Plymouth Historical Society receives Plymouth Rotary Foundation grant
Plymouth, Michigan, August 10, 2008--The Plymouth Historical
Society recently received a $3,500 grant from the
Plymouth Rotary Foundation, Inc.
The grant will allow for the replacement of a deteriorating mural of
downtown Plymouth in 1909, located in the Sanford Burr Meeting Room on the
lower level of the Plymouth Historical Museum. The original mural was
donated to the Museum in 1974 by the Rotary Club of Plymouth in honor of the
club's Golden Jubilee. The image used in the mural was taken by photographer
and Plymouth resident Charles Draper during the annual Fourth of July
celebration in 1909 and shows the business block between today's Ann Arbor
Trail and Penniman Avenue, complete with holiday celebrants, horses and
carriages, and American flags. Draper printed the image as a wide postcard,
which is what Upper Level Graphics
of Plymouth is using to reproduce it as a mural.
The new mural will complement the other changes taking place in the
meeting room this summer. The Museum's volunteer corps of maintenance men
has been hard at work repainting the room and replacing ceiling tiles. The
exterior doorwall from the "Cassidy House" on North Territorial now serves
as the entrance to the cloakroom; the doorwall was placed in context by
surrounding it with siding and adding a replica period lantern. And on
Sunday, July 20, the room was officially named the "Sanford Burr Meeting
Room" in honor of Salem Township resident Sanford Burr, president emeritus
of the Plymouth Historical Society and long-time Museum volunteer. The
facelift of the room is expected to be complete before the September 11
monthly meeting of the Plymouth Historical Society, which is open to the
public and begins at 7:30 p.m. The first meeting of the 2008-09 year will
feature Barbara Kincaid speaking on "Our Nation's First Ladies," in
conjunction with the "Inaugural Gowns of the First Ladies" special exhibit
at the Plymouth Historical Museum. The Museum is located at 155 S. Main
Street and is open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 1-4 p.m.
Sanford Burr Day
Plymouth, Michigan, July 10, 2008--Sanford Burr has been a member
of the Plymouth community all of his life. His contributions to the
community are legion. Sunday, July 20, 2008, has been designated Sanford
Burr Commemoration Day by both the City and Township of Plymouth. To
celebrate the life of this highly revered and deeply loved man, the Plymouth
Historical Museum will hold an Open House that Sunday (July 20), from 1 to 4
p.m. There will be no admission charge to the Museum that day, and light
refreshments will be served in the early afternoon.
Sanford was born in Plymouth in July 1926 and hails from a long line of
Plymouth residents and Plymouth Historical Society (PHS) members. His
grandmother, Maude Robinson Bennett, was a charter member of the PHS in
1948, and both of his parents, George and Mildred Burr, served as presidents
of the Society. Sandy served in a U.S. Army field artillery unit in World
War II, and retired as assistant principal of Southfield High School in
1982.
Plymouth Historical Society participates in 4th of
July parade
Plymouth, Michigan, July 10, 2008--Members of
the Plymouth Historical Society were out in force during the annual Good
Morning America 4th of July parade. Board member Ron Lowe is a member of the
Fred Hill Briefcase Drill Team. The Drill Team performed its usual fun
routines, but as you'll see in the video below, they only did one routine in
front of this camera.
The maintenance crew of the Plymouth Historical Museum made a train for
last year's parade. This year the crew added a second engine that fits over
the tractor that pulls the train. The detail on the train is impeccable! It
was designed by Dave Reitzel, the train engineer (driving this train).
Plymouth, Michigan, June 18, 2008--A
$5,000 Michigan Department of Education (MDOE) grant was received by the
Plymouth Historical Museum to oversee a digital storybook about Abraham
Lincoln involving Central Middle School students. The Plymouth Historical
Society’s (PHS) prized Weldon Petz Abraham Lincoln
Collection helped the project land in Plymouth.
A digital storybook uses recorded voices, photos, and video to create
stories that can be viewed on VHS, CD-ROM, DVD, or the Internet.
Todorov, a resident of Livonia, stated that the “Museum was hand-picked for
this assignment because of its strong onsite Lincoln collection and
documents, as well as its close proximity to Central Middle School.” She
further explained that students of today come from the “digital age” and
that educational programs that follow this digital format have better
success at gaining student interest and better retention of content.
