History Hounds® Lecture Series
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Or call (800) 692-1828.
All History Hounds® presentations will be REMOTE-ACCESS-ONLY until further notice.
You can enjoy the content from the comfort and safety of your home. Connecting is easy! Instructions for remote access will be e-mailed to participants in advance.
If you enjoy “sniffing out” and exploring fascinating historical subjects, the Historical Society of Michigan’s History Hounds lecture series now offers weekly in-depth presentations, allowing attendees to curl up with a myriad of historical topics.
History Hounds Has Grown!
- Our original History Hounds lectures are presented on the second Wednesday evening of every month from 7 to 8 p.m. Michigan’s history is so diverse—here’s your chance to dig up a bone or two of new appreciation to take home.
- Join us for the NEW History Hounds National Edition on the fourth Wednesday evening of every month from 7 to 8 p.m. These presentations will chase down interesting history topics from around the nation.
- Our NEW Off the Leash History Hounds lectures come to you on the first and third Tuesdays of every month from noon to 1 p.m. Take a lunch break, and join us to take a bite out of some intriguing facets of our state’s history.
Details…
- History Hounds is FREE for members of HSM. History Hounds is also free for members of HSM’s member organizations. If you are not a member but would like to become one, see our membership page.
- Nonmembers are welcome to enjoy a lecture for $7.
- An HSM member organization has the option to live-stream the lecture for free for its members or offer the lecture to its membership for free remote viewing.
- The lecture and Q&As usually last about an hour. See the chart below for dates and times.
- Registration for each lecture closes at 3 p.m. the day BEFORE the scheduled talk.
- If you can watch and listen to a video on YouTube or Facebook, you have all the technology you need to join us remotely.*
*Instructions on how to remote-in to the lecture will be sent to attendees several days before each program.
Wednesday,
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Barbed-Wire Workplace: The Forced Labor of WWII’s Japanese Americanswith Stacey Camp, Michigan State University Department of Anthropology
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History Hounds From 1943 to 1945, more than 260 men—most of which were of Japanese ethnicity—were interned at the Kooskia Internment Camp outside of Kooskia, Idaho. They were charged with helping construct U.S. Highway 12 between Idaho and Montana. Join us to learn what archaeological research reveals about the lives of those men. |
Tuesday,
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A Christmas Tragedy: The 1913 Italian Hall Disasterwith Lindsay Hiltunen, Michigan Technological University Archives
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History Hounds This presentation reviews the events that sparked the Michigan Copper Strike from 1913 to 1914 and exposes the social, political, economic, and class divisions in the region that led to the conflict and the Italian Hall tragedy, where 73 people, most of them children, were trampled to death on Christmas Eve. |
Wednesday,
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A Window Into the Stomach: Dr. Beaumont’s Experiments in Digestion
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History Hounds In 1822, a musket blast opened a hole in Alexis St. Martin’s stomach. The wound healed, but the opening remained. St. Martin became a human guinea pig as Dr. William Beaumont experimented with food dropped into his subject’s stomach to study digestion. Come to learn about this amazing-but-true episode that transformed American medicine. |
Tuesday,
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The River’s End and the Writer’s Pen: James Oliver Curwood of Owossowith Denice Grace, Owosso Historical Commission
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History Hounds Author and conservationist James Oliver Curwood of Owosso wrote action-adventure stories set in the Yukon and Alaska. His books inspired scores of movies and made him one of America’s best-selling authors. Join us to explore his life and learn about his famous studio, Curwood Castle, that still stands in Owosso. |
Wednesday,
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The Old Man and the Lake: Ernest Hemingway in Michiganwith Chris Struble, Michigan Hemingway Society
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History Hounds Some might find it surprising that Ernest Hemingway—a one-of-a-kind American writer with an international legacy—spent a lot of his formative years in Michigan. Join the speaker to learn about Hemingway’s summers vacationing near Petoskey, his important life events in our state, sites that remain to this day, and more. |
Tuesday,
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Ladies of the Lights: Women Lighthouse Keeperswith Dianna Stampfler, Promote Michigan
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History Hounds They were women before their time, taking on the romantic yet dangerous and physically demanding job of tending to the beacons that protected the shorelines. Come discover the women who excelled as lighthouse keepers—from the 1840s to the present day—through photographs of them, their families, and their lights. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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Digging In: Food Discoveries From the Coalwood Archaeological Projectwith James Schwaderer, Michigan Technological University
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History Hounds The Coalwood logging district is located southwest of Munising in the Hiawatha National Forest. Lumberjacks burned at least 6,000 calories per day, which meant food was central to their lives. Our speaker will talk about his research on animal bones recovered from archaeological excavations and reveal the food consumed in the lumber camp. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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A Natural Poet: Jane Johnston Schoolcraftwith Michael Albani, Ph.D. Candidate at Michigan State University
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History Hounds Born in Sault Ste. Marie in 1800, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft was a prolific writer of poems and stories. Her Ojibway mother and European-American fur trader father instilled in her a love for the written word and sharing her heritage. Come to hear about this amazing woman, who was the first-known Native-American writer. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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Attacking From Below: The Unsinkable Silversideswith Peggy Maniates, USS Silversides Submarine Museum
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History Hounds The WWII submarine USS Silversides was launched a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fourteen war patrols later, she ranked among the most successful submarines in the Pacific Theater. She earned a Presidential Unit Citation and 12 battle stars. Learn the remarkable story of this submarine, now a museum ship in Muskegon. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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I Choose Not to Serve: Germfask’s WWII Public Service Campwith Jane Kopecky, Author
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History Hounds During World War II, some American conscientious objectors refused to do any alternative service. Some went to Public Service Camp 135 in Germfask, Michigan. The Selective Service wanted to isolate and analyze them. The objectors rebelled with nonviolent protests that made Germfask notorious as the Alcatraz of Public Service camps. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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From Pathway to Expressway: A History of the Sauk Trailwith John Geisler, Western Michigan University
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History Hounds The Sauk people once followed a trail across Michigan’s Lower Peninsula to Ontario, Canada. The Sauk Trail led westward all the way to the Mississippi. It became the Chicago Road and eventually US-12—the main road between Detroit and Chicago. Join us for an entertaining history of this transportation highway. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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Soapy Williams: The Conscience of the Democratic Partywith Thomas J. Noer, Carthage College
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History Hounds In 1948, G. Mennen Williams, a young Democrat who sported a green polka-dotted bow tie, won the Michigan gubernatorial race. “Soapy” Williams became one of Michigan’s longest-serving governors and later served as Assistant Secretary of State. Join us to learn about Soapy Williams, “The Conscience of the Democratic Party.” Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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View From the Veranda: Mackinac Island’s Historic Summer Cottageswith Phil Porter, Mackinac Island State Historic Parks (Ret.)
