Current NewsBuild-a-Page Women’s History Workshop
No prior experience needed!
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
7pm, VanderVeen Center
Grand Rapids Public Library (111 Library Street NE)
Give an evening to the GGRWHC and move our oral history collection toward worldwide availability! Archivist Jill Straub will show you how to locate the bits and pieces of information we need. Own a piece of a page—and help write women into the historical record!
The Oral History Committee of the GGRWHC has finished digitizing both audio and transcript versions of 50+ interviews in our current collection at the Grand Rapids Public Library. As soon as we complete introductory pages for each interview subject (photo, synopsis, other ancillary information), we will be ready to post searchable interviews online.
You will choose which Grand Rapids mover or shaker you want to meet more fully: Norma Brink (#6), Lillian Gill (#14), Suzanne Geha (#13)? Review the list at http://grplpedia.grpl.org/wiki/images/167.pdf (p.11 and following). Then Jill Straub will offer a guided presentation workshop illustrated by a completed model page before you go to work. If you own a laptop or a traditional notebook, please bring it. If you don’t, come anyway. We have a plan.
Why help with this? Because a hardcopy transcript of interview #29 exists in the GGRWHC collection at the GRPL, historian Lisa Krissoff Boehm could use information from the late Ella Sims in her 2009 book Making a Way Out of No Way.
.jpg)
Indeed, Boehm refers to our interview: "Existing archival collections feature few stories of the Second Great Migration, and only rarely has the movement been considered from the female viewpoint in oral histories. Of the resources that exist, few could rival the specificity and wrenching emotion of [Ella] Sims's memories" (92).
On May 2nd, 1994, the GGRWHC's Jane Idema and Bunny Voss interviewed Mrs. Sims, after which GGRWHC transcribers created a manuscript version of the audio for researchers like Boehm to use.
On May 22nd, 2013, we hope that you will help us share this interview with the world—along with the rest of Collection #167 in the GRPL archive. Your efforts will help keep their stories alive—and help write Grand Rapids women more fully into the historical record.
[Close] 
Join GGRWHC on Monday, June 10th, for an exclusive tour of our restored state capitol building with Michigan Capitol Historian Kerry Chartkoff, who will feature the long continuum of women who have worked under its dome. These women from the past range from the humble to the notable. They worked for a living, lobbied for change, made laws, and, finally, led the state from that building. Chartkoff will introduce a head janitress from the 1880s, a state librarian, a staff member in the 1912 delinquent tax department, Sojourner Truth, and the Grand Rapids suffragists who set up the history-making election of Eva McCall Hamilton in November 1920 as the first woman to serve in the Michigan state legislature.
12:30 pm, Monday, June 10th
Meet at commuter lot next to Malarkey’s (Beltline & I-196)
Watch for details later about dress and car-pooling, but please send queries now to info@ggrwhc.org or call (616) 574-7307. [Note that this is a new GGRWHC telephone number and is currently forwarding to a personal voicemail. Please leave your name and a contact number.]
[Close] Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
7 p.m., VanderVeen Center
Grand Rapids Public Library
111 Library Street NE
Mark your calendars for Wednesday, June 19th, 2013, at 7 p.m. when the GGRWHC will sponsor a workshop on conducting oral history interviews. Please consider helping interview women in our community who have "made a difference." We have a long list and invite you to add to it. Over the past few years our interview collection from the 1990s has been used in several books treating Grand Rapids history. Help us add to the record!
The workshop on June 19th will introduce you to procedures for interviewing and later depositing your work in our collection at the Grand Rapids Public Library. Guided by the Oral History Committee of the GGRWHC, you can practice developing interview questions and rehearsing interview methods, after discussing permissions and appropriate recording devices.
Please pre-register as the workshop will be limited in number. If it fills up, we will plan another in the very near future. Call 616-574-7307 or email info@ggrwhc.org with queries and contact information to reserve a space. More detailed information soon!
[Close] While the early mission of the GGRWHC was to find local foremothers to serve as model citizens for contemporary women, we have occasionally shared the history of “bad girls,” like courtesan Georgie Young. After twenty-five years in the business, we know better how to present the history of women we don't necessarily celebrate. We try not to overinvest in shock value, but we are secretly delighted to share that not even most women from the past should be put on pedestals.
The Grand Rapids Historical Society’s Gina Bivins proved this on Thursday, May 9th, when she presented “Mugging for the Camera: Mug Shot Book, 1897-1911” at the GRHS’s annual banquet. Bivins had searched out stories behind faces in a turn-of-the-century police mug shot book owned by the Grand Rapids Public Museum (accession #137772). Some of the faces belong to women:
 
Maggie Moore, Mrs. Frank O’Hara, Mildred Preston and Inez Brown are among those women appearing in the mugshot book, in which local crimes range from larceny to jail break. The woman whose occupation was “clairvoyant” should have seen the police coming when they tracked her down in New York!
[Close] Relive the past or meet it for the first time! A number of Grand Rapids women musicians from the 50s and 60s will perform as part of WE DO CARE, a gift from the musical community to the rest of us.
Sunday, May 5th, 2013
Continuous music from noon to 8:30pm
Free admission; cash bar and concessions
Knights of Columbus Hall, 5830 Clyde Park Avenue SW, Wyoming, Michigan
You may remember meeting Mona Sallie in March, 2010, when local historian Kim Rush presented a program for GGRWHC on Grand Rapids women singing the blues. Mona will sing Sunday at 2pm with Kristi Sallie (Sounds of the Motor City). Before and after, catch the well-known Ann Godfrey, 6 Pak, Lin’ Nowicki, Ruth Ann and the Invictas.
Since his program for us in 2010, Kim Rush has been busy with the West Michigan Music Hysterical Society. Sample the following articles and interviews on Ann Godfrey and 6 Pak; then roam the site!
For full information on Sunday’s extravaganza--including Bad Manor Reunion Band, The Knights, Larsen Brothers Band, The Quests, Blues 101, Johnny Boggs, aka “Jonathan B,” Steve Edge Band, The Trace, Joe McCargar with The Silver Rangers, The Eschelons, and The Hazz Benz--see: WE DO CARE
[Close] The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for May: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: National Women's History Project May Highlights and Birthdays[Close] Archived NewsThe National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for January: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: National Women's History Project: April Hightlights and Birthdays[Close] Thursday, March 28th
Women's City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 Fulton Street
5:00 pm: Hors d'oeuvres & wine ticket bar ($5/glass)
5:30 pm: Brief program & toasts
Free & Open to the Public
GGRWHC Birthday Party – Celebrating 25 Years!
On Thursday, March 28th, the GGRWHC is throwing a party! From the midst of our usual activity, we will celebrate our founding, the accomplishments of our first 25 years, and our plans for the next. Join us on the 28th to mingle and honor early Council members who recognized the pressing need to document the contributions of local women community builders. We'll empty our cupboards of materials and mugs sporting our first logo, as we enjoy complimentary hors d'oeuvres and, for new and renewing members, a complimentary glass of wine! Please let us know you're coming at KSIrwin73@aol.com or 616-454-2425.
Celebrating Women's History Month last year: Gloria Lara, director of Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore, with GGRWHC friends Margie Gage & Marta Petter
During March we will shine a light on the research that underlies everything we do and amaze you with a quick summary of what we have learned over the past 25 years. While we still want to expand our reach locally, we now also aim to share our materials with researchers worldwide. Join us by sharing ideas for new research and events, training in one of our workshops, attending programs, and helping out on committees!
Come to the party on Thursday, the 28th--but also stay tuned! The end of every March marks the beginning of a new membership and work year for us. Soon we will institute Women's History Wednesdays and launch a (badly needed!) new website to host more digitized local women's history. March with us on July 4th to throw out information (and candy) in an Independence Day parade. Join us soon on a trip to Lansing for a tour featuring "women under the dome" hosted by Capitol Historian Kerry Chartkoff. Get in touch! Please subscribe here for online newsletter, if you don't already receive it.
Please remain or become part of the effort during the next 25years! Please let us know you're coming to the party at KSIrwin73@aol.com or 616-454-2425. See you there!
[Close] On March 14th the GGRWHC honored Josephine Ahnefeldt Goss, a Grand Rapids powerhouse with one foot in the world of public schools and the other in the broader civic arena of the Progressive Era--thanks to Marcella Beck and her marvelous research! Read on . . .
While Josephine Ahnefeldt Goss's career in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century education was utterly unusual, she was also one of many dynamic women inspired by her era's idealistic social hopes. Goss was on the front line of political reform (suffrage), educational reform (open air schools for tubercular patients, manual training, truant schools), and civic improvement (the playground movement, library commission)--just for starters.
Her career in education alone spanned the days of her first teaching job in the 1870s to her retirement in 1938 as principal of Sigsbee school. Along the way, Goss ran for elective office and served on the Grand Rapids School Board for the ten turbulent years between 1897 and 1907. As a principal she instituted innovative programs that continued to shape curriculum and facilities for the next half century.
From inside and outside the academy, Josephine Ahnefeldt Goss was committed to the power of education and action to change the world; and her work as an educator, politician, inventor and suffragist spanned her lifetime. Although her story is unique, she also represents scores of dynamic local women shaped by progressive ideals who worked to move this country forward by bringing opportunity to all.
Celebrate Women’s History Month by celebrating this remarkable woman.
Thanks to Sharon Hanks, more at: The Rapidian
[Close] Negro Business and Professional Women
12:30pm, Saturday, March 16th, 2013
Madison Christian Reformed Church,
1434 Madison Ave, SE
For the sixth time the Negro Business and Professional Women, Grand Rapids Club, offer wisdom passed along from one generation to the next during Women's History Month. Speaking from the rocking chair this year will be Pastor Sandra Dolly-McGlothin, Mrs. Alma Dolly (Mother), Dr. Tracy Mathis-Blount, Mrs. Patrice E. Mathis (Mother), Mrs. Nicki Tardy; and the Pearson Family Singers will perform. For more information and to report that you will attend, call 616-534-7450 or 616 243-2963.
[Close]
 |
Celebration! Cinema North
Tuesday, March 12th
6:00pm: networking; 6:45pm: screening
Panel discussion following
|
On Tuesday, March 12th, join WGVU's Engage / Women & Girls Lead for a screening of the PBS documentary MAKERS: WOMEN WHO MAKE AMERICA. For more information, visit wgvu.org/engage.
Meet 22 local "makers" to be honored by W&GL both before the screening and afterward during a panel discussion to be led by Shelley Irwin, host of the WGVU Morning Show. Four will participate on the panel: Avery McNew, Nicki Hurley, Synia Jordan, and Dr. Patricia Quattrin. Also on hand will be GGRWHC favorite Sharon Steffens:
In 1972 Sharon Steffens served as the first state chair of WSAM, Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan. By helping to organize a "ladylike" picket of fruit processors who were underpaying apple farmers on the Ridge, Steffens helped women begin stepping out of their kitchens and orchards to support family farms more publicly. Women in agriculture were an untapped resource and they were fearsome.
W&GL will also take a glance at past accomplishment by recognizing the historic accomplishments of Eva McCall Hamilton (1871-1948), the first woman legislator in Michigan. She is still the only woman from Kent County ever elected to the State Senate. Last fall she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
To reserve your ticket, go to https://celebrationcinema.com/makers or call WGVU at 1-800-442-2771 and reference Women and Girls Lead.
[Close] Fountain Street Church, Keeler Gallery
24 Fountain Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI
Open to the public
Inspired by Rino Pizzi’s ARTPRIZE entry at the GRAM titled “The Mona Lisa Project,” twenty West Michigan women artists are presenting their self portraits as Mona Lisa. They explore personal identity in terms of one of Western Civilization’s greatest female icons, The Mona Lisa--just in time for Women’s History Month! Participants are Lynn Anderson, Margaret Benefiel, Abigail Bradley, Pamela Benjamin, Jean Allemeier Boot, Robyn Bomhof, Dianne Caroll Burdick, Nancy Clouse, Cindi Ford, Barbara Groat, Rosemary Hayes, Sandi Lummen, Jan McLaughlin, Sandy Meyer, Christine Olson, Kendra Postma, Sue Remes, Patti Sevensma, Mariel Versluis, Ann Wassman. Photography by Dianne Caroll Burdick, Postcard Design by Patti Sevensma, Revisited” concept by Christine Olson.
The show will continue through April 28, 2013
Sun 9 am - 2 pm, Mon - Fri 9 am - 4:30 pm,
Closed Saturday
[Close] The Michigan Women's Historical Center & Hall of Fame is recruiting judges from all areas of the state and various backgrounds to evaluate 2013 nominations. Judging takes place in April and May by two panels, the historical (deceased) or contemporary (living) categories. Historical judges should have some historical perspective or background that qualifies them to judge this category.
If you are interested in being a judge, please send to info@michiganwomen.org with your name, address, daytime phone and your preferences: (1) to review contemporary or historical nominations; and (2) to participate in a judging panel in April or May. Please call Samantha Ash at 517-484-1880 ext. 203 for additional information.
[Close] The GGRWHC wants you to know that the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired was founded in 1913 by a phenomenal local woman--Roberta Griffith. We are pleased to highlight her during Women’s History Month in 2013.
Roberta Griffith's Legacy
Born in 1870, Griffith was blind herself from an early childhood illness. When she graduated from Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Griffith became the first blind woman to receive a degree from an institution not intended for the education of the sightless. During a time when those with vision disabilities were consigned to handicapped status, she continued an independent life, working as a writer and real estate agent. During the 40 years she lived in Grand Rapids, her accomplishments snowballed, culminating in the founding of the ABVI, through which she became a counselor and friend to virtually every blind person in the state.
Visit http://www.abvimichigan.org/about-us/our-history to learn more about Roberta Griffith’s astonishing life from 1870 to 1941 and the organizations and programs for the blind that continue to serve West Michigan. Snapshots: Griffith compiled the first dictionary for the blind and worked with Helen Keller to standardize a Braille system throughout the country. She led the fight for state legislation mandating compulsory use of silver nitrate as an antiseptic in the eyes of infants to save the sight of many newborns.
After establishing the Association for the Blind and Sight Conservation in Grand Rapids ion 1913, her subsequent work with the association until her death in 1941 provided a solid foundation. Over the course of its first hundred years, ABVI has helped the Grand Rapids Public Schools lead in the classroom integration of sighted and non-sighted children and has established a nursery school program for pre-school blind children.
In the late 1960s ABVI began its Low Vision Clinic, which helps clients maximize the use of remaining vision. In the early 1970s ABVI created its Community Outreach Program, which specializes in prevention services and aid to underserved communities. Today, ABVI oversees 15 support groups throughout the region, has created summer programs and after-school groups benefitting children. ABVI has become West Michigan's premier advocate for the blind and visually impaired.
[Close] The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for March: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: March Highlights and Birthdays[Close]
|
|
New Date Announced!!!
Celebration! Cinema North
Tuesday, March 12th
6:00pm: networking; 6:45pm: screening
Panel discussion following
|
|
On Tuesday, March 12th, join WGVU's Engage / Women & Girls Lead for a screening of the PBS documentary MAKERS: WOMEN WHO MAKE AMERICA. For more information, visit wgvu.org/engage.
Meet 22 local "makers" to be honored by W&GL both before the screening and afterward during a panel discussion to be led by Shelley Irwin, host of the WGVU Morning Show. Four will participate on the panel: Avery McNew, Nicki Hurley, Synia Jordan, and Dr. Patricia Quattrin. Also on hand will be GGRWHC favorite Sharon Steffens:
In 1972 Sharon Steffens served as the first state chair of WSAM, Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan. By helping to organize a "ladylike" picket of fruit processors who were underpaying apple farmers on the Ridge, Steffens helped women begin stepping out of their kitchens and orchards to support family farms more publicly. Women in agriculture were an untapped resource and they were fearsome.
W&GL will also take a glance at past accomplishment by recognizing the historic accomplishments of Eva McCall Hamilton (1871-1948), the first woman legislator in Michigan. She is still the only woman from Kent County ever elected to the State Senate. Last fall she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
To reserve your ticket, go to https://celebrationcinema.com/makers or call WGVU at 1-800-442-2771 and reference Women and Girls Lead.
[Close] The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for February: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: February Highlights and Birthday[Close] Join GGRWHC for Network Night with the GR Press Club this Wednesday, January 23rd, at the University Club downtown for drink specials and complimentary hors d'oeuvres before hearing the fascinating story of the first professional woman journalist in Grand Rapids!
GR’s First Woman Journalist, the Ambitious Etta Smith Wilson
In 1886 Etta Smith Wilson became the first professional (translation: full-time and paid!) woman reporter in nineteenth-century Grand Rapids. Beginning with the Telegram-Herald, this mixed-race journalist wrote for over 50 years, founded and led women’s press organizations in Michigan, and later became a nationally known ornithologist.
Don’t think that peeking at the photo essay by GVSU’s Cindy Laug and her research partner Connie Ingham will tell you the whole story. Laug has hot-off-the-press information about Smith Wilson’s role founding press clubs exclusively for women in the 1890s.
Laug and Ingham have tracked Smith Wilson's history from Holland to Northport, chronicling her heritage from Congregationalist missionary and Odawa grandparents. Born in 1857 and the inheritor of conflicting cultures, Smith Wilson grew into an accomplished practitioner of Western print culture as well as a renowned ornithologist inspired by memories of her native forebears.
