History Detectives: Getting to know your city

Returning to the downtown branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library is the wildly successful History Detectives, who will use their time at this day-long event to explore various pockets of our city’s past. 

Entering its eleventh year, History Detectives features six distinct program topics shared over the course of a day.

All of the talks are lecture style with visuals and an opportunity at the end of each presentation for a community Q&A session around the topic. 

The 2018 series includes these area of “sleuthing” for attendees: 

9:30 a.m. Welcome to the Madison Square
10:30 a.m. Elective Detectives & Crowdsourcing Grand Rapids Women’s History
11:30 a.m. Marking History: State Historical Markers in Grand Rapids
1:00 p.m. African Americans in Early Grand Rapids
2:00 p.m. Dress Discoveries: Fashion and the Voigt Family
3:00 p.m. The North End Gets a Name

This event is sponsored by Grand Rapids City Archives, Grand Rapids Historical Commission, Grand Rapids Historical Society, Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids Public Library Foundation, Grand Rapids Public Museum, GVSU Kutsche Office of Local History, Greater Grand Rapids Women’s History Council, and Western Michigan Genealogical Society.

For a complete description of the lecture topics and guest speakers, visit the GRPL’s History Detectives site.