Volume 40, number 3
November 2018
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society Inside this issue: Cover Story: November program Letter from our President page 2 The Woman’s Hour page 3 Day of the Dead Event page 3 Program Schedule 2018/2019 page 5
Paths Less Taken: Grand Rapids Women & the Egyptian Revival in Cemetery Architecture PRESENTED BY: Thomas R. Dilley Co-sponsored by the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, the Grand Rapids Historical Society, & the Grand Rapids Public Library
Thursday, November 8, 2018 at the Grand Rapids Public Library
Happening in History page 6 Photo Sleuth page 7
Search: Grand Rapids Historical Society
Next program: After the November program, the Grand Rapids Historical Society’s next program will be on January 10, 2019, at the Grand Rapids Public Library. Tom Buettner will be speaking about: Mackinac Island's Historic Cottages of the Rich and Famous. Grand River Times
In recent years Thomas R. Dilley has referenced the lives of remarkable Grand Rapids women whose final resting places fell along the routes of his popular cemetery tours. This year on Thursday, November 8th, in the dry comfort of an inside auditorium--no rain date necessary-Dilley will reflect on three local women who made unusual decisions when they commissioned expensive burial monuments in a style which was, in the eyes of the religious (and nearly all male) establishment, pagan and inappropriate for a Christian burial ground.
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Dear GRHS Members, This year is moving along way too fast for me. Maybe it is because I spent lots of time in August and September selecting images for my program, but I had a lot of fun presenting the Seymour Beiboer photos in October. We heard from a few people who said that they could not find parking or that they had other plans so were wondering if it could be presented again. If any plans are made we will put it up on our Facebook page and on our web site. In the mean time don’t be shy about going on line to the Grand Rapids Public Museum The Grand River Times is the collections site at grpmcollections.org and search for Seymour Beiboer or 1987.92. newsletter of the Grand Rapids Either way you should be able to see the vast collection of photographs taken. I Historical Society, published six times annually. Established in 1894, was only able to present about 90 in my one hour time limit. the Grand Rapids Historical Society We are aware, as a board, that not everyone is on social media or is dedicated to exploring the history connected to the internet. However, as the cost of print materials continues to rise of West Michigan; to discover its we must find the most economically efficient way to inform our members and the romance and tragedy, its heroes general public of programming by us and other organizations that are providing and scoundrels, its leaders and its historical information about West Michigan. Our newsletter is our most useful tool ordinary citizens. The Society collects and preserves our heritage, for those not digitally connected. Opportunities that come up between newsletters passing it on to new generations are posted on line. I also suggest that you utilize the services of your local library. I through books, lectures, and believe that most, of not all offer access to the internet to look stuff up, like the education projects. Public Museum’s collections site or the Historical Society web page. The November program is being done in collaboration with the Greater Executive Committee: Grand Rapids Women’s History Council ( ggrwhc.org ). Thomas R. Dilley, Gina Bivins, president Historical Society trustee and author of The Art of Memory: Historic Cemeteries of Grand Rapids, Michigan, will speak on the topic “Paths Less Taken; Grand Matthew Daley, vice-president Rapids Women and the Egyptian Revival in Cemetery architecture”. The program John Gelderloos, treasurer starts at 7pm. The doors to the auditorium open a little before 6:30. Nan Schichtel, secretary Our incredible program committee is in the process of gathering ideas for the 2019/20 program year. We want to know what you want to know. We are Board members: looking for new topics, but just as important we need the names of speakers for the Alan Bennett topics. Please contact us via email at Charles Bocskey grhs.local@gmail.com or drop us a line at GRHS c/o Thomas Dilley GRPL 111 Library NE Grand Rapids 49503. Matthew Ellis Chris Kaupa Gordon Olson, emeritus Wilhelm Seeger, emeritus Jeff Sytsma Julie Tabberer Jim Winslow Kurt Yost Jessica Riley, editor Grand Rapids Historical Society c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library St. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503
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About the Grand Rapids Historical Society. The Grand Rapids Historical Society sponsors eight programs each year, beginning in September and running through May, including lectures, audio/video presentations, demonstrations, collections, or special tours. Membership. Membership is open to all interested persons with annual dues of $30 per family, $20 for seniors and students, or $400 for a lifetime membership. The membership year runs from May to the following May. Members of the Grand Rapids Historical Society receive eight newsletters each year and a subscription to our annual magazine, Grand River Valley History. Members also receive a 20% discount on books published by the society as well as books published by the Grand Rapids Historical Commission. Change of Address. If you will be permanently or temporarily moving to a new address, please notify GRHS before your change occurs. Let us know your new address and the date you plan to leave and plan to return. Email to grhs.local@gmail.com, or mail to Grand Rapids Historical Society, c/o Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 2