Join us Wednesday, the 23rd: Open to the public
4:30 - 6:30 pm-- social time (bar available); complimentary hors d'oeuvres
5:30 p.m. – short program
University Club, 111 Lyon NW, 10th floor of Fifth/Third building. Bring your parking ticket to be stamped for a reduced rate in either Fifth/Third lot.
Cindy Laug has been at GVSU since 1995 and currently serves as administrative assistant to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Connie Ingham is the academic coordinator for the GVSU Department of Biology. They both lead not-so-secret lives in local history beyond the office. When Laug learned that the journalist she was researching had a compelling personal background, a partnership was born. While Cindy tracked Etta Smith Wilson professionally, Connie Ingham traced her geographically and culturally. Wednesday we will be the beneficiaries of their work.
[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for January: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: January Highlights and Birthdays[Close]
Capitol historian Kerry Chartkoff
Saturday, January 19, 1:00 PM
Main Library Auditorium, 3rd floor
Grand Rapids’ Eva McCall Hamilton made history in November 1920 when she won a state senate seat, making her the first woman ever elected to the Michigan legislature. But Hamilton was not the first woman to work under the dome. Kerry Chartkoff will place Hamilton’s legislative experience into a continuum of women—from the humble to the notable—who worked for a living, lobbied for change, made laws, and, finally, led the state from the Capitol. She will introduce a head janitress from the 1880s, a state librarian, and a staff member in the 1912 delinquent tax department, Sojourner Truth and Grand Rapids suffragists who set up Hamilton’s history-making election. Until the election Winnie Brinks in November 2012, Senator Hamilton was the only woman to represent the City of Grand Rapids in Lansing. During her single term, she left her mark by introducing a dozen innovative measures, more than half of which passed.
[Close] On Saturday, January 19, 2013, the Grand Rapids Public Library, the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council and other historical organizations will once again offer History Detectives.
The first program begins at 9:30AM and the day will conclude at 4PM.
Click here for a copy of the 2013 brochure
This year's topics include: Michigan’s Great Time Confusion presented by Dave Smith; How Did Michigan Become the Tourist Empire of the Inland Seas, by Christine Byron and Tom Wilson; Saving John Ball Park’s Historic Legacy with Jack Hoffman as the presenter; Under the Dome: An Early History of Women in a Man's World, the Michigan State Capitol by Kerry K. Chartkhoff; Inside a 1950s Black Barbershop: An African American Cultural Oasis presented by Dan Groce; and Powers & Ball: The Family, Furniture and Factories by Jim Winslow.
[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for December: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: December Highlights and Birthdays[Close] 
GGRWHC honors the memory of Grand Rapids’ Eva McCall Hamilton, who on October 18, 2012, was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. The GGRWHC co-sponsored the nomination with Capitol historian Kerry Chartkoff, who will visit Grand Rapids in January to talk about women “under the dome.” Now more on Hamilton!
Immediately following passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, she won the 16th District senate seat from Kent County, making her the first woman ever elected to the Michigan legislature. Both before and after her victory in the first general election in which women could vote, she was active in civic affairs: in the fights for women’s suffrage, to increase teachers’ pay and funds for destitute mothers, to establish a peace party during wartime and to get out the vote afterward.
One of the first women ever appointed to a city board, Eva Hamilton served as chair of the Grand Rapids Committee on Markets, and in 1912 she began a fight to get affordable fresh food to city residents. The “green onion lady” managed to push through pioneering retail farmers’ markets. Such varied civic involvements later won her the Republican nomination for the State Senate, a contest she won handily over three male opponents.
Senator Hamilton served only a single term, but she introduced a dozen innovative measures and more than half passed. On the 25th anniversary of her historic election, she was honored with a special Senate tribute before a gallery packed with women from all over the state; and in 1949, a year after her death, her portrait became the first of a woman ever displayed in the Michigan State Capitol.
Holding the reins for the Grand Rapids Equal Suffrage Club, Eva McCall Hamilton guides the “Lilly Float for Suffragists” and 75 club members in automobiles past 75,000 spectators at the Founding Day Parade in August, 1910, in one of the nation’s earliest suffrage demonstrations.
One hundred years ago, Governor Charles Osborn lauded Eva McCall Hamilton, saying “no one has done better work” for suffrage. Shown here, she is at the center of the state mail office in Grand Rapids during the major referendum work of 1912. Hamilton was the chair for advertising in an office that handled six tons of literature during the campaign.
[Close] To honor the founding of the Girl Scouts 100 years ago, please visit the fine anniversary exhibition at the Grand Rapids Public Library during the rest of October. While the GGRWHC will celebrate the 2014 centennial of Girl Scouts in Grand Rapids, a gala will be held on October 24th at De Vos Place to herald the national anniversary.
Girl Scouts 100th Anniversary Exhibit
October 1-31, 2012
Main Floor, Grand Rapids Public Library -111 Library St NE
Partnering with Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore, this exhibit examines the history of Girl Scouts in Michigan. In 1912, Juliette Gordon Low started the first Girl Scout troop in Savannah, GA after learning about the Scouting movement in Great Britain. 100 years later, there are Girl Scout troops all over the country. Today, nearly 11,000 girls in 30 counties in Michigan ages 5-17 participate in programs that promote public service, environmental leadership, technology and innovation, healthy living and the voice of girls.
Founded in 1912 with one troop of 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia, Girl Scouts now serves 3.2 million girl and adult members worldwide. Tickets for the Girl Scout 100th Anniversary Gala are $75 per person and can be purchased online at www.gsmists.org/100/gala or by calling 866.566.7434 x 141. The celebration will feature keynote speaker Kathy Crosby, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Grand Rapids
[Close] The Girl Scouts are celebrating their 100th anniversary by declaring 2012 to be the Year of the Girl. According to their press release "This is an exciting and historic time for us," said Gloria Lara, chief executive officer of the Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore. "It's the Year of the Girl, and we're proud to be not only celebrating our rich history, but our bright future. To read more about the celebration plans for this year, click on the link below.
Related Documents: Girl Scouts Celebrate 100 Years[Close]
Just one month ago Merry Malfroid oversaw her last newsletter and website posts for the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council. To our sorrow, we report the devastating news of Merry’s sudden death on July 18th from an aggressive lymphoma.
Merry managed our business and communications for twelve years and became a presence in the lives of many GGRWHC members and friends. We first met Merry as an effective and efficient administrative assistant. Even before she was hooked by women’s history and moved on to work as an effective and efficient volunteer, Merry supported our efforts, often from behind the scenes, always beyond expectation, with her trademark mild-but-firm honesty and expertise.
Merry's friends and colleagues have experienced a profound loss. We paid our respects to Merry Malfroid at services on July 23rd, but through our continuing work we will be paying tribute to Merry for a long time.
[Close] Once again the GGRWHC will honor our forebears by re-enacting suffragists parading on Grand Rapids streets a hundred years ago. Please join us on July 4th to march in the annual Hollyhock Lane Parade!
On Wednesday morning, July 4th, we will gather at 8:00 am in Ottawa Hills. Look for “suffragists,” the gaudy yellow and purple GGRWHC banner, or Willy the Westie, a suffragist dog! Parading has always mixed just plain fun with serious business. At the same time we honor the political efforts of Grand Rapids women a century ago, we use their parade model to advertise the mission of the GGRWHC today. Visible ourselves, we make our forebears visible. So join in the fun with GGRWHC--and the politicians and the fire trucks and the kids on bikes!
You can use our “Votes for Women” signs, pennants, and sashes. If you can, dress in something that looks vintage--"looks" being the operative term. For women, maybe a high-collar white blouse, a white or black skirt, and a hat (nice, but not necessary); for men, as much white as you have. You can borrow a boater from us. Ideally, marchers wear white to contrast with the purple sashes. But wear what you like and join the parade. Push a stroller or be pushed in a wheelchair—plan for fun!
The Hollyhock Lane neighborhood parade began in 1934 and has featured major politicians and National Guard trucks as well as neighborhood kids and the Hollymock Band. (See links at the bottom.) Paraders throw candy and hand out brochures for a festive time—then gather in Hollyhock Lane for a brief program. This year, one of our marchers, Bill Hill (front and center below), will participate in the festivities by offering a brief history of the 78 years of Hollyhock parading. A great way to begin the holiday!
OVERVIEW: Hollyhock Lane Parade: Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Information is also posted on the GGRWHC website (www.ggrwhc.org). With questions, please e-mail to info@ggrwhc.org or call 616-234-3603. Rain? Right now weather reports look good. Our paper posters will not stand up to rain, however, so watch the sky—or call 443-4946 that morning.
8:00: Participants meet on the east side of Calvin on the parkway between Alexander and the alley, Hollyhock Lane, in Ottawa Hills. If you get lost that morning, call 443-4946.
8:30: Parade begins: north on Calvin to Franklin, to Pontiac, south on Iroquois to Alexander, north on Giddings to the alley behind 847 Giddings
9:00: Ceremonies follow immediately in "Hollyhock Lane," the alleyway between Giddings and Calvin. (For more information about this, please contact the Zimmermans at 243-3579.)
Support GGRWHC! We are largely dependent upon dues and contributions to continue finding and distributing local women’s history. (http://www.ggrwhc.org/becomingamember.php)
Forward this information! You can sign up on our website (www.ggrwhc.org) to receive our newsletters!
The 75th anniversary of the Hollyhock Lane July 4th Parade was in 2009:
http://www.mlive.com/cadenceadvance/index.ssf/2009/06/diamond_in_the_rough_hollyhock.html
This clip from 2007 gives the best overall look at the parade--politicians, firetrucks, kids on bikes and in wagons, candy, flags, and the Hollymock Band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZhTl6aeTjQ
Uncle Sam & Miss Liberty in photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollyhockparade/
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/grand_rapids/Hollyhock_parade_celebrates_years
The Hollymock Band appears at a minute-and-a-half in; at two-and-a-half, a couple of floats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVPaHZHDXhE
[Close] GGRWHC FINDS THE WOMEN'S ANGLE
In the wake of Opera Grand Rapids' La Boheme this weekend, on Tuesday the Torch Club offers a look at 100 years of grand and not-so-grand opera history in our city--much of it featuring women.Virtually every notable traveling company played Grand Rapids. World-famous vocalists sang the impressive works of celebrated composers here-sometimes in the wake of train accidents, lost sets and music.
Touring Early Grand Rapids Opera: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
by Gilbert R. Davis, Professor Emeritus, Grand Valley State University
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012, 5:30PM -- social time (bar available) before the 6:00pm dinner ($28) and presentation. The University Club, 111 Lyon NW, 10th floor of Fifth/Third building (free parking). Reserve as soon as possible at http://www.torchclubgr.org/rsvp.htm or call 616-340-8782.
 
From the middle of the nineteenthcentury local "opera houses" opened their doors to Italian and American companies criss-crossing the nation to bring opera to the provinces. Grand Rapids audiences were thrilled by Emma Abbot's celebrated English Grand Opera and Anna Pavlova's Boston National, but fly-by-night operators and scam artists also brought in their share of turkeys--and we thought Mark Twain was making up the outrageous performances of his Duke and Dauphin in Huckleberry Finn! Nineteenth-century newspaper promotion of the touring companies often has a frontier flavor and the reviewers of out-of-town talent would let loose on them.
On May 8th you can hear Gil Davis's lively and entertaining account in person or you can visit http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=14&essay=15for pictures, photo essay, and podcast!
[Close] 
Sharon Hanks (new board member) with Janet
Brashler & Mary Seeger (current board members)
Gloria Lara, director of Girl Scouts of Michigan
Shore to Shore, with GGRWHC friends Margie
Gage & Marta Petter
Sarah Wagner, chair of GGRWHC Oral History
Committee, with presenter Jaye Beeler in the
background
Jo Ellyn Clarey, GGRWHC President with
Diana Barrett, Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Speakers Jaye Beeler and Dianne Carroll Burdick
[Close] Document local women's history! We've got the material--you take the Grand Rapids Public Library's workshop on documentary filmmaking and we'll talk!
Documentary Filmmaking
Thursday, June 28, 2012, 7:00 pm
Main Library – 111 Library St NE
In this workshop, independent film producer Rich Brauer discusses the art of good documentary films, including storytelling, technical expertise and artistry. Brauer will discuss his award-winning commercial and educational films and ways you can get involved in the film industry.
Related Documents: Grand Rapids Public Library June 2012 Calendar[Close] Since current NOW president is Jef McClimans' girlfriend, Dani Vilella, you might well guess why we caught the attention of NOW. Some of you met Dani at our annual meeting last Thursday. In fact, she pitched in and helped get champagne to the crowd. Some of you probably know Dani from other of her multiple involvements in the community. This award can serve to remind us that we actually do a lot of local women's political history, but also that simply "doing" women's history for the last few decades has been an act with political ramifications. While I had no idea this award was in the offing, I am delighted that the GGRWHC will be acknowledged and hope that many of you will be able to attend.
If you have noticed the date and time, you will have seen a problem! Our next board meeting is scheduled half an hour (5:30pm) before the wine and cheese reception begins (6pm). I've been thinking about options and will send a separate note about the meeting next week and future meetings in general. For now, please just get up to speed with NOW!
The event will be held on Wednesday, April 11 at 6 pm at the Loosemore Auditorium on the GVSU Pew campus 401 W. Fulton, Room 122.
[Close] Tomorrow! The Grand Rapids chapter of the Negro Business and Professional Women has turned on a dime. After losing a film program scheduled for Women’s History Month, they have substituted “The Rocking Chair Experience.” The program will focus on issues raised in The Help and will feature several local women, including Inez Crockett Smith and Alverrine Smith Parker, who worked for white families either in the South or in Grand Rapids. Smith and Parker were among eight local women featured in Lisa Boehm’s 2009 book Making a Way Out of No Way. Please let the NBPW know that you’re planning to attend: 248-4945.
The Rocking Chair Experience
TOMORROW: Saturday, March 24, 2012
12:00-2:00pm
Lifequest Ministries, 1050 Fisk SE
[Close] After complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a champagne toast honoring the centennial of the Girl Scouts, we'll have a sneak peek at Jaye Beeler & Dianne Carroll Burdick's new book! Current members of the GGRWHC will receive one complimentary wine ticket. Hope to see you and your guests at the Women's History Month Finale on March 29th! Let us know you're coming! info@ggrwhc.org or (616) 234-3603!
Thursday, March 29th, 2012
5:00 pm Hors d'oeuvres & wine ticket bar ($5/glass); 5:30 pm: program
Women's City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 Fulton Street
Free & Open to the Public
Tasting and Touring Michigan's Homegrown Food: A Culinary Road Trip
.
Writer Jaye Beeler and photographer Dianne Carroll Burdick will bring us into the present when we celebrate their upcoming book. Traveling 2000 miles over the course of a year, they met dozens of enterprising women farmers and producers whose stories continue to squash myths that only men are farmers.
An article about the event can be found at http://therapidian.org/catch-peek-thursday-night-new-book-tasting-and-touring-michigans-homegrown-food-culinary-road-trip-0
Join us & support the work of the GGRWHC!
During the flurry of programming during March, don't forget that the GGRWHC works year-round fostering research to be used later as programming, brochures, radio spots, and photo essays-and in books and articles and documentaries. The end of March marks the beginning of a new membership and work year for us, and we reinvest your generous dues and donations in women's futures by unfolding our past.
Please be part of the effort! Join as a member and RSVP early for the final event of Women's History Month on Thursday, March 29th. Current members of GGRWHC will receive a complimentary wine ticket! Let us know you're coming! info@ggrwhc.org or (616) 234-3603!
FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS
Always check our website at:
http://www.ggrwhc.org/upcomingevents.php
EARLIER THIS MONTH!
If you missed our first two programs on food politics and West Michigan women, see the following! For Jayson Otto’s study of women and the rise of Grand Rapids farmers’ markets 100 years ago: Garret Ellison’s http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/03/how_female_leaders_changed_the.html and Sharon Hanks's http://therapidian.org/join-us-thursday-night-learn-about-early-years-fulton-street-farmers-market for Cindy Laug’s report on a century of women from “The Ridge” conducting farm business and politics: Hanks, again in The Rapidian http://therapidian.org/women-fruit-ridge-and-their-essential-role-growing-economic-powerhouse-are-recalled-thursday-evening. Check them out—and reward our news outlets for attending to local history!
MORE ON THE FARMERS MARKET TODAY
Today the Fulton Street Farmers Market draws more than 10,000 patrons per week and has plans to construct a year-round building. Development Project Manager Christine Helms-Maletic will attend Otto's program tomorrow and be available to answer questions: http://www.ggrwhc.org/pdfs/Fulton_Street_Farmers_Market.pdf
[Close] by Jayson Otto, Michigan State University
7:00pm, Thursday, March 8th, 2012
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Free & Open to the Public
Celebrating the ninetieth anniversary of the Fulton Street Farmers Market in 2012, Jayson Otto will share its story on Thursday, March 8th.
