Sen. Wimberger moves Chief Oshkosh portrait to state historical society for display

Sen. Eric Wimberger is sending a painted portrait of Chief Oshkosh from his office to the Wisconsin Historical Society, putting one of the most visible state-held images tied to Menominee history into the hands of the agency building Wisconsin’s next major history museum.

The portrait, cataloged by the society as WHI-1888, is identified as a 1858 painting by Samuel Marsden Brookes. It will be scanned and prepared for future display in the Wisconsin History Center, the five-story, 100,000-square-foot replacement for the current Wisconsin Historical Museum that is planned for Capitol Square in Madison and slated to open in 2027.

That shift matters because it changes where, and under whose control, Chief Oshkosh’s image will be interpreted for the public. The historical society says the new center is its biggest undertaking ever and is expected to welcome about 200,000 visitors a year while expanding access to a collection of nearly 290 million items. For Menominee descendants and others following the handling of Chief Oshkosh material, the key question is whether the transfer will widen access or simply move the portrait out of a political office and into storage until the new museum opens.

Chief Oshkosh, a Menominee leader who died in 1854, lived through years of federal pressure to surrender land. By 1848, the Menominee had ceded more than 7 million acres to the U.S. government, a history that still shapes how his name and image are treated in public institutions across Wisconsin. The city of Oshkosh itself took its name from him, and the Oshkosh Public Museum says its collections include items once belonging to Chief Oshkosh.

The portrait’s relocation also comes after earlier efforts in Oshkosh to add context to the Chief Oshkosh monument in Menominee Park. In 2021, the monument was rededicated with updated interpretive material after delays had frustrated some Menominee tribal members, underscoring how long the fight over representation has lasted and how often access has depended on state or local institutions deciding when and how to act.

With the Wisconsin History Center still under construction, the portrait’s move is both preservation and postponement. It places Chief Oshkosh’s likeness in a stronger conservation pipeline, but it also leaves public visibility dependent on a project that will not open until 2027.