Clarke Historical Library

08/11/2026

It has been a little while since we posted something... we got stuck in a rabbit hole of curious and interesting research on the Michiganology site from our friends at the Archives of Michigan! If you haven't checked it out, you should take a look -- there are thousands of digitized historical records including maps, surveyors records, WWI records, death certificates, and more.

For instance, we found the 1837 Survey of Union Township in Isabella County by Clark, Hodgson, and Whitcomb... little did they know that, 189 years later, in Section 22 of this map, there would be an archives and special collections library where researchers would be on a computer looking at a scanned version of the map they created?!?!?!

https://michigan.access.preservica.com/

07/19/2026

Isaac Fancher is ready for game time. After 39 days, the Word Cup championship game is finally here!

Fancher is wearing his hat. And we don't know it for a fact, but we think he just went out a bought a 72 inch TV and made a big bowl of his famous gameday guacamole.

07/17/2026

Mike Federspiel recently joined our friends at WCMU Public Media as part of their "Central Focus" series. Federspiel, a former CMU professor and an expert on Ernest Hemingway's time in Michigan, talked about his book, "Picturing Hemingway's Michigan." Wayne State University Press re-released the book and it is now available in paperback format. Check out the interview on the WCMU webpage:
https://www.wcmu.org/local-regional-news/2026-07-16/breaking-down-hemmingways-summers-in-northern-michigan

And visit the Clarke's website (http://clarke.cmich.edu) for more information about Hemingway in Michigan.

Photos: Mike Federspiel's book and the Clarke's 2019 exhibit about the Hemingway Collection at the Clarke, sharing the stories of how the collection came to be.

07/16/2026

As excitement continues around the FIFA World Cup, here's a fun piece of CMU history you may not know.

In 1912, President Charles T. Grawn, the namesake of Grawn Hall, returned from a four-month trip through Scandinavia, where soccer was already one of the region's most popular sports. That same year, after a disastrous football season, Central discontinued football and introduced soccer.

While football was on its way out one way or another, historians believe Grawn's travels, and his enthusiasm for Scandinavian culture, may have helped inspire the switch.

Football returned in 1916, but for a brief chapter in CMU history, soccer took center stage.

Many thanks to the Clarke Historical Library for helping uncover this piece of university history.

07/16/2026

07/16/2026

Central Michigan Athletics, Central Michigan University, and Central Michigan Baseball mourn the loss of Central Michigan legend, family man, ballplayer, coach, athletic director, and community leader Dave Keilitz.

Our condolences to his family and many friends.

https://cmuchippewas.com/news/2026/7/15/general-dave-keilitz-central-michigan-legend-family-man-ballplayer-coach-and-athletic-director

07/15/2026

Boy, it is hot out there!!! For generations of Michiganders, hot summer days are an indelible part of their memories at beaches and lakes across Michigan's "Sunrise Coast" -- in places like Hillman, Glennie, and Tawas.

Photos:
-Alpena Boys Camp, Hillman, circa 1930s-40s
-Vouehn Lake, Glennie, ca. 1930s-40s
-U.S. Life Saving Station, Tawas Point, circa 1910s-20s

Check out hundred of postcard photos from northeastern , along the coast of on the "Michigan's Sunrise Coast" digital exhibit -
https://clarke.omeka.net/exhibits/show/sunrisecoast/

07/10/2026

in 1856, James Jesse Strang died of wounds he sustained when assassins shots and pistol-whipped him on the dock at the harbor of St. James in Beaver Island. Thus, the life of the King of Beaver Island ended.

Learn more about Strang from the Clarke's 2020 conversation with author Miles Harvey -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXn93l5a2fE

Pictured is a daguerreotype of James Jesse Strang from the Clarke's holdings.

07/09/2026

In July 1863, Captain Orlando M. Poe of the US Army Corps of Engineers was at Camp Nelson in Kentucky preparing for his next orders, which would send him to Knoxville. He was amassing the equipment he and the other Engineers would need for their work.

On July 8, 1863, Capt. George Webster of the Regimental Quartermaster's Office wrote Poe a letter about a recent request for supplies. Unfortunately, Capt. Webster could not send Poe the 100 wheelbarrows Poe requested because Webster was "disappointed by the manufacturer."

Just another day in the life of a member of the armed forces in the Civil War.

Pictured is a portrait of Orlando Poe and the July 8, 1863 letter about the supplies, including the poor-quality wheelbarrows.

07/04/2026

250 years ago, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The values expressed in the document still resonate with people around the world two-and-a-half centuries later:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Happy Independence Day!

Photo of the Clarke's exhibit, "From the Consent of the Governed: Michigan and the Values of the Declaration of Independence." Visit the Clarke 9 am - 5 pm, Monday to Friday to see the exhibit.