More Italian Hall Archaeology News Stories

From the Houghton Bureau of NBC's Marquette affiliate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lGrc6VUs4c

From ABC 5 & 10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7lXKXnM1Cs

Italian Hall Archaeology Article Daily Mining Gazette

The Daily Mining Gazette featured this October 22, 2012, article about the archaeological work on the Italian Hall site. My daughter and I volunteered to help work at the site and our group was lucky enough to have dug an archaeological test pit that uncovered what is likely the foundation of the 1908 Italian Hall building. It was an amazing moment knowing that our crew of diggers had uncovered large foundation stones from Italian Hall that had not seen the light of day in over 100 years (it was also amazing working with my daughter on this project). Thus, it was a great day all around and especially gratifying were the number of people that stopped by and asked questions about the dig and the site. It was great talking with them and answering questions about the site.

Italian Hall Archaeology

GPR scanning below the surface at the Italian Hall memorial site, Calumet, Michigan

GPR readout monitor, showing what lies underneath the surface of Italian Hall

Michigan Technological's University's Industrial Archaeology program is undertaking an archaeological study of the Italian Hall site in Calumet, Michigan, for the National Park Service's future landscape improvements to the incredibly significant historical site.

I (Gary) gave a presentation to the class undertaking the archaeological investigation on October 11, 2012, and stressed the significance of Italian Hall and the memorial as an important site in American labor history and that the memorial and events of Italian Hall were a part of public history that was simultaneously "contested history."
The crux of my presentation was that the Italian Hall, the events of the fateful Christmas Eve, and the memorial site were all parts of public history--not the purview of any one person, institution, or agency. There are many stakeholders associated with a site like Italian Hall, and this makes the memorial site and the tragic history associated with it "contested history." Contested history because of its very nature is complex, but the best definition that I have run across comes from Charles Darwin University in Australia. It reads:

History is often portrayed as the description of what happened in the past...it is understood that 'history' is more correctly described as 'histories'. If what we see and do is dependent upon our observations, then each person will have a different view of a particular event, they will construct their own history. Add to this the complexities of interpretation and language and there is likely to be no chance of there being one 'true' history. History is contingent and dependent upon the circumstances in which you find yourself, the image you want to portray and the rights you have to present your turn of the events. History is often described as the story of the winners!

...the issues at stake then are not just the accuracy of the textbooks, but the actual power and influence that goes with being the person or group that gets your story heard. It is the history of the dominant group that gets to be told and it is their story that is often the one that becomes normalised whilst the stories of others gets 'othered' or ignored. Minority groups and outcasts in society don't get to tell their story or their side of a story.

As a note: our research and writing on Italian Hall aims to present the working class history associated with the site. We are presenting the "other side" of the story and from the perspective of strikers, workers, and those that did not have an "official" voice during the events of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike.

This archaeological project is a great example of public history at a contested space in that a number of agencies and stakeholders are involved in the project: local government, a state university, and a federal government agency--the National Park Service. Partnerships like these give a wide breadth of knowledge and resources to under-served, but crucial, complex historical sites like Italian Hall.

Then on October 14, 2012, a morning and afternoon crew of undergraduate and graduate students in Michigan Tech's Social Sciences department laid outs lines and a historic preservation professional from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community scanned the site with ground penetrating radar (GPR) to gain an idea of what lies beneath the surface of the ground at the tragic historical site.

Doing a GPR scan of the site is the first step in an archaeological survey of the site. Step 2 happens this upcoming weekend when students will be doing shovel test pits (STPs) to check for significant historical remains on the site. This archaeological work is mandated by Section 106 heritage preservation law.

This process will help Keweenaw National Park, the organization that administers the site for the Village of Calumet, determine what types of changes to incorporate for the site's landscape improvements during the centennial year of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike. 

Pictures of this weekend's dig will be posted on the site early next week. I'm extremely excited to see what artifacts come from the STPs. This type of analysis at Italian Hall has never been done before, and promises to be an interesting and informative experience.

