Library seeking grant to preserve historic photos

ESCANABA - Escanaba Public Library officials and others are hopeful a $35,000 grant will be approved next month to preserve historic photographs of downtown as well as record present buildings.

"The basic concept of the project is to make a digital inventory of downtown before and now," said Library Director Carolyn Stacey.

Last week, Stacey applied for the "Public Library Innovation Grant," offered by the International City Management Association (ICMA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Up to a dozen grants, ranging from $20,000 to $60,000, could be awarded to cities and counties which work in conjunction with their public library to address community needs, she said.

"The proposed project will support the objectives of revitalizing downtown Escanaba through historic preservation and promoting heritage tourism," Stacey stated in an overview of the project.

If approved, project activities could include creating digital photographs and narratives of historic structures downtown and in nearby neighborhoods, she explained.

This information could be used for business incentive programs to rehabilitate and maintain historic properties. The images and narratives could also be used to create a Web site, a mobile display and a public lecture series on local history, she added.

A unique use for the digital historic photos and audio narratives could be a heritage walking tour, Stacey said. A person could check out from the library an MP3 player showing historic photographs and playing narratives, as the person takes a self-guided tour downtown, she explained.

If the grant is approved in February, the library will seek others to help with the project. Potential partners include the city of Escanaba, Downtown Development Authority (DDA), Bay College, Delta County Historical Society, Delta County Chamber of Commerce and the Delta County Visitors and Convention Bureau.

In the DDA's letter of support for the project, DDA Director Roger Good said, "The development of a digital inventory of historic structures in our downtown will be a valuable tool to further some of the recently-identified objectives in our master plan."

A digital inventory would enhance and promote building rehabilitation and facade incentives which have developed in downtown Escanaba, Good said.

Bay College President Laura Coleman expressed in a letter of support the project would help promote Escanaba as a tourism destination. Coleman said the college would work with the library by sharing its audio, digital and print records. Student internships on the project could also be a possibility, she said.

Karen Lindquist, a member of the local historical society, said the archives committee could share its photographs and documents pertaining to downtown, as well as assist with research.

"We look forward to working with all of the stakeholders for this project and feel that it could provide the groundwork for a whole new area of historic preservation in our community," Lindquist stated in her letter of support.