Jack Dempsey Joins Clarke Board of Governors

by Frank Boles

Since 1956, the Clarke Historical Library has operated with a Board of Governors. The Board plays an important role in the library’s operation, with a definition of the Board’s formal authority vested in an agreement signed by Central Michigan University and the Clarke family. The Board’s influence, however, goes beyond the letter of the agreement, to include a wide-ranging advisory capacity which helps to determine the library’s mission, collecting policy, outreach activities, and the other aspects of library operations.

At its April 2016 meeting, the Clarke Historical Library Board of Governors recommended to the CMU Board of Trustees that John “Jack” Dempsey be elected to serve a five year term on the Clarke Board.

Jack Dempsey is an avid historian, two-term President of the Michigan Historical Commission, and award-winning author. His writing focuses on the Civil War, the history of Michigan, and cultural heritage. His co-authored book Ink Trails: Michigan’s Famous and Forgotten Authors, was named a Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan in 2013.

Mr. Dempsey’s book presentations have been featured at the Henry Ford, the Historical Society of Michigan, the Kerrytown Book Fest, historical museums, public libraries, Civil War round tables, in schools, and on public television and radio, as well as here at Central Michigan University.

Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Michigan State University and a law degree from George Washington University. His legal career includes service as a Law Review editor, Assistant Attorney General, and corporate general counsel. Jack is a partner in the Ann Arbor office of Dickinson Wright PLLC.

He lives in Plymouth, Michigan.

At the same meeting of the Clarke Historical Library Board of Governors, Sandra Planisek was elected to serve as the Board’s chair during calendar year 2016. She and Michael Federspiel will join the executive committee, which also includes Norman Clarke, III and CMU President George Ross. Additional elected Board members include Susan Clarke and Robert Kohrman. In addition to the President, the ex-officio members are Frank Boles, Director of the Clarke Library, Mitchell Hall, Chair of the CMU History Department, and Thomas Moore, Dean of CMU Libraries.

Mr. Dempsey replaced Kenneth Winter, a past editor of the Petoskey News-Review, who retired from the Board after completing a five year term of service. Other past elected members have included the well-known political philosopher Dr. Russell Kirk, former United States Senator and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Griffin, former Archivist of the United States Robert Warner, Grand Rapids’ longest serving mayor, John Logie, and the co-chairman and CEO of Meijer, Inc. Hank Meijer.

Two years after the Clarke Historical Library was founded, Central Michigan College and the Clarke family agreed to create a ten-person Board of Governors. The Board membership consists of a representative of the Clarke family, five members who are selected by the Board itself, subject to confirmation by the CMU Board of Trustees (the University’s governing body) and four ex officio members: the President of the University, the Dean of Libraries, the chair of the History Department, and the Director of the Clarke Historical Library (although the Director is in some documents referred to as the “Custodian,” which sometimes gives me pause about the true nature of my job).

The criteria for selected members elected to the Board states that members should be “persons who are collectors of original historical materials or are interested in or associated with historical research in American History and who have demonstrated a dedicated interest in history.”

Clarke Spring Speaker Series: Dr. Joyce Baugh on the Detroit School Busing Case

On Thursday, February 4th, the Clarke will welcome Dr. Joyce Baugh, CMU professor of political science and author of The Detroit School Busing Case: Milliken v. Bradley and the Controversy over Desegregation (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2011). Dr. Baugh is the first guest of the Spring 2016 Clarke Speaker Series.

​​In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, racial equality in American public education appeared to have a bright future. But, for many, that brightness dimmed considerably following the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Milliken v. Bradley (1974). While the literature on Brown is voluminous, Joyce Baugh's measured and insightful study offers the only available book-length analysis of Milliken, the first major cross-district desegregation case to originate outside the South.

As Baugh chronicles, when the city of Detroit sought to address school segregation by busing white students to black schools, a Michigan statute signed by Gov. William Milliken overruled the plan. In response, the NAACP sued the state on behalf of Ronald Bradley and other affected parents. The federal district court sided with the plaintiffs and ordered the city and state to devise a "metropolitan" plan that crossed city lines into the suburbs and encompassed a total of fifty-four school districts. The state, however, appealed that decision all the way to the Supreme Court.

