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The UW’s alumni magazine that bore the title On Wisconsin was published in the fall of 1990, so arguably, On Wisconsin is almost 34 years old — old enough to drive but not old enough to be president of the United States. But though that answer is precise, it’s not entirely accurate. That first On Wisconsin issue bore the description “volume 91.” It was a continuation of a different title. If you mean, “How old is UW–Madison’s alumni magazine?” then the answer is very nearly 125 years. The UW published its first issue of what was then called The Wisconsin Alumni Magazine in October 1899. The cover shows a photo of a dome-topped Bascom Hall, and the editor was a brand-new grad named Charles Allen 1899, PhD 1904, who would go on to be a botany professor. The university editor was Frederick Jackson Turner 1884, MA1888, who would become a Pulitzer Prize–winning professor of history. Over the past year (as you may have heard, a lot), UW–Madison celebrated its 175th birthday, Latinizing the age as a demisemiseptcentennial. At 125, On Wisconsin is 50 years younger than that, and is merely celebrating its hemidemisemimillennium.  

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