Historical Society of Greater Lansing

When:  Friday, May 31st, 2013  5:00 – 7:00 pm

Where:  Creyts Building  831 N. Washington St., Lansing MI  (corner of Washington and Oakland)
For more information: 517-282-0671 or info@lansinghistory.org

Mark your calendars for Friday, May 31 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm when HSGL’s newest exhibit, Lansing Eats! will be opening at the Creyts building!  The exhibit will include items from the last one hundred years of eating in Lansing, including historic cookbooks, artifacts from local dairies, restaurants, and more.

We’ll start by exploring how food was produced and acquired in and around Lansing, from turn-of-the-century farms and butcher shops, to food rationing and Victory Gardens during WWII, to contemporary community gardens such as the Hunter Park GardenHouse affiliated with the Allen Neighborhood Center.

Next, we’ll take a look at how food was packaged, promoted and distributed in Lansing, focusing on places like Winans Dairy, Hi-Klas Bottling Company, Fabiano’s Candy and iconic restaurants like Dine’s, Emil’s and Famous Taco. And speaking of famous, we’ll bring you back to Martha Dixon’s mid-century kitchen at WKAR in Lansing. Martha’s spirit lives on through her cookbooks and transcripts from her popular television show.

Finally, we’ll dive into how people appreciate food in Lansing. You’ll have an opportunity to thumb through classic cookbooks, gather around an unusual dining room table and share your favorite food memories for our Memory Map.

Other Lansing Eats! Openings

Saturday, June 1, 2013  10:00 am to 5:00 pm  (Be A Tourist in Your Own Town, Yellow Line)
Sunday, June 2, 2013 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Sunday, July 7, 2013 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Sunday, August 4, 2013 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Sunday, September 1, 2013 1:00 – 4:00 pm
Or by special appointment.  To arrange a viewing please call 517-282-0671 or e-mail info@lansinghistory.org.

Please join us on May 15th for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour of Meadowvue, today known as the English Inn. The fundraising event will take place from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm and will include an in-depth, behind the scenes tour of the house and grounds, as well as delicious hors d’oeuvres and desserts. Tickets will be $50 per person. Event sponsorships are also available.

Gold Sponsors

Creyts Place Development - LEAP

Silver Sponsors

Dave and Chris Hollister

Copper Sponsors

Honorable Joan Bauer and Doug Langham

Mayor Virg Bernero

Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope

Artiflection, LLC

Castanier Reporting

Tim and Melissa Kaltenbach

Lansing Community College

677 South Michigan Road (M-99), Eaton Rapids
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 – 6:00pm-8:00pm

And take a look at the English Inn here: www.englishinn.com

Please use this form to order tickets or you can call: (571) 282-0671 or email: info@lansinghistory.org

Or purchase your tickets right now through PayPal:

HSGL President Valerie Marvin will lead a tour of the campus of the Michigan School for the Blind (1141 N. Pine Street, Lansing MI) beginning at 6:00 pm on Thursday April 18th.   The tour will conclude with a light snack at Rizzi Designs, in the old School for the Blind Superintendent’s Home.

You can view all of our upcoming events for the summer here.

The Historical Society of Greater Lansing is now collecting objects for our next exhibit, Lansing Eats! , which will focus on our local food culture.  Among the items we are seeking are:

- Menus, ephemera, and objects related to Lansing-area restaurants and food purveyors

- Ration books or anything related to victory gardening during WWII

- Cooking-related appliances purchased in Lansing

- Bottles or containers from Lansing-area food and beverage companies (like QD or Hi-Klas)

- Recipe-compilation books from Lansing-area religious and community organizations

If you have something you would consider sharing with us, please contact Adina Langer at (609)297-7023 or email her at artiflection@gmail.com.

Please join HSGL for a talk by Grand Hotel historian Bob Tagart for a talk on the history of Michigan’s most famous historic hotel, located on beautiful Mackinac Island.

A History of the Grand Hotel
Thursday, March 21, 7:00 pm
Downtown Library 401 S. Capitol Avenue

Our meeting is featured here – check it out!

The 1934 Kerns Hotel fire, considered to be the worst fire in the Lansing history and responsible for 32 deaths, is the inspiration for a new novel by Barbara Saxena, a local area physician and author.

The author will discuss the fire and her novel at a meeting of the Historical Society of Greater Lansing, Thursday, February 21, 7 p.m., in the auditorium of the downtown branch of the Capital Area District Library.

Saxena said she first ran across the history of the hotel while doing genealogy research on her family and it inspired her to write the historical novel “Souviens” which deals with the real life tragedy of the Hotel Kerns fire.

“It is part medical mystery and part historical novel,” she said

Saxena said she will discuss how she integrated her historical research into the novel and how she used the actual occurrence to write a fictional account of the tragedy.

The author is a lifelong resident of the Lansing area, a Waverly High School graduate and a family practice practitioner in Grand Ledge.

The 162 room Kerns Hotel located in the 100 block of N. Grand Avenue was built in 1909 and was a popular residence for legislators. Seven legislators perished in the fire and several others were injured. The fire injured 44 guests including 14 firefighters. A state historical marker has been placed on the site to commemorate both the tragedy and the heroism of the firefighters.

Please check out this article featuring Linda Peckham and Robert Morris:

“As president of the Historical Society, Peckham was constantly researching, writing and planning, working to increase area residents’ awareness of Lansing’s unique past. She led walking tours throughout Lansing — including the organization’s annual “ghost walk” through Mount Hope Cemetery, co-directed the city’s sesquicentennial celebration in 1997 and created educational material for teachers to use during local history lessons in their classrooms…”

Check out the recent coverage of our new exhibit in the Lansing State Journal:

“Exhibit recreates ‘Lansing High School Days’

Memorabilia from Lansing schools featured

This is the second “pop-up” exhibit presented by the nonprofit group, following a summer feature on downtown Lansing shopping, which a few hundred people attended, Marvin said.  The high school exhibit will run through early March at the society’s office in the lower level of the Creyts Building, 831 N. Washington Ave. in Lansing.  The exhibit is open on the first Sunday of every month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. as well as by appointment.”     

 - LSJ 12/1/12