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The Milwaukee Central Library is a massive building, but patrons might not realize that they’re only seeing a fraction of the collection. The library’s basement storage tiers hold over a half a million newspapers and books. Up on the second and third floor, room after room in the staff-only Archives and Special Collections Department contains the DNA of Milwaukee’s history via hundreds of thousands of maps and documents.
Robert Jaeger, one of the department’s seven librarians, led us behind the scenes to look at the City Archives collection, hundreds of boxes filled with papers related to the Mayor’s Office and other city departments. He carefully pulled a hefty handwritten ledger of mortuary records from 1883. “We have the opposite, too, the birth records,” Jaeger explains. Other rooms contain archives of building plans by local architects, marine vessel files and nautical charts, a historic photo collection, local election ephemera, and much more.
There’s also the Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room, a special climate controlled (always 68 degrees) facility that’s open to the public by (supervised) appointment only.
A more accessible hidden gem in the library is its used bookshop. If you’re distracted by the beauty of the rotunda and don’t look right, you might miss it. Just down the hall is The Bookseller, operated by the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library. You’ll find thousands of romance paperbacks (25 cents), hardcovers ($2), comic books and sheet music ($1), DVDs and vinyl records ($1) to add to your own collection.