In its controversial 5-4 decision, the Court's new conservative majority ruled that, since there was no evidence that the suburban school districts had deliberately engaged in a policy of segregation, the lower court's remedy was "wholly impermissible" and not justified by Brown, which the Court said could only address de jure, not de facto segregation. While the Court's majority expressed concern that the district court's remedy threatened the sanctity of local control over schools, the minority contended that the decision would allow residential segregation to be used as a valid excuse for school segregation.

To reconstruct the proceedings and give all claims a fair hearing, Baugh interviewed lawyers representing both sides in the case, as well as the federal district judge who eventually closed the litigation; plumbed the papers of Justices Blackmun, Brennan, Douglas, and Marshall; talked with the main reporter who covered the case; and researched the NAACP files on Milliken. What emerges is a detailed account of how and why Milliken came about, as well as its impact on the Court's school-desegregation jurisprudence and on public education in American cities.

Dr. Baugh's talk begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Park Library Auditorium and a reception will follow in the Clarke. This event is free and open to the public. For more information about other events in the Clarke Speaker Series this spring, head over to the Clarke's Event Page.

A Traditional Thanksgiving Recipe

[To allow the staff of the Clarke to enjoy these recipes and other favorites, we will be closed Thursday, November 26, Friday, November 27, and Saturday, November 28. We will we return to our regular hours of operation Monday, November 30.]

A Traditional Thanksgiving Recipe

by Frank Boles

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, some may be searching for inspiration for their feast. Instead of pondering the latest trends in the magazines and on TV, we decided to take a look back at some traditional recipes found in the vast collection of cookbooks on the Clarke's shelves.

In the nineteenth century, Dr. Chase’s Recipes was America’s most published cookbook. An almanac that included all sorts of information including recipes, the book was published in Ann Arbor for more than a half-century. With over four million copies sold, the publisher claimed that the only book in wider circulation was the Bible.

Dr. Chase's Third, Last and Complete Receipt Book was published in 1909. His recipe for roast turkey is found below, along with his trademark writing style used to describe differing recipes for stuffing:

“Some people stew and chop the giblets before hand and mix them into the dressing. Each can suit herself, in this free country; and a good many also, as well as the author, like quite a sprinkling of cayenne pepper in the dressing, as it seems to remove a peculiar fresh smell coming from the inside of the turkey.”

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If, by chance, you’ve grown tired of the traditional roasted turkey, but think a turkey fryer may not be the way to go, the good doctor offered an English recipe to boil the bird and serve it with a sauce named “golden rain,” which is a cream sauce that included hard boil eggs, from which came the “golden” color.

We hope you enjoy the holiday, and if you do try one of Dr. Chase's receipts (as he called his recipes) send us an e-mail and tell us how it worked out – particularly “golden rain.”

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Vande Zande and Ransford to Speak about Pulitzer Prize Winner Theodore Roethke

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Linda Hundt Speaking Tuesday, September 22

DeWitt resident Linda Hundt, author of Sweetie-licious Pies: Eat Pie, Love Life, is an award winning baker and author. S​he is also an extraordinarily successful entrepreneur who owns and operates the Sweetie-licious Bakery Café with locations in DeWitt and Grand Rapids. Ms. Hundt will speak about the ups and downs of her career in the pie business.

Ms. Hundt's presentation, on Tuesday, September 22, begins at 7:00 pm in the Park Library Auditorium. Following the presentation, a reception will be held in the Clarke featuring samples of some of Ms. Hundt's delicious, award-winning, creations.

Al Declercq to Speak This Saturday

Al Declercq, author of Bernida: A Michigan Sailing Legend, will speak this Saturday, June 20 at 2:00 pm, in the Park Library Auditorium. Declercq will tell the story of Bernida, the winner of the very first Port Huron to Mackinac Island Race, held in 1925. Bernida was found years later abandoned in a barn. She was lovingly restored by a Mackinac Island boat building and Al Declercq had a vision that the old boat could win again. With the help of two friends and their sons, Al sailed Bernida to victory in the 2012 Bell's Beer Bayview Mackinac Race.

