I don’t usually wish I could be 18 again. I remember too well all the hard lessons that lay in store for me. (I just wish my body could be 18 again. That’s the ticket.) The next best thing, it turns out, is to spend a day wandering around a college campus in early September.
On Monday I headed to the Osterlin Library at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City, Civil War veterans in tow. Helpful librarians set me up at a nice microfilm reader and directed me to the wall of filing cabinets I’d come to plunder. Inside were rolls and rolls of microfilm of old Antrim County newspapers. The Elk Rapids Progress. The Bellaire Independent. The Central Lake Torch. Catnip to me. I went looking for Dan Blakely’s 1908 obituary–found it, too–but I suspect you’ll be more interested in things I learned on my way to looking up something else.
First of all, in 1908 the postal service could be depended upon to protect you from pesky tax and water bills. (Does Sharon Schultz know about this?)
Elk Rapids Progress, November 19, 1908
On the other hand, it was also determined to protect you from felonious card parties. Isn’t historical perspective fun?
Elk Rapids Progress, December 17, 1908
The main thing I learned, though, is that I’ve missed a lot by driving through the campus. This time I strolled from the library to the Dennos Museum, taking the time to explore the outdoor sculpture up close.
I was tempted to make a whole slideshow out of David Barr’s Synergy, but it’s awfully hard to photograph. I recommend you go see it for yourself. If you are from Away, you will have to content yourselves with the Outdoor Sculpture Tour on the Dennos website for in-depth discussion.
We’ve visited the Dennos together before, so I won’t show you the Inuit art and the polar bear and the musk ox this time. But I’m going back there on Friday for the preview of Art and the Animal 2011, the annual members exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists, and you may be sure I’ll tell you all about that.
Torch Lake Views 
Wendi
September 13, 2011
I like your photos…didn’t know what I was missing. But please don’t tell Sharon what you found in the paper!
Gerry
September 13, 2011
Thank you. I didn’t realize, either, how pretty the campus was once you get away from all those parking lots.
As for the clipping, I was speculating on what exactly poor Kalamazoo was supposed to do about telling people what and when they had to pay . . . but you’ve raised the spectre of whether Sharon could just leave it all a great mystery. Oh dear. That will never do. Best face up to these matters. Which reminds me. Today’s the day. Best get myself off to the Township Hall post haste.
Karma
September 13, 2011
Gee, I think someone needed to teach the boys in Elk Rapids about run-on sentences!
Those are some pretty neat sculptures; one of them gives the appearance of floating on air from the perspective that you took the photo.
Gerry
September 13, 2011
See, that explains a lot about why nobody could ever figure out what was going on around here.
I’m glad you liked the sculptures. I enjoyed wandering through them–and I especially enjoyed watching young students wandering through them too, clicking away with their cellphone cameras, talking about What It All Means.
Belinda
September 14, 2011
Oh My Gosh! Another place to do research next summer. What years are the newspapers?
Gerry
September 14, 2011
None of the files are complete, but all are rich. The ER Progress goes back to 1872, the CL Torch to 1896, and the Bellaire Independent to 1895. (There are lots of other resources at the Traverse Area District Library and the Library of Michigan–a person could be overwhelmed.)
katherine
September 14, 2011
Regarding the P.O. all I could say was “HUH” … That would be along the lines of
” the check’s in the mail”.
One day about umpteen years ago I went in to try to look up something in the NMC micro film. One thing led to another, you know and I ended up being there for 6 or 7 hours it was so interesting!
Gerry
September 15, 2011
See, that’s how a person gets hooked. Those wily Civil War veterans get you engrossed in old newspapers and the next thing you know you’re craving the hard stuff: probate records, illegible tombstones, tintypes.