Maybe you're a big thinker, or you've got a big idea … but how do you turn an idea into reality? In "Michigan Makers" – a new special exhibit at our Michigan History Museum in downtown Lansing – we've broken down the process for you. Arrive at your own answers as you explore the stories of how Michiganders, from artists to tinkerers, took their vision from possibility to purposeful action and made things happen. 

"Michigan Makers" is for all ages and is included with regular museum admission. Plan your visit now!

Why not kick the new year off with a resolution of service? The Michigan History Center is looking for volunteers to assist in our Michigan History Museum and Archives of Michigan in Lansing. Perks include discounts, learning opportunities and good times, like last month's holiday party, where volunteers and staff hung out and enjoyed each other's company.

For more information, visit Michigan.gov/MHCVolunteers or contact Alana Retzer Brinker at 517-241-1442.

On Nov. 10, 2022, our Michigan Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee became a sub-unit of Van Riper State Park, joining eight other MHC museums and historic sites located in Michigan state parks. As a sub-unit within the DNR's state parks and recreation system, the museum now has access to staff and funding resources to improve and maintain the building and grounds. MHC historians will remain on-site to continue the exhibits and programs that tell the stories of the people and industry that built the nation. 

The Michigan Iron Industry Museum is open year-round, so what are you waiting for? Plan your visit now, and don't forget that a Recreation Passport is required for vehicle entry to the grounds. If you're new to the Recreation Passport, know that it grants you vehicle entry to all 103 Michigan state parks! 

Michiganders love our trails and hold dear the people who work to conserve and promote them. In October, the Friends of the Kal-Haven Trail recognized Michigan History Center Heritage Trail Program coordinator Dan Spegel and two others as a Friend of the Trail.

Shown above (L to R) are Dick Godfrey, Van Buren County Commissioner; Friends of the Trail Spegel and Scott Reinert; and Gerhard Wynbelt of the Friends of the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail. Not pictured is Friend of the Trail Martin Sell, Michigan Department of Natural Resources park ranger at Kal-Haven and Van Buren Trail state parks, recognized for coordinating successful volunteer cleanup efforts.

The Kal-Haven heritage trail was the pilot project for the MHC Heritage Trail Program. Since the dedication of the trail's new heritage signs in August 2019, the heritage trail has been designated a Pure Michigan Trail and received awards from the National Association of State Park Directors and the Mid-America Trails and Greenways Conference. The Friends group lauded Spegel for these achievements and thanked him "for taking a chance on the Kal-Haven Trail and for putting his trust in the Friends."

“The Kal-Haven Trail had been around for nearly 40 years," said Jeff Green, chair of the Friends of the Kal-Haven Trail board of directors. "But, when the Heritage Project opened, everyone took a new look at not just the trail, but the entire region, now that they know 'what was there before.'"

Learn more about Michigan's heritage trails and how to get involved in this unique program at Michigan.gov/HeritageTrails.

Every winter, lighthouse lovers and folks looking for unique vacation and service opportunities send in applications, hoping to be chosen for our Tawas Point Lighthouse keeper program. Unfortunately, we’re suspending the program this year – but for very good reason.

Thanks to nearly $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's Building Michigan Together Plan, the almost-150-year-old lighthouse will undergo important restoration work beginning this spring. The exterior and interior restoration means that the structure will be closed to the public, also affecting the ever-popular lighthouse tours, throughout 2023.

We anticipate that, with successful completion of the work, both the lighthouse keeper program and tours will resume in 2024.

For more information on the Tawas Point Lighthouse keeper program, email DNR-TawasKeepers@Michigan.gov.

Are you looking for work? Want to get away from your day-to-day? Maybe you just love history! The Michigan History Center is hiring historical interpreters (some costumed, like the one shown here) for seasonal positions at our museums and historic sites across the state.

If expanding skills, gaining a variety of experiences and working independently in some of Michigan’s most beautiful, storied places appeals to you, check out our 2023 seasonal positions for more job and contact information. You may just find the perfect summer gig for yourself or someone you know!

If your plans include a trip to our Michigan History Museum in downtown Lansing, please be aware of a planned, temporary closure of the elevator that takes visitors to the museum’s mezzanine levels. Once the elevator is taken out of service for replacement – expected to happen in early February – using stairs will be the only way for visitors to enter the exhibits on the second- and third-floor mezzanines. Work on the elevator is expected to last approximately two months. We appreciate your patience while this important work takes place.

Please watch the Michigan History Museum Visitor Information page or the Michigan History Center Facebook page for up-to-date details on the elevator’s availability.

With nearly 1,800 Michigan Historical Markers erected since 1955, our program, administered in partnership with the Michigan Historical Commission, is one of the nation’s premier marker programs. Site #0575, in Lansing on the southwest corner of Pine and Willow streets, captures the story of the Michigan School for the Blind.

This marker includes a panel of text in braille, the writing system that can be read with the fingertips.

Learning braille was part of the diverse curriculum at this residential school that educated blind/low-vision children from around the state for more than 100 years. On Sept. 13, 1986, the Lansing community, including current and former MSB students, gathered at the school for the Michigan Historical Marker dedication ceremony.

In the photo above from the Lansing State Journal collection in our Archives of Michigan, one of MSB's most famous students, Stevie Wonder, and his friend and schoolmate J. J. Jackson are eager to read the marker.

Within a decade of that marker dedication, declining enrollment forced the school to close its doors for good. The campus has a second life as senior housing and in 2018 the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more information on Michigan Historical Markers, visit  Michigan.gov/Markers or contact Michelle Davis at 517-331-7374.

After you've explored the "Michigan Makers" exhibit, highlighted above, head north to the Michigan Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee to dig into the display of artifacts, stories and background of the Fayette Historic Townsite. It's a great opportunity to learn more about the people who made their livelihoods and homesteads in the 19th-century industrial iron smelting town that manufactured charcoal pig iron between 1867 and 1891.