Al Declercq has a BBA from Eastern Michigan University and a MBA from the University of Detroit. He started his first sail making business in September of 1979. His present business, Doyle Sails Detroit, founded in 2006, is located in Clinton Township, Michigan. In addition to making sails, Al is a very avid and highly successful competitive sailor, logging more than 50,000 miles of offshore racing experience. In 2013, he won his 25th Mackinac race.

This talk is free and open to the public. A reception will be held afterward in the Clarke.

Cruisin’ the St. Mary’s River

by Frank Boles

On June 15, I had the chance to cruise up the St. Mary’s River as part of the 17th annual “Father’s Day Cruise” sponsored by the DeTour Reef Light Preservation Society. The St. Mary’s River has always been a magical place - the link between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. My voyage on the St. Mary's River brought to mind a wonderful book written by Fred Dutton called Life on the Great Lakes: A Wheelsman’s Story (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991). In 1916, Dutton signed onto his first freighter. By the 1920s, he worked his way to the position of wheelsman, the crew member who actually steers the ship. He described his experiences on the St. Mary’s this way:

“It was always fine to steer a steamship up the St. Marys [sic] River on a dark, clear night – an exhilarating thing. Tonight it was at its best. A small north breeze rippled the water, humming in the rigging. The moon was settling over the dark pines to the west, while the northern lights flung their eerie banners flaring the northern sky. All else was dark, except for the line of buoys blinking on either side and the brilliant gleam of the range lights ahead and astern. You felt as though you were in another world. It was strong wine.”

The St. Mary’s River is an engineering marvel. Left in its natural state, the St. Mary’s drops twenty-one feet in about a half mile at Sault Ste. Marie, creating an unnavigable waterway. The river’s natural state, however, was changed long ago. To make navigation possible, the Soo Locks were built. Approximately 10,000 passages are made annually between Lake Huron and Lake Superior.

But the river’s engineering extends far beyond the locks. Over a 55 mile course, its many twists and turns have been straightened and deepened so that 1,000 foot long freighters can, very carefully in some places, maneuver through the channels. Cruising upriver, one can see the “rock cuts,” places where vertical cuts were made in solid rock to create deep yet narrow channels for contemporary ships

For all of the engineering marvels, it is Dutton who best captures the place. Dutton eventually became a very successful lawyer, but he had a unique idea of a summer vacation. He would sign himself up for a few weeks service as a relief wheelsman. Sailing up the St. Mary’s on a sunny summer’s day, one could catch just a bit of why Dutton’s vacations were always at the wheel of a Great Lakes freighter, and the strong wine he drank as a young man steering his ship along this course.

Frostic’s Michigan

by Casey Gamble

Sara Gwendolyn Frostic, mostly known as Gwen Frostic, was one of Michigan’s most famous artists. Her originally-carved block-prints and poetry-style prose that narrate the glorious scenes of nature found in her books are timeless and unforgettable, not that anyone would want to forget them. Each turn of a page in any of her books sends you further into a world of pure Michigan serenity, and when you finish reading, you may notice that you feel a little calmer than you did before you started. This is at least what Frostic hoped for when she created these prints. She wanted to bring back true feelings from the hearts of her readers that reminded them of the natural wonders of Michigan.

         

What is especially poignant for me, besides the words written on the pages, is the story of the woman behind it all. In 1906, when she was just eight months old, Frostic was struck with a terrible illness that left her partially paralyzed. She always labeled it polio later in her life, and never cared to explore the matter any further; it was what it was to Frostic, and this was how she saw most things in her life, which may have been heavily influenced by her mother, Sara. Sara was a hard-headed, no-nonsense type of woman who put little value of any kind on emotional coddling of her children. Her father, Fred, had a love for Michigan’s natural world. He was also very crafty and interested in the arts and wood carving, which we can imagine is what inspired Frostic’s later career.

           

It was a combination of both of her parents’ personalities that led her through life with a proud and very stubborn independence. She certainly proved to the world that she needed no one but herself to get by. Frostic was nearly 40 years old when she bought a printing press to put in her basement, and began her carving work on linoleum. By the 1950’s she started her business, Presscraft Papers, and people in town were becoming very familiar with her presence because she was Frankfort’s lone female business owner with the reputation of a “rattlesnake.” When she published her first book, My Michigan, in 1957, the people loved it and this encouraged the eventual publication of over 20 more books, 17 of which the Clarke Historical Library has in its holdings. 

