The Michigan Historical Museum System's Upper Peninsula sites manager, Tom Friggens, looks over blueprints for Phase II construction at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum.
 

U.P. sites secretary Diane Phillips examines recently installed Iron Industry Heritage Plaques. The sale of heritage plaques has contributed more than $42,000 toward the Michigan Iron Industry Museum's capital campaign.

A local service station delivers the latest addition to the MIIM's exhibits, a World War II Jeep, donated by Ken Lafayette, a charter member of the Michigan Iron Industry Museum Advisory Board.
 

On May 7, a crowd gathered at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of the building addition.

Thanks to the building expansion, the Michigan Iron Industry Museum offers its first temporary exhibit, Secrets of a Buried Past: Clues From the Carp River Forge. The exhibit looks at artifacts and other discoveries that have been made during archaeological explorations on the museum grounds—site of the former Carp River Forge.

Secrets of a Buried Past features a full-scale, floor-to-ceiling mock-up of a forge similar to those in operation nearly 160 years ago at the Carp River Forge.

Ceramic pieces found at the Carp River Forge site match an intact pitcher and plates from the same time period. A variety of decorated ceramics recovered from the workers' cabin sites were imported from England, demonstrating CRF links to the global market.

The MIIM building expansion has created space for a visitor services counter and a branch of the Michigan Historical Museum Store. Visit and shop during the MIIM's new fall schedule!