The grant funds the creation of a digital storyboard about a play, “John
Beechard and Mr. Lincoln: A Michigan Story,” written by Michigan Social
Studies teacher, Sam Sicilia, earlier this year. Thirteen volunteer seventh
and eighth graders and two teachers from Central Middle School are working
at the Plymouth Historical Museum this week to create the digital storybook.
The students work a typical school day at the Museum and move between the
archives, where they collect images for the storybook, and the lower-level
meeting room, where they strategize and eat lunch.
The story is a fictional account about factual characters and events.
President Lincoln’s only visit to Michigan occurred in Kalamazoo when he was
campaigning for presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, in 1856. The story
explains how Lincoln’s Bronson Park (Village Park) speech motivated and
inspired young 13-year-old John Beechard to later enlist in the Union army
in the 6th Michigan Cavalry. Beechard’s father, while disapproving of
slavery, disapproved of a war pitting American against American. The story
follows the Beechard family through the war and ends with the reading of
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
Dan Packer, PHS board member and member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial
Committee of Michigan, is overseeing the program. The finished product will
be available for any school or community group in Michigan to use free of
charge to help educate students about the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln, and
to celebrate Lincoln's 200th birthday, on February 12, 2009.
The project is being filmed by the Plymouth-Canton Community School District
as a guide for Michigan teachers to use if they decide to do a similar
project. The project will culminate at the Museum at 2 pm Friday, June 20,
when a slideshow of digital pictures depicting their efforts working on the
project will be shown to the students and their families.
Plymouth Historical Society elects Directors and
Officers
Plymouth, Michigan, June 9, 2008--The
Plymouth Historical Society recently held elections for its Board of
Directors. There were 12 candidates for 10 slots. The newly elected Board of
Directors is:
Jeff Bell, funeral director at Schrader-Howell Funeral
Home
Sanford Burr, retiree
Bee Friedlander, managing director of The Animals and Society Institute
Armando Lopez, retiree
Ronald Lowe, 35th District Court judge
Mike Pappas, Plymouth District Library Board President
Allen Odell, retiree
Dan Packer, retiree
Kathy Petlewski, Plymouth District Library genealogy librarian
Gary Stone, binder at Progressive Printing
Margaret Dunning is a permanent member of the Board of Directors
The Board elected Bee Friedlander as president, Armando
Lopez as vice president, Kathy Petlewski as secretary, and Jeff Bell as
treasurer. Sanford Burr, president of the Plymouth Historical Society from
2004–08 and from 1978–80, was named President Emeritus by the Board.
Sanford, a life member since the early 1970s, has also worked on the
maintenance crew at the Museum for about ten years, and frequently gives
popular tours, both within the Museum and in Plymouth as part of the
Society’s Historic Walking Tours program. Born in Plymouth in 1926, Sanford
hails from a long line of Plymouth residents and Society members. His
grandmother, Maude Robinson Bennett, was a charter member of the Plymouth
Historical Society in 1948, and both of his parents, George and Mildred
Burr, served as presidents of the Society. Sanford served in a U.S. Army
field artillery unit in World War II, and retired as assistant principle of
Southfield High School in 1982.
The Plymouth Historical Society was founded in 1948 and
operates the Plymouth Historical Museum, located at 155 S. Main Street in
Plymouth, Michigan. The Museum's hours are 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday,
Saturday, and Sunday. The Plymouth Historical Museum will reopen on
Saturday, June 14, with a new special exhibit, "Inaugural Gowns of the First
Ladies." The new exhibit will run through November 5, 2008.
Lincoln's Barber
Plymouth, Michigan, March 19, 2008--A visit to the
barber or the hairdresser is on the checklist for most people when
preparing for a major birthday. But for Abraham Lincoln, who will
celebrate his 200th birthday next February, the barber made a house
call. Myron Hopper, a barber at McMullen's Barber and Styling Salon
on Fleet Street in Plymouth, came calling at the Plymouth Historical
Museum today, with hair clippers in tow. It seems that Lincoln's
beard was a bit shaggy, so Hopper donated his time and talents to
make the sixteenth president look more presentable for his upcoming
festivities.
The Plymouth Historical Museum is represented on
the Michigan Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee, which is
coordinating celebration activities throughout the state. For more
information about the committee, visit it's
website. During the coming months,
the "Lincoln Exhibit" room within the Plymouth Historical Museum
will also be spruced up in anticipation of the celebration. The
Museum is planning a major Lincoln exhibit to be displayed
throughout its Main Street store fronts, beginning near the end of
January 2009.