After managing the Fulton Street Farmers Market between 2005 and 2007, Jayson Otto researched its surprising beginnings. City ordinances had for twenty years prior to 1917 declared it illegal for farmers to sell on city streets. When inflation caused food prices to soar some local residents, mostly women, believed farmers markets and community gardens could help feed struggling families in Grand Rapids. Otto’s story will reveal how they worked during the first quarter of the twentieth century to fight the “High Cost of Living” by bringing fresh food production closer to home.
An “accidental” women’s historian, Otto did not realize until he started his thesis in historical agriculture for Michigan State University that women in Grand Rapids were instrumental in the battle to get healthy food into the city. Eva McCall Hamilton, later elected to the Michigan senate in 1920, led the Grand Rapids Federation of Women’s Clubs, Ladies Literary Club, and the Woman’s Committee of the Council of National Defense .
Farmers markets were started in Grand Rapids through civic engagement. Ninety years later, the Fulton Street Farmers Market stands as a testament to the work not only of Progressive Era women, but of everyone supporting the market through its ups and downs.
[Close]
http://therapidian.org/women-fruit-ridge-and-their-essential-role-growing-economic-powerhouse-are-recalled-thursday-evening
Women's HISTORY Month
The Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council is dedicated to spotlighting the history of women's contributions to our community. Join us again next week for "100 Years of Food Politics & West Michigan Women"!
"Women of the Ridge: Handling the Business and Politics of West Michigan Agriculture"
by Cindy Laug, Grand Valley State University
7:00pm, Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Reception Following
Free & Open to the Public
From the Peach Ridge Fruit Growers Association, formed in 1928, to Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan, organized in 1972, West Michigan women have overseen the business of marketing fruit and picketing price-gougers. Women in agriculture were an untapped resource during the twenty years of the Apple Smorgasbord, and they were fearsome in 1972 when they stepped away from their kitchens, orchards, and farms to support family farms in a very different political way.
Meet some of the players on March 22nd as we celebrate WSAM's 40th anniversary! Attending will be two of 1972's "fearsome foursome," Sharon Steffens and JoAnn Thome, along with Ginny Ebers, and sisters Pat Rasch Cederholm and Mary Rasch Alt. Cindy Laug will also draw on her research for exhibit material in the foyer. Come early and stay late for talk during the reception!
2012 Women's History Month Finale!
Don't miss it! Courtesy of benefactors, enjoy complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a champagne toast honoring the centennial of the Girl Scouts! We'll also have a sneak peek at Jaye Beeler & Dianne Carroll Burdick's new book. Current members of the GGRWHC will receive one complimentary wine ticket; wine ticket bar ($5/glass). Hope to see you and your guests at the Women's History Month Finale on March 29th! Let us know you're coming! info@ggrwhc.org or (616) 234-3603!
Tasting and Touring Michigan's Homegrown Food: A Culinary Road Trip
Thursday, March 29th, 2012
5:00 pm Hors d'oeuvres & wine ticket bar ($5/glass); 5:30 pm: program
Women's City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 Fulton Street
Free & Open to the Public
Writer Jaye Beeler and photographer Dianne Carroll Burdick will bring us into the present when we celebrate their new book! Traveling 2000 miles over the course of a year, they met dozens of enterprising women farmers and producers whose stories continue to squash myths that only men are farmers.
Join us & support the work of the GGRWHC!
During the flurry of programming during March, don't forget that the GGRWHC works year-round fostering research to be used later as programming, brochures, radio spots, and photo essays-and in books and articles and documentaries. The end of March marks the beginning of a new membership and work year for us, and we reinvest your generous dues and donations in women's futures by unfolding our past.
Please be part of the effort! Join as a member and RSVP early for the final event of Women's History Month on Thursday, March 29th. Current members of GGRWHC will receive a complimentary wine ticket! Let us know you're coming! info@ggrwhc.org or (616) 234-3603!
FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS
Always check our website at:
http://www.ggrwhc.org/upcomingevents.php
LAST THURSDAY!
If you missed Jayson Otto's program, get a sense of it via Garret Ellison's newsy account. Check it out-this is how we can keep the GR Press distributing local history!
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/03/how_female_leaders_changed_the.html
MORE ON THE FARMERS MARKET TODAY
Today the Fulton Street Farmers Market draws more than 10,000 patrons per week and has plans to construct a year-round building. Development Project Manager Christine Helms-Maletic will attend Otto's program tomorrow and be available to answer questions: http://www.ggrwhc.org/pdfs/Fulton_Street_Farmers_Market.pdf
[Close] Unaware that Abigail Adams kept the farm running and witnessed the American Revolutionary War on her doorstep, while John was in Philadelphia trying to get Congress to declare independence? Husband-and-wife acting team Gary E. Mitchell and Mary Beth Quillin present her story in My Dearest Friend.
Chronicling the famous story of the lives of John and Abigail Adams, this play reaches into areas not covered in history class. Indeed, consider booking the play--then read the Adams' letters written during their long separations and discover how forward-thinking they were in matters of equality for women and the issue of slavery. For more information and taped segments, see http://www.gemtheatrics.com/my-dearest-friend.html
[Close] The Fulton Street Farmers Market is undergoing major renovations. Click on the link below to read about all the updates. If you haven't visited the market yet, plan to this year. It is a very neat experience.
Related Documents: Fulton Street Farmers Market[Close]
SEEKING INFORMATION about the women's movement in West Michigan during the 1970s --- personal memories, photos, possible contacts, etc. GVSU Prof. Barbara Roos is working with Margo Greenlaw at the University of Hartford to develop a video documentary and a website on this topic. The short documentary will be designed for classroom use. The website will offer additional in-depth information about the strong feminist movement that existed in this area during "second-wave" feminism. Information about the organization Aradia would be very welcome.
Please contact: Barbara Roos <roosb@gvsu.edu> Thank you!
[Close] Volunteer to Judge at the Michigan History Day State Finals
We’ve begun the countdown to the Michigan History Day State Finals on Saturday, April 28 at Central Michigan University. Hundreds of eager students will soon be rushing our way! Please consider joining us as a volunteer competition judge.
In addition to great historical research projects inspired by the “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History” competition theme, we’ll have food, a commemorative t-shirt, and an incredible experience for all who join us. If you are an adult* from any walk of life who shares a passion for both students and history, then we’d love to have you. No prior experience or special education is required. We’ll teach you everything you need to know!
Please respond before March 28 using the attached form. For more information about Michigan History Day and the judging process, see our website at www.hsmichigan.org/programs/mhd/judging-at-michigan-history-day. Please direct any questions to michiganhistoryday@hsmichigan.org.
We hope to see you there!
Related Documents: Judge Response Form[Close] For the first time ever, a K-12 education program received the prestigious National Humanities Medal. Awarded by President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony on Monday, February 13, the award honors achievements in history, literature, education and cultural policy. National History Day is a year-long academic program focused on historical research by American students. It was awarded the 2011 medal for being “a program that inspires a passion for history. Each year more than half a million children from across the country compete in this event, conducting research and producing websites, papers, performances, and documentaries to tell the human story.” (http://www.nhd.org/About.htm)
Michigan History Day is operated statewide by the Historical Society of Michigan. See: www.hsmichigan.org.
[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for February: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: National Women's History Project February Highlights and Birthdays[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for March: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: National Women's History Project March Highlights and Birthdays[Close] On Saturday, January 21, 2012, The Grand Rapids Public Library, the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council, and other historical organizations will, once again offer History Detectives.
This year's topics include: Rescued from the Attic: a 1918 Treasure Trove, presented by Diana Barrett; Merze Tate DECLASSIFIED, by Sonya Bernard Hollins; Uncovering Ray: From House History to the Discovery of a Legendary Cartoonist, with Benjamin Boss as the presenter; Collective Biography: The Rewards of Prosopography, presented by Don Bryant; The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Grand Rapids? by Matthew L. Daley, Ph.D.; and Invaluable Services: Special Scouts in the Civil War, presented by Gordon Olson.
The first program begins at 9:30AM and the day will conclude at 4PM.
More information can be found in the January 9 Grand Rapids Press article http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/01/grand_rapids_library_event_dig.html
Two programs about women are listed below.
9:30 – 10:15 AM Rescued from the Attic: A 1918 Grand Rapids Treasure Trove. Diana Barrett .jpg)
One week in 1918 a thousand Grand Rapids registrars interviewed 20,000 women, one half the city's adult female population. Trained by the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense, they surveyed 118 skill categories that could aid the war effort. Men's registration cards, including comparatively little information, have been saved; but data-rich women's cards have virtually disappeared all across the nation--except in Grand Rapids. Local history sleuth Diana Barrett will recount the story of their reappearance and elaborate the picture they provide of 1918 Grand Rapids women from all social levels and ethnicities.
An energetic public historian and member of the Grand Rapids Historical Commission, Diana Barrett received a State Award in Communications from the Historical Society of Michigan in 2007 and the Albert Baxter Award from the Grand Rapids Historical Society in 2008. Her fascinating research often appears in the GRHC website's virtual archive in the form of photo essays and podcasts, but most recently has been published in Glance at the Past, 64 pages of snapshots about what it was like to live in early Grand Rapids.
10:30 – 11:15 AM Merze Tate DECLASSIFIED, Sonya Bernard Hollins
Why would anyone try to murder a Howard University history professor? Why did the U.S. State Department call one of its own diplomats “a public relations risk”? These are only two questions we can ask about Merze Tate, born an African American girl in 1905 in rural Michigan. She graduated first in her class from Western Michigan University, earned a doctorate from Oxford University, worked for the State Department and traveled around the world twice – before purchasing a ticket to travel into space. Closer to home, we can ask what legacy Merze Tate left to her undergraduate alma mater. She was an amazing woman.
Sponsored by the Kutsche Office of Local History, Grand Valley State University.
Box lunches are $7.00 and must be ordered in advance. Please call 616/988-5492 or email: rsvp@grpl.org by 5PM on January 18 to reserve your lunch. Attendees may also bring their own lunch, but the library cafe is not open on Saturday.
For more information about the programs click on the link below.
Related Documents: 2012 History Detectives[Close] Interested in presenting at the Great Lakes History Conference next October? The conference topic is: “Born in Revolution”: History, Gender, and the Power of Conflict.
Click on the link below to find get more information.
Submission deadline is May 1, 2012.
Related Documents: Great Lakes History Conference Call for Papers[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for January: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: January Highlights[Close]
Don't underestimate the importance of the databanks called "archives." When we access materials from the past, we can resurrect forgotten sto  ries and correct factual mistakes--this is especially important as we fill in gaps and address wrong assumptions about women's history. On Tuesday, January 10th, former GGRWHC board member Barbara Robinson will report on the state of archival materials in a number of Grand Rapids institutions. Also the current archivist at Grand Rapids' Temple Emanuel, Robinson has been intimately involved in the development of a model organizational archive that is actively preserving and documenting the history of Grand Rapids Jewish community. Join Torch Club when Robinson addresses how the broader community can protect its past in the interest of its future.
To reserve for this dinner/program, please visit http://torchclubgr.org/rsvp.htm or call 616-340-8782 as soon as possible. Meal and parking will cost $28 per person, payable at the door. Cash or check only. Note: Torch Club can ADD reservations after 3:00pm on Friday, January 6th, but cannot cancel. If you need to cancel, they will try to substitute a new reservation for you, but you will be responsible for the cost if they can't. Walk-ins are welcome and can take their chances!
[Close] “St. Mark's Episcopal Church: Active in 175 years of Grand Rapids History” by Karen Hunter, St. Mark’s. Hear about the church’s links to city history since 1836, learn how its current building was bornfrom the river, and see artifacts on a tour.
Date, time and location: January, 12, 2012, 7PM at St.Marks Episcopal Church
A Grand Rapids Historical Society Program. Click here for more information.
[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for December: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: National Womens' History Project December Calendar[Close]
The GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY presents: “
Grand Rapids History: The Jewish Connection”
Rabbi Michael Schadick, Temple Emanuel
Peg Finkelstein and Barbara Robinson, The Peg and Mort Finkelstein Archives
7PM, Thursday, November 10th, 2011, at Temple Emanuel, 1715 East Fulton
Free & Open to the Public; Reception Following (www.grhistory.org)
Temple Emanuel will open its doors for a program that could be titled the “long” Jewish connection in Grand Rapids. Documents housed at Temple Emanuel indicate that Gra nd Rapids’ first permanent Jewish settler arrived in 1852. Nearly 160 years later, Julius Houseman is part of our city’s rich history. A city alderman, our first Jewish mayor and, in 1883, our representative to the 48th Congress of the United States, Houseman was also among the founders of Temple Emanuel in 1857, the fifth oldest Reform congregation in the nation.
Referring to materials from the Peg and Mort Finkelstein Archive, Rabbi Michael Schadick will provide an overview of West Michigan Jewish history and illustrate how waves of immigrants from different parts of Europe at different times explain the differences among Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Judaism today. After he untangles the histories of local Jewish institutions (Ahavas Achim and Beth Israel merged to form Ahavas Israel), archivist Barbara Robinson will recount how archival materials also tell the evolving story of women congregants: how they moved beyond auxiliary roles, became dues-paying members in their own right, and contributed to the general welfare of the surrounding community. From front to back, the halls of Temple Emanuel exhibit artifacts and a progression of exhibits created by Peg Finkelstein who, with her husband Mort, endowed the Temple Emanuel archive. She and Robinson have begun training others in the preservation of historical materials, and Finkelstein will discuss the system they have developed to house the Temple Emanuel treasure trove.
Congregants can be justifiably proud to have created an archival model showing how community institutions can gather and protect the materials of their heritage. Before the program on Thursday, November 10th, roam the exhibit halls and visit the Archive itself. Afterward, enjoy conversation and a reception hosted by the Archive.
[Close] Opening Friday;
John and Abigail Adams LIVE in Grand Rapids
My Dearest Friend at Dog Story Theater
“My Dearest Friend”, a new play by Mary G. Kron, depicts an early American relationship that can serve as a prism through which to understand more fully the history of our country’s beginnings--and how women were players. Abigail Adams was a strong woman with strong views on equal rights for women and slavery. Short, fat, loud, and tactless, John Adams was an underdog who accomplished great things and had a vision of what America could be. Husband-and-wife team Gary Mitchell and Mary Beth Quillian bring them alive in this two-character play; Abigail, with a war at her doorstep, and John, in Philadelphia stubbornly trying to get Congress to agree to declare independence.
John and Abigail Adams open Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. $15 for adults and $8 for students and seniors: http://www.dogstorytheater.com/2011/09/24/my-dearest-friend-nov-11-13/
[Close] A Family History Writers Group workshop, sponsored by the Western Michigan Genealogical Society, supports individuals desiring to write about families. The topic this month is "My longest journey (literal or symbolic)." Everyone is welcome on Tuesday, November 15th, 1:30 to 4:00 pm, at the Dominican Center, 2025 Fulton St East, Grand Rapids.; but let Sister Michael Ellen Carling at 616-643-0208 (home), or 616-643-0225 (office) know that you are coming.
[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for Novemberr: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: Natiopnal Women's History Project November Calendar[Close] 
The GREATER GRAND RAPIDS WOMEN’S HISTORY COUNCIL presents:
History or Hollywood?
See Iron-Jawed Angels and determine for yourself!
Monday, November 7, 6PM
Calvin College’s Bytwerk Video Theater
DeVos Communication Center
(Go to the campus on the east side of the Beltline and follow the signs.)
Calvin College women’s historianKristin Du Mez has invited GGRWHC members and friends to join her class on November 7th for history-at-the-movies. If you missed her post-viewing discussion of Iron-Jawed Angels, “History or Hollywood,” in 2010, here is a second chance. Or just join us again for a rare large-screen experience of this 2004 HBO account of the late suffrage movement. Starring Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, and Frances O'Connor, Iron-Jawed Angels emphasizes the radical side of the late movement during the eight years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 and has generated controversy. Despite illustrating the predictable tensions within the suffrage movement, the film also illustrates the roles of women and men from varied races and classes. Afterward, led by Prof. Du Mez we will consider the balance between history and Hollywood, fiction and fact. See you at the movies!
Local angle: Pictured here is the "Lilly Float for Suffragists" from the 1910 Homecoming Parade in Grand Rapids. Very few suffrage parades occurred in the United States before 1913, so this float entry was in the forefront. Upon the throne is the figure of American Justice. She was followed by 75 local suffragists in decorated cars, a development well beyond the more decorous movement of the nineteenth century.
[Close] “Haunted Holmdene Manor & the History of Aquinas College"
Thursday, October 13, 7PM
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Free & open to the public
Reception following
On this October evening Professor Gary Eberle will enact his role as Master of the Revels for Aquinas College’s 125th anniversary and link school history to the lore of haunted houses in Grand Rapids. He will focus on 100-year-old Holmdene Manor, now an administration and office building on the campus: http://www.aquinas.edu/heritage/holmdene.html
While the former home of the Lowe family is reputed by students to be haunted, GGRWHC is especially interested in how many women “haunt” the history of Aquinas College! Not only was the school founded by wome n, the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, prioresses of their order were its chief administrators from 1886-1937. The former “Catholic Junior College” was also the first Catholic college in the United States to go co-educational. It admitted men to the previously all-female school beginning in 1931.
