My research journey have been very interesting and I am eager to learn more about my topic on Putnam Park. I started my journey in this research by having few research question to have a better understanding on Putnam Park. My research question was about how Putnam Park was established and what its main purpose is. While doing my research, I started creating more sub question which will lead me to a better understanding on Putnam Park. For example, I started here with a question about how Putnam Park was established and now I’ve ventured slightly away from my research question to know about how the committee of Putnam Park played a role in establishing Putnam Park. I did not venture away completely, but I became more interested about Putnam Park committee as I did my research on the transfer of Putnam Park to the State of Wisconsin. I’m not afraid to concentrate on this sub question because I realize that this part of my research does play a role in determining how Putnam Park was established. I am just creating more branches of questions so that I can come up with an excellent piece with complete understanding on Putnam Park and make my audience realize that parks are not as simple as it looks and it has a whole history behind it.

               As for now, I am happy with my research because I manage to answer questions that I had. A deed is a very important part to know about a piece of land. I manage to find resource from the archives which was the deed on Putnam Park. In the deed I got to know how Putnam Park track was first conveyed to the City of Eau Claire by Henry C. Putnam and there are many information recited as how Putnam Park was officially launched. From here I was interested on lands that was not part of Putnam Park but played a role in establishing Putnam Park. I provided answer about what happened to lands that was not covered by Putnam Park deed. This is a very useful information because it broadened my thinking that there are many other factor involved which made Putnam Park a historical park in Wisconsin. The next source that I found was important and interesting about Putnam Park Committee. To know about a certain place for instance Putnam Park, we should at least know about people who contributed to this park. For a start I found information on how and why Putnam Park was transferred from the City of Eau Claire to the State of Wisconsin. There are more to research on if I want to have a full and clear understanding on the committee of Putnam Park and this will lead to a better understanding on how Putnam Park was established. I would further my research on other component of Putnam Park for example, the trail of Putnam Park, provide some pictures of how Putnam Park looks like, the importance in protecting this park, etc. I’m excited to find out and learn new information on Putnam Park.

(Transfer of Putnam Park to the State of Wisconsin)

            I found this very interesting primary resource which is an archival collection in McIntyre Library at UWEC. There were several papers that discussed about Putnam Park Committee in this folder that I found, but I selected this one source that has information about the transfer of Putnam Park to the State of Wisconsin which interest me. This source I found was dated on February 6, 1957 and was written by President of Putnam Park W.R. Davies. This is a very useful source that I selected because it has information that will make my understanding better on how Putnam Park Committee was created and what are the reasons Putnam Park was transferred to the State of Wisconsin.

            This source has timely kairos which increase the credibility of the information. This is because, I would like to know what happened way back in the history of Putnam Park and by providing the date of the source that I selected enables me to relay on the information that is provided by the source. Moreover, by having President W. R. Davies signature at the end of the source increases my invented ethos on the information that I’m going to provide in this post.

            This source that I selected discusses about the reasons on the transfer of Putnam Park to the State of Wisconsin from the City of Eau Claire. There are a total of six reason why Putnam Park was transferred. First, Since the State College which is UWEC (University of Wisconsin Eau Claire) now is cut into half because of Putnam Park, it is more desirable to have a single campus with the park rather than a divided region. Second, teachers of all natural science and environmental studies and others will feel more responsible towards the protection of the park. Third, the State Highway Commission maintains the roads owned by the college, and would take this burden from the city if the park becomes state property. Fourth, the park does not have a botanical garden devoted to trees and natural phenomena like storm are destroying the remainings in the park. Therefore, the university authorities have expressed their interest in working with the college in the development and preservation of an arboretum such as the University has n its 500 acres in Madison. Fifth, there are anonymous articles accusing the college with bad purpose in acquiring the park. There are families and staff in the college are first of all residence of Eau Claire, and are proud of the park and its possibilities. No group could be more concerned about the preservation of the park said by Mr. Putnam. Last but not least, as far as the construction of buildings, parking lots, and trails is concerned, the college will represent the conservation point of view, and will protect the beauty, continuity, and preservation of the valuable natural property.

            This source provided strong reasons on why the park should be transferred to the State of Wisconsin from the City of Eau Claire. The reasons are also valid and make sense. Information in this source is very important because it has elements of protecting the park and it is a very serious measure for Putnam Park.

            I learned that protecting and preserving a park takes a lot of commitment. This source made me realize that to protect nature a community with responsible people for example, surrounding neighborhood, City of Eau Claire, State of Wisconsin, etc are essential. I am still not satisfied about the information about the community of Putnam Park and I would like to do more research and learn more about the community and how this park has been protected up till now.

I found a primary source from McIntyre Library archive department at UWEC which is a book and it had information about lands that was not covered in the Putnam Park Deed. Previously I was interested in knowing about what happened to the lands that was not covered by Putnam Park but played certain role in establishing Putnam Park. In this primary source I found in the archive, had informations about those lands. This is why I selected this source to carry on my research and this source will definitely help answer some of the question that I had unclear in mind previously.

            This source I have will enable me to build my invented ethos and credibility because it has primary information which explains clearly about each land that was not in Putnam Park Deed but in a way it is part of Putnam Park. I can invent my ethos by giving more than one example of lands that were not part of Putnam Park but played a role as a whole about Putnam Park.

