Titanic Display

Today, air travel in Europe and across the Atlantic has been interrupted by an ash plume from a volcano. The volcano is located under a glacier in Iceland. Over 5,000 flights have been cancelled and the actual total may be closer to 6,000 cancelled flights. A report emailed from a friend in Barry, Wales states that over 300,000 travelers in the United Kingdom alone, have had their travel plans interrupted. The inconvenience, however, may save lives; the ash can cause engine failure.

98 years ago travel across the Atlantic was also interrupted, but by an iceberg rather than a volcano. On April 14, 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg. Less than three hours later, at approximately 2:20 am on April 15th the Titanic sank with many lives lost.

The East Tawas Library currently has 21 different books about the Titanic on display. The library display case contains a foam three dimensional "jigsaw puzzle" model of the Titanic and a Titanic board game.

One favorite book is Polar, The Titanic Bear by Daisy Corning Spedden. The original manuscript was written in 1913 as a Christmas present for Daisy's son Douglas. Polar was Douglas' white mohair Steiff bear. A picture of Douglas spinning his toy top on one of the Titanic's deck has been reproduced in many books.

Please stop by the East Tawas Library and view the tribute to those travelers of April 1912, many of whom never reached their intended destination.

Holocaust Remembrance Day Display

Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on April 11th this year.

The East Tawas Library has a display of 26 books about the Holocaust, its victims, and its survivors. Besides the books on display, the library's Holocaust collection consists of over 40 additional books. There are children's picture books, graphic novels, fictional stories for kids as well as adults, diaries, books of photographs and letters, memoirs, and historical studies.

When thinking of the Holocaust most people immediately think of Anne Frank, however, the name Miep Gies is unknown to many of us. Without this Dutch woman, who recently died (at age 100) we would not have Anne Frank's diary. The library's display case contains a January 25, 2010 People magazine article about Miep Gies and how she kept Anne's diary safe until she gave it to Anne's father, Otto Frank, following the war.

The display case also contains several note cards featuring art work by child survivors who were brought to England after their liberation. Twenty-eight hostels were opened up in England to care for the 732 children. These cards were produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. For more information see the following two web sites:

http://www.rh7.org/factsheets/Holocaust.html

http://www.ushmm.org/

We must all remember!