eBooks are accessible online, and many are available for download or 2 week check out.
Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations
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When the railroad revolutionized passenger travel in the nineteenth century, architects were forced to create from scratch a building to accommodate the train's sudden centrality in social and civic life. The resulting depots, particularly those built in the glory days from 1890 to 1925, epitomize the era's optimism and serve as physical anchors to both the past and the surrounding urban fabric. In Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations writer and photographer Michael H. Hodges presents depots ranging from functioning Amtrak stops (Jackson) to converted office buildings (Battle Creek) and spectacular abandoned wrecks (Saginaw and Detroit) to highlight the beauty of these iconic structures and remind readers of the key role architecture and historic preservation play in establishing an area's sense of place. Along with his striking contemporary photographs of the stations, Hodges includes historic pictures and postcards, as well as images of "look-alike" depots elsewhere in the state. For each building Hodges provides a short history, a discussion of its architectural style, and an assessment of how the depot fits with the rest of its town or city. Hodges also comments on the condition of the depot and its use today. An introduction summarizes the functional and stylistic evolution of the train station in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and surveys the most important academic works on the subject, while an epilogue considers the role of the railroad depot in creating the American historic-preservation movement. The railroad station's decline parallels a decrease in the use of public space generally in American life over the last century. Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations will reacquaint readers with the building type that once served as the nation's principal crossroads, and the range of architectural styles it employed both to tame and exalt rail transportation. Readers interested in Michigan railroad history as well as historic preservation will not want to miss this handsome volume.
Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country
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During the nineteenth century, the Keweenaw Peninsula of Northern Michigan was the site of America's first mineral land rush as companies hastened to profit from the region's vast copper deposits. In order to lure workers to such a remote location--and work long hours in dangerous conditions--companies offered not just competitive wages but also helped provide the very infrastructure of town life in the form of affordable housing, schools, health-care facilities, and churches. The first working-class history of domestic life in Copper Country company towns during the boom years of 1890 to 1918, Alison K. Hoagland's Mine Towns investigates how the architecture of a company town revealed the paternal relationship that existed between company managers and workers--a relationship that both parties turned to their own advantage. The story of Joseph and Antonia Putrich, immigrants from Croatia, punctuates and illustrates the realities of life in a booming company town. While company managers provided housing as a way to develop and control a stable workforce, workers often rejected this domestic ideal and used homes as an economic resource, taking in boarders to help generate further income. Focusing on how the exchange between company managers and a largely immigrant workforce took the form of negotiation rather than a top-down system, Hoagland examines surviving buildings and uses Copper Country's built environment to map this remarkable connection between a company and its workers at the height of Michigan's largest land rush.
Perimeter : A Contemporary Portrait of Lake Michigan
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Commissioned by the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University to create an artwork reflecting on the importance of freshwater, Milwaukee-based photographer Kevin J. Miyazaki embarked on a two-week, 1,800-mile drive around Lake Michigan. He traveled its perimeter, through Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, to produce what he calls "a contemporary portrait of Lake Michigan." Miyazaki set up his portable studio on beaches, in parks, on boat docks, and in backyards, photographing those he met along the way. From residents, environmental scientists, and artists to a Native American water rights advocate, surfers, and commercial fishermen, Lake Michigan holds a powerful place in the life of each. Many shared their thoughts with him on why this body of water is important to all. Miyazaki also photographed the water as he went, creating waterscapes of the ever-changing lake affected by weather and time. Perimeter gathers these images together, creating a diverse portrait of both people and a place, encapsulating Lake Michigan's significance to those who are drawn to it.
The Stooges: Head On, A Journey through the Michigan Underground
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If the MC5 were Detroit's political spokesmen for the disenchanted youth of the 1960s, then the Stooges were the loutish kids, heckling from the back of the room. While conventional wisdom says they could barely play their instruments, the Stooges left an indelible mark on the world of punk rock, and the band's initial three albums--The Stooges, Fun House and Raw Power--are bona fide classics. In The Stooges: Head On author Brett Callwood treats the band's story not just as an early chapter in the career of its famous front man, Iggy Pop, but from the Stooges' beginnings at the end of the 1960s, to its end in the early 1970s, and to its reunion in 2003 through the present. In compiling this exhaustive account of the band's history, Callwood interviewed all of the central and sometimes Stooges members, including Iggy Pop, Ron and Scott Asheton, James Williamson, Mike Watt, Steve Mackay, and Scott Thurston, and largely lets the band tell its own story in numerous long quotes. Callwood details the band's genesis as teenage friends in Ann Arbor, their time living together in their legendary party houses in the 1960s, and the recording of the three original Stooges albums. He examines the addition of James Williamson to the band on Raw Power and how it changed the band's sound and dynamic, along with the band's fateful meeting with David Bowie on its first British tour. As Iggy broke out as a solo artist during the 1970s and 1980s, Callwood charts the Asheton brothers' post-Stooges experiences, with Ron's turns in The New Order, Destroy All Monsters, and Dark Carnival, and Scott Asheton's time with the Farleys and Sonic's Rendezvous Band. He also provides an overview of Iggy's solo career, the seeds of a reunion that were planted with a collaboration on Iggy's Skull Ring album, and the eventual reformation of the band and the recording of their fourth album, The Weirdness, in 2004. Originally published in the U.K. in 2007, The Stooges: Head On has been revised to expand on the original story and also to consider Ron Asheton's untimely death in 2009 and his musical legacy, the band's fate without Ron, and the Stooges' long-overdue introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Fans of the Stooges and those interested in the roots of punk music will enjoy this intimate and informative volume.
