For nearly half of the 20th Century, a socialist mayor sat in Milwaukee’s City Hall — Emil Seidl (1910-1912), Daniel Hoan (1916-1940) and Frank Zeidler (1948-1960). The Milwaukee Public Library has an extensive archive of socialism in Milwaukee, which became the laboratory for an experiment. Highlights were pulled from the collection and laid out in eras. Then, three invested Milwaukeeans with no formal ties to socialism spent an afternoon exploring the archival items. This short film presents what emerged from the group’s exploration — stories of a changing city, as well as persistent issues that carry on to the present day.