         

The shop eventually moved to Benzonia where it still exists to this day, continuing on since Frostic's death in 2001. Frostic’s goal was never to simply educate people on Michigan nature, but to remind us of our roots in the natural world and make us feel it from our hearts, which from my own experience exploring these books, she has accomplished. She was not just a woman with an artistic inclination who appreciated wilderness. She had a genuine love for nature because, unlike many of the people in her life, it never ceased to treat her with total equality, and her love of carving also became a metaphor for her life. According to Sheryl James in her book, The Life and Wisdom of Gwen Frostic, “In order to produce clean, simple images, she had to cut away what was not needed." She never bothered to conform because she knew she would never be like everyone else. All that Frostic strived for was simplicity, and I believe that she found that simplicity by never swaying from who she was and continuing to do what would make her happy for the rest of her life, perhaps not knowing that she would leave a legacy behind after she was gone.

Stevens T. Mason: Michigan’s Boy Governor

By Frank Boles

On March 5, Don Faber, biographer of Michigan’s first elected governor and the author of, The Boy Governor: Stevens T. Mason and the Birth of Michigan Politics, shared the history of a remarkable individual who was extraordinarily successful as a young man.

Mason was part of Virginia’s successful Mason family, which included a member of the constitutional convention and two U.S. Senators. His father, John Thomas, had struck out to Kentucky. It did not go well, and eventually he used his family connections to gain an appointed position. He was named Secretary of the Michigan Territory and John Thomas, along with his son Stevens, traveled to the territory’s capital, Detroit.

John Thomas soon decided Michigan was not to his liking, resigned his appointment, and traveled south to find his fortune in Texas. The Territory’s governor, Lewis Cass, had taken a liking to Stevens, who although only nineteen proved a far more adept politician than his father. With Cass's support, in 1831 Stevens T. Mason was appointed to succeed his father as Territorial Secretary. The appointment of the young man raised more than a few eyebrows, but he proved both administratively and political adept. Cass was soon tapped by Jackson to join his cabinet, and the young man found himself acting territorial governor. Indeed he “acted” as governor for the next several years, since the man Jackson appointed as territorial governor, George Bryan Porter, had business interests in the East that made him a very infrequent visitor to Detroit. When he did visit, Porter showed extraordinarily poor timing. In particular, arriving in the middle of a cholera epidemic, a disease which soon led to his death. As a result, President Jackson appointed the young Mason governor.

Jackson lived to regret the decision. Mason was a strong proponent of Michigan becoming a state and used his authority to move that cause forward. The major roadblock to this happening was conflicting claims between Michigan Territory and the state of Ohio over the “Toledo strip,” an approximately 400 square mile piece of land that included the city of Toledo. The dispute formally centered on cartography. By act of Congress, the border between the two entities was a straight line beginning at the southernmost point of Lake Michigan and travelling east until it reached Lake Erie. The problem became that both Michigan and Ohio hired surveyors to mark that line, and both surveys put Toledo squarely in the territory of the governmental unit which paid for the survey.

What really was at stake was economics. Ohio had authorized construction of an expensive series of canals to connect the Ohio River to Lake Erie. The most sensible place for these canals to enter Lake Erie was at Toledo, and the state of Ohio was not about to spend a considerable sum of money and then gift Michigan Territory with their canal system’s northern terminus.

Into 1835, Mason, who truly believed that right, if not politics, was on his side, sought to retain control over the Toledo Strip. Andrew Jackson, given an issue that divided his Democratic Party, wished the problem to go away. When increasingly obvious messages to Mason failed to put him in a conciliatory mood, Jackson simply removed “the Young Hotspur” from office.