Before the college moved to the Lowe estate in 1945, other women had played a large role in developing the property. Eberle will elaborate the influence of Susan Blodgett Lowe on Holmdene Manor and show images of the gardens laid out in 1925 by Ellen Biddle Shipman, a twentieth-century landscape designer who only hired women assistants. To hear about the ghosts, you’ll have to join us at the Ford Museum on October 13th! (www.grhistory.org/id19.htm)
Gary Eberle is a professor of English at Aquinas College where he has taught for thirty years. Besides his 1982 Haunted Houses of Grand Rapids, he has published a novel, Angel Strings, and the recent Dangerous Words: Talking About God in the Age of Fundamentalism.
[Close] The Grand Rapids Public Library, VanderVeen Center for the Book presents:
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
By Dorothy Wickenden
Wednesday, October 26, 7 pm, Main Library
In 2008, New Yorker executive editor Dorothy Wickenden discovered her grandmother's hundred-year-old letters. Her grandmother was Grand Rapids’ Dorothy Woodruff Hillman (1887–1979), most recently known as the mother of a distinguished, long-serving Grand Rapids judge: Douglas W. Hillman (1922 – 2007). But she has quite a story of her own. Dorothy Woodruff’s letters give a vivid account of her experience as a schoolteacher in the Colorado Rockies with her friend Rosamond Underwood. Drawing on the extraordinarily detailed letters, Dorothy Wickenden has constructed an exhilarating western saga of two privileged but open-minded young women from the East.
From professional and entrepreneurial families in Auburn, New York, whose civic leaders had been among the foremost abolitionists, suffragists, and prison reformers in the country, Woodruff and Underwood graduated from Smith College, after which they spent a year touring Europe and learning French in Paris. They were still restless after their return and were hardly looking to marry uninspiring Auburn men. So in the spring of 1916, the two young women responded to an ad for teachers in Hayden, Colorado,boarded a train and finally climbed into a wagon for a bumpy trip into the mountains.
Nothing Daunted is both intimate and epic. Wickenden shows how two women were swept up in some of the strongest currents of the country's history, and captures their extravagant hopes for improving the lives and schools of rural America. She captures the uncomplaining frontier women, strutting young cowboys, and the dialect and personalities of her grandmother's young students.
Still, a year later Dorothy and Rosamond were ready to leave—and here’s the local angle. In Colorado, Dorothy was secretly engaged to Lemuel Hillman, an Auburn banker. The couple married and in 1919 moved to Grand Rapids, where they had four children. The third, Wickenden’s great-uncle Douglas Woodruff Hillman, was born here in 1922 and practiced law in Grand Rapids for thirty years before being appointed U.S. district judge by President Carter in 1979, the year his adventurous mother died at 92. After she was widowed in 1930 with four young children, Dorothy Woodruff headed the local Red Cross chapter and eventually took a position with the national organization. Join us on October 26thto hear her story.
*** If you miss Dorothy Wickenden at the GRPL, she will speak on Thursday, October 27th, at the Women’s City Club at 11:00 am. The charge to nonmembers is $4. Reserve for lunch at the Club afterwards for $15.00 (www.womenscityclubgr.org/).
Schuler Books and Music has several copies at $19.50.
The book can also be purchased at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Daunted-Unexpected-Education-Society/dp/1439176582/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316052193&sr=8-1
or from the publisher's website http://books.simonandschuster.com/Nothing-Daunted/Dorothy-Wickenden/9781439176580.
[Close] Grand Rapids’ Valeria Lipczynski & the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame
On October 27th, 2011, Valeria Lipczynski (1846-1930) will be among eight women inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. A tireless advocate for Polish-Americans, Lipczynski served as tutor, translator, social worker, and nurse for numerous immigrants and helped found many organizations, including the Wiarus Society, the first Polish institution in West Michigan, and three Grand Rapids Catholic churches (St. Mary's, St. Adalbert's, and St. Isidore's). Her Society of Polish Ladies became in 1899 the first women's organization admitted to the Polish National Alliance, and in 1901 Lipczynski became the first woman elected to the Alliance's board of directors. Many contemporary groups, both local and national, can trace their roots to Valeria Lipczynski's organizational and leadership skills.
Each year the annual MWHF celebration recognizes the significant achievements of several Michigan women. The Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council hopes for significant representation from Grand Rapids at the 2011 celebration and in its handsome programs, which find their way into the hands of hundreds attending the event and eventually into archival collections. If you cannot attend yourself on October 27th, please consider donating to dinner scholarships. For details, see the Women's Hall of Fame website http://www.michiganwomenshalloffame.org/pages/awards_dinner.htm.
Read more about Lipczynski as "one-woman settlement house" and the celebratory evening in Terri Finch Hamilton's article for the Grand Rapids Press: MLive webpage
Pihoto courtesy of Grand Rapids History and Special Collections, Grand Rapids Public Library.
Related Documents: GGRWHC Salutes the "Queen of the Poles"[Close] The Grand Rapids  Historical Commission's Glance at the Past is a full-color, 64-page album of historical Grand Rapids sites, events, and people--snapshots and stories about what it was like to live in early Grand Rapids. Each of the thirty, little-known stories about the city are accompanied by one or more historical photographs; thirteen include QR-codes that allow smart-phones to bring up audio podcasts, additional photos, and facts about the city. It is available at Schuler Books & Music and some ArtPrize® venues, as well as online: http://historygrandrapids.org/publications.php Check it out in the Grand Rapids Press:
http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/09/new_book_shares_surprising_det.html
[Close] The 37th annual Great Lakes History Conference, sponsored by Grand Valley State University's History Department, will be held at the L.V. Eberhard Center on the Pew Campus of Grand Valley State University on October 7-8, 2011. Two days of panels will focus on historical topics having to do with the role of education in society.
For some years, the GLHC has provided unique opportunity for exchange between local and academic historians. Four papers listed below illustrate how Grand Rapids history intersects larger national and societal concerns and represent scholarship undertaken by members of our local history community. At 10:15AM on Saturday, October 8th, three papers w%20(510x480).jpg) ill focus particularly on Grand Rapids women's history:
Panel: "Activist Educators among Grand Rapids' Progressive Era Women"
Paper #1: "Politics and Food: Women in the History of Civic Agriculture"
by Jayson Otto, Aquinas College
Paper #2: "The Bay View System of Popular Education: Higher Education for All" by Mary Jane Doerr, Author of Bay View, An American Idea
Paper #3: "A Professional, In and Out of Institutional Education: Josephine
Ahnefeldt Goss" by Marcella Beck, Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Jayson Otto's paper will be drawn from his thesis on civic agriculture and the institution of farmers' markets in Progressive Era Grand Rapids. Mary Doerr's paper will be drawn from her new history of Bay View (http://wsupress.wayne.edu/books/1447/Bay-View) and the extent to which educational aspirations underwrote the community and had far-ranging effect. Marcie Beck's paper will focus on a Grand Rapids powerhouse who had one foot in the world of the public schools and the other in the broader civic education efforts of the Progressive Era: Josephine Ahnefeldt Goss.
At 3:30PM, the Grand Rapids Historical Commission's Diana Barrett will be doing a paper drawing on her work on school architecture history in Grand Rapids. Title: "Nineteenth-Century School Technology: The "Outhouse" Comes 'In House.'" Toilets were first put in the basements of school buildings, often resulting in public health menace and miasma. Barrett's work on the local situation illustrates broader technological problems being faced around the country during a modernizing and reforming period.
Grand Valley State University generously invites area citizens to attend the conference for the special fee of $20, which includes lunch on Saturday (see registration deadline for the lunch) and occasional beverage and snack breaks on both days. The Grand Rapids local history papers are scheduled on Saturday only, but conferees are welcome to attend all conference events. Click here to register for the conference.
Related Documents: Great Lakes History Conference Flyer and Registration materials.[Close]  Every August we celebrate Women's Equality Day, the anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment granting universal suffrage in 1920. This year on Thursday, August 25th, author Sara Fitzgerald will help us celebrate a Michigan political icon with Elly Peterson: Fighting for Ford and Feminism.
Thirty-five years ago this summer, Elly Peterson was a key leader in two of the most important political campaigns then under way in the United States: Gerald R. Ford’s campaign for the presidency and the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.
Author of the new biography, Elly Peterson: Mother of the Moderates, Sara Fitzgerald will highlight the roles Peterson played in these battles, which capped her long political career. Peterson ran for a U.S. Senate seat from Michigan in 1964, twice served as assistant chairman of the Republican National Committee, and was the first woman to chair a state Republican Party when she assumed that role in Michigan in 1965.
The new biography of Elly Peterson will be for sale at the Ford gift shop. During a reception after the program Fitzgerald will sign copies.
A native of Michigan, Sara Fitzgerald worked for the Washington Post for fifteen years as an editor and new-media developer. Prior to that, she worked as a reporter and editor for National Journal magazine, the St. Petersburg Times, the Miami Herald, and the Akron Beacon Journal. Fitzgerald was the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan’s student newspaper.
Thursday, August 25th, 7PM
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
303 Pearl NW
Free & Open to the Public
More information is available at The University of Michigan Press website.
Ellly Peterson was also inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.
[Close] Saturday, September 10, 10 a.m.
(Rain date: 10 a.m. Sunday, September 11)
Northern portion of Oakhill Cemetery from Hall St.
Tour Guide, Thomas R. Dilley
Oakhill Cemetery in Grand Rapids has been in existence for more than 150 years. Because of the elaborate monuments built for many of the city's important figures, Oakhill is the grandest of the city's historic cemeteries. Tour guide Thomas R. Dilley says that the stories behind these memorials feature several remarkable women who commissioned monuments in an Egyptian Revival style that was considered pagan and inappropriate for Christian burial by the religious (i.e., nearly all male) establishment at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. This style in burial settings arose and briefly flowered on the East Coast, but it was uncommon in the Midwest and unknown in the conservative South. Yet, of the four actual Egyptian Revival structures in Grand Rapids, three were commissioned by women.
On his tour of their final resting places, Mr. Dilley will theorize about why these women commissioned their monuments. One, Alice Hayden, was the driving force behind her family’s Egyptian Revival mausoleum located near the center of Oakhill. She was a litigant in the fascinating and famous Jockey Brown trial of 1892, in which two sisters fought over their father's legacy. The money Alice won eventually built the Brown Home for Aged Women, now the Abney Academy, on Fulton Street.
Another story features Mrs. Amasa B. Watson, widow of a Civil War colonel, who also built a massive Egyptian Revival structure at the cemetery. She survived her husband by more than a decade and was much beloved by many local veterans who made up the Watson Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mrs. Watson and her husband now repose in the largest mausoleum in the city, one of the largest in the state.
In the case of severe weather, the rain date is Sunday, September 11that 10 a.m. Postponement or cancellation will be announced on the GRHS Facebook page. Their webpage is at www.grhistory.org
Click on the GR Historical Society newsletter below for more information
Related Documents: GR Historical Society Newsletter[Close] In the picture here audience members wait to have their books, Elly Peterson: "Mother" of the Moderates, signed by author Sara Fitzgerald at our recent Equality Day eve nt. Fitzgerald's talk focused on 1976 when Peterson was deputy chair of Gerald R. Ford’s reelection campaign and co-chair of ERAmerica with Democrat Liz Carpenter. This year's celebration was recorded by C-Span's Book TV. We'll let you know when it will air. In the meantime, if you missed the program on Elly Peterson on August 25th, tune in for a few minutes of Shelley Irwin talking with Fitzgerald on WGVU's Morning Show: http://www.wgvu.org/wgvunews/index.cfm?id=tmsdetail&sty=13066
The Peterson biography is available at the Gerald R. Ford Museum gift shop and in bookstores. Read more about it in the Grand Rapids Press at http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/08/fight_for_feminism_gerald_r_fo.html and check out some reviews:
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/elly-peterson-book/
http://domemagazine.com/bookit/bookit081611
http://mittenlit.com/2011/08/author-saves-historic-figure-womens-rights-leader-from-the-dust-bin/
[Close]
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for September: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: National Womens History Project September Calendar[Close] Grand Valley State University, Professor of Anthropology, is resuming the dig at Blending Landing. According to Garret Ellison's article on MLive, the site has been an archaeological dig area since the mid 1960's. Read more about Janet's dig and the interesting information about Blendon Landing at MLive.
Picture taken by Cory Morse, The Grand Rapids Press
[Close] Debra Muller, who has been on the GGRWHC Board 2000 has passed away after a long fight with cancer. Debra made the Council board aware of Native American Women who have been leaders in history making.
Her obituary reports "Debbie is a proud member of the Nottawaseppi Huron Potawatomi Nation. She was currently employed by the Grand Rapids Public Museum in the Curatorial Division and was director of the Norton Mounds Project. She was a consultant with the Native American Community Services. Debbie was an advocate with Gilda's Club Pink Shawl Project, and a member and project manager of the History of GVAIL book with Grand Valley American Indian Lodge, the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of the American Indian. She received “one of the 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan” award in 2005 and 2008. Debbie served as Chairperson, Treasurer and currently as Commissioner with the City of Grand Rapids Civil Rights Recognition Commission. Mrs. Muller was the Founder of Theater of the Three Fires also serving as a Board Member and Chairperson. Debbie was a volunteer, Contractual Staff and Jazz Dance Instructor."
To read her obituary in its entirety and see a picture of her in her Native American regalia click here.
[Close] As we all have been hearing Betty Ford has passed away. Betty was part of a booklet, Seven Women Who Made a Difference, that was prepared by the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council in 1991. To read what was written in the booklet about Betty click here.
[Close] Here are some pictures from the East Grand Rapids 4th of July parade. The Women's History Council was well represented.
Vernis Schad and Rob Franciosi
Heather Edwards and son, Asa; Chris Byron and dog, Willie,
Sen. Stabenow, Mary Jane Keeler, Vernis Schad Jo Ellyn Clarey
Jeff Edwards, Bill Hill; Tim, Anjie and Nate Gleisner. Back: Chris Byron, Heather Edwards and son Asa
[Close] Polpourri for July 3: East Grand Rapids Fourth of July parade features Women's History Council suffragists
Published: Sunday, July 03, 2011, 9:06 AM
"Grab your starched white blouse or your boater hat and be a suffragist for an hour. The Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council will march in the East Grand Rapids Fourth of July parade to honor the efforts of area women a century ago. “We’re sort of colorful, with our goofy hats,” said the council’s president Jo Ellyn Clarey.
Though women have held the vote for generations, “women still need to be asked to run for office,” Clarey said. “Our percentages in the state Legislature are really low — we’ve lost women. And women don’t give as much, politically. It’s just not an automatic reflex yet.”
[Close] March into another year with the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council! Parading has always mixed just plain fun with serious business. On July 4th we will honor the political efforts of Grand Rapids women a century ago at the same time we use their parade model to advertise the mission of the GGRWHC today. Visible ourselves, we make our forebears visible. So join in the fun with GGRWHC--and the politicians and the fire trucks and the kids on bikes!
Click here for a picture from last year's re-enactment of Grand Rapids suffragists marching a hundred years ago.
On July 4th this year, we will be part of the noon parade through East Grand Rapids. You can use our "Votes for Women" signs, pennants, and sashes. If you can, dress in something that looks vintage--"looks" being the operative term. For women, maybe a high-collar white blouse, a white or black skirt, and a hat (nice, but not necessary); for men, as much white as you have! You can borrow a boater from us. Ideally, marchers wear white to contrast with the purple sashes. But wear what you like and join the parade. Push a stroller if you like-and plan for fun!
*** Remember: this parade isn't just for women or particular groups. Whatever the tensions in the past, recent immigrants, ethnic minorities, and also men did march in multiple parades around the nation. This photo from 1910  shows men parading for suffrage in Grand Rapids. Help correct wrong assumptions about our history-and march!
Directions:
By 11:00: We plan to have cars at each end of the parade for ferrying back and forth.To carpool to the staging site, participants can meet at the corner of Ogden and Argentina in EGR (outside 959 Ogden, parallel to Breton Road). Or you can find your own way: Lake will be closed, so find Hall Street. (If you get lost, call 443-4946.)
By 11:30: Line-up at Hall/Lake intersection (old Woodcliff School): look for "suffragists" and the gaudy yellow and purple GGRWHC banner!
Noon: Parade begins and will proceed from the Lake/Hall intersection, along Lake Dr, R onto Lakeside Dr., L onto Wealthy, ending at Croswell in front of the Gaslight Village D&W. The route is a little over a mile long. Strollers and wheelchairs are welcome!
Afterward: Car-pooling back to Lake/Hall from cars left at 959 Ogden (or cars left nearer the ending point), unless you have made other plans. (Again, if you get separated, call 443-4946.)
Rain? Right now weather reports look good. Our paper posters will not stand up to rain, however, so watch the sky. Send queries to joellynclarey@yahoo.com or call 443-4946. Information is also posted on the GGRWHC website.
Mark your calendars! On Thursday, August 25th, the GGRWHC will celebrate Women's Equality Day with a program by former Washington Post editor Sara Fitzgerald. By filling in a missing chapter in the political history of Michigan, as well as the United States, Fitzgerald's new book, Elly Peterson: "Mother" of the Moderates, finally credits one of our first female political leaders.
