[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 107 (Friday, July 18, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1529-E1530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HONORING THE DETROIT HISTORICAL MUSEUM'S 75TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, Jr.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 17, 2003

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Detroit 
Historical Museum on the occasion of the museum's 75th anniversary. The 
museum, along with Historic Fort Wayne, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum 
and the Detroit Historical Society, comprise the Detroit Historical 
Museums and Society, and I commend them on the wonderful job they have 
done chronicling Detroit's three-hundred year history.
  The idea of recording the city's history through museums developed in 
1914, when historian Clarence M. Burton donated his extensive 
collection of historical papers to the Detroit Public Library. The 
donation of these

[[Page E1530]]

papers inspired a meeting of Burton and 19 other local historians in 
1921, resulting in the formation of the Detroit Historical Society. In 
1927, the Society appointed J. Bell Moran to create the Detroit 
Historical Museum. In 1928, the museum opened in what is now the 
Cadillac Tower. In 1942, under the direction of former Detroit News 
columnist George Stark, the Detroit Historical Society began raising 
funds to acquire a building to house the museum. In 1945, the Society 
donated the money that it had raised and its collection of items to the 
city, leading to a city charter and the subsequent dedication of the 
museum in 1951, Detroit's 250th anniversary. The 1940's brought the 
acquisition and opening of Historic Fort Wayne, which the city procured 
from the Federal Government in 1949. The final component of the Detroit 
Historical Museums and Society, the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, opened 
in 1961.
  The Detroit Historical Museum's collection of artifacts and exhibits 
is quite extensive. Visitors to the museum can walk Detroit's 
eighteenth century cobblestone streets and visit an authentic fur 
trading post part of ``The Streets of Old Detroit''. They can explore 
the industry that gave the ``Motor City'' its name, by walking an 
actual auto assembly line, part of the ``Motor City Exhibition'' which 
opened in 1995. The museum features an authentic pilot house from a 
Great Lakes freighter. The museum's exhibit, ``Frontiers to Factories: 
Detroiters at Work 1701-1901'' highlights the development of industry 
in Detroit's three hundred year history. Throughout its history, the 
museum has hosted thousands of students drawn from the entire Detroit 
region. The Historical Museum's most exciting new exhibit, ``Detroit 
Storyliving,'' gives students an interactive learning experience and 
helps excite them about local history through role-playing, music, and 
team based activities. The Detroit Historical Museum, depicts Detroit 
as it has changed from a frontier outpost to dominant industrial city.
  I thank current Museum Director Dennis Zembala for his dedication and 
leadership and thank all the staff and volunteers that have made the 
museum the educational masterpiece it is today. I look forward to its 
continued educational and historical success and congratulate the 
Detroit Historical Museum and the Detroit Historical Society on 
reaching this tremendous milestone and look forward to their continued 
success.

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