AADL Talks To: Margaret Parker

Thu, 03/21/2024 - 8:13pm

In this episode, AADL Talks to Margaret Parker. Margaret has been working as an artist for seven decades. She talks about her parents’ influence on her desire to become an artist and the evolution of her artistic development, from working in different mediums to confronting social justice issues in her work. Margaret talks about her time with the Michigan chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art and her commitment to bring public to Ann Arbor through her work on the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission.

For more information, see our digital collections related to Margaret Parker, or visit the artist's website.

AACHM Oral History: Janie Lee Ross

Thu, 07/20/2023 - 3:59pm

Janie Lee Ross was born in 1921 in Jackson, Tennessee. Her father was a church deacon, and she remembers attending choir rehearsals. In the 1940s she and her husband Thomas moved to Chicago, and she went to practical nursing school. They moved to Ann Arbor in 1951 and purchased a home on Fifth Avenue. They opened their home to many friends and relatives who needed a place to stay. Ross was a nurse’s aid at St. Joe’s Hospital and a custodian in Ann Arbor Public Schools. She has four children–Charlotte, Thomas, Carol, and Eugene (Bobby)–and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

View historical materials.

Intergenerational Dialogue on the Great Migration: Janet Virginia (Newton) Haynes

Sat, 10/01/2022 - 3:15pm

Legacies Project Oral History: Herb David

Mon, 09/28/2020 - 10:05am

Herb David was an Ann Arbor luthier.  Originally a research psychologist, David was taught how to make and repair stringed instruments by his mentor, Sarkis "Sam" Varjebedian.  At the age of 30, David started Herb David Guitar Studio, a shop where he produced, repaired, and sold guitars, dulcimers, harps, banjos, and many other types of stringed instruments.  He passed away on July 25, 2020.

Herb David was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2016 as part of the Legacies Project.