Grant Awarded: November 2004

Type of Grant: Humanities Project Grant

Sponsor: Michigan Technological University

Contact: Phyllis Johnson, Director, Van Pelt Library, phjohnso@mtu.edu

Website: ethnicity.lib.mtu.edu/

Award: $15,000

UPDATE -- December 20, 2007

MICHIGAN TECH ARCHIVES WEB SITES RECEIVE AWARD

Two online tools developed by the MTU Archives and J.R. Van Pelt Library were recently accorded honors by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). The organization's Leadership in History awards committee presented a 2007 Award of Merit to the MTU Archives for its "Interior Ellis Island" and "Keweenaw Digital Archives" web projects.

Developed with grant support from the Michigan Humanities Council, the sites provide remote access to rare historical resources that explore the rich ethnic and cultural history of Michigan's Copper Country. The "Interior Ellis Island" site, online at ethnicity.lib.mtu.edu, includes content examining local regional ethnic history, while the "Keweenaw Digital Archives," online at digarch.lib.mtu.edu, provides access to more than 3,000 historical photographs from the MTU Archives' collections.

"Historians and the general public often underestimate the importance of Michigan's Upper Peninsula mining industries in the state's development,"
noted Marcus Robyns, university archivist at Northern Michigan University, in his nomination letter for the award. "Much of the best historical resource material on this aspect of state history is held by smaller organizations and institutions in this geographically-remote area of the state."

The AASLH awards committee commended the project for its publicly-accessible web resources, and was particularly impressed by the way that the sites encourage users to investigate and learn about the region's rich culture and history.

The AASLH Leadership in History Award, now in its 62nd year, is the most prestigious competition of achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- July 1, 2006
CONTACT: Scott Hirko, Public Relations Officer,
shirko [at] mihumanities.org, 517-372-0029 ext. 25

MTU LIBRARY NETS $15,000 FOR KEWEENAW DIGITAL ARCHIVE

(HOUGHTON)-----Today, the Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) awarded a $15,000 grant to the J. R. Van Pelt Library at Michigan Technological University for a new “digital archive” documenting local history in the Keweenaw Peninsula. The grant was awarded as a part of MHC’s program “Strengthening Michigan’s Communities Through the Humanities,” which emphasizes community collaboration to serve Michiganians today with public humanities programs. The grant award was one of a number of activities at the University related to the project, titled “An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan’s Copper Country.”

“This public humanities program provides an important resource to make the history of the Keweenaw available to future generations, and to provide discussion about this era in Michigan’s mining history” stated Jan Fedewa, executive director of the Michigan Humanities Council. “The Michigan Humanities Council is pleased to fund this project’s engaging public programs.”

The grant award was presented as part of a day-long symposium about the rich ethnic history of Michigan’s Copper Country. Events included a “virtual” ribbon cutting ceremony in which participated in the debut of the new digital archive. This web site is devoted to the Keweenaw’s rich ethnic history and a provides access to historical photographs from the MTU Archives & Copper Country Historical Collections and other local museum collections which help tell the story of immigrants in Michigan's Copper Country.

The symposium included presentations and public discussion exploring the “push-pull” mechanism of migration by examining the economic factors that pushed migrants out of various parts of the world and other factors that pulled them to the Keweenaw. Speakers included Dr. Timothy O’Neil from Central Michigan University, Jo Urion from Keweenaw National Historical Park, Dr. Arnold Alanen from the University of Wisconsin, Kim Hoagland from Michigan Technological University, and Edward Yarbrough from the Quincy Mine Hoist Association. Other participants in the events included Congressman Bart Stupak, Sheri Davie (assistant to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow), and Dale Tahtinen, MTU Vice President for Governmental Relations

"This project highlights the rich historical collections here at Michigan Tech," noted project director and Van Pelt Library Director Phyllis Johnson, "and provides additional links to the holdings of other historical societies and libraries in the region. The creation of web-accessible collections like these enables people from around the world to interact with local historical material without having to physically travel to the Keweenaw."

"By gathering resources from area museums, archives, libraries, and Native American organizations this archive will take an inclusive approach that incorporates a diverse range of cultural perspectives," said Congressman Bart Stupak. "It is great to see the Michigan Technological University, the Michigan Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities collaborate with the people of the Copper Country on a project to help us all celebrate the great history of this beautiful piece of America."

The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state’s independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For additional information on the Michigan Humanities Council, please visit: www.michiganhumanities.org or call 517-372-7770.

#####

MTU AWARDED $15,000 FOR COPPER COUNTRY PROJECT

(LANSING)-----The Michigan Humanities Council announces Michigan Technological University has been awarded a $15,000 Humanities Project Grant for “An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan’s Copper Country.” The Michigan Humanities Council awarded the grant as part of its program, “Strengthening Michigan’s Communities Through the Humanities,” which emphasizes collaboration among cultural, educational and community-based organizations and institutions to serve Michiganians today with public humanities projects and programs.

“ This project will improve access and use important humanities resources about Copper Country’s ethnic and cultural history,” said Janice Fedewa, Executive Director of the Michigan Humanities Council. “It encourages collaboration between historians and a variety of community-based cultural organizations to select content, create web resources and develop a one-day symposium about Copper Country heritage.”

“ An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan’s Copper Country” is a collaborative project involving Michigan Technological University, Central Michigan University, Keweenaw National Historical Park, Quincy Mine Hoist Association, a K-12 Advisory Group (involving students and teachers at Hancock Central High School and the Public Schools of Calumet, Laurium and Keweenaw), and a variety of area historical societies and cultural organizations. A group of historians and archivists from these organizations will create and select content for internet resources and apply educational perspectives to the project. Additional financial support has been provided by Dr. Robert and Ruth Nara of Bootjack, Michigan.

The project will be shared to the public in three distinct ways :
(1) A series of web pages exploring the complex ethnic history of Michigan's historic copper mining district;
(2) Two-thousand digital objects added to the “Keweenaw Digital Archives Project ,” a searchable web-based image server;
(3) A symposium and kick-off event, “An Interior Ellis Island: Ethnic Diversity and the Peopling of Michigan’s Copper Country,’ to be held in Houghton, Michigan.

" This is a wonderful opportunity for us to share the great historical treasures of our region," said Phyllis Johnson, Director of the J.R. Van Pelt Library at Michigan Technological University. "It's not simply enough to digitize archival material; we must continue to find new ways to describe, organize and share information that makes it relevant to people's lives. This project will examine the complex ethnic stories that color our region's unique mining and urban history, and it will invite the general public to share their own stories with others."

The web pages and image server will be opened for public use as part of the kick-off events associated with the October symposium. For more information about Michigan Technological University and the historical collections at the J.R. Van Pelt Library, please visit www.lib.mtu.edu. To learn more about the Michigan Humanities Council, visit michiganhumanities.org.

The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state’s independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

#####