Events Search and Views Navigation
September 2021
Michigan Cider Mills
Did you know Michigan is home to more than a hundred cider mills? Spread across the state, these independently owned, local businesses celebrate the best the fall harvest provides. Farm fresh produce, honey, baked goods, and old-fashioned candies are just some of the local treats visitors come to enjoy. The fresh-pressed cider and warm donuts are why droves of people return to cider mills every September and October. Cider mill enthusiast, Michael Dwyer, will highlight these local treasures to help…
Find out more »Smart Towns: In Our Own Voices – African American Art (Zoom Meeting)
Enhance your awareness of the creative contributions of African Americans from the nineteenth century through the present day. This talk from the Detroit Institute of Arts provides a lens to examine issues of race, gender, politics, and culture. This program is online over Zoom and is open to the public. Register using the website link or visit smarttowns.rhpl.org, or call 248-656-2900. The global pandemic has put many things in perspective. In 2021, Smart Towns programs will focus on the many…
Find out more »Smart Towns: Life History Narratives of Detroit Auto Workers in the 1950s
Daniel Clark, professor of U.S. history at Oakland University, will talk about the lives of autoworkers in the 1950s, highlighting their resilience during a time of economic and job insecurity and instability. Clark regularly teaches courses on U.S. Labor and Cold War America as well as undergraduate and graduate seminars. His first book, Like Night and Day: Unionization in a Southern Mill Town (University of North Carolina Press, 1997), explored what unionization meant to workers and managers at cotton mills…
Find out more »October 2021
Genetic Genealogy: Using DNA Tests for Family History
Genealogist Katherine R. Willson introduces the basic principles of genetic inheritance, the types of tests currently being marketed by the big DNA companies, and examines the pros, cons, and ethics of DNA testing. Willson is an engaging & dynamic genealogy lecturer at local, regional, and national conferences; an educator teaching beginning, intermediate, and advanced genealogy classes in Michigan since 2001; the author of The Genealogist’s Guide to Grand Rapids, Michigan (published in 2018 by The In-Depth Genealogist). She lives in…
Find out more »Smart Towns: The Father of Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence
This Smart Towns program, presented by the Rochester-Avon Historical Society, features Frank Cardimen, Oakland University professor, who will discuss the life and genius of Alan Turing, the mathematician who broke the German Enigma Machine during World War II, and his impact on today's technological revolution. Smart Towns is a lifelong learning program for everyone in the community led by local educational organizations. Lectures are centered on one theme per year. The theme for 2021 “Renewal: Ingenuity of the Human Spirit.”…
Find out more »