ICE CREAM SOCIAL AT DEPOT

Once again, summer has gone by much too quickly. We always close the season with one of our most popular events, the annual ice cream social at the Depot, a gathering of members, their guests, and friends. This has long been the occasion for a hearty thankyou to our many volunteers for the myriad hours they have donated to the Harsha House Museum and the Depot over the past year.

And! We liked them so much last year, we have invited them to join us again this year - Bill Stevens and his Tagalongs with their with their fiddles, guitars, and keyboard, who will provide good old old-time songs and dances.

Join us for an always pleasurable evening of good company, good music, and all the ice cream, topping, and sinful extras you can eat.

When: Tuesday, September 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: The Depot

This will also provide an opportunity for those who haven't seen it to view the "Ancient Charlevoix" exhibit that has been open on weekends all summer. It will run only through the last weekend in August for the public, then will remain mounted for about 600 school kids to view at various times throughout the fall. This exhibit focuses on the artifact discoveries made at the LaCroft condominium site in 1971-72. From them, the Charlevoix locale was found to have been inhabited since ca. 1500 B.C.

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2005 CHRISTMAS BULBS, 2006 CALENDARS ARE HERE!

Our ninth Christmas bulb has arrived, this year's theme the Charlevoix Carnegie Library whose cornerstone was laid in 1909. It served the community until 1967 when the books were transferred to the present library and the building torn down shortly after to make way for the Charlevoix State Bank. The bulb depicts a frontal view of the building in browns and green against a slightly glossy pale ivory ground. We chose this theme in honor of the new library currently being built within the scoured-out shell of the old elementary/middle school and gumnasium at Grant and Mason Streets and slated for completion just over a year from now.

The bulbs, as before, are $7. Three or more bulbs (this year's or in combination with those of any year currently in stock) sell for a discounted $6 apiece. They are available only at the Harsha House Museum store. The bulbs can be mailed for $3.50 extra for shipping and handling. Get a complete set (we are sold out of the 1997 one however) for yourselves, your family members, or friends who love Charlevoix.

The 2006 Charlevoix in Historic Photos calendars are selling briskly, as always, and with the help of volunteer John Gaskin, will soon be appearing on walls all over town as he makes his volunteer rounds for us. All new photos mark the months and cover, some of the photos having come into our possession only a few months ago, now making their first appearance, and they are classics. Again, no price increase from previous years -- $13.75 (tax included), with an additional $3.50 for mailing. The 2005 calendar was a complete sell-out.

Summer resident members -- be sure to stop at the Harsha House before you return home for the winter to obtain both of these items for yourselves and as gifts. And to look over everything else Charlevoix-related in the museum store.

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COURIER NEEDS SCRAPBOOK WRITERS

Anyone with a writing urge who would like to contribute to the Scrapbook page of the Charlevoix Courier please contact the Harsha House or Courier editor Julie Witthoeft at 547-6558. The topics are events, people, and places from Charlevoix's history. Assisted research can be done in the Harsha House document and photo files and reference library and the Charlevoix Public Library. Each submission should be no longer than 1000 words. The articles will hopefully be published twice a month.

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SOCIETY PRESENTS PHOTO OF FIRST MAYOR TO CITY HALL

On Monday, August 15, President Paul Hoelderle, museum co-director David Miles, and Society member John Gaskin attended the City Council meeting to present a large framed photo of Mr. Gaskin's grandfather Harvey Lee Iddings, Charlevoix's first mayor from 1905-07, to City Hall and the community. The occasion recognized Charlevoix's incorporation as a city in 1905.

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NEW DISPLAY WINDOW

We have a temporary display window downtown that has been very effective in drawing visitors to the Harsha House and has definitely impacted museum store sales. It is in the former Murdick's Ice Cream store next to Whitney's Oyster Bar across from East Park. Many of our store items - books, maps, Christmas ornaments, photos, T-shirts - are displayed along with information on current and upcoming Society events. Stop by to take a look if you haven't already seen it. Our thanks to the Murdick family for offering us this opportunity.

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2005-2006 DUES REMINDER

All annual members who have not yet sent in their dues are reminded to do so as soon as possible so we can close out the membership list for the current year. Call the Harsha House if you are unsure of your payment level or arrears status.