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The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote Prepare now for centennial celebrations in 2020! Author Elaine Weiss will visit the Ford Museum in Grand Rapids to talk about her new book featuring the nail-biting climax of the 72-year fight to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. The Woman’s Hour is an inspiring story of activists winning their own freedom in one of the last campaigns forged in the shadow of the Civil War and the beginning of the great twentieth-century battles for civil rights. Read the book and hear the author.
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Thursday, November 15, 2018, 7:00 p.m. Free and open to the public, but an RSVP necessary. Don’t wait! Please see www.ggrwhc.org for more information
Dìa de los Muertos: Celebrating Day of the Dead Sunday, November 4, 2018 1:30 p.m.—4:00 p.m. Come celebrate Día de los Muertos with the Grand Rapids Public Library. Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday that honors family and friends who have passed on. Loved ones come together to build altars that celebrate the life and memory of the dead. This is a time of celebration and joy, filled with talk and memories of those who have died. Altars from members of the community honoring family and friends will be on display. This is a great way to honor the personal histories that all families and communities have. Families are invited to learn more about the Day of the Dead holiday, explore the altars, have their face painted, and do a craft. The day will include bilingual story times, live music from Gabriel Estrada III, food from local restaurants and Pan de Muerto provided by Panaderia Margo. Every altar is unique and taken together they create a fascinating portrait of what citizens of Grand Rapids hold close to them. Free and open to the public.
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GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Continued from front page
A vogue for the Egyptian Revival style in a funerary setting briefly flowered on the east coast of the United States at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, but is uncommon in the Midwest and virtually unknown in the South. Why, then, around 1900 did this fashion take hold in Grand Rapids proportionally more than elsewhere in the nation--and why were three of our four major examples of exotic, brooding Egyptian design selected by women? In his book The Art of Memory, Dilley tells the broader history of local burial sites and customs honoring the dead, how the compact graveyards of previous centuries gave way to more expansive park-like landscapes during the nineteenth century. He also reflects on how Grand Rapids' “silent cities” provide not only a tutorial on the history and evolution of cemetery design, but insights into the people who lived before us, their beliefs, fears, and values. On November 8, 2018, he will illustrate Egyptian Revival funerary architecture and consider how examples in Grand Rapids can supplement our knowledge of local forebears, particularly the women who commissioned the major monuments expressing the style most distinctly. In his elaboration of a statement from his book--“The adoption of an Egyptian Revival design certainly required willingness to step out of the well-established stylistic pattern of the day”—Dilley will start down a daring historical path by listening to late Victorian funerary art. ******************************** The women in the case – While we know the least about Carrie Brown, widow of Marcus Brown, she was the first to make a major investment in the Egyptian Revival style when in 1892 a pyramid arose in Oak Hill Cemetery. Hers is the only use of this most iconic symbol of ancient Egypt among the four mausolea eventually raised, though all four share other features, like the winged discs over their entrances. Alice Hayden (1845-1908) was the daughter of a notorious businessman whose mean-spirited will prompted a lurid 1890s court battle over the funds that eventually built a home for aged, indigent women as well as in 1911 Hayden’s temple-like mausoleum. The latter has distinctive Egyptian columns on all four sides and adds twin cobras to its winged disc. Martha Brooks Watson (1832-1915), the widow of a beloved Civil War hero who died young, made the last and grandest gesture among the four Egyptian Revival mausolea. This retiring widow, happiest in her garden at home and while making patriotic gestures with the Grand Army post named after her husband, died in 1915 on Flag Day a year after the completion of her massive mausoleum sporting twin sphinxes at its entrance. And the man – In 1898 Amos W. Rush designed and built a memorial unique for its material (Lake Superior red sandstone) and for a design unlike the other mausolea in its smaller size and rusticated look. That Rush was an active local architect attuned to Neo-Egyptian trends in funerary art probably accounts for his willingness to step away from the more conventional patterns of the day.
