Lyle Oberwise (1908–1993) was an American photographer who meticulously documented urban life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from the 1930s through the early 1990s, especially its changing architecture.
During World War II he was drafted into the United States Army and trained as a military photographer, serving with the 3374th Signal Photo Corps in the CBI (China-Burma-India) theater of operations.
Upon returning home he resumed working at Milprint until 1952 when he took a job as a custodian at General Electric Apparatus Service Center in Milwaukee.
Expecting to dine out afterwards, and even offering to pay, they were surprised when Oberwise suddenly announced, "There's plenty to eat at home...", and proceeded to cook them a box of macaroni and cheese.
John Angelos, a retired high school English teacher now running a rare book, photograph and art dealership with his wife Marilyn Johnson, attended the sale.
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 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.
[5] 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.