ali or nearly all of them had patches of from five to
twenty acres under cultivation.62
61
Green Bay Advocate, 6 August 1857.
62
93
While the newspapers' rosy treatment of the Belgian settlement was primarily
-
pushed by economic interest, it appears that the shallO\\lness of their reporting was
caused by the paucity of communications between the immigrants and their settlement,
and the outside world. Except for business trips to town, Belgian immigrants had very
few contacts with other settlers, foreign or native, living in the area. Delveaux recalls
that he did not see any horses for three years after he arrived in the settlement, and
that the only people who c;:ame to visit the Belgian colony were American Indians, most
of whom had never seen white people before: "The years we were in the woods we
saw savages, but they were honest. They would point to their mouth asking for
something to eat. Before entering, they would leave their guns at the door." 63
Delveaux does not mention from which tribe these particular Indians were, but sources
suggest that they were Potawatomi, Oneida, or Menominee Indians, the latter living in
a village at the mouth of Red River, three kilometers north of Dyckesville. According
to local historians, Belgians and Indians were on friendly terms, the Indians teaching
the newcomers what they knew, and giving them advice when necessary.64
Yet other occasional visitors to the settlement were priests and missionaries, such
as Father Daerns, the pastor of Bay Settlement who had directed the first group of
irmnigra,nts to that part of Wisconsin, or Father Perrodin, the author of the letter to the
Belgian priest. They, along with other priests, looked after the spiritual health of the
congregation, for most of the Belgian settlers were devoted Catholics. Before the first
churches and cemeteries were built in the early 1860s, pioneers held their religious
meetings in their log cabins, and they carried their dead over as many as thirty miles so
that they could be buried in the consecrated ground of the Sainte-Croix church in Bay
63
Holand, Wisconsin 's Belgian, 21.
64
See Fran~oise Lempereur, Les Wallons d'Amerique du Nord. Etude principalement
consacree aux Wallons etablis au Wisconsin (Gembloux, Belgium, 1976), 24.
94
Settlement. Father Daems's visits were particularly appreciated by the conununity for
he brought with him news of the whole settlement and of the old country. Holand
recalls,
There were no newspapers in their cabins, and very seldom came a letter, but he
[Father Daems] told them of what was happening in all his farflung parish, fifty
miles long and ten miles wide. In that parish practically all were Belgians, coming
largely from the same province-Brabant-and the news he had to tell was
therefore of great interest. Weddings and funerals, the news from the old country or
of new arrivals were usually first hea.r d of through him.65
Being familiar with medical remedies, Father Daems occasionally also officiated as
family doctor.
An obvious reason for the paucity of contacts between the Belgian pioneers and
other people in the area was the physical isolation of the colony. When the first
pioneers arrived, there were no roads leading to the land where they settled; and when
the settlers built roads and paths, these had to be cut through the forest and
constructed across swamps, which made travel difficult and even dangerous for
people and animals. Individuals would sometimes get lost when traveling through the
settlement, and if some retraced their steps and returned home safely, or were
eventually rescued by search teams, not all were so fortunate. 66 As late as in 1871,
long after a few roads had been built across the settlement, Marie-C. Blanxain left her
home in the last part of Red River to carry some letters to the Post Office, taking with
her some bread for the trip. Her snow-covered body was found eleven days later
65
66
For accounts of such incidents, see the Green Bay Advocate, 7 February 1856, or the State
Gazette, 30 May 1874. For reports showing the isolation of the Belgian settlement, see for
example the Green Bay Advocate, 4 March 1858; Ibid., 29 July 1858; Ibid., 23 September 1858;
Ibid., 5 July 1860; Ibid., 20 July 1871; 20 Novemb!'!r 1879. Also the Kewaunee Enterprise, 14
November 1860; and the State Gazette, 15 September 1877.
95
under a hemlock tree. Trying to avoid some wet places, she lost herself in a swamp,
where she died from ex.haustion.67
Further adding to the conununity's isolation, according to Martin and Holand, was
the fact that Belgian pioneers were alienated by their neighbors because of "their
poverty and distress ... (which] had not attracted the sympathy and help which is
generally accorded to new settlers under the same conditions and circumstances." As
a result, "[t]he people of the county [American, Irish, and French settlers) regarded
them as of little or no account; and probably for that reason the Belgians had not yet
been able to obtain any help, either for the building of churches or schools or for
procuring teachers ..." 68 There is some evidence in support of Martin's allegation,
including a newspaper article admonishing Green Bay citizens for not helping Belgian
paupers.69 But it also appears that if the Belgians were indeed 'left' out at the
beginning, it was partly of their own will or doing, rather than simply because of their
neighbors' ostracism.70 Since they lived together, worked together, and entertained
themselves corrununally, Belgians had little reason to socialize with other groups.71 In
addition, the immigrants spent their first years in Wisconsin clearing the land and
developing their farms, and one can reasonably infer that these occupations did not
67
Green Bay Advocate, 30 March 1871.
68
Martin, ''The Belgians," 382-383. See also Holand, "The Belgian," 229.
69
See, Green Bay Advocate, 1 January 1857. Newspaper articles expressing concern about
the destitution of Belgian immigrants sometimes also appeared to be more concerned with the
high price the city of Green Bay would eventually have to pay (if pestilence were to develop,
for instance) than with the welfare of the immigrants themselves. See Green Bay Advocate,
12 June 1856.
70
"They mixed little with the outside world; they lived peaceably among themselves,
trying to better their lot and multiply their progeny..."See Green Bay Advocate, 2 November
1871.
71
The kennesse, a rural festival celebrating the end of the harvest was celebrated as
early as 1858. Not only did the festival act as a tie between the old country and the new, but
it also bonded the people from the commwtlty together.
96
leave much time nor many opportunities to think about anything else but work-and of
course friends and family in the old country. The fact that Belgians favored inter-
marriage, and did not speak nor understand English also contributed to the seclusion
of the settlement.
As time went by, however, things started_to change. The settlers began longing for
things that would satisfy more than their basic needs of shelter and food, and they
started looking for ways to get the community out of its isolation. In 1857, the Belgian
settlement was visited by Xavier Martin, one of the original 81 Brabarn;ons who had
not followed the group to Wisconsin, having gone to Philadelphia to receive an
education. According to Martin himself, soon after his arrival in the community, he
was approached by a group of pioneers who asked him to stay among them. "What
they desired the most," Martin reminisced, "were schools and school-teachers,
churches and priests, and the full enjoyment of their political rights, which up to this
time they had not exercised . .. they were anxious to have a man among them to lead
them out of their chaotic condition." Giving in to "over a hundred heads of families,"
and to his parents, Martin decided to remain in the settlement and work for the
advancement of the Belgian community. He explained to his fellow countrymen the
American system of local government, helped them to qualify as voters, and told them
that if they voted unitedly they would take control of local affairs, seeing they were in
the majority. In April 1858, for the first time since their arrival in Wisconsin, Belgians
went to the polls.72 "It is needless to say that every man on that Belgian ticket was
elected," Martin writes. The Belgian coup quickly spread through the peninsula, " and
72
Martin writes in the most celebratory fashion, "There the Belgians went, 230 strong,
all prepared with tickets especially printed for them, marching in double file to the poll; and
there they for the first ti.me in their adopted country exercised their rights as American
citizens " (See Martin, "The Belgians," 383). Because universal suffrage in Belgium was not
established before 1894, most-if not all--0f the immigrants had never been to the polls
before (See Naval Intelligence Division, Belgium [London, February 1944]).
97
from that time on, the Belgian element was recognized ... as an important factor in the
election of town, county, and state officers. The ice [was] now broken; the Belgian
settlers [were] regarded by the people of other settlements as an honest, industrious,
and intelligent people; their friendship built through the forest were improved, new
highways were created, and several post and their votes are courted." In time, the
roads that the pioneers had offices were established in the settlement.73
Peremptory though Martin's account is, it should be taken with some caution, and
it also needs to be put into perspective. First, it appears that the local press paid little
attention-if any attention at all- to the 1858 Belgian vote. And while it is true that
local newspapers spoke of the Belgian community in most favorable terms- with only
a couple of exceptions that will be discussed later-contrary to what Martin claimed,
the Belgians would eventually be the subjects of many jokes in the area. It is not
known when these jokes started, but their existence strongly disproves Martin's rosy
views. According to Henderson,
The Belgians in Door County play the same role as the Poles in Milwaukee and the
Italians in New York City. These groups retained an ethnic identity while
surrounded by the contents of America's "melting pot," in spite of the pressures
placed on them by advertising, education, and attitudes to give up their heritage
and blend into the pot. For remaining homogeneous, these people have borne the
brunt of many cruel jokes and are looked upon as something less than normal
people, whatever that may be.74
Carrying the discussion to a more theoretical level, the decision of the Belgians to
go to the polls also deserves to be explored. Summarizing scholarship related to the

origins of immigrant political activity, Kathleen Conzen suggests that,
73
Martin, "The Belgians," 383-384. Also Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 53-55; and
Holand, "The Belgian," 229-230.
74
David B. Henderson, "Impacts of Ethnic Homogeneity and Diversity on the Cultural
Landscape of Door County, Wisconsin" (M.A. thesis., University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee,
1968), 89.
98
political participation marked a relatively late stage in the accommodation process

and was the product of compelling personal reasons . ... Entering the political
system on such grounds, immigrants would presumably vote en bloc until upward
mobility and assimilation destroyed their unity of purpose and introduced new
demands upon the political system.75
For the Belgians, becoming politically active was an act of strategic
acconunodation, rather than a sign of assimilation. What stimulated their political
participation was less a desire to assimilate in American culture and 'melt in the pot,'
than a need for inunediate betterment and a defense of their status as equal citizens.76
In other words, their political involvement was a 'smart move' that would empower
them politically so that they could not only gain access to advantages available in their
district but also have the ability to preserve their culture and heritage.
In June 1858, D. Henrotin, the new consul of Belgium in Chicago, visited the colony;
the report he wrote on 1 December to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Brussels was
quite different from that sent by his predecessor.77 "God knows well the many
sufferings and privations these poor people endured," he wrote. While it is true that
some died of sheer misery and pain, or because they got lost in the forest, let us not
forget that these were "exceptional cases ... that did not compromise the fate of the
colony, which ... generally speaking ... seems to be making progress and be on the
verge of becoming self-supporting." 78 Conceding that living conditions were still hard
75
Kathleen Neils Conzen, Immigrant Milwaukee 1836-1860. Accommodation and
Community in a Frontier City (Cambridge, 1976), 192-193.
76
The 1846 constitutional convention allowed white, male European immigrants of
twenty-one years of age or older to vote after one year's residence with declaration of intent to
become a citizen. See Nesbit, Wisconsin, A History, 209-210. For a discussion of other
immigrant groups' assimilation and political participation, see Conzen, Immigrant
Milwaukee, 192-193, 222-224, and 225-228.
Tl Poncelet drowned during one of his visits to a Belgian settlement in the Midwest
(Personal communication, Ducat, June 1995).
78
D. Henroti.n, Recueil Consulaire V (1859), 75-76.
99
for some immigrants, particularly those who had just arrived, he nevertheless stated
that the settlers now had
large and beautiful clearings where they have built houses, developed gardens, and
where they harvest all kinds of grains, ... I saw beautiful winter wheat and rye,
and other good-looking produces. Most of the families must have harvested crops
large enough to last them through the coming year.... Another few years of courage
and persevering, and they will be through with the clearing ... so that they can use
the plow freely. This will enable them to increase their cro~s, raise horses and
livestock, sell products, and finally be happy and well off. 9
For Henrotin, the fact that the settlers were well-disposed, lived in good harmony,
and understood the need to help each other for their mutual benefit was an auspicious
sign for the colony, as was the fact that they had started taking care of their religious,
educational, and political needs by building churches and schools and organizing
themselves politically.
What Heruotin meant by "happy and well off" is, of course, impossible to know.
However, evidence indicating that the living conditions of the immigrants continued
improving over the years is ample.
In 1862, Green Bay consul Jean-Baptiste Masse informed the Belgian Minister of
Foreign Affairs that the colony was "beginning to show definite signs of rapid
development and high prosperity."80 Each farmer had cleared between six and forty
acres of land where they were growing wheat, rye, com, barley, oats, tobacco,
potatoes, and "all kinds of vegetables" in addition to raising numerous heads of cattle
on abundant pasture. The development of the timber industry during the previous
years had precipitated the opening of new roads and highways which, in tum, had
enabled the Belgians to pursue the commerce of wood in ways never dreamed of
79 H . i"b"d
enrotin, i .
SO The Belgian government appointed a consul in Green Bay in 1859. Masse was the first
consul appointed in Green Bay. See the Green Bay Advocate, 26 May 1859.
100
before. Each village had its own school that offered free bilingual education. All this
made the Belgian colony a thriving community with numerous stores, churches, flour-
mills, and saw-mills "where farmers work during their leisure time when they are not
busy on the farm." Furthermore, since the immigrants spoke Walloon and maintained
their native traditions, customs, and practices, the newcomers did not feel homesick
upon their arrival, and they accustomed themselves more quickly to their "voluntary
exile."81 While bars-foreign or native--were probably deemed improper business to

include on a consular report, there is little doubt that the opening of a few (Belgian)
taverns in the area, as well as the organization of musical bands, must also have
helped raise the spirit of Belgian settlers.82
While the Civil War suspended the growth of Wisconsin's economy and slowed
down the flow of immigration to the state, it also contained forces which, "when
unleashed after the war, resulted in a great leap forward for the state's industrial
growth."83 Among the industries which expanded after the war were lumbering and
lumber milling-businesses which had remained relatively small until the 1850s but
whose finished products were now demanded for the construction of new buildings in
western territories.84
81
J.-B.-A. Masse, Recueil Consulaire 8 (1862), 157-161.
82
By 1858, there were at least two taverns (one of which Belgian) in the vicinity of
Dyckesville; by 1859, there was at least one Belgian tavern in Bay Settlement. See Green Bay
Advocate, 4 March 1858; 11August1859. Franc;ois Pierre also opened a small tavern in
Brussels in 1861. See Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 56. By 1860, Belgian residents of Casco and
Red River had also organized a brass band. "Although living in the woods, away from culture
or musical associations" a Green Bay Advocate reporter wrote, "[they] have perfected
themselves in this beautiful art to such a degree, that their performances would be no
discredit to bands of much larger facilities for learning and practice" See the Green Bay
Advocate, 14 November 1860.
83
See Nesbit, Wisconsin, A History, 267. Also Paul and Paul, The Badger State, 223.
Also Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 58.
84
Paul and Paul, The Badger State, 223.
101
In the Belgian colony, the lwnber industry grew even more rapidly than it had
before with the development of numerous saw, planing, and shingle mills at or near the
villages, such as Lefebvre's saw and shingle mill at Walhain; Decker's lumber and
shingle mill at Casco; Lamb's lumber and shingle mill at La Sucrerie, Delvaux's lumber
and shingle mill at Delvaux Mill, Cowles's saw and shingle mill at Bay Settlement, and
Williamson's mill, near Brussels.85 Instead of felling trees, piling them up, and burning
them as they had done at first, and rather than making shingles one at a time by hand,
as they had begun to do later, Belgian settlers now felled the trees, cut them into logs,
and took them to local mills to be converted into lumber and shingles.86 Not only did
the mills greatly facilitate the work and increase the production of wood
products-according to Holand, Scofield's lumber and shingle mill located a mile from
Dyckesville could saw up to a million shingles a day-but the businesses also procured
well-paid jobs to some Belgians, males and females. For instance, in 1865, Desire
Lacourt made $30 a month and received "excellent food" in a saw-mill in the Green
Bay area. By 1869, Jean, an acquaintance of Charles Lhost, was making $40 a month
while his daughter Hortense made $23.87 The money that the settlers earned enabled
them to buy farm supplies and machinery, to acquire better and more livestock, and
sometimes to expand their land.
We don't know if Hortense's pay was appropriate for the kind of work she was
performing, or if her salary was smaller than her father's because of gender differences.
But we know from various sources that her being employed in a mill to bring additional
85
Martin, "The Belgians," 388 .
86
. Ibid., 389.
87
Jean Lacourt, Green Bay, to his godson, Belgium, 18 Jlllle 1866; Charles Lhost,
Robinsonville, to his brother and sister, Belgium, 24 February 1869. Copy of both letters kept
in Special Collections, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
102
revenues home was not an isolated occurrence.88 From the time they arrived and
settled in the 'wilderness,' Belgian women and children participated actively in the
development of the family farm. So actively, indeed, that when Pierre-Joseph Willems
came back from Mackinac Island, Michigan, where he had been working, he found that
his wife Antoinette Malotaux had gotten forty acres under Homestead-under her
name-and that she and the children had built a log cabin on their own.89 In the
absence of their husbands, women would take full charge of the farming operations
and perform all the chores necessary to the farm's subsistence-a way of life which
mystified the few Americans who saw them at work The 'unladylikeness' of Belgian
women was equally dumbfounding to newspaper reporters. 90 Like women from other
immigrant groups, the Belgians would partake in farming activities. Unlike them,
however, they would often perform male work duties. Perhaps most revealing in
regard to the role women played in the development of the Belgian settlement is the
tribute historian Holand paid them in 1933-a long time before the birth of women
history scholarship-when he commented that "the endurance of these Belgian women
is incredible."91 We learn from him, Krueger, and newspaper accounts, that it was
88
See Green Bay Advocate, 18 November 1858; Ibid., 5 July 1860; Green Bay Gazette, 17
October 1868.
89
Esther Willems Neuville, interview by author, Tape recording, Brussels, Wisconsin, 5
August 1997.
90
A newspaper reported that, "We noticed in our streets last Friday a Belgian girl on
horse-back with a man's saddle, and her feet in the stirrups-that is to say, not being over
delicate, she rode man fashion. On inquiry, she told us that her sister was very sick and that
she had come 7 miles to summon a physician. Think of it, ladies. How would you relish such
a ride of 14 miles? - Would the prospect of relieving the sufferings of a sick sister nerve you
to do it?" Green Bay Advocate, 2 July 1863.
91
Equally telling is the fact that, with the exception of a photograph of Father Daems
and three plat maps, the only illustration in Holand's book represents a woman carrying a
sack of grain on her head. See Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 51.
103
common for Belgian women to carry bushels [some 36 kilos] or heavier bags of wheat
to the mill.92 Krueger recounts,
At three o'clock in the morning she set out on the sixty-mile round trip, arriving at
the mill at about six o'clock in the late afternoon. With the other girls who came to
the mill she was given permission to sleep on gurmy sacks in the engine room, where
it was warm. The next day she was homeward bound with the precious bag of
flour, thinking nothing of the heavy burden.93
Later, as farmers acquired oxen, it would sometimes be the farmers' wives job to go
grind the grain at the mill.94

Whenever possible, women and children would engage in activities that would
bring additional revenues-however small-to the farm. In addition to making
shingles, Belgian girls would occasionally look for employment outside the family home
and take servant jobs in Green Bay.95 In the surruner, children and women would go
berry-picking and sell the product of their harvest, or barter it for groceries and other
necessities.96 As soon as their farm yielded marketable products, such as chickens,
92
Lillian Krueger, "Motherhood on the Wisconsin Frontier," Wisconsin Magazine of
History 29 (December 1945), 157. A reporter recounts a visit to the Belgian settlement where
he saw "the rudest structure imaginable. An overshot wheel turns one stone slowly, and the
bolting apparatus is propelled by a woman. She stood there patiently the day long, turning
the crank with one hand, and with the other supplying the screen with the unbolted flour."
See Green Bay Advocate, 23 September 1858.
93
Krueger, "Motherhood," 157.
94
Cordelie Jacqmot, Green Bay, to her brother and sister, 3 February 1863. Copy of the
95
Green Bay Advocate, 5 July 1860.
96
Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 60. Belgians were not the only berry-pickers for there
were also many Oneida squaws who sold berries in town: "Blackberries are uncommonly plenty
here this season, and are very large and delicious. - Immense quantities of them are brought
in every day by the Belgians and Oneida squaws, who sell them at 2 1/2 and 3 cents per quart,
and find a slow sale even at that price." See Green Bay Advocate, 2 September 1858.
104
women and children would take them to town, sometimes walking distances as long as
22 miles.97
As immigrants' living conditions seemed to finally improve, on 8 October 1871 a
disastrous fire ravaged parts of the Green Bay peninsula. Some 45 miles long and 15
miles wide, the "Peshtigo Fire," or lu grand fe, as Walloon settlers called it, swept the
entire Belgian rural settlement where it destroyed woods, barns, crops, and houses. In
all, approximately 175 people perished in the fire, and thousands were left homeless
and destitute. 98 As the Green Bay Advocate remarked, the result of many years of hard
work was up in flames in very little time.
Saved their bacon - A few miles of Williamsonville, was a settlement of fifteen

Belgian families. They were among the poorest. They came in three years ago and
put up log cabins. Most of them had a team, cheap farm utensils, and five or ten
acres of clearing. The fires for the last six weeks had been raging in the swamp that
almost surrounded them. As a work of precaution, they had dug holes in the
ground to bury their goods in case of emergency. When the tornado of Sunday
began to break over their dwellings, they hastily buried their bedding, clothing and
hams of bacon. Half an hour later every family but one was burned or smothered
in the flames. 99
While an ex.act death toll has never been established, it is clear that the fire did
much damage and took numerous lives in the Belgian communities. However~ thanks
to rapid national and international relief efforts which brought clothing, money, food,
97
Green Bay Advocate, 23 September 1858
98
Numbers are approximate due to the fact that sources do not agree on the death toll,
which ranges from about 150 (Green Bay Advocate, 2 November 1871; Algoma Record-Herald,
11 October 1951) to over 200 ( Holand, Wisconsin's Belgian, 61). The fire is usually called
"Peshtigo" for it is considered part of the 'Peshtigo Fire,' which raged on the other side of the
bay of Green Bay.
99
Green Bay Advocate, 2 November 1871.
105
and farm equipment to the area, reconstruction started immediately as settlers
"stoically tried to put their lives back together."100
Quite ironically, if the destruction of the forests caused the pioneers to lose what
had until then been one of their primary source of revenues, the fire also had some
immediate benefits, and it made more land available for fanning.101 In the winter of
1871-1872, in anticipation of spring construction, settlers recuperated logs from trees,
especially conifers, which, though stripped of their foliage and badly charred, were left
standing.102 Then, with the end of the lumber era, Belgian settlers turned their
attention strictly to farming, stock-raising, and dairying. 103 By 1874, three years after
the fire, Belgians were in better condition and circumstances than ever.10<l With new
and improved machinery, including stump-pulling machines, the settlers could clear
their fields more easily and produce bigger crops.105 Some of them also brick-veneered
their houses to make them more weather and fire resistant. As consul Ma tile observed
in 1879,
The uncultivated waste land in which the Belgian settlements were in times past
plung·e d are today transformed into communes or Towns where the farms, whose
good soil is well cultivated, now have good houses, barns and hangars [sheds], and
they are surrounded by good fences. The settlers' life will therefore be less hard in
the future, if not comfortable ....
. . . [The wood] industry, which enabled our settlers to reach their present
prosperous condition is no longer extant and they have no option but devote
l OO Joseph M. Moran and E. Lee Somerville, "Tornadoes of Fire at Williamsonville,

Wisconsin, October 8, 1871," Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, n.d., 29.
lOl Laatsch, "Wisconsin's Belgians," 501.

