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P.O Box 68874, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-8874                             
Phone: 616-574-7307

 

May 15, 2013
 
GGRWHC Board of Directors

Falinda Geerling,
 President
Cindy Dorman,
 Vice President
Ruth VanStee,
  Secretary
Connie Ingham
  Treasurer
  
Janet Brashler
Jo Ellyn Clarey
Susan Coombes
Gayle Davis
Sharon Hanks
Kyle Irwin
Mary Jane Keeler
Jef McClimans
Jennifer Morrison
Kathy Rent
Mary Seeger
Ruth Stevens
Jill Straub
  
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Build-a-Page Women's History Workshop
No prior experience needed!
  
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
7pm, VanderVeen Center
Grand Rapids Public Library (111 Library Street NE)
 
Give an evening to the GGRWHC and move our oral history collection toward worldwide availability! Archivist Jill Straub will show you how to locate the bits and pieces of information we need. Own a piece of a page--and help write women into the historical record!
  
The Oral History Committee of the GGRWHC has finished digitizing both audio and transcript versions of the 50+ interviews in our current collection at the Grand Rapids Public Library. As soon as we complete introductory pages for each interview subject (photo, synopsis, other ancillary information), we will be ready to post searchable interviews online. Visit our homepage for fuller information and a link to the collection--www.ggrwhc.org. If you own a laptop or a traditional notebook, please bring it. If you don't, come anyway. We have a plan.
  
Why help? Only because a hardcopy transcript of interview #29 exists in the GGRWHC collection at the GRPL, could historian Lisa Krissoff Boehm incorporate information from the late Ella Sims in her 2009 book Making a Way Out of No Way. Boehm refers to our interview as a rarity. Visit our homepage for the quote!

   

On May 2nd, 1994, the GGRWHC interviewed Mrs. Sims, after which GGRWHC transcribers created a manuscript version of the audio for researchers like Boehm to use. On May 22nd, 2013, we hope that you will help us share this interview with the world--along with the rest of Collection #167 in the GRPL archive. Your efforts will help keep their stories alive--and help keep Grand Rapids and its women fully in the historical record. 
M ARK YOUR CALENDARS! 
  
For fuller information, visit "Upcoming Events" on our website: 
  
*** Wednesday, May 22nd, 7pm: See above about the "Build-a-Page Women's History Workshop" (VanderVeen Center, Grand Rapids Public Library)
  
*** Monday, June 10th, 12:30pm:
An exclusive tour "Under the Dome" featuring women's history in the restored Michigan State Capitol with historian Kerry Chartkoff.
Emphasis will be on the women who have worked there from an 1880s head janitress to Grand Rapids' Eva McCall Hamilton, elected in November 1920 as the first woman to serve in the Michigan State Senate. Watch for details about dress and parking. We will carpool from the commuter lot next to Malarkey's (Beltline & I-196). Send queries to info@ggrwhc.org or call 616-574-7307.
  
*** Wednesday, June 19th, 7 pm: An oral history training workshop on recording women's history through conversation. Help the GGRWHC interview history-making local women. The workshop will introduce you to procedures for interviewing and later depositing your work in an archive. Please pre-register at info@ggrwhc.org or call 616-574-7307.  (VanderVeen Center, Grand Rapids Public Library, 111 Library Street NE)
  
*** July 4th: Parading with the GGRWHC! Check back . . .
  
*** August 26th: Women's Equality Day, the anniversary of the certification of the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing universal suffrage. Stay tuned!

 

  

JOIN US OR UPDATE YOUR MEMBERSHIP!

Not a current member of GGRWHC? Membership is easy
and helps offset the expenses associated with research and programming presented each year. Your membership helps to set the record straight on the women who've made history here in our community.
  

GGRWHC Board Meetings

Board meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at 5:30 pm at the Vanderveen Center for the Book at the Grand Rapids Public Library. If you have suggestions for programs, oral histories or other items, please email us at info@ggrwhc.org or plan to attend a meeting.

 

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Please take a moment to forward this message to others you know who may be interested in Women's History.  If you've received this message as a forward, consider joining our mailing list (click on the button in the left column above!) in order to receive future updates about programming.

Thank you for your interest in preserving and celebrating the history of the many phenomonal women who've helped to shape West Michigan!  If you aren't already a member of the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council, consider showing your support through annual membership.  Visit our web site for more information and the ability to register using Pay Pal online!

Hats off to the historical women who've shaped West Michigan!