Archives

2010 marks the 100th Anniversary of Scouting in America.  Using local and regional artifacts, including uniforms and equipment, supplemented with a 100 year timeline of the organization’s development, a picture of scouting and its impact on the American way of life is realized. The exhibit is showcased in the Leona Geyer Gallery through the end of the year.  Admission for the special Scouting Exhibit is included in the normal museum admission price.

Book Signing

June 19th and 20th, 2010 in the gift shop at the Frankenmuth Historical Association Museum.
On hand to sign books will be the author, Shari Drake, and the subject of her book, her father,
Hans Meier.

The book, HANS, captures my father's boyhood years as an innocent "prisoner of circumstance" during the WWII era. It begins with the Nazi occupation of his homeland, Sudetenland, located in Eastern Europe near the Polish border. Today this area is the Czech Republic. He endured a great many challenges during this time period and, in my eyes, was a true survivor. My heart aches for the little boy who bore witness to the ugliness of war and lost his father in the process. The story ends with his arrival in New York Harbor at the age of 17 at which time he realizes the "American Dream." I believe my father's memoir is a testimony to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of hope.

Radio: The Original Wireless Network

Remember the days before television when shows like "The Lone Ranger", "The Shadow", and "Amos and Andy" dominated the airwaves? Where were you when the news came over the radio that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor? And how about the glory days of sports radio, with announcers like Red Barber, Ronald Reagan (yes, the president actually broadcast baseball games), Mel Allen, and more recently, Ernie Harwell? And remember listening to the music of Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and so many other artists of that era?

"Radio: the Original Wireless Network" explores the pre-television era, when radio was the primary source of news and communication. Guest-curated by Frankenmuth's Lawrence "Lawsy" Nuechterlein, the exhibit showcases a variety of vintage radios, novelty radios, ham radios, and more, with informational text about the invention and evolution of wireless communication and its effects on our culture. Showing January through April 2010.

Golden Frankenmuth: Celebrating 50 Years As A City
Click here to download printable (pdf) file.

July 16 - September 27, 2009
More Than Just Cars:
Friendship & Fun in Our Local Auto Clubs

Big fast cars have long held the attention of
American youth. By the late 1950’s teen car
clubs were present in Detroit and Saginaw. 
These clubs gave young men a platform to show off performance automobiles to friends and the community.

Frankenmuth teens imitated these clubs. Fifteen car clubs were created in Frankenmuth between 1958 and 1982. But their primary motive in creating car clubs was social: each club had a constitution and membership guidelines, held regularly scheduled meetings, and hosted social events for themselves, other teens, and the larger community. These auto clubs were not sanctioned by the school, community organizations, or any other official entity. The clubs were created and sustained by the members themselves. This exhibit explores these clubs through photographs, artifacts, and text, looking at what made these clubs a social phenomenon, and exploring their legacy which lives on in our community today.

February – July 4, 2009
“Lincoln, the Civil War, and Frankenmuth”
An exhibit with a local and national theme, as we explore Frankenmuth in the
turbulent 1860’s, and celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

November 15, 2008 through February 15, 2009 in the
Leona Geyer Gallery
“Dr. Snowflake”
Artist Dr. Thomas Clark of Ann Arbor, takes the
childhood art of paper snowflake cutting to a whole new level with over 100 incredibly intricate snowflakes, all hand-cut with precision tools.  The snowflakes are presented in groups to tell a story including “A Twinkling on the Roof” (Twas the Night Before Christmas), “Of Gifts & Days (12 Days of Christmas), and “The Christmas Story” (Nativity). In addition to the exhibit, a hands-on area is available
for children (or adults) to fold and create their own snowflakes to take home or display in the museum.

Clothing & Toys

Henry Fischer's Souvenirs from Cuba

In October 10, 1898, Cuba first declared its independence after the Spanish-American War ended (formal independence was May 20, 1902). Soon after that time, Theodore Fischer (Henry Fischer's father), and George Hubinger decided to go to Cuba to buy tobacco for cigars. Fischer and Hubinger traveled by train to Florida then by ship to Cuba, under the protection of the U.S. Army, based at Guantanamo Bay. Henry's outfit was purchased on this trip. His pride of possession was recorded by Wm. Stromer, soon after the photographer arrived in the Vassar-Frankenmuth area.

Kinderplatz is German for a Child’s Place. For 2008, the Leona Geyer Gallery will be a place where children of all ages can explore. Hands-on activities are combined with displays of artifacts from the museum collection. Each month a portion of the exhibit area will change:

May through August: Music, Toys and Games (with hands-one activities)
September: Writing Constitutions
October: Who was Columbus?
November: Michigan Indians
December: A Child’s Christmas

Reading

When Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908) wrote his cartoon book, Max und Moritz: eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen, he intended it for adult readers. His satirical picture stories gained him the status of one of the forefathers of the modern comic strip. It is said that some of the practical jokes described in the book were based on memories of Busch’s childhood escapades. When he ended the story with the pranksters’ demise, Busch knew his adult readers would see this as fantasy. Real pranksters must be dealt with by other methods.

Return to top
Go to Temporary Exhibit
Visit Archives Page 2
Visit Archives Page 3
Visit Archives Page 4

Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce
Saginaw Convention and Visitor's Bureau

Click here to visit:
Home - Current Events   Membership Application   Fischer Hall Rental Information  
Educational Programs   Calendar   Online Gift Shop   Links    Quilt Collection   Historical Timeline
Virtual Tour-Interactive   Archives   Travel Michigan (Pure Michigan)   Genealogy Research
Artifact Wish List   Building History   Newspaper Archives

You are visitor since this site was upgraded and relaunched: 1-20-2009.
Click on SiteMeter to view stats.
This page was last updated: 11-10-2011.

Best seen at 1024 x 768 or greater screen resolution.
Also requires the use of the current free Adobe Flash Player.