Highlights of the recently-concluded 20th annual Museum Week

     Monday afternoon: Marilyn Clark spoke about the history of Dockside Market and the appropriateness of this being the site for the Community House. From the beginning of the twentieth century on, the sequence of grocery stores that occupied this site was part of the cultural life of the Island.  People stopped here for half of their shopping and then moved on to McDonough's Market to finish up, not necessarily because the prices at one store were any better, but because they didn't want to chance missing out on the news. 
     Dockside was a vital part of this community.  The famous sign on the wall said, "If we don't have it, you don't need it." This wasn't just a clever saying, but reflected the fact that the storekeepers here were very sensitive to the needs of their clientel.  The Preservation Association has expended much effort to try to develop that same sensitivity to the needs of our community. Their unofficial motto is a version of Dick LaFreniere's old sign: "If you need it, tell us, and we'll try our best to have it in the new Community House."
     When we try to figure out what makes Beaver Island so special, Marilyn said, it's not just the rich natural endowment.  A lot of other places have appealing landscapes. But there's a spirit to the Island, an almost palpable sense of relaxability that's a product of place, people, and friendly attitude.  When the Dockside Market had to be demolished, a few people questioned the Preservation Association's name.  What it is that PABI is dedicated to preserving is far more than just a building, though; it's Beaver Island's ineluctable ambiance, our strong sense of community.

     Monday Evening: This year Music On The Porch was, to some extent, a victim of the weather. At 4:00 p.m. the sun was beaming strongly down.  People working were dripping with sweat; people relaxing at the beach were reluctant to come out of the water.   Because of the weather, many people decided to come to the Print Shop.
     By 8:00 p.m. we had brought all the chairs down from the Parish Hall, plus dozens had brought their own seats, and it looked like a record crowd. But just as the festivities were to begin, dark clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, and the temperature fell off a cliff.  People in shorts and t-shirts were in danger of freezing to death.  By 9:00 p.m. it seemed that at least half of the audience had disappeared, and by the time the collection baskets were passed around, the audience had dropped to a third of its original size. Yet when the baskets were counted, the total was better than usual.  We can only deduce that those who remained were so pleased by the music that they decided to make up for the mass defections.
     And the music was very good.  After Elwood VanAntwerp recited poetry, the B. I. Christian Church's Worship Team (Kathy Speck, Marilyn Clark, Jayne and Melissa Bailey, and Earl Seger, with Judy Meister on keyboard) demonstrated their skill.  Then crowd favorite Doc Lange delivered some of his topical magic.
     Glen Hendrix played four quick jigs on his fiddle, tunes he learned from Pat Bonner.  Caitlin Chambers played classical music on her guitar, and Jean Howell showed her mastery of the flute. Barry Pischner sang a few of the ballads for which he is well known. And frequent visitor Dan Southworth performed with his son and sister-in-law.
     Stars Bill and Claudia were joined by bass player Rob Gehl, followed by Bill Markey, Kevin White, and Margaret Comfort. Perhaps the performers who generated the most enthusiasm were from the next generation: Strider Crosswhite, Jeremy Sowa, and Hilary Palmer.  They are all the proof we need that Beaver Island's long-standing musical tradition is in good hands.

     On Tuesday Karen Lewis came over from the Charlevoix Historical Society and talked that afternoon about various styles of northwest Michigan Native American basketweaving.  She showed how one style evolved into another, particularly under the provocation of first contact. People were impressed with her eye for, and understanding of, seemingly unimportant details. She brought over two dozen examples from her extensive collection of baskets, and used them to illustrate her discussion. She encouraged people to ask questions, which she answered to their satisfaction.  After her talk she visited the Print Shop and examined several of our baskets --including one found by Doris Larsen when she and Lars bought their Island home; it turned out to be a Chinese sewing basket from about 1905 that was worth, in its somewhat damaged condition, about $200.  We realized that we should have encouraged everyone to bring in any of their baskets for her analysis -- kind of a Antiques Roadshow of baskets on Beaver Island.  We missed that boat, so we'll have to have her back again in the near future!
     On Tuesday evening we witnessed something rare here: a true multi-media show.  Antje Price, with editing and production help from Bob Hamil, created a coordinated combination of audio tapes, slides, and a video projected on a screen with the School's new digital projector. The audio tapes contained the voices of Pat Bonner and Mary Bert McDonough, taken from past interviews. The slides illustrated things mentioned in either the audio tapes or the video, which was taken during the only performance of the "Protar Play." This play, starring Jim Stambaugh as Protar, was written by Antje using actual words of Protar, and gave a good sense of how he lived and how he was respected by his friends and neighbors.

