| The State of the BIHS The Beaver Island Historical Society has had a good year. After a period of decline, membership has risen by 30%. The number of visitors to the museums has increased as well, particularly in the off-season. Volume IV of The Journal of Beaver Island History was released on schedule, and quickly sold over 600 copies, putting us in the black. New exhibits were installed in the Print Shop. Museum Week was an unmitigated success (see page 4.)
Thanks to Jeanne Howell's dedicated management of the volunteers, both the Print Shop and the Marine Museum were run without a hitch. The Heritage Park grounds were cleared during the summer, and it was discovered that a part of the railroad bed that ran through this land can still be seen (this will become an exhibit.)
We have increased the computerization of our operation. Correspondence, memos, and reports are on file. With the help of Mike Moore, we have created an accession policy, and the overwhelming task of cataloguing the artifacts and records has begun. A number of images (and the manuscript for Volume IV) have been saved on cd.
Jeanne Howell and Ann Broder have been added to the Board, bringing the total to nine. Ann and her family are working hard to organize her mother's papers.
William Cashman continues to serve as Director while the Board assesses what this position requires. A vision of where the BIHS would like to go is slowly taking shape, but a plan for how to get there is proving more stubborn. Some projects are mandatory (such as the shoring up of the Print Shop foundation), and others are desirable (such as an increase in our publications.) All require funds. The Director should be someone who grasps the Historical Society's goals, and has the ability to organize the complicated apparatus we feel is required to get there.
Comments or suggestions are welcome. Restoration of the Print Shop Museum No one will be surprised to hear that the Print Shop needs a lot of repair work. The most pressing projects are the restoration of the Print Shop foundation and the replacement of the Kitchen Addition.
Some time ago it was noticed that rot had entered the Print Shop foundation. A conservator investigated, and announced that the bottom logs would have to be replaced. His informal guess as to cost was ten thousand dollars. Since costs rise, and rot never sleeps, we expect the cost to be around fifteen thousand dollars now --and increasing.
The BIHS can not afford to undertake this work at present, but we feel that we can't let it go much longer. Therefor we have committed ourself to doing it next year, during the 1999/2000 off-season. Consequently we'll be dedicating much of our effort next year to obtaining funds for this work.
The same conservator also examined the Kitchen Addition. He stated that it was "full of rot", and that to repair it might cost forty thousand dollars. He suggested such a repair would be a band-aid, and that a more complete restoration would eventually be required.
We have decided to skip the intermediary step of a temporary fix, and set our sights on replacing the Kitchen Addition with a new and larger comparable structure. Such an addition might be 28' wide and 42' deep. It could include a second floor for office and storage and a new bathroom on the first floor. Moving the office out of the "Post Office Addition" will restore the best display space to exhibits.
The second floor storage space will allow us to prepare rotating displays, as well as keep our inventory of books in a handy location .
Having this much room will allow us to increase the space devoted to each category. The Mormon Era can expand into the two southern rooms in the Print Shop, instead of just one. With all the new interest in this topic, and the growing pressure to place Strang in the context of mainstream Mormonism, it will be easy to fill this space.
Our Native American Room could also use more space. Contributions of photos and artifacts (including Jeremy Barrett's donation of his archaeological finds) have been increasing and will continue to do so.
Cultural History and Agricultural History are currently represented, but we have much interesting material that is not on display. We improved our "Then and Now" exhibit this year, but it only includes the town; a number of people have suggested we expand it to show the countryside. We could --if we had the space.
The fields of Natural History and Contemporary History are barely represented. The professors at CMU, as well as the field staff for Michigan's Natural Features Inventory and a handful of independent researchers have offered to help us obtain materials and organize a natural history display.
The rate of change to Beaver Island seems to be increasing exponentially. Much of the past has slipped away, leaving only wispy shadows. But we are in a unique position to be able to record the events of today and preserve their causes for those in the future, our children and grandchildren, who might wonder how some of the changes came to pass.