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Continued from page 4 About the speaker: The vision of a pyramid in Oak Hill cemetery sparked a ten-year-old’s lifelong interest in Egyptian-style funerary structures and shaped attorney Thomas R. Dilley’s adult life of study and collecting that culminated in 2014 in his splendid book, The Art of Memory: Historic Cemeteries of Grand Rapids, Michigan. For years Dilley has generously donated objects and reinvested knowledge in the broader local history community and in his publications on how Grand Rapids history appears in vintage postcards and stereographs. The recipient in 2017 of an Albert Baxter Award for local history only gestures toward Dilley’s contributions on the boards of the Grand Rapids Historical Commission, the Grand Rapids Historical Society, the Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation and Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation.
2018—2019 Grand Rapids Historical Society Programs All programs are held at the Grand Rapids Public Library in the auditorium at 7:00 p.m. MACKINAC ISLAND’S HISTORIC COTTAGES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS January 10, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Presented by: Tom Buettner
RIOT, RACE AND RECONCILIATION February 14, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Presented by: George Bayard
******************************** During 2018 the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council has celebrated thirty years of existence recruiting and training researchers, encouraging donations to local archives, distributing bibliographies on area women’s history, digitizing materials for broader dissemination, and developing creative programming to spread information about the early accomplishments of female scientists, politicians, journalists, even reformed courtesans. Five years ago at a quarter century, it took stock and published a brief summary history, which you can find on its website: http://www.ggrwhc.org/our-history On November 8th, 2018, the GGRWHC will be pleased to follow Tom Dilley onto a speculative path less taken. Perhaps we will then follow up clues about nineteenth-century spiritualist activity in Grand Rapids and a potential link to the timeless through Egyptian Revival forms. Grand River Times
FAITH OF THE FATHERS—THE COURAGE, HUMOR AND DEDICATION OF CATHOLIC CIVIL WAR CHAPLAINS March 14, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Presented by: Rev. Robert J. Miller
FROM PIG FARM TO THRIVING NEIGHBORHOOD April 11, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Presented by: Fred Davison
LESSER KNOWN GRAND RAPIDS LANDMARKS May 9, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Presented by: Michael Page 5
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HAPPENING IN HISTORY: NOVEMBER 2018 Western Michigan Genealogical Society Mini-Class Saturday, November 10, 2018, 12:00 p.m. Main Library-Ryerson Auditorium 111 Library St. NE
West Michigan Postcard Club Monday, November 12, 2018, 7:00 p.m. Faith United Methodist Church 2600 7th St. NW
Topic: How to use American Ancestors, online at the library
Topic: Lake Michigan Hurricane: The Armistice Day Storm, November 1940
Presenter: Linda Guth
Presenter: Matthew Daley
Learn how to search a wide range of databases including cemetery records, court and probate records, census lists, and more from the New England Historical Society and primarily searches the whole of the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada.
During the weekend of November 9 and 10, 1940, the unseasonably warm temperatures drew hundreds into the outdoors. Sweeping across the Great Plains, came a massive storm front that collided with a tropical storm from the Gulf of Mexico over Lake Michigan. The resulting storm rapidly dropped temperatures by nearly 60 degrees in a matter of hours and produced seventy-miles-per-hour winds for two days. Dozens of sailors lost their lives, ships were wrecked and driven ashore, and the coastline of the lake changed. The Armistice Day storm of 1940 remains one of the most devastating to occur on the Great Lakes.