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History Hounds In the late nineteenth century, Mackinac Island became one of the Midwest’s premier resorts. The island’s cottage communities mirrored Mackinac’s growing popularity as a summer destination. Our speaker provides a visual tour highlighting the evolution of the island’s summer cottage communities from early simple vernacular homes to later opulent mansions. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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The Story on the Stones: Interpreting Gravestone Symbols and Meaningswith John Veverka, Heritage Interpretation Training Center
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History Hounds Gravestone art is an important part of American culture. From death’s-heads and angels to weeping willows and wheat sheaves, gravestone art speaks the language of symbolism. Carved messages on grave markers tell of the deceased’s life and spirit without using words. Join us to discover the symbols on the stones. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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Bands of Beauty: The History of Superior Agateswith Karen Brzys, Gitche Gumee Agate and History Museum
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History Hounds As with fingerprints and snowflakes, no two Lake Superior agates are exactly alike. This session will journey into the geologic history of the Great Lakes region to explain what agates are and how several factors merged together to create one of the most intricate and sought-after agates in the world. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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Coal Mining in the Mittenwith William Murphy, Author
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History Hounds Michigan’s mining history is legendary. Our U.P. copper and iron mines played a proud part in transforming a growing nation into an international power, but a less familiar form of mining in the middle of the Lower Peninsula also helped fuel Michigan’s development—the mining of coal. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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Navigating Back in Time: Tuskegee Airmen at Oscoda During WWIIwith David K. Vaughan, Air Force Institute of Technology
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History Hounds Many of the African-American pilots—later known as the Tuskegee Airmen—who flew during World War II trained at Michigan’s Oscoda Army Air Field. Join us for a closer look at the training program and personal experiences of those airmen—two topics that were largely overlooked in historical accounts. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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Abraham Lincoln Through the Eyes of Political Cartoonswith Stephen Siciliano, Northwestern Michigan College
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History Hounds Abraham Lincoln was the subject of thousands of political cartoons. Those caricatures give insight into Lincoln’s strengths and the challenges he faced as a master politician and war president. Many of the cartoons themselves have their own rich history. Learn about Lincoln and his times through a dozen historical cartoons. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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Sacred Spaces: Detroit Church Architecturewith Wendy Evans, Wayne State University—Department of Art and Art History
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History Hounds Detroiters built one magnificent house of worship after another, and those sacred structures stand today as symbols of the city. This presentation explores a selection of Detroit’s architectural marvels, from the earliest surviving ones—such as Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, built 1844-1848—to the legendary Mariners’ Church on Jefferson Avenue. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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Fairytale Homes: The Mushroom Houses of Charlevoixwith David Miles, Charlevoix Historical Society
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History Hounds Join us for a delightful tour of Charlevoix’s “Mushroom Houses.” Self-taught Charlevoix architect and nature-lover Earl Young designed whimsical homes that appear to have popped up from a fairy-tale book or Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Discover the history of the homes that draw thousands of tourists to Northern Michigan. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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A Local Stop on the Road to National Prohibition: Midland County’s “Dry” Decadeswith Tawny Nelb, Nelb Archival Consulting
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History Hounds Prohibition of alcohol was one of the great social reform movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1908, Midland and several other Michigan counties banned liquor through local option votes well before national Prohibition. Learn about Midland Prohibition and how it continued to exclude liquor-by-the-glass until 1967. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Wednesday,
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A Battle Against All Odds: The 25th Michigan at Tebbs Bendwith John Urschel, Civil War Roundtable of Southwest Michigan
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History Hounds The Fourth of July 1863 saw three Union victories in the Civil War: Gettysburg; the capture of Vicksburg; and the little-known Battle of Tebbs Bend, Kentucky. Join us to learn how Colonel Orlando Moore and 200 men of the 25th Michigan Infantry defeated 2,500 of John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate cavalry. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Tuesday,
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Father Charles Coughlin and American Fascismwith Andrew Lapin, Detroit Jewish News
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History Hounds During the Great Depression, Father Charles Coughlin of the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak used his radio sermons to promote fascism and anti-Semitism. He became America’s first mass-media demagogue. The speaker, who is the editor of the Detroit Jewish News, shares his own research into Coughlin’s influence on America. Registration for this History Hounds will be available soon. |
Refunds will not be issued for cancellations less than one week before each lecture.