A rough guess of the cost of such a program is that it will be close to a quarter of a million dollars. Since we have struggled along for forty years without ever seeming to have enough money, how can we ever hope to raise such an ammount?
We don't know. A number of ideas have been put forth, including special fund-raising drives, increasing distribution of our publications, applying for grants and donations, and even obtaining a mortgage.
First things first. First we have to restore the Print Shop's foundation. Then we have to analyze exactly what our needs are, and design a facility to address them. Then the Building Committee can get a preliminary estimate of cost. And then we'll have an accurate target.
When might this happen? Not tomorrow, but hopefully within five years. We thank PABI for showing us that amazing results can be obtained by those willing to work to achieve their dream. Improvements at the Marine Museum Perhaps because the Marine Museum requires the less immediate work than the Print Shop, we have decided to concentrate on making a few pressing improvements to it during this off-season.
The lack of restroom facilities has affected both visitors and staff. At times we have borrowed a portable stall from the Townships. Now the Board has decided to pur-chase one of our own.
The floor of the lower level has been a growing problem, with wind and weather coming through the cracks, some of which are large enough to catch a heel. This winter the Board has approved adding new joists and wolmanized plywood, and then reinstalling the original flooring boards, after they have been uniformly sized.
The most daunting task we face involves the outdoor displays, particularly the two fish tugs, the Bob S and the Gertrude K. The Bob S was placed on fieldstone cradles, and the interior restoration was started. We spent almost $30,000 on this (including the ramp system). The goal is to have both boats situated at the same level, sealed to the weather and connected to the ramp system so people can walk around and into them to be able to understand what the commercial fishing business involved. In addition, we must finish the restoration of the Bradley lifeboat inside.
We are also investigating what to do about the gradual deterioration of the Zoltan Sepeshy mural. An art restoration expert is coming to the Island, and will give us a wriiten analysis of what the mural needs and how much it might cost. Heritage Park Twenty years ago, we were given a long-term lease on some property on the Donegal Bay Road. After a few years, a large gambrel-roofed barn was built for storage. Over the years, the building was swallowed by the woods, but this summer we cleared the dense brush away. Now we are collecting ideas about how best to use this land.
The original plan was to place outdoor materials here which are too large to go inside, such as farm equipment. Later, Curt Petrak prepared a plan for setting up a working "craft village."
We have the Island's first generator here, and, inside, the engine from the Bob S, which could be made operational.
The barn is invaluable for storage, but we are interested in hearing any suggestions about what do with the land. BIHS Finances The financial picture is brighter than it has been before. This year, income was up by $8,000+, but expenses (even with publication of Volume IV and the extensive clearing work done at Heritage Park) were up by only $3,500.
Our Endowment Fund has reached $15,000. So far, we have left the fund's earnings in the fund to help it grow. Eventually these earnings will be used to pay for the maintenance of the BIHS facilities. The Finance Committee will discuss at what point this might be expected to begin.
In mid-November, the BIHS had $11,500 in its checking account, $3,500 of accounts receivable, and $2,300 in the special savings account set up to fund future publications. The vote for us to receive a share of the millage really helps. Irish/Gaelic Publications This fall we received a visit from Brian Doyle and Liz Hurley, who run America's leading Gaelic/Irish publication in Chicago. They had read that a hundred and twenty years ago, Beaver Island had one of the most noteworthy Irish/Gaelic-speak-ing communities in America, and wondered if there were any traces of that today. Imagine their surprise to discover the welcome sign on the boat dock, street signs with names such as Paid Een Og's Road and Donnell Mor's :Lane, and the inscriptions on Cindy Gillespie's window!
Information on their publication can be obtained from Brian at 3419 W. Drummond Place, Apt 3A, Chicago IL 60647. Beaver Islanders Return During the past year, a number of former Beaver Islanders came back to the place of their birth from all across the state and country --some for the first time in decades. A common stop on many of their itineraries was the Print Shop Museum, either to conduct research or simply say hello.