102
Laatsch, ibid.
103
Martin, "The Belgians," 391-392.
l04 Martin, "The Belgians," 392.

105
Martin, ibid.
106
themselves more assiduously and exclusively to agriculture, the development of

their farms, and the maintenance of their local roads.106
When the General Consul of Belgium to the United States wrote what was to be the
last significant consular report on the Belgian colony in Green Bay in 1894, there is no
doubt that the observations he made would have astounded Adolphe Poncelet. After
enumerating a number of flourishing Belgian businesses in the city of Green
Bay-"Belgians belong to the Green Bay upper class" [A Green Bay meme, les Belges
tiennent le haut du pave]-an elated P. Hagemans turned to the farmers in Door, Brown,
and Kewaunee counties, and reported that, for them,
choosing the Green Bay district has been a happy inspiration. The soil is good ...
fertile, and easy to work. Wheat, corn and sugar beet grow there admirably.
Clearing is easily done; the climate is healthy and resembles ours [in Belgium] with
the exception that fine days outnumber those in Belgium.
All things considered, for Belgians anxious to emigrate, Green Bay presents
advantages that would be difficult to find elsewh~re. To top it all, French, Flemish
101
and Walloon are heard everywhere in [the city].
Contrary to consular reports, life in Wisconsin's Belgian communities did not stop
in 1894, of course. Today, almost 150 years after the first Brabanfons emigrants set sail
for the United States and founded Aux Premiers Beiges, Brown, Door, and Kewaunee
counties still remain heavily populated with people of Belgian descent, and the area is
considered an ethnic and cultural island. In 1992, 80 percent of the farmland within
this island-about 150 square miles-was still owned by Americans of Belgian
descent, and the "Belgian population" was estimated at some 10,000 people. 108
106
G.E. Matile, Recueil Consulaire 25 (1879), 96-97.
107
P. Hagemans, Recueil Consulaire 86 (1894), 394-395.
108
William G. Laatsch and Charles F. Calkins, "Belgians in Wisconsin," in To Build in a
New Land. Ethnic Landscape in North America, ed. Allen G. Noble (Baltimore, 1992), 196.
Estimates vary widely given the difficulty in assessing what being "Belgian" is today. See
Lempereur, Les Wallons, 33.
107
ht seeking to assess the development of the Belgian community in northeastern
Wisconsin, several factors need to be taken into consideration. First, the early pioneers
probably never imagined that the small conununity they created in Wisconsin would
one day become the largest Walloon settlement outside Belgium. When they left their
homeland, their primary concerns were not so much to found a Walloon or a Belgian
colony in America as to improve their livelihoods, become proprietaires, cultivate their
own fannland, and most important, work freely and independently, as Charles Lhost
and other immigrants indicated in their letters. 109
However ardently they longed for freedom, though, the Belgians saw right from the
start that their independence could not be achieved without the support of their
families and the whole community. Each family member-male or female, young or
old-participated in the creation and development of the family farm according to his
or her physical abilities. When choosing marriage pariners, Belgians were also careful
to select someone who would be able to help with farm chores. Remarking on the work
that was left to do, Jean-Baptiste Leurquin wrote in 1886 that he had no fear for the
future, his wife [a Belgian] being an industrious worker ["ayant un bon travailleur de
femme"). 110 In fact, many of the emigrants were cautious enough to tie the knot before
leaving Belgium; and rather than marry outside the Belgian settlement, bachelors chose
to marry younger women in the colony.11 1 This preference for intermarriage, which
109
See I.host's letters of 1October1855, 1May1859, and 24 February 1869; Jacqrnot's
letters of 25 July 1859 and 3 February 1863. Also Jules Delvaux, Luxemburg, to his cousins,
Belgium, 24 March 1908. Copy of the letter in the hands of the Gilisse-Negre family,
Brussels, Belgium.
no Jean-Baptiste Leurquin, Humboldt, to his cousins, Belgium, 15 May 1886. Copy of the
letter in the hands of the Bertrand family, Temploux, Belgium.
111
Letters sent to Belgian friends and family who contemplated emigrating advised them
to get married before leaving the old country. "If you want to marry, you'd better get married
in Belgium since in America the only young girls left are between 14 and 15" (Marie-Josephine
Lacourt and Frarn;ois Tabordon, Robinsonville, to their mother, brothers and sisters, Belgium,
11 June 1866. Copy of the letter kept in Special Collections, University of Wisconsin, Green
Bay). Answering a letter from his godson seeking advice about marriage matters, Jean Lacourt
108
lasted many years after the arrival of the first settlers in Wisconsin,112 further
contributed to tighten the Belgian corrununity.
Little information is available at this time on the emphasis given collective work in
Belgium in the years that preceded emigration. But in view of the fact that most
immigrants were peasants or small farmers who tilled less than one acre of land, or
independent artisans, it is conceivable that the individuals who settled in Wisconsin

had very little experience of rural travail collectif. Therefore, it was something that they
had to learn or invent on the spot to increase their chances of survival, as consul
Henrotin observed in 1859. The most public manifestation of esprit de corps was
undoubtedly the 1858 en bloc vote by the Belgian settlers, but there were many
additional, more subtle ways in which inunigrants manifested their solidarity and
helped one another to overcome hardships. "Our cow gave birth in the field, like it
often happens here," wrote Josephine Boumonville in 1873. She continued,
Our pigs are very nice. They roll in the fields from morning till night. And we are
not surprised if we don't see them for 15 days in a row.... And it is the same for
our cows. They come back in the morning and in the evening for milking, and then
they disappear. They carry bells around their necks, and when they all come back
at the same time, they sound just like Saint Aubain's carillon.113
wrote: "Joseph ... like our son Desire [would] marry if they could find young women, but they
are too rare here at present" (Jean Lacourt, Green Bay, to his godson, Belgium, 18 June 1866.
Copy of the letter kept in Special Collections, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay). Girls
entered marriage at a much younger age than in Belgium: "Girls marry very young ... because
jn America the future is beautiful, and people are not scared of marrying young. Girls here are
married by [the age of] 15, and they are mothers by [the age of]16; young women wh0 are not
married by the age of 20 are very rare" (Dieudonne Rollin to his parents in Belgium, 30
September 1863. Copy of the letter kept in Special Collections, University of Wisconsin,
Green Bay.)
112
By 1860, the community of Red River counted 149 Belgian households out of a total of
153 (97.4 percent). By 1880, 225 households out of 257 (87.6 %) were still of pure Belgian stock.
113
Josephine Boumonville, Humboldt, Wisconsin, to her mother, Mrs. Moussebois, 16
August 1873. Copy of the letter in the hands of the Bertrand family, Temploux, Belgium.
109
Whether Josephine's cows were unusually musical or Josephine had a bad memory need
not concern us directly here. What is, however, of importance to us is the information
that hogs and cattle were not fenced-off or kept in the farm's cowshed or pigsty, but
rather left to roam freely in common areas. This tends to indicate that, contrary to the
practice of peasants and farmers in the old country, Wisconsin's Belgian farmers were
partaking in collective property or holding. The esprit de corps that prevailed among
Belgians is also revealed by the fact that while there were "prominent families" within
the colony, there was no "individual leader." 114 As KahJert and Quinlan explain, "this
curious failure to acknowledge and identify leadership grew out of a strong 'clan'
feeling among the Belgians. The family was so all-important that anyone who might
attempt to rise above the group was not regarded with favor." 115
Religious faith was yet another building block of the community. Pondering the
reasons why the settlers had remained in Wisconsin after the Peshtigo fire of 1871,
Holand suggested that,
Perhaps, first of all, it was the sturdy manhood characteristic of pioneers; then,
probably, it was a sanguine hope of ultimate prosperity; finally the fatalism of their
religion carried them onward:- What happened was foreordained by God, and
His will they accepted submissively, but not dejectedly. 116
It is true that not all Belgians who moved to Wisconsin were Catholics. And it is true
also that in the late 1870s and 1880s Spiritualism and the Old Catholic Church
attracted a small group of followers in the Belgian community, including Charles Lhost
and two of his daughters who became spiritualists around 1880.117 But for the
114
John M. Kahlert and Albert Quinlan Pioneer Cemeteries, Door Co1111ty, Wisconsin
(Baileys Harbor, Wis., 1981), 194.
115
Ibid.
116
117
Charles Lhost, to his nephew, Belgium. n.d. [1880], Copy of the letter kept in SpeciaJ
Collections, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.
110
majority of the Roman Catholic pioneers, faith in God was what gave them the
inconunensurable strength to persevere. When the power of faith and the
understandillg of community values combined, they could bring Belgians to carry their
deceased neighbors over as many as thirty miles in the midst of winter so that they
would rest in consecrated ground. There is also little doubt that the faith of the
Belgians was fortified by the belief that the Virgin Mary had appeared on three
occasions in 1859 to a young Belgian girl by the name of Adele Brice. Though some
settlers at first doubted the veracity of Adele's story, their skepticism subsided after
the Peshtigo Fire miraculously spared the chapel and convent which had been built in
Robinsonville (where the apparitions took place) in honor of the Virgin Mary .118
Finally, Belgians' credence and their hunger for spiritual guidance come through in the
many immigrant letters in which settlers attribute their success to the help they received
from God, inform their families of the availability of religious services in the settlement,
reassure them that their Catholic faith has remained unaltered, and ask that additional
Belgian priests be sent to Wisconsin along vvith missals, vespers and hymn books.11 9
Religious services were also organized in the settlement as soon as the pioneers got
settled-even though there was no church at the time. In time, churches and roadside
chapels were built on private land donated by parishioners, and settlers began
celebrating religious feasts like they did in Belgiurn. 120
118
The Catholic Church officially recognized these apparitions in 1880. See Lempereur,
Les Wallons, 47.
119
See, for instance, Joseph Baudhuin, Brussels, Wisc., to his family, Belgium, 10 March
1878. Copy of the letter in the hands of Jean Ducat, Biesme-Mettet, Belgium. See also
Josephine Boumonville, Humboldt, Wisc., to her brother and sister, Belgium, June 1872. Copy
of the letter in the hands of the Bertrand family, Temploux, Belgium; and Jules Delvaux's
letter of 24 March 1908.
120
The feast of the Assumption on 15 August, for instance, has been celebrated since 1861.
ln 1953, some 15,000 people gathered for the pilgrimage. Lempereur, Les Wallons, 47.
111
Belgian customs and practices brought from the old country also had a significant
influence on the development of the farming community, and they played an important
role in reinforcing cultural ties among inunigrants. Unlike many other ethnic groups, the
Walloon immigrants in Wisconsin never had a newspaper of their own.121 Thus
community members had to develop a myriad of strategies to perpetuate their ethnic
traditions and native customs. When examining the ways in which Belgian agricultural
practices affected Wisconsin's Belgian farmers in the Red River settlement, for instance,
it appeared that in the years that followed their arrival, Belgian farmers cultivated the
soil according to farming patterns that resembled those in the old country, planting
mostly crops with which they were familiar. As immigrants became better acquainted
with the soil and the crops, and as they became more familiar with market
opportunities, they adjusted their patterns of cultivation to their new needs. However,
if by 1880 Red River Belgian farmers had modified their production mixes compared to
what they had been in 1860, their farming patterns still showed cultural differences
compared to those of other North American farmers. In 1880, Belgian farmers raised
more wheat and hogs than non-Belgian farmers in the settlement-products or animals
with which they were familiar in Belgium- and they raised less corn and fewer sheep
than the non-Belgian farmers in Red River.122 In 1887, the Green Bay Advocate reported
121
The only hint that a Walloon newspaper might have existed comes from an account in
the Bay City Press (17 November 1860) stating, "WANTED an interpreter to translate a paper
written in an unknown language (some words of which look like French patois) which is now
being circulated among the Belgian settlers of the town of Green Bay. The said paper
purporting to have been printed at the Green Bay Advocate office, and headed with the little
Dodgers picture and the regular Democratic ticket seems to be intended as a kind of political
document. Democrats need not apply and are generally objected to an accotmt of the contempt
with which they profess for French spelling, French gender, French grammer [sic] etc. Terms
very liberal. Address, Republican Committee of the Town of Green Bay." A careful analysis of
the Green Bay Advocate, and other contemporary local newspapers did not provide
additional information denying or confirming the existence of a Walloon newspaper. If such a
paper did indeed exist, it must have been short-lived, and copies have not yet been made
available for research.
122
Sheep holdings were not common in Brabant Wallon or the Province of Namur by the
time the immigrants left Belgium in the mid-nineteenth century. Only 10 percent of Belgian
112
that Belgian farmers had formed an association for the cultivation of flax and
manufacture of linen goods in Brown county. The "foreign farmers," being thoroughly
familiar with all the processes of manufacture, raising and curing of flax, the
newspaper added, they will need no instruction.123 Later in 1903, it was reported
that Belgian farmers in Brown county were taking a great interest in sugar beets,
"having had experience in raising these beets in their own country."124
Flax and sugar beets are what historian Terry Jordan calls 'cultural rebounds,' that
is, imported traits which were absent in the first years of settlement, but reappeared 5,
10, and even 20 or 30 years later. 125 Other cultural rebounds were the kermesse and red
brick, a building material that prevails in Belgium and which Belgians chose to veneer
their houses or build new constructions after the Peshtigo fire of 1871.126 Kermesses and
other celebrations such as Saint Nicolas's day did not just ease the homesickness of the
immigrants, as Green Bay consul Masse observed in 1862, they also maintained the
cohesion within the Belgian settlement while delaying penetration of outside forces and
influences. 127 In 1880, for instance, almost 30 years after the first pioneers had
arrived in the country, the Belgians of Wisconsin celebrated the SOth anniversary of the
farmers raised com in Red River, while 55 percent of native farmers grew it; in average,
native farmers grew twice as much com as Belgian farmers [38.S bushels vs. 16.4 bushels]). See
Monique Berlier, "Very Much Like Belgians, Only More So" (Unpublished research paper,
The University of Iowa, 1995), 27-30. A newspaper report commented on the small production
of com in the Belgian settlement in a similar way. See Green Bay Advocate, 22 September
1877.
123
Green Bay Advocate, 27 January 1887.
124
Green Bay Advocate, 26 November 1903.
125
Terry G. Jordan, Gennan Seed in Texas Soil. Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth-Century
Texas (Austin, 1966), 199.
126
As mentioned, the fust kennesse did not happen until 1858, three years after the first
pioneers arrived. See Laatsch and Calkins, "Belgians," 198-199.
127
De Volksstem, 3 December 1890.
113
independence of Belgium with a variety of events, including an open air festival,
processions, speeches, and a variety of native games and foods.
Yet, it may be that the most important factor of cohesion within the Belgian
settlement was Walloon patois. ''Belgian," as Belgian-Americans now call the
language, was used at home, at work, among children at school, and in church, and it
was the glue which cemented the community together while keeping outsiders at a
distance.128 In June 1884, some 30 years after the first immigrants had arrived, an
article in Sturgeon Bay's Weekly Expositor commenting on the 'Dakota' fever which had
affected several of the oldest farmers in the area observed,
We are sorry to see our old residents leaving thus. Now if the places vacated by
those who leave or are intending to leave would be filled up by English speaking
people, such a change would be for the benefit of the town. Not that the Belgians
are an indolent class of people, but situated as they are here, without the
intercourse of any other nationality than themselves, they retain all their old
customs, and instead of becoming Americanized as they would if a heterogeneous
class of people were here, they are... very much like Belgians, only more so
[emphasis mine]. The consequence is that there are a good many youn9:Jersons,
bom and brought up here, who are unable to speak a word of English.
The situation had not much improved by the time General Consul Hagemans wrote
his report in 1894. In 1908, Jules Delvaux wrote'his Belgian cousins that he would not
write to them in English because he "never wanted to learn it." All he could manage,
he continued, was to say a few words in English when business made it necessary. By
the early 1950s, there were some Belgians who still could not speak any language but
French or Walloon. Even though Walloon has lost ground in the last two decades, it is
128
French was used mostly in written documents, while Walloon was the spoken language
in the community. By the end of the nineteenth century, bilingual education had stopped and
children were taught in English solely. In fact, children were punished (sometimes harshly)
for speaking Walloon at school. See oral history project interviews with Frank Ausloos and
Frank Jilot.
129
Weekly Expositor, 6 June 1884.
114
still being used by some older Belgian-Americans today. As to those who converse in
English, an observer remarked in 1990 that they speak with a 'Belgian' accent. 130
As consul Hagemans wrote his last report on the Belgian colony in Wisconsin in the
mid-1890s, inunigrant letters became less frequent or less personal as individuals on

both sides of the Atlantic passed away or slowly lost touch with one another. \Vhile
local newspapers kept commenting on the Belgian population, by the tum of the
century, they had by and large stopped referring to them by their specific nationality.
It is during that era, however, that individuals in the Belgian conununity started using
cameras and documenting themselves and their community pictorially. In a way, one
could argue that the photographs they took pick up the chronicling of their history
where the heretofore mentioned traditional written sources stopped. Chapters four
and five examine the imagery created by these amateur photographers and other
photographic artists in the area.
130
Donald W. Lannouth, "Belgian English in Wisconsin's Door Peninsula," Kansas Quarterly
22 no.3 (Fall 1990), 135-41.
115
CHAPTER FOUR
PHOTOGRAPHS AS HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
Commenting on a historian's remark that nineteenth century German-speaking
women might work out in the fields, but were reluctant to wear men's clothing to do so,
Linda Schelbitzki Pickle observed,
It would be interesting to know if immigrant women in rural areas, removed from

the pressure to conform to American women's fashions, retained the midcalf skirts
from their homelands for field and yard work. 1
Though legitimate, Schelbitzki Pickle's interrogation is singular because it gives the
feeling that the research material she used for her book did not answer the question she
asked. Yet Contented Among Strangers has two pictorial inserts totaling 15 historical
photographs, some of which are relevant to her query. Schelbitzki Pickle's failure to
consider photographs as informative sources is by no means an isolated case, as
suggested in chapter one, but rather represents the prevailing attitude within her
profession.
This chapter examines how photographs can be used as evidence in historical
research. It uses photographs taken in a Belgian community in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries and shows how the imagery can challenge previously held
assumptions, reinforce knowledge obtained through different sources, contribute novel
information, or provide new avenues for historical research. While photographic
imagery constitutes the core data in the chapter, census records, photo-interviews with
the picture holders and farmers in Belgium, historical photographs from Belgium, and
1
Linda Schelbitzki Pickle, Contented Among Strangers. Rural German-Speaking Women and
Their Families in tlte Nineteenth-Centun; Midwest (Urbana, 1996), 264.
116
other historical sources are sometimes used to provide supplementary information on
the images. After answering the question raised by Schelbi tzki Pickle in terms of
Belgian immigrants, this chapter uses photographs to probe a variety of issues related to
etlmicity, gender, assimilation, work, technology, values, relationships, community,
culture, and religion. As mentioned in chapter three, the photographs constitute
important sources of information because they pick up the Belgian immigrants' story
where the written sources are missing or simply die away. While photographs are
always contemporary with their subjects at the moment they are taken, some of their
components can be flashbacks that shed a revealing light on past events and cultural
patterns which may or may not have been recorded otherwise. Specifically, the
photographs continue or complete the written accounts that were previously provided
by consular reports, immigrant letters, local and regional newspapers, and they fill some
of the gaps left by census records.

Looking at figures 21, 22, and 23, one would be hard-pressed to say whether they
were taken in rural Wisconsin or Belgium.
Figure 21. Frank and Mary Martin in farm yard (BEL)

117
In figure 21, Frank and Mary Martin stand in the midst of their Rosiere (Wisconsin)
farm yard circa 1905-1910. The couple wears native work clothes: she, a long skirt, an
apron, a blouse and a scarf; he, an undershirt, a shirt, pants held by suspenders, and a
hat. The pipe in his mouth also refers to an Old World cultural habit. The clothes look
well worn, but they are probably comfortable and achieve their purpose on a farm.
While the chickens are feeding, the farm dog solicits a pat-and perhaps a kind
word-from his master. If Frank chooses to talk to his dog, there is no doubt that he will
do so in Walloon-Frank's native tongue and the only language he speaks even though
he has lived in Wisconsin for more than 50 years. 2 It is difficult to see what kind of
shoes Mary wears on figure 21, but figure 22 (March 1919) clearly shows her sabots as
she stands pumping water for her small herd of cattle.
Figure 22. Mary Martin pumping water (BEL)
2
Fran~ois Martin was nine years old when his parents, Jean-Frarn;ois and Marie J. Therese
emigrated from Grand-Leez (Belgium) to Wisconsin in 1856 with his five brothers and sisters. By
1910 Frank, who never learned how to read and write, could only speak 'Belgian.' His wife,
Mary, who had emigrated in 1870, could read and write, but she could do so in 'Belgian' only
(Ducat, Namurois, 1995; Door Coun ty, Wisc. United States Census, 1910, manuscript census, State
Historical Society of Wisconsin).
118
The wooden shoes keep her feet very warm in the snow, and, because of the cold
weather, she wears a jacket on top of her long skirt, blouse, and apron. The fact that the
cows have not been dehomed further points to an Old World husbandry custom. The
bases of the wooden posts used for hanging pails, buckets, or other containers dry, are
partially buried under almost one foot of snow.3 The only indications that the
photograph may have been taken elsewhere than in the homeland come from the pump,
whose style differs from those extant in Belgium, and the design of the fence, which may
or may not be consistent with the kind of wire fence available in the Old Country at the
time. Based on the dress code of the farm woman shown on figure 23-skirt, blouse,
scarf, apron and old jacket (possibly a man's jacket)-it would also be difficult to assess
with certainty if the photograph was taken in Belgium or on a Wisconsin immigrant
farm.
Figure 23. Woman with pail (BEL)
While we don't know if the woman used the pail for feed, water, or milk, the
photograph reveals the home-made quality of the fences and fence post. It is possible
that the building with the three visible windows is the cow shed (the windows
3
See figure 150.
119
providing some light during the day) and that the building to the right is a barn. In that
case, the wooden sidewalk behlnd the farm woman would logically go from the cow
shed to the farmhouse (not represented on the photograph), and it would help the
family keep their feet dry or less messy when crossing the field from the house to the
shed. The photographs of Joseph and Virginie Laurent on their Champion homestead
(figs. 24 and 25) provide further evidence that Belgian immigrants retained Old Country
clothing customs after they moved to Wisconsin. 4
Figure 24. Virginie Laurent (SER) Figure 25. Joseph Laurent (SER)
Photographs also reveal that the dress code differed slightly among generations of
immigrants. If older immigrant males wore outfits to which they were
accustomed-mostly pants and shlrts, like Old Country farmers did- younger males
are seen wearing overalls, an 'American farm uniform' that was not used by Belgium's
farmers at the time.5 Like the older male farmers shown in figures 21 and 25, the older
4
Additional evidence is provided in several photographic collections in the Belgian
community, including the Mallien, Wautier, Bellin, Janquart, Thiry, Simonar, and Nellis.
5
Even today, Belgian farmers wear shirts and pants-and not overalls-when working on
the farm. The only exception are the coveralls which they don when they engage in unusually
dirty work.
120
men portrayed on figures 26 and 27 wear shirt and pants, and sometimes a waistcoat,
while younger males don overalls.
Figure 26. Auguste Fontaine and family (TIE)
Figure 27. Frarn;ois Petigniot's farmstead (DER)
As time went by, overalls became more prominent in the immigrant farming
community, and they were worn indiscriminately by males or (younger) females, as

121
shown for instance on figures 28, 29, 33, 37, and 41. It is worth noting that a majority of
farmers wear overalls on top of regular trousers (see, for instance, figs. 28 and 30). It is
not clear if the latter replaced the traditional long tmderwear, or if they were worn on
top of it, but there is no doubt that the extra layer provided additional warmth and
protection, be it to farmers working outdoors or children going to school in the winter
time.
Figure 28. Pascal and Fabian Wautlet

with horses and dog (BEL)
Figure 29. Elsie Wautlet and Catherine Figure 30. Fred Martin (BEL)
Willems in vegetable garden (BEL)
122
Chapter three argued that children and women contributed their full share to the
development of the immigrant family farm during the second half of the nineteenth
century. Photographs collected in the Belgian community suggest that if parents still
expected their children to help out on the farm, they also valued formal schooling. At
first, parents obtained copies of 'official' school pictures, which were usually mounted
on thick pieces of cardboard. As photography became more widely available, they also
photographed their children at school or on their way to school (figs. 31and32).
Figure 31. Elsie Wautlet, Figure 32. Michiels children leaving

school girl (BEL) for school (MIC)
The big grin on Elsie Wautlet's face (fig. 31, ca. 1918) conveys the feeling that she is
proud to be photographed in her school girl personage, and it seems reasonable to
suggest that the five Michiels children (fig. 32) were not photographed because of their
shabby clothes but rather because they were school children. Unlike other youths who
123
sometimes missed school to help their parents with farm work, the Michielses rarely
did. For instance, Norman (the second boy to the right of the photograph) went through
eight years of school and never missed a day. Like his 12 brothers and sisters, he would
do his chores before he left for school in the morning, and when he came home in the
afternoon. 6
On account of the technical difficulty of photographing people at work, it is not
surprising that many of the images do not show individuals in the midst of action, but
rather portray them as they interrupt their activity long enough for the photographer to
snap their picture. Judging from the stains on Pearline Fontaine's apron and her
younger brother's overall, it appears that the two youths interrupted the dirty farm
work they were engaged in to be photographed with the rest of the Belgian Flemish
family around 1912 (fig. 26). By hanging around or working with family and
community members of the same sex, boys and girls could also learn the jobs they
would later do, be it sawing, harvesting, or collecting eggs (figs. 33, 34 and 80).
Figure 33. Threesome (TIE)
6
Similar imagery can be found in several collections, including the Neuville, Thiry, Bellin,
Andre, Wautier, Destree, and Nellis.
124
Figure 34. Sawing firewood (BEL)
George Wautlet and Fabian Lacrosse have accompanied their fathers, uncles, and great-
uncle Joe Wautlet to saw firewood in the farmyard (fig. 34). When families were large,
as was often the case, elder daughters were expected to provide care for their younger
siblings. Not much differentiates Leona Michiels from her mother (fig. 35).
Figure 35. Ida Michiels and children by 1936 Chevy (MIC)
They sit close to one another, each holding a younger child while six of the remaining
10 children are spread alongside the family's 1936 Chevrolet. Although she is only 16
years old, Leona wears the same kind of clothes as her mother, while her brothers and
125
sisters are dressed in more practical outfits. 7 Leona's two older sisters and her older
brother were old enough to go get a job in Green Bay (doing housework for other
people or working in the canning factory) and their relative financial independence
probably constituted a welcome respite for a large family living in the midst of the
Great Depression. Considering the size of the Michiels family and the fact that Leona's
mother worked in the barn and in the fields, Leona stayed home and helped raise her
nine younger brothers and sisters. Contrary to her siblings, she never went to high
school. Like them, however, she graduated from eighth grade and attended local 4-H
Club meetings. The organization taught young farmers skills that the U.S. Department
of Agriculture thought would benefit them in their future occupations on the farm (fig.
36).
Figure 36. "4-H Club" (MIC)
While girls learned how to sew, bake, and take general care of the household, boys
were instructed in traditional male chores. Norman, Arnold, and Robert Michiels, ready
to leave for the Brown County Fair, show off the calves they are responsible for (fig. 37).
Although farming technology had become more elaborate by the 1940s, the Belgian-
7
Missing from the family portrait are Leona's older sisters Florence and Marie, her brothers
Robert and Earl, and her father, but the shadow of the latter is seen on the snow. Robert can be at
the right of figure 37; Earl can be seen on figures 124 and 126.
126
American farm was still dependent on family for big operations such as threshing (fig.
38). Some of the youth pictured on the photograph are not preteen, and yet they share
responsibilities and are brought in as part of the labor force.
Figure 37. Getting ready for the Brown County Fair (MIC)
Figure 38. Threshing crew at the Chaudoir farm (CHA)
In the Fontaine homestead photograph (fig. 26), the relative cleanliness of the clothes
worn by Pearline's grand-mother, mother, and older sister Sarah (Sadie] indicates that
on the day the photograph was taken, at least, the women worked mostly in the house.
127
But women's work was not always confined to household chores. In fact, the
photographs provide compelling evidence that if Belgian women performed the more
traditional household and child care customary to farm women, such as gardening or
doing laundry (figs. 29 and 39), they also continued to do the heavy field work and
traditional male duties their foremothers did.
..·o· ~
"J"~~
Figure 39. Doing laundry (BEL)
Figure 40. "Old Fred" GAU)
Of the four teams of horses plowing a field (fig. 40), the third one is led by a woman.
Her hat, long sleeves and stockings suggest she is trying to protect herself from the sun.
128
We do not know what chore Sarah Vandertie Martin was performing before she briefly
posed in front of the horse carriage (fig. 41), but her well-worn hands indicate that,
despite her young age, she is used to doing more than household work. While the scarf
around her neck denotes some feminine refinement, the shoes and the overalls she is
wearing look like a man's attire rather than a woman's1 and the holes, stains, and
patches on her overall point to heavy manual work.
Figure 41. Sarah Vandertie Martin (BEL)
There is little doubt that even with the help of a horse and stone boat, picking up
rocks from the field must have been a strenuous task for Helen Wautlet, a young woman
of about 17 years old with polio (fig. 42). Yet, some of the uplands in Door, Brown, and
129
Kewaunee counties rested on a foundation of lime-stone rock which had to be cleared
before farming. 8
Figure 42. Helen Wautlet and stone boat (BEL)
Some 10 years after the family photograph had been taken (fig. 26), Pearline
Fontaine-now married to Frank Tielens-Sadie, and their sister Evelyn were still
helping on the farm (figs. 43, 44, and 45).
Figure 43. Pearline and Frank Tielens with load of feed (TIE)
8
Chas I. Martin, Histortj of Door County, Wisconsin (Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, 1881), 9; A. R.
Whitson et al, Soil Survey of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin (Madison, 1914), 14; idem, Soil Survey of
Door County, Wisconsin (Madison, 1919), 15-17.
130
Figure 43 does not depict Pearline at work, but the load of feed and the fact that she and
Frank are outdoors on what appears to be a very cold winter day tend to indicate that
their presence in the yard is motivated by work, rather than pleasure. We do not know
exactly what Evelyn and her team of horses are pulling on the sleigh, but the snow
tracks indicate that they have made the trip several times (fig. 44). While the
photograph (fig. 45) portraying Sadie with what could be a pail of feed or water was
taken only a few years later than figure 23, it looks as though the Walloon (and
somewhat older) woman held on to the old ways much more fiercely than the younger
Flemish farm woman did.
Figure 44. Evelyn Fontaine with Figure 45. Sadie Fontaine in

team of horses (TIE) farm yard(TIE)
The cross-over between gender-based farm labor is evident in other photographs as
well. Since Donat Willems worked off the farm to bring in additional income, the
running of the homestead was mostly left to his wife Ida and their children. Figure 46
131
commemorates the visit "cousin Francis" paid to the Willems family in the summer of
1927. Seated on a fence pole, Francis is easily recognizable by his 'city clothes.'
Figure 46. Donat Willems and family (NEU)
Although the two boys wear overalls on top of their good outfits, Ida is the only
farmer fully dressed in work clothes. The photograph was taken on a Sunday, and
Donat (on the left) did not go to the barn but rather stayed with the visitor. This was
his last photograph. One year later, he was killed while crushing stone on his outside
job, and Ida was left with eight children to raise, and a farm to manage on her own.
Figure 47. Annie and Edm~d Ledoux shocking grain (LEC)

