Marquette Regional History Center

06/25/2026

The dedication and debut concert of the new Peg Hirvonen Bandshell at Presque Isle is taking place at 7 p.m. tonight. Wishing a great show (as always) to the Marquette City Band!🌟
With this milestone, it seems like a good time to look back at the history of the previous bandstands at the Island...

MARQUETTE — The dedication and debut concert of the new Peg Hirvonen Bandshell at Presque Isle is taking place at 7 p.m. Thursday. With this milestone, it seems like a good time to look back at the history of the previous bandstands at the Island. The original Presque Isle bandstand had been const...

06/24/2026

The weather is warming (slowly but surely) and folks are heading to the beach to soak up some sun. What’s the story of one of Marquette’s most popular beaches? Watch on to find out. ☀️

06/24/2026

Call for traditional artisans!

Call for Traditional Artists!

On October 2-4, the 2026 Upper Peninsula Folklife Festival will be held in Marquette, Michigan. The festival is searching for traditional artists of all kinds from throughout the Upper Peninsula and Upper Midwest to present, teach, and/or perform at the event in October.

This call is open to craftspeople, musicians, dancers, storytellers, cooks, and more, and accepted artists will receive honorariums and travel expenses thanks to the support of the American-Scandinavian Foundation, Michigan Arts & Culture Council, and Travel Marquette.

For more information and to apply, please visit https://nmu.edu/beaumierheritagecenter/upff

06/23/2026

We are looking forward to hosting the Open House this Friday 🌟 Welcome to Marquette, Historical Society of Michigan!

Sponsor spotlight! We want to take a moment to highlight our Lake Huron level sponsors for our upcoming Upper Peninsula History Conference.

Many thanks to the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, Marquette Maritime Museum and Lighthouse, and Marquette Regional History Center for their support of our organization's many efforts to provide history programming, education, and more. They are a few of the many sponsors making this conference possible. Thank you!

The U.P. History Conference takes place in Marquette June 25-28. There is still time to save your seat! If you didn’t reserve your spot, walk-in registration will be available through June 27.

06/21/2026

Happy Summer Solstice! The longest day of the year is the perfect moment to send a little sunshine your way.

06/19/2026

The Black Panther newspaper, Vol 3 No 22
September 20, 1969

Cover illustrated by Emory Douglas (born Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1943). The newspaper opens with a letter from Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Black Panther Party. He begins, “This is the county jail, city prison, San Francisco, California. And this is Bobby Seale, the Chairman of the Black Panther Party of which Huey P. Newton is the Minister of Defense, and Eldridge Cleaver is the Minister of Information.” The contents of the paper consist of articles, cartoons and photographs aligning with anti-Vietnam War sentiments shared by hundreds of thousands of Americans, especially encouraging Black soldiers in Vietnam to come home: “It’s important, brothers that you understand that your fight is really right here in America. So when you come back, you’ll be fighting against the oppression that we’ve been subjected to for 400 years.” Seale closes the article with, “So, power to the people, brothers. And please come on home, brothers. And when you get home, we’ll be waiting for you.”

On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger led his Union troops to Galveston, TX where he announced that all enslaved African Americans were free. Though the Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for the enslaved two years earlier, it was not enforced in rebelling states until the Union took control of those Confederate regions.

“The Black Panther Party, founded in California in 1966, took the ideals of Juneteenth—that is, Black liberation, self-determination, and community building—to create a movement that still inspires today.” -Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harpers Bazaar.

Newspaper from the J.M. Longyear Research Library

06/18/2026

Teen Time Travelers had a great time hosting the MRHC booth at Pride 2026, comment a photo of YOUR amateur caricature below👇!!
Yesterday, Bill Van Kosky presented to the teens on Trail Marker Trees and we'll soon have a visit from NMU Metadata & Cataloging Librarian. Liberty Children's Art Project also stopped in for a lesson on portrait history and crafting. We hope to recruit more history nerds to join us :)
🕰️⚡️
Email [email protected] for Teen Time Travelers history club details.

06/17/2026

"Scary" things you might find in a museum....

06/15/2026

Historic Marquette Bus Tours are here! 🎉
Learn stories of buildings, people and sites of Marquette. Meet historic reenators along the route while you relax in a comfortable air conditioned Checker Bus. Each summer, these 90 minute tours include something new, delighting locals and tourists alike.

Departs from and returns to the MRHC.
Tickets are $25, on sale now!

Summer 2026 Bus Tour Tickets are Now on Sale ​ Thank you for supporting Marquette history!

06/12/2026

After ice closed the harbors, Dorothy Simonson had only one link to the world during the long winter she taught on Isle Royale: Her radio. After arriving in 1932, she obtained an amateur radio license to broadcast on a shortwave radio set under call sign W9BL. On nice days, when temps weren’t 40 below and incessant blizzards let up, she would charge her radio batteries with a generator. She coordinated a schedule with broadcaster W9YX in Houghton to receive and transmit messages from loved ones in the evening. At night, the radio was also her main source of entertainment. She wrote that it was a “black and sorrowful day” when the only station the Island could receive announced it was going off the air on a likely-permanent hiatus: “It is with real and sincere sorrow that we mourn the passing of a friend, WHDF!” A month later, she received WBEO out of Marquette for the first time. “Seemed good, too, but would rather hear WHDF.”

This radio battery box & microphone were used to broadcast for WBEO, Marquette’s 1st radio station. Founded in 1931 by Frank Russell Sr., the station operated on the 3rd floor of the old Mining Journal building. In 1935, Ishpeming highschooler Ward Quaal used this microphone at the WBEO station to begin his broadcasting career. After he graduated from U of M in 1941, he joined Chicago-based station WGN and was their broadcaster during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After serving in the U.S. Navy for 3 years, he returned and worked his way up to president of WGN Continental by 1961. He served as chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) board, and in 2003 he was an inaugural inductee to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Management Hall of Fame. Upon his death in 2010, NAB president G. Smith remembered Quaal’s impact: “Free and local broadcasting was built by a handful of visionary giants, but few stood taller than Ward Quaal.”

Join UP History Book Club, June 17 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss Dorothy Simonson’s memoir, Diary of an Isle Royale Schoolteacher. See radio and camera artifacts, Isle Royale memorabilia, and other surprises from the Longyear Research Library. Join in person or on Zoom for this free event.