     Wednesday was Strang Day. It started with a talk by Jerry Gorden, a long-time BIHS member who is also part of our Steering Committee for the new addition.  He drove here from Iowa, where he works as a museum director, to talk about Warren Post, a Strang elder who was Jerry's great grandfather. The Gorden family had no idea about their Strangite roots until Jerry came into possession of Post's letters a decade and a half ago.  He focused on Warren Post's life, letting the Mormon colony on Beaver Island appears through Post's eyes.
     After his talk, John Leben and Jeff Gural took Jerry out to an old log cabin on Darkeytown Road to interview him for possible inclusion in their Strang video.  Jerry is a passionate man and a good speaker, and the preliminary opinion is that this will provide some very good footage.
     Also along on this ride was Jill Sharland, a graduate student at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City who is writing a book about Strang. She had come here for just one day to talk to Jerry and John and Jeff, who turned the tables somewhat by interviewing her on film about her perception of Beaver Island's former King.
     That evening John and Jeff talked about their proposed video. They started out by talking about some of their other work, such as making the video of the Ludington Car Ferry.  They showed Mary Burt McDonough's interview in the video they shot on Beaver Island as part of the Painting on Location series that was shown on PBS a few years ago. It featured a painting of the Beaver Head Light by Bob Fagan, numbered prints of which John and Jeff donated to the BIHS for us to resell (at $20) to help raise production funds.  They also showed about five minutes of scenes that are representative of the Strang video, including a spirited reenactment of his assassination.

     The Art Show also opened on Wednesday, and demonstrated what many observers of the Beaver Island scene have come to believe: we're experiencing a veritable Renaissance of art out here in the middle of Lake Michigan.
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     On Thursday Jim Gillingham once again produced an SRO crowd for his Real Live Reptile Show.  (He and his staff at CMU also ran three special Nature Walks for Museum Week, so we owe them doubly for their help.) The people waiting to get in formed a line that curled around the corner, and after the chairs inside were filled another dozen sat on tables and another group had to stand. Once the show started, it was easy to see why people came in such droves: Jim's magnetic personality greatly enlivens a subject that is interesting enough on its own merits. A few people had expressed sadness that their giant python had died, but the CMU search team had procurred another. The staff came amongst the audience at regular intervals to let them see and touch unusual species, from frogs and turtles to lizards and snakes.  The show ran two full hours, and those in attendance felt it was still not long enough.

     On Friday Brother Paul opened up the Christian Brothers' Retreat, and gave tours to seventy people.  Interest in this facility, which has long been a venerable Island institution, has always been high, but was probably increased by rumors floating around that the Medical Center may try to buy this property as a location for some kind of senior care --something the Island greatly needs.
     On Friday evening Dr. Paul Connors spoke about some interesting aspects of the Irish post-Mormon settlement on Beaver Island.  Looking at the big picture, the Irish migration here reversed their typical pattern of moving to large American cities, and was perhaps the best example of a slightly retro impulse: to capture the ambiance and lifestyle of the pre-famine culture.  The late John Gallagher always complained about how little the fish buyers paid for fish, but it was still enough to fuel a boom centering on America's best fresh-water fishing grounds that made a high percentage of Beaver Islanders proprietors of their own businesses and masters of their fate.
     Dr. Connors is a fascinating speaker. Not only does he understand the large forces shaping history, so that he can put Beaver Island in its proper context, but he also possesses a wealth of detailed information. He started telling stories about Father Peter Gallagher, who presided over (some would say ran) Beaver Island for the last third of the 19th Century, and regaled us with anecdotes about this colorful character that contained more information than most in the audience thought it possible to possess.

     Saturday afternoon featured the Pet Show, an opening of the Protar Home (which was also open on Wednesday), and a Ceili Dancing workshop held by Kitty Heinzeman's Corktown troupe.  These fun-loving Irish dancers were about eighteen strong.  Some booked their own places, some stayed with fellow dancer Linda Wearn in her new home, and others were hosted by John and Joyce Runberg, Pinky Harmon, and John McNeil.
     At the evening concert they led off and held court for an hour and a half, with golden-throated Brian Bonner creating the music.  When it seemed that the dancers had danced themselves out, the Hooley began, with local musicians like Island troubadour Barry Pischner, fiddle whiz Glen Hendrix, Jerry Sowa, L. D. Ryan, and Tammy McDonough taking turns at the mike. Lo and behold, those who a moment before were swearing they could dance no more got right back up, provoked by the music and also by the sprightly Connaghan sisters, Mr. Smoothie (Edward Palmer), and jig master Glen Felixson. The music ran past midnight, with John and Carol Runberg, Alvin LaFreniere, John Cull, and Rollie Cull helping out at the bar.  Our main regret was that musicologist Laurie Sommers was not here to tape this latest edition of a Beaver Island House Party for the annals of posterity.