[Close] Mark your calendars! On Thursday, August 25th, the GGRWHC will celebrate Women's Equality Day with a program by former Washington Post editor Sara Fitzgerald. By filling in a missing chapter in the political history of Michigan, as well as the United States, Fitzgerald's new book, Elly Peterson: "Mother" of the Moderates, finally credits one of our first female political leaders.
[Close] The Grand Rapids Historical Society has selected Rebecca Smith-Hoffman to receive the 2011 Baxter Award. The award is given annually to individuals who "who have made significant contributions to the preservation and interpretation of the history of the Grand River Valley."
To read more about Ms. Smith-Hoffman's work, click on the link below.
Related Documents: Baxter Award[Close] The Rev. B. Margaret "Bunny" Voss, Ph.D., EdS, died on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, after a courageous battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She was 89.
Dr. Voss was a trailblazer. She earned advanced degrees in counseling and education from WMU and MSU, and a Ph.D. from the U of M. Upon completion of her degrees, she opened a psychotherapy practice.
Dr. Voss was the first woman member and first woman president of Torch Club. She was a founding member and the first woman chairperson of the Economic Club. She served as president of the YWCA. She was a founding member of the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council. She helped to develop the Women's Resource Center, Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women, and the Great Lakes Center for Sages. She was first woman chair of the governing board at Fountain Street Church. She taught at Davenport University and became Dean of Students. Dr. Voss' latest contributions were as therapist and advisor at North Kent Guidance Services where she drew on her many years of expertise and credentials as a National Board Certified Gerontologist. As an advocate for the rights of women, Voss refused to accept limitations for herself. She was a spokesperson on issues related to aging and the elderly and she served on the boards of many organizations related to women, history, and the community, including the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council.
Taken from the obituary published in The Grand Rapids Press on April 10, 2011.
[Close] August Highlights
August 6, 1965: Voting Rights Act outlaws the discriminatory literacy tests that had been used to prevent African Americans from voting. Suffrage is finally fully extended to African American women.
August 8, 1969: Executive order 11478 issued by President Nixon requires each federal department and agency to establish and maintain an affirmative action program of equal employment opportunity for civilian employees and applicants
August 9, 1995: Roberta Cooper Ramo becomes the first woman to hold the office of president of the American Bar Association.
August 10, 1993: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is sworn in as t! he second woman and 107th Justice to serve on the US Supreme Court.
August 12, 1972: Wendy Rue founds the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), the largest business women's organization in the US .
August 14, 1986: Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper retires from active duty in the US Navy. A pioneering computer scientist and inventor of the computer language COBOL, she was the oldest officer still on active duty at the time of her retirement.
August 23, 1902: Fanny Farmer opens the " School of Cookery " in Boston , MA .
August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment of the US Constitution is ratified granting women the right to vote.
August 26, 1970: Betty Friedan leads a nationwide protest called the Women's Strike for Equality in New York City on the fiftieth anniversary of women's suffrage.
August 26, 1971: The first "Women's Equality Day," instituted by Bella Abzug, is established by Presidential Proclamation and reaffirmed annually.
August 28, 1963: More than 250,000 gather for a march on Washington , DC , and listen to Ma rtin Luther King Jr's famous "I ! Have a Dream" speech.
August 30, 1984: Judith A. Resnick is the second US woman in space, traveling on the maiden flight of the space shuttle "Discovery."
August Birthdays
August 1, 1818 (1889):August 1, 1818 (1889): Maria Mitchell, astronomer and professor, was the first woman elected to both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.
August 3, 1905 (1995): Maggie Kuhn, senior rights activist, founded the Gray Panthers.
August 6, 1886 (1916): Inez Milholland Boissevain was a lawyer and suffrage leader. Dramatically gowned in white and riding a huge white horse, she lead a suffrage parade in Washington , DC , during Woodrow Wilson's inauguration.
August 7, 1890 (1964): Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, labor organizer, helped found the ACLU in 1920.
August 12, 1859 (1929): Katharine Lee Bates, poet, wrote " America the Beautiful."
August 13, 1818 (1893): Lucy Stone, suffragist and supporter of rights for women and African Americans, boldly kept her own name when she married.
August 14, 1952: Debbie Meyer, swimming champion, was the first female triple Olympic gold medalist in individual races.
August 19, 1814 (1904): Mary Ellen Pleasant, entrepreneur, called "Mother of Civil Rights in California ," successfully sued a trolley line when refused service because of her color.
August 23, 1944: Dr. Antonia C. Novello was the first woman and first! Latina Surgeon General (1990-1993) of the US .
August 25, 1927 (2003): Althea Gibson, tennis and golf champion, was the first African American to compete and win the US Open and Wimbledon , and the first African American member of the Ladies Pro Golf Association. < br />August 28, 1774 (1921): Elizabeth Seton was the first American-born Roman Catholic Saint, canonized 1975.
August 30, 1876 (19 52): Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill, a member of the Mohawk nation, was one of the first Native American physicians in the US .
[Close]
Cindy's fabulous photo essay titled Women on the Ridge features women in a particular part of Michigan agriculture and has been added to the virtual archive of the GR Historical Commission! Please note that the essays in the "Learn More" section truly are essays. The photographs are wonderful, and the amount of information here truly is staggering. It will take me a while to finish reading through it all. Click here to read about them: http://historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=10&essay=53
[Close]
The National Women's History Project has a variety of things on their web site you might find of interest. Click here to go directly to their website.
July Highlights in U. S. Women's History
July 2, 1979 - The Susan B. Anthony dollar is released
July 2, 1937 - Amelia Earhart's plane is lost in the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island.
July 2, 1964 - President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act; Title VII prohibits sex discrimination in employment
July 4, 1876 - Suffragists crash the official program at the Centennial Celebration in Independence Hall to present the Vice President with the "Declaration of the Rights of Women" written by Matilda Joslyn Gage
July 6, 1957 - Althea Gibson is the first African American woman player to win a Wimbledon title in women's tennis singles
July 7, 1981 - President Reagan nominates Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman Supreme Court Justice
July 12, 1984 - Representative Geraldine Ferraro (D-New York) is chosen as the first female to run for Vice President of the United States on the Democratic Party ticket with Walter Mondale (D-Minnesota)
July 14, 1917 - 16 women from the National Women's Party were arrested while picketing the White House demanding women's suffrage; they were charged with obstructing traffic
July 19-20, 1848 - The Seneca Falls Convention, the country's first women's rights convention, is held in Seneca Falls, New York
July 20, 1942 - The first class of Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) begins at Fort Des Moines, IA
July Birthdays
July 7, 1861 (1912) - Nettie Stevens, biologist, discovered X and Y sex chromosomes
July 8, 1926 (2004) - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, writer and lecturer, developed techniques for counseling the dying and their families
July 10, 1875 (1955) - Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, served as Minority Affairs Advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt
July 16, 1821 (1910) - Mary Baker Eddy, founded the Church of Christ, Scientist
July 16, 1862 (1931) - Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist, crusader against lynching
July 12, 1856 (1913) - Louise Bethune, first woman architect in 1881
July 22, 1849 (1887) - Emma Lazarus, poet, wrote "The New Colossus," (1883), which was later inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"
July 23, 1844 (1929) - Harriet Strong, agriculturist; patented water storage dams
July 24, 1920 (1998) - Bella Abzug, lawyer, Congresswoman (D-New York), 1972-1976, political activist; initiated proposal for Women's Equality Day
July 28, 1879 (1966) - Lucy Burns, suffragist; formed National Woman's Party with Alice Paul; picketed the White House for women suffrage and arrested 6 times
July 28, 1929 (1994) - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, First Lady, 1961-1963, photographer and book editor; established White House Historical Association
July 30, 1939 - Eleanor Smeal, women's rights activist; publisher of Ms. Magazine for the Feminist Majority Foundation; president of National Organization for Women (NOW),1977-1982 and 1985 -1987
[Close] COLLEGE PARK, MD: Michigan students experienced great success at the 2011 National History Day Contest, which took place June 12-16 in College Park, Maryland. A record nine Michigan entries advanced to the final round of judging at this year’s event.
“We are very proud of the 2011 Michigan Delegation,” said Emily Asbenson the state coordinator for Michigan History Day. “The students’ hard work and dedication was evident in each entry. They have already begun to leave their own mark on history.”
JUNIOR ADVANCING ENTRIES
Natalie Shabahang from Forest Hills Eastern Middle School in Ada placed 6th in the nation and won Outstanding State Entry for her paper, “The War that Nobody Won: The War of 1812 and the Treaty of Ghent.” (National History Day recognizes one Outstanding State Entry from each state in the junior and senior divisions.) Natalie was sponsored by Jim Cross.
Michael Mahacek and Jonathan Thomas from Forest Hills Eastern Middle School in Ada placed 10th in the nation for their website, “The War of Currents: The Electrifying Debate Over How to Power the World.” Michael and Jonathan were sponsored by Jim Cross.
SENIOR ADVANCING ENTRIES
Kirsti Harrison and Kari Pliml from Forest Hills Eastern High School in Ada placed 6th in the nation for their website, “Korematsu v. United States: Debate of Citizens Rights.” Kirsti and Kari were sponsored by Jim Cross.
Jenn Becker, Tyler Fink, and Dylan Fink from Comstock Park High School placed 10th in the nation for their website, “Urban Renewal: A Never Ending Story of Debate, Diplomacy, and Transformation.” Jenn, Tyler, and Dylan were sponsored by Karen Auwers.
For more information about Michigan History Day, visit www.hsmichigan.org, or contact the Historical Society of Michigan at (517) 324-1828.
The information was provided by Emily Asbenson from the Historical Society of Michigan
[Close] Monday, June 27, 2011
Country Club of Lansing • 2200 Moores River Drive Lansing, Michigan 48911
Noon Shotgun Start
Sign-up as a foursome, a sponsor, or individually and we will match you up with a foursome!
If you don't golf, please join us for a wonderful dinner, reception and raffle.Dinner is $40; Raffle tickets are $5 or 3 for $10; the Grand Prize is two nights stay at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and there are over 50 additional prizes-baskets, gift certificates, tickets, memberships, and more!
Please make your reservations today! Go to http://www.michiganwomen.org/
[Close] June Highlights in US Women's History
June 1, 1993- Connie Chung becomes the second woman to co-anchor the evening news, 17 years after Barbara Walters became the first in 1976
June 9, 1949 - Georgia Neese Clark confirmed as the first woman treasurer of the United States
June 10, 1963 - Equal Pay Act enacted: "To prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce." (PL 88-38)
June 11, 1913 - Women in Illinois celebrate passage of a state woman suffrage bill allowing women to vote in presidential elections
June 17, 1873 - Susan B. Anthony's trial started for illegally voting in Rochester, New York on November 5, 1872
June 18, 1983 - Dr. Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space
June 20, 1921 - Alice Robertson ((R-Oklahoma) becomes the first woman to chair the House of Representatives
June 23, 1972 - Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, President Nixon signs one of the most important legislation initiatives passed for women and girls since women won the vote in 1920. This legislation guarantees equal access and equal opportunity for females and males in almost all aspects of our educational systems.
June 25, 1903 - Madame Marie Curie announces her discovery of radium
June Birthdays
June 3, 1906 (1975) - Josephine Baker, dancer and jazz singer; fought racism
June 7, 1917 (2000) - Gwendolyn Brooks, poet; first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize
June 11, 1880 (1973) - Jeannette Rankin, first woman elected to Congress; pacifist and suffragist
June 14, 1811 (1896) - Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
June 14, 1952 - Pat Summit, coach of Tennessee's Women's Basketball team. She scored the most wins in NCAA history - 900 victories in 32 years
June 16, 1902 (1992) - Barbara McClintock, biologist, Nobel Prize Winner in 1983
June 17, 1865 (1915) - Susan La Flesche Picotte, first Native American physician
June 18, 1913 (1991) - Sylvia Porter, finance columnist and author
June 21, 1912 (1989) - Mary McCarthy, author and critic
June 22, 1906 (1993) - Anne Morrow Lindbergh, aviator, poet and author
June 22, 1909 (2006) - Katherine Dunham, dancer and choreographer; combined African movement and classical ballet
June 23, 1940 (1994) - Wilma Rudolph, athlete; first woman runner to win 3 gold medals in a single Olympics
June 26, 1902 (1989) - Antonia Brico, conductor, pianist; first women to conduct a world-class symphony orchestra in 1938
June 26, 1911 or 1914 (1956) - Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, athlete; outstanding in basketball, track, swimming, golf, and billiards
June 27, 1880 (1968) - Helen Keller, advocate for the disabled; writer and lecturer
June 30, 1883 (1970) - Dorothy Tilly, civil rights reformer; investigated and protested lynching in Georgia
June 30, 1917 (2010) - Lena Horne, first African American woman to sign long-term Hollywood contract; fought for contracts guaranteeing African Americans could attend her shows
[Close] The Grand Rapids Historical Society banquet and annual meeting will be held on Thursday, May 12, 6:30 pm at the Women's City Club. Tim Gleisner, head of the local history department at the Grand Rapids Public Library will make a presentation about Lost and Found at the Grand Rapids Public Library.
Cost for the dinner is $27 for Historical Society Members and $32 for non-members.
Click on the flyer below to get more information or go to the official site http://www.grhistory.org/id19.htm for registration information.
Related Documents: Historical Society May Meeting and Banquet[Close] May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Began as a focal week in 1977, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month became a month-long celebration in 1980. May was chosen as the focal month because it commemorates the immigration of the first Japanese immigrants to the United States in 1843. This focal celebration provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander American women in schools, communities, and workplaces throughout the country.
Mother's Day is May 8, 2011
Still time... Honor a Special Woman in Your Life, visit our Mother's Day 2011 today.
May Highlights in US Women's History
May 8, 1914- President Woodrow Wilson signs a Proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.
May 10, 1872 - Victoria Woodhull is nominated as the first woman candidate for U.S. president for the Equal Rights Party.
May 12, 1968 - A 12-block Mother's Day march of "welfare mothers" is held in Washington, D.C., D.C., led by Coretta Scott King accompanied by Ethel Kennedy.
May 21, 1932 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to complete a solo. transatlantic flight. She flew from Newfoundland to Ireland, a 2,026-mile trip, in just under 15 hours.
May 21, 1973 - Lynn Genesko, a swimmer, receives the first athletic scholarship awarded to a woman (University of Miami of Miami).
May 29, 1977 - Janet Guthrie becomes the first woman to qualify for and complete the Indy 500 car race.
May Birthdays
May 11, 1875 (1912)- Harriet Quimby, first American woman licensed air pilot (1911), first woman to fly across the English Channel (1912)
May 11, 1894 (1991) - Martha Graham, modern dance innovator and choreographer
May 11, 1906 (1975) - Lt. Ethel Weed, military officer in the Women's Army Corp.; promoted women's rights and suffrage in Japan
May 15, 1937 - Madeline Albright, first woman to be U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001)
May 19, 1930 (1965) - Lorraine Hansberry, first African American woman to produce a play on Broadway, "A Raisin in the Sun" (1959)
May 23, 1810 (1850) - Margaret Fuller, author, editor, journalist, literary critic, educator, Transcendentalist, and women's rights advocate
May 26, 1951 - Sally Ride, astrophysicist, first American woman astronaut
May 27, 1907 (1964) - Rachel Carson, scientist and environmentalist; wrote "Silent Spring" which became cornerstone of modern environmental protection movement
May 31, 1912 (1997) - Chien-Shiung Wu, renowned physicist; first woman elected President of American Physical Society in 1975, elected to National Academy of Science (1958), received National Medal of Science (1975)
[Close] A year-round women's history calendar is available on our website www.nwhp.org in the News and Events category.
April Highlights
April 2, 1931 - 17-year-old Jackie Mitchell, the second woman to play baseball in the all-male minor leagues, pitches an exhibition game against NY Yankees and strikes out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The next day, the Baseball Commissioner voided her contract, claiming baseball was too strenuous for women. The ban was not overturned until 1992 .
April 5, 1911 - 100,000 to 500,000 people march in New York City to attend the funeral of 7 unidentified people who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in late March.
April 7, 1805 - Sacagawea begins helping the Lewis and Clark Expedition as an interpreter.
April 7, 1987 - Opening of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, the first museum devoted to women artists.
April 9, 1939 - Marian Anderson sings an Easter Sunday concert for more than 75,000 at Lincoln Memorial.
April 13, 1933 - Ruth Bryan Owens is the first woman to represent the U.S. as a foreign minister when she is appointed as envoy to Denmark.
April 19, 1977 - 15 women in the House of Representatives form the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues.
April 22, - Earth Day - honor Rachel Carson today, a woman who changed America and greatly influenced the environmental movement.
April 26, 1777 - American Revolution heroine Sybil Ludington, 16 years old, rides 40 miles by horseback in the middle of the night to warn the American militia that the British were invading.
April 28, 1993 - First "Take Our Daughters to Work" Day, sponsored by the Ms. Foundation; in 2003 it became "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work" Day.
