Lyle Oberwise

July 5, 1908 (age 85)

Batavia, Illinois

Upon his death in September 1993, a cache of over 43,000 color slides was found in his apartment, few of which had ever been seen by anyone but Oberwise himself. On September 25, 1993 Lyle Oberwise was found dead of a heart attack in the hallway of his fourth-floor walk-up apartment building at 803 East. State Saint Paramedics arriving on the scene checked his pockets and found only a prayer book and a roll of 35mm slide film. He had no children and no heirs. He did not leave a will. In April 1994, a classified ad appeared in the local paper for an estate sale of Oberwise"s remaining possessions. The ad had read in part, "Many historic Milwaukee photographs". Angelos recalled walking into a room stacked with boxes and boxes filled with Kodachrome slides. He was given 15 minutes to look them over and put in a sealed bid. That night he received a call telling him he now owned the entire collection. Angelos little knew what he had stumbled upon until he began hauling all of the boxes home and examining them more systematically. They comprised eighteen albums of black-and-white prints, 750 black-and-white negatives taken during the 1930s, one box full of prints taken by Oberwise in Burma during World World War II, one box of shots taken in New York City upon Oberwise"s return home from the war and, finally, over 43,000 Kodachrome color slides shot in Milwaukee between 1945 and 1993. In 2003, through a grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Milwaukee County Historical Society purchased the entire Oberwise collection from John Angelos and Marilyn Johnson. lieutenant has since been cataloged, indexed and placed in archival binders for public viewing.

Lyle Oberwise

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Background

Lyle M. Oberwise was born in Batavia, Illinois on July 5, 1908. He was an only child, the son of Matthew Oberwise and Laura Monahan Oberwise. His mother died in 1957, aged 70.

Education

Oberwise graduated from Saint Charles High School in 1926.

Career

Upon his death in September 1993, a cache of over 43,000 color slides was found in his apartment, few of which had ever been seen by anyone but Oberwise himself. On September 25, 1993 Lyle Oberwise was found dead of a heart attack in the hallway of his fourth-floor walk-up apartment building at 803 East. State Saint Paramedics arriving on the scene checked his pockets and found only a prayer book and a roll of 35mm slide film. He had no children and no heirs.

He did not leave a will.

In April 1994, a classified ad appeared in the local paper for an estate sale of Oberwise"s remaining possessions. The ad had read in part, "Many historic Milwaukee photographs".

Angelos recalled walking into a room stacked with boxes and boxes filled with Kodachrome slides. He was given 15 minutes to look them over and put in a sealed bid.

That night he received a call telling him he now owned the entire collection.

Angelos little knew what he had stumbled upon until he began hauling all of the boxes home and examining them more systematically. They comprised eighteen albums of black-and-white prints, 750 black-and-white negatives taken during the 1930s, one box full of prints taken by Oberwise in Burma during World World War II, one box of shots taken in New York City upon Oberwise"s return home from the war and, finally, over 43,000 Kodachrome color slides shot in Milwaukee between 1945 and 1993. In 2003, through a grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Milwaukee County Historical Society purchased the entire Oberwise collection from John Angelos and Marilyn Johnson.

lieutenant has since been cataloged, indexed and placed in archival binders for public viewing.

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Lyle Oberwise

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