132
If shocking grain, feeding the hay loader or the threshing machine are not difficult
tasks per se, there is no doubt that by the end of the day, they would have tired out
Annie and Lema Ledoux, as well as Augustine Martin (figs. 47, 48, and 49).
Figure 48. Lema Ledoux threshing (LEC)
Figure 49. Augustine Martin, George Wautlet, and

Eunice Wautlet with load of hay (BEL)
At times, teams working in the fields comprised more females than males (figs. 49
and 50), and women performed male jobs that could be quite unpleasant, as the
133
photograph showing Laura Delveaux unloading malodorous com silage from a chopper
wagon suggests (fig. 51).
Figure 50. Threshing at the Wautlets (BEL)
Figure 51. Laura Delveaux and friend

unloading silage (DELL)
134
It is true that some of these women performed lighter operations (such as Eunice Wautlet
driving the tractor [fig. 49] ), but, as the case with nineteenth century women, their
participation was crucial to the development and maintenance of the family farm.
The clothes people wore when performing their everyday chores, as well as their
stances, differ clearly from those they donned when posing for more formal portraits.
Pascal Wautlet, the farmer in overalls standing on the right (fig. 28) looks quite different
from the more polished young man shown in his 1902 wedding picture, even though the
groom's dusty shoes and his farmer's tan allude to the fact that he might be employed in
agricultural pursuits (fig. 52).
Figure 52. Zelle and Pascal Wautlet's

wedding picture (BEL)
Similarly, 20-year old bride Zelie bears little resemblance to the woman feeding
chickens from a small pail that probably contains kitchen scraps, the yet older
135
woman holding the rope that goes to the hayloft, and the elderly woman spinning raw
wool in her yard (figures 53, 50, and 54).
Figure 53. Zelie Wautlet feeding chickens (BEL)
Figure 54. Zelie Wautlet spinning wool (BEL)
As noted in chapter one, vernacular photographs are useful because of their ability
to shed light on activities typically unrecorded by more official imagery, or release
information unavailable, or not yet accessible from more traditional sources. In this
particular case, the photographs reveal that Zelie performed traditional female
136
household activities such as feeding chickens, and spinning. The number of chickens
further suggests that Zelie might have brought additional revenues to the family farm by
raising hens and selling chickens and eggs, while her spinning wool points to the
possibility that the family may have raised sheep. This impression is strengthened by
several photographs in the same collection that depict family members, including her son
George, and grand-daughters Darlene and Gwendoline, bottle-feeding two lambs (fig.
182).9
Studio photographs or more formal portraits can also shed light on the lives of their
subjects. Though Pascal and Zelie could afford to have their wedding picture taken and
made obvious efforts to look their best for the occasion, the simplicity of the bride's
dress, the groom's well worn shoes, and the fact that only Zelie has a wedding band
suggest that the young couple was probably not very wealthy. It could be that Zehe
used the wedding band to make her new social status known. On the other hand, the
home-made quality of her dress and the fact that Pascal may have renounced a wedding
band for practical reasons (rings and wedding bands can hinder work and sometimes
endanger individuals performing manual work) could also point to the down-to-earth
attitude of a young couple who, while solemnizing their union by means of an official
photograph, was unwilling to go through unnecessary expenses for the occasion.
Similarly, the fact that Eben Bellin's forehead (the man standing on the left [fig. 55])
does not have the farmer's tan which 'clearly' shows on his brothers' and father's
foreheads leads one to query whether or not he was farming. And we learn from family
members that being of a weaker constitution, Eben did not farm but instead worked in a
factory. In addition to suggesting what the subjects' occupations might be, the facial
expressions of the Bellins, especially the way wrinkles developed on the parents' faces,
9
As mentioned in chapter three, few Belgian-American farmers raised sheep. Out of the
some 2,500 images I have examined for this project, only a handful-from the same family
collection-depict sheep.
137
convey the impression that these people have had a good life, even though they are not
flashing it ostentatiously. The women may wear jewelry, but they wear little of it, and it
is anything but flashy. With their polished shoes and their clean and carefully pressed
suits, the men look handsome, not boastful.
Figure 55. John Bellin, Jenny Bellin, and children (MONF)
Figure 56. Ida Willems and children (NEU)

138
In another family portrait comparable to that of the Bellins, the Willems children
surround their mother some 20 years after the accidental death of her husband Donat
(figure 56 ). Here again, the farmer's tan is apparent on Joe's face (the man on the left),
but not on his brother Homer, a school teacher (standing in the middle). The small
crucifixes Ida and her daughter Catherine wear around their necks attest to their faith,
not their wealth.
In comparison with the serene joy emanating from the Bellins' photograph, that of
Celine Sonvaux-Jeanquart and her daughter Charlotte expresses sorrow, a mood made
evident by the mother's mourning veil (fig. 57).
Figure 57. Celine Sonvaux Jeanquart Figure 58. Eugene and Celine Jeanquart
and daughter, Charlotte OANQ) OANQ)
Judging from Celine's face, there is little doubt that she was distraught by the passing of
her husband, Eugene, in 1909. Based on the size of the hands of the young woman
139
standing besides her mother, it is likely that Charlotte was working hard on her parents'
farm. The photograph was taken in 1909 or 1910, but the outdated style of the women's
attire, as well as the fact that Charlotte's sleeves are too short for her arms, suggest that
they were somewhat old-fashioned or did not care much about fashion, an impression
supported by the poorly fitting skirt Celine wears on a previous photograph taken with
her then living husband (fig. 58).
Judging from correspondence exchanged between family members in Belgium and
Wisconsin (including Cordelie Jacqmot's letters)10 friends and family members on both
sides of the Atlantic were anxious to receive photographic portraits. To people in

Wisconsin, however, going to the city to have one's portrait taken was quite an
undertaking-one that could be postponed many times due to lack of time, opportunity,
or money. On at least three occasions between 1883 and 1888, Cordelie Jacqmot
promises to send portraits of her husband and son, but then explains that too much
work has prevented them from making the special trip to Green Bay. While she did
send photographs of her daughter Frarn;oise and son Louis, it appears that her husband
did not manage to get to the photographic studio on time, and the only memento family
members in Belgium ever received of him was his mortuary card in 1888.
At times, however, farmers took advantage of the passing of itinerant photographers
through their neighborhood. As in the case of the Fontaine photograph (fig. 26), it is
highly probable that an itinerant photographer, rather than a family or community
member, immortalized the Bertrand family as they posed in front of their log cabin in
1887 or 1888 (fig. 59). Despite its formality, the photograph reveals important clues
about the cultural values and lived experiences of the young couple and their three
children. The fact that John ties his bow according to nineteenth century Belgian men's
fashion, and that his wife Isabelle most probably sewed the matching outfits of her
lO See chapter three. Other references to photographic portraits can be found in the Folon
and Gilisse family correspondence.
140
daughters Sarah and Octavia, points to a certain conservatism in the Bertrand
household. However, the fact that the parents (or at least the mother) made dresses of
little practical value for the children also indicates a certain pride. Looking at the face of
the 27-or 28-year old mother, we are led to believe that people in the Belgian community
did indeed age rapidly, a condition most often ensuing from excessive work and the
bearing of many children. 11
Figure 59. Bertrand family by log house Figure 60. Mary Martin's "official"
GANO) portrait (BEL)
Like Mary Martin (fig. 60), the young couple uses photography to project an ideal,
formalized portrait of themselves and their children. We do not know if Mary's
photograph was taken by an itinerant artist short of painted backdrops, or a family
11
See Consul Adolphe Poncelet's report of 22September1855 in chapter three. Immigrants
themselves wrote family members that individuals in Wisconsin aged faster than people in
Belgium. See Constant Depas, Casco, Wis., to his brother, Belgium, 21 March 1910. Copy of the
letter in the hands of Jean Ducat, Belgium.
141
member with some knowledge in portrait photography, but the photographer has seated
the subject in front of a light cloth or sheet, and Mary has obviously dressed up for the
occasion.12
A commonality running through these posed portraHs is that while some of the
information they contain is intentional, some of it is not. The size of Mary Martin's
hands and wrists, for example, bears witness to the fact that she was a manual worker.
By posing for their wedding picture, Zelie and Pascal Wautlet made a social statement
regarding their newly acquired marital status. But they probably never intended to
advertise the state of their personal finances. It is equally doubtful that John Bertrand
made his bow tie the way he did to make a cultural statement, and that his wife Isabelle
dressed her daughters with nice satin or taffeta dresses to show how talented a
seamstress she was. Yet, the bow and the dresses unintentionally disclose information
about the individuals portrayed.
The way people position themselves on photographs can also reveal important clues
as to their standing within the family. Celine Jeanquart is standing beside her seated
husband (fig. 58), but she is the one sitting down next to her standing daughter after his
death, a sure sign that she is now the head or the most respected member of the family
(fig. 57). Contrary to many wedding pictures of the era where one of the individuals sits
while the other stands up, Pascal and Zelie Wautlet have chosen to stand next to each
other, a posture which might signal that they enter the marriage on equal terms or as
equal partners. However, the composition of figure 27 clearly indicates that Frarn;ois
Petigniot (one of the original settlers mentioned in chapter three), is the most prominent
figure of the group. He is seated on a chair, surrounded by two standing women while
two younger men, including his son Arthur, lie on the grass at his feet. By posing their
hands on Frarn;ois's shoulders, his second wife Marie (on his right) and daughter Minnie
12
For informal photographs of Mary in her work clothes, see figures 21, 22, 78. 79, and 80.
142
reverentially designate him as the family's patriarch. Similarly, the elderly couple's
central position on figure 26 indicates their respected status within the Fontaine family.
Contrary to studio portraits where individuals appear in a staged setting, the
photographs of the Fontaine, Petigniot, and Thiry families (figs. 26, 27, and 59
respectively) were taken in natural surroundings. While the composition of a
photograph or the demeanor of its subjects may at times be suggested or imposed by the
photographer-in figure 26 it seems as though Auguste Fontaine, the man on the left,
was reminded at the last minute to take his hat off-posed photographs taken in a
nahtral or home environment often contain elements which can add to the knowledge
we have of the people portrayed. Looking at the elaborate brick work of the Fontaine
house, the more expensive colored glass window and the decorative kerosene lamp in
the window, we can surmise that its owners are middle, or even upper-middle class. 13
Like most houses in Belgium, the farmhouse has a basement that can be used for storage,
and like many Belgian houses, it has a 'triptychal' window in what is probably the living
room of the house. The fact that the brick work is extended to the basement window,
instead of decorating the most visible windows of the house only, denotes prosperity as
well as pride in ownership. While the round brick work on top of the windows mimics
Belgian architecture, the star points to a foreign influence or a creative touch. It could be
that the brick decoration on the house results from a mixture of styles brought by its
various occupants,14 or it could reflect the skills of one particular artisan in the
13
Based on data gleaned from the 1880 manuscript schedule (agriculture), Auguste's father,
E. T. Henry Fontaine, was doing better than the average farmer in Humboldt Township. The
value of his farm (including land, fences, and buildings) was estimated at $800, vs. an average
value of $458 for other farmers in the township. The livestock he owned was evaluated at $150
vs. an average of $117 for other farmers. Farm productions for 1879 on the Fontaine homestead
were estimated at $300-twice the average value in the whole community. See Brown County,
Wisc., United States Census, 1880, Population and Agriculture, manuscript census, State
Historical Society of Wisconsin.
14
Auguste Fontaine was part French and part Flemish Belgian; his wife's parents-the
elderly couple on the photograph-came from Germany. Flemish, however, was the language
spoken on the Fontaine homestead.
143
community. The grass is not mowed, but they have planted some bushes and put
support stakes around them. The presence of a rain barrel further indicates that the
inhabitants live in harmony with the land and try to be as resourceful as they can be.
With its summer kitchen and the pails of milk d rying on top of the fence, the
Petigniot house (fig. 27) has a more simple and utilitarian look than the Fontaine home
whose intricate design could make it pass for an urban residence if it were not for the
big yard and the pile of wood at the back of the house. Like the Fontaine house, the
Petigniot farmhouse has a double chimney indicating that the family relies on the heat
from fire in the winter. The main fireplaces or stoves are on the ground level, while the
upstairs level is probably heated by ambient heat. Despite its more obvious
functionality and rural location (one can see fields and forests in the background),
however, the Petigniot house has some decorative elements as well, like many other
farmhouses in the Belgian settlement (figs. 24, 26, and 61). Whether subtle, like wood
carving on a screen door (fig. 27), or more extravagant, these optional choices point to
the owners' sense of pride and suggest a willingness to invest in more luxurious styles.
On the other hand, fences, however neat, are more utilitarian since they protect fruit
trees or garden crops from being destroyed by animals {figs. 24, 27, 61, 62 and 65).
Figure 61. Delveaux family by old house {DELA)

144
Figure 62. Delveaux home (DELA)
Some nine years separate the two photographs of the Delveaux homestead in
Brussels (figs. 61and62). By the time the second photograph was taken in 1904, the
Delveaux had built a new barn at the back of the house and added a windmill to the
farm. The origin of the sunburst motif under the roof has not been assessed at this time,
but it does not appear to be typically Belgian,_even though it reflects an Old World
tradition of craftsmanship or folk art. It could be a decorative pattern that the Delveaux
saw elsewhere, liked, and copied-the same motif appears on the Laurent Lefevre
homestead-or something that they designed and created based on their own ingenuity.
While the Delveaux adorned the upper-floor windows of their house with elaborate
curtains, the Laurents did not. It could be that for these practical people who collect
water with a pail set on what appears to be a chair resting on its side, it was perhaps
frivolous or unnecessary to have curtains hanging on second-floor windows.
What can or cannot be photographed is regulated by conventions of many kinds,

including social and cultural. In nineteenth and early twentieth centuries America, one
of these conventions called for pregnant women to not appear in front of the camera.
Apparently, Victorine Delveaux, the woman on the left (fig. 62), was either unaware of
145
such conventions, or she disregarded them, since she let herself be photographed just a
couple of months before the birth of her daughter Adeline.
Looking at the number of photographs in the Wisconsin Belgian community with
dogs in them, the saying according to which "A farm is not a real farm without a dog,"
certainly rings true. In figure 63, the family dog is lying down next to a team of horses
and the Tureur family.
Figure 63. Tureur family in front of log house UANQ)
It is not clear whether Olivier, the father, happened to be working with his team of
horses when the picture was taken, or if he brought them so that they could be
conspicuously photographed by the log house as well. Whatever the case, this
photograph, like many others previously discussed, indicates that the family stands
proud of who they are and what they have accomplished. The photograph is
particularly interesting because it shows that, like most houses in Belgium, Wisconsin's
early Belgian immigrant homes were double-storied constructions. It also suggests that
immigrants incorporated typical Belgian architectural elements relatively early on in the
settlement process. In this particular case, as we have seen in the Fontaine red brick
146
house, the rounded shape of the windows' upper part conforms to a distinctive Belgian
architectural tradition. 15 It is not dear whether the window shape is original, or if the
windows were originally square and later replaced by round ones, as the occupants
became more prosperous. Yet the fact remains that whoever decided to put these
windows in must have been planning ahead because the house was eventually brick-
veneered following the typical Belgian architectural style which characterizes many
farms in the community. 16
Figures 64 and 65 show two architectural phases of the Sacotte family house in
Brussels. When looking at the early photograph, which was taken in 1907 or 1908, one
might wonder why the log house has so much holding material between the logs. As
Laatsch and Calkins suggest, the absence of a log building tradition in Belgium could
explain why Belgian immigrants were not as skilled at building log constructions as
other ethnic groups, 17 or why they utilized unusual construction techniques. But it
could also be that the logs were damaged by the elements or the 1871 fire, and that the
construction was later repaired with a homemade masonry type product. In the later
photograph, taken in or right after 1912, a second story has been added to what is
probably the kitchen area, and the whole front area of the house now has a covered
porch. As is the case with many large families and farmhouses in the settlement, the
extension would be added to facilitate the co-habitation of several households. While
the house does not have the decorative brick work around the windows, the
construction date is inscribed in a semicircular oeil-de-boeuf [bull's eye]-a circular
15
None of the books on log cabin constructions in America I have consulted contains a single
photograph of a log-cabin or house with rounded windows. See Terry G. Jordan, Jon T. Kilpinen,
and Charles F. Gritzner, The Mountain West: Interpreting the Folk Landscape (Baltimore, 1997);
Donald A. Hutslar, The Architecture of Migration: Log Construction in the Ohio Country, 1750-1850
(Athens, Ohio, 1986); Clinton Alfred Weslager, The Log Cabin in America: From Pioneer Days to the
Present (New Brunswick, N.J., 1969).
16
Figure 105 shows a portion of the house.
17
Laatsch and Calkins, "Belgians," 198.
147
Figure 64. Sacotte family and house, ca. 1907-08 (TUR)
Figure 65. Sacotte family and house, ca. 1912 (TUR)
window under the roof peak that is a typical Belgian architectural design. The yard in
front of the house has been organized and partly fenced; and what appeared to be a
clothes line on the previous photograph has been removed, possibly to the side or the
back of the house. When combined, all these newer elements and refinements in
appearance make the pioneer look of the earlier photograph disappear.

148
Whether or not to recreate an architectural style from the homeland-be it brick
construction, oeil-de-boeu.f or rounded window frames-was mostly a personal choice. It
resulted from a decision by the head of the household, his or her spouse, and perhaps
family members from older generations (especially if the latter lived under the same
roof) to revive the past by incorporating it into the present. The durability of the
material used (brick) also insured that the buildings, and therefore the memories, would
survive a long time. But private dwellings were not the only constructions utilized to
bring the past to mind. Many buildings open to the public were also patterned after
Belgian architectural style, and, in the same way as private homes nurtured their
owners' feelings of identity by reminding them (and passers-by) of who they were and
where they came from, schools, taverns, hotels, and stores also reinforced the public
memory and strengthened the identity of the Belgian community.
Figure 66. Dyckesville stage post (NEL)
It is not possible at th.is point to determine whether the Dyckesville's stage post{fig. 66),
which also officiated as a tavern and hotel halfway between Green Bay and Stur.geon
Bay, was initially a log-building that was later brick-veneered, or if the red brick
149
structure is the original one. Its oeil-de-boeuf, however, as well as those of the "Brussel"
house and store (figures 67 and 68) is typically Belgian, even though the facade in the
latter construction betrays an American influence.
Figure 67. "Brussel House" (DES)
Figure 68. Store, Brussels (DES)

150
In their discussion of vernacular barns, Laatsch and Calkins argue that ''the
proportion of log structures [in the Belgian settlement] . .. is truly remarkable, and it
would be difficult to find a greater variety, frequency, or density of log structures

anywhere in North America." 18 The authors do not offer any explanation for the large
number of log constructions still standing in Wisconsin's Belgian community, but it is
clear that the immigrants' thrifty and pragmatic attitude was the main reason for their
keeping and maintaining older buildings on the farm even when their improved
financial situation made it possible to replace the old buildings with more modem
constructions. Time and time again, informal photographs taken within the community
reveal that Belgians held on to the log cabins that the first generations of immigrants had
built, sometimes leaving them as such, sometimes patching them up to prolong their
existence, or adding extensions to make them more useful (figs. 69, 70, and 71).
,,
\ I
Figure 69. Teenagers by Figure 70. Children by

log construction (BEL) log construction (TEB)
18
Laatsch and Calkins, " Belgians," 200.
151
Figure 71. Working crew by log construction (BEL)
Although the photographers' intentions are not to produce beautiful architectural
shots, the blending of old and new can at times be quite dramatic (figs. 72, 73, and 193).
Figure 72. Showing off the Figure 73. "Threshing by Fred" (LEC)
family horse (BEL)
152
When a building was beyond repair and had to be taken down, the scene was so
extraordinary that it had to be captured on film. Figure 74 shows Harry Chaudoir
dismantling the cabin his ancestors built in 1856. Rather than demolishing old
constructions, community members would gather and move them as needed. In figure
75, neighbors are using a tractor to help move a small summer kitchen on the Delveaux
farm.
Figure 74. Dismantling the 1856 Figure 75. · Moving the summer
ancestral cabin (CHA) kitchen (DELL)
When farm expansion made it necessary to raise new barns, the spectacular event
which demonstrated community solidarity was well documented (figs. 76 and 77).
153
Figure 76. Raising a new barn (TEB)
Figure 77. Putting up a new barn (HENQ)
But the immigrants' down to earth attitude is not reflected in their keeping of log
cabins only. Mary Martin's outfits exemplify this sense of pragmatism admirably.
Based on figures 21, 22, 78, 79, and 80, there is little doubt that Mary had a knack for
converting skirts into aprons, and aprons into scarves, then maybe handkerchiefs, and
finally wash rags.

154
Figure 78. Grandma Martin with two granddaughters (BEL)
Figure 79. Grandma Martin Figure 80. Helen Wautlet collecting

(BEL) eggs with Grandma Martin (BEL)
155
The photographs of her and Helen Wautlet gathering eggs by the old log cabin (fig.
80), Sarah Vandertie Martin (fig. 41), Evelyn and Sadie Fontaine (figs. 44 and 45), Laura
Delveaux (fig. 51) and Alice Dejardin (fig. 81) convey the feeling that in their private
roles at least, these women are too busy with their work or too sensible to be concerned
with the fashions of their time.
Figure 81. Alice Dejardin with wheelbarrow (TEB)
Alice (fig. 81) lets herself be photographed as she stops midstream from hauling dirt and
wood in her wheelbarrow. She does not attempt to pull down her dress, readjust her
hair or her dirty apron. Like Mary Martin, her sense of social status is conveyed in the
photograph: she is not pretending to take on the attributes of a town woman, or be all
cleaned up or stylish. Rather, she is very practically-minded and wears clothes that
allow her to do her daily work in the most comfortable way. The center of her universe
is her farm. While Alice symbolizes Old World traditions still extant in the 1940s, the
structure behind her suggests that the Dejardins are expanding or modernizing the farm.
The building could be a dairy barn since its foundation is made of clay tile, a material
that provides cleaner sanitation.

