As history unfolds in Wisconsin, Smithsonian sends curator

[DearAbby]

(CNN) -- The posters and placards carried by Wisconsin demonstrators will soon become an official part of the nation's legacy, adorning the walls of the Smithsonian's Museum of American History.

A curator is traveling to Madison, Wisconsin, to document protests over legislation that would curb the collective bargaining rights of most state workers, according to a museum spokeswoman. The bill prompted hundreds to occupy the state Capitol building for weeks as demonstrators chanted political slogans and waved banners against the measure.

"If we don't collect these things now, they're lost forever," said Valeska Hilbig, a Smithsonian spokeswoman in Washington.

The Smithsonian envoy, Barbara Clark Smith, will survey the state legislature and evaluate materials that tell the story of the showdown between a group of union-backed Democrats and their GOP counterparts, led by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.


More: http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/08/wisconsin.smithsonian/index.html?hpt=T1

MAKE HISTORY HAPPEN!

[Dawson Leery]

1. Clearly this is a uniquely important event.

[midnight]

2. I wonder what they will write about when this is said and done...

That great laws were broken. All debts were passed on to the working class and the rich just took all the winnings.

[htuttle]

3. They'll have to wrestle the WI State Historical Society for them!

Anecdote from many years ago:

"One day, when the FBI went to raid an SDS (or Weather, not sure which) safehouse in Madison, they saw a WI State Historical Society van leaving just as they pulled up."

[Wilms]

4. Cool. n/t