The History of Museum Week

     Begun in 1980, quite a variety of presentations have been made over the past twenty years. How many of these do you remember?
     Here's a fairly complete list:
Quilt Shows; Historic Homes tour; Steve Harold's many talks; the Celtic influence; a used book sale; various craft demonstrations; Matt Hohn's "Beach and Dune plants"; films and slides from the Rogers Carlisle collection; a Street Dance; "Treasures from the Attic" sale; a Box Supper and Square Dance; "What do you do on Beaver Island"; an autograph party for Island authors; Island storytellers tell stories to children; an Antique toy display; Dick Dietrich's "Galapagos Islands"; the Protar Home opens; a Protar play is performed; Elaine Smith's "Sand in Your Shoes"; "Thirty Summers on Beaver Island with a camera"; "The chemistry of the Inland Lakes"; various aspects of Commercial Fishing; Beaver Island's Ferries; Music on the Porch; a Harbor Tour; "Loons"; "Shoreline Erosion"; Boat Tours of the Harbor; Northern Ireland, with Kevin Green, Kitty McNamara, and Paul Cole; Dwarf Lake Iris; "Fishing in Ireland"; "My Island Home" BIHS student video; Frank Ettawageshik singing, telling stories, or demonstrating his craft; Terry Bussey; "Drama, Legends, and Poetry"; Ramon Nelson on High Island; Folk and Square Dancing, with Glen Hendrix; the Arts Project; Donald Heldman's Archeology; a Treasure Hunt; "Acting" with Josh Broder; "Sketching"; a House and Garden Tour; Jim Gillingham; "Around the Island" cruise on the South Shore; Oral History; a tour of the Whiskey Point Light; a cruise on Madeline; Dave Clark's "For the Love of Spiders"; "The Ship and The Light", with John Runberg; Jack Cull's "Old Times on the Island"; Basketweaving styles with Karen Lewis; a Bishop Baraga Ceremony; Beaver Island's Irish Connection, with Kitty McNamara; the Mormon Connection, with John Cumming; "Edible and Medicinal Plants", with Keewaydinoquay; "Underwater Adventure: Scuba Diving in the Carribean" with Paul Cratin; a Lighthouse Tour aboard the South Shore; a Sunset Cruise; Eric Heline's Drum-making Exhibit; The House of David on High Island, with Clare Adkin; Henry Hill's "Tales from the Other End"; our Fishing Industry, with Jack Cull and Jim Willis; "Living in a Lighthouse" play; "The First Residents of Beaver Island" with Angeline Anthony; Keewaydinoquay's "Herbal Remedies"; the annual Art Show; The Dockside Market, with Dennis Clarkson; The Marold Explosion, by Dave Gladish; George Anthony's "Beaver Island Indians"; "To the Michigan Territories"; The Voyageurs; a special Stamp Cancellation; Ellen Weatherby's Edible Wild Plants; Dan Wujek's Endangered Plants; Phil Gregg's "Beaver Island, Then and Now"; Beaver Island House Party; Folk Songs of the Great Lakes; Beaver Island Ferries; the Celtic Spirit in Ireland; the view from Garden Island; Strang's Five Wives; the "stone circle"; the year 1900; the true story of the new ferry; the many Pet Shows; and the traditional Saturday Night Concert.

The Annual Meeting

     Don't miss this year's Annual Meeting at the Peaine Township Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 17th.  There will be reports from the President, the Treasurer, and the Director concerning the many aspects of the Historical Society's business, followed by a frank discussion and a question and answer session.
     Three matters will be put to a vote by the members: the proposed budget (see page 6); the Board of Trustees' recommended changes to the By-laws (these appeared in the Spring Newsletter and will be voted on one at a time); and the election of new Trustees.  Last year there was a record attendance by members who wanted their feelings and voices heard, and we were delighted at their interest.
     The terms of three Board members have expired, Rollie Cull, Ann Broder, and Ernie Martin.  Ann will not seek to continue, so there will be at least one new member. In addition, replacement members Alvin LaFreniere and Barry Pischner have to be ratified by a majority of the members present at the Annual Meeting. Remember, to vote, your dues for 2000 must be paid.
     If anyone needs a copy of the proposed By-law changes before the meeting, just let us know.