2012 North American Labor History Conference

If it is fall (and by all weather indications here in the Copper Country it is--down to 34 F tonight) it is time for the North American Labor History Conference at Wayne State University.

A link to the 2012 North American Labor History Conference web site: http://nalhc.wayne.edu/ 

I (Gary) presented at the conference last year on extra-legal direct action and met a bunch of great folks--academics and activists alike--it was a great experience. Also stayed in a wonderful union hotel in downtown Detroit.

Again, this year the Copper Country is represented at the conference by historian Dr. Larry Lankton of Michigan Technological University's Social Sciences department. Larry, who has been doing Copper Country history for over two decades, is providing comments on a documentary related to a Woody Guthrie song about the Italian Hall tragedy, 1913 Massacre by Ken Ross and Louis V. Galdieri. The documentary is being shown Thursday, October 18, at 6 pm.

(Larry is also giving a presentation on workers' compensation in the "Michigan State Bar Sessions" of the Wayne State University Law School Auditorium on Friday, October 19, at 9 am on the "View Above the Bridge and Below the Ground.")

The film and Larry's commentary are being sponsored by "The Workers Compensation Section of the Michigan Bar and Wayne State University Law School, in celebration of 100 years workers' compensation in Michigan."

A link to the 1913 Massacre documentary page: http://1913massacre.com/

Here, a link to the trailer on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/30913221

The documentary looks at public memory of the Italian Hall and 1913-14 Strike in Calumet using Woody Guthrie's lesser-known, but powerful ballad, "1913 Massacre." Guthrie penned and then sang the song after reading Ella Reeve "Mother" Bloor's account of the Italian Hall tragedy in her autobiography We Are Many, which was published in 1940. Guthrie then hit the airwaves, concert halls, and outdoor venues with the song to bolster unionization efforts during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, which was overall, and in a general sense, sympathetic to organized labor.

Ken and Louis and 1913 Massacre will also be appearing at the Calumet Theater this fall, October 5 and 6 for a showing of their film, and will be in the Copper Country fall of 2013 for the Writing Across the Peninsula Conference sponsored by Michigan Tech's Humanities Department.

Fort Wilkins Presentation

Image of the parade grounds and officers' quarters at Fort Wilkins, a restored 19th century frontier fort in Copper Harbor, Michigan, on the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

I (Gary) had an opportunity to round out the Summer 2012 Evening Programs at Fort Wilkins in Copper Harbor a couple of weeks ago. Occurring August, 24, 2012, the talk went well and was attended by around 45 people from all over Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

I've been giving talks at Fort Wilkins for about five years and really enjoy the setting and people. I started giving talks on my experiences with training and racing Alaskan husky sled dogs, moved to talking about Finnish American labor history, and now presented on "The 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike: New Perspectives."

I unveiled some of the new material we have come across in our research for the upcoming book, and the response was very good...many interesting and challenging questions. Authors can learn so much from these talks just by listening to and thinking about audience questions. I'm continually impressed by the questions I get and always try to think if I've addressed these ideas in the book and if not how I might be able to when given the chance to edit the book.

Also met a couple of union folks in the audience. One gentleman was a UAW worker from downstate Michigan and another was a public school teacher from Wisconsin. Both had interesting stories and we talked about everything from the 1937 Sit-down Strike to the March on Madison of recent history. One conclusion I came to after talking with these men and studying labor history for years is that unions are under constant attack. Union folks always have to be vigilant because powerful lobbyists, politicians, and corporations are eternally looking to peel back some of the hard fought rights workers have won in the valiant working class struggles of the past.

This is perhaps one of the greatest lessons from our book on the 1913-14 Strike; people fought hard for workers' rights and we should honor and remember their sacrifices by continuing the fight. We honor the struggle of Copper Country workers by working for and being vigilant toward the rights they marched, sang, and sadly, in some instances, died for.

It is always an honor to be at Fort Wilkins and I learn and enjoy my time presenting there.