156
Other social conventions can be examined via the surviving visual documentation.
Looking at figures 82, 83 and 84, it would appear that drinking alcohol was a male
privilege in early twentieth century America. The first photograph is a formal portrait
of the owners and employees of the Van Dycke brewery in Green Bay. Although some
younger boys are present, only the adults are pictured holding hop shovels and beer
mugs. Of the two company owners, one is easily recognizable by the somewhat
arrogant look on his face, his authoritative pose, and his brand new hat. His .
inconspicuous brother sits to his right. The employees wear their Sunday best,
including watch and chain. Since beer is rated among other things by the way it holds
its head, the heads in the beer mugs are made of cotton.
Figure 82. Owners and employees of the Van Dycke

brewery in Green Bay (JANQ)
Like figure 82, figures 83 and 84 could also have been taken for commercial
purposes, but the pictures have a more casual look. Unlike the individuals in the Van
Dycke photograph, the men in the tavern are wearing their work clothes, and the glasses
they hold appear to contain natural foam. The more intimate atmosphere is further
157
conveyed by the ceramic spittoons and dirt on the floor, the fly catcher hanging from the
ceiling, and the more relaxed postures of the patrons.
Figure 83. "Drink up boys" (NEL)
Figure 84. Ben Lard.inois's tavern in Brussels (TEB)
The poster announcing a Grand Kermiss tells us that the tavern (fig. 83) is located in a
rural area, while the clock on the bar (fig. 84) suggests that the men stopped at the bar at
158
the end of the day. We do not know if the young lady in mini shorts who sits on a keg
of beer and raises her glass succeeded in making the "boys drink up," but both signs are
targeting a male audience. Yet, figure 85 reveals that beer drinking was not strictly the
domain of adult males in the Belgian community.
Figure 85. "Yes, Moonshine. Ha!" (SER)
In fact, of the five people portrayed-two women, one man, one young girl, and a
younger boy-the only individual not drinking moonshine is the older male. The
photograph bears evidence to the fact that inunigrants carried over the native custom of
serving beer indiscriminately to every member in the family, regardless of age and
gender.19 If American social conventions prohibited or discouraged women from
drinking in taverns in the early part of the twentieth century, by the 1940s they were not
waiting until the end of the day to sit at the bar and enjoy their beer (fig. 86). The
photograph is posed, but that of Annie Jandrain Derrenne showing women at work in
19
The custom was not always understood or accepted among non-immigrants: for several
weeks in March 1889, welHntentioned readers expressed their concerns about the fact that
children were drinking beer at school (Green Bay Advocate, March 1889). Even today, Belgian
women who breast-feed their children are advised to drink beer to make 'the milk go up.' Other
moonshine photographs are available in the Janquart collection.
159
the Algoma boat factory during the second World War attests the emergence of farming
women-at least some of them-into a more public sphere (fig. 87).
Figure 86. Bob Klobecker's tavern in Casco (NEL)
Figure 87. Algoma boat factory (JAND)

160
Wheri using photographs as historical evidence, it is necessary to consider the
images that are available and those that are not, for missing imagery can be as revealing
as existing photographs. It can point to the possibility that a specific event did not
happen, that the event happened but no photographer was present to document it, or
that it happened but was not deemed important enough by the photographer or the
subjects involved to be preserved on film. What is or what is not photographed is
furthermore subjected to a variety of conventions-social, cultural, photographic, or
other-and its documentation can depend on the photographer's technical skills.
Finally, it is important to remember that photographs that once existed can later be lost
or destroyed, be it intentionally or accidentally.
Keeping this in mind, the fact remains that the number of birthday or Christmas
photographs in the Belgian community is truly small. Of the some 2,500 photographs
available for analysis, only a handful portray birthday parties and Christmas
happenings, and they tend to be found within the same families. Technically speaking,
the earliest birthday photograph dates from 1922. It represents Hazel Englebert, 17,
sitting on the lawn in front of her parents' house in Brussels. Nothing on the
photograph, however, indicates that it is a birthday picture, and if it had not been for
the photograph, the event would have gone entirely unnoticed. It just so happened
that Hazel or someone else mentioned that she was turning 17 that day, and
unexpectedly, a family member decided to take a picture of her. The next available
birthday photograph was taken by Hazel in 1933. It shows her son, Harry Chaudoir,
six, holding his birthday cake as he is standing in the snow with his cousin Mildred and
brother David (fig. 88). In the following years, Hazel would occasionally photograph
her other children and their birthday cakes.20 The second (and last) photograph
20
There are four other birthday photographs in the family photo album.
161
collection with a birthday photograph is the Neuville's. The picture documents
Richard Neuville's first birthday in 1947 (fig. 89).
Figure 88. Harry Chaudoir's Figure 89. Richard Neuville's

sixth birthday (CHA) first birthday (NEU)
When attempting to make sense of the paucity of birthday photographs in the
Belgian community, it is useful to remember that many of the things Belgians knew,
such as architectural style, or, as we shall later see, rural festivals and religious
ceremonials, were passed down through oral tradition. The fact that there is no Walloon
expression for "Happy Birthday" suggests that birthdays were not celebrated in the Old
World like they were in the United States, and may help explain why birthday pictures
appeared relatively late and in very small numbers in Wisconsin's Belgian settlement.21
21
In one Belgian farming family at least, people would merely state "j'ai mes ans a11jo11rd'hui
11
[literally, 'I have my years today']. Birthdays usually went unnoticed. On account of the fact that
162
Since children spoke Walloon at home, it is conceivable that they learned the ritual at
school where English was spoken.
Figure 90. "Santa was good Figure 91. Christmas at the

to me, Ha!" (SER) Servaises, 1940 (SER)
Figure 90, taken about 1920, is the first Christmas-related photograph found in the
Belgian community. 22 Virginia LeFevre is seen holding a couple of candy boxes as she
stands in the snow by a Christmas tree. Although the tree is not decorated and the
presents are few, an exuberant Virginia writes under the photograph, "Santa was good
to me, Ha!" By 1940, Virginia Lefevre Servais was photographing her own children as
they stood by the Christmas tree-now transferred inside the house-with their new
farm families were usually large, celebrating them would have been unpractical since, as one
farmer commented, "there would have been no end to it!"
22
Virginia Lefevre has another photograph of herself standing by another Christmas tree in
her album.
163
toys, including a Tinker Toy box and a doll (fig. 91). Just like the 4-H Club taught
gendered occupations to young farmers, Virginia and Isaac Servais expected their
children to play gendered games. While the choice of toys indicates that the Servais
were plugging into a national (American) culture, the toys themse]ves suggest that,
consciously or not, the family was also embracing the materialism of American
Christmas.23 Indeed, while European-made toys of the era were intended to merely
amuse children, American-made toys were by and large designed to educate
children-especially boys-in applied, practical, and industrial skills, such as

engineering, electronics, and construction.24 Not surprisingly perhaps, of all the
structures the farm boys could have built with the Tinker toys, they chose to construct a
windmill. By the 1950s and 1960s, birthday and Christmas were being slowly, but more
regularly photographed and integrated into family albums.
Figure 92. Christmas at the

Neuvilles, 1956 (NEU)
23
Russell Belk, "Materialism and the Making of the Modern American Christmas," in
Unwrapping Christmas, ed. Daniel Miller (Oxford, 1993), 75-104.
24
William B. Waits, The Modern Christmas in America. A Cultural History of Gift Giving (New
York, 1993), 141-143.
164
By then, trees were also more richly decorated, and toys were more extravagant (fig. 92).
Although there is no evidence for it, it is possible that the growing importance of Santa
Claus is responsible for the absence of St. Nicholas photographs in the Belgian
community.
If Christmas and birthday photographs are few, none of the 2,500 photographs
document Thanksgiving, Labor Day, or Fourth of July celebrations viewed as more
typical American holidays. Figure 93 is the only "Fourth of July photograph" I have
found in Wisconsin's Belgian settlement. It represents members from the extended
Chaudoir family shelling peas in a field circa 1948.
~~f~1 ~ _. ··
'!\~(
\
Figure 93. "Shelling peas, July 4th" (CHA)
Besides shedding light on agricultural practices on the Chaudoir farm, the image
suggests that for one Belgian-American family at least, Fourth of July was not just about
celebrations. Indeed, we learn from Hazel Chaudoir that they never celebrated July
Fourth, and that the day was "like any other day." 25 Although the 2,500 photographs I
25
The Chaudoirs were not the only community members feeling indifferent about American
holidays. A photograph from another collection portrays Edward Wautier spreading manure on
his Brussels farm in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The picture was first identified as being taken
on Memorial Day because, as a family member said, "we always spread manure on Memorial
165
have examined include two snapshots of Decoration Day and one of Halloween, they
appear relatively late in the development of the community-1950 for the former, circa
1958 for the latter (figs. 188 and 196).
The paucity of imagery celebrating Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween,
Christmas, birthdays, Labor Day, or Fourth of July does not mean that photographers in
the Belgian settlement were reluctant or too thrifty to organize and/ or photograph
ceremonies, be they private or public, religious or secular. fu fact, photographic
evidence clearly indicates that amateur photographers in the rural community did
document such events. The events Belgians celebrated and photographed, however,
were closely tied to Old World traditions. fu an early Rosiere photograph, children walk
in procession toward the photographer (fig. 94).
Figure 94. Fete-Dieu procession (JANQ)
Day." Closer examination of the photograph, however, revealed that there was snow on the
ground. Unless there had been a late snowfall that year-as was the-case on 29May1947 when
five inches of snow fell in Brussels (the snowfall was photographically documented by Esther
Neuville [fig. 199])-the photograph could not have been taken on Memorial Day. The picture,
however, is useful because it led to the recovery of information that would otherwise have gone
unrecorded. Indeed, we learn from contemporary Belgian-Americans that several farmers in the
settlement did spread manure on Memorial Day.
166
The leaves on the trees are coming up, which suggests that the photograph was taken in
spring or early spring. The young cross bearer heading the procession is dressed in
surplice and cassock, and he is followed by a group of girls in white. The
censer-carried by a young boy standing to the right of the cross bearer-indicates the
presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Although the priest cannot be seen, the elements on
the photograph suggest that it is a Fete-Dieu procession, a ceremony that takes place
some seven weeks after Easter Sunday and during which the congregation honors the
Blessed Sacrament. There are few women on the photograph, but since Fete-Dieu takes
place on a Thursday-a weekday-they are probably still doing their morning chores on
the farm.
First and solemn Communions and Confirmation ceremonies were also celebrated in
the community. The high number of pictures depicting the religious ceremonials
suggest that they were significant familial and communal rituals-so memorable that
they were at times documented by a professional photographer (figs. 95 and 96).
Figure 95. Communion, Figure 96. Group of communicants (NEU)

studio portrait (BEL)
167
Given the immigrants' deep religious faith and their belief in the apparition of the
Virgin Mary to Adele Brice,26 it is not surprising that photographs of Assumption Day,
nuns, the Chapel of Robinsonville, or other local churches are also frequently found in
the Belgian community. Figure 97, for instance, shows members of the congregation
chatting after the fifteenth of August Assumption Mass. Friends and family passing
through the rural community were also taken to the Chapel (fig. 98).
Figure 97. Assumption Day Figure 98. Taking visitors to the Chapel (BEL)
(CHA)
Carol Servais, five, was so fascinated by the nuns and the life at the Chapel that she
made up her mind to join the convent. Donning the habit her mother had
made-without any pattern-the little girl took off for the Chapel on a Sunday
afternoon (fig. 99). She was spotted on the road by the parish priest who, after giving
26
See chapter three.
168
her a ride to Robinsonville, called her parents to let them know where she was. The
sisters were so flabbergasted when they saw Carol's habit that they almost took it apart
to examine it from every angle.
Figure 99. Carol Servais in nun habit .(SER)
While the photograph bears evidence to the craftsmanship of Carol's mother, the story
tells of the magnetism the d1apel and the nuns exerted on community members,
including the very young. The mms were a part of the community, and they were very
visible. Not only had Carol's parents instilled in their daughter an appreciation for the
work the sisters did at the convent, but Carol frequently heard about them, they lived
close by (approximately three miles away), and she visited the convent often.
Secular celebrations were also documented at an early stage (fig. 100). The
photograph was taken around 1900 and portrays the Thiry-Daems kermesse. A group of
169
community members representing several generations is posing in front of what is
probably the town hall. The man standing in front of the group holds a pole with two
live chickens hanging from it.
.:l;·.
(
f ..
....·.·• ,./·. . ., .
': •. ·.·" ~·
: :.
..
·'
,~ . =~ ,.,.. ~~~,}~~~.;~~~r
,..5: ~~~~>~\~'.~~i
Figure 100. Thiry-Daems kermesse (THI)
The presence of the brass band, a keg of beer, and the smiles on some women's faces
suggest that good times lie ahead-although not for the chickens. 27 In fact, two men are
already drinking. For many of the community members, including children, the
kermesse was an extraordinary and much anticipated event because there was always
plenty of fresh meat and food, and plenty to drink It is not clear why the women are
separated from the men, but it could be that the photograph was taken after
mass-which kicked off the kennesse-when men and women were seated separately. In
another photograph taken by an itinerant photographer from Chicago, the Namur brass
band poses with all its instruments around 1898 (fig. 101).
27
Indeed, they will undoubtedly end up in a chicken boyah (bouillon).
170
Figure 101. Namur brass band (CHA)
TI1ere is no doubt the photographer and his team knew good business could be done
during kermesses. Every year, they would come just for the festival, set up the tent by the
tavern, and people who wanted to have their picture taken could have it done right on
the spot. The location of the tent, needless to say, was not entirely fortuitous. Not only
was the tavern very well patronized during kermesses, but the festive ambiance-and one
pitcher of beer too many-might have lured individuals who were usually financially
conservative into being a little bit more extravagant.
Though less picturesque than figure 100, figures 102, 103, and 104 show that by the
192qs and 1930s the kermesse was still celebrated in the Belgian community, and that it
still brought several generations together. More important perhaps, the photographs
suggest that the event was deemed significant enough to be documented. The elderly
couple at whose Sugarbush house the gathering is held occupies the focal point of the
image, but the little boy with the striped tie is the focus of attention of the family (fig.
102).
171
Figure 102. Kermesse Sunday at Figure 103. Brussels kermesse (DELA)

Sugarbush (MIC)
1~
Figure 104. Gardner kermesse (HENQ) Figure 105. Sunday gathering at the
Tureurs in Namur GANQ)
These images, along with the numerous photographs of Sunday family gatherings,
point to the importance family and community hold for people living in the Belgian
colony. While Olivier and Julia Tureur pose with family members on the front porch of
their now brick-veneered house circa 1923 (fig. 105),28 a group of people has come to the
Delwiche house in Namur for an after mass meeting (fig. 106). Although the house is
covered with clapboard, rather than brick, it has a semicircular oeil-de-boeuf. We do not
know if the young woman in the middle of the group is dancing or simply walking
while readjusting her hair, but the presence of a musical band and the fact that two
young men have folded their sleeves suggest that some lively action- probably
dancing-has taken place. While a man reads the newspaper, the woman standing next
28
The log-house is pictured on figure 63.
172
to him reads a book or a magazine. All this conveys the feeling that the individuals
assembled at the Delwiche house are enjoying a peaceful 'Sunday in the country.'
Figure 106. After mass meeting "at Delwiche" (DES)
Related to imagery portraying members of the community entertaining themselves
publicly or outdoors is figure 107. It shows a group of men playing cards in what could
be the living room or the kitchen (note the piece of plastic or linoleum covering the
wooden table) of the Larnpereur farm in Namur circa 1948. It is the evening, maybe on a
winter night, and a neighbor (to the left) has joined Harry Lampereur and his son James,
and Desire and Clement Jeanquart for what is probably a game of couillon-a popular
card game in Wallonia which is still played by Belgian-Americans today. The fifth and
sixth players are missing from the photograph. One of them is apparently taking the
picture from his seat, which he has pushed back from the table, while the person sitting
next to him has moved back as well not to intrude in the picture frame. Like the youths
in figures 33, 34, 36, 37, and 80 were learning a trade, James is attentively observing a
cultural practice-in this case, leisure-related-that has persisted over several
generations.
173
Figure 107. Couillon game (EUC)
Figure 108 portrays a similar scene from the same era. This time, however, two
women are playing with Desire Jeanquart while his mother, Celinie Lecocq Jeanquart,
lies in a sickbed at the back of what appears to be the living room of the house.
Figure 108. Playing cards (EUC)
On the wall is a big portrait of Celinie's daughter Antoinette and her husband Jules
Carpiaux. The photograph is important because it provides information regarding not
174
only the ways in which Belgians spent some of their free time, but also family customs
and inheritance practices. While at first it is not clear whose house it is, it appears that
whichever sibling lives there (including Desire, Antoinette, or Clement) is taking care of
his or her elderly mother. The photo on the wall suggests that the house is either
Antoinette's or Celinie's. Indeed, while other family members may have a portrait of
Antoinette and her husband, chances are it would not be displayed so conspicuously on
the wall. Based on the facts that Desire was Celinie's youngest son and that youngest
sons often inherited the family farm-in return for taking care of their aging parents, it
seems reasonable to suggest that the photograph was taken on the original
homestead-Celinie's place-rather than in Antoinette's house. We do not know the
motive behind this particular photograph, but a close-up portrait of Celinie from the
same family collection strongly suggests that she may have been intentionally included
in the background of this picture. The impression is reinforced by the fact that she
occupies almost the focal point of the image. Without leaving the subject of family care
and kinship, it is worth noting that numerous photographs in the community represent
four or five generations posing together. These multi-generational portraits show
deference for elder generations and suggest that several family photographers deemed it
important to document family ties and history.
If Wisconsin's Belgians celebrated life and respected their elders, they also honored
their dead, as argued in chapter three. Figure 109 shows Homer Willems wearing a
black ribbon at his cap in remembrance of his father Donat.29 It is revealing, perhaps,
that I have found more post mortem and funeral service photographs than birthday and
Christmas pictures in the Belgian community (figs. 110, 111, 112, and 113).
29
TI1e origin of the ribbon has not been established, but it could be that it was a more
practical thing to wear than an armband, especially when doing manual work in the fields.
175
Figure 109. Homer Willems Figure 110. Woman in coffin (TIE)

wearing black ribbon (NEU)
Figure 111. Deceased child on home-made quilt'(EUC)
In many cases, family members, rather than professional photographers, took the
picture. An exception is figure 111, which depicts a child seemingly asleep on a
176
handmade quilt. 30 Most post mortem photographs were taken indoors, where the
deceased rested, but children in small caskets were sometimes brought and
photographed outside the house, where there was more light (fig. 112). While the
deceased subject's photograph was usually preserved in his or her family's photo-
alburn, it often appeared in non-familial photographic collections as well. The sharing of
post mortem photographs could be considered a morbid habit, but it seems reasonable
to suggest that the practice merely reflects the tight bonds within a community where
individuals and families were united in times of sorrow as well as joy.31
Figure 112 . "Carla Jean Figure 113. Men carrying coffin GANO)
LeCloux," 1931 GAND)
30
The quilt itself indicates that Belgian farm women did, indeed, quilt. Although I have not
come across any photograph depicting women quilting together, I have found two snapshots
portraying members of 'quilting parties' posing together outside a house.
31
Various sources agree that of all the ethnic funerals in the area, the best attended were, and
still are the Belgian.
177
Individuals in the Belgian settlement also participated in the more widely accepted
practice of commemorating the dead with memorial cards, some of which they mailed to
relatives and friends in the Old Country. Fifty-five percent of the cards I have collected
in the community carry a life photograph of the deceased person. This proportion is
high compared to memorial cards preserved at the State Historical Society of Iowa.32
Whether the photograph used on the card was reproduced from a family snapshot or a
studio portrait probably depended on the availability and quality of the image as well as
the personal tastes of family members.
Figure 114. Celine Sonvaux Jeanquart's

funeral card (JANQ) ·
32
Of the 88 pre-1950 memorial cards I have, 48 carry a photograph. According to Mary
Bennett, photo historian, only about 10 percent of the memorial cards preserved at the State
Historical Society of Iowa have photographs. At times, family members would have memorial
cards printed in Belgium rather than in Wisconsin. There is no evidence for it, but the European
origin of printing memorial cards could be related to the fact that while American newspapers
automatically print obituary notices, European media do not. Memorial cards therefore
constitute an alternative written record that can be either used to announce the death, preserved
as a memorandum, or both.
178
Of all the photographs of Celine Jeanquart available to them, family members used the
portrait that was taken when she posed with her husband (fig. 114). While it is difficult
to assess whether memorial cards were more widespread in the Belgian community than
in other immigrant settlements in the area, inspection of several cemeteries in Door and
Kewaunee counties reveals that almost all of the few tombstones that have photographs
have a Belgian identity. For instance, the 11 graves with at least one photograph in St.
Francis-Xavier cemetery in Brussels are Belgian (fig. 115), and so are the seven
tombstones in St. Mary of the Snows cemetery in Namur.33
Figure 115. Tombstones with photographs,

St. Francis-Xavier cemetery (BER)
All but one of the 12 graves with photographs in the Rosiere cemetery are also Belgian.
Most of the tombstones with photographs are from the 1920s, a decade which witnessed
33
Sometimes there were two photographs per tombstone, especially when a couple was
buried together.
179
a large increase in farm value in Door and Kewaunee counties where the cemeteries are
located.34
The fact that the Belgians celebrated native festivals and preserved old customs,
however, does not mean that they had an anti-American attitude and did not adopt
some of the ways of their new country. The American flag flying under the porch of a
typical Belgian house (fig. 116) makes this point unarnbiguously. 35
Figure 116. Belgian house and American flag (BEL)
While some farmers adopted the American overall, however, they remained
practically minded regarding their clothes. While they still made dizeaux by the 1920s
(fig. 117),36 they grew crops with which they were unfamiliar such as sorghum and com
34
Paul W. Glad, War, a New Era, nnd Depression, 1914-1940, vol. 5 of Tlze Riston; of Wisconsin,
ed. William Fletcher Thompson (Madison, 1990), 359. The ratio of tombstones with photographs
as well as the dates are inconsistent with Ruby's analysis of cemeteries in the Philadelphia area in
which the author fo und practically no photographs on graves prior to World War II. See Ruby,
. Secure the Shadow, 171.
35
The possibility exists that the photograph was taken on 4 July, Memorial Day, or another
(American) national holiday, but there is no evidence for it.
36
Bundles of ten sheaves, Walloon from the French dix [ten].
180
(figs. 118 and 46). While they spoke Walloon at home, some of their children
participated in spelling bee contests (fig. 119).
Figure 117. Dizeaux (SER) Figure 118. Load of sorghum (TIE)
Figure 119. Spelling bee (DELL)

181
Finally, while they retained ancestral log cabins, they kept pace with an evolving
technology and market economy. Rather than shedding light on issues regarding
cultural values, ethnicity, relationships, religion, and community, figures 120 through
126 depict the development of the dairy industry in the Belgian community from the
time the small production of milk was hauled by a dog or a horse (figs. 120 and 121) to
the time refrigerated trucks transported milk (fig. 126).
~~')q; ~~'''"
i}:-5f \\ ~·· ~
'
r'
" }.
't--
Figure 120. Dog hauling milk (BEL) Figure 121. Horse hauling milk (BEL)
Figure 122. Frank Tielens on Figure 123. Frank Tielens at the

his milk route (TIE) New Franken creamery (TIE)
As milk production increased in Brown, Door, and Kewaunee counties, and as the
industry consolidated, farmers had to haul larger volumes of milk over longer distances.
182
Figures 122 through 126 depict milk hauling, one of the outside jobs farmers in the area
would take to supplement farm revenues. As distances between local creameries
increased, keeping the milk cool became a more important issue. Before refrigerated
trucks were used, farmers kept the milk cans cool by leaving them in water troughs that
37
were probably filled with ice (fig. 126).
Figure 124. Earl Michiels with his father's Figure 125. Milk cans in water trough
1936 milk truck and car (MIC) (TEB)
Figure 126. Earl Michiels with refrigerated milk truck (MIC)

37
Milk production in Brown County increased from 3.455.402 gallons in 1899 to 8.339.975
gallons in 1920 to 13.1.37.791 gallons in 1839. In Door County, it went from 8.359.669 gallons in
1899to14.551.367 in 1920 to 29. 294.409 in 1839. In Kewaunee County, it increased from 5.529.740
gallons in 1899 to 9.665.031 gallons .in 1920, to 18.099.911 gallons in 1939. See U.S. Department of
Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Twelfth Census of the United States. Taken in the year 1900, Vol. 5,
Agriculture, part I, Farms, five stock, and animal products (Washington, D.C., 1902); U.S. Department
of Conunerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the Un'ited States. Taken in the year 1920,
vol. 6, part I, Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 1922); U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the
Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, Agriculture, vol. 1. Statistics for Counties
(Washington, D.C., 1942).
183
Having a milk route was only one of the many outside jobs farmers took to
supplement the family income. Stone quarries, for instance, like that where Donat
Willems worked, provided employment to local farmers (fig. 127). At times, farmers
would hire themselves out to other farmers in the community. Figure 128 represents
Clifford Counard haying for the Henquinets in 1929or1930.
... = ·-;~·::·::::,::;_;. _,:::~.:~-· ·:·;:}::i::-::~~ :~~:·~,. ·~- .~~~ . .~;::::.~.. ., ":··.·,}, ;::',. ;:}
Figure 127. Stone quarry (JAU)
(/
Figure 128. "Clifford Counard, Henquinets' hired man" (HENQ)

184
Based on the recollections of contemporary Belgian Americans, there is no doubt that
the 1930s were hard times for some farmers in the community. Leona Michiels
remembers that in 1931or 1932, her father's hired man asked him if he could stay for the
winter months. All he asked for was cigarettes and three square meals a day. The
young man, who lived about a mile away from the Michiels, was married and had one
or two children at the time. Even though Frank Michiels had originally planned on not
keeping him because of his own precarious financial situation, he eventually agreed to
the deal, and for a whole winter, the young man worked for his three square meals and
whatever cigarettes he smoked. That was one less his parents had to feed and buy
cigarettes for.
Contrary to Scandinavians in the area-especially in Door county-who
supplemented farm revenues with fishing, few Belgian farmers did. This is not
surprising considering the fact that they did not come from a fishing tradition. Since
many farmers lived inland, rather than on the shores, distances to the bay may also have
prevented them from diversifying their operations to include commercial fishing-at

least in the early years of settlement.38 Of the 2,500 pictures available for study, only
four represent commercial (ice-) fishing operations in the Belgian community. Figure
129 is one photograph out of a series of three taken around 1940. It shows Eddie
Columb, his son Darrell, and his daughter Bernardine fishing with nets on the bay of
Green Bay. Eddie's wife, Gladys, took the photograph. Based on the shadows on the
ice, the photograph was probably taken in the late afternoon after a day of fishing, and
long after the Columbs-who had a farm toward Little Sturgeon-had completed their
farm chores in the early morning.
38
Out of some 131 Belgians farming in Brussels in 1920, not one listed 'fisherman' as his
profession on the manuscript schedule. However, 5 out of 107 Belgian farmers in Union
Township-a township west of Brussels and partially on the bay of Green Bay-said fishing was
their only occupation in 1920.
185
Figure 129. Ice fishing (NEU)
Ice-fishing was a family occupation for the Columbs. The lumber camps of northern
Wisconsin and Michigan, however, provided seasonal employment primarily to men.
Figure 130 is a 1905 group portrait of 32 lumberjacks posing in front of their lodging
quarters in Sagola, Michigan. Mary Barbiaux and Mrs. Gus Delfosse, the two spouses
who have accompanied their husbands and work as cooks and general caretakers are
seated on a wooden bench among the Jumberjacks. 39 Joe, Mary's baby son, stands close
to his mother. With the exception of the young boy sitting on the right of the
photograph, and another young man sitting almost behind himJ all the men appear to be
in their twenties, thirties, or forties. Judging from their names, almost all are Belgians.
A saw can be seen on the right of the photograph and pieces of wood nailed to the
building indicate that it had been patched several times. With few exceptions, all the
39
Sometimes, only one woman (the spouse of a lumberjack) would take care of as many as
forty men and cook three full meals a day for them.
186
Figure 130. Lumberjacks and family members (JAU)
men in the back row are resting their hands on someone else's shoulders. It could be
that they are in an unstable standing position, but the fact that other individuals in the
lower rows are acting similarly suggests that this is a gesture of camaraderie among the
workers-a brotherhood so manly, perhaps, that Mrs. Gus Delfosse is turned towards
Mary's baby rather than her husband, seated on her left. While some of the men have
kept their work cap on, others are wearing fancier hats. No one wears gloves or mittens,
but at least one man has wool socks that were most likely hand knitted by a family
member during a previous winter. In many cases the men would leave for the camps in
the fall and would not come back home until early Spring. During their absence,
women would run the farm. Depending on familial situations, the lumberjacks would
hand the money they made-one dollar a day-to their parents, or keep it if they had
dependents. Usually, farmers labored in lumber camps just for a few years before, and
sometimes after, being married.