Circulating books may be checked out in 3 week intervals.
Above the North: Aerial Photography of Northern Michigan
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These stunning bird's-eye views offer rare and beautiful glimpses of northern Michigan's unique terrain from the lofty perch of photographer Marge Beaver's camera lens. Beaver's breathtaking four-season photographs transform our view of Michigan into a magical land. From the Sleeping Bear dune in winter with its vertiginous sandy edifice, to a Coast Guard cutter shattering the icy Straits, to the ghostly silhouette of a sunken ship and the brilliant turquoise waters of Crystal, Torch, Elk, Charlevoix, and Glen lakes, these are images of Michigan as you've never seen her before. All of these, plus arresting photographs of cherry orchards in snowy-white bloom, winding rivers, and deep green forests make this book a collector's item for anyone who loves Michigan.
Architecture in Michigan
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Architecture in Michigan, a pictorial survey of Michigan architecture from 1831 to the present, explores the architecture of Detroit and many other cities, towns, and villages. Here is Romantic Michigan, before the Civil War, with dozens of examples of Greek, Gothic, and Italian villas from Grosse lIe to Grass Lake, Tecumseh, and Ypsilanti, as well as Gothic churches. Then there is Glorious Michigan of the exuberant 1870s and 1880s, when architects evoked the Paris of the Second Empire and the doctrine of John Ruskin cast its peculiar spell. And Discreet Michigan, when the wealthy, following the lead of the Vanderbilts in New York, revived the Renaissance as the proper style for Michigan dynasties. And finally Modern Michigan, with Albert Kahn, the greatest factory architect in history, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, the talented Finns, the time when the buildings of modern Michigan began to acquire an international reputation. The expanded text of this unique book dips deep into Michigan history, covering every generation since Michigan entered the Union in 1837.
Dancing in the Street: Motown and The Cultural Politics of Detroit
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1960s Detroit was a city with a pulse: people were marching in step with Martin Luther King, Jr.; dancing in the street with Martha and the Vandellas; facing off with city police and through it all, Motown provided the beat. This book tells the story of Motown - as both musical style and entrepreneurial phenomenon - and of its intrinsic relationship to the politics and culture of Motor Town, USA.
Frank Lloyd Wright in Michigan
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An exploration of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Michigan, with photographs.
Great Architecture of Michigan
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The non-profit Michigan Architectural Foundation helps the public understand, evaluate, and enjoy architecture and recognize the importance of the built environment. To that end MAF sifted through nearly 500 of Michigan's most architecturally significant buildings to winnow the list for this volume to 150. With photographs by Balthazar Korab and text by John Gallagher, this book will be indispensable for anyone wanting to learn more about Michigan's impressive architectural legacy. In addition to icons like the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, and the Fisher Building in Detroit, this volume includes vernacular charms like the D. H. Day Farm near Sleeping Bear Dunes, architectural survivors like the Point Betsie Lighthouse, and some thirty-five private homes. A spirited collection of churches, theaters, office towers, stadiums, and government buildings rounds out the selections. The emphasis throughout is to help the public see, understand, and appreciate what makes these buildings great. Gallagher has foresworn technical jargon in favor of easily readable text that evaluates each building in its public context, in terms of what it means for real people. The combination of Korab's artful yet documentary photographs, Gallagher's evocative yet concise descriptions, and an elegant and clear design make this book one to be treasured for years to come.
Michigan's State Capitol: History, Art, and Architecture
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An overview of the Capitol's history, art, and architecture.
Michigan Modern: Design That Shaped America
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Michigan Modern: Design That Shaped Americais an impressive collection of important essays touching on all aspects of Michigan's architecture and design heritage. The Great Lakes State has always been known for its contributions to twentieth-century manufacturing, but it's only beginning to receive wide attention for its contributions to Modern design and architecture. Brian D. Conway, Michigan's State Historic Preservation Officer, and Amy L. Arnold, project manager for Michigan Modern,have curated nearly thirty essays and interviews from a number of prominent architects, academics, architectural historians, journalists, and designers, including historian Alan Hess, designers Mira Nakashima, Ruth Adler Schnee, and Todd Oldham, and architect Gunnar Birkerts, describing Michigan's contributions to Modern design in architecture, automobiles, furniture and education.
Songs of The Michigan Lumberjacks
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A collection of over 100 folk songs from the Michigan lumber era.
Books from the reference section are available for in library use, or are available for online viewing.
Artists of Early Michigan: A Biographical Dictionary of Artists Native To Or Active in Michigan, 1701-1900
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A biographical dictionary of early Michigan artists.
Buildings of Michigan
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In Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert provides the first study of Michigan's architectural history to encompass the full range of buildings from early settlement to the present and to account for the full spectrum of architectural styles unique to this state. Dividing the state intotwo regional sections--the Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula--the book examines such structures as the mine locations in the Copper Range, early inns and houses along the Sauk Trail, the sandstone architecture of the Lake Superior region, resort architecture of the Little Traverse region,lighthouses and lifesaving stations of the Michigan shorelines of the Upper Great Lakes, the great houses of automotive industrialists in Grosse Pointe, the factories of Albert Kahn, the work of various local architects, and so on. Buildings of each period, style, type, and material is representedand a balanced selection of structures from urban, suburban, and rural areas are maintained to capture the essence of Michigan's architectural experience.
