TC Tour Teaser – TAHS May Program

Virtual Tour Teaser …. reintroducing TAHS tours for 2021!
Saturday May 22nd, 2:00-3:00 pm. Zoom platform.

Pre-register here: https://www.tadl.org/event/traverse-area-historical-society/

Traverse Area Historical Society members will host a virtual May program featuring pre-recorded video and narration of our popular Downtown and Oakwood Cemetery tour stops. Tour guides will be present live to go more in depth on local people and places of historical interest and to answer your questions. We will also discuss the upcoming TAHS tour season. This program is presented in conjunction with Traverse Area District Library.

TAHS/TADL Internship Available

Traverse Area District Library/Traverse Area Historical Society Job Opening

Petertyl Archival Intern – Temporary – Main Library, Local History Collection
40 hours over 8 weeks during Summer, 2021

With the sponsorship of the Traverse Area Historical Society’s Petertyl Education Fund, the Traverse Area District Library has a temporary position as a Petertyl Archival Intern. The intern will participate in various projects in the Local History Collection at the Main Library and will be trained in a variety of archival methods and collection care. The internship will consist of approximately five (5) hours per week over the eight (8) week term.

Hourly Rate: $11.55
Posting Date: 4/16/21
Deadline for applications: 5/3/21

If you are interested in applying for this position, please submit your resume, a fully completed TADL application form along with a cover letter to: Human Resources, Traverse Area District Library, 610 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City, MI 49686 or by email to jobs@tadl.org. For questions please call 932-8549 or email jobs@tadl.org

TAHS Program: Woman’s Local History Month

March 27th at 1:00, Zoom platform. Register here: https://www.tadl.org/event/traverse-area-historical-society-presents-womens-local-history-month-via-zoom/

Join Peg Siciliano from the Traverse Area Historical Society as she, Ann Swaney and Anne Magoun talk about historical women’s groups in Traverse City as well as the Ladies Library and how important women were in the building of the “new” library.

TAHS Program: Reelecting Lincoln – The 1864 Presidential Election that Saved the Union

February 27th @2:00pm. Zoom platform — register here: https://www.tadl.org/event/traverse-area-historical-society-presents-reelecting-lincoln-the-1864-presidential-election-that-saved-the-union-zoom/

On February 27th at 2 pm, TAHS Board Vice President and Interlochen Arts Academy history instructor Brian McCall will present “Reelecting Lincoln” — The 1864 Presidential election that saved the Union”. As we have all seen in the past year, elections have consequences, and Abraham Lincolns’ bid for reelection was one for the ages. The fate of the Civil War resulting in Union victory and the future of slavery in the United States hung in the balance. With thousands of young men in camps or on the battlefields, Lincoln and the Republicans needed to find a way to count their votes to finish what the war had started–and the absentee ballots returned by soldiers favored Lincoln 3-1 over his Democratic opponent and former Union general, George B. McClellan. Brian McCall will cover the runup to the race and how Lincoln and his teams of skilled military leaders and political professionals turned the tide first on the battlefield and then at the ballot box. His victory sealed the fate of the Confederacy and ensured the death of slavery in America.

TAHS Program: Historical Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes

December 5th, 2:00 pm, Zoom platform

In conjunction with the Traverse Area District Library, Traverse Area Historical Society will host photographer Chris Roxburgh as he shares his photos and diving stories from shipwrecks of the Great Lakes via Zoom. Chris is a nationally published photographer, environmental advocate and local author. Chris will be sharing pictures from local and state-wide historical shipwrecks.

Please pre-register here: https://www.tadl.org/event/traverse-area-historical-society-presents-historical-shipwrecks-with-chris-roxburgh-via-zoom/

Books Available for Purchase through TAHS

Traverse Area Historical Society has many books available for purchase pertaining to a variety of local history topics. Books can be shipped, or a socially distant pick-up can be arranged with a society member. Please contact us at traversehistory@gmail.com if there is a publication you would like to purchase.

Currents of the Boardman – $15.00 (+ Shipping)

“Queen City” Barns –
$15.00 (+ Shipping)

TAHS Annual Member Meeting

The Traverse Area Historical Society will hold its annual meeting on Sunday, October 25, 2020 at 2:00 PM. The Board of Directors will present on the state of the society and its past activities of 2020 and its future plans. They will also present the Society’s financial picture and proposed 2021 budget.  The Board is seeking member and community input on its activities and ideas for the future. The meeting will conclude with the election of Board members by all members present.  

This event will occur online in a Zoom meeting format with the support of the Traverse Area District Library. Please pre-register for this meeting via following link: https://www.tadl.org/event/traverse-area-historical-society-via-zoom-2/

August Newsletter and Virtual Oakwood Cemetery Tour announced

Enjoy our 2020 August newsletter! Catch up with the Society’s happenings, read an update on preserving the Hitchcock/Goodale Farmhouse foundations, and enjoy a little history (both old and new)!

We’ve also launched the Virtual Oakwood Cemetery Tour on our Facebook page! “Like” our page to be reminded of this special program.

Each day for the next 5 weeks, a new stop on the tour will be posted. COVID may have halted our in-person tour, but here is a different way to “visit” these historic locations. Here’s our post from Day One, August 31st, 2020:

Oakwood Cemetery was established 1861, located on land deeded to the City by James Morgan, a partner with Hannah, Lay & Company. Oakwood replaced the town’s first cemetery, which had opened in 1853. It had been located across Sixth Street from what would later become the Perry Hannah mansion.

The black and white image shows the first cemetery’s approximate location, visible on the left of the photo. This ca 1895 photo was taken looking southeast towards Sixth from Front and Wadsworth Streets. We know it was taken before 1904, as it shows empty land at today’s location of the Crooked Tree Arts Center, housed in Traverse City’s Historic Carnegie Library complex. The Perry Hannah mansion is the large house on the left of the photo. The cupola of Central School on 8th Street can be seen in the center of the image.

Traverse Area Historical Society March/April Events

Dear Members,

Given the Governor’s Executive orders and local health officials’ guidance, the Traverse Area Historical Society is cancelling our March and April monthly programs and our April Board meeting. Plans for our May events will be shared as we have a better idea of the health situation in the community.

Respectfully,

Stephen Siciliano
President
TAHS

February 2020 Program: Abraham Lincoln through the Eyes of Political Cartoonists

Back by popular demand —

Don’t miss the Traverse Area Historical Society’s February program, Sunday the 16th, 2pm in the McGuire Room at Traverse Area District Library, 610 Woodmere, Traverse City. Our programs at TADL will be held on the third Sunday of every month, February, March, April, May, September, October, and November at 2:00 pm.

TAHS Board Chair, Stephen Siciliano, will be speaking on “Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency Through the Eyes of the Political Cartoonists of His Day.”  If you think Presidents Trump and Obama have been roughly handled by today’s press, you will be amazed by the treatment of the man who we now see as one of our greatest presidents. Siciliano has a PhD in American History from the College of William Mary, where his area of special study was the Civil War.