University of Wisconsin--Stout. Area Research Center.

Agency History: The Area Research Center is part of a network of thirteen such centers throughout Wisconsin and serves area residents by preserving historical materials relating to Barron, Dunn, and Pepin counties. The Center has a threefold purpose to collect, preserve, and encourage the use of materials relating to these three counties and the University of Wisconsin--Stout. The Area Research Center was established as a part of the Library on the Stout campus in 1971 and was the result of a contractual agreement between Stout and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

The first curator of the Archives was Thomas Ninneman of the Social Science Department. He was later replaced by Dwight Agnew, retired Dean of the School of Liberal Studies. During this time the Archives was open only on an appointment basis. In 1978 Gayle Martinson was hired as the Archives first full-time staff member. In 1980 she became the university's first archivist and the Area Research Center was made responsible for the University Archives and the Stout Oral History Program. One year later the archives was placed in charge of Campus Records Management and in 1985 the Micrographics Lab also was placed under the auspices of the Area Research Center.