BREATH ESCAPING ENVELOPES: Letters and Photographs from the Grand Traverse Bay Region, 1875-1905

Nationally known artist Betty Beeby has northern Michigan roots stretching back to 1875, when her ancestors first settled in this area. Eventually, she because the beneficiary of thousands of their old letters - a collection of local voices unparalleled in scope and size in Michigan. After spending hundreds of hours to rescue this rare historical resource, Beeby donated the original collection to the Western Michigan University archives. But first she copied many of the letters, patiently deciphering their contents. Years of research and planning followed. Now, the best of those efforts come together in this book. Illustrated with archival photographs and maps, as well as the author's original artwork, this book brings to life the long-lost voices of the women of early northern Michigan, captured in the very act of forging our collective past.