Ishpeming looks forward to save the past
It was a momentous night for the Ishpeming Area Historical Society as they announced that the past will reside at a new venue in the near future.
‘Home’ has been the Cliff’s Mine Shaft Museum since 1999, but decided to move their operation down Cleveland Avenue to Pioneer Square, along with a number of other local businesses in the area. Paul and Sandy Arseneau own the building and they’ve applied for a Michigan Economic Development facade grant to transform its style back to the Gossard Era.
“We’ve moved our museum to a new historic building. Our new place is at 308 Cleveland. It’s known as the old Gossard building,” explained Sue Boback, President of the Ishpeming Area Historical Society. “We wanted to have a new space; we wanted to have a larger space; and we wanted to be in downtown Ishpeming so that we could participate in other community events that would help tell Ishpeming’s history, year round.”
A sneak peak of the new digs is set to take place during their after hours on October 28th and again on November 19th for ladies night. But, that wasn’t the only new vision of the evening. Members were treated to a historical slideshow that ventured into the third dimension.
“I’ve been doing slideshows for almost thirty years. Now, they’re digital slideshows and now I can do three dimensional slideshows using computers and old 3D images,” noted Jack Deo, a renowned photographer in the area. “The Childs’ Art Gallery lasted almost 100 years. They were the greatest photographers in the U.P. They shot all the mines for CCI. They shot all the ski jumping photos that you’ve seen for years. They were here all those years. They shot a ‘who’s who’ of all the important people in the area; the dog sled races, the parades. These were the best photographers. They were artists with a camera.”
Jack will be presenting a new show in January entitled “Deer Camps to Grand Camps.”