Contact:

Leo J. Goodsell, Executive Director

Berrien County Historical Association

P.O. Box 261

Berrien Springs, MI 49103

Tele: (269) 471-1202

Michigan Humanities Council Awards $12,000 Grant for Greek Ethnic Study

to Berrien County Historical Association

BERRIEN SPRINGS, MICHIGAN: The Berrien County Historical Association has been awarded a $12,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council to conduct a study of Greek settlement patterns in Berrien County. The Berrien County Historical Association, in partnership with the Annunciation and St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church of New Buffalo, Michigan, and Columbia College of Chicago, Illinois, will research the history of the Greeks of Berrien County Michigan from the 1910s until the present, including those who settled in Berrien County and those who spent summers here. We seek volunteers to help us conduct oral histories, transcribe the interviews, and assist with research. Training will be provided. It is not necessary to be Greek to participate in the project. This project is funded in part by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information or to participate contact Elaine Thomopoulos or Leo Goodsell at the Berrien County Historical Association at (269) 471-1202.

As part of this project, during 2002-2003, the BCHA and its partners will conduct oral histories of individuals in the Greek community who vacationed in Berrien County, Michigan either in resorts or in second homes they owned, many of whom remained as permanent residents. "In particular, we are interested in finding out how their experiences influenced their retaining ethnic identity and in cementing social (including marriage) or business networks within their ethnic community," said Elaine Thomopoulos, editor of Greek-American Pioneer Women of Illinois and co-project director for this study.

Leo Goodsell, Executive Director of the BCHA said, "We are very fortunate to have such an overwhelming show of support for this project. Scholars from Grand Rapids, Anne Arbor, Detroit, as well as many in Illinois including Columbia College in Chicago. One of the goals of this project is to increase our knowledge and understanding of one of the various ethnic groups that make up Berrien County’s rich heritage."

Research results, and oral or videotapes will be deposited in the archives of the Berrien County Historical Association. The information from the oral histories, as well as information obtained from other historical documents and photographs, will be used in a publication and possibly for a future exhibit about Greeks of Berrien County.

Anyone interested in volunteering, or anyone who is Greek or married to a Greek or has knowledge of the Greeks in Berrien County, including the resort communities where they spent their summers, please contact Elaine Thomopoulos or Leo Goodsell at the Berrien County Historical Association at (269) 471-1202.

The Berrien County Historical Association is located at the 1839 Courthouse Complex, 313 N. Cass Street (old US 31), Berrien Springs, Michigan.

###