In the mid 19th century, the products and means of production for cutthroat American industry would spread across the nation to the Wisconsin frontier—wallpaper included. As early as 1862, there were a number of wallpaper retailers in Milwaukee. It is possible that the Dvorak bandbox was either manufactured or dressed in one of these locations. During this process, the box was lined with issues of the American Freeman, a local Prairieville newspaper (Prairieville was Waukesha’s original name).

In Prairieville, amidst the growth of northern industry and the southern slave economy, the American Freeman confronted the question of slavery by standing firmly against it. In the mid-19th century, abolition was alive and well in Prairieville, which was the site of a large underground railroad operation. In 1859, the paper would cease to be known as the American Freeman, leaving space for the eventual Waukesha Freeman to fill the gap.

In 1854, Joshua Glover would arrive in Racine as a fugitive slave from St. Louis. However, in March of that year, Glover was found by his owner, beat, and deposited in a Milwaukee jail under the authority of the Fugitive Slave Act. The night of his capture, Glover was broken out of jail by a mob and was transported along a winding path to Waukesha. Two previous editors of the Freeman, C.C. Olin and Sherman M. Booth, would serve as Glover’s conductor and political advocate respectively.

The products and means of production of cutthroat American industry soon spread across the nation to the Wisconsin frontier—wallpaper included. As such, as early as 1862, there were a number of wallpaper retailers in Milwaukee. While the state of the wallpaper manufacturing industry in the city is unknown, it is possible that the Dvorak bandbox was either manufactured or dressed in one of these Milwaukee locations. Perhaps during either of these processes, the Dvorak bandbox was lined with two issues of the American Freeman, a newspaper that holds a wealth of knowledge and insight into not only the early history of Prairieville, which would come to be known as Waukesha, but surprisingly, the fervent, abolitionist cell its early players created. To begin to understand Prairieville’s complex early history through the lens provided by the bandbox, the scope of historical inquiry must be widened to understand the impacts of the surrounding area on this history. All in all, this points to an intersection of industry and expansion, which established settlement patterns for locales on the periphery of urban centers, including places like Prairieville. However, one previously mentioned item—which is pasted inside the box itself—evokes a more direct, exciting local history.

In Prairieville, amidst the growth of industry and the burden of the southern slavery upon northern minds, the American Freeman confronted the question of slavery by standing firmly against it. It is important to note that the American Freeman was not some sort of anomaly; in fact, in the mid-19th century, abolition was alive and well in the area, which was the site of a large underground railroad operation (Olin, 23). This reality played an important role in early county and state history, sowing the seeds of the urban landscape before you and shaping interactions between neighbors and municipalities. For example, the dominance of Democrat ideology in Milwaukee earned Prairieville the moniker of the “abolition hole,” as the neighbors to the east agreed more with the southern, slave-holding policy of the time (21). One event in particular would come to define this early abolitionist history by spitting in the face of Milwaukee’s pro-slavery citizenry.

In 1854, Joshua Glover fled St. Louis, breaking free from the shackles of chattel slavery. Glover, of all places, would settle at a farm in Racine, where he was left to live as free a life a black man in 1854 could live—which, even in “free” country, wasn’t saying much (Olin, 53). However, in March of that year, this would come to an end as, under the authority of the Fugitive Slave Act, Glover’s owner would march into Racine After finding Glover, Benji Garland would savagely and mercilessly beat the man who was once his slave. After Glover was well bloodied and bruised, Garland abducting Glover and threw him in a Milwaukee jail from where he would be returned home. Perhaps due to the fiery abolitionist rhetoric next door, Glover was broken out of jail by a mob the same evening he was captured. From Milwaukee, Glover was transported along a winding path to Prairieville in order to throw off slave hunters. After arriving in town, Glover would be moved to a number of houses within the village and county along roads and passages that might exist today, including the ground you stand on now (56-60). While the stories of the American Freeman and Joshua Glover construct a Waukesha of the mid-19th century, to understand the Waukesha, the expansion of industry—of which the Dvorak box is a testament—must also be understood.

1794	Eli Whitney patents his cotton gin. This invention would lead to the cotton surplus that would eventually increase the availability and lower the cost of wallpaper
1801	Karel Dvorak born in Bohemia
1826	Karel weds Dorota nee Seda
1839	Dorota births a son, Anton, in Vyhanova, in the Bohemian region of Czechia
1840s	Mechanized roller printing enters the wallpaper market, revolutionizing the practice of printing
1842	In the United States, C.C. Scholes, the Freeman’s original editor, renames the newspaper from the Milwaukee Democrat to the American Freeman in order to avoid associations with the pro-slavery stance adopted by the Democrat part
1844	Scholes receives economic support from a coalition centered around Prairieville. As a result, the newspaper is moved to the village; In Philadelphia, the first mechanically printed wallpapers are produced by the Howell & Brother’s firm
1846	The issues of the American Freeman pasted in the Dvorak bandbox are printed; Prairieville renamed to Waukesha
1848	Sherman M. Booth becomes the sole shareholder of the newspaper, renaming it to the Wisconsin Free Democrat and moving it back to Milwaukee. With this, the American Freeman ceases to exist under its former moniker, leaving room for the Waukesha Freeman
1854	Glover is broken out of jail. His journey starts in Milwaukee, goes through Waukesha, and ends with his escape to freedom in Canada, all in the same year
1850-60?	Anton Dvorak moves from Bohemia to the United States, settling in Kane County, Illinois, outside of Chicago. During this period, Anton could have acquired the Dvorak bandbox
1859	The Waukesha Freeman, the spiritual successor to the American Freeman, is first published by Martin Cullaton
1866	Anton weds Terezie nee Kvidera in 1866 in Kane County, Illinois
1869	Terezie births a son, Frank, in Illinois
1890s?	Frank marries Katherine nee Pribyl
1900	Katherine births a son, Raymond
1934-1968	Raymond moves to Madison, serving as UW's Director of Bands

Being from Waukesha, researching further into the city and county’s history was something I was very interested in doing; and after some cursory reading of the American Freeman, I knew I had to do this research. The intersection of early state history, rapid industrialization, the expansion of the frontier and homegrown abolition was beyond exciting. Moreover, the fact that all of this was imbedded in a box made it all the more intriguing. This is a history that is important for Waukesha; it is a history that needs to be known by every person in the county.