History Center hosts Legends program

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Peg Siciliano, archivist at The History Center, stands in front of the new exhibit entitled, "Legends of the Grand Traverse Region: Community out of Diversity." Record-Eagle/Loraine Anderson

September 15, 2012

History Center hosts Legends program

'Community out of Diversity' launches Sept. 22

By LORAINE ANDERSON landerson@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Sat Sep 15, 2012, 07:14 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — The History Center of Traverse City is trying something new for the next few years: a rotating "Legends" exhibit every spring and fall to showcase area people who helped break barriers of their times.

The first "Legends of the Grand Traverse Region: Community out of Diversity" exhibit launches Sept. 22 with a grand opening at the History Center at 322 Sixth Street.

The five-week exhibit focuses on Art Duhamel, Emelia Schaub, and Dr. Augusta Rosenthal-Thompson. Duhamel was an Indian treaty fishing rights activist. Schaub was the state's first woman prosecutor. And Augusta Rosenthal-Thompson was Traverse City's first woman doctor.

Duhamel and Schaub played pivotal roles in the area Ottawa and Chippewa struggles for affirmation of their Indian treaty rights, Duhamel in the 1970s and Schaub in the 1930s and 1940s. A federal court decision in 1979 affirmed the treaty and also eventually led to the creation of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

Rosenthal-Thompson came to Traverse City in 1886 and practiced here for 25 years. She also did medical research on diphtheria after the disease claimed her son.

The exhibit also includes hands-on activities: a map asks people to put a pin on a map to show where they came from or were born. There also is a "So You Want to Be A Legend" questionnaire that will be recorded on an iPad.

The grand opening starts at 4 p.m. with a talk by Matthew L.M. Fletcher, followed by a reception and refreshments.

Fletcher is a law professor and director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University College of Law. He is author of "The Eagle Returns: The Legal History of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians." He also is a GTB member.

Admission to the grand opening is free, but goodwill offerings are appreciated, exhibit organizers said.

The exhibit runs through Oct. 25 and will conclude with an afternoon workshop on genealogy and "lost mothers" and an evening presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Faue, Professor of American History and the History of Women at Wayne State University.

The topic of her talk is, "Barriers and Gateways: Women, Gender, and the Professions in the United States."

The History Center received a two-year, $15,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council for the 2012 and 2013 exhibits. Much of it will be used for signage, area history timeline and other panels that can be used repeatedly in the rotating spring and fall exhibits over the next years, archivist Peg Siciliano said.

Succeeding exhibits will also focus on a diverse mix of local legendary people and families who have broken barriers in their communities.

Next year's spring Legends exhibit will focus on more recent history — Dr. Harry Weitz, a Jewish doctor at Munson Medical Center; Rev. Marshall R. Collins, a black pastor at Northport Indian Mission Church; and Les Biederman and others involved in the development of Northwestern Michigan College and Munson Medical Center, Siciliano said.

History Center museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5, children 4 and under free

The History Center's partners in researching and planning the Legends exhibits are: The Grand Traverse Genealogical Society, the Northwest Lower Michigan Women's History Project, Congregation Beth El, the Hispanic Apostolate of the Diocese of Gaylord, the Traverse City Human Rights Commission, Northwestern Michigan College history instructor Jim Press and Cindy Patek of the Grand Traverse Band's Eyaawing Museum and Cultural Center.