Blog Post
Ann Arbor, circa 1968
by amy
On Thursday, UM will celebrate its heyday as a center of social activism in the late 1960s with a panel discussion on the social protests of 1968, beginning at 4:00 p.m., and a performance by Country Joe at 8:00 p.m.
These events accompany an exhibit from UM's Labadie collection titled "The Whole World Was Watching: Protest and Revolution in 1968," currently on view in the Hatcher Graduate Library Gallery. Other photographs of Ann Arbor during this period, such as this one can be found at site 15 of the Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit program.
Blog Post
The history of South University
by amy
This week the Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit will dedicate four new wall displays that tell the story of South University from the late 19th century through today. The displays cover area businesses and images include a wonderful 1898 panorama of the area, Miller's Ice Cream, C-Ted's Standard gas station, Tice's Men's Shop and a glimpse of the home where philosopher and educator John Dewey lived. The dedication will take place Thursday, November 6, at 5:00 p.m. on the corner of South and East University.
Blog Post
New Additions to Ann Arbor Historical Signs Collection
by andrewjmac
The Ann Arbor Historical Signs Collection in pictureAnnArbor just got bigger. We've recently added over 100 new photos, bringing our portrait of 1970's Ann Arbor up to 570 images. These new additions include many businesses from Main, Maple, and East Liberty. We've also reorganized the collection to help you browse through all of the photos more easily. If you happen to want to look at a specific street or find a specific business, just enter those words into our Image Gallery Search at the bottom of any image gallery page and see what pops up.
Ann Arbor Historical Signs is a collection of photographs taken by the Ann Arbor Sign Inspector. Mostly taken in the 1970's, the collection gives a rich picture of the businesses and goings-on in Ann Arbor 35 years ago.
Blog Post
Catalogue of the Ann Arbor High School, 1904-05
by amy
The full view (text and images) of hundreds of books on Ann Arbor history are now available through Google books, including Catalogue of the Ann Arbor High School, 1904-1905. The above photo, of the interior of the Ann Arbor Public Library, first appeared in the Ann Arbor High School catalogue of 1909-1910. Google also delivers a History of Michigan published in 1841, A History of St. Andrew's Church published in 1906, and The City of Ann Arbor, by the Ann Arbor Business Men's Association, published in 1887.
Blog Post
I Can't Believe These People!
by local_girl
This week I managed to finagle my way into a very cool meeting at Skyline High School. The mission for the group was to figure out how to use the Downtown Ann Arbor Street Exhibit in the curriculum at the new high school. In the room were 11 community volunteers and five teachers from Skyline. Some of the teachers could only pop in for a moment because, well, they're teachers and if you know a teacher, then you know they are crazy busy.
Just so you know, most of the community volunteers who came are a) retired and b) former educators. Some of them have spent unspeakable hours conceiving of, raising money for, researching and promoting the Street Exhibit. They have rounded up over 60 Ann Arborites willing to donate their time to the cause of helping our kids make the connection between where we've been and where we are.
The energy in the room blew my mind. The teachers (Pam Jenkins totally rocks, by the way) were truly excited about figuring out how to make it work. The whole deal is not out of the standard high school playbook and everyone was totally into it. More on this later, but I can't believe these people. OK, I believe. I believe.
Blog Post
Ann Arbor YMCA celebrates 150 years
by amy
This Sunday, September 28, from 2-5 p.m. the Ann Arbor YMCA will celebrate its 150th anniversary with a parade, music and other special events. The above image, from the Making of Ann Arbor postcard collection, is of an earlier Ann Arbor YMCA building. More photographs and documents relating to the history of the Ann Arbor Y are on display at the Museum on Main Street until November 22.
Blog Post
New Exhibit at the Argus Museum
by amy
Come and see what a bunch of talented photographers can do with a vintage Argus, once the largest-selling American-made 35mm camera, first produced here in Ann Arbor. The exhibit, "Vintage Argus: Contemporary Images," is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Area Crappy Camera Club (A3C3), the Argus Museum, and the Michigan Photographic Historical Society (MiPHS) and is located in the original Argus Building (home of the Argus Museum) at 535 W. William St. The exhibit runs through October 12 and is open to the public 9-5 p.m. weekdays. Opening reception is Friday, September 12, 6-9 p.m.
Blog Post
Back to the New High School
by amy
As Ann Arbor marks the opening of its newest high school, take a look at this 101-year-old photograph of the then-new Ann Arbor High School in 1907. It was the pride of Ann Arbor, with its attached Carnegie library, but as fate would have it everything but the library facade was torn down last year to make room for the soon-to-be North Quad dormitory. An earlier image of an Ann Arbor high school is this 1859 engraving from the Making of Ann Arbor collection.
Blog Post
True Confessions of an Ann Arbor Historian
by local_girl
History is boring. Local history is even worse. You must be a spectacular geek to be interested in, much less involved with, the local history scene.
Well, that might be true, but here I am anyway. I have loved this town for as long as I can remember and, like the people I love, I want to know Ann Arbor's whole story. That's all historians do. Fall in love with a place, person or era and find out all they can about it.
For example, what did Ann Arbor look like when she was a baby? How about as a teenager? I look at the book Historic buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Marjorie Reade and Susan Wineberg like an old family album. I study it and try to recognize something of the past in the town I know today. (FYI, if you click here you can look at this book online.)
I also like to hang around people who will tell me stories about when Ann Arbor was young. So imagine my delight when I heard that Kempf House is having a big ol' party in September. I imagine there will be plenty of folks there who would be more than willing to share a tale or two. There will also be food and beer so count me in!
See you there?
SEPTEMBERFEST
Date: Sun 7 Sep 2008
Time: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location: Kempf House Museum Garden
Description: Beer and brats! Four flavors of beer from Arbor Brewing, brats on a bun with sauerkraut and mustard, hot pretzels baked specially by the ladies at Bethlehem Church, and ice cream and toppings from the Washtenaw Dairy - all for $40 ($30 for members)!
Contact: 734-994-4898
Blog Post
Local Frank Lloyd Wright House for sale
by amy
Click image for larger view and the text from Historic Buildings, Ann Arbor.
The William and Mary Palmer House, Ann Arbor's only Frank Lloyd Wright house, is on the market for the first time and the asking price is 1.5 million. The house, at 227 Orchard Hills Drive near the Arboretum, comes with original furniture and a collection of Wright's papers, but there's a catch--the house must remain as-is. Find out more about the Palmer House through AADL's Ann Arbor Architecture Archive, which includes the entry on the Palmer House taken from Historic Buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan.