The 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike and Italian Hall Book Project: November 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Italian Hall Archaeology Write-up Michigan Tech Lode

Michigan Tech's student newspaper The Lode did a write-up on the archaeology done at Italian Hall. The article's writer, Sawyer Newman included my thoughts on what an honor it was to be included in the dig.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tumult and Tragedy Public Materials

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In addition to the traveling exhibit, the Project Team (Erik Nordberg, Mike Stockwell, and I) also created materials for public consumption that include: a brochure, a handbill, a poster, and a web site.

The web address for the "Tumult and Tragedy" exhibit is: www.1913strike.mtu.edu

Handbill created by Project Team

As part of the grant, the exhibit will be "traveling" to other sites in the Copper Country. The Project Team decided to use a poster and handbill to announce these next stops after the exhibit leaves Michigan Tech. Included on the poster and handbill are dates, speakers, and topics for exhibit openings as the exhibit visits other sites in the Copper Country.

I'm (Gary) giving a presentation on writing the interpretive text for the exhibit at the Keweenaw National Historical Park on May 23, 2013, at 7 pm in the Park's Visitor Center in Calumet.

The front and back covers of the brochure. The back cover, seen on the left-hand side of the image contains names of the Project Team as well as the Narrative Committee. This entire project was truly a collaborative venture from beginning to end and displays the power and importance of having as many voices as possible in a public history exhibit.

Inside cover of the brochure featuring mineworkers posing for a picture outside of one of the area's many shafthouses and the funeral for Finnish immigrant people who died at Italian Hall. This image is from the interior of a Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church on Pine Street in Calumet, Michigan.

Two of the four exhibit content areas.

The two other exhibit themes contained in the brochure.

The brochure is intended to give an encapsulation of the exhibit's main themes and direct the reader to the exhibit's on-line content. The four content areas, or themes, of the exhibit are displayed as titles on each of the brochure's inner folds and then the sub-headings for the exhibit are contained in the top right corner above the each heading. The four thematic areas I chose to tell the story of the "Tumult and Tragedy" of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike were "Context," "Community," "Conflict," and "Consequence."

As you will note, there are QR Codes (Quick Read Codes--available as apps on most mobile devices) on each of the public material handouts. QR Codes are the funny looking, square bar code-like blocks that are seen everywhere nowadays. Though they look and sound a little mysterious, QR Codes are simply a way to direct mobile device users to on-line content. QR Codes have been used in marketing for a while now, but they also provide public historians and exhibits a valuable way to link people at physical exhibit sites to cyber, or on-line, content such as web pages and streaming video or audio content.

The QR Codes on "Tumult and Tragedy's'" public materials direct readers to the web site hosted by Michigan Tech, while QR Codes were also used on the exhibit panels as well as a way to direct viewers to various content and web sites on the internet including web pages and content from the Copper Country Historical Collections, Keweenaw National Historical Park, and Finlandia University.

Tumult and Tragedy ABC 5 and 10

Link to short ABC 5 and 10 on-line article about "Tumult and Tragedy" exhibit:

http://abc10up.com/mtuarchives-premiers-new-exhibit-about-1913-strike/

As you'll note, a list of presenters that will give public talks on an aspect of the exhibit's main themes is included in the article.

I'm (Gary) giving a talk on writing the interpretive text for the exhibit on Thursday, May 23, 2013, at 7 pm in the Park's Visitor Center in Calumet. I'm really looking forward to that event.

Tumult and Tragedy Article in the Daily Mining Gazette

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From the Friday, November 2, 2012, Daily Mining Gazette. The exhibit opening was a great success with over 70 people in attendance. The Project Director, Erik Nordberg, began comments on the exhibit, then I (Gary Kaunonen) as Project Historian talked briefly about the exhibit's research and writing, and then Mike Stockwell, Project Designer, talked about the original artwork and design of the traveling exhibit panels.

It was a fun night and a number of people from the Narrative Committee, who helped brainstorm for the exhibit, were in attendance as well, including Larry Lankton (retired Tech history prof), Deidre Erbisch (local school teacher), and Carla Strome (local school administrator).

Gary Kaunonen

Gary Kaunonen did his undergrad at MSU-Mankato; then a Masters at Michigan Tech, studying Industrial History and Archaeology. Research interests: immigration, labor and social history, industrial communities, material culture of the working class, social justice, public history, and working class rhetoric. His Master’s thesis was on Finnish American labor history in Michigan. He is the author of two books published by Michigan State University Press, one of which won the 2010 Historical Society of Michigan Book Award. He also co-authored "Industrial Calumet" for the NPS, which won an award from Association of Partners for Public Lands. Before academic life, Kaunonen worked in industrial jobs in a foundry and welding shop. Recently, he's worked for Keweenaw National Historical Park, as a freelance historian, as the Archivist, Historian and Collections Development Coordinator at the Finnish American Historical Archive, and adjunct faculty at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College. Currently he is the Assistant Director of Michigan Tech's Writing Program, a Graduate Teaching Instructor, and a PhD student at Michigan Tech in the Rhetoric and Technical Communication program.

Aaron Goings

Aaron Goings is an assistant professor of history at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington, where he teaches courses on research methods and United States Social History. A longtime resident of Grays Harbor, Washington, Aaron’s interest in the Copper Country stems from his earlier studies of Finnish-American labor history in the Pacific Northwest, and the similarities between the ethnic and labor history of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. His scholarly interests include labor and the left, Pacific Northwest History, and history of the lumber industry. His dissertation "Red Harbor: Class, Violence, and Community in Grays Harbor, Washington," was completed at Simon Fraser University in 2011. He credits his interest in labor and radical history to his working-class upbringing, which included many hours on picket lines and participating in Labor Day parades. Aaron notes that in Grays Harbor people still consider it to be a major offense to cross picket lines.

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