Fort Wilkins State Park is a real jewel among the Michigan State Parks system. There are (at various times) live historical interpreters, outdoor recreation opportunities, a lighthouse tour, some excellent exhibits, and in the winter some great cross-country ski trails. Please see the link for more information:
http://www.michigandnr.com/parksandtrails/details.aspx?id=419&type=SPRK

Labor Day 1912: 100 Years Ago Today

Like this parade, which possibly occurred during Labor Day festivities in Hancock, Michigan, circa 1900, Labor Day at the turn of the century was about getting out and showing solidarity with your fellow workers. Membership in a union, such as the International Molders Union members above, often included uniforms so members could identify with other union brothers and sisters. Image courtesy of Michigan Technological University's Copper Country Historical Collections.

One hundred years ago today, thousands of working-class men, women, and children took to the streets of Hancock, Houghton, and Ontonagon to celebrate Labor Day.  Celebrated annually in cities and towns throughout the United States, Labor Day provided workers and their families with a day away from the workplace and the boss.  These parades provided unionists with their best opportunity to display their commitment to their unions, to unionism in general, as well as a pride in their crafts. Unionists sometimes wore identical uniforms or built floats that signaled their membership in a particular trade, or carried banners that proclaimed their union membership. 

The celebrations also provided workers with a chance to demonstrate their class solidarity by taking to the streets, holding mass parade, hearing pro-labor speeches, and enjoying picnics and games with their fellow workers.

Reporting on the September 2, 1912, Labor Day festivities, the Daily Mining Gazette wrote:

"Labor organizations of the Copper Country put forth their marching foot yesterday in observing Labor Day. In Hancock as well as in other cities throughout the country armies of men, the brawn of the great army of industrial toilers, observed it.  The significance of the movement, its benefits, its dangers, and its mission are questions peculiarly appropriate to yesterday and it required only one's presence at the grove to hear the speakers of the day explain in detail the meeting of Labor Day to learn what it represented. . . .  

Attendance Record Broken.  
The grove yesterday afternoon was the mecca for hundreds of copper country folk who congregated to help make the celebration a success.  There was music for dancing by the Quincy band, refreshments were served on the grounds, and an athletic program pulled off.  Yesterday's celebration may truly be said to have been the most successful in the history of organized labor in the Copper Country."

Presenting, Listening, and Learning in Calumet

Former mineworkers talking about their experiences working in Calumet, Michigan, area mines at Coppertown Museum in  Calumet's industrial core. Their talk was sponsored by Calumet Main Street and is a part of Heritage Days in Calumet, photo by the author.

I (Gary) had a unique opportunity last night...I was invited to give a presentation on labor history in Calumet as part of their Heritage Days activities. About 40 people showed up to the event, and things went really well. I discussed life in Calumet circa 1912 for mineworkers and how those lives, although described by a mining company official in a 1912 celebration as idyllic, was simply not the case. The best evidence for this was the bitter 9-month strike that started less than a year after the mining company official's statements in 1912.

The presentation was short at about 20 minutes, but the question and answer session lasted for almost 45 minutes, and great questions they were. My favorite was: "How was the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike like last year's Occupy Movement?"

Wow! What an incredible question and without going into huge detail my answer was, "Decentralization!," which we will be discussing in the book.

But, the highlight of the night was listening to former Calumet area mineworkers discuss their experiences working in area copper mines. Topics included in the memories of these mineworkers were mine accidents, good points of working in a mine, area saloons, and colorful characters of the Copper Country.

In essence, these memories were living testimonials to what conditions in the mines and the area were like...in their own voices and it was a great honor to hear these voices.

This is actually what the upcoming books is all about: giving voice to those who did not have a voice during the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike. We are attempting to tell a type of working class or peoples' history of the event. That is our main focus with the book and our goal in doing our research and writing.

I went to give a presentation and inform on what life was like in the Copper Country circa 1912, but in the end I was given the opportunity to listen to and learn from people who incredible life experience. It was an honor to be able to listen to those folks wax nostalgic about their experiences.

So, the night was a great event and there are even more events planned for the rest of the week including the four year of the Red Metal Radio show, which is staged live at the beautiful Calumet Theater. Details on that radio show and the rest of Heritage Days' events: http://www.mainstreetcalumet.

com/