Charles Dunleavy's family came from Chicago for a week; Lucille Gillespie and her relatives came also; and the last of the Piper Gallaghers paid a visit. Louise Kane, who was born on High, moved to Garden, and then lived on Beaver, visited with her brother and let us copy photographs of her Native American Dance Troupe in Sutton's Bay. Glendora Swofford, daughter of the Israelites' tennant farmer in the 30's and the last woman born on High, visited from Sacramento --Louise Kane was present at her birth
But perhaps the most inspiring story was that of Agnes Bird. She had been born on Garden Island during the First World War. When her parents died, she was raised by a grandmother. She was sent to Indian School in Harbor Springs when she was five, and made to learn English. From there it was the Mount Pleasant Indian School, and then Santa Fe. After graduating, life caught her up, and the chance to return never came. This July her three daughters from California and Nevada brought her to Beaver and, thanks to Ernie Martin,back to the place of her birth.
Unfortunately, neither the site of her parents' graves (which had been marked with a pine) or her grandmother's home could be found in an afternoon of hiking. But walking trails she had not seen for almost eighty years was a great thrill, and Agnes's family promised that, health permitting, they will return with her next summer for an extended search. New Additions to the Native American Room This summer we were delighted to be allowed to copy two sets of photographs brought to the Island by people touching base with their roots, using the new BIHS scanner.
The first was of Louise (Cornstalk) Kane's Dance Troupe. These pictures were in color, and showed a wonderful collection of bright costumes created by the dancers themselves, Native American children from the Sutton's Bay area. The dancers' expressions are radiant with a rare emotion: pride of identity. These pictures are displayed in a horizontal pattern near the ceiling, as if their subjects are dancing over, or in spite of, the often hard life depicted by everything below.
The second set was from Agnes Bird and her children, and show a variety of buildings and people in the years between the World Wars. There are family portraits, parents with their children, dapper young men doing their best to look fashionable, and pictures of a group travelling between islands in a canoe --including Louise Kane's powerful-looking aunt. The depth of culture they depict is both surprising and moving. Next Year´s Museum Week Planning is underway for next year's Museum Week --July 18th through the 24th. Now is the time to express your preferences for the kind of events we will host. Let us know what you'd like, and we'll do our best to comply.
(A summary of Museum Week 98) News and the Media Several interactions with "the media" have made us more aware of how broad our opportunities really are. It began with Museum Week, which the local radio and TV stations and newspapers were happy to plug.
We also followed up the success of our Shapers poster, the popular collage that announced this year's Open House, with a large color poster depicting the events of Museum Week along rays from the Whiskey Point Light. This immediately became a collector's item.
Some newspaper writers are working on stories about the Island's present and past, such as Jim Dufay of the Booth chain and, the Chicago Tribune's Dave Young, who is researching an article on Lake Michigan pirates.
This summer the Detroit Free Press ran a picture on the front page of its Travel section that came from beaverisland.net
A number of producers contacted the BIHS this past year. A production company in Muskegon wanted to make a documentary film about King Strang. Equity Studios in Sturgis is preparing a documentary on Michigan's Lighthouses, and wrote us about including ours. Lynx Productions, based in Toronto, is doing a video/book package on Mysterious Islands of the Great Lakes, and came here this sum-
mer to shoot some scenes. The Island's Master Storyteller, Phil Gregg, did some on-camera narration that may be included. BIHS Establishes a More-public Presence
The Historical Society has begun to play a more visible role in the Island's social life. We have established an "open on demand" policy for the off-season --a policy that brought dozens of visitors into the Museums, including the cruisers from the German Tour Boat. We operated a table at the annual Fly-In and at the Christmas Bazaar. And we sponsored the Island's contribution to the national "Make A Difference Day," organizing crews to bake for shut-ins, clean up the beach, and thin brush at the Protar Home. |