Mason, however, was nothing if not resourceful. By 1835 the Territory had adopted a constitution, petitioned Congress for admission to the Union, and most importantly was prepared to conduct elections for state officials. Mason ran for and was elected state governor. The political reality, however, was Ohio was a state, while Michigan was a territory, and in the end, despite significant legal and moral victories, Congress served Michigan Territory an ultimatum: abandon the claim to the Toledo Strip as the condition of becoming a state. Although it took two conventions to achieve local agreement, eventually Mason and Michigan’s other political leaders acceded. Congress agreed to allow Michigan Territory to enter the Union in 1837, and, to place some salve on the wounds that had been created by its rough handling of the situation, added the western Upper Peninsula to the new state.

Mason was re-elected governor in 1837 and advocated an ambitious plan for both internal improvements, including a canal at Sault Ste. Marie, and a progressive educational policy. All this came to naught, however, when the nation plunged into the Panic of 1837. The money to support Mason’s vision was simply unavailable. Mason kept the state afloat with a loan he personally negotiated in New York City, but in many ways the deal became his undoing, since when he arrived in Detroit with the trunkful of money lent to the state, some of it was missing. Although eventually all of the money was accounted for, his political opponents made much of the situation and Mason did not run for re-election.

The talented young man and his new bride, whom he had met in New York City while negotiating a loan on the state's behalf, resided in Detroit until 1841, when they moved to New York City. There, in January 1843, he died of pneumonia.

In a footnote, Don Faber told the strange tale of Mason’s mortal remains. Mason was originally buried in New York. However in 1905, amid much pomp and ceremony, his remains were returned to Michigan and interred in Detroit’s Capitol Park, a small strip of green in downtown Detroit that commemorates the location of the state’s first capitol building. In 1955, a decision to build a bus terminal in the park led to another relocation of the Governor’s remains. A second exhumation and reburial took place, again in Capitol Park. In 2010, new construction in the park led to a third exhumation and relocation of the by now well- traveled body. The 2010 project led to newspaper headlines when construction workers failed to find Mason’s body where it was thought to lie. Four days of digging eventually relocated the slightly misplaced former governor. Today, his remains are located above ground, in the pedestal of a statue erected in his memory that stands in Capitol Park.

Don Faber’s presentation offered insight into early Michigan history, a fascinating life, and the not particularly eternal rest granted to Stevens T. Mason.

Patricia Lay-Dorsey Presentation

by Frank Boles

On February 24, Patricia Lay-Dorsey, author of Falling Into Place: Self Portraits: A Compelling narrative of the photographer’s day-to-day life with a disability, spoke in the Park Library Auditorium. It was indeed a compelling narrative as Ms. Lay-Dorsey described her life as a photographer and as a person diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

What was particularly interesting was the discussion with the audience, which largely revolved around Patricia’s professional endeavors rather than her illness. That turn of discussion was important, I believe, because it reinforced something she herself had said during her presentation. In looking at photographs taken of those suffering with MS, the photographer’s tended to frame the person as either heroically overcoming an obstacle or a tragic victim of disease which had ruined their life. Patricia’s self portraits strove to be neither heroic nor tragic, but simply to show her life. She is a photographer, and like all photographers she does her work living with certain personal limitations.

Her presentation, and the questions which followed, reminded me of a conversation I had many years ago with a student who also was diagnosed with MS. She, like Patricia, used a power scooter to move about. One day I asked her what she, and her friends who also used scooters daily, called people who did not need the device. “TABs,” she replied. When I looked a bit blankly at her, she smiled and said, “Temporarily Able Bodied.”

Patricia Lay-Dorsey’s presentation told the story of a published photographer who, like everyone else, works within the physical parameters that meet us when we awaken in the morning. When asked about the subject of her disability, she said something very interesting. People, she noted, are almost invariably kind to her, helping with her occasional need for assistance. Patricia’s heart went out to people with hidden disabilities, psychological diagnoses that have no obvious external signs but which can be equally or even more challenging than physical disabilities. The recognition and help she receives simply is not offered to individuals with hidden disabilities.

It was a thoughtful and enlightening evening, both because of the interesting description of the work of a skilled photographer, and the sharing of some thoughtful insights into the human condition.

The Passing of Elmore Leonard

Today, we learned of the death of one of Michigan's most notable authors, Elmore Leonard, who passed away earlier this morning at the age of 87. Remembrances for the author of notable crime novels such as Get Shorty, Out of Sight, and Rum Punch - which was adapted for the film Jackie Brown - have appeared throughout media, including obituaries the Detroit Free Press and the New York Times.

