Volunteers gather to discuss services of Belleville Area Museum

A meeting of volunteers was held at the Van Buren Township hall on May 11 to discuss the services of the long-closed Belleville Area Museum. The next meeting is set for 6 p.m., Thursday, May 25 and is open to the public.
Elizabeth Renaud, Van Buren Township director of community services, served as chairperson of the May 11 meeting. Consultant John Metcalf was scheduled to attend but was held up in traffic and not able to be present.
Residents attending were Donald Martin, Doug Peters, Tom Fielder, Marie Krause, David Booher, John Juriga, Mary Ban, and Barbara Rogalle Miller, for the Independent.
The meeting held for those interested in the development and management of the Belleville Historical Museum, serving the communities of Belleville, Sumpter Township and Van Buren Township.
There was considerable discussion among those present of the many elements of the community: importance of Indian tribes, Rawsonville settlement, French Landing for its portage accessibility, Sumpter and the importance of the PNA Hall which hosted ethnic festivities, development of the school system, presence of the Underground Railroad, and residents involved in the Civil War, World War I and World War II.
To research the effective development of a local historical museum, the participants generally agreed to the importance of touring other historical museums, especially the Ypsilanti Historical Museum, a museum highly recommended by participant Donald Martin. Martin also recommended meeting with Ypsilanti historian James Mann.
The group emphasized the importance of the history of French Landing Dam and Belleville Lake, Willow Run, the school system (with the museum arranging to videotape citizens who know the history of the school system), the Haggerty Road era of Polish settlement, the transition from rural farming community to industrial development, and other topics to be added. They agreed the museum should catalog and store historical items.
As to the management of the museum, the general, strongly held consensus was that the museum must be managed professionally. It was the consensus of those gathered that the museum clearly needs a director.
Suggestions were made that interns from local universities could help a director manage the museum at a reasonable cost and that the Michigan Historical Society should be contacted to get suggestions for direction.
Barbara Rogalle Miller