[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18747-18748]
[From the U.S. 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

[[Page 18748]]

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 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.

                          ____________________