Designing our Board

     At a recent seminar hosted by Ann Glendon for all of the Beaver Island Communitys organizations, the idea was put forward that each organization should consider what kind of Board would be most effective at meeting its challenges and try to choose new members who will help bring this about. 
     To do this, it was suggested that each organization have a Nominating Committee that meets periodically throughout the year. It should assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Board, develop criteria for selecting new members, and recruit and nominate candidates who can improve the Board's make-up. Also, it should create an orientation program for new members so they understand the Society's goals and values, and their responsibilities for helping fulfill them.
     Now that we've entered an era of competition for Board positions, it behooves all of us to consider the objectives of the Historical Society and what kind of Board members would best help it meet them.

Expanding Our Mission

     The mission statement under which we have been operating is that our purpose is to discover, obtain, preserve, interpret, and display information and artifacts that help us understand Beaver Island's rich history.  Is this adequate, or should we spend time improving this before next year's Annual Meeting?

An Intern's Progress

     Rob Gehl, our intern from CMU, has been with us for six weeks now.  When he first arrived we asked him to look over our operations and projects and tell us how he thought he could help us the most. Fresh from a course in Museum Science, he quickly zeroed in on the part of our collection that has been languishing in our back attic, and proposed that he take each artifact, moderatelyclean it, check its acquisition number and give it one if it was missing, and then sort these items into groups which each share a kind of preservation requirement. For example, group all those things that need a certain temperature or level of humidity.
     As we did this, he offered, he would enter this data in a special computer file. This file would allow us to search for, say, a violin bow or a woven basket, and it would show us how many such items we had and where they could be found. Since Laurie Dickens, our Museum Consultant, had told us that we should do much the same thing on her visit here last September, we accepted his suggestion and made this his primary assignment.
     We also used his help in a number of other ways.  He helped build the stairway and mezzanine in the Heritage Park barn, which we needed for increased storage. He designed a new exhibit for the Marine Museum, sat in when a volunteer was unavailable, solved several glitches with the cash registers, helped make signs, wrapped photos and documents in plastic, restocked our book counters, and handled acquisitions during his time here.  Plus he was a general gopher. All in all, he got a good idea what museum work's about

A Word About Our Projects

     A number of ongoing projects are in various stages of completion. Volume 5 of the Journal of Beaver Island History is still open to receiving manuscripts; the last to arrive was Phil Gregg's continuation of his saga about our ferries. Since we did not get this out this summer, we are scheduling it by working backwards from a planned June 1, 2001 release date: manuscripts in by deer hunting season; editorial work to take place all winter; final composing in March; and off to the printer in early to mid April.
     In June we designated Robert Cole to continue the oral history program that was begun ten years ago.  We are waiting for him to develop a specific proposal for funding, for which we will try to obtain a grant.  If he follows through, his interviews might lead to publishing a book, tentatively titled This Was The Life.
     The Jeanie Johnston was launched late and with lingering incompletions that delayed her journey to America. We are in touch with their New York office, and we hope to work out a time for her to stop here next summer.
     Sales of Birdhouses have been slow, with fewer than two dozen sold so far.  We are considering the possibility of trying to redirect some of this Grant towards the making and posting of historic signs.
     We are finally routing the Historic Signs that we intend to place around the Island, and some should be up by the time of the Annual Meeting.    
     The Marine Museum has new Captains exhibits, and more are expected soon.
     Plans for the Heritage Park's outdoor exhibit are moving forward, although most of our effort here has been on improving the barn. We have a critical need for storage and work space in which to maintain and repair our many artifacts.

The South Wall

     When it comes to the south wall, it might be a slight exaggeration to say that no subject has aroused so much passionate opinion on Beaver Island since the streetcorner debaters argued over how many wives were needed by Strang's Saints.
     Many people have admired the exposed timbers. After all, they're immense, hand-hewn logs which show the random and forceful pattern of their manufacture. But recommending a good plan for preserving this as an exposed log wall has been a more daunting task.
     We think the logs were sided during the Mormon period, as Strang's home was.  They had to be on before 1897, when the Gibson House was built a foot away from this wall; there wasn't enough room to swing a hammer.. Consequently after we rechink the logs and spray them with a sealer, we intend to cover them with the wide pine boards we bought from Bob Graves.  We may leave a 4' x 4' square uncovered, with the logs protected by a sheet of UV-retarding safety glass. This work should be underway by the Annual Meeting.