John Hancock "We want Yours" (1994 Ballot access restoration) Committee after the 1994 LPM Convention in Salt Lake City Utah. Photo by Art Gulich. James Hudler, Scotty Boman, Barb Vozenilek (left to right). Scotty and Emily are now on the Historical Commission.

Historical Commission: Show Us Your Papers!

By Emily Salvette, Historical Commission Chair

Link to the January 2020 Michigan Libertarian

The LPM Historical Commission is charged with preserving the history of the Libertarian Party of Michigan (LPM). To do this, we’re asking those with documents and memorabilia of LPM’s past to share them with us. The commission members are Scott Boman, Larry Johnson, Wendi Parker, Mike Saliba, Emily Salvette (chair) and Greg Stempfle.

What the Historical Commission will collect

We will collect items related to the LPM, including affiliate organizations, from all who would like to contribute.  While we’re grateful for all items, right now we’re prioritizing items prior to 1996 so we can get the oldest items done first. The commission will evaluate the material received for inclusion in the archives.

We will be archiving items on the website old.michiganlp.org. We’re not planning to keep originals— we will give those we don’t return to the donor to the Bentley Library at the University of Michigan, which is where they archive other LPM materials. As an all-volunteer organization without a permanent office, the LPM is not able to reliably store historical material.

How to contribute:

We encourage digital donations—scan what you have and send us the file! Send files to Emily Salvette, esalvette@gmail.com.  You may want to check our website first to make sure you’re not bothering to scan items we already have (e.g. most Michigan Libertarians). Non documents, such as yard signs, should be photographed and sent to Emily with a description (don’t forget the date of the item!) for evaluation.

Here are some of the items we’re looking for:

  • Certain editions of the Michigan Libertarian
  • Local newsletters
  • Meeting minutes
  • Information related to special events (e.g. LibertyFest)
  • Campaign items including news clippings
  • Convention information (note we do have all LPM convention packets after 2000)
  • Pictures (please identify as many people as you can in each shot)
  • Audio or video recordings of events (Greg Stempfle is able to transfer old audio and video tapes to digital format)

If you’re not able to scan documents, the committee will accept your items, digitize them, and return them to you (if you wish). You may send items to Emily Salvette—contact her to confirm details.

The Libertarian Party has begun its own archive project (see http://lpedia.org/Main_Page) and we encourage you to donate national items to them.

Thank you for helping us preserve our history!  If you have questions or information to share, please contact the Historical Commission chair Emily Salvette, esalvette@gmail.com.

Link to the January 2020 Michigan Libertarian

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