Designing a Class on Gen. Custer in the Civil War

Jo Brownlie, the coordinator for the Osher Life Long Learning classes called me today about a class for that program at SVSU in the fall. I was very pleased to hear from her and to have the opportunity to develop this course. I also thought about a course on the St. Louis World's Fair as a follow-up on the Columbian Exposition, but Custer won this battle.

I plan to put a few hundred hours into this project. It's necessary to spend that much time in preparation. At this point, I don't have a structure or a theme I want to develop so I will be doing some survey reading on Custer in the Civil War.

I'll take notes in my OneNote application and work the course up from there. It will be a blast.

A Day at the Museum

Tuesday anchors my week.  When I retired, in 2001, I started volunteering for the Bay County Historical Society.  That's one of the best decisions I've made.  The Society is a platform for so many discoveries and an place where I've met so many interesting people.  Tuesdays are the days I volunteer in the Butterfield Research Library located just inside the front door on the left in the museum.

It's a strange little room where so many discoveries are made.  Yesterday, we had a young man come in with a uniform shirt from the Bay City Brahma's, a semi-pro team from the 1990's in Bay City.  I had never heard of them because no one else had asked about them during my years at the library, but a quick look in the vertical files under sports, football brought out this big folder filled with clippings.  The young man eagerly went through the stack and his quest was answered.

A young woman, who is beginning her genealogical quest looking for information on 600 different relatives came in.  She is just beginning but the joy of discovery is in her eye.  She's beginning a long journey but one with enough discoveries to carry her well into middle age.  I bet she goes there.  I hope she comes back with reports on her discoveries.

That's the way it often is in the world of a library researcher.  When people leave with smiles on their faces, I know we are on the right track.