[Michlib-l] U.P. Notable Book Club features Phyllis M. Wong author of "We Kept Our Towns Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan's Upper Peninsula"

[Victor R. Volkman]

*U.P. Notable Book Club features Phyllis M. Wong author of "We Kept Our 
Towns Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan's Upper Peninsula"
*

*UP Notable Book Club:* the Crystal Falls Community District Library in 
partnership with the U.P. Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA) has 
scheduled author events with winners of the /UP Notable Book List/. The 
27th event is with Phyllis Michael Wong whose//book /We Kept Our Towns 
Going: The Gossard Girls of Michigan's Upper Peninsula/ presents a 
history of the H.W. Gossard company and the thousands of women they 
employed in Ishpeming and Gwinn. These jobs changed both the lives of 
the workers and the entire community itself. The book club events are 
open to all Michigan residents free of charge.

/*When: */Thursday, March 9th, 2023 at 7pm Eastern / 6pm Central
/*Where: */on the Zoom platform -- please contact Evelyn Gathu in 
advance by egathu at crystalfallslibrary.org 
<mailto:egathu at crystalfallslibrary.org?subject=UPNotableBooks&body=Please-send-me-the-zoom-link>, 
or by phone (906) 875-3344. We recommend you borrow a copy of these 
books from your local library or purchase from your local bookseller in 
advance to get the most out of these events.

*Portrait of Phyllis Michael WongPHYLLIS MICHAEL WONG *says that oral 
histories provide the nuances help make history more vibrant. As a 
researcher who has spent much of her life listening, recording, and 
reacting to the stories of people’s lives, she has consistently proven 
this assertion. Among her early historical research was her graduate 
thesis focusing on the history of childhood in the United States during 
the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Later, she would take oral history 
interviews of Great Plains residents for Barnes (N.D.) County Historical 
Society. Her latest book is about women working at the Gossard Company 
factories in the U.P. in the 20th century, and what impact they had 
economically and socially on their small, rural hometowns.
Phyllis, a native of the San Francisco Bay area, would follow her 
father’s sage advice of “listen, talk little, listen” in her roles as a 
historian; educator, including as a writing instructor and director of 
online learning; and 30-year member of the university-level academic 
world, including as First Lady at Northern Michigan University (2004-12) 
and San Francisco State University (2012-19). Among her favorite First 
Lady accomplishments is co-founding a /One Book, One Community 
/county-wide reading program at NMU.

Cover of "We Kept Our Towns Going" book 
<https://UPPAA.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b1016c5c910959a236f2ff48f&id=49880be2d3&e=2efc3cf0fe>"Wong’s 
brand-new book deserves to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Allan Koski’s 
comprehensive /Empire Mine Cascade Range: Michigan’s Largest Iron 
Mine/// 
<https://UPPAA.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b1016c5c910959a236f2ff48f&id=660804d130&e=2efc3cf0fe>as 
a document of immense sociological and historical importance in U.P. 
labor history.  Indeed, there is a fascinating synergy of the two 
industrial giants as many women signed up as Gossard Girls to 
manufacturer corsets, brassieres, and foundation garments when their 
husbands were involved in strikes at Empire Mine and other CCI job 
sites.  But let’s back up a bit first…  Wong’s quest to document the 
working life of Gossard Girls began in 2008 when she was a researcher at 
Northern Michigan University and would crystallize a few years later at 
Women’s History Month lecture where the idea for a comprehensive history 
was born.  Over the next 10 years, she would research primary sources, 
such as letters written by union organizers, but more importantly she 
took a staggering number of oral histories from the surviving 
women—nearly 100 are preserved. As such, she has knowledge at a system 
level of how the assembly line worked from top to bottom to produce 
complex products with up to 40 assembly steps.  But more importantly, 
she knows the unique human story behind the story—the motivations and 
trials of women who in the aggregate produced more than a million 
undergarments per year at the peak.
—Review by Victor R. Volkman. Read the complete review at the /U.P. Book 
Review/ 
<https://UPPAA.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b1016c5c910959a236f2ff48f&id=b247af739d&e=2efc3cf0fe>.

More information about the U.P. Notable Book list, /U.P. Book Review, 
/and UPPAA can be found on www.UPNotable.com 
<https://UPPAA.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b1016c5c910959a236f2ff48f&id=e8d5e27ef1&e=2efc3cf0fe> 

*<https://UPPAA.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b1016c5c910959a236f2ff48f&id=ed2fbf9ce5&e=2efc3cf0fe>About 
the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA)*
Established in 1998 to support authors and publishers who live in or 
write about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, UPPAA is a Michigan nonprofit 
association with more than 100 members, many of whose books are featured 
on the organization’s website at www.uppaa.org 
<https://UPPAA.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b1016c5c910959a236f2ff48f&id=65c618ebd8&e=2efc3cf0fe>. 
UPPAA welcomes membership and participation from anyone with a UP 
connection who is interested in writing.
# # #

-- 
Regards,

Victor R. Volkman, President
L H Press Inc.
www.LHPress.com
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