Michigan Historical Commission Centennial Review
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THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION A CENTENNIAL REVIEW MAY 2013 THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION A CENTENNIAL REVIEW MAY 2013 On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Michigan Historical Commission, this booklet is presented to the people of Michigan to commemorate one hundred years of public investment in our state’s matchless heritage. © Michigan Historical Commission 2013 In October 1913, the commission met in Kalamazoo at the home of the Rev. Monsignor O’Brien, a fellow commissioner, and journeyed from there to visit the archives at Notre Dame University as the guests of the Rev. John Cavanaugh. All photographs courtesy Archives of Michigan THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION On Thursday, May 8, 1913, the average high temperature in Lansing was 66 degrees. The day would become more than seasonable, though, with a landmark action of Governor Woodbridge Nathan Ferris. With the stroke of a pen, he signed into law Public Act 271, a measure creating the Michigan Historical Commission. It was, in several ways, a historic event. The impetus for the law arose two years earlier, when Governor Chase S. Osborn vetoed the annual appropriation for the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Osborn’s January 1911 State of the State Address called for “exercise of the closest economy in the management of the business of the State” because a “large deficit . probably amounting to at least a million dollars” required the elimination of earmarks (to use an equivalent modern term). He proposed that the State Librarian assume the society’s role of collecting historical documentation, publishing the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections (http://libguides.lib.msu.edu/MPHC), and maintaining the history museum in the Capitol. Appropriation amounts had varied annually from $500 to $4,000. Neither the society nor the legislature agreed that the vital function of preserving the state’s history should be managed by the State Librarian. After months of discussion, House Bill 327 was introduced on February 10, 1913. The bill called for a new commission to manage the state’s history affairs. It would be composed of six members, serving without compensation (expense reimbursement only), appointed by the Governor for six-year terms. The state’s chief executive would serve as an ex officio member. With the groundwork laid for favorable reception, the measure quickly made its way through the legislative process. On April 19 the bill passed the House unanimously; five days later the same result occurred in the Senate. The bill had immediate effect. On May 8, less than 90 days after the introduction of the bill, the Michigan Historical Commission Act became law. Of particular note is this statement 1 in the commission’s Bulletin No. 1, issued that September: “To Mrs. M. B. Ferrey [state museum curator] is due much credit for earnest work in behalf of this bill from its inception to its passage by the legislature.” Governor Ferris appointed the six members quickly, and the commission organized and gathered for its first meeting on Wednesday, May 28, in the Governor’s office in the Capitol. Ferris acted as chair pro tem of the meeting. The commission got to work, accepting donated artifacts from the society, convening subsequent meetings in the office of the lieutenant governor, and collaborating with the Mackinac Island Park Commission (created in 1895). The society changed its name to the Historical Society of Michigan, and the society and the commission shared executive direction. The commission continued the practice of issuing publications on historical subjects; the publishing function is one of the oldest state-supported activities. There is a continuous record of appropriations for historical publications since 1874, encompassing bulletins, guides to historic resources and attractions, student essays, and of course, the annual reports required by statute. In 2012, the commission published, in connection with its commemoration at the Antietam National Battlefield, the Michigan at Antietam booklet. The 1915 Compiled Laws of Michigan located the Commission Act in Title VIII, Part 19, “Associations to Promote Art, Science, Literature and Music.” Other similar statutes gathered here dealt with libraries, societies for the promotion of literary, scientific, artistic, and engineering activities, and musical groups. In 1916, the commission found the need to make suggestions to amend its operating statute. Among the changes proposed was a $15,000 annual funding appropriation. During the next fifty years, the commission worked to expand the state museum and archives, published Michigan History Magazine, fulfilled a bequest from John M. Munson, President of Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University), to issue a number of history publications from 1950 onward, created the Centennial Farm program, launched the State Register of Historic Sites, and administered the Michigan Historical Marker program enacted into law in 1955 by Act 10, effective October 14. On October 