April Birthdays
April 3, 1934 - Jane Goodall, primatologist and conservationist; world's foremost authority on chimpanzees
April 4, 1928 - Maya Angelou, author, poet, civil rights activist, actress; composed and read her poem at President Clinton's inauguration in 1993
April 7, 1944 (2002) - Julia Miller Phillips, film producer; first woman to win a Best Picture Academy Award (1973, "The Sting") as a producer; also produced "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Taxi Driver"
April 9, 1887 (1953) - Florence Price, first African American woman symphony composer
April 10, 1880 or 1882 (1965) - Frances Perkins, first woman cabinet member, Secretary of Labor in 1933; key contributor to the Social Security Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act
April 10, 1903 (1987) - Clare Booth Luce, playwright, Congresswoman (R-CT), Ambassador to Italy (1953-1956)
April 10, 1930 - Delores Huerta, Chicana activist; co-founder United Farm Workers union
April 13, 1909 (2001) - Eudora Welty, writer, won Pulitzer prize for Fiction in 1973; photographer; winner of Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Literature, and the French Legion d'Honneur
April 14, 1866 (1936) - Anne Sullivan Macy, famous teacher of Helen Keller who was blind, deaf, and mute; the two worked and traveled together
April 25, 1917 (1996) - Ella Fitzgerald, "First Lady of Song", internationally renowned jazz singer, winner of 13 Grammy Awards
April 27, 1927 (2006) - Coretta Scott King, civil rights, human rights, and peace activist
April 30, 1939 - Ellen Zwilich, first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music (1983)
Watch people crowd around to see whose birthday they share. 750 women from U.S. history are named on this oversized poster with day by day listings and a colorful border with images representing their many activities.
Alphabetical index included for cross reference.
24" x 37" Celebrate Women! Poster. Created and Researched by Margaret Zierdt
Celebrate Women Poster +Index of Names
[Close] In April 1919 Carrie Chapman Catt first wrote of how she envisioned the League of Women's Voters, which would replace the suffrage movement: "a union of all intelligent forces within the state" to attack "illiteracy, social evils, industrial ills." Click this link for more information http://www.lwvwa.org/our_history.html.
On April 4, 1887, Susanna Medora Salter became the first woman elected mayor of an American community: Argonia, Kansas.
On April 8, 1974, Gretchen Zuiderveen, then Calvin College dean of women, succeeded after a long erffort to end the women’s curfew that had stood since the 1920s.
On April 29, 1899, the national suffrage movement, including Susan B. Anthony, held its annual convention in Grand Rapids. Local leader Emily Burton Ketcham oversaw the effort the only time the group met in Michigan.
[Close] The Michigan Women's Historical center and Hall of Fame is looking for an office manager.
See the attachment for the job description.
Related Documents: Job Information[Close]  Jef McClimans is our newest board member. His family moved from Lake Forest, IL to East Grand Rapids in 1991, He was six at the time and has been here ever ince, He attended East Grand Rapids High School and currently lives in downton Grand Rapids where he attends Grand Rapids Community College. He will be transferring in the next few years to Grand Valley's GIS(Geographical Information Systems) program. He is currently unemployed from a purchasing job for a Jenison based screen printing company where he purchased parts for use in building screen printing machines. A year and a half ago Jef was elected Chair of Social Media for the National Organization of Women Greater Grand Rapids Chapter where he manage their Facebook, Twitter, and all things socialmedia and usually the other media as well. Jef is currently putting together a project Called Then & NOW which is an oral History of the women's movement in the Grand Rapids area for our annual fundraiser/performance of the same title. He also volunteers at Cherry Street Planned Parenthood as a social media consultant and graphic designer/jack of all trades. In Jef’s spare time he runs a website called thebizjam.com where he designs and showcases data visualizations and infographs, about topics in the news, focusing on deciphering large amounts of statistical information, and putting them into a context that is understandable and relatable. “I'am interested in all things history, and relating history to people to give them a better sense of where they came from.”
[Close] June 6 and 7,
The 2011 State Converence - Michigan American Council on Education Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education will be held at the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development at Michigan state University.
Click here http://www.wmich.edu/conferencemanagement/miace/ for more information and to register
[Close] Thursday, April 28, 6-9 pm
Location: Applied Technology Center, Wisner-Bottrall Auditorium, Grand Rapids Community College.
Please see the attached flyer regarding the upcoming event the Zonta Club of Grand Rapids together with the Michigan Women’s Foundation and GRCC Women’s Issues Now is hosting focusing on the prevention of domestic minor human trafficking.
Encouraging middle school aged youth though adults to attend and actively participate in the conversation.
Free and open to the public, but seats are limited.
More Information (PDF)
[Close] Thursday, April 21, 8:30 am - 1:30 pm
A regional Local History Roundtable was initiated in April 2010 to provide a forum for local history organizations to share successes and challenges and learn more about the programs various local history organizations offer. One of the needs identified at the Roundtable was the need for a common website to promote collaboration, cooperation, and communication and the need to consolidate events and project information in a central place
Location: Alumni House, GVSU's Allendale campus.
The workshop, including lunch, is free, but you must register prior to the date.
Go to www.gvsu.edu/localhistoryroundtable to register.
Contact Lynelle Brown 616/331-8099 or email her at brownly@gvsu.edu for more information.
[Close] Thursday, April 14, 7 pm
Antietam National Battlefield Park Ranger and former Grand Rapids resident, Mannie Gentile, brings historical perspective, his daily familiarity with the ground, his sense of humor, and something new in the field of Civil War historiography - a degree of humility, to his analysis of the Battle of Antietam. The September 17, 1862 Battle of Antietam is characterized by several things including great carnage, great confusion, and great pronouncements by historians on how the battle "should have" been fought.Mannie tells the story of the battle of Antietam with an eye to the great influence terrain, circumstance, and simple human frailty had in what has become forever known as "America's bloodiest day.
Location: Gerald R. Ford Museum, 303 Pearl Street NW
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Grand Rapids Historical Society. Go to http://www.grhistory.org/id19.htm for information about their other programs.
[Close] Wednesday, April 13, 6:15 pm
The National Organization for Women Greater Grand Rapids Chapter (NOW GR) will be hosting an oral history and fundraising event April 13, 2011 at the Loosemore Auditorium on the Pew Campus of Grand Valley State University in downtown Grand Rapids
The event will showcase the history of feminist activism in Grand Rapids. Voices of feminist leaders from “Then & NOW” will be at the core of this interactive, multimedia program. The festivities begin at 6:15 p.m. with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception and silent auction of donated items from local businesses. The winners of NOW GR’s “Defining Feminism” essay contest will be announced, and winning essays read at the event.
Please join us to support feminism, and hear about our shared history in the Grand Rapids area! Tickets are just $20, $15 for students and low-income. For tickets, go to http://nowgr.org/events/events.
Location: Loosemore Auditorium, Grand Valley Pew Campus, 401 W Fulton, Grand Rrapids
[Close] Creating your own family’s video and audio history is the subject of two hands-on workshops offered at the Film Farm in downtown Grand Rapids during the month of April. Equipment will be provided during the class sessions, which will meet on Saturday, April 2 and then again on Saturday, April 16. Sessions will run from 9:00 AM to 5:00 and lunch will be provided on-site.
Students will learn how to conduct oral history interviews, and how to use quality video and audio recording techniques including camera composition, lighting, set design and microphone selection and placement.
Participants will also learn how to scan still photographs for insertion into a finished, edited video production. Hands-on editing instruction will be included in the workshops. Class size will be limited in order to insure lots of access to the instructors and the equipment.
The program is intended for historians, video producers, sons of lawyers, sons of bankers, students, elders,clergy,mother, sons, daughters, dads
So learn how to create your family’s unique archive – then share it on You Tube, on Facebook, etc. and transfer it to DVDs for future gift-giving.
Cost for the class is $150 which includes both sessionsand lunch.
To view the website, click here http://grfilmfarm.org/preserve-your-memories-theyre-all-thats-left-you/oral-history-production-class/,
[Close]
Tuesday, April 12, 12-1:30 pm
The Women of Achievement and Courage Award was established in 1990 to honor and recognize women whose accomplishments inspire other women to achieve their life goals and undertake challenges that make positive differences for individuals, communities and the state. The Trillium Award recognizes a Michigan woman for lifetime achievement.
MWF is seeks to honor women of diverse backgrounds who have been role models in our community. The women we seek have shared their visions, talents and leadership skills to help build communities and inspire other women to create change in their professions, homes and communities. For a complete list of past honorees, click WOAC Past Honorees Chart.
Fredrick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park
Click here to register for the luncheon.
For additional information Call: 313-640-0128 x 204 or 800-404-4372 or email lgandelot@miwf.org
[Close]
Click here to view past newsletters. If you haven't been receiving them and would like to, email info@ggrwhc.org to put your name on the e-mailing list.
[Close]
Recently our annual meetings have been the last day of March.
Mark your calendars and take a look at the GGRWHC bylaws. Related Documents: GGRWHC Bylaws[Close]
Join the GGRWHC Thursday to celebrate the end of Women's History Month. Reserve now at KSIrwin73@aol.com or 616-454-2425!
An Eye on the Past/An Ear to the Future
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
5:00-7:00 pm -- Hors d'oeuvres & wine ticket bar ($5/glass);
5:30 pm -- program
Women's City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 Fulton Street
Free & Open to the Public
Women Leaders During Hard Times: The Kent County Commission
WGVU's Shelley Irwin will host a celebratory reception and brief program featuring Kent County Commission women, past and present. After brief historical context, first female commission chair Margaret E. Byington and current commission chair Sandi Frost Parrish will report on the particular challenges wrought by the social, economic, and political environments in which they served/are serving and the advantages of being women in leadership positions during hard times, and the difficulties to be overcom
Marge Byington is a director of the Detroit River Tunnel Corporation and trustee of the Michigan Nature Conservancy, and served from 1978 to 1988 on the Kent County Commission, which she chaired from 1986-1988.
Sandi Frost Parrish is founder and president of a non-profit consulting business specializing in fundraising advice and has served as chair of the Kent County Commission for the past two years.
The WGVU Morning Show's Shelley Irwin is the recipient of five consecutive awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement, hosts PBS Community Affairs programs, and serves on many community boards.
We will honor all the women who have run for the Commission--starting in 1930!
Support GGRWHC with tax-deductible dues and get a free glass of wine. Bring your checkbook and your guests to the Women's History Month Finale. See you on the 31st!
Reserve now at KSIrwin73@aol.com or 616-454-2425
[Close]
Presenter: Jo Ellyn Clarey, Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Grand Rapids had a surprising number of women physicians in the 1890s—over ten! Besides female teachers and physicians, we also had journalists and an attorney whose story is beginning to complicate the emerging portrait of our nation's earliest women lawyers. Join the Fountain Street Church history series on Sunday, March 20th, to hear more about Grand Rapids' earliest professional women.
Sunday, March 20th
Free and Open to the Public
Lunch can be ordered onsite
Fountain Street Church
24 Fountain Street NE
616/459-8386
[Close] For more information about these and other programs, use the hot links or look below under "Calendar." Plan to attend one of these events co-sponsored by the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council.
Single Dutch Immigrant Women and their Work in Grand Rapids, 1880-1900
Presenter: Janet Sjaarda Sheeres
Thursday, March 10, 2011
7 pm
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Free & Open to the Public
Researcher Janet Sjaarda Sheeres will share her discovery that significant numbers of single Dutch women immigrated during the late-nineteenth century to Grand Rapids from the Netherlands. The history of Dutch women in general has been underrepresented; the story of these specific women has been entirely unknown. Who were they and how did they support themselves, here or there? Sheeres will report on the conditions they found in their new homeland, as well as how first-generation immigrant Dutch women contributed to their new community and what hindered them from engaging fully in American culture. uploads/files/SheeresPoster2011.doc
Women Suffrage in the American West
March 15, 5:30-7 pm
GVSU Prof. Kathleen Underwood will be speaking about "Women Suffrage in the American West"
The program is sponsored by Women Lawyers Assoc. Michigan, Student Chapter (G.R.)
Location: Cooley Law School, 111 Commerce Ave SW, Rm 529
Dinner cost: $15 per person. RSVP: grandya@cooley.edu
2011 Pillar Awards
Wednesday, March 16, 11:45-1:30 pm
The Pillar Awards honor companies which empower women at work.
Location: Ambassador Ballroom, Amway Grand Hotel
Call 616-458-5443 or visit www.grwrc.org/events for sponsorship benefits and information, to reserve a table, or purchase individual tickets.
All profits benefit the Women's Resource Center.
A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to be a Woman
Wednesday, March 16, 7 pm
The Grand Rapids Community College Diversity Lecture Series XVI is offering a program by Lisa Shannon, Activist, Author, Sister
Lisa Shannon awakened to the atrocities in the Congo, where women are gang-raped and demoralized and decided to become an Activist and a Sister, leaving behind a successful company, a fiance, and security. She founded Run for Congo Women, a grassroots movement for Congolese women. For additional information, please visit http://www.grcc.edu/ShowPage.cfm?PageID=21.
Location: Fountain Street Church
Masculinity, Militarism and Modern American Evangelicalism
Thursday, March 17, 3:30 pm
On Thursday, March 17th, Kristin Du Mez will talk about how understandings of femininity and masculinity have contributed to a culture of militarism with regard to domestic and foreign policy among evangelicals from the 1970s to the present. If you're not quite sure of the difference between "gender history" and "women's history," this program will provide a fine example!
For more information go to :http://www.calvin.edu/news/archive/women-in-calvin-history
Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service
Wednesday, March 23, 7 pm
Patricia Majher, author of Ladies of the Lights: Michigan Women in the U.S. Lighthouse Service, will talk about women who were lighthouse keepers on Wednesday, March 23 at 7 pm as part of Women’s History Month.
From the outside, lighthouse keeping looked like a romantic life. On the inside, men knew differently; it was a rugged life of long hours and hard work punctuated by periods of real peril. Imagine how it felt to be one of the rare women who were admitted into this profession: challenged to their limits, yet loving every minute of it. This is the history of Michigan's “ladies of the lights”: more than 50 women who served the sailing community with dedication and distinction from 1849 to 1954. Hear the stories of ten of these women, from the author of a new book on this subject.
Prior to her current position as editor of Michigan History magazine, Patricia Majher served as assistant director of the Michigan Women's Historical Center and Hall of Fame in Lansing. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Central Michigan University and a master's degree in historic preservation from Eastern Michigan University.
Be sure to stop by the local history department on the fourth floor to view the exhibit on “Ladies of the Lights” that Majher created for for the Michigan Women's Historical Center. It will be on display from March 1st through March 31st.
Location: Ryerson Auditorium, 3rd Floor, Grand Rapids Public Library
Sponsored by Vander Veen Center for the Book at the Grand Rapids Public Library
Free and open to the public.
Continuing a Legacy: Women's Tea Party
Thursday, March 24, 3-5 pm
Join Grand Valley State University' Women's and Gender Studies in this unique program celebrating the 50th anniversary of Grand Valley State University. Using the backdrop of women’s fashion for the past 50 years, we will examine the critical events that impacted and formed our nation and our college campus. Members of the campus community will model the clothing that defined the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Historical highlights will include the Civil Rights Movement, The Vietnam War, Family Planning, Women Rights Movement, and Women in the Workforce.
Location: Grand River Room, Kirkhof Center, Allendale Campus.
Please RSVP by calling 616-331-2748, visit womenctr@gvsu.eduor register online at www.gvsu.edu/women_cen.
For individuals requiring special accommodations please call the Women's Center at 616-331-2748 or email: womenctr@gvsu.edu
Women's Center Website: http://www.gvsu.edu/wgs/module-event-view.htm?eventId=DCF7284D-B82F-8D09-E2C439FE8FA412A3
Leading the Way: Feminism, Education, and Social Change
Saturday, March 26, 8:30 am-5 pm
Join the Michigan Women’s Studies Association, GVSU’s Women & Gender Studies Program, and the Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame as we seek to explore “feminism, activism, and education” in a day devoted to scholarship and networking.
Location: Eberhard Center, Pew Campus, 301 W. Fulton, Grand Rapids.
Early registration ends March 11.
For more information, conference schedule and registration please go to http://www.gvsu.edu/wgs/
Hosted by: GVSU's Women & Gender Studies Program and Women's Center Program in collaboration with the Michigan Women's Historical Center & Hall of Fame.
[Close] National Women's History Project December Highlights and Birthdays
The National Women’s History Project was founded in 1980 to broadcast women’s historical achievements. It started by leading a coalition that lobbied Congress to designate March as National Women’s History Month, now celebrated across the land. Today, the NWHP is a major clearinghouse, providing information and training for anyone wanting to expand their understanding of women's contributions to U. S. history. A gift from NWHP for June: Women's History Highlights and Birthdays.
Related Documents: [Close] On Saturday, January 22nd, from 9:30 am - 4 pm, the Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch, will host a day filled with local history. Pick and choose or stay all day. The GGRWHC-sponsored presentation will be an overview of Grand Rapids as an important Michigan suffrage center. Other talks will focus on Ramona Park, Heritage Hill, transportation in Grand Rapids, and the Civil War in Michigan. Lunch is $6.00 and must be ordered by 5 pm on January 19th (988-5400 or rsvp@grpl.org). For more details, see: http://www.ggrwhc.org/uploads/files/HistoryDetectives2011.pdf
2:00-2:45 pm -- “Local Civil War Treasures Rediscovered: Mariette Hutchins”
In the first of a two-part session, John Gelderloos will tell the story of Berlin, Michigan’s 18-year-old Mariette Hutchins. By becoming their pen pal, she proved to be a friend and comforter to many Civil War soldiers she may never have met. The Civil War Roundtable’s Gelderloos will share soldiers' letters and reveal more about this remarkable woman.
