2025 Programs

Click Here for a printable version of the 2025 brochure

Michigan’s Lady Senator: Eva McCall Hamilton

In November 1920 Eva McCall Hamilton made national news when Grand Rapids voters elected her to the Michigan Senate. Ever since, she’s been celebrated as a trailblazer—Michigan’s first female legislator. But Hamilton had actually been going to the Capitol, and working in political circles, for years before her election. Learn more about the issues and passions that drove her, and the many challenges she faced, as Michigan’s “Lady Senator.”

Anywhere on the Face of Creation, but Michigan: Colonizing and Developing the Grand Rapids Fruit Ridge

After the Great Panic of 1837, eastern Yankees looked west for land. A year earlier, the Treaty of Washington was negotiated, ceding over a third of Michigan’s land mass from the Odawa and Ojibway people. This talk will focus on an important swath of land northwest of Grand Rapids, now known as the Fruit Ridge, or simply “the Ridge,” which was opened for American colonization following these historical turning points. With the help of some newly discovered letters by Yankee settler Adelia Hills, Jayson will add to the fascinating story of this unique ecological and cultural place in Michigan, a space which went from a contested space of poor squatters, dispossessed indigenous farmers, and eastern Yankees to what is now one of the most productive apple regions in the country.

Sunken Stories of the Grand River and It’s Lost History

Discover magnet fishing and scuba diving the grand river for lost historical relics. In this presentation Adam Gross will bring you to the depths of the Grand River and show you the tossed history never meant to be found. Filled with local historical photos of these treasures from 1880s to 1950s and accompanied by stories discovered at our local Grand Rapids Public Library.

Stanley Ketchel: Origins of American Achilles; Grand Rapids’ First World Boxing Champion  

Still regarded by boxing purists as one of the hardest punchers, pound for pound, of all time, Stanley Ketchel’s legend is that of indomitability. Looking beneath the veneer reveals a more complex and nuanced person. This presentation will share newly discovered facts and research on Ketchel’s youth and his complex relationship with his adversary and eventual friend, heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.

The WPA-funded City Tax Survey – A Literal Snapshot of Grand Rapids 1936-1938

In 1936, the Grand Rapids City Commission requested approximately $300,000 from the Federal Works Progress Administration to complete a City Tax Survey. The project created for the very first time an individual assessor card with uniform details and photographs for nearly all existing city properties. Overcoming public hostility, political chicanery, and a threatened loss of funding, the City Tax Survey eventually put food on the tables of nearly 200 unemployed white collar workers including architects, engineers, photographers, surveyors, clerks and typists. Discover the project’s history and how these vital public records are used by historians, officials, and homeowners in a multitude of practical ways.

Baseball and the African American Experience in West Michigan

GF Korreck and George Bayard | 3:00pm – 3:45pm

Although it has long been called “America’s Game,” baseball has not always been open to all Americans, especially when it came to professional versions of the sport. From the late nineteenth century until halfway through the twentieth century minorities were excluded from the game. In spite of discrimination, African Americans found ways to play and promote baseball. Negro League players had a profound impact on the African American community here in Grand Rapids, shaping not only the local sports culture but also fostering pride, unity, and inspiration among generations. We look forward to delving into this important chapter of our history and exploring the lasting legacy these athletes left on our community.