In close to one month in western upper Peninsula history will be on full display. While the region’s many festivals and events this summer have a historical context within communities, another event will bring the Keweenaw peninsula’s history to the forefront. At the end of June, the Historical Society of Michigan hosts the 76th annual Up History Conference in Houghton. Executive director Larry Wagenaar says many attendees enjoy a full schedule of presentations, tours, and immersive experiences.
Just over half of the audience at the UP-History Conference is coming from the Lower Peninsula. So, these are individuals downstate who are interested in UP heritage and history and have come up. Some make a vacation out of it, some come up just for this particular conference event. This means that nearly half are also coming from various areas of the UP. Some of them are local. We do provide a local, in this case, would be Houghton County, there’s a $20 discount on the registration if you live in the county. To try to encourage as much local participation as possible, but otherwise, it’s spread out all across the UP. Some of them are active in a local historical organization because the Historical Society of Michigan is kind of a mothership to all the local museums across the state. But a lot of them are just interested. I like to call this audience an educated lay audience. We get some academics, and some teachers, but the vast majority of people are just passionate about Michigan history and want to learn more about it. – Larry Wagenaar, Executive Director, Historical Society of Michigan
Wagenaar adds that each year the UP-History Conference attracts more than 200 people. The conference travels around the region each year, and in the past visited smaller town such as Gwinn and Watersmeet. In recent years the conference has set up in the region’s larger communities, so attendees have ample opportunity to find hotels or other lodging.
Houghton County residents interested in attending the up-history conference from June 27th to the 29th can receive a 20-dollar discount on registration fees. The conference will accept registration until June 20th to guarantee space at lunch. The conference will include tours of Quincy mine, and Hanka homestead, as well as presentations with local historians. Those interested in learning more about the Historical Society of Michigan or the up-history conference can find more details online.
The Historical Society of Michigan celebrates the entire state’s vast and rich history and involves local historians in the planning of each conference. Earlier in the year the Historical Society of Michigan hosted its 2025 Michigan in Perspective: Local History Conference at Oakland University. Wagenaar says the society’s three conferences focus on the southeast region, Upper Peninsula and whole state. In September the society will host the 151st annual meeting and Michigan History Conference in Aplena.
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