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FALL HOURS

After Labor Day, the Harsha House Museum will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 1-4 p.m. Steve Goslee will be there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and David Miles on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. These hours will be in effect until Christmas. Open days for the first months of 2006 have yet to be determined.

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VENETIAN TENT EXTREMELY WELL ATTENDED

For the third year, we filled the Heritage Days tent in East Park on the Friday and Saturday of Venetian Festival weekend. This year's theme was Photo Highlights of 100 Years of Charlevoix's History commemorating the century since our incorporation as a city in 1905. Sixty panels holding nearly 130 photos and accompanying text lined the inner perimeter of the tent. The hit of the exhibit was the 16.5-foot-long panoramic view of the west side of Bridge Street taken in the mid 1930s laid across three tables. Several hundred people visited the tent during the fourteen hours we were open. The Harsha House was closed for those days, and our last minute experiment of taking down selected items from the museum store to sell paid off in spades as we grossed $1450. Those who missed the exhibit can still see it -- all the panels are currently at the Harsha House, including the panorama, perhaps on a permanent basis.

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ACACIA PRINT AVAILABLE

Artist and summer resident Susan Logie's print of our soon-to-be-decommissioned Coast Guard vessel Acacia, announced in the June newsletter, is available for purchase at the museum store. The print of the boat and Round lake is made from an original oil painting, done "en plein air," or on the site, not from a photograph. It retails for $100, a portion of which generously goes toward support of the Society. Stop in to see it.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO LITTLE TRAVERSE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Charlevoix Historical Society would like to extend its congratulations to the Little Traverse Historical Society on the 100th anniversary of its founding in 1905. We urge all our members to make the trip to Petoskey to see the exhibits in their newly remodeled waterfront museum, and also at their subsidiary museum at Bay Harbor. The directors and docents at the Harsha House are frequently asked about Ernest Hemingway's connection to Northern Michigan. After we answer as best we can we usually refer our visitors to the Hemingway collection at the Little Traverse museum for more information. We have also co-operated with LTHS director Candace Fitzsimons in joint programs in the past, and hope to do so much more in the future. Our best wishes for another one hundred years of excellent service to the entire Northern Michigan community.

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PART-TIME SECRETARIAL DUTIES AT HARSHA HOUSE

The directors at the Harsha House could use a few hours a week of volunteer secretary time. This would entail entering easy figures on the computer, keeping inventory books for the museum store, writing a few letters, and filing documents. If anyne is interested in some behind-the-scenes work, please call Steve Goslee or David Miles at 547-0373.

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SUMMARY OF JULY & AUGUST BOARD MEETINGS

The museum store took in $1196 in June and $4056 in July (the latter includes the Venetian tent sales). U.S. Representative Bart Stupak's office requested information to read on the floor of Congress to recognize Charlevoix's 100th anniversary of incorporation as a city. A new fireproof file cabinet was purchased. Plaques honoring Anne Harsha for her donation of, and Andrew Lonyo for his restoration endowment of the Harsha House will be placed on the museum's front porch. A plaque honoring Mary and Robert Pew for their donation of the Depot will be placed near the Depot entrance. The new book Vintage Views is selling so well we had to reorder twice. The success of the July store sales in East Park prompts us to try again during AppleFest. We will experiment with having our historical programs videotaped professionally. More Depot pillars have been restored. The application for change of ownership of the lighthouse is in the pipeline. The author of a novel based in Charlevoix in the early 1940s will use a photo of the palatial yacht Sylvia from our files for the dustjacket illustration. And a big thankyou to the stalwart young men of Boy Scout Troop #11 for their assistance carrying heavy stuff and manning the popular popcorn machine like seasoned professionals during the Sunset Cruise.

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MYSTERY VALISE - WHO DONATED?

An antique leather valise, about 20" x 10" x 10", was left on the porch of the Harsha House recently. Did any member drop it off without leaving a note to identify themselves?

The Society welcomes new members: Joan Swanson (life), Chris & Georganna Monk, Billie D'Entremont.
Donations received from: D. James & Laura Smith, Belvedere Club, Anne & Jeff Miller, James W. Ochs (unrestricted); Larry & Edie Irish, Connie Coleman, Susan & Brownie Flanders, Bruce Shanahan (Sunset Cruise).
The Society regrets the recent passiing of longtime members Joan Hiller, Margaret Duerr, and Wilma Stabnick.
Memorial received from: John Frey for Margaret Duerr.