Jack Dempsey Presents Ink Trails to Clarke Audience

by Frank Boles

On June 25, an appreciative audience listened to a Jack Dempsey as he spoke about his book, Ink Trails. A lifelong Michigan resident, Jack set out to disprove the popular notion that most authors live in New York or California, with a few obstinately residing in Chicago. He and his brother, Dave, set out to write vignettes about the famous, once popular, or simply unrecognized authors for whom Michigan mattered.

The story of Carl Sandburg, biographer of Lincoln and famed poet, perhaps sums up the failure of Michigan to get literary notice. Sandburg is usually associated either with Illinois where he was born or North Carolina where he died. Usually forgotten is a fifteen period from 1930 to 1945 when he lived in Harbert, Michigan.

It is not as if Sandburg wasn’t busy writing in Harbert. In a house with a view of Lake Michigan, Sandburg wrote Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, a work that won him his first Pulitzer Prize. The Sandburg’s eventually moved to North Carolina not for literary inspiration but rather because Lilian, his wife (who was born in Hancock, Michigan), wanted to move to North Carolina to better raise goats, something she had begun doing in 1935 and for which she became nationally recognized.

Sandburg’s boyhood home is preserved as an Illinois State Historic Site. Sandburg’s North Carolina home is preserved by the National Park Service (although one has to hunt about their website to find any mention of the goats – but it’s there, see http://www.nps.gov/carl/historyculture/lilian-sandburg.htm). Harbert? There is hope that Michigan might put up a historical marker noting Sandburg’s long residence in the town, someday.

The Sandburg story was one of those shared by Mr. Dempsey in his presentation, which we hope to soon make available on the web (stay tune to the Clarke Historical Library News and Notes Blog for updates), and in his book, Ink Trails. We are pleased to join him in recalling the rich literary history of our state.

Jack Dempsey speaking about Ink Trails

On Tuesday June 25th, the Clarke Historical Library will be honored to be host to 2013 Michigan Notable Book award winner, John "Jack" Dempsey. Dempsey will be joining us as a part of the 2013 Michigan Notable Books Author Tour to discuss his latest book Ink Trails (Michigan State University Press) to explore the stories behind some of Michigan's famous authors.

What some call the first of its kind, Ink Trails tells of the many secrets, legends and myths that surround some of Michigan's most acclaimed literary heroes. Highlighting the diversity of the many notable authors, Mr. Dempsey's stop at the Clarke will discuss the rich history of these Michigan writers. As one of the 20 authors selected to take part in the 2013 tour, Ink Trails highlights the distinct diverse literary history that is ingrained in the Michigan experience.

We are fortunate to have Mr. Dempsey for an evening to share his image and discoveries of the stories that surround Michigan literature. The presentation will begin promptly at 7:00 pm on June 25th and will be followed with a reception shortly after both which are free to the public. Please join us for this enjoyable evening.

The 2013 Michigan Notable Books program and tour are made possible thanks to the generous support of the Library of Michigan, the Library of Michigan Foundation, Michigan Department of Education, the Michigan Humanities Council, Meijer, and the Michigan Center for the Book.  Media Sponsors are Mittenlit.com, City Pulse, WKAR, Dome, Queue Advertising and Tom Gennara Photography.

Glorian Whelan's K is for Kabuki

by Tanya Fox

The Clarke Historical Library has a large collection of children’s books. Michigan author Gloria Whelan is one of the writers whose works we have enthusiastically collected. K is for Kabuki : a Japan Alphabet (2009, Sleeping Bear Press) is just one of Gloria Whelan’s books found in the Clarke. Jennifer Nolan is a joint author and the illustrations are by Oki S. Han. Ms. Whelan and Ms. Han are award winners for separate works and the joint effort they share in K is for Kabuki clearly showcases their respective talents.

The book is visually remarkable filled with images of Japan and the traditions, culture and history that can be found there. The text includes short poems with each alphabet letter as well as information relating to the alphabet image. One example is “B” for Japan’s bullet train. A poem is included along with historical information about the Shinkansen (bullet train).