Western Michigan Genealogical Society Saturday, November 10, 2018, 1:30 p.m. Main Library—Ryerson Auditorium 111 Library St. NE Topic: Tracking a Population: How the Swedish Lutheran Church kept tabs on everyone in Sweden (and America!) Presenter: Jill Pearson Reider Don’t you wish you had a continuous record of your ancestors in America instead of a snapshot every ten years. Find out how the Swedish Lutheran Church kept track of its parishioners from the day they were born until the day they died, including baptisms, marriages, household examinations, moving into and out of the parish, and death. You’ll be searching your own family tree hoping to find a Swede in there! Jill Pearson Reider has been researching her family roots since her twenties. Her father’s parents both emigrated from Sweden, and she has embraced her Swedish heritage. She has researched her Swedish roots in church archives and through numerous trips to Sweden to visit family. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Swedish American Heritage Society of West Michigan and a member and volunteer with the Swedish American Museum in Chicago. She is a member of WMGS and has written numerous articles for the quarterly, Michigana. Grand River Times
Matthew L. Daley is an Associate Professor at Grand Valley State University. He received a B.A. in History from the University of Detroit Mercy, an M.A. in History from Wayne State University, and a Ph.D. in History from Bowling Green State University. He teaches classes in Michigan History, U.S. Urban Society, History of the Great Lakes, and Industrial Archaeology.
Grand Rapids Civil War Round Table Wednesday, November 14, 2018, 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. De Witt Student Center Kuyper College 3333 East Beltline NE
Ernest Abel will be speaking about Lincoln. 6
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOIN THE GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY OR GIVE A MEMBERSHIP AS A GIFT The Grand Rapids Historical Society sponsors eight lectures each year. Members of the society enjoy these benefits:
The Grand River Times is the newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society. Published and mailed to members eight times a year, it includes current items of historical interest, details of upcoming lectures, historically relevant activities, and short articles.
The Grand River Valley History is the society’s annual magazine. Featured are illustrated articles by local history researchers and contributions from the Grand Rapids Public Museum, the City Archivist, the Grand Rapids Public Library, and the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.
20% Discount on all books and other items published by the society.
Please enroll me as a member of the Grand Rapids Historical Society: ____ New ___Renewal ____Gift _____Lifetime:
$400.00 one-time fee
_____Individual/Family Membership
$30.00 per year
_____Senior Citizen or Student
$20.00 per year
Name: Address: City/State/Zip:
Please make check payable to the Grand Rapids Historical Society and mail it with this form to: Grand Rapids Historical Society, c/o Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library Street NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503
GRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC LIBRARY PHOTO SLEUTH Our November Photo Sleuth selection comes from the Robinson Studio Collection's negatives. In this undated photo, six men, maybe politicians, dressed in suits, sit around a table. If these men or this picture looks familiar to anyone, please email the Grand Rapids Public Library's Local History department at localhis@grpl.org.
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. postage PAID Grand Rapids, MI Permit No. 234
Grand Rapids Historical Society, Inc. c/o Grand Rapids Public Library 111 Library St. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503
GRAND RAPIDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Paths Less Taken: Grand Rapids Women & the Egyptian Revival in Cemetery Architecture PRESENTED BY: Thomas R. Dilley Co-sponsored by the Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, the Grand Rapids Historical Society, & the Grand Rapids Public Library
Thursday, November 8, 2018 at the Grand Rapids Public Library
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Cover Story: November program Letter from our President page 2 The Woman’s Hour page 3
Day of the Dead Event page 3 Program Schedule 2018/2019 page 5 Happening in History page 6 Photo Sleuth page 7
For more information on Historical Society programs, please visit www.grhistory.org Grand River Times
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