| Grant
Awarded: November
2004
Type of Grant: Humanities Project Grant
Sponsor:
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
Contact:
Thomas Farnquist, 906-635-1742, tfarnqst@up.net
Award:
$15,000
Website:
www.shipwreckmuseum.com
“This
project perfectly represents the humanities by creating an educational
exhibit about the history of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the
U.S. Coast Guard at Whitefish Point,” said Janice Fedewa,
Executive Director of the Michigan Humanities Council. “It
will help provide important understanding about the life and times
of those individuals who participated in rescue occupations on the
Great Lakes from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries.”
The
Michigan Humanities Council’s funding for “Interpretive
Panels: U.S. Coast Guard Surfboat House” will support the
creation of ten interpretive display panels to be permanently fixed
in the recently restored 1923 U.S. Coast Guard Surfboat House exhibit
at the Shipwreck Museum. The Museum will seek professional humanities
scholars to increase the compiled body of knowledge about the U.S.
Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Station activities
on Lake Superior. These humanities professionals will help to create
the text and images for the exhibit. The exhibit is planned to open
to the general public on May 1, 2006.
“
One of the most exciting, yet largely unrecognized stories found
in Great Lakes History is of the men and women of the United States
Life-Saving Service,” said Tom Farnquist, Executive Director
of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. “Michigan
Humanities Council funding will pay for professionally designed
interpretive panels for exhibits in the restored Surfboat House
building at the Whitefish Point Light Station, part of the Great
Lakes Shipwreck Museum complex at Whitefish Point. Panels are to
include dramatic stories of rescue by the Life-Saving Service and
U.S. Coast Guard. Panels will interpret many historic images and
artifacts found within this colorful subject of Michigan’s
humanities.”
For
more information about the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, please
visit www.shipwreckmuseum.com or call 800-635-1742.
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- July 2, 2006
CONTACT: Scott Hirko, Public Relations Officer,
shirko [at] mihumanities.org, 517-372-0029 ext. 25
SURFBOAT
HOUSE EXHIBIT OPENS TO PUBLIC WITH $15,000 HUMANITIES GRANT
MHC
Presentation to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society
at Whitefish Point on July 2, 2006. From left to right: Terry
Begnoche, GLSHS President; Tom Farnquist, GLSHS Executive
Director; Jan; and folksinger Lee Murdock |
(PARADISE)-----The
Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) and the Great Lakes Shipwreck
Historical Society announce the grand opening of the new Surfboat
House Exhibit at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point.
The exhibit was awarded a $15,000 public humanities project grant
from the Michigan Humanities Council last year to assist with the
construction of the exhibit, as well as additional support from
the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
“This
project is a wonderful example of using public humanities programming
to preserve our history and educate our citizens through interpretive
exhibits,” stated Janice Fedewa, executive director of the
Michigan Humanities Council. “The Surfboat House Exhibit will
provide a great opportunity for the public to become involved in
an important part of Michigan, and American, history.”
The
Surfboat House exhibit features the story of the U.S. Lifesaving
Service and the U.S. Coast Guard along Lake Superior’s Shipwreck
Coast; a replica Beach Cart which carried beach rescue equipment;
and a replica Beebe-McClellan 26-foot handmade surfboat. Exhibits
also include a variety of artifacts and descriptive panels detailing
the maritime culture and the role of the agencies in America’s
growing maritime trade.
"The
memory of the heroic men and women of the U.S. Life-Saving Service
on the Great Lakes - 1876 to 1915 - has not been well preserved,”
said Sean Ley, development officer for the Great Lakes Shipwreck
Society. “It is a tribute to our State that Michigan Humanities
Council has chosen to fund beautiful descriptive panels that tell
the complete story of this group of rescuers along Lake Superior's
Shipwreck Coast. It is our hope that this project will lead to research
by other maritime groups in Michigan that will discover amazing
stories about what the Life-Savers did for their local communities."
“The
Surfboat House exhibit will be a good way to celebrate maritime
culture in Michigan,” stated U.S. Senaor Carl Levin. “It
is important that we honor the role that the U.S. Coast Guard and
U.S. Lifesaving Services have played in Michigan’s history,
and I am happy to support this effort to do that.”
"The
Surfboat House exhibit will be an important tribute to the role
the U.S. Lifesaving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard have played
in Michigan history," said Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee).
"I am pleased to see the funding delivered for this valuable
educational exhibit."
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.
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