3:00-3:45 pm – Building a Case: Grand Rapids as an Important Suffrage Center
In the fifty years preceding the accomplishment of universal suffrage in 1920, Grand Rapids women did it all. In the 1890s alone they lobbied in Lansing, lectured at the Chicago World's Fair, hosted national conferences, and addressed the U.S. congressional Judicial Committee. Over the movement's last decade, beginning in 1910, Grand Rapids activists paraded, published a special edition of the Grand Rapids Press, and mailed six tons of literature during one single year's referendum campaign. The GGRWHC’s Jo Ellyn Clarey will share images of local suffrage paraphernalia – telegrams, badges and floats – and celebrate major players and events; as well as the full story about how we lost and rediscovered this significant piece of Grand Rapids history.
[Close] Fall Oral History Workshop
9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Saturday, September 11, 2010, at the Grand Rapids Public Museum
How to for conducting oral interviews
Dr. James R. Smither, presenter
Sponsors: GGRWHC, GRPM, WMQG
Register: MargEd Kwapil, 616-949-8649, or info@ggrwhc.org
Fee: $10 for materials
[Close] Celebration of Equality Day, Thursday, August 26, 2010
90th Anniversity of the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women full suffrage
GGRWHC sponsoring a special showing of Iron-Jawed Angels, a 2004 HBO account of the late suffrage movement
After showing, Kristin Du Mez, Calvin College historian, will sort out historical fact from Hollywood fiction.
Program starts at 7 p.m. in the reception area outside of Loosemore Auditorium. Movie shown in theater 136 DEV of the GVSU's DeVos Center, downtown GR.
Plenty of free parking.
"Suffragists" and historical displays about the later years of the suffrage movement will also add to the experience.
See you at the movies!
Thanks to GVSU Provost's Office for our comfortable accomodations!
Related Documents: Grace Kelly Freehouse: Suffragist who Lived in Kent and Ottawa Counties1910 Grand Rapids Founding Day Parade FloatBrief History of the Women's Suffrage Movement[Close] March as a suffragist in the annual Hollyhock Lane Parade down Giddings Avenue on Saturday, July 3rd. Meet us at 8:00 am at the intersection of Calvin and Alexander. The Hollyhock Lane neighborhood parade began in 1934 and has featured major politicians and National Guard trucks as well as neighborhood kids and the Hollymock Band. Paraders throw candy and hand out brochures for a festive time--even though it occurs early in the morning and this year on July 3rd since the 4th is a Sunday. More details below.
The Grand Rapids Public Library and the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council had planned to enter the Founding Day parade, cancelled but originally scheduled on May 1st to celebrate the 160th anniversary of Grand Rapids’ designation as a "city." But there is another big anniversary to celebrate in 2010 and we will join the Ottawa Hills Hollyhock Lane Parade to honor the 90th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment granting full suffrage to women on August 26th, 1920. Today’s parading suffragists will re-enact marchers who paraded on early twentieth-century Grand Rapids streets. Help us in the effort!
Ruth Van Stee from the local history department of the Grand Rapids Public Library will oversee planning for the suffrage march and hopes you will be interested to do a little research and impersonate a particular suffragist working in Grand Rapids between 1870 and 1920. E-mail rvanstee@grpl.org or call 988-5402, ext 5497, for a list and for advice. (Anyone at the local history desk could also help you.) This parade isn't just for women of European extraction. Recent immigrants, ethnic minorities, and local men were also in the suffrage movement. We have pictures of men parading in Grand Rapids--and we have some of their names on the list, too.
If you don't have time for research, you can still march. We will parade behind "Votes for Women" banner and be followed by a GGRWHC banner in suffrage colors. If you can, dress in something that looks vintage: for women, high-collar white blouse, a white or black skirt, and a hat (nice, but not necessary); for men, a suit or white shirt and tie--and a boater hat?! Ideally, marchers will wear white to contrast with purple sashes and will carry "Votes for Women" pennants. We already have a number of signs and pennants. If you are impersonating a particular female or male suffragist, you will wear a purple sash printed with your person's name. We will also provide lyrics to suffrage songs set to familiar tunes.
On Saturday morning, July 3rd, we will gather at 8:00 am at the intersection of Calvin and Alexander. Information will be posted on the GGRWHC website (www.ggrwhc.org), via email rvanstee@grpl.org , or by phone at 988-5402, ext 5497. Here are the details and click on links below for pictures, reports, and video of earlier parades:
Hollyhock Lane Parade: Saturday, July 3, 2010
8:00: Participants meet at the corner of Calvin and Alexander in Ottawa Hills
8:30: Parade begins (north on Giddings)
Ceremonies follow immediately after the parade in "Hollyhock Lane," the alleyway between Giddings and Calvin.
Pictures from 2009: http://www.ottawahillsgr.org/hollyhock-lane-parade
http://www.mlive.com/cadenceadvance/index.ssf/2009/06/diamond_in_the_rough_hollyhock.html
This clip gives the best overall look at the effort; lots of politicians, etc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZhTl6aeTjQ
Uncle Sam & Miss Liberty in photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollyhockparade/
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/grand_rapids/Hollyhock_parade_celebrates_years
The Hollymock Band appears at a minute-and-a-half in; at two-and-a-half, a couple of floats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVPaHZHDXhE
Related Documents: Hollyhock Suffrage Parade 2010[Close] On Tuesday, May 11th, the GGRWHC will host a spring reception for members to celebrate successful Legacy events during March and to elect new members to its board of directors (view link below). Please join us if you would like more information about the group and its mission. It's a great time to become a new member, to renew membership, and to learn how you can contribute to ongoing committees efforts collecting and disseminating information about Grand Rapids women's history.
4:00-5:00 pm, short meeting at 4:30 pm
Michigan Room, Upper Level
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Free parking and entry
Related Documents: Board and Committee Nominees 2010[Close] LEGACY 2010 Calendar of Events for Women's History Month
Legacy Calendar of Events, March 2010
March 1 – August 31, 2010
Creating a Legacy: The Women of Grand Rapids
Exhibit: A look at the history of Grand Rapids focusing on the accomplishments of its female residents.
On view during regular library hours - Main Library, Grand Rapids History and Special Collections, 4th floor, 111 Library St NE, GR
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Library
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kristen Corrado, kcorrado@grpl.org, 616-988-5402 x5438
Monday, March 1
Photo Essays of the Week: Virtual History from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Individuals Pushing the Arts: Emily Jewell Clark & Helen Castenholz http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=1&essay=1 http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=1&essay=28
View anytime! http://www.historygrandrapids.org/
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Contact: Cindy Laug, laugc@gvsu.edu, 616-291-4293
Monday, March 1
The WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin: The Week in Women’s History
Focus on the Ford Series with GVSU's Cindy Laug
Host Shelley Irwin and guests from the GGRWHC will survey the week's programming, with emphasis on Thursday evening at the Ford Museum. See calendar under March 4th.
10:30 am, WGVU 88.5 FM
Sponsored by WGVU & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Contact: Shelley Irwin, irwinsh@gvsu.edu, 616-304-3565
Tuesday, March 2
The 50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan
in a special supplement to the March 1, 2010 issue of the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
A luncheon celebration of the achievements of 50 female business and civic leaders, to be profiled in the March 1 issue of the Grand Rapids Business Journal. Keynote address by the president of the University of Michigan, Mary Sue Coleman.
11:00 am - 1:30 pm, J.W. Marriott Grand Rapids, 235 Louis Campau NW
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Business Journal
Cost: $79
Contact: Jocelyn Burkett, jburkett@geminipub.com, 616-459-3222
Tuesday, March 2
One of Ours: How Grand Rapids' Elizabeth Eaglesfield Shifts National Legal History
Celebrate women's achievements in the law and learn how the nineteenth-century story of a daring local woman changes the emerging portrait of our nation's earliest women attorneys.
Speaker: Jo Ellyn Clarey, Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council, and remarks by WLAM leaders
5:30 pm network and mingle; 6:00 pm dinner & program, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Rm 529, 111 Commerce Avenue SW
Sponsored by Women Lawyers Association of Michigan (WLAM) Cooley, Grand Rapids Student Chapter
Cost: $15 reservations required; $7.50 students.
Contact: Amanda Narvaes, narvaesa@cooley.edu, WLAM-GR@cooley.edu, 616-334-6546
Wednesday, March 3
Glance at the Past: A Historical Moment from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Madeline La Framboise, Fur Trader on the Grand River, 1800
8:30 am and 5:30 pm, WYCE 88.1 FM
Using http://www.archive.org/index.php, type glance at the past in the search box; or using http://www.grcmc.org/radio/, scroll down checking for Glance at the Past by Wednesday dates.
Sponsored by Community Media Center, Grand Rapids Historical Commission & Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Contact: Matt Jarrells, matt@wyce.org, 616-459-4788 x112
Thursday, March 4
Thursdays at the Ford: A Series on Women's History
The Heritage of Etta Smith Wilson, Ambitious Newswoman and Passionate Ornithologist
Descended from nineteenth-century missionaries and Odawa medicine women, Wilson grew in Grand Rapids into a renowned journalist and uniquely accomplished "bird-woman."
Presenters: Cindy Laug and Connie Ingham, Grand Valley State University
7:00 pm, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl NW
Sponsored by Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids Historical Society, Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, & Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Diana Barrett, dbarrettgr@yahoo.com, 616-443-7503
Friday, March 5
The Resilient Tradition of Grand Rapids Women in Elective Politics
A 45-minute program by Jo Ellyn Clarey on the long and fascinating history of Grand Rapids women running for public office. Originally presented for the Progressive Women's Alliance in March 2005.
2:00 pm, GRTV/Cable Channel 25; repeated on March 15 and 27.
Sponsored by Progressive Women's Alliance & GRTV
Contact: Kellie Ashcroft, kellie@grcmc.org, 616-459-4788, ext 105
Melissa Anderson, mjapwa@gmail.com, 616-498-8829
Saturday, March 6
Legacy Landmarks: Walking with Women Who Left Their Mark on Grand Rapids
Marcella Beck of the Grand Rapids Public Library's local history department will introduce a new self-guided tour to downtown sites significant in Grand Rapids women's history, after which the hardy will walk the route. The map and brochure will remain available at the downtown GRPL branch.
10:00 am - coffee and pastry; 10:30 am- program on brochure; 11:30a.m - guided walking tour
Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Library, Vander Veen Center, 4
th
floor, 111 Library St NE
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids Historical Commission, Grand Rapids Historical Society, & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kristen Corrado, kcorrado@grpl.org, 616-988-5402 x5438
Saturday, March 6
Grand Rapids on the Road to Women's Suffrage
In honor of the 90th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment in 2010, an airing of the 75-minute 1999 re-enactment of the national suffrage convention held in Grand Rapids (with Susan B. Anthony) at St. Cecilia Music Society in 1899.
8:00 pm, GRTV/Cable Channel 25; repeated on March 15 and 28.
Sponsored by Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council & GRTV
Contact: Kellie Ashcroft, kellie@grcmc.org, 616-459-4788, ext 105
Sunday, March 7
Photo Essays of the Week: Virtual History from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Historical Working Women in Grand Rapids: Helen Meade & Woman's Committee of WWI http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=10&essay=32 http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=12&essay=7
View anytime! http://www.historygrandrapids.org/
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Contact: Diana Barrett, dbarrettgr@yahoo.com, 616-443-7503
Monday, March 8
The WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin: The Week in Women’s History
Focus on the Ford Series with GRPL's Marcella Beck
Host Shelley Irwin and guests from the GGRWHC will survey the week's programming, with emphasis on Thursday evening at the Ford Museum. See calendar under March 11th.
10:30 am, WGVU 88.5 FM
Sponsored by WGVU & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Contact: Shelley Irwin, irwinsh@gvsu.edu, 616-304-3565
Wednesday, March 10
Glance at the Past: A Historical Moment from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Hattie Beverly, First African American Teacher in the Grand Rapids Public Schools, 1899
8:30 am and 5:30 pm, WYCE 88.1 FM
Using http://www.archive.org/index.php, type glance at the past in the search box; or using http://www.grcmc.org/radio/, scroll down checking for Glance at the Past by Wednesday dates.
Sponsored by Community Media Center, Grand Rapids Historical Commission & Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Contact: Matt Jarrells, matt@wyce.org, 616-459-4788 x112
Wednesday, March 10
Author Visit: Maryann Lesert
GRCC English professor and author of Base Ten will discuss her novel about a woman scientist seeking balance in her life.
7:00 pm, Grand Rapids Public Library Auditorium, 111 Library St NE
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Library
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kristen Corrado, kcorrado@grpl.org, 616-988-5402 x5438
Thursday, March 11
Grand Rapids Area Council for the Humanities Book Discussion
Catherine Frerichs will read from her book, Desires of the Heart: A Daughter Remembers Her Missionary Parents. Conversation will center on gender roles, vocation, religion, and encountering the "other."
9:30-11:00 am, Kent District Library, Cascade Branch, 2870 Jack Smith Avenue SE
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Area Council for the Humanities
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kelly Gest, grhuman@gvsu.edu, 616-774-1776
Thursday, March 11
Thursdays at the Ford: A Series on Women's History
Bonnets and Business: Women and Work in Grand Rapids, 1890-1930
Marcella Beck and Ruth Van Stee (Grand Rapids Public Library, GR History and Special Collections) will share surprising information about the economic role of turn-of-the-century women entrepreneurs and employees.
7:00 pm, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl NW
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Society, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, & Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Ruth VanStee, ravanstee@aol.com, localhis@grpl.org, 616-988-5402 x5497, 616-745-9657
Saturday, March 13
Growing Older, Becoming Wiser
Explore with other women in a workshop setting the possibilities for the third stage of life—when we reap the wisdom from our past experience and learn to embrace the wise woman within.
9:30-12:30 pm, Briarlane Apartments’ Club House, 450 Briar Lane NE
Sponsored by Circle of Crones
Cost: $15 or two for $25; Tickets: Irene Walker, reniewalker@att.net, 616-285-7995
Contact: Johanna Sizick, jsizick5771@esagelink.com, 616-475-5771 or Janis Tzortzinis, janistz@hotmail.com, 616-791-9186
Sunday, March 14
Photo Essays of the Week: Virtual History from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Women in the History of Opera in Grand Rapidshttp://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=14&essay=15
View Anytime! http://www.historygrandrapids.org/
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Contact: Gilbert R. Davis, davisg@gvsu.edu, 616-452-9324
Monday, March 15
The WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin: The Week in Women’s History
Focus on the Ford Series with blues historian Kim D. Rush
Host Shelley Irwin and guests from the GGRWHC will survey the week's programming, with emphasis on Thursday evening at the Ford Museum. See calendar under March 18th.
10:30 am, WGVU 88.5 FM
Sponsored by WGVU & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Contact: Shelley Irwin, irwinsh@gvsu.edu, 616-304-3565
Monday, March 15
Grand Rapids on the Road to Women's Suffrage
In honor of the 90th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment in 2010, an airing of the 75-minute 1999 re-enactment of the national suffrage convention held in Grand Rapids (with Susan B. Anthony) at St. Cecilia Music Society in 1899.
6:00 pm, GRTV/Cable Channel 25; repeated on March 28.
Sponsored by Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council & GRTV
Contact: Kellie Ashcroft, kellie@grcmc.org, 616-459-4788, ext 105
Monday, March 15
The Resilient Tradition of Grand Rapids Women in Elective Politics
A 45-minute program by Jo Ellyn Clarey on the long and fascinating history of Grand Rapids women running for public office. Originally presented for the Progressive Women's Alliance in March 2005.
7:15 pm, GRTV/Cable Channel 25; repeated on March 27.
Sponsored by Progressive Women's Alliance & GRTV
Contact: Kellie Ashcroft, kellie@grcmc.org, 616-459-4788, ext 105
Melissa Anderson, mjapwa@gmail.com, 616-498-8829
Tuesday, March 16
Sisters, Schoolgirls and Sleuths: The Secrets of Girl Detectives
Grand Valley State University librarian Patricia Bravender will discuss Golden Age girls mystery series, published from the 1930s through the 1960s, and will bring books from her extensive collection of Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, Judy Bolton and Trixie Belden novels.
7:00 pm, Grand Rapids Public Library, Vander Veen Center, 4
th
floor, 111 Library St NE
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Library
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kristen Corrado, kcorrado@grpl.org,616-988-5402 x5438
Wednesday, March 17
Glance at the Past: A Historical Moment from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Dolores Smith Hruby, Composer of Choral Music: Filling the Gap Post-Vatican II
8:30 am and 5:30 pm, WYCE 88.1 FM
Using http://www.archive.org/index.php, type glance at the past in the search box; or using http://www.grcmc.org/radio/, scroll down checking for Glance at the Past by Wednesday dates.