22, 1963, the commission held its 50th anniversary banquet in Lansing. Commissioners celebrated a state archives possessing almost 3,000 cubic feet of materials, 4,000 microfilm rolls of documents and images, more than 1,000 cartographic items and more than 63,000 photographs; a separate museum structure, the downtown Turner House; 160 historical markers; 1,800 Centennial Farms; and a significant number of written materials. The next month, voters approved a new Michigan Constitution with significant implications for the commission’s work. State government was limited to twenty 2 The commission held one of its 1963 meetings in Sault Ste. Marie. Pictured from left to right are Commissioners L. G. Vander Velde, Willard Wichers, Executive Secretary Lewis Beeson, and Commissioners Prentiss Brown, Willis Dunbar, and Elizabeth Adams. principal departments, rather than the proliferation of independent boards, agencies and commissions that had accreted over the prior decades. Jockeying began over the structure and form of the new government; commissioners lobbied for creation of a Department of History and Archives or one that combined the commission and the State Library. (The title page of Bulletin No. 1 described the commission as “a State Department of History and Archives.”) Instead, the Executive Organization Act of 1965 placed the Michigan Historical Commission within the Department of State, designating the board as a Type II agency. Accordingly, its staff, finances, records, and property were transferred to the Secretary of State, who became the department head to whom the commission reported. A Division of History came into existence to carry on the work; the commission‘s role became one largely of providing counsel and guidance to state government. According to an article in the September/October 1988 edition of Michigan History, the commission on its 50th anniversary in the mid-1960s, had “faced an uncertain future as it looked to its second half-century.” The Historical Society of Michigan had established an independent office in 1948, though its members continued to receive Michigan History Magazine free of charge. Fitting into the Secretary of State’s operations presented a new challenge. The commissioners no longer had final say on matters of history. Still, the record shows they continued to carry on the work of preserving and promoting Michigan’s heritage. 3 As a case in point, the Commission launched a “Historymobile” in 1964. The 54- foot-long “museum on wheels” traveled to Michigan communities over the next decade, sparking interest in state and local history and promoting Michigan museums. Local historical society members often served as hosts, strengthening ties between agencies. Collaboration was key at many levels. In the first year, eleven Michigan businesses supported the venture, while fourteen Michigan museums contributed nineteen separate exhibits covering Michigan’s history from pre-contact. The American Association for State and Local History, impressed by this moving museum and the cooperation involved, presented the commission with an Award of Merit in 1965. In its heyday, the Historymobile racked up an impressive number of miles. A 1967 Department of State publication noted that it visited 146 communities during its first three years. On December 10, 1971, the commission adopted a “Bi-Centennial Resolution.” Anticipating the commemoration of the nation’s 200th birthday five years hence, the resolution called on the Governor, legislature, and people of Michigan to celebrate the event “by building a State Museum and History Building, thus leaving an appropriate and lasting memorial of this significant event in the history of our State and Nation.” A decade and a half would pass before the goal of the resolution was achieved. Between its 50th and 75th anniversaries, the commission continued in the tradition laid down over its past. Its advisory role increased as the Bureau of History took responsibility for the State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan Underwater Preserves and history in several Michigan State Parks. In 1970, Act 169 gave the commission a role in historic district designations. That same year, it assumed responsibility for the Michigan Historical Museum’s first field site, the Mann House in Concord. In 1976, Act 69 authorized state acceptance of historic sites from local governments. In 1978 the commission launched Michigan Historical Commission Days, the most notable of which occurred in 1981, when former governors Van Wagoner, Williams, Swainson and Romney gathered for a public discussion with Governor Milliken on the role of the state’s chief executive. In January 1983, the commission and the Historical Society of Michigan joined forces to recommend programs and legislation to commemorate Michigan's sesquicentennial of statehood. On May 26, 1988, the 75th anniversary of the commission was held at the Radisson Hotel in Lansing. Speakers included former Governor and Commission President John B. Swainson, Secretary of State Richard H. Austin, and Dr. Martha M. Bigelow, Director of the Bureau of History. On March 7, 1989, a long-awaited dream of commissioners and Michigan history lovers came to fruition.