I don’t remember how old I was when my mother taught me what a poem was. But after that day and through high school and probably a few years beyond, I wrote scads of notebooks full of poetry. When my friends were scouring the make-up racks, I was looking for the right notebooks and pencils.
I’ve kept journals for years. I still look out for packs of paper, cheap notebooks and just the right pens. Pencil lead is far too light to write with these days. Funny enough though, I’ve never considered myself to be a poet or a writer.
My interest in genealogy and historical research began when my grandmother’s cousin put together a family history book in 1972. I was 16 years old. My mother and I sat on the couch looking through the pages. It had a number of photocopies of hand written land deeds, estate sales and vital records. As we looked at one, my mother asked, “Can you read that?” I said, “No.”
So I found myself down at the South Haven Public Library looking for a book on deciphering old handwriting. When I could actually read what was written in those documents, I was fascinated. And I was hooked. Many years later, I joined the Genealogical Speakers Guild. I’ve done presentations on deciphering old handwriting at the Library of Michigan and Ford World Head Quarters in Dearborn and for historical groups like the Sons of Union Civil War Soldiers and many genealogical societies. I still love looking at old handwriting. It still fascinates me.
My book on Orville Gibson started out as a term paper. I went back to college late in life. My goal was to become a better genealogist. All the genealogical membership organizations required things I had been doing for years and I didn’t want to pay several hundred dollars just for them to say so. I wanted a more substantial and meaningful step forward.
So in 2007, I applied to the Public History program at Western Michigan University. Public History is a rather new field of study which only a few colleges offer. It focuses on communication to the public at historical places like museums, historic houses, buildings, parks, battlefields, etc. My love is the research that supports that communication.
One of my professors, Tom Dietz, was the research curator of the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in downtown Kalamazoo. Our assignment was to write about a museum artifact to the nth degree, up, down and all around. I had already decided I was not going to write about Gibson, even given my musical background. I didn’t want my paper to be tossed on the heap of other Gibson papers never to be seen again.
But…one day Tom and I were standing in front of the Gibson exhibit at the museum and he said they had a mandolin in storage that Orville made before the company started. I said, “What?! You have what? A mandolin?” I made an appointment to see it, measure it and photograph it for Lynn Wheelwright. I asked Tom, if I chose this as my artifact, did I have to mention the company since it didn’t exist when this mandolin was made and he said no. So I had my artifact.
I wrote my paper, turned it in, but found the subject too cool to put down. I didn’t know what I was going to do with all the additional information until I decided to write a book. At least I thought it was my idea. Sometimes inspiration comes from stardust. I’ve had to look at my writing closer than I ever have before. It isn’t easy. When I’m writing, in the words of Little Village…don’t bug me when I’m working. My head is in 19th century Kalamazoo and I’m going to be there for a while.
I’ve made a number of interesting and very special contacts along the way. Among them, Walter Carter (History of the Mandolin in America), Lynn Wheelwright (The Pinecaster Book), and Gregg Miner (To the Worlds Fair and Beyond) just to name a few. My first “History of Orville” presentation was in 2017 at the Cooper’s Glen Festival in Kalamazoo. I’ve written for The Classical Mandolin Society of America Journal and have done research that is now at the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota. If you’re interested in the complete run down, it’s all under “Shout Outs” which can be found with the link below.
https://joycebrumbaugh.com/shout-outs/
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A Biography of Orville H. Gibson 