One of the greatest UP resources you’ve never heard of just won an award.
I don’t think enough people are familiar with UPLINK, which is a partnership of the Central UP and the NMU Archives. They, along with libraries and historical groups around the area, have been working to digitize the history of the UP, and were just awarded the Historical Society of Michigan’s Superior Award.
So…congrats!
One of the cool things about UPLINK is that you can check out old newspapers from Marquette or Escanaba or even Grand Marais, and see what life was like when your parents or grandparents were around.
I’ve been spending a lot of time on the site researching fires, and while gazing through old newspapers I’ve also come to realize that we have a very rich tapestry of history here in the UP. Well, okay, a very rich and very weird tapestry of history here in the UP..
You can go through any issue of any UP newspaper from a century ago and see just how… different things were back then. For instance, a big story in Marquette one day?
I’m pretty sure that if this had happened during the era of social media that it would have been labeled “Breaking News” on someone’s Facebook page.
Ishpeming had a unique way of dealing with a certain problem…
Workers all across the UP probably would have been heartened to hear this…
A different group of UP residents probably would have been saddened to see this–
And finally, if you think crime is bad now…
I mean, there’s actually more to the story than just someone drinking gravy, but think of it this way–the next time you’re standing on a street corner next to a tourist, who’s wondering if it’s okay to go into a dispensary, say “sure…it’s perfectly legal. But if you get the munchies, just make sure you don’t drink any gravy.”
Congrats, UPLINK, for winning the award and providing everyone in the UP the opportunity to discover the insanely unique history that we didn’t even know we had.
I’m Jim Koski, and that’s another slice of Life in the 906.