187
Once trees were cut (fig. 131), they were loaded on sleighs and hauled from the
woods using horsepower (figs. 132 and 160). Based on the number of photographs of
lumberjacks posing with horses, the men showed great regard for the animals.
Caterpillars were used as well (fig. 133), but usually not in the woods since, unlike
horses, they could damage the trees.
./ \
~ -- . \
Figure 131. Sawing wood at lumber camp (TIE)
Figure 132. Horses hauling wood at lumber camp (JAU)

188
Figure 133. Caterpillar hauling wood at lumber camp GAU)
Since most of the photographs taken at lumber camps represent lumberjacks sawing
trees, loading them or hauling them with horses, figure 134 (ca. 1912) is somewhat
tmusual. Ten lumberjacks pose outside a log building. Four men are holding lanterns
and there are two big metal, barrel-like containers on the snow in front of them.
Figure 134. Night crew at lumber camp (TIE)

189
The 10 men are probably part of the night crew in charge of preparing the ice for the
sleighs. After a certain track had been used all day long, the ice on which the sleighs slid
would wear down or break up. Late at night or very early in the morning, a lurnbe1jack
crew would go out with the water wagon and spray the tracks with water, or let water
run on them, so that when morning came, the water was frozen to ice and the day crew
had new tracks to run on. Since the lanterns are not lit, the photograph may have been
taken upon the return of the men to the log cabin, where they would rest for the day.
Farmers benefited from the lumber industry at other times of the year as well. A
woman helps Joe Mathu load or unload lumber from his truck (fig. 135). The
photograph was taken in the thirties or early forties when, as one informant commented,
farmers "would do anything to make a few dollars." In this particular case, Joe had
probably gone to Houghton, a town some 200 miles away in Michigan's upper
peninsula, to get a load of lumber which he would then bring back to Wisconsin and sell
for a small profit to a local lumber company.
Figure 135. "Anything to make a few dollars" (JAU)

190
Men who worked in lumber camps were usually hired-they did not work for
themselves. At other times, however, farmers in the Belgian community showed great
entrepreneurship in their efforts to make extra income. Around 1920, a company that
produced kerosene lamps started an ambitious advertising campaign for its Aladdin
lamps. The magazine advertisement, which included a picture, stated that the lamp
burned 94 percent air and 6 percent kerosene, and that it produced very white light
without popping or odor. The regular lamp cost $9.75, the bracket lamp was $7.25, and
the hanging lamp sold for $16.75. However appealing, the ads were not convincing
enough for the pragmatic Belgians, and it was not until some two years after they were
first published that a Dyckesville farmer by the name of Deprez finally dared to order
three lamps from Chicago. The LeFevres in Champion got one, and Isaac Servais-who
was dating Virginia LeFevre-finally had the opportunity to check the lamp out. He
found it to work so wonderfully that he decided to sell them. He ordered three, kept
one for his family, and one day after work he left his parents' house to make his first
salesman's round. Being no fool, he did not go in the Belgian community where he
knew people and people knew him, but rather took 'the Bohemian road,' on which he
kept going, going, and going until he saw a big home he did not know. After seeing
how well the lamp worked, the Bohemian farmer was easily convinced to buy the two
Isaac had, and the elated 22-year-old young man came back home sold out-and his
reputation intact. By the end of 1922 or early 1923, his selling business had fairly well
expanded. Figure 136 shows Isaac and one of his sisters on their parents' farm in
Sugarbush. The car is loaded with boxes containing Aladdin lamps. By 1925, the
Aladdin lamp business was soaring (fig. 137). Isaac, barely visible, and his cousin
Charlie Bertrand are sitting on top of a load of lamps they have just collected at the New
Franken depot. Isaac's brother Lawrence is holding a dog while his two sisters stand by
191
the wagon. With her big happy smile, Lucille gives the feeling that the family has just
uncovered a get-rich quick scheme.40
.
,."
'
.i,: ·-~,.~.~4
'" \i~ ~
~..r'' *&o
Figure 136. Isaac Servais on his way to deliver Aladdin lamps (SER)
Figure 137. Isaac Servais back from the depot with a load of lamps (SER)
40
While some farmers in the settlement had electricity relatively early -the Michiels in
Sugarbush had it by 1925----others who lived in more remote areas or lived on smaller farms had
to wait until the 1940s to receive it. Isaac Servais stopped selling Aladdin lamps when the public
service distributed electricity in the area in the late 1940s. In 1946, he started selling dairy-
vacs-special vacuum-cleaners that farmers used for cleaning cows, cobwebs, dirt, and seed
attachments. He sold them for 47 years.
192
Selling Aladdin lamps, it turns out, brought in more money than working as a mail
carrier, the second off-farm job Isaac held for 13 winters, starting in 1921 (fig. 138).
Figure 138. Isaac Servais on his mail route (SER)
The fact that he occasionally sold lamps while being on the mail road might,
perhaps, explain his good fortune, but it also reflects discerning pragmatism. By the
time he stopped selling lamps in the late 1940s, he had sold 1300 of them with a
commission of about 50 percent. It is unclear how much Isaac made when he
substituted for the regular carrier, his aging uncle Charlie Germiat, during the five
'winter' months, but by 1905, John Jilot, the second man to the left (fig. 139), made about
$750 a year for a 32 mile long route that took him from Brussels to Little Sturgeon. Jules
Pierre, Brussels Postmaster, stands to the left of the photograph. Unlike John Jilot,
Martin Mallien, and Frank Evrard-the three original rural free delivery mail carriers of
Brussels-he does not carry a mailbag. With his yearly income, John Jilot had to buy
equipment for his postal job-including horses, buggy, harnesses and feed-but also
provide for his wife and four children. According to his son Frank, savings were
193
minimal for a harsh and sometimes dangerous job that required carriers to deliver mail
through roads made practically impassable by 10 or 12 feet of snow.41
Figure 139. Mailmen at the Brussels Post Office (HENQ)
At times, the snow was piled up so high on the sides of the road that children could
walk on the piles and touch telephone lines. Figure 140 portrays the Dandois farm after
a snow storm in the 1920s and bears evidence to the fact that traveling through rural
areas in the winter time could, indeed, present a real challenge.
Getting farmers interested in rural free delivery, it appears, had not been easy at
first. In an attempt to make sense of the light patronage of the first day of R.F.D. in
Brown county, a Green Bay Advocate article from 15May1900 explained,
41
Frank Jilot, Interview by Linda Green, 10 January 1976, BT 9a, Special Collections,
University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. Delivering mail could be a very dangerous job indeed. On 4
February 1889, Clement Geniesse, Namur's Postmaster, got Jost while delivering mail in a
snowstorm. According to the State Gazette of 27 February, he had wandered all night in a circle
and, "On being found, his eyes were sightless, his limbs and face were terribly frozen, and it was
at first thought he could not survive twenty-four hours. On being taken into the warm room [of
the house where he was brought], his hands became so badly swoJlen that it was impossible to
get them both in a common wooden pail. Since that time, he has suffered greatly. The flesh on
his hands has shivelled up, leaving the skin closely drawn over the bones, and his face was also
disfigured from the results of the cold.... He leaves a wife and five children, in not very good
circumstances. He owned a farm and buildings, upon which it is said there is a mortgage."
194
Figure 140. Dandois farm after a snow storm (WAU)
The post-office authorities do not believe that the benefits of the service can be fully
computed until the farmers who are to receive the benefits of the service fully
understand the workings of rural delivery.... Yesterday the two carriers [one of
whom carried the mail in parts of the Belgian settlement] took about 300 newspapers
and about 200 letters plus some packages. About 50 newspapers and about half that
many letters were returned.
At time went by, however, people in rural areas trusted and used the system
increasingly, and as figure 139 suggests, they took pride in having R.F.D. and being a
part of it. Not only did photographers take pictures of mail carriers, but they also
photographed mailboxes (fig. 141).
Figure 141. Mailbox (HENQ)

195
The picture may be posed, but other snapshots in different family collections represent
one or several young people simply standing next to their mailbox. These images, as
well as those depicting radios (fig. 142), bicycles or automobiles point to the fact that
some individuals in the settlement were welcoming change and willing to adopt new
technologies.
Figure 142. Radio equipment (TIE)
Figure 143. Youths on a dirt road in Rosiere (MONF)
To younger generations, bicycles offered a means to leave the family homestead and
expand one's horizons while remaining within the comforting territory of a tight-knit
rural community. Of the six youths posing on a dirt road in Rosiere around 1931, only
the older two have bicycles (fig. 143). While the younger boys wear caps, the older wear
196
hats, which they have courteously removed for the photographer. The fact that the two
boys on the right are shoeless could indicate poverty, but it is also possible that they felt
more comfortable walking without shoes. The second and fourth boys from the left are
wearing nice shoes, pants, and jackets. They may have visited their friend Alex Meunier
(the third boy from the left) on his parents' farm in Rosiere. The bicycle seems a little
small fo r Alex; he may have borrowed it from the boy standing behind the group just for
the photograph. Figure 144 is similar, although more recent. It shows Donald Macco
and his little sister Jo, Marie Ferry, Tom Fabry, Mary-Lou Macco and Leona Michiels
going for a bike ride on Sunday, 17 July 1938. The cyclists are, indeed, wearing their
Sunday best, and the bikes are more sophisticated than those on figure 143. Although
Leona did not own a bike herself, she could occasionally borrow her brother's, which
she did on that particular Sunday afternoon.
Figure 144. Going for a bike ride (MIC)
The aviator caps worn by Norman and Arnie Michiels (fig. 32) reveal a similar
interest in new technologies. Leona Michiels talks of her father as of "a man who
believed in progress." Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 must
have captured not only his attention, but also that of other people in the community, as
the snapshot with the aviator glasses suggests (fig. 145).

197
Figure 145. Flying dog (TIE)
Figure 146. Jolm Simonar at steering wheel (SIM)
It is not clear whether Jolm Sirnonar was remodeling the car or fixing it (fig. 146).
However, the photograph and the caption," After a day's run," that Joe Tielens included
in his photo album (fig. 147) indicate that roads in the rural conununity were not in good
repair by the early 1920s. In fact, in some parts of the settlement, there were hardly any
roads at all (fig. 148). It is not surprising, then, that when the construction of Highway
57 reached Namur in the 1930s, an amateur photographer in the community deemed the
event well worth documenting (fig. 149).

198
Figure 147. "After a day's run" (TIE)
Figure 148. Car accident (SIM)
Figure 149. Construction of Highway 57, Namur (CHA)

199
Contrary to chapter three which was based on data gleaned from 'written'
documents, this chapter used photographs as its main sources of information, and it
utilized oral and written sources to complement the imagery. This approach is radically
different from that taken not only by traditional historians but also photo historians.
While the first typically dismiss visual sources, the latter are "more interested in critical
interpretation of the image and the techniques that produced it than in larger linkages to
society and social mores." 42
The photographs presented here came from a variety of private collections and
photo albums within the Belgian-American community. While some were professional
images, the majority were amateur photographs whose tecluucal quality was not always
the best. Subjects were out of focus, photographs were poorly exposed, and badly
loaded film left light marks on some prints. Horizons were slanted, the photographer's
shadow sometimes showed on the image, and feet, heads, and other body parts were
missing. Yet despite their shortcomings, these images shed light on the life and
experiences of Belgian Americans in Wisconsin's rural community.
The photographs were organized in such a way as to probe-or even

demonstrate-their potential usefulness as sources of documentation of the past. 43
Commenting on photographs as documents, historian Robert M. Levine writes,
A photograph becomes a historical document when it suggests ways to examine

people's lives or when it captures the texture of daily life. Obviously, it is one thing
to extract material evidence from a photograph, and very much another to attempt
to extract emotional, psychological, or personal inferences from mute images for
which we lack supplementary data . Things become a bit easier when the "facts" of a
42
43
It is interesting to note, for instance, that, for reasons that cannot be explained easily, Helen
Wautlet does not appear on any of the federal manuscript schedules. If it had not been for
the photographic evidence provided here-and the next section of the dissertation-she, and
perhaps other individuals we have encountered throughout this chapter, would have silently
passed through history without leaving a trace-not even that of a stone boat.
200
photogragh are linked with others to form a pattern that is understandable and
credible.
And he elaborates,
When we use photographs as documents, we acknowledge the assumption that

believable history invo!ves an imaginative ordering of materials in the pursuit of
recreating experience.4:>
Rather than sequencing the photographs chronologically or according to authorship
or photo collection, I have created linkages between and among images from several
photo collections in an effort to create sequences that, to paraphrase Levine, would be
meaningful, intelligible, and convincing. To do so required that I sometimes pay no or
only trivial attention to the main subject of the photograph and rather concentrate the
analysis on visual elements that were unintentionally included in the picture frame.
Thus I have examined holes in clothing, rounded windows, hands, distant log cabins,
and cow horns when photographers most likely wanted their viewers to look at the rest
of the image.
Despite its focus on photographic imagery, this chapter does not posit that
photographs should be used independently from other historical sources. Because of its
visual focus, however, more references have been made to other photographs than to
more traditional historical sources. One point remains to be made. It was argued that of
all the elements included on figure 22, the pump's design was the only hint suggesting
that the picture might not have been taken in Belgium. When cross-referenced with a
photograph of Fred Martin watering three horses in his parents' farmyard (fig. 150),
however, the image tells a different story. Besides the pump and the log construction in
the background, the farmer's dress code (he is wearing overalls), the horses' fly nets, and
44
Levine, Images, x.
45
Levine, linages, 186.
201
their 'unusually' small collars are three decisive elements that help establish the origin of
the photograph as American, rather than Belgian.46
Figure 150. Fred Martin watering three horses (BEL)
Of all additional sources available for the project, interviews with the picture-holders
or photographers have been most frequently used in the chapter. While photographers
or their subjects were usually the only individuals capable of providing information as
to "why" a particular photograph had been taken, picture-holders' comments were
useful regarding questions about, for instance, names, places, family relationships,
customs and traditions, and agricultural practices. The supplementary data they
provided reinforced the visual evidence while at other times correcting or preventing
misinterpretation of the imagery. The photograph of the couple standing in a field is
badly scratched and has light marks on its sides (fig. 151). Looking at it, however, one
can't help noticing the closeness between what at the first glance appears to be a married
couple. Yet, the picture portrays two neighbors, not a husband and wife. We know both
46
The infonnation, which was provided by contemporary Belgian farmers, is supported by
historical photographs from Belgium. See figures 202 and 203 for depictions of a typical pump
and horse collar in Belgium.
202
of them slightly-he spreads manure on Memorial Day, and she occasionally hauls
wheelbarrows. Figure 151, like those of Alice in her yard and Edward spreading
manure, attests to the simplicity of the individuals portrayed. Alice's apron is cleaner
that in the previous picture, but her hair remains untamed. As we look at these two
people posing for the photographer in an informal way, the two farmers standing by the
barn (fig. 152), or the photographs of Frank and/ or Mary Martin (see, for instance, fig.
21, 22, 78, 79, and 80), we are convinced that they are being themselves with their well-
worn clothes, their dirty clothes, and their old hats.
-t
Figure 151. Neighbors (WAU) Figure 152. Two farmers in

farm yard (HENQ)
While this chapter investigated photographs obtained in the community at large,
chapter five focuses on the imagery of five farm women-all of whom amateur
photographers within the Belgian-American community. Instead of examining what is

203
accidentally included in photographs and creating a narrative of my own, it explores the
narratives and the meanings that these five women have intentionally constructed with
the imagery they produced.

204
CHAPTER FIVE
VISUAL CHRONICLES:
PHOTO ALBUMS OF FARM WOMEN
IN WISCONSIN'S BELGIAN COMMUNITY
Often displayed next to the family Bible, the photograph album has historically
occupied a venerated place in the American home.1 Citing a pioneer in Montana in
1864, Taft, for instance, writes,
home was complete when the Bible and the album could be brought out from the
trunks and placed in the center of the room. The Bible was the consolation of these
wayfarers from a far country; the album was the most direct tie to their past life,
for it contained the images of those most loved but distant: Father-Mother-Aunt
Sue-Sister Mary, and a host of others.2
In the beginning, albums were reserved for professional portraits of family
relatives. Technological developments in photography and printing, however, and a
growing fascination for public figures, rapidly expanded the range of portraits found
in family albums to include depictions of celebrities and heroes (Goldberg, 1993). 3 For
instance, the Green Bay Advocate stated in 1865 that no parlor table was complete
without an album with portraits of relatives and military heroes, and "fancy pictures
1
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 3; Taft, Photography, 138-139.
2
Ibid.
3
Goldberg, Power, 103-105.
205
to please the old as well as young."4 Some 20 years later, another newspaper article
suggested that albums serve not only as repository sites for single portraits, but also
photographic life-histories, ... a new form of family register that shall contain all
these notices that were formerly entered in the family bible and much more
besides-namely, a series of photographic studies of the features from childhood
upward, together with facts that shall afford as complete a life-history as is
consistent with brevity.5
This chapter examines U1e "photographic life-histories" of five Belgian families in
rural Wisconsin. As suggested in chapter one, although family photograph albums
have seldom been studied, they constitute rich sources of documentation for historical,
social, or cultural research. Not only do 'photographic studies' show how people's
features change over time-as the Green Bay Data notes-but they can also disclose
significant information about a variety of human activities, choices, and decisions. By
showing how individuals behave and relate to one another within a specific family,
albums can also shed light on its internal politics.
Through photo albums, individuals can express their personalities, recount their
experiences, and comment on their lives and the world around them. By selecting and
organizing photographs, album compilers shape the canvas-indeed, the visual family
tree-onto which their own memories, as well as those of family members, will be
grafted. Long after the visual narrative has been created, it can be used to reinforce a
pre-existing vision of the past, or re-awaken a past that had been partially forgotten.
Of the 16 photo albums that were examined in the Belgian community, five are
fully discussed here. They are those of Pearline Fontaine Tielens, Virginie LeFevre
Servais, Hazel Englebert Chaudoir, Eunice Bellin Wautlet, and Esther Willems
Neuville. Among the factors guiding the selection process were the completeness of the
4
Green Bay Advocate, 6 April 1865.
5
Green Bay Data, 14 March 1882.
206
album and the availability of information about the photographer and/ or the album
compiler, or the photo album. In two cases (Chaudoir and Neuville), the
photographers themselves were interviewed. When the picture-taker or compiler had
passed away, such as was the case with the Servais, Bellin, or Tielens photo albums,
interviews were conducted with close family members-typically the individuals who
had inherited the album. While many photographic collections exist in the Belgian
community, only those physically arranged in an album were considered for analysis.
However, loose photographs from the same family collection were sometimes taken
into consideration. Finally, because the emphasis of this project is on farmers and
rural photography, photo albums that were created by people in farming communities
were chosen over albums put together by city-dwellers-in this particular case,
Belgians living in Green Bay.
The five albums were created by women who lived and worked on a farm. With
the exception of Pearline Fontaine Tielens who had a culturally mixed background, all
the women were full-blooded Belgians. In addition, they all married Belgian farmers
from the area. Together, the photo albums cover four decades-the 1920s through the
1950s-with some earlier and later pictures. They overlap in the following way:
1. The Fontaine Tielens album-1920s
2. The LeFevre Servais album-1920s
3. The Englebert Chaudoir album-1920s, 1930s, 1940s
4. The Bellin Wautlet album-1930s, 1940s, 1950s
5. The Willems Neuville album-1930s, 1940s, 1950s, early 1960s
Map 1 shows where the five farm women were located in the Belgian settlement.
Rather than comparing and contrasting the five photographic collections throughout
the chapter, each album is discussed separately so that its specificity (what makes it
different from other albums) and the personality of its compiler can be brought to light.
207
While comparisons are occasionally made between and among photo albums, they
remain few for reasons of clarity. At the end of the d1apter, however, a collective
analysis summarizes the major similarities among the five albums and assesses what can
be learned from this type of research.
• SETTLEMENTS FROM I00-1000
o SETTLEMENTS FROM IOOO· !5000
i~0 BELGIA~ SETTLEMENT AREA
~ 3 ' ~ 6 ..... £s
o l 3 • 5 6 1 a 9•1lOME:IE!lS
~'
l 'i('
•Maplewood
""\ v :/
't \I EBW
" 1 e
Lincoln Euren
Thiry Ouems
Map2. Location of Pearline Fontaine Tielens (PFT), Virginia Lefevre Servais (VLS),
Hazel Englebert Chaudoir (HEC), Eunice Bellin Wautlet (EBW),
and Esther Willems Neuville (EWN) in the Belgian community
Original map by W. Laatsch, 1992, 197.
208
Pearline Fontaine Tielens's photo album
As stated before, of the five farm women whose photo albums are examined in this
chapter, Pearline Fontaine Tielens (b. 1892) is the only one who is not a full-blooded
Belgian. Based on information obtained from census schedules, she was part German,
part Belgian, and part French.6 However, her family spoke Flemish at home, a language
to which she and her husband, Frank Tielens, naturally reverted when they did not want
their son to understand what they were saying. More important to us as far as this
project is concerned, Pearline practiced photography. The album she compiled covers
the 1920s but also includes some pictures from the 1910s.
Before examining Pearline's album, it should be noted that she was not the only
photographer in the family. Joe Tielens, her brother-in-law, was also a picture-taker,
and she sometimes used his photographs in her album.7
Of the 178 photographs included in Pearline's album, 135 (76 percent) are
snapshots, 39 (22 percent) are professional studio portraits, and 4 (2 percent) are
postcard views. For the most part, snapshots are grouped separately from professional
photographs. The first half of the album's 72 pages is mostly devoted to amateur
imagery, while the second half is a mix between snapshots and professional portraits, of
which some date back to the 1910s. They are combined in a variety of sequences
focusing loosely first on children, secondly on women, and finally on men. The album
ends with 15 pages of early photographs (ca. 1912-1919) that Pearline's husband,
Frank, brought back from lumber camps in Michigan.
6
See figure 26 (chapter four) for a depiction of Pearline as a younger girl.
7
Joe, a mechanic who worked in a New Franken garage all his life, created a photo album
that clearly reflected his personal tastes and interests. The subject matter includes work (at the
garage or on the farm), technology, sports, automobiles, construction projects, radio and farm
equipment, people-many of whom were male 'pals'-and outings with his wife Anna and the
young couple's friends.
209
Based on the visual and verbal components of the album, Pearline conceived her role
as being not only the family photographer, but also the family archivist. Contrary to the
other four albums examined in the chapter, almost all photographs in Pearline's album
have original captions which identify the subjects of the images by their first and last
names. The captions accompany not only pictures showing members of the extended
family, but also photographs depicting herself and intimate family members, including
her husband and son. In addition, when identifying a photograph of herself in the
album, Pearline uses a third person, rather than a first, and presents herself as "Mrs.
Frank Tielens," or "Pearl." Figure 153, for instance, identified as "Pearl," is the third
portrait of a series of four introduced as "Four Sisters" (the four Fontaine sisters). This
gives the feeling that Pearline realized that the album would be viewed by later
generations that would not necessarily know the individuals represented first hand. By
identifying almost each individual in the·album, she made sure that future viewers
would know who they are, and, perhaps, how they are related to them.
Figure 153. Page 41, Pearline Tielens's album (TIE)

210
Pearline's role as the keeper of the family history is also visible in the photographs
she used and the way she organized them. Not only does she think of herself as just
'one of four sisters,' but she also surrounds photographs of her only son, Kenneth, with
many pictures of his cousins. Instead of concentrating her attention on her side of the
family only, she aJlocates substantial amounts of space to Frank's kinship, including his
parents, his siblings, and their own families. With the exception of a few Walloons and
Bohemians, the people portrayed are by and large of Flemish descent. Sometimes the
photographs are organized by family groups, with a page focusing on a specific
household. For instance, page eight of her album has three photographs of her sister-in-
law's sisters posing outdoors, while page six contains imagery related to her own sister's
farm. It shows the Henry Cleereman farm from a distance; Pearline's sister Sadie at
work (see fig. 45); and Sadie and Henry's daughter Arlene sitting on the front door's
steps. Very often, Pearline brings together photographs from both sides of the family on
a single page. Two pages of the album, for instance, combine general views of the
Fontaine homestead where she grew up with views of the Tielens farm, as if she had
attempted to unite the two families symbolically through photographs (fig. 154). On
another page, she has paired two photographs of her brother-in-law Joe Tielens working
or standing with a tractor, with two smaller pictures of her sister Evelyn working or
posing with horses (fig. 155).

