NGS 2018 Family History ConferenceHappy New Year
Even though it is a brand new 2017, we here at the Western Michigan Genealogical Society look ahead with anticipation to the NGS 2018 Family History conference coming to Grand Rapids! NGS has opened the the call for proposals.
From the NGS website…
Recently, I heard about the Family tree Webinars hosted by Legacy Family Tree. I decided to check out the offerings and signed up for one called “No No Nannette, What negative evidence is and isn’t” by Judy G. Russell. I was pleasantly surprised by the caliber of class this was. If you are seeking more certification level of learning these are a wonderful and FREE resource.
Michelle Timmer
http://familytreewebinars.com/upcoming-webinars.php
I was cleaning out stuff in the attic. I had a thousand black and white negatives with contact prints from fifty years ago. I kept the ones I wanted, about twenty, and the rest I threw away into a box. Since it was the season, I wrapped the box up in Christmas paper and gave it to my three daughters. As they opened it and understood what it was, I said “Look what I saved you from doing. Now when I’m dead and gone you won’t have to sort through old pictures, just throw these away.”
Much to my surprise, they were delighted to go through and pour over the contents. The stories about my daughters’ early years in Africa with my husband and I came to life and they shared them with their children. The grandchildren then selected the pictures they felt were most meaningful. Later my grandchildren salvaged a window frame from our hundred year old farmhouse. They went through the pictures, chose the ones they liked, and put them in the frame.
Coming full circle, they showed me their appreciation of our family story. I was moved and delighted that the pictures meant something to them.
– Sue Swanlund
3:00 – 3:45 PM
Reflections on the Gi-Gikinomaage-min (We are all Teachers) Project
Belinda Bardwell
Sponsored by the Western Michigan Genealogical Society & Kutsche Office of Local History
Launched in November 2014, the Gi-gikinomaage-min (We are all Teachers) project aims to document the urban Native American experience in Grand Rapids. The local Native American community grew dramatically in the last half of the 20th century as a result of a little-known federal program still impacting American Indian lives today. The Urban Relocation Program created one of the largest mass movements of Indians in American history. This talk invites you to learn more about the Gi-gikinomaage-min project, based in the Kutsche Office of Local History at Grand Valley State University.
This presentation is part of the 2017 History Detectives program on Saturday, January 28, at the Ryerson Auditorium, Grand Rapids Public Library. continue reading…
2:00 – 2:45 PM
A Modern Vision Realized: The Mid-Century Park School Development Program
Pam VanderPloeg
Sponsored by the Grand Rapids City Archives
In 1951, a successful Grand Rapids Public Schools millage vote launched a twenty-year building program to solve the crisis of aging, overcrowded schools and the post-World War II baby boom. A collaboration between the schools, prominent West Michigan architects and the Grand Rapids Park Department, led by landscape architect Fred See, created beautiful modern schools set in expansive parks in old and new neighborhoods, and brought national recognition. The story of how that project unfolded, and of the fate of those schools today, will be told through original and contemporary photos and images.
This presentation is part of the 2017 History Detectives program on Saturday, January 28, at the Ryerson Auditorium, Grand Rapids Public Library. continue reading…
1:00 – 1:45 PM
Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Rediscovering Emma Cole’s 19th-Century Grand Rapids Flora
Julie Stivers, Garrett E. Crow, and David P. Warners
Sponsored by the Grand Rapids Public Museum
In 1901, Emma Cole published Grand Rapids Flora, a catalog of plants growing without cultivation in the vicinity of Kent County. Enormous changes have taken place since those days, yet her book remains the most complete account of plants specific to our area. Who was this high school teacher, world traveler and Kent Scientific Institute botanist? Where were her favorite spots for wildflowers? Do they still exist? Julie Stivers will speak about the life of Emma Cole. Professors Warners and Crow will describe their work with Calvin College students to rediscover Emma’s haunts and assess their natural quality today. There are interesting surprises as we observe the changes over more than 100 years.
This presentation is part of the 2017 History Detectives program on Saturday, January 28, at the Ryerson Auditorium, Grand Rapids Public Library. continue reading…
The Two Feet of Haynes
Our research, on the recent bus trip to Allen County Public Library by WMGS, was planned to be a team effort between my wife and me. She would identify exactly what we need to look at, and I could fetch it and review. We would focus with accuracy at the exact sources we needed. Shortly after arrival and getting situated, I was handed the slip with what to get and this whispered assignment, “look up Haynes in 929.2.” continue reading…
Making Waves: Michigan’s Boat Building Industry
11:30 AM-12:15 PM
Making Waves: Michigan’s Boat Building Industry, 1865-2000
Scott M. Peters
Sponsored by the Grand Rapids Historical Commission
Michigan’s late-nineteenth century emergence as the boat-building industry’s hub drew together talented designers, builders, and engine makers to produce some of the fastest, most innovative boats ever created. Entrepreneurs like Christopher Columbus Smith, John L. Hacker, and Gar Wood established some of the nation’s top brands and brought the prospect of boat ownership within reach for every American consumer. Michigan boat builders also left their mark on history—from developing the speedy runabouts favored by Prohibition-era rum-runners to creating the landing craft that carried Allied forces to Europe and the Pacific. Making Waves explores this intriguing story of people, processes, and products—of an industry that evolved in Michigan but would change boating across the world.
This presentation is part of the 2017 History Detectives program on Saturday, January 28, at the Ryerson Auditorium, Grand Rapids Public Library. continue reading…
10:30-11:15 AM
Selling Grand Rapids: Expositions in the Furniture City, 1878-1965
Scott St. Louis
Sponsored by the Grand Rapids Historical Society
Grand Rapids’ late-nineteenth century business leaders were ambitious and optimistic: striving for the greatest profit from available resources, they rationalized production workflows, integrating the latest technologies into their factories. They also took advantage of the railroad network connecting Grand Rapids to an emerging consumer economy, reaching new levels of prosperity through an industry on the verge of unprecedented growth: domestic furniture production. Local leaders established semi-annual furniture expositions and collaborated to make Grand Rapids’ name synonymous with excellent household furniture on an international scale. With the help of a supportive community, leaders also resolved to prevent similar efforts in other cities from eclipsing their own. Their success transformed the physical and economic landscape of Grand Rapids.
10th Annual History Detectives: Sleuthing for Local History
Saturday, January 28, 2017, 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM
*Limited Seating – Space is limited and seating is offered first come, first served. There will be an overflow room available with a simulcast video presentation. continue reading…
Saturday, January 28, 2017, 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM
*Limited Seating – Space is limited and seating is offered first come, first served. There will be an overflow room available with a simulcast video presentation.
The first presentation of the day this year features the Dutch immigrant population…
9:30 – 10:15 A
M
Present, But Not Counted: Dutch Immigrant Midwives in Grand Rapids
Janet Sjaarda Sheeres
Sponsored by the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council
Though stories of male physicians are adequately represented in medical histories, accounts of female midwives have been woefully neglected. And what histories of early American immigrants ever ask, “Who delivered the babies”? Adding to her body of work on invisible Dutch women, Janet Sjaarda Sheeres has uncovered ten midwives working in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Grand Rapids, and thirty more in other Dutch colonies. She will address why these women chose work delivering babies; who their clients were; what hardships they faced; and why they are not in our histories. Sheeres’ findings also shed light on midwives serving other ethnic communities and why they have been sidelined in early historical records.
This presentation is part of the 2017 History Detectives program on Saturday, January 28, at the Ryerson Auditorium, Grand Rapids Public Library.
