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Martin Bandyke Under Covers for May 2019: Martin Bandyke interviews Kenneth C. Springirth, author of Detroit’s Streetcar Heritage
Kenneth Charles Springirth (born 1939) is a United States author, activist, politician, guest-speaker, photographer, and railroad historian. Detroit's Streetcar Heritage is Ken’s photographic essay of the Detroit, Michigan, streetcar system.
Replacement of slow moving horsecar service began with the opening of an electric street railway by the Detroit Citizens Street Railway in 1892. By 1900, all of the Detroit streetcar systems were consolidated into the Detroit United Railway (DUR). Following voter approval, the City of Detroit purchased DUR in 1922, becoming the first large United States city to own and operate public transit under Detroit Department of Street Railways (DSR). Between 1921 and 1930, DSR purchased 781 Peter Witt type streetcars. Although DSR purchased 186 modern Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) cars between 1945 and 1949, many streetcar lines were converted to bus operation. The last streetcar line on Woodward Avenue was converted to bus operation in 1956 with 183 PCC cars sold to Mexico City. Detroit's Streetcar Heritage documents the city's streetcar era plus scenes of the PCC cars in Mexico City, the Washington Boulevard Line which operated from 1976 to 2003, and the QLINE streetcar which opened in 2017 on Woodward Avenue linking Grand Boulevard with downtown Detroit.
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"Back Page": A Super Colossal Production (1936)
This film was made by the Display Advertising Department of the Ann Arbor News in 1936. It's a humorous look at a day in the life of the advertising staff as they work to secure an advertisement from a local merchant and get it to press in time for the daily run. 1936 marks the year the Ann Arbor News building was completed at 340 E. Huron and the year the News acquired its new printing press, both of which are featured in the film. There's also a tantalizing glimpse of the Bell Tower under construction on the University of Michigan campus. The Library received this 16 mm film along with the clipping files and photo negatives from the Ann Arbor News.
Original: 16mm film, silent, 00:21:41, 1936
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"Back Page": A Super Colossal Production (1936), with live accompaniment by Steven Ball
On Tuesday, June 28, 2011, the Ann Arbor District Library and the Michigan Theater presented the WORLD PREMIERE of "Back Page: A Super Colossal Production," a silent film made in 1936 by Ann Arbor News staff and recently unearthed from the archives of the Ann Arbor News.
This film was made by the Display Advertising Department of the Ann Arbor News in 1936. It's a humorous look at a day in the life of the advertising staff as they work to secure an advertisement from a local merchant and get it to press in time for the daily run. 1936 marks the year the Ann Arbor News building was completed at 340 E. Huron and the year the News acquired its new printing press, both of which are featured in the film. There's also a tantalizing glimpse of the Bell Tower under construction on the University of Michigan campus. The Library received this 16 mm film along with the clipping files and photo negatives from the Ann Arbor News.
Original: 16mm film, silent, 00:21:41, 1936
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Familiar and Exotic: The Long History of Arab Restaurants in the United States
Beginning with the earliest Arab immigrants to the U.S. in the 1880s, restaurants have been a staple of Arab immigrant communities. Originally meant to serve the Arab American population, the restaurants quickly became favorite spots for adventurous eaters. As Arab restaurants began serving more and more non-Arab diners, they transitioned from holes-in-the-wall to elaborately decorated and exotically named dining experiences. Today, there is likely to be at least one Arab restaurant in every small and large city in the U.S., despite the relatively small population of Arab Americans nationally. Matthew Jaber Stiffler, PhD, Research and Content Manager, and Ryah Aqel, Curator of Education & Public Programs, both of the Arab American National Museum, will trace the development of the Arab restaurant over the last 125+ years, with a focus on New York City and metro Detroit.
Ryah Aqel serves as the Curator of Education & Public Programming. She received her B.A. in Political Science & Arab, Armenian, Persian, Turkish and Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. Her M.A. in Near East Studies was received from New York University. Ryah organizes and implements statewide educational activities, as well as developing programs that educate the public on Arab Americans and the Arab world.
Matthew Jaber Stiffler is the Research and Content Manager at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI, where he works with museum staff to accurately represent the diverse Arab American community through the museum’s collections, exhibits, and educational programming. Matthew has also helped to develop the museum’s food-based programming, particularly the Yalla Eat! Culinary Walking Tours. Matthew also leads a national research initiative through ACCESS, the largest Arab American non-profit in the country, in an effort to secure better data about the Arab American community. Matthew received his Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan in 2010, where he serves as a lecturer in Arab and Muslim American Studies. Matthew’s research focuses on the confluence between religious and cultural identities of Arab Americans, particularly through community memory, celebrations, and foodways. He is currently a board member and treasurer of the Arab American Studies Association.
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Author Event | Herb Boyd discusses Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination
Author Herb Boyd visits the Library to discuss his award-winning book, Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination, a 2018 Michigan Notable Book.
Black Detroit looks at the evolving culture, politics, economics, and spiritual life of Detroit–a blend of memoir, love letter, history, and clear-eyed reportage that explores the city’s past, present, and future and its significance to the African-American legacy and the nation’s fabric. It brings into focus the major figures who have defined and shaped Detroit, including William Lambert, the great abolitionist; Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records; Coleman Young, the city’s first black mayor; diva songstress Aretha Franklin; Malcolm X; and Ralph Bunche, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Herb Boyd is an award-winning author and journalist who has taught African American History since 1969 when he was a founding member of the Black Studies Department at Detroit’s Wayne State University. He currently teaches African American History and Culture at the City College of New York in Harlem where he lives.
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AACHM Oral History: Phase Five of the Living Oral History Project
Compilation video from Phase Five of the Living Oral History Project, in collaboration with the Ann Arbor District Library and the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County. With Gwendolyn Calvert Baker, Premail Freeman, Larry Hunter, Joetta Mial, and Essie Shelton.
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Studebaker, Packard, Nash, and Hudson
Automotive writer Russell Doré discusses the origins of four major automobile companies of the 20th Century.
Learn how the Studebaker Brothers, the Packard Brothers, Charlie Nash, and Joseph L. Hudson grew their companies and what lead to their ultimate disappearance from the industry. Find out the interesting interactions between these leaders and other major automotive entrepreneurs.
Russell Doré has presented programs on Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, and Billy Durant, founder of General Motors. He is a member of the MotorCities National Heritage Area, the Henry Ford Heritage Association, and the Northville Historical Society.
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5000 Ways You Know You're From Detroit
Martin Bandyke, morning drive host at Ann Arbor's 107one, hosted this event with Walkerville Publishing's Elaine Weeks and Chris Edwards. Weeks and Edwards showed images and shared stories from 5000 Ways You Know You're From Detroit: Detroit's Baby Boomer Years, their new coffee table book that shows the highs and lows Detroit has weathered in decades past.
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AACHM Oral History: Gwendolyn Calvert Baker
Gwendolyn Calvert Baker was born in 1931. She talks about growing up in Ann Arbor where she began her distinguished career teaching at Wines Elementary and winning Teacher of the Year. She was also faculty at the University of Michigan’s School of Education; National Executive Director of the YWCA; a member of the New York School Board; and president and CEO of United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
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AACHM Oral History: Essie Shelton
Essie Shelton was born in Mississippi in 1930 and moved to Ann Arbor with her father in 1946. She recalls her experience entering an integrated high school for the first time and how she came to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a licensed practical nurse at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Essie also met her husband at the hospital and together they raised three children.