With a ratio of approximately 4 to 1, adults are paid significantly more attention to
than children in Pearline's album. Most of the 14 photographs that portray both adults
and children together were taken at weddings, picnics, or other family reunions-events
which would have brought the family together. It is interesting to note that with the
exception of three photographs, none of the 32 pictures focusing exclusively on children
portray them at play. The three play-related photographs include those of a boy
holding the family dog, a little girl playing with the family cat, and another child pulling
a small, apparently home-made wagon on a porch. Nothing fancy, indeed. While the
211
d. ..
· ~-
-
-:.,_~ ~·
-·
·~~
..
.
Figure 155. Page 4, Pearline Tielens's album {TIE)

212
absence of photographs of children at play can be related to the environment in which
the pictures were taken-about half of these thirty-two items are professional studio
portraits- it also suggests that if children played on the farm-and they more than
likely did-Pearline did not think it was important to document that part of their lives
in her a]bum. On one occasion at least, she photographed an unidentified boy as he was
working with older family members in the field (see fig. 33).
In this album-although perhaps not so in life-Pearline attached much more
importance to family than comradeship. While friends are occasionally included in the
album, they are few, and they only appear on photographs that portray other relatives.
This gives the feeling that the presence of the family member on the photograph was a
prerequisite for the friends' inclusion in Pearline's family-oriented album. Contrary to
family members who are always identified by name, friends are also simply labeled as
"friend(s)." The only strangers whom Pearline deems important enough to be pictorially
and verbally documented are individuals who were influential in her husband's life,
including [Fremo?]-"Frank's boss in Omasa" (one of the lumber camps where Frank
worked)-and Reverend [Geiger?] (possibly Frank's pastor in the lumber camps).
Similarly, many of the photographs taken in the lumber camps have been cross-marked
to indicate where Frank or other family members are on the picture.
But Pearline's careful documentation did not stop with recording family members.
Places, too, were important to her. When photographing family farms, for instance, she
stood as far back as she had to so that the whole farm would be contained in the picture
frame. At times, she also photographed the landscape surrounding the farm. It is not
clear if she or someone else photographed the Sugarbush store or the New Franken
depot-two locations that she and her family probably visited regularly-but she placed
both pictures in her album. Similarly, when the Fontain.e family had a picnic at Red
Banks, a popular resort in the area, she documented the scenery as well as the family
213
group (fig. 156, p. 35). In the same way as she was looking at herself as being only one
component in an extended family, she was positioning her family into a broader setting.
Judging from her photo album, Pearline was proud both of her family and her
environment. Developments on the farm-such as raising barns or silos-were equally
important to her. We don't know whether Joe or Pearline photographed the new silos on
William and Frank Tielens's farms, but pictures documenting both their construction and
the finished product appear in both Joe's and Pearline's photo collections. Page seven of
her album, for instance, comprises three different views of the "Frank Tielens farm" in
Sugarbush (fig. 157). The first picture is a general view, but the other two clearly
underline "Frank Tielens new silo." Another photograph in the album depicts Frank and
Pearline's farm, a few years later, with its new additions. In order to make all the
buildings fit into the picture frame, Pearline photographed it from the neighbor's field,
across the road.

214
Animals, especially horses, could also elicit much pride from thefr owners. Fourteen
photographs in the album portray horses at work on the farm. While it is not always
dear whether the horse or the activity is the actual focus of the photograph, the fact
remains that Pearline devoted a whole page of her album to the animals (fig. 158).

215
The two larger photographs show "Ed Tielens" (Frank's brother) holding two beautiful
dark horses by the reins, and "Mr. and Mrs. Wm Tielens" (Pearline's in-laws) sitting in a
buggy. The other two smaller photographs depict Frank Tielens, and "Gene and Evelyn
Fontaine" (Pearline's siblings) working with teams of horses. Figure 155 is of particular
interest because it juxtaposes two photographs of horses (on her side of the family) to
two photographs of tractors (on Frank's side of the family). By placing photographs of
horses and different tractor models on the same page, Pearline may have tried to
document changes on the farm.
Figure 159. Page l, Pearline Tielens's album (TIE)
If we add the nine photographs Pearline took of local farms to the 20 snapshots
showing farmers at work, and the 17 work-related pictures Frank brought back from
lumber camps, labor represents some 25 percent of the imagery and is an important
pictorial topic in Pearline's album. When documenting work on the farm, she
photographed everyday, mundane chores performed by single individuals as well as
major undertakings that necessitated big machinery and larger crews. So, while
216
threshing, hay baling, and silo-filling crews get Pearline's pictorial attention, so do
individuals-mostly family members-accomplishing routine chores such as feeding
chickens, carrying pails of water or feed (fig. 45), transporting merchandise (fig. 43),
leading horses, or working in the fields (fig. 44). A photograph on the first page of her
album, for instance, depicts her younger brother Eugene assuming the pose of a valorous
hunter /warrior (fig. 159). The game/victim lying at his feet, however, is a load of
manure piled up on a sleigh pulled by a team of horses. Although there are some
exceptions, most of the activities portrayed-including those performed by farm
women-are labor intensive.
Like many other local farmers, Frank Tielens spent several winters working in lumber
camps. The photographs he, other family members, or co-workers took in the camps
receive a substantial amount of space at the end of Pearline's album.
Figure 160. Page 63, Pearline Tielens' s album (TIE)

217
Most of the pictures show lumberjacks at work (fig. 160, see also fig. 131), but some also
portray a lighter side of life, such as "hunting parties" and their game, or activities the
men would participate in on their day off.
But farm people entertained themselves also, and even though leisure-related images
are not as numerous as work-related photographs, the fact that they are included in the
album indicates that Pearline was interested in commemorating recreation. Besides
documenting her visit to Red Banks (fig. 156), she photographed family and school
picnics, weddings, Sunday outings, family reunions, or hobbies. Page one of Pearline's
album, for instance, has three pictures of Ed and Joe Tielens posing with the rabbits
they-or at least one of them-shot (fig. 159).
Although the automobile did not affect agricultural labor directly, it had a significant
impact on the lives of rural people as it provided them with a quicker means of
transportation than the buggy. Judging from the 13 photographs that have an
218
automobile in them, Pearline was not totally indifferent to it. Of the ten photographs
included in the album's first three pages, five portray family members posing by or
inside a car.
Vir~inia LeFevre Servais' s photo album
Starting in 1919 and ending in 1930, Virginia LeFevre's photo album overlaps
Pearline's album. With the exception of some pre-1919 photographs, the album
specifically-although perhaps not intentionally-covers the nine years of courting
between Virgie and Isaac Servais, a young farmer from Sugarbush whom she married in
1929. The unusually long courting period did not reflect relational problems between
Virginia and Isaac, but rather resulted from a combination of circumstances. When the
two young people met, Virginia's maternal grand-parents (figs. 24 and 25) were still
living on the family homestead in Champion. Virginia was Victor and Marie LeFevre's
only surviving child (her older and only brother died from measles in 1910), and
although Isaac was willing to leave Sugarbush and settle on his in-laws' homestead, he
did not think that it was a good idea to have three generations living under the same
roof. Since Isaac's help was needed on his parents' farm, the wedding was simply
delayed.
The careful arrangement of the 207 photographs and the written comments
throughout the first third of the album suggest that Virgie must have spent a great deal
of time constructing her autobiographical narrative. Contrary to Pearline Tielens, her

album reads more like an account of her personal life and experiences than a visual
record of her family's history. She also does not identify the subjects on the pictures but
rather makes witty editorial comments on the images and their juxtaposition on the
page. Like Pearline, however, Virginia had an audience in mind when she constructed
the visual and verbal narratives. At times, she directs her comments to the subjects of
219
the photographs; at other times she calls directly on her readers who most probably
consisted of Isaac, close friends, and family members.
The first page of the album introduces Virginia and the playful tone characterizing
some of her imagery. It shows a picture of Virgie surrounded by two photographs of
her friend and namesake posing in rural settings (fig. 162). The images are simply
labeled, "'Twin sisters' by name." The two Virginias were close companions, and
images of them posing together are common in the album. The first photograph of Isaac
is on page five and, not surprisingly, the young man frequently appears throughout the
visual narrative, along with many other close friends and some family members.
Figure 162. Page 1, Virginia Servais's album (SER)
When selecting what to photograph and compiling her album, Virginia focused
almost entirely on 'heightened activities,' uncustomary or unique events rather than on
everyday, mundane happenings. Based on the high number of photographs depicting
outings or visitors in their Sunday best, most of the photographs were taken on
weekends-possibly Sunday-a day when most visits or outings usually took place (fig.
163).
220
It is clear that Virginia loved having visitors and going out for rides. On a
photograph, a male friend posing by a car is readjusting a carnation on his jacket.
"Don't mind your carnation-But give us a ride!" a restless Virginia urged under the
picture. Some 40 percent of the images in the album depict Virgie, Isaac and other
individuals in buggies, snow-cutters, or most often, automobiles. The latter were
obviously people's favorite means of transportation, or their newest possession, and
they were sometimes photographed for their own sake. For instance, a picture shows
Rose Deprez, a friend of the couple, photographing Isaac and Virgie as they sit on the
running board of a Ford coupe in 1924. Unfortunately, the car belonged to Virgie's first
cousin, Joe Lefevre, not to Isaac. But it must have been a very nice car at the time for it
became the subject of posing for a picture. Other photographs in the album show
people "trying the new Olds," "going for a ride," "on a visit to Kewaunee," "taking a
view of Lake Michigan," "out riding," stopping for a picnic, or visiting local points of
interest such as the Red Banks resort, local shrines, or Murphy's farm, a fancy farm
north of Sturgeon Bay that was the talk of many conversations among rural people,
especially farmers, in the area (fig. 164).

221
Special local events were also worth a trip, and they were documented as well. For
instance, when they learned that a family friend had gotten a plane shortly after 1914,
Virginia and Isaac set out on a special journey to Green Bay so that they could take a
look at it. Other photographs in the album include scenes at the fairgrounds, the Lincoln
kermiss, and Virginia and Isaac on their way to a Packer football game in the early 1920s
(fig. 165).
Although the photographs are taken in a rural area and although many of them have
a clear bucolic motif, few photographs in the album depict farmers at work, and only
three (in a photo-essay) portray Virgie in her work clothes. In fact, the third page of the
album depicts a fashion show in which a very sophisticated-and talented-Virginia
presents her own creations for Winter, Spring, and Summer 1919 (fig. 166).
Yet, we learn from Isaac that Virginia had always been active on the family farm. By
1914, the 12-year-old girl had taken over the daily chores of her mother who had become
ill.
222
The household was relatively small and her father later got hired help to assist with
the farm work, but these early responsibilities appear to have marked Virginia in a
rather profound way. Indeed, the life account she wrote before her death in 1988
recounts the circumstances that put her to work and the fact that by age twelve, she had
to milk the family's 11 cows every day.

223
Among the photographs related to work are those of her father holding a shovel or
leading a team of horses in a field, haying operations, Isaac on his way to deliver mail or
Aladdin lamps (figs. 136 and 138), and a male crew returning to the farm at the end of
the day. If Virginia showed little interest in documenting farm work1 on several
occasions she transformed work environment and farm equipment into backdrops or
props for humorous photographs. Although she photographed 'normal' haying
operations, she also had three youths climb on top of the tractor and take
unconventional, acrobatic poses. It is clear that the young woman directed the bearing
of her subjects in many of the pictures, and based on her comment, "in mischief again"
she wrote under a photograph of herself sitting on her father's tractor in a quite unlady-
like fashion (fig. 167), she knew that the postures were eccentric and could attract
attention. There is little doubt, also, that climbing a fence like her friends did (fig. 168)
would have induced at least a reproving look from her father and/or the builder of the
fence.
Figure 167. Portion of page 11, Figure 168. Portion of page 41,
Virginia Servais's album (SER) Virginia Servais's album (SER)
224
Yet, the experience was fun. It had to be attempted, and Virginia deemed it worthy of
documentation.
Judging from the photo album, Virginia often made special efforts to transform even
the most mundane daily happenings, such as a walk in the country, into a light-hearted
adventure. Instead of having friends and visitors stand by piles of wood or stones, she
had them climb as high as they could and assume stances that required if not a safety
net, at least a good balance. Instead of photographing people standing by shocks of
grain, she would have them crawl or squat underneath them. The young woman also
made sure that the clowning around would not go unnoticed by her readers.
Commenting on a series of four photographs depicting herself and four friends in the
farm yard (fig. 169), she writes, "Don't overlook our feet or our coats-But look at our
smiles! Four feet, is that all? Aren't we the limit? What next? Good by, come again
soon." Not only is each young woman standing on one foot, but they all wear their
coats backwards.

225
Virginia's playful attitude and disregard for conventions should not be interpreted
as signs of disparagement toward farm life and the rural world. Many photographs in
the album reveal that she enjoyed her surroundings and the tranquility of rural life.
"How can you beat the farm?" she asked under the romanticized photograph of a young
woman in a light dress combing her long dark hair while sitting in a pasture (fig. 170).
The comment could have been sarcastic, but family members agree that it most certainly
was not. Photographs in the album show her with her cousin, Joe, "taking it easy" while
sitting on the lawn, or enjoying "a fine summer day" in the yard's hammock. Her
favorite horse, Nellie Grey, also occasionally appears in the album.
Figure 170. Portion of page 23, Virginia Servais's album (SER)
Many of the photographs Virginia took indicate that she viewed photography as a
form of group entertainment, and that she was aware of its make believe quality. A
photograph in the album, for instance, simulates the fortuitous meeting between two
young strangers on a city sidewalk. "Hello," Virgie wrote under the photograph. The
'stranger' on the picture, it turns out, is cousin Joe himself. The unidentified woman is
either Virgie or one of her friends.
In these and several other examples in the album, Virginia has constructed a visual
autobiography of herself that presents her as an independent, fun-loving, and stylish

226
young woman who occasionally disregarded or even mocked established conventions.
But the young woman also understood that the camera could be used to document
happenings in a more realistic or accurate way. We do not know who photographed
Virgie and John Potter, a friend of the family, skinning rabbits in the farmyard (fig. 171),
but the images are interesting on two levels at least.
First, they are the only pictures in the album that show Virginia performing farm
chores in her work clothes. Second and more importantly, perhaps, they suggest that
Virginia also used photographs as documenting tools in her photo-album. In this
particular case, she combined a series of three photographs to provide a documentary
chronological account of one specific farming activity. The power of photography to
record and document reality ultimately comes to light in the concluding pages of
Virginia's visual autobiography. In addition to photographs depicting her
wedding-and the wedding cake-Virginia included a series of four pictures of Francis,
the couple's first son. The last photograph represents her father holding his grand-son
as he is standing by the family car. While Virginia occasionally photographed her

227
children in later years (see figs. 91 and 99), there is no doubt that dose pregnancies-she
and Isaac had four children between 1930 and 1935-left the young mother very little
time to practice photography as extensively as she had during the nine years that
preceded her wedding.
Hazel En&lebert Chaudoir's photo album
At about the same time Virginia Servais started assembling her photo album, 15-
year-old Hazel Englebert, the daughter of a cheese-maker in Brussels, a small
community some 15 miles north of Champion, decided that she, too, wanted to take
pictures. With the four dollars she had saved while working at the Brussels General
store, the teenager purchased a brand new Brownie because "the Kodak did not take
good pictures, and it was more expensive." Obviously, the young girl was not aware
that the Brownie was manufactured by Kodak, and that it had been especially designed
for children. The camera took six pictures at a time, and one roll of film cost 50 cents.
Another 40 or 50 cents would get the film developed in Green Bay. It was not Hazel's
first encounter with photography as she had previously put together a 'traditional'
photo album of family portraits. While the only freedom provided by the earlier album
consisted in selecting which 12 portraits to insert in pre-cut slots in pages of thick
cardboard, with the Brownie camera, Hazel could finally select the subjects she wanted
to document, frame the images, and arrange them any way she wanted on a page.
The album's frayed-out laces and well-thumbed pages point to the fact that it has
been paged through many times over the years. According to Hazel, hardly a single
week goes by when she and her husband Harry-often at the request of family
members, friends, or members of the community-do not consult the album. It is
obvious that the couple has often been questioned about names, dates, or places, and as
a result, they know many of the 225 photographs by heart. Over the years, Hazel has
also reworked the photo album by supplementing .and amending its visual and verbal
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components. She has added a couple of more recent photographs where space was
available, and with the help of a family member, she has put new identification labels
under several images.

Hazel's experience with photography is similar to Virginia's in the sense that when
they started taking photographs, they both were young, single women living in their
parents' home. However, while Virginia's photo album covers almost exclusively the
1920s and while it abruptly stops soon after the birth of her first child, Hazel's album
chronicles almost three decades of her life. In that respect, it serves as a good indicator
of the personal growth of its compiler as she evolved from a worry-free teenager to a
mature woman with marital and parental responsibilities.
Figure 172. Page 2, Hazel Chaudoir's album (CHA)
The first photographs Hazel took-perhaps not surprisingly-depict individuals

from her home environment, including her parents and family members from older
generations. School friends, cousins, or youths in the local community were also
frequently photographed. Of the three pictures assembled on the second page of the
album, for instance, one depicts Josephine Mathy, one of Hazel's friends, standing in a
yard; and another one portrays her parents sitting on the porch of the house in 1920 or
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1921(fig.172). Since Hazel's means of transportation was often limited to her two feet,
she could only photograph events that were within walking distance of her home. When
she learned that the Brussels feed and flour mill had been destroyed by a fire, she
decided it would be interesting to take a walk and look at it (fig. 120, p. 29). The sight
was singular enough for her to photograph not only the burnt down building, but its
steam engine as well-a piece of machinery which she found somewhat intriguing.
Albeit less dramatic than fires, entertaining community events also caught her
attention. Several photographs in the album portray Hazel's friends dressed up in crepe
paper costumes for a Christmas program at school. Similarly, when Hazel got a part in a
church play about spinsters, she (on the right) and other cast members posed for a few
pictures, along vvith their umbrellas and untaken hearts (fig. 174). While the 'spinsters'
play' was directed by no one else but the parish's catholic priest, other early
photographs indicate that Hazel herself occasionally acted as a social commentator, and
that she used photography as an instrument to poke fun at social conventions or
mannerisms. For instance, one day in 1920or1921, she and her friend Mary dressed up
230
like men and, hammer in hand, assumed poses they interpreted as typically masculine.
In another photograph, the two friends wearing men's coveralls and hats, pose with a
cigar in their mouth (fig. 175). Hazel and her friend were acute observers: a photograph
on the next page portrays Harry and one of his friends in exactly the same pose (fig.
176).
Figure 175. Portion of page 20, Figure 176. Portion of

Hazel Chaudoir's album (CHA) page 22, Hazel Chaudoir's
album (CHA)
231
Despite these playful photographs, the general tone of Hazel's album is more serious
than that of Virginia Lefevre. There is no direct evidence for it, but it is possible that a
change in marital status brought new responsibilities that, in turn, shaped her
iconographic production. While Virginia remained single until the age of 28, Hazel
married when she was 19, and she and Harry had five children by the time she was 31.
Recording their lives became an important part of hers. The last photographs on the
second page of the album, for instance, shows Hazel's son, Rernie, with his cousin
Gillain (fig. 172). At times, Hazel's snapshots bring several generations together as she
photographs her parents, her husband Harry, and their children, together. 8 At other
times, Hazel celebrates woman- and motherhood. Figure 177, for instance, shows Hazel
(on the right) and her sister-in-law Marie holding Marie's daughter, Mildred, in 1923.
Hazel would not get married until 1924, but the photograph shows quite
unambiguously that both women derive much contentment and pride from holding the
chubby baby girl, whom they present as if she were sitting on a pedestal. Another
8
It is notable that one of the three recent color photographs Hazel incorporated in the album
depicts Harry with his first great-grand-son. While he and Hazel now have two great-great-
grand-sons, their photographs, as well as one depicting five generations of Chaudoirs, are
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photograph taken in 1938 portrays Hazel seated on a chair with an apron on. Even
though she knew that pregnant women were not supposed to have their photograph
taken, she agreed to pose for the picture. Her folded hands partially hiding her stomach
suggest that she was a bit self-conscious about the operation, but judging from the
amused smile on her face, she was enjoying every minute of it. As Hazel's own children
grew up in the 1930s and 1940s, significant landmarks or rites of passage in their lives
were regularly documented, including birthdays, communions, and weddings. As
suggested in chapter four, if communion photographs were frequent in the Belgian
community, birthday pictures were not, and their relatively high frequency in the album
(five photographs) distinguishes it from other photograph collections in the community.
Closely related to the pictures previously discussed are photographs that
memorialize family reunions or gatherings. These, too, are well represented in Hazel's
album. Leafing through its pages, one encounters snapshots commemorating Sunday
gatherings, visits from distant and near relatives (fig. 174), or special reunions
occasioned by joyful events such as a family member's furlough in 1943 or Hazel and
Harry's wedding in 1924-even though the latter is discreetly documented with three
photographs on a single page. Considering Hazel had two aunts who had taken their
vows, it is not surprising that nuns frequently appear on several family reunion
snapshots. At times, Hazel singled them out for individual portraits (fig. 175).
Occasionally, she accompanied family members as they visited the sisters at the Chapel
of Robinsonville, and she photographed members of the religious congregation. A
photograph on the first page of her album, for instance, depicts "Sister Clementine,
Sister Anthony, and Sister Cecil at the Chapel." Religious events that brought the
community together, such as Assumption Day, were also important to document, as
displayed in the living-room and the kitchen-the two places in the house where the couple
receive visitors and spend most of their day.
233
indicated by an early photo-essay consisting of four photographs taken at the Chapel
(see fig. 97).
With approximately 20 photographs each, religion, work, and automobiles occupy
an equal amount of space in the album. The photograph at the center of figure 178, for
instance, shows Hazel sitting on Harry's lap as he is himself seated on the running board
of his car-a bold pose considering the two young people were not married at the time.
It is obvious that if Hazel paid at least some attention to the vehicles that helped bring
the community out of its isolation, she was not as fascinated by the automobile industry
as Virginia, who included some eighty car photographs in her album. Hazel had
entered a domestic role sooner in her life than Virginia had, and it is possible that the
autonomy and freedom brought by the automobile did not affect her as deeply or
significantly as it did Virginia.
Judging from the large number of photographs involving children, it is clear that
they, as well as her family, constituted more attractive and significant poles of attraction
in her eyes. While she documents family picnics like Virginia did, Hazel does not
include automobiles in the picture frame, but instead focuses solely on the group of
people as they share a meal and relax in a clearing. Similarly, while Hazel includes
234
photographs of peregrinations and outings in her album1 they are few compared to
those in Virginia's photo collection. At times, trips involved visiting family members1
such as a relative who was staying at the Oshkosh's sanatorium, and they provided
opportunities to photograph novel sights encountered while on the road. When a trip
took them to Appleton, for example, Hazel photographed the city's dam and paper
company. At other times, outings consisted simply of sharing pleasurable moments
with friends. A series of seven photographs in the album, for instance, portrays the
young married couple and two friends during an ice fishing trip on the bay of Green Bay
(fig. 179).
It is interesting to note that, despite the album's pictorial emphasis on youngsters,
few photographs depict them at play. But the nice outfits the children wear (little boys
have suit and ties, and little girls pretty dresses, shoes, and stockings) were probably not
conducive to play on the farm. Of the photographs that do show children at play, most
have a snow motif, such as sleighing, playing in the snow with the family dog, or
building a tunnel in the deep snow. Occasionally, play and work intermix on
235
photographs depicting children getting a ride on uncle Frank's, or the family's tractor
(fig. 180).
Although Hazel had not experienced such rides personally, she knew how
impressive tractors could be. She was 15 years of age when the first tractor came to
Namur in 1920, and even though she did not photograph the tractor herself, she
included two pictures of it in her album (see, for instance, fig. 181). Some 25 years later,
she must have understood how thrilling it was for children to sit 'high up' on the
fenders of the imposing piece of farm equipment, and she recorded the exciting event on
at least three separate occasions.
While figures 180 and 181 include work-related photographs exclusively, as
mentioned earlier, the images represent only a fraction of the total amount of labor-
related pictures in Hazel's album. Next to the picture of "uncle Francis" and his tractor
is a 1917 photograph portraying Hazel's dad, Henry (on the right), and Henry Motquin,
a co-worker, at the Bmssels cheese factory (fig. 181).