            This source contains information about several piece of lands and what was the purpose of those lands. To begin, there were several parts of land that was already regarded as part of Putnam Park which were acquired by the City of Eau Claire by separate conveyance and most of it was done unconditionally. Since most of it was done unconditionally, they were never subjected to any restriction, reservations, and reversionary rights of the original Putnam deed.

For the records, these parcels are described as follows:

            This source is very helpful in understanding the use of lands that are not covered by the park. I got to know the lands that are actually part of Putnam Park’s establishment, what they were used for, who was handling those lands, etc. The only doubt I have is since they agree to distribute this land accordingly with no problems, why weren’t this information be included in the deed?

            For now, my understanding on the lands that is not covered by Putnam Park deed in better. I learnt that there are more towards a park then just thinking parks as a place to hang out, exercise, and have fun. This source made me think out of the box and realize to think and ask more questions to understand a specific topic or in this case about Putnam Park. From here I would like to know more about Putnam Park committee.

To start of my research, I’ve selected a primary source from the archive department of McIntyre Library in UWEC. To know more about Putnam Park, first we must have some knowledge on the background of Putnam Park.  This source I selected is about Putnam Park Deed. I selected this source because it explains how Putnam Park track was first conveyed to the City of Eau Claire by Henry C. Putnam. In this deed, there are many information recited as how Putnam Park was officially launched. This information from my first primary resource will definitely lead in answering my research question.

This source was dated on February 17^th 1909 and was received for record on the February 2^nd 1932. From these dates we can see that Putnam Park is indeed a place with history. This primary source I selected has information to do with how it was found, what made it be a park, what kind of geological and geographical condition the park had, etc. These are all really interesting facts to know because there are a lot of details in establishing a park.

This source I selected states that Henry C. Putnam conveyed the Putnam Park tract to the City of Eau Claire in February 17^th 1909. This deed is a lengthy document which was drafted by the grantor. Putnam Drive has been existing and been used since the 1887. Putnam drive is near the Chippewa River and the grantor had suggested a bridge across the Chippewa River near the mouth of the Little Niagara Creek and offered a donation towards its cost. This deed also recites that the lands which Putnam Drive crosses are left with little value, and hence the City is required to pay taxes. There were certain land near Putnam Drive was excluded from these taxes. Since Eau Claire was known for its timber, there were restrictions on cutting timber around Putnam Drive before the Park was build. Another condition or restriction is that the “forest” should be maintain well in all aspects. This deed reserves to grantor a building site of one and one-half acres. There are gift conditions to the City which states that the City shall police the lands, drives, forest, streams, animals, birds, and aquatic animals and make sure that there is growth and propagation in the park. Putnam Park boundaries was finally settled with an authorized survey by the City of Eau Claire and State Bureau of Engineering in 1957.

Image of Specific Provisions listed:

I find this source really helpful in better understanding Putnam Park because it shows the ups and downs the grantor and the City of Eau Claire faced in deciding on whom and what are the rules and regulation is to be fixed to maintain and establish Putnam Park. Reading information from this resource made me doubt or feel like the grantor was asking a bit too much in return for the City to have Putnam Park. I’m sure there will be some explanation to all this reciting and I hope to find out more in my research on this topic about Putnam Park.

I learnt more about Putnam Park in this source because it has information which answered my sub question which was how Putnam Park was even discovered. I did not know that that there was a grantor who handled the deed and it is an interesting fact that there were so much going behind a simple park like Putnam Park. The element that I found missing in this source was information on what was the building site used. Was it used for Putnam Park purposes? Or was it used for personal use for the grantor.

From here, I would like to research about some of the lands that was not covered by Putnam Park which played a part in establishing Putnam Park.

UWEC Putnam Park

My research question for this third segment is about how Putnam Park was established and what its main purpose is. I choose this as my research question because parks are very important to everyone. Knowing how it is established is also equally important so that everyone play a part to protect and appreciate parks since it is free for everyone to use. To answer my research question I must know when Putnam Park was found, who took the first move to establish this place, what problems did the person who establish this park went through, etc. My research question will lead to more sub questions which will give me a very clear understanding about Putnam Park about its history, geological condition, etc.

I am interest in this topic because, I am a nature person and I love to spend almost every evening in parks. I’ve been spending most of my evenings in parks and I wondered, it should be interesting to know how parks are actually established. Parks play a huge role as a place for eliminating stress. People use them for exercising, picnics with loved ones, relaxing, etc. I’m just curios and interested to know more about parks because there isn’t much research done on parks and I would like to know more about parks than it just being a place for people to release their stress.

My research question is important and worth exploring because, parks have various purposes. For example, it can contribute in economic development, create safer neighborhood, it’s a place for community engagement, etc. Putnam Park is placed in a very strategic place which is in a student community which helps students live a healthy and happy lives. By exploring about Putnam Park and how it was established, I can make people understand and appreciate the hard work done by people who build the park and it will increase the awareness about the importance in preserving Putnam Park.

I do not have a satisfactory understanding on this topic as this time because I’m not sure about the history of Putnam Park, who was behind the establishment of Putnam Park, what troubles they went through to build Putnam Park, how was this place found, how they knew it is a safe place to build the park, etc. Parks a fun places, but I’m very sure there is a lot of work done back then to provide fun for current people to use Putnam Park.