     B is for Bullet Train
     The train passes the rabbit and deer;
     the train passes the falcon and crow.
     Riders from Mutsu to Mito
     praise Shima the engineer.

Hideo Shima was the engineer who designed the bullet train. This format of poetic imagery with facts makes the book all the more interesting and enjoyable. The book also includes a glossary of Japanese words with pronunciations.

As a special note, Gloria Whelan will be a guest speaker of the Clarke on Wednesday, April 3rd. Her appearance is free and open to the public and will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the Park Library auditorium with a reception to follow in the Clarke. If you would like to read more about Gloria Whelan, her website can be found at http://www.gloriawhelan.com/

We invite you to visit the Clarke Historical Library, on the first floor of CMU’s Park Library, where you may peruse K is for Kabuki, other Gloria Whelan books, and a myriad of other delightful, interesting, historical, and informative items. To find our hours of operation and other library information you may want to visit our website at http://clarke.cmich.edu/ .

Imperfect: An Improbable Life

[editor's note: One February 17, we posted an entry by Christa Clare about the 2013 Michigan Notable Books list. Today, we are posting an additional piece by Christa Clare highlighting one of the 2013 selections, Imperfect: An Improbable Life by Jim Abbott and Tim Brown.]

Imperfect: An Improbable Life

by Christa Clare

The Clarke Library collects all the Michigan notable books each year, and the books chosen for 2013 have been ordered and are arriving daily.

One of these titles is Imperfect : An Improbable Life by Jim Abbott and co-authored by Tim Brown, which tells the inspiring life story of Flint native Jim Abbott. Jim was born without a right hand, but despite this condition, went on to become a Major League baseball pitcher. At age 19, he beat the vaunted Cuban National team, and at age 21, he won the gold medal game at the 1988 Olympics. He skipped the minor leagues and starting playing with the California Angels. He threw a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians in 1993. Abbott retired with a career record of 87 wins and 108 losses with a 4.25 earned run average.

Mr. Abbott currently works as a motivational speaker. We hope you find this book as inspiring as we did. And check out all of the Michigan Notable Books for 2013, which will soon be in the holdings of the Clarke Historical Library.

Michigan Notable Books

What Are Michigan Notable Books?

Edited from the Michigan Notable Books website by Christa Clare


Each year, the Michigan Notable Books list features 20 books published during the previous calendar year that are about, or set in, Michigan or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a native or resident of Michigan. Selections include nonfiction and fiction and typically have a wide appeal and cover an array of topics and issues close to the hearts of Michigan residents.

Michigan Notable Books (MNB) is a statewide program that began as part of the 1991 Michigan Week celebration, geared to pay tribute and draw attention to many people, places and things that make Michigan life unique. In that regard, the MNB program successfully features Michigan books and writers focusing on the literary talents found in the Great Lakes State.

Books featuring topics as varied as a physically-challenged kid from Flint who went on to win an Olympic Gold Medal and pitch a no-hitter for the New York Yankees, the 1968 Detroit Tigers, survival of the Kirtland's warbler, a biography of Michigan's first governor, northwest Michigan's Fishtown, the revival of Detroit, saving the Theodore Roethke house, Michigan's historic train stations, a memoir of a Detroit soul singer, a study of Michigan's amphibians and reptiles, Depression-era Flint, and an illustrated history of Detroit's historic places of worship are all part of this year's list.

Here are the 2013 Michigan Notable books:

American Poet: A Novel by Jeff Vande Zande (Bottom Dog Press)

The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michigan by J. Alan Holman (Wayne State University Press)

Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography by John Comazzi (Princeton Architectural Press)

Bear Has a Story to Tell by Phillip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (Roaring Brook Press)

The Boy Governor: Stevens T. Mason and the Birth of Michigan Politics by Don Faber (University of Michigan Press)

Canada by Richard Ford (Ecco)

Death Dance of a Butterfly by Melba Joyce Boyd (Past Tents Press)

Detroit City Is the Place to Be by Mark Binelli (Metropolitan Books)

Detroit's Historic Places of Worship compiled and edited by Marla O. Collum, Barbara E. Krueger and Dorothy Kostuch, photographs by Dirk Bakker with a forward by John Gallagher (Wayne State University Press)