Sponsored by Community Media Center, Grand Rapids Historical Commission & Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Contact: Matt Jarrells, matt@wyce.org, 616-459-4788 x112
Wednesday, March 17
Huntington Pillar Awards Luncheon
Honoring West Michigan employers who empower women in the workplace.
11:45 am – 1:30 pm, Amway Hotel, Ambassador Ballroom, 227 Pearl Street NW
Sponsored by Women’s Resource Center
Cost: $50
Contact: Lydia Michael, lmichael@grwrc.org, 616-458-5443
Wednesday, March 17
A Tribute to Margaret Sanger & Forum on Women's Reproductive Health Care
Panelists will address the legal, political, policy, and on-the-street aspects of reproductive health issues for women in the context of the current health care debate--however it is being defined in March.
Panelists: Kary Moss, Executive Director, ACLU of Michigan, Sarah Scranton, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, State Senator Gretchen Whitmer (23rd District), Gayla Jewell, Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research Center
5:00 pm-social time/wine ticket bar; 5:30 pm-program; Women’s City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 E Fulton
Sponsored by Progressive Women’s Alliance
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Melissa Anderson, mjapwa@gmail.com, 616-498-8829
Thursday, March 18
Anna Karen Van Deventer: "A Dash of Taste"
Van Deventer will share experiences about everyday life as she "whips" up goodies at a WCC luncheon/program. She loves history, is a purveyor of fine antiques, and restores century-old homes.
10:30 am, Women’s City Club, 254 E Fulton
Sponsored by Women’s City Club
Cost: $17, prepay by March 15.
Contact: Carol Dodge, dodger@voyager.net, 616- 459-3321
Thursday, March 18
Thursdays at the Ford: A Series on Women's History
Giving Up the Blues for Gospel: The Story of Women Blues Singers in Grand Rapids
Hard to find in Grand Rapids, our women blues singers since the 1950s have nevertheless made a colorful group. Uncover the blues scene with Kim D. Rush from the Grand Rapids Historical Society.
7:00 pm, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl NW
Sponsored by Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids Historical Society, & Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Diana Barrett, dbarrettgr@yahoo.com, 616-443-7503
Friday, March 19
When Did 'Feminism' Become the New F-Word?
Tracing the changing fortunes of the word 'feminism': its early days in the nineteenth century, its heyday in the 1970s, and perceptions of it in the twenty-first century.
Speaker: Rosemary Erickson Johnsen of Governors State University
7:30 pm, Women’s City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 E Fulton
Sponsored by American Association of University Women
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Mary Jane Keeler, mirubi@aol.com, 616-453-2240
Saturday, March 20
The Rocking Chair Experience III: Sojourner Truth’s Legacy
Meet descendants of Sojourner Truth as they share her life story and the impact her life still has on us today. (Artifacts displayed.)
12:30 pm, The Social Exchange Room, 1956 Eastern
Sponsored by National Association of Negro Business & Professional Women’s Club, Inc.
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Maggie Hankins, aybiyoyo@aol.com, 616-243-2963
Sunday, March 21
Photo Essays of the Week: Virtual History from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Ethnicity and Women at Work: Thelma Estelle Garnet & Etta Smith Wilson http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=2&essay=27 http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=10&essay=43
View Anytime! http://www.historygrandrapids.org/
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Contact: Jennifer Morrison, jen@mi-stories.com, 616-248-2706
Monday, March 22
The WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin: The Week in Women’s History
Focus on the Ford Series with GRHC's Diana Barrett
Host Shelley Irwin and guests from the GGRWHC will survey the week's programming, with emphasis on Thursday evening at the Ford Museum. See calendar under March 25th.
10:30 am, WGVU 88.5 FM
Sponsored by WGVU & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Contact: Shelley Irwin, irwinsh@gvsu.edu, 616-304-3565
Tuesday, March 23
Continuing a Legacy: GVSU Women's Center Tea Party
The centuries-old tradition of tea parties was used as a venue for women to share discussions of literature, politics and reform.
3:00-4:30 pm, GVSU Grand River Room/Kirkhof Center, 1201 KC, Allendale
Sponsored by Grand Valley State University Women's Center
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Jo Ann Wassenaar, womenctr@gvsu.edu, wassenaj@gvsu.edu, 616-331-2748
Tuesday, March 23
Women Who Changed America
This one-women show brings to life women who changed America. Marie Papciak introduces you to a woman Civil War soldier and an abolitionist.
7:00 pm, Lowell Township Hall, 2910 Alden Nash Avenue SE, Lowell
Sponsored by Lowell Area Historical Museum
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Pat Allchin, pallchin@lowellmuseum.org, 616-897-7688
Wednesday, March 24
Glance at the Past: A Historical Moment from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Mabel Balyeat, A New Deal for Books: Starting the Kent District Library during the Great Depression
8:30 am and 5:30 pm, WYCE 88.1 FM
Using http://www.archive.org/index.php, type glance at the past in the search box; or using http://www.grcmc.org/radio/, scroll down checking for Glance at the Past by Wednesday dates.
Sponsored by Community Media Center, Grand Rapids Historical Commission & Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Contact: Matt Jarrells, matt@wyce.org, 616-459-4788 x112
Wednesday, March 24
Sojourner Truth in Michigan
Visiting from Cornell University, Professor Margaret Washington will discuss her new book, Sojourner Truth’s America, an in-depth account of an amazing activist.
7:00 pm, Grand Rapids Public Library Auditorium, 111 Library St NE
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Library
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kristen Corrado, kcorrado@grpl.org,616-988-5402 x5438
Thursday, March 25
Get a Clue with Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew has been solving cases since the 1930s. How has she changed through the years? Games, activities and crafts for ages 8 and up.
5:30 pm, Grand Rapids Public Library Auditorium, 111 Library St NE
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Public Library
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Kristen Corrado, kcorrado@grpl.org,616-988-5402 x5438
Thursday, March 25
Thursdays at the Ford: A Series on Women's History
Grand Rapids' Most Famous Courtesan: Georgie Young
Beginning with business success in the "oldest profession," a young nineteenth-century Grand Rapids woman metamorphosed into property owner, philanthropist, author, and actress.
Speaker: Diana E. Barrett, Grand Rapids Historical Commission
7:00 pm, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, 303 Pearl NW
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Commission, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids Historical Society, & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Free and open to the public.
Contact: Jo Ellyn Clarey, joellynclarey@yahoo.com, 616-443-4946
Saturday, March 27
The Resilient Tradition of Grand Rapids Women in Elective Politics
A 45-minute program by Jo Ellyn Clarey on the long and fascinating history of Grand Rapids women running for public office. Originally presented for the Progressive Women's Alliance in March 2005.
8:00 pm, GRTV/Cable Channel 25
Sponsored by Progressive Women's Alliance & GRTV
Contact: Kellie Ashcroft, kellie@grcmc.org, 616-459-4788, ext 105
Melissa Anderson, mjapwa@gmail.com, 616-498-8829
Sunday, March 28
Grand Rapids on the Road to Women's Suffrage
In honor of the 90th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment in 2010, an airing of the 75-minute 1999 re-enactment of the national suffrage convention held in Grand Rapids (with Susan B. Anthony) at St. Cecilia Music Society in 1899.
4:00 pm, GRTV/Cable Channel 25
Sponsored by Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council & GRTV
Contact: Kellie Ashcroft, kellie@grcmc.org, 616-459-4788, ext 105
Sunday, March 28
Photo Essays of the Week: Virtual History from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Women in Science and Service: Mary Hefferan & Camp Blodgett's Babies Welfare Guild http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=1&essay=12 http://www.historygrandrapids.org/explore.php?cat=12&essay=42
View anytime! http://www.historygrandrapids.org/
Sponsored by Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Contact: Cindy Laug, laugc@gvsu.edu, 616-291-4293
Monday, March 29
The WGVU Morning Show with Shelley Irwin: The Week in Women’s History
The Legacy 2010 Finale with GGRWHC's Jo Ellyn Clarey
Host Shelley Irwin and guests from the GGRWHC will survey the week's programming, with emphasis on the Legacy finale Wednesday at the Women's City Club. See calendar under March 31st.
10:30 am, WGVU 88.5 FM
Sponsored by WGVU & Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Contact: Shelley Irwin, irwinsh@gvsu.edu, 616-304-3565
Tuesday, March 30
A League of Their Own
Doris "Little Cookie" Cook and Rosemary "Stevie" Stevenson will share their experiences on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
5:00 pm Social, 6:00 pm Dinner, 7:30pm Program, Women's City Club, 254 E Fulton
Sponsored by Women’s City Club
Cost: $28 - must be prepaid
Contact: Carol Dodge, dodger@voyager.net, 616- 459-3321
Wednesday, March 31
Glance at the Past: A Historical Moment from the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
The Grand Rapids Chicks, Women in Baseball
8:30 am and 5:30 pm, WYCE 88.1 FM
Using http://www.archive.org/index.php, type glance at the past in the search box; or using http://www.grcmc.org/radio/, scroll down checking for Glance at the Past by Wednesday dates.
Sponsored by Community Media Center, Grand Rapids Historical Commission & Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Contact: Matt Jarrells, matt@wyce.org, 616-459-4788 x112
Wednesday, March 31
Legacy 2010 Finale
Climbing the Hill: 150 Years of Women Physicians in Grand Rapids
WGVU's Shelley Irwin will host a reception welcoming Dr. Marsha D. Rappley to the Grand Rapids community. The dean of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine will join Jo Ellyn Clarey, Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, in a short program illustrating the rich history of local women physicians, then and now.
5:00 - 7:00 pm Hors d'oeuvres & wine ticket bar ($5/glass); 5:30 pm - program
Women's City Club, Lower level auditorium, 254 E Fulton
Sponsored by Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council
Free, but reserve at 454-2425
Contact: Kyle Irwin, KSIrwin73@aol.com, 616-454-2425 Related Documents: Legacy Calendar of Events, March 2010[Close] Every year, during the month of March, hundreds of thousands of events are held throughout the country to acknowledge and recognize the amazing accomplishments of women.
This national celebration and recognition of women's historic achievements began in 1980 when National Women's History Week was proclaimed by Presidential Proclamation. In 1987, this national celebration was expanded by Congressional Resolution to an entire month by declaring March as National Women's History Month.
National Women's History Month provides an opportunity to educate the general public about the significant role of women in American history and contemporary society. Establishing this focal celebration has encouraged schools to introduce new curriculum, and communities to recognize women who have been pivotal in their own communities.
The knowledge of women's history provides a more expansive vision of what a woman can do. This perspective can encourage girls and women to think larger and bolder and can give boys and men a fuller understanding of the female experience.
Each March, to unify the observance of National Women's History Month, a special theme is created. Women whose lives and extraordinary work exemplify the theme are selected as Honorees.
The theme for 2009 is "Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet." This theme is timely in a year when the world is discussing the problems and repercussions of dramatic climate changes and the recognition of diminishing natural resources. If you think these ecological problems may be insurmountable, you will be encouraged and inspired by the dramatic actions of the 2009 Honorees.
The 2009 Honorees are women whose courageous, pioneering, and innovative leadership are helping to save our planet. There are over one hundred Honorees and their achievements and accomplishments span three centuries and seven generations. For each acknowledged NWHM Honoree, there are tens of thousands of other women who are equally committed and currently working in their own communities, states, and countries.
For more information about National Women's History Month or for full list of the 2009 National Women's History Month Honorees, visit www.nwhp.org.
Contact information: Molly Murphy MacGregor, Executive Director - National Women's History Project
[Close] Editor’s Note: A full list of winners can be found in the attached pdf and also at http://www.hsmichigan.org/mhd.php. Students from the following communities were awarded: Ada, Ann Arbor, Bay County, Beverly Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Canton, Comstock Park, Eaton Raids, Farmington, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Grant, Hancock, Hastings, Holland, Houghton, Howell, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Midland, Muskegon, Painesdale, Plymouth, South Haven, and Whitehall.
Over five hundred people were present as Michigan students received top honors at the Michigan History Day (National History Day in Michigan) State Finals on Saturday, April 26th in Mount Pleasant at Bovee University Center at Central Michigan University.
This year an estimated 5,500 students competed in the History Day program statewide in Michigan. After competing in ten regional districts statewide in March, over 260 of these students reached the state finals representing schools from all across the state. Finalists chosen at the state finals in the Junior and Senior categories now head to College Park, Maryland in June to compete in National History Day with their peers from the other forty-nine states and several US territories.
Michigan History Day is an educational program of the Historical Society of Michigan and hosted this year by the Henry Ford. Lead sponsors of History Day include Meijer Inc., the Cook Charitable Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Historical Society of Michigan and Alticor, Inc. In addition support was also provided by the Holland Area Historical Society and the Michigan Chapter of the Society for the War of 1812.
Special award prizes were also given to students and sponsored by the Friends of Michigan History, the Michigan Women’s Studies Association, the Michigan Roundtable of the Lexington Group in Transportation, the Michigan Archival Association, the Michigan Oral History Association, the Michigan Genealogical Council and the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History.
“The students had an outstanding experience this year” commented Larry J. Wagenaar, Executive Director of the Historical Society of Michigan. “Students are the experts for the day and share what they have learned. They actively engaged our judges. History Day is hands-on education with students gaining phenomenal new skills.”
Winners at the National History Day Michigan State Finals included students from Ada, Ann Arbor, Bay County, Beverly Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Canton, Comstock Park, Eaton Raids, Farmington, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Grant, Hancock, Hastings, Holland, Houghton, Howell, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Midland, Muskegon, Painesdale, Plymouth, South Haven, and Whitehall.
Entries may be in any one of seven categories. They include Research Papers (individuals only), Individual or Group exhibit, Individual or Group performance, Individual or Group documentary, and Websites. Groups may be from 2 to 5 students. Students compete in one of three age divisions: Youth (grades 4-5), Junior (grades 6-8), and Senior (grades 9-12). Junior and Senior entrants are eligible to proceed to the national finals at National History Day in College Park Maryland in mid-June. Each category in a division is judged separately.
All entries in the competition were tied in some way to the National History Day theme for 2008, Conflict and Compromise in History.
A full list of winners plus photographs from the state finals competition can be found at the Michigan History Day website (http://www.hsmichigan.org/mhd.php) or by calling the Historical Society of Michigan at (800) 692-1828, e-mail at hsm@hsmichigan.org .
Michigan History Day is an educational program of the Historical Society of Michigan, the state’s oldest cultural organization, founded in 1828. For more information contact the Society at 1305 Abbott Rd., East Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 324-1828 or visit www.hsmichigan.org.
Related Documents: 2008 MHD National Finalists, Alternatives, and Special Award Winners[Close] Dennis W. Morrow, Pastor at Saints Peter and Paul Parish and Chaplain for the Grand Rapids Fire and Police Department will present Going to Blazes: one-Hundred-Sixty Years of the Grand Rapids Fire Department at the Grand Rapids Historical Society's Annual Meeting. No dramatic disaster underwrote the organization of fire-fighting in Grand Rapids, but by 1848 citizens began institutionalizing practices, buying the equipment, and building the housing that has developed over 160 years into the professional GRFD we know today. Click on the link below to read the entire article.
Related Documents: Going to the Blazes[Close] If a picture is worth 1,000 words, imagine what you can do with thousands of pictures! It is the plan of the Grand Rapids Historical Commission at their new Online Archive, http://www.historygrandrapids.org in cooperation with the Grand Rapids Public Schools and the Grand Rapids Public Library, to collect images from local families, archives of public and private institutions and organizations, and other local sources that reflect and reveal family and community life and the ways in which Grand Rapids people worked, traveled, educated and enjoyed themselves from the mid-nineteenth through the twentieth centuries. This time of social, economic, environmental, and technological change will be documented through images that can be used to discover Grand Rapids' past and provide for the “history of the future.”
Visit the past by exploring the photo essays in the Explore section. The subjects of our photo essays are determined by the photos and documents offered. Sometimes they are supplemented with images from photo collections at the GR Public Library, the Public Museum of GR, and CARC (Community Archive and Research Center). The more images we have, the more photo essays we can build in the Explore section where social and historical themes about the people and the city of Grand Rapids can be investigated. We plan to add at least one new photo essay every month. Check the News section for new and coming attractions as well as local programs about Grand Rapids history.
At the end of a photo essay you can select “Learn More” if you want to continue your exploration. There is a bibliography of books available at the Grand Rapids Public Library and a list of related websites. Our intent is to entice students and other visitors to the website to learn more about Grand Rapids history by providing an introduction to a topic and resources for further investigation.
Each primary source image is accompanied by a record that provides basic information such as the date, place, creator (photographer, engraver or other source), notes and subject(s). This information allows you to search for images in many different ways using the GRHC database. Just as you might use your library online catalog to search for a book, video or other item, you can use the GRHC online catalog to locate an image, view that image and the information related to it.
The multi-level search engine for the image database allows basic searches by keyword, subject, or date; refined searches where you set the criteria; and the Browse by Subject section where you can browse images in the same or related categories.
The Classroom section encourages skills of observation, analysis and critical thinking for students through areas such as Primary Sources, Citation Styles, and Resources. As the site grows, lesson plans and classroom activities connecting the images and Grand Rapids history will be included.
If you or your organization would like more information about how to contribute copies of your collection to the project, please contact us via the Contact Page on the website www.historygrandrapids.org.
[Close] |
