The Alger County Digital Archive, available in the Munising Public Library affords the user a window into the past via our local historic printed publications. This week in history one hundred years ago saw the most disastrous fire to ever occur in downtown Munising. The Munising News reported on a fire that broke out in the Baij’s barbershop and billiard hall on Superior Street, in the middle of the night during a northwest gale in minus 10 degree temperatures. One life and six large buildings were lost and eleven families were made homeless before the blaze was extinguished. Only by the heroic efforts of the Munising Fire Department was the rest of downtown saved. This amazing article is available for you to read in the Digital Archive at the library. Stop in a see what you can find.
There is still time to register for the basic skills Beginning Computers Class which will be held on Feb. 16 at 11 a.m. for Seniors and those interested in getting started from square one. Space is limited, pre-registration is required. You must RSVP by calling 906-387-2125.
Are your sewing skills in need of help? Does your favorite shirt need repair? Sign up for Mending 101 at the library and learn the basics of sewing and how to repair your own clothing and other materials. Joan Vinette, a very accomplished local seamstress, will lead this beginning two-part class on mending. The first class will be on Feb. 23 at 3:30. Please call the library at 906-387-2125 to reserve your spot. Plan to bring an item in need of mending.
February is National Haiku Month. Anyone can be a poet when you only need to write three lines, right? This Japanese poetic art form is a fun way to express your thoughts in a simple, easy pattern. Learn the correct format and try your hand at writing Haiku by checking out the display at the library.
Alger Roots Genealogy will meet on Weds. Feb. 22 at 11 a.m. to explore creating a family tree chart and also to work on sorting some of the old Munising News photos.
NEW BOOK: We Kept Our Towns Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula by Phyllis Michael Wong. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is known for its natural beauty and severe winters, as well as the mines and forests where men labored to feed industrial factories elsewhere in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But there were factories in the Upper Peninsula, too, and women who worked in them. Phyllis Michael Wong tells the stories of the Gossard Girls, women who sewed corsets and bras at factories in Ishpeming and Gwinn from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. As the Upper Peninsula’s mines became increasingly exhausted and its stands of timber further depleted, the Gossard Girls’ income sustained both their families and the local economy. (Description from Amazon)