Dust to Dust: A Memoir by Benjamin Busch (Ecco)

Fishtown: Leland Michigan's Historic Fishery by Laurie Sommers (Arbutus Press)

Imperfect by Jim Abbott/Tim Brown (Ballantine Books)

Ink Trails by Jack Dempsey and Dave Dempsey (Michigan State University Press)

The Kirtland's Warbler by William Rapai (University of Michigan Press)

Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations by Michael Hodges (Wayne State University Press)

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (Wendy Lamb Books)

The Skeleton Box: A Starvation Lake Mystery by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone Books)

Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball--and America--Forever by Tim Wendel (Da Capo Press)

A Woman Like Me by Bettye LaVette (Blue Rider Press)

The World of A Few Minutes Ago by Jack Driscol (Wayne State University Press).

Lecture and Book Signing at Ziibiwing Center

This Saturday, November 17 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, Raph Naveaux will speak about Michigan and the War of 1812. The event takes place at the Ziibiwing Center for Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways, located at 6650 E. Broadway in Mount Pleasant.

New Summer Childrens Read in the Clarke

by Christa Clare

It’s summertime in Michigan and that means fresh berries are abundant and sweet. Cherries, strawberries, blueberries and all sorts of wild berries are there for the picking. Farmers markets make it easy for locals to come and buy freshly picked produce for eating, making pies and canning homemade jams and jellies. The Clarke Historical Library has purchased a delightful children’s book titled Jam and Jelly by Holly & Nellie written by Michigan native Gloria Whelan and illustrated by Gijsbert Van Frankenhuyzen.

The story is about a family who lives a simple life in Northern Michigan enjoying the bounty of the earth and very much aware of the changing seasons. Winter will be coming on, and Holly needs a new winter coat and boots, but money is tight. Holly and her mother, Nellie, work all summer long picking wild berries around their northern Michigan home and making homemade jams and jellies to sell on their roadside stand. The story and the illustrations are very attractive and make a nice read on a hot summer day.

West Michigan Pike Presentation

Tonight, Wednesday July 18 at 7:00 pm in the Park Library Auditorium Christine Byron and Tom Wilson will discuss their volume, Vintage Views Along the West Michigan Pike, which was selected as a Michigan Notable Book in 2011.

Before US 31 wound its way along west Michigan, there was the West Michigan Pike. The Pike was begun in 1913 to promote tourism along the Lake Michigan shoreline among the rapidly growing number of automobile owners. The 400-mile route meandered through smaller towns like Saugatuck, Frankfort, and Mackinaw City, mid-sized communities like Grand Haven and Ludington and larger cities like Muskegon and Traverse City. At each stop on the pike, tourism became a major economic force as community’s developed local bed-and-breakfasts, art galleries, museums, and of course beaches to entertain and care for the needs of summer visitors.

Join Christine and Tom in the Park Library Auditorium as they share with us stories and pictures from the first wave of tourists who discovered Michigan’s “west coast” by car. A reception will follow the presentation, and copies of the book will be available for purchase

Jennifer and Dan Digmann Speak March 15

by Frank Boles

On March 15, local authors Jennifer and Dan Digmann spoke about their recently published book, Despite MS, To Spite MS. Both Dan and Jennifer, who are married to one another, suffer from multiple sclerosis; Dan inflicted with the mildest form of the disease while Jennifer suffers from a much more severe version of the disease. In the presentation Dan and Jennifer talked about the disease but more importantly sought to put a human face on the affliction.

The presentation was touching, moving, and at times very funny. We thank the authors for giving us permission to record the presentation and make it available for viewing at CMU's iTunesU page (you will need Apple's iTunes to access the events). Be sure to take the time to view the whole recording. You can particularly anticipate Dan’s story about the day he found a bat in his shoe. The audience laughed at Dan’s wonderful retelling of the event, but also reflected on what it is like to live with an incurable disease, one symptom of which is numbness in the extremities so severe in Dan’s case that he didn’t notice a bat in his shoe. But Dan tells the story far better than I. Look for it.

You can also learn more about the book and the authors at their website, http://danandjenniferdigmann.com/.

image courtesy of danandjenniferdigmann.com