236
After Hazel settled on Harry's farm in Namur, the number of images related to farming
naturally increased, even though a majority of them do not appear until the late 1930s
and 1940s-a time when some of the children were old enough to join the labor force. Of
all the farm chores, Hazel most often documented those that brought many members of
the family together such as harvesting or shelling peas (figs. 38 and 93). In addition to
emphasizing the collective nature of farm work, the pictures also served as a linkage
between family members. For instance, Hazel and Harry sent several of the harvesting
photographs (fig. 180) to their son, Harry Jr., when he was in the service in 1945. The
pictures reminded him of home, family, work, and the life he would lead after his return
from the service. Today, as Hazel and Harry leaf through their book of memories, the
photographs, along with the rest of the album, remind them of a life well-filled.
Eunice Bellin Wautlet's photo albums
With a time-frame covering part of the 1930s, but mostly the 1940s and 1950s, Eunice
Bellin Wautlet's two photo albums overlap Hazel Chaudoir's while for the first time
projecting their readers into the 1950s. By doing so, they offer the first glimpse of the
Belgian community one hundred years after the original settlers moved to northeastern
Wisconsin. The albums are also worth examining in light of the fact that some
photographs from a closely related family-Eunice's family by marriage-have been

237
discussed in chapter four. Some of the individuals portrayed are, indeed, occasionally
represented in Eunice's albums. Frank and Mary Martin, for instance, the couple in their
native work clothes standing in their farm yard, were the grand-parents of Eunice's
husband, George. Zelle and Pascal Wautlet, whose wedding picture was also examined
in chapter five, were George's parents. Pascal died accidentally in 1925, but Zelie
appears in the album. Helen, the young woman with the stone boat, was George's
sister. The Martins' original homestead in Rosiere originally went to Zelie's sister,
Augustine, but it eventually became George and Eunice's place. The frequent
appearance of Zelie and Helen in the album is explained by the fact that they lived on
the farm also.
Many of the early twentieth century photographs from the Martin or the Wautlet
families portrayed people at work or in a work environment (see, for instance, figs. 21,
22, and 23). Wilbur and Ann Bellin, the current custodians of the albums, do not
remember who took the photographs, but they know that by the 1930s, there were two
amateur photographers at work in the Wautlet and the Bellin families. Eunice (b. 1906)
was the more prolific of the two. Elsie Wautlet Willems (b. 1907), George's
sister-therefore Eunice's sister-in-law-was the second picture-taker. Although some
of the photographs contained in Eunice's album may have been taken by Elsie, the
pictorial slant on the Bellin side of the family suggests that the albums were compiled by
Eunice, rather than her sister-in-law. Of the two albums available in the Bellin family
today, only the one containing the greater number of photographs (201 out of a total of
251) is discussed fully. However, it is worth noting that the content of the smaller album
is similar to that of the larger one, even though it does not start until the late 1940s.
About six of its images are also duplicate copies from the bigger album, albeit enlarged
and sometimes tinted.
Taking the historical and familial contexts of the Bellin Wautlet photographic
collection into consideration, among the striking features of Eunice's photo album are its
238
focus on family (including children), the informality of the photographs, and the
domestication of the activities and individuals they depict. Some 34 photographs in the
album are strictly devoted to parents (more rarely other family members) and their
young children. Including the nine school mug shots contained in the album, 55
photographs (25 percent) focus on children exclusively. If the high number of child-
related imagery connects Eunice's photo album to Hazel Chaudoir's, a salient difference
lies in the informal character of the photographs in the former album. The informality is
not only expressed through the clothes the subjects wear, but also in the pose they
assume and the way they relate to one another. In Hazel's album, most of the
subjects-including children-posed in their Sunday best. Little boys wore suits and
ties; little girls had nice dresses, shoes, and white stockings. With the exception of some
photographs, family members displayed little affection towards one another. Parents
rarely touched their children, and spouses typically stood a couple of inches apart. The
apparent lack of affection did not indicate genuine coldness or indifference-although it
could have-but rather reflected the social customs of an era that discouraged or
reproved public display of affection, especially in formal photographs. Friends, on the

other hand, and especially youths, were less reserved in their emotions.
The imagery in Eunice's album, however, shows a reverse trend in the sense that
very few people make very little attempt at formality when posing for the family
photographer. Photographs that are more formally posed are either those depicting
older individuals- including, for instance, two pictures of people leaving church after
mass-or older photographs which Eunice has incorporated in her album-such as an

unidentified multi-generational portrait, or a photograph of Mary Martin where she is
seen seated in front of a white piece of cloth (fig. 60). The father may be wearing a tie
(fig. 128, p. 12), but he did not bother to put his jacket on for the picture. Like many of
the other adults on page 12 of Eunice's album, he is dressed comfortably, smiles broadly
at the camera, and does not hesitate to make physical contact with his daughter,
239
Figure 182. Page 12, Eunice Wautlet's album (BEL)
Gwendoline. In another photograph, Eunice gently embraces her two nieces as they
bottle-feed lambs in the farm yard. Even photographs with more pompous subject
matters, such as weddings, or photographs related to military or navy personnel, are
more informally posed in Eunice's album than in the albums so far examined. In two of
the six weddings Eunice recorded in her album the groom is photographed kissing the
bride; and on two occasions one of the grooms is pictured without his jacket on.
Similarly, family members in navy or other army uniforms are less stiff than those who
appear in Pearline Tielens' s photo album, including one who stands at attention. In
fact, they even smile at the camera (fig. 182).
Although Eunice's album includes a large number of snapshots of people in their
work clothes (some 20 percent of the imagery), only a handful depict people actually at
work. Among them are some early images, a picture portraying family members
sawing trees for wood (ca. 1950), and Emile Bellin-Eunice's father-with his feed truck
240
(ca. 1950). With the exception of other photographs showing Eunice holding a two-man
saw (she appears to have been helping George saw wood), George either taking a break
from work, posing by a team of horses, or sitting at the wheel of his new tractor, work-
related imagery included in the album portrays activities that reflect a heightened
domesticity when compared to the earlier pictures of Helen Wautlet pulling stones (fig.
42), for instance, or Sarah Martin standing by a horse in a man's overalls (fig. 41). Five
photographs in Eunice's album, for instance, represent a female cleaning crew, aprons
on and heads appropriately covered, on their way to, or back from the local church. In a
photograph taken about 1935 (fig. 183), Eunice, dusting rag in hand, stands next to an
unidentified woman who is brandishing a flask of [cleaning?] alcohol.
Figure 183. Portion of page 3, Eunice Wautlet's album (BEL)
Two of the other four women on the photographs are hanging on to their brooms.
Judging from their cheerful faces, some of the women are enjoying their church chore.
Page 27 of Eunice's album depicts another crew standing by the church's steps about
1945-50 (fig. 184). This time, Helen stands to the right. Including the snapshot of yet
another cleaning crew assembled in front of a brick house, page 29 (fig. 185) of Eunice's
album contains five photographs that point to the increased importance of domestic
241

242
matters on the Wautlet farm. The images portray Eunice, Helen, Elsie, and Gwendoline
after they have picked trilliums in a field, and George standing behind a lawn-mower.
Not only do the Wautlets cut their lawn, but they have also planted flowers and
embellished the yard with several ornaments. The fact that nine pictures in the album
depict various family members sitting or standing by the various lawn ornaments
suggests that they may have been recent acquisitions that were the pride and joy of the
photographer and home-owner. Intensive domestication is also reflected in two
photographs on the last page of the album. One depicts Zelie, in a nice, clean apron
holding a pot of lilies as she sits on the porch. The other shows Augustine Martin, an
apron on the arm, standing outside a house with a bowl of eggs (fig. 186).
In addition to offering a novel perspective on life on the farm, these photographs
also reflect a change of focus in rural amateur photography as the new imagery centers
increasingly on people's hobbies and leisure activities. Eunice's passion for flowers, for
243
instance, is revealed through the many depictions of flowers in her album (figs. 185 and
186). Similarly, George's love for hunting and dogs is disclosed by five photographs
that portray him either patting his dogs or at the end of a hunting trip (see fig. 187). Of
the 50 photographs in the smaller album, two portray him with his dog, and seven
depict him-or Eunice-with some type of game, be it a pheasant, a deer, a raccoon, or
even a wolf.
Equally telling is the fact that 50 percent of the 34 photographs that focus exclusively
on children show them at play or with some kind of doll or toy (see, for instance, figs.
184 and 188). While the album contains pictures of a boy shoveling snow, a girl leading
a horse, and several photos of two girls bottle-feeding lambs (fig. 182), the activities
portrayed consist of a mix of play and work, rather than solely work.
244

245
If Eunice documented family members' hobbies, her album also indicates a change
in amateur photographers' approach to recording family picnics, community festivals,
or other religious happenings. With a few exceptions, early photographers tended to
commemorate such events by gathering individuals and having them pose as a group.
They usually did not record the specific activities that took place during the celebration.
When documenting a church picnic about 1950, however, Eunice photographed
many facets of the fete-individuals drinking, eating, chatting with one another,
relaxing, selling 'Belgian' pies and beer or 'American' pops and hamburgers, and
playing bingo (see figs. 187 and 189).9 By doing so, she highlighted the informality of
the gathering, rather than its formality, and she was able to communicate its festive
ambiance. The fact that she included 12 photographs of the picnic in her album further
indicates that she was interested in remembering what happened after mass.
Such imagery, however, should not be understood as an indicator of Eunice's
detachment from religious matters. In this particular case, no one remembers if the mass
that particular Sunday was said indoors or in the open, and difficulties-technical or
social-may have prevented Eunice from documenting the event inside the building.
While she could have photographed people leaving church for many different reasons,
the fact that she signed up-on several occasions- for church cleaning duty suggests
that she cared about her local church. Although there is only one communion picture in
the album (fig. 184), she occasionally photographed nuns, local priests, and local
churches, and she incorporated the snapshots in the albums, making them part of the
family and her visual mementos (fig. 188). The fact that George's aunt, Augustine, was
working as a priest's help probably facilitated contacts between Eunice and Father
9
Similarly, when the community celebrated the retirement of Dr. Edward Kerscher-the
rural physician who had spent 60 years serving the rural Belgian community-with extensive
festivities in 1950, Eunice did not photograph Kerscher or other officials present at the ceremony,
but rather the parade held in his honor.
246
Vande Gevel whom she photographed, for instance, in the church yard or standing in an
orchard with a bucket full of freshly picked apples. Two additional photographs in the
second album- taken by a semi-professional photographer in the Belgian
community-portray Father Vandergeven, another parish priest, playing the piano at
home, and Augustine standing between two nuns.
If Eunice documented events which brought Rosiere's mostly Belgian Catholic
community together-such as church picnics-by 1950 she also thought that Decoration
Day (Memorial Day), an old American holiday, was worth recording on film and
including in her album. It is unclear what her motivation was. George had several
brothers who served in the Navy, and they may have constituted an external force that
influenced her way of thinking and viewing the world. In fact, her album contains two
army menus from Thanksgiving and Christmas 1944, and six postcards which were
mailed to her and George by her brothers-in-law. Although none of the young men died
at war, she may have felt the significance of Decoration Day more deeply than
community members who were not 'so' personally involved in the war. Whatever her
motive was, two photographs in the album depict Decoration Day, 1950, in a local
cemetery (see, for instance, fig. 188). Although these photographs are not the first ones
to suggest acculturation in the Belgian community, they are nevertheless important
because they offer the first unofficial photographic documentation of an official
American holiday since the arrival of the original settlers almost one century earlier.10
Interestingly, they are two of only nine photographs in the album that have identifying
information ("Decoration 1950") on their back-as if Eunice thought she might forget
what the unusual photographs stood for.
10
An earlier "Memorial Day Parade" photograph can be found in Carol Simonar'sphoto
collection. The photo, however, came from Luxemburg-a settlement that was predominantly
German.
247
Esther Willems Neuville's photo album
According to Esther Neuville, the main reason why she bought a Kodak camera
around 1938 was to photograph her children. Looking at the album she compiled over
the late 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, one is easily convinced that documenting
the everyday life and experiences of her five children was, indeed, critically important
to her. Of the 325 pictures in the album, 213 depict children of varying ages, including
infants, toddlers, and teenagers (fig. 190). While some 18 of these photographs
memorialize special events such as baptisms, communions, weddings (flower girls) or
graduations, 195 appear to have been taken for no particular reason, except to simply
record their lives at every step. Children are portrayed in a variety of settings, both
indoors and outdoors, most often dressed, but also naked. Depending on their age,
they are photographed propped against pillows, sitting or lying down, sleeping,
taking their first steps, holding one another, playing-or simply, doing nothing.
Figure 190. Page 11, Esther Neuville's album (NEU)

248
Esther does not remember how much she paid for the Kodak, but given the fact
that she and Cliff had just gotten married and moved to a new farm in Brussels, it was
almost a luxury item to have-at least, one that, contrary to other acquisitions they
made at the time, was not contributing to the development of the family farm. An
abundant crop of beans in 1938, for instance, enabled Esther to purchase a gas lantern
instead of the gas lamp she had originally planned on buying. Getting up at four
o'clock in the morning, she would light the lantern for the chickens so that they would
wake, eat more, and lay more eggs, which she would then sell at the variety store in
Brussels. Although Cliff did not have a tractor the first year of their marriage, he
made and sold enough wood in the winter of 1938-1939 to buy his own. These were,
indeed, difficult times for the young farming couple. And yet, despite their financial
difficulties, it was crucial to document the children's lives.
Like most of the photographers and album compilers mentioned so far, Esther was
familiar with photography. Her sister Catherine had a camera, and some of the older
pictures included in the album were of Catherine's doing. The painful experience of
losing her father, Donat Willems, when she was barely nine years old (see fig. 46 for a
depiction of Esther, Donat, and other members in the family) could also have given
Esther a premature understanding of the power of photography and the importance of
documenting life before death takes it away. Comments such as, "This is the last
picture of your father alive," or "This is Donat's last photograph," quite common in
such circumstances, turned into, "This is the last picture of my dad alive"-when we
were examining her photographic collection. Little known to Esther, two of her own
children would also meet an untimely death. Like Donat's last photograph, the last
picture of Therese, the couple's first daughter who died in 1945 at the age of three, has
been enlarged. The black and white image has also been tinted and put in a nice
frame. The urgency of recording life is further apparent in Esther's photographs of her
mother, Ida, to whom she was very dose. The album by and large focuses on her own
249
children, but Esther integrated three photographs of her mother in it, two of which
were taken in the late 1940s after she was diagnosed with diabetes. She died in 1950.
With the exception of a few flash-backs, Esther's album follows a loosely
chronological order. Photographs of the couple's first child, Patrick, born in 1938,
open up the picture book which progresses through the 1940s and 1950s with the
documentation of the boy's four younger siblings. It ends in the early 1960s with
photographs of family members engaged in various activities.
By photographing her children, Esther was not only documenting cherished
moments in their lives or her most prized 'possessions,' she was also acting as the
"historiographer of their childhood," as Bourdieu suggests,1° selecting on their behalf
moments in time, slices of life, portrayals of themselves on which they would later
depend to reconstruct their own past. The documentation, in that respect, was not so
different from the one followed by family members who had photographed Esther
when she was only a baby in 1919, when she made her first communion, or when she
was named Homecoming Queen in 1936. While the communion and Homecoming
Queen photographs are incorporated in the album, the latter is of particular interest
because, like several other pictures, it symbolizes an achievement-in this particular
case, a personal success which resulted from having sold the most popularity tokens in
the rural community. By including several graduation photographs in her album,
Esther also showed the pride she felt for her family members, be it a son or a brother.
In 1936or1937, for instance, Esther's brother, Homer, who had always wanted to
become a teacher, graduated with a Master's degree from Stevens Point College. Not
only did Esther include one picture of Horner in cap and gown in her album, but she
also incorporated two photographs of the college he attended (see, for instance, fig.
191). Given the fact that money had been scarce in the Willems household after
IO See chapter one.

250
Donat's death in 1928, graduating from college was an important milestone not only
for Homer, but also for his family, as suggested by the space devoted to the
photographs in Esther's album. Esther and Cliff attended their children's graduation
ceremonies, and she memorialized at least two of them with photographs.
In American society, graduation is commonly regarded as a meaningful
benchmark-one that signifies the value of learning and education, rewards (hard)
work and, at times, personal sacrifices. Caps, gowns, and commencement
ceremonies also make it a very noticeable event-more so than in some European
countries, including Belgium. In addition to denoting familial pride, the photograph
also suggests that the family was responsive to this particular aspect of American
culture. Listening to Esther, one realizes how important it was to make headway
and attain goals. Commenting on photographs, she talks about how the family
"graduated" from kerosene lamps to gas lamps, and finally to electricity; or from
hay stacks to bales. Although she included photographs showing people at work in
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the album and occasionally photographed people at work, she specifically used her
camera to commemorate the recompense hard labor brought. Early imagery
depicting people at work or in a work-related environment include, for instance, a
picture of Horner sitting on the tractor, and one of brother John, his wife Dorothy,
and cousin Francis cutting hay on her father's farm in Gardner in about 1930 (fig.
192).
Other photographs show Cliff installing the underground water system to the barn
in 1942or1943 or building a new barn in 1961. But even these photographs, like those
depicting putting a new coat of paint on the house in 1942 or 1943, can be understood
as reflections of success, rather than documentations of work. Rather than taking

pictures of Cliff cutting wood or of the 100 chickens she raised, Esther photographed
the new milking machines they bought in 1940 (fig. 193). Some ten years later, she
documented the purchase of the family's second tractor and its new car (fig. 194).
While these photographs denote pride in ownership, they do not do it boastfully;
rather, they document the small victories of two farm people, the joy they derived
252
from a task accomplished and hard work completed. Not surprisingly, Esther's
recollections of that very special May day, 1940, are quite detailed, as she exclaims,
This was a big day at our house! We had bought some milking machines! ... We had
about 17 cows by then, whom we milked by hand, in the morning and at night. ...
I was not dressed to go to the barn yet. Cliff was going to the barn, so I said, 'Wait!
I'll take your picture!' and then he took my picture. It was about four thirty in the
afternoon; that's when he'd go to the barn. I changed my clothes afterwards. Oh
yes! This was a bicl day! A ven1 big day. You can't imagine how happy we were to
get those milkers. 1
11
Mrs. Esther Neu ville, interview by author, Tape recording, Brussels, Wisconsin, 18
August 1997.
253
Because Esther and Cliff did not have electricity at the time the photographs were
taken, they had to use a gasoline engine to run the machines. But considering Cliff
had arthritis at the time, the set, which was sold by a Surge vendor, was well worth
the expense.
Besides documenting personal and familial accomplishments, Esther also
documented developments in the community, especially at the local church. For
instance, when the St. Francis church in Brussels received a new fence, she went out
and took at least four pictures of the gate.
As previously suggested, the main focus of Esther's iconographic production was
her children, whose lives and experiences she photographed from the time they were
born until they became teenagers. Leaving aside the imagery that depicts infants
'doing nothing,' three topics are most frequently featured in the album-child matters
related to religion, school activities, and play and entertainment. In addition to a
photograph of herself and Margaret LeRoy posing for an informal communion portrait
254
in 1929 or 1930, and one of friend Norbert Rass (fig. 192), Esther incorporates in the
album some twelve photographs that deal directly with baptisms, communions or
confirmations, and prayers-indeed, one photograph depicts the couple's youngest
son, Robert, doing his evening prayer in his pajamas. But as revealed by the pictures
of Homer at Stevens Point college and Esther's terminology when discussing
developments on the farm, education also deserved pictorial attention.
Some 16 photographs in the album relate directly to school, and another twelve
portray sports, such as basketball, that children would play at school. Sometimes they
are 'semi-official' photographs (fig. 192), but most often they are Esther's snapshots.
For instance, in March, 1943 she took a picture of Patrick as he was leaving home for
his first day of school. One of the photographs shows him kissing his inconsolable
sister and playmate, Janice, goodbye (fig. 195).
Esther Neuville's album (NEU) Esther Neuville's album (NEU)
By the 1950s, Esther had left the private family circle and was photographing her
children in their public school environments. First came photographs taken during
255
official graduation ceremonies, such as the one she took when Patrick graduated from
eighth grade in 1952; then, in the mid 1950s, she photographed Janice and her peers in
their cheerleader costumes- another official/ social activity coveted by many Anglo-
Arnerican teenagers. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, she was taking informal
photographs of classrooms, desks, class trips, and Halloween masks (fig. 196).
With some 29 photographs, the last but most important category of child activity
documented by Esther is play-related. This includes only photographic imagery that
Esther Neuville's album (NEU) Esther Neuville's album (NEU)
unambiguously depicts children at play or with their toys. For instance, pictures of
children petting the family dog, walking in the snow, casual portraits of children in
the yard-even though the photographer may have interrupted their game to snap the
picture-are not included in the total count. Among play-related photographs are
some showing children playing with a bucket in front of a log cabin (1940), dressed up
in an army suit (1942, fig. 190), playing with dolls and stuffed animals (1948, fig. 197),
playing cowboys and Indians (1954, fig. 198), standing in front of the Christmas tree
with their toys (1956, see fig. 92), practicing baseball in the farm yard (1959), or simply
256
sleighing (throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, fig. 199). According to Esther,
the 1942 army uniform was a gift that "every little boy got" during the Second World
War, but other games such as baseball, and 'cowboys and Indians,' were imported
from school. In this particular case, school appears to have been an influential agent of
socialization and acculturation as children-and through them, their parents-learned
new habits and experiences.
Figure 199. Portion of page 44, Esther Neuville's album (NEU)
If the snapshots of the late 1950s and early 1960s stand clearly apart from earlier
photographs, and even further apart from the previously examined albums, it should
also be noted that some values and traditions remained unchanged. Although page 23
(fig. 192) of Esther's album shows a different type of imagery than page 50 (fig. 200),
they by and large reflect many of the same values. Among them are respect for the
dead, the need to remember loved ones, and the sharing of one's sorrow with the
community (by wearing a black ribbon on one's cap or sharing a post-mortem
photograph); meaningful religious celebrations (communion or wedding); and
education inside or outside the classroom. The early work-related photographs

(horses cutting hay, taken ca. 1930, fig. 192) were not done by Esther; yet, she included
them in the album. As suggested before, she favored photographs that showed
257
recompense after hard work, such as getting ready for a prom dance with Cliff at the
end of the week (1955, fig. 200).
However, it is perhaps telling that only one photograph in Esther's album depicts
a child at work. It shows one of the boys helping Cliff build a new barn in 1961. In
fact, some of the later pictures from the late 1950s and early 1960s that portray Cliff
and Esther working on the farm-either milking cows or working with cement
blocks-appear to have been taken by their children. Although this does not prove
that the Neuville children did not work on their parents' farm-as a matter of fact,
they did-it suggests that Esther did not place as much value on recording their work
as she did on documenting their everyday experiences as infants, young children,
playmates, and students. Right before her father died in 1928, Esther received a doll
from him. He had taken a load of grain on a wagon and gone with the horses to sell it
in Maplewood. The doll, about 12 inches long, was given to him as a free token by the
258
people at the feed place. It was the only doll Esther ever got. Browsing through the
pages of her photo-album and listening to her observation that,
we worked very hard. It was hard work. But it was our job, and so we did it. If I
had to marry again, I'd marry a German [she jokes]. On this side of the hill it's all
Belgian farms and women work in the barns. On the other side it's all Germans
and the women did not work in the fields,
one is convinced that she wanted her children to have if not a better life, at least fewer
painful memories than she.
Conclusion
In chapter four, photographs culled from various collections were examined to see
what they revealed about the Belgian community. In order to make full use of the
imagery and make or substantiate a point, visual components that were
unintentionally or incidentally included in a photograph were sometimes
utilized~ften at the expense of the picture's main subject. In this chapter, however,
the photograph albums were examined separately as pictorial ensembles, and their
content was preserved and studied as an entity. The photographs were also
discussed, not for the circumstantial evidence they contained~lements that the
photographer would have been unaware of-but rather for what they purposely
revealed- the message that the photographer or subjects intended to communicate.
Based on the analysis of the albums and contextual information obtained from
family members or the photographers/ album compilers, it appears that the five farm
women constructed visual narratives that reflected their views of life, experiences, and
personality. Pearline Tielens's album, for instance, revealed that she was interested in
"all that family stuff," as her son said referring to kinship and 'amateur genealogy.'
On the other hand, Virginia Servais's album was the expression of a young woman
who "was always ready for a good laugh." In the case of Hazel Chaudoir, the album
259
retraced the personal development of its compiler as she was going through different
stages in her life. Informal family snapshots constitute the core of Eunice Bellin's and
Esther Neu ville's albums, but while Eunice used photography to document other
interests-including George's love for dogs and hunting and her own passion for
flowers and gardening-Esther used it almost exclusively to document the lives of her
children.
While the five women were born, grew up, and farmed in different parts of the
settlement, they were all members of a very tight-knit rural community. It is not
surprising, therefore, that despite variations among their authors, the albums reflect
collective values inherent in the Belgian community, including, work, religion, and
thrift. According to Chalfen and Oestreicher,12 Anglo-American photo albums are
characterized by an emphasis on leisure-related events and a neglect of work-related
activities. Chalfen writes, "[Anglo American] [a]lbum imagery almost always
emphasizes the leisure sides of life and strictly ignores the labor side, promoting a
labor-leisure dichotomy."13 It is telling, therefore, that without exception, all the
photo albums examined for this project-including those not fully discussed in this
chapter-contained some type of work-related imagery. While most photographers
and album compilers depicted work explicitly, Esther Neuville sometimes chose to
refer to it implicitly. The pictorial emphasis on labor is similar to that found by
Chalfen in the photographic collections of two Japanese-American families. Similarly,
all albums included photographs concerned with religion and faith, such as,
weddings, communions, confirmations, christenings, death, religious services, and
special celebrations, church picnics, church duties, priests and nuns, grottos, and
evening prayers. While Anglo American albums make use of church-related
12
Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 92; Richard Oestreicher, "From Artisan to Consumer: Images of
Workers 1840-1920," Journal of American Culture 4 no. 1 (1981): 56.
13
260
photographs, Chalfen further argues that the topics are typically restricted to
weddings, christenings, communions, and confirmations. Again, it appears that
religious topics are more frequent and diverse in the albums discussed here-and in
Japanese-American albums-than they are in their Anglo-American counterparts.
Finally, and on a more pragmatic level, it is revealing that none of the photo albums
examined in the community was of the luxurious kind-with golden inscriptions and
intricate leather motifs on its cover. Rather, they were inexpensive. If Belgian farm
women were anxious to document their lives and that of their family, they were not
willing to go through unnecessary expenses to do so.
Given the fact that the albums were created by individuals whose ability to make a
living depended greatly on nature, it is not surprising either that almost all of them
contain visual or verbal components that relate to weather conditions or natural
environments. Although Virginia Servais drew particular photographic attention to
"nice summer day[s]", floods, late or unusually abundant snow, and (rain) storms
were subject matters deemed important by four women (*see, for instance, fig. 199).14
Sometimes, they also recorded the damage bad weather caused to crops or farm
buildings. Only Eunice Bellin did not include such imagery in her albums; however,
like Pearline Tielens and Virginia Lefevre, she took many photographs that focused
exclusively on farm animals such as cows, pigs, horses, or chickens.
Like many other Anglo American album compilers, all five farm women used their
albums to show family unity, rather than disharmony, and they showed great pride in
their home and personal accomplishments-being able to sew beautiful clothes
(Virginia Servais, figure 166), make the payment on milking machines (Esther
Neuville, figure 193), or embellish the lawn with a variety of ornaments (Eunice Bellin,
figure 184). Similarly, horses, successful hunting trips, automobiles, tractors and other
14
The same focus was found in other photo collections in the comm.unity (see, for instance,
the Henquinet, Wautier, Dedecker, and Si.monar collections).
261
farm equipment, and additions to the farm, such as silos or barns were well worth
documenting and preserving in the family album.
It stands to reason that great caution must be exercised when examining
photographic collections from different photographers at different points in time.
While it is tempting to compare, for instance, the early albums of Pearline Tielens or
Virginia Servais to that of Esther Neuville, it would not make much sense to stress the
increase in child-related imagery once we know that Esther Neuville bought a camera
especially to photograph her children, that Pearline Tielens's only son was not born
until 1928, and that Vergie did not have her first child until 1930. Rather, photographs
and albums must be linked to the personality of those who took them or orchestrated
them and to the social, cultural, and pictorial conventions of the era. While
comparisons across time were occasionally made in this chapter regarding, for
instance, the way people posed for the camera, only repetitive patterns in a variety of
family albums or other photographic collections will determine their validity.

262
CONCLUSION
The perspective from which I approached the photographs presented in this project
is both that of an insider and outsider. Even though I was not raised on a Belgian farm,
rural life is a part of me. I spent parts of my childhood on family farms in Belgium, and
values tied to religious faith, resourcefulness, economy, and work, for instance, sound
quite familiar. However, and perhaps paradoxically, since I am not a farmer and since I
did not grow up in Wisconsin's rural community-nor in the United States-I also have
somewhat of an outsider outlook. Taken together, this dual perspective caused me to
comment on photographs portraying kennesses, oeil-de-boeuf, dizeau, or Fete-Dieu, as well
as on images depicting overalls, fly nets, birthday cakes, or store front facades-the
latter are parts of a material culture distinguishing farmers in Wisconsin from those in
Belgium. But it is worth noting that while my affinity with some of the background
and culture of Wisconsin's Belgians has facilitated the analysis of the imagery, it has
made it more difficult as well, and only the acute eye of a 'true' Anglo-American
outsider made me see the value of things that looked ordinary and not worth
mentioning. Since it is common in Belgium not to dehom cattle, for instance, the cows
(fig. 22) seemed perfectly normal to me. Yet, the Old World agricultural custom looks
alien to an Anglo-American observer. Similarly, while fly nets look mundane to
American farmers, their Belgian counterparts find them rather exotic.
Despite the discipline involved in the analytical process, my interpretation of the
photographic imagery remains subjective. Since viewers tend to see what they are
263
predisposed to see, 1 individuals with varying interests or backgrounds could very well
approach the photographs differently, focus on visual elements that did not capture my
attention (or on which I have chosen not to elaborate), and create an alternate
narrative-one that would differ but not necessarily conflict with the one I presented in
chapters four and five. In itself, this is not different from research using traditional
written records since, as suggested in the introduction, words also are open to varying
interpretations. A researcher interested in the process of acculturation may want to
organize the photographs in a strict chronological order to see how the community
evolved over time; or he/she may want to take "snapshots"-in a literal and figurative
sense-of the settlement at different points in time to assess differences between or
among generations of immigrants and their descendants. Yet another approach would
be to organize the photographs topically, or according to the gender of the picture-
taker. While the majority of the 16 photo albums available for this project were put
together by farm women in the Belgian-American community, other settlements or
social groups may show a reverse trends that would make possible cross-gender
comparisons.
While the imagery examined in the study came exclusively from Wisconsin, I
occasionally used historical photographs from Belgium as reference points-visual
evidence-to support some of the statements I made. Even though I utilized only one
Belgian collection-my own family photographs-there are striking similarities in the
material collected in the 'Old Country' and the 'New World,' and they need to be
addressed, even if only briefly.
1
264
As I look at the photographs my grandfather or uncle took on the family farm in the
1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, I find scenes portraying my grandmother feeding chickens, or
one of my aunts doing laundry (figs. 201 and 202).
Figure 201. Feeding chickens Figure 202. Doing laundry

(ANT) (ANT)
I see family or community members leading teams of horses, plowing, hauling
wood, harvesting, gardening, sharpening tools, and having midday or mid-afternoon
snacks in the fields (figs. 203 and 204).
Figure 203. Leading a team of horses (ANT) Figure 204. Snack in the field (ANT)
I recognize distant cousins posing briefly in front of the house with family members
so that their visit will be memorialized (fig. 205). I accompany my mother, her sisters,
265
the two Josephs (including the photographer), and the family dog I never knew as they
go for a walk on a well-known rural path (fig. 206).
Figure 205. Sunday visit (ANT) Figure 206. Sunday promenade (ANT)
Photographs depicting the family on its way to mass and family gatherings provide
additional glimpses of "Sundays in the country," while imagery documenting
Premices,2 communions, pilgrimages to Lourdes (France), religious celebrations at a
local grotto and wayside shrines, or Assumption masses recall the religious fervor found
in some of Wisconsin's imagery (figs. 207 and 208).
Figure 207. Premices (ANT) Figure 208. Benediction

at the grotto (ANT)
2
Religious ritual celebrating the first mass said by a Catholic priest.
266
Similarly, photographs showing boys accompanying older males on htmting trips or
girls picking berries with their mother hint at ways in which future roles are taught and
learned, while images of family members sitting by the radio reflect to the significance of
the medium of communication (figs. 209 and 210).
Figure 209. Hw1ting (ANT) Figure 210. Peaceful evening (ANT)
Obviously, chickens had to be fed in Wisconsin and Belgium, as they were fed in
late-fourteenth-century Northern Italy (fig. 8) and mid-nineteenth-century France (fig.
10). But like other photographs mentioned in the project, the images portraying Zelie
Wautlet or my grandmother feeding chickens are revealing because they indicate that
amateur photographers on both sides of the Atlantic paid attention to similar things.
They also suggest that similar values, including work, family, and religion, prevailed in
both the immigrant and ancestral communities.
As chapters four and five have shown, amateur photographers in Wisconsin used
their cameras not only to immortalize special events, but also to document everyday
experiences. The photographs depict them in their Sunday best and in their well-used,
practical work clothes, as they celebrate and as they toil. They are shown exploring the
local countryside and handling manure in the farm yard and fields. ln this respect, the
imagery collected in Wisconsin is remarkably different from that which Pierre Bourdieu
267
and Yannick Geffroy gathered in rural France. As mentioned in chapter one, both
scholars found that the practice of photography by French villagers was by and large
restricted to the documentation of rites of passage or ceremonials that 'could not not be
photographed.' Although photographers in Wisconsin memorialized such events, their
depictions of rural life extend far beyond the formal and ritualistic, and, as with my
family's photographs, encompass work, death, and even playful subject
matters-topics which, according to Geffroy and Bourdieu, French villagers would
have denounced as either unclean or utterly unphotographable.3 Taken together, the
images reinforce the notion that,
To regard photography exclusively as a supporting element of ritual events is

not longer an adequate explanation of photographic behaviour. The traditional
rituals have been drastically reduced in number and consequently the photographic
representation technique has in the course of a lengthy process of development
acquired a form, a tradition, and a use of its own which amount to more than the
mere adornment and illustration of festive events. 4
Not only did photographers in the Belgian settlement photograph farmers at work,
but people in the community also chose work-related imagery as themes for their
correspondence. Out of the seven 1910s postcards Leona Michiels 'inherited' from her
mother Clara, five show family members working in the potato patch, sharpening tools,
leading a team of horses, or scenes from logging camps. And if the Lefevre Servais
collection includes the largest number of humorous photographs, Virginia was far from
being the only photographer or subject with a sense of humor. While four women fight
over a "popular man," several men are engaged in a fist fight, and community
members rescue a cow from a water tank (figs. 211, 212, 213).
3
Geffroy, "Family," 396; Bourdieu, Photography, 34.
4
Boerdam and Oosterbaan Martini.us, "Family Photographs," 99.
268
Figure 211. Fist fight Figure 212. Popular Man Figure 213. Cow rescue
(WAU) (HENQ) (SIM)
Nothing in these images or those described in this project indicates that farmers are
"ill at ease with their bodies" -if anyone is, it must be the cow-" unnatural, clumsy,"
and "gauche." In fact, farmers appear to pose willingly and act naturally in front of the
camera.5
When attempting to make sense of these differences, one question comes to
mind-the procedure for collecting the imagery. It is unforhmate that Bourdieu does
not provide much information on how he gathered the photographs he analyzed, but it
is worth noting that as I started collecting material in the Belgian community, the first
photographs that appeared were invariably formal portraits-most of which were
professionally produced. It is only when I explained that I was also interested in
snapshots that images 'of the garden variety' started to surface. It could be that the
methodology employed accounts for some of the variations between Bourdieu's study
and this project. The answer, however, does not explain the difference between this
study and Geffroy's, in which researchers built as large a photographic database as
5
Photographic collections including humorous material include the Wautier, Nellis, Simonar,
Andre, Henquinet, Tielens, and Chaudoir. The terms quoted here come from Bourdieu,
Photography, 83.
269
possible from two French villages. One could argue that farmers in the United States
behaved differently than farmers in Europe, but that rationale does not hold true once
one considers the photographs I collected in my family.
Photographers in the Belgian community did not intentionally reveal their
'Belgianness'-except, perhaps, when they documented their brick-veneered buildings.
In that sense, their photographs are very different from those taken by photo-journalists
and newspaper photographers. On 3 October 1937, the Milwaukee Journal ran a photo-
essay on the Rosiere kermiss-the first article of a series entitled, "Old World
Wisconsin," designed to show Journal readers that even though "Wisconsin's citizens are
intensely American, yet the state might well be little Europe." The two-page spread,
which consisted of a map of the Peninsula and 19 photographs accompanied by short
captions, recreated a 'typical' kermesse experience through an orderly visual sequence
depicting pre-kernuss, kermiss, and post-kermiss events.
Among the 19 photographs included in the essay is a theatrical shot of a group of
men looking at kermiss posters (fig. 214). It is captioned, "Is the kermiss popular? Just
look at this row of posters advertising various ones in the region. The one we are visiting
today is the one the man is pointing to and it was the seventy-ninth annual one."
Others photographs include a romanticized depiction of a farmer plowing with three
horses (fig. 215),6 several photographs of people dancing-one of which represents the
"dance in the dust," the opening dance at the kerrniss (fig. 216)-, two elderly gentlemen
6
The caption reads: "September comes and farmers in the district begin to think of kerrniss
days, which mean two days away from work except for time to do the chores. Typical of the
Belgian descendants in the Rosiere area is Milton Herlache. The team he's driving, of course, is
composed of Belgian horses which the farmers breed with pride."
270
eating pie and drinking beer (fig. 217),7 a "Belgian Belle" (fig. 218), and a photograph of
a classroom revealing that, "The kermiss is over, but on Tuesday about one-fourth of the
pupils are missing from their classes at Brussels high school" (fig. 219).
Figure 214. Kermiss posters (MJ) Figure 215. Farmer plowing (MJ)
Figure 216. Dance in the dust (MJ) Figure 217. Beer and pies (MJ)
Figure 218. Belgian Belle (MJ) Figure 219. Brussels classroom (MJ)
7
The caption reads: "It's great to be a Rubens friend, as Anton DeNamur (left) and Joe
Vandertie find when indulging in the old Belgian custom of pie and beer. Even "aliens" say it
isn't a bad combination, particularly the cheese-filled pie and beer."
271
With its graphic pictures and straightforward captions, the photo-essay creates an
illusion of totality and immediacy that gives audiences the feeling that, after reading the
article, they will know all that there is to know about Wisconsin's 'little Belgium,' and
they will know it intimately.8 Indeed, yet another photograph in the paper portrays a
Belgian woman baking pies at home (fig. 220). The caption reads: "There is a private
side to the kermiss, too. The hosts hold 'at homes' for their old friends and Mrs. Louis
Rubens baked 82 pies for the occasion. Thick crusted, some have apple and cheese
fillings, others blueberries."
Figure 220. Belgian pies Figure 221. Belgian pies Figure 222. Belgian pies
(MJ) (Newspaper (BEL)
photograph/DES)
These photographs, as that of the Belgian pies which yet another newspaper
photographer took in 1957 (fig. 221), differ greatly from those taken by amateur
photographers in the Belgian community.9 The kermiss photographs presented in
chapter four, for instance, depict family reunions, not picturesque kerrniss scenes, and
8
For similar comments on other photo-essays, see Dominy, "Photojournalism," 322, 323; and
Guimond, Photography, 154-161.
9
One is reminded here of the distinction made by Papademas and Borchert between "front
porch" and "back porch" photography. See Borchert, "Photographs," 14 and chapter one, page
28 and 29 in this dissertation.
272
while Belgians did indeed bake pies, the photographs they took are not quite as
dramatically posed or visually engineered (fig. 222). 10 It may require additional time
and more complex thinking to decipher these apparently transparent snapshots, but
they too provjde crucial clues regarding the notion of community-even if in a more
complex way.
According to Dewey, a community comes into being through communication, "a

process of sharing experience till it becomes a common possession." 11 In the case of the
Belgian settlement, community was created, expressed, and reinforced through a variety
of events that brought members of the settlement together, such as barn-raisings, secular
celebrations, or religious rituals. Intentionally or not, constructions such as ancestral log
cabins or newer brick houses also revealed and strengthened communal values. But
there were other means-some of which were more intangible-through which
community came into being and manifested itself in the Belgian settlement, including the
practice of commemorating and communicating the loss of a loved one tl1rough black
ribbons or post-mortem photographs. Today, the fact that community members are able
to read and relate to photographs they see for the first time-such as when I took
pictures from one family collection outside the family circle in an effort to gain
additional information on the images-bears witness to the existence of a common
knowledge-a collective memory-in the Belgian-American settlement. The logging camp
photographs, which, as an outsider, I find particularly astounding, did not surprise any
of the respondents who looked at them. Nor did the 1952 photograph of Brussels's 52
"future farmers" (fig. 223), even though there are only five-or their descendants-who
are still farming.
lO While contemporary Belgian-Americans believe that they are native Belgian pies,
(fruit) pies (tartes) in Belgium do not have the extra layer of cheese on top of them. Given the
importance of the dairy industry in Wisconsin, it appears to be something that farm women
incorporated later on, perhaps to make good use of 'left-over' milk and cream they had on the
farm. It must be added that the custom of eating pie with beer seems odd to this Belgian since
in Belgium, coffee-not beer-accompanies pies.
11
Dewey, quoted in Fisher, "Narrative," 308.
273
Figure 223. Future Farmers (DELL)
If community members accept photographs that emerge from the communal past,
they collectively reject photographs they do not recognize or with which they do not
associate. One of the things I did to introduce myself and establish some trust during
the first stages of the project was to show respondents some of my own photographs of
Belgian farms and rural life in Belgium, including a photo-essay on 'pig slaughtering.' The
photographic series documents what I had always been told was the 'old-fashioned
way' to slaughter a pig in Belgium-a practice which consists in knocking the pig
senseless, stabbing it in the neck and working its front left leg back and forth to make the
blood run out, collecting the blood in a container, burning the pig's hair off, and washing
the animal before doing the actual butchering (figs. 224, 225, and 226).
Figure 224. Knocking the pig down (BER) Figure 225. Collecting the blood (BER)
274
Figure 226. Burning the pig's hair off (BER)
Needless to say, the 'Old World' character of the agricultural practice was a decisive
factor in my taking the photo-essay to several people in the Belgian-American
settlement. Much to my surprise, however, none of the individuals who viewed the
photographs recognized them as they had "never seen anything like that." The
experience left me pondering two things: first, was the practice, indeed, an ancient
agricultural tradition? Second, if so, why would a community that had kept such strong
ties with the native country, including many ancestral customs, have abandoned or not
retained what appears to be a very simple agricultural practice-one that does not
require any special tools or conditions?12 As it turned out, I found answers to both
questions in two different types of sources-an illustration and an immigrant letter.

Figure 9 is from a calendar included in the Mayer van den Bergh Breviary. 13 Produced
by Flemish artists around 1510, it shows peasants slaughtering a pig in the winter. The
illumination does not achially portray the burning of the hog's hair, but the fire to the
right and the sheaf of straw against the wall of the house refer to it. Similarly, as I was
12
Preparing a hog for butchering in Wisconsin consisted in plunging it in boiling water and
scraping its hair off after removing it from the water. The photographs and the questions they
raised in my mind clearly illustrate Malmsheimer's notion that photographs do, indeed, "prod
and nag, ... force reflexivity, and prompt questions which might not otherwise be asked." See
Malmsheimer, "Photographic," 35.
13
Maurits Smeyers and Jan Van der Stock, eds., Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts 1475-1550
(Ghent, Belgium: Ludion Press for the Nlinistry of the Flemish Community and the Catholic
University of Leuven, 1996), 51-117.
275
reading an immigrant letter rich in agricultural details, I found a reference to straw,

which Jean-Baptiste Leurquin described as 'very short here." 14 Since killing hogs the old-
fashioned way required long straw (not to burn oneself), it could have been one of the
reasons why the custom was discontinued or never implanted in Wisconsin's immigrant
community. Figure 227 depicts two boys standing in front of a straw pile on the
Wautier farm in the 1930s. Although it is difficult to determine the length of the straw,
the photograph is important because it sheds light on yet another agricultural practice
found in Wisconsin but not in Belgium.
Figure 227. Straw pile (WAU)
Indeed, we learn from community members that Belgian-American farmers occasionally
used piles of straw-rather than pigsties-as hog shelters. The practice enabled them to
not build what some considered to be superfluous farm additions and it kept pigs very
warm in the wintertime.
In the same way as a contemporary photograph leads us to question or reexamine
the past, historical photographs that remained unexamined in a long time can lead us to
reevaluate our impression of the past. When talking about life in the 1930s, several
respondents agreed that living on a farm was what j'saved" many people in the Belgian-
American community. As Leona Michiels stated, for instance, "Sure, there was not
14
Jean-Baptiste Leurquin, Humboldt, Wisconsin, to his cousins, Belgium, 15May1886.
Copy of the letter in the hands of the Bertrand family, Temploux, Belgium.
276
much money around, but there was always food on the table, and shoes to wear."
When confronted with the photograph of her younger siblings standing in the farmyard
in March 1940 (fig. 228), however, Leona was stunned.
' !
Figure 228. Michiels children, March 1940 (MIC)
She commented,
It looks as if we really had it tough. I can't remember having it that tough, but, I
guess ... I don't know ... looks like it was not too good. Look at their clothes; look at
the big holes she's got in her stock[ing] [laughs]. And ... Why did they have such
boots? ... so big for them? You know? I don't know ... But they all look happy.
Judging from the wagon lying on the ground, it appears that the children had been
playing when the photograph was taken, and there is no reason why they would have
donned their best clothes for the occasion. But this photograph, like other historical
images, attests to what Barthes called the "~a a ete,"-a condition of the past.15
Following Barthes who could not deny that the thing had been there,16 Leona Michiels is
15
See introduction.
16
See chapter 1, page 1. Barthes further argues that each photograph "possesses an
evidential force, and that its testimony bears not on the object but on time.... [F]rom a
phenomenological viewpoint, in the Photograph the power of authentification exceeds the
power of representation." See Barthes, Camera Lucida, 89.
277
forced to re-assess her vision of the past based on the evidence provided by a family
snapshot. In this case, a single image defeats other forms of recollection by bringing a
certainty that "no written document can give." 17 As Hardt explains,
Photographs provide opportunities for disrupting and reconstructing history

with their appeal to memory; they privilege the subjective, creative power of the
personal account against the power of received history. Photographs are the texts of
future possibilities as memory engages the image in a dialogue about the past under
emotionally-and perhaps politically-charged conditions. Memory assesses and
readjusts official historyi and photographs-particularly personal images like family
photographs-provide an emotional and even ideological grounding for memory to
remind us of these differences and the need to expand on our inability to forget in
order to understand the present. 18
The few scholars who have expanded the realm of historical sources to photographs
have for instance remarked on their unique ability to shed light on the daily life and
culture of ordinary people, provide an eyewitness account of history, and disclose clues
of (changing) attitudes and beliefs.19 But they have also cautioned potential users
against the danger of using isolated photographs since single images are open to a
multiplicity of readings and meanings. In this particular case, the analysis of images
(either contained in photo albums or used in conjunction with other photographs
produced in the community) has shown that ordinary snapshots found in ordinary,
private collections do play the role of viaticum. As Geffroy explains, viaticum refers not
17
Barthes, Camera Lucida, 85-86. He explains: "No writing can give me this certainty. It
is the misfortune . . . of language not to be able to authenticate itself. The noerne of language is
perhaps this impotence, or to put it positively: language is, by nature , fictional; the attempt to
render language unfictional requires an enormous apparatus of measurements: we convoke logic,
or lacking that, sworn oath; but the Photograph is indifferent to all intermediaries: it does not
invent; it is authentification itself."
18
Hardt, "Pierced Memories," 16.
19
See, for instance, Chalfen, "Redundant Imagery," 106-109; Peters and Merger, "Doing the
Rest," 280-81; Schlereth, "Mirrors"; Levine, hnages, 185; Chalfen, Turning Leaves, 5, 22; Ruby,
Secure the Shadow, Scherer, "You Can't Believe," 67-79.
278
only to the supplies carried by a traveler, but also to the coin placed in the mouth of a
deceased individual so that he or she can pay Charon, the ferryman of souls in Greek
mythology. 20 By putting photo albums together, not only do compilers create visual
autobiographies that accompany them throughout their lives, but they also provide
future generations with access to a time period that they may not have personally
experienced. Rather than enabling the passage of the deceased into the hereafter, the
Viaticum-and therefore the photograph-becomes a means by which the living can gain
access to the past.
Photographs caphue fleeting moments, slices of experience that may not have been
recorded otherwise. In that respect, they constitute rich sources for the study of the
past. But in the same way as a disregard for images impoverishes historical imagination
and writing,21 neglect of 'written' or oral material also weakens our understanding of
history. Eventually, when combined with other photographs and complementary
sources, the photographic image becomes no longer suspect, achieves its status as an ally
for scholars, and becomes central to their attempt to reconstruct history.
This study has focused on the imagery produced in a Belgian farming community in
Wisconsin at the end of the nineteenth century and during the first half of the twentieth
century. While it was not the original intention of this dissertation to examine post-1950
images, the few images from the 1950s and 1960s utilized here suggest that these two
decades might have been a watershed in the rural community. Future research could
look into the kinds of images that were produced during the second half of the twentieth
century and examine how they relate to earlier photographs or how they detach
themselves from them. Future research could also shtdy the photographic imagery
20
Geffroy, "Family Photographs," 406.
21
Haskell, History, 9, 495.
279
produced in other immigrant or Anglo-American settlements to see how the photographs
relate to those produced by Belgian immigrants.
It is one thing to note that the production of corn-tl1at "good American"
crop-increased by 736 percent in Door county (where Frank and Mary Martin lived)
between 1879 and 1919,22 yet quite another to look at the couple as they pose in their
native clothes in the yard of their Rosiere farm, or Mary pumping water for her cows
(figs. 21 and 22). Who is to say whether the little knowledge we have of them surfaces
more vividly or strongly-through the penmanship of a census taker or the light and
shadows imprinted on an unambitious family photograph?
22
The production of com increased from 1,486 bushels in 1870 to 10,527 bushels in 1879. Door
county farmers raised 41,881 bushels of corn in 1909; by 1919, the corn production had reached
88,088 bushels. Bureau of the Census, Ninth Census of the United States (1870): The Statistics
of the Wealth and Industry of the United States (Washington, 1862), 281; Bureau of the Census,
Tenth Census of the United States (1880), Report on the Productions of Agriculture
(Washington, 1883), 211; Bureau of U1e Census, Thirteenth Census of the United Sta.tes:
Agriculture (Washington, 1913), 929; Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United
States: Agriculture (Washington, 1922), 475.
280
APPENDIX
SOURCES FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS
AND PHOTO COLLECTIONS
Photographs
ADA Adam.ic, n.p.
CAL Caldwell and Bourke-White, 49, n.p.
CAR Carter 1987, 53, 94
CUR Curtis, n.p.
GJE Gjerde, 224
HENR Henry
HER Herbert 1970, 32; 1976, 82
JON Jonas, 35
MJ Milwaukee Journal
MONO Mondadori, 115
RII Riis, 45, 58
SME Smeyers and Van der Stock, 71
TAY Taylor, n .p.
Photo collections
AND Andre photo collection
ANT Antoine photo collection
BEL Bellin photo colllection
BER Berlier photo collection
CHA Chaudoir photo collection
DELA Delveaux (Adeline) photo collection
DELL Delveaux (Laura) photo collection
DER Derenne photo collection
DES Destree photo collection
EUC Euclide photo collection
HENQ Henquinet photo collection
JAND Jandrain photo collection
JANQ Janquart photo collection
JAU Jauquet photo collection
LEC Ledoux photo collection
MAL Mallien photo collection
MIC Michiels photo collection
MONF Monfils photo collection
NEU Neuville photo collection
SER Servais photo collection
SIM Simonar photo collection
281
TEB Tebon photo collection

TID Thiry photo collection
TIE Tielens photo collection
TUR Tureur photo collection
WAU Wautier photo collection
282
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PICTURING OURSELYES: PHOTOGRAPHS OF

BELGIAN AMERICANS IN NORTI-IEASTERN WISCONSIN, 1888-1950

Of a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

Thesis supervisors: Professor Hanno Hardt

The dissertation looks at amateur photography within a cultural-historical

by photographers-the majority of whom are amateurs-in a community of Belgian

conventions. Adopting this perspective, the dissertation views photographs as the

In addition to using vernacular photographs, the study draws from a variety of

By focusing on photographs, this project addresses several scholarly needs,

including more research on amateur photography as a medium of communication, more

systematic use of photographs as a means of recovering history, and further study of

rural settlements of European immigrants. In addition, it makes specific contributions to

emphasis on Belgian-Americans (a little known ethnic group) constitutes a departure

dominant immigrant groups.

'~ ·t-~~ (~o, '

'J ovn t.\ \6~..;.. tV1 µ_ ~ f (Q ~-iA

BELGIAN AMERICANS IN NORTHEASTERN WISCONSIN, 1888-1950

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment

Thesis supervisors: Professor Hanno Hardt

Titis is to certify that the Ph.D. thesis of

has been approved by the Examining Committee

LJ((/j/~.~ v~"'-.J ----·

version of this manuscript. My outside committee member, Professor Shelton

Stromquist, introduced me to the field of immigration and rural studies, commented

importantly, her friendship and sense of humor.

Stopping for dinner at Jim's 54 in Luxemburg, Wisconsin turned out to be a very

place din voss majon. Vo m 'ave bin aide.

When it came time to meld together photographs and manuscript, Professor

existed. Finally, I am grateful to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Dissertation Scholarship. This project was also partially supported by a T. Anne

Cleary International Dissertation Research Fellowship.

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF MAPS xvii

ONE THEORETICAL PERSPECTNES 12

Visual depictions of immigrants 44

1. In the home of an Italian rag-picker Q. Riis - RII) 47

2. "Five cents a spot" 0· Riis - Rll) 47

3 Italian family on the ferry (L. Hine - TAY) 47

4. Shaping rods, Pittsburgh (L. Hine - TAY) 47

6. True Americans (ADA) 51

7. "Belgian" immigrant (A. Sherman -JON) 53

9. Mayer van den Bergh Breviary, detail (SME) 57

10. Woman feeding chickens Q.-F. Millet - HER) 59

11. Peasant spreading manure G.-F. Millet - HER) 59

12. "Garden of Eden" (HENR) 63

20. Isodore Haumont house on French Table, Custer County, Nebraska

22. Mary Martin pumping water (BEL) 117

23. Woman with pail (BEL) 118

24. Virginie Laurent (SER) 119

25. Joseph Laurent (SER} 119

26. Auguste Fontaine and family (TIE) 120

27. Fran~ois Petigniot's farmstead (DER) 120

30. Fred Martin (BEL) 121

31 . Elsie Wautlet, school girl (BEL) 122

32. Michiels children leaving for school (MIC) 122

33. lhreesome (TIE) 123

34. Sawing firewood (BEL) 124

35. Ida Michiels and children by 1936 Chevy (MIC) 124

36. "4-H Club" (MIC) 125

38. Threshing crew at the Chaudoir farm (CHA) 126

39. Doing laundry (BEL) 127

40. "Old Fred" OAU) 127

41 . Sarah Vandertie Martin (BEL) 128