As early as the 1840s, women served as “keepers of the light” at dozens of Michigan’s lighthouses.  The work was dangerous and physically demanding, and while some found life in the rugged storm-battered outposts to be stark and lonely, others wrote of the passion they felt for their life-saving responsibilities.  Serving as a lighthouse keeper was the only “non-clerical” government job that women were allowed to hold in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Some women were hired directly into the position.  Others were promoted to the role when their lighthouse keeper-husband became ill or died.  Among those who served is Frances Wuori Johnson, a civilian keeper of the White River Light Station in Whitehall who shared responsibilities with her husband Leo Wuori in the 1940s.  When Leo decided to return to the Upper Peninsula, Francis stayed on, serving as lighthouse keeper until 1954.  The year before she retired, Frances was featured on the television show “What’s My Line?”  She stumped the panel and received a prize of $50 plus her trip to New York City.  https://www.shorelinemedia.net/the-ladies-of-the-lights/article_4b09bfdc-3e95-11e9-9ad5-7704eade5383.html  The Muser learned of the Johnson story and of other female lighthouse keepers during a February 24, 2021 lecture by Patricia Majher, author of Ladies of the Light.  The lecture was sponsored by the National Museum of the Great Lakes.  https://nmgl.org/

"Women of the Light" lecture by Patricia Majher.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3B9Tk9hln0

"Whats My Line" with Mrs. Johnson  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipU3xwSuQ3E 

Follow-up to lecture:  How many lighthouses were there at the peak and how many are there now?  What's the percentage of women keepers?  I can only speak for my state.  Surprisingly, the total number of Michigan lighthouses at their peak ranges from 115 to 129 depending on how you define the term "lighthouse"!  A good resource for those 129 lights is the Michigan Lighthouse Guide map, available at michiganlighthouseguide.com.  As far as how many there are now, I've had trouble pinning that number down, too.  Some have disappeared altogether or are in ruins, but the vast majority are now in private hands or owned by nonprofit organizations.  Re: the percentage of female keepers . . . a dissertation by Virginia Neal Thomas dated 2010 states that five percent of principal keepers were female, but does not take into account the number of women employed by the Lighthouse Service (and later the Coast Guard) as assistant keepers.  Lighthouses are towering beacons projecting guiding lights over troubled waters.  But, as the word suggests, many lighthouses had a residence attached to the tower that sheltered a keeper and his family.  The history of one Detroit River lighthouse renders a personal view of the troubles endured by the family that called it home.  The Ecorse Lighthouse stood on the marshy shores of the Detroit River north of Mud Island.  It was situated where the mainland curves east, resulting in a narrowing of the waterway.  Built in 1895, the 41-foot tall, wooden tower housed a fixed red light that guided boats around the bend in the river.  From 1895 to 1906, the lighthouse was home to the Gramer family.  The keeper, August “Gus” Gramer, married a 15-year-old German girl named Lucy in 1891.  This union produced three children:  Elsie, Edward and James.  At some point in the mid-1890s, a hired hand named Charlie joined the household to assist with chores. Gus came to believe that a romantic relationship existed between Lucy and Charlie.  When the United States went to war with Spain in 1898, Gus joined the Navy.  During that time, Lucy was officially recognized as the lighthouse keeper.  When Gus returned from the war, Lucy abandoned the lighthouse to live with her father in Detroit.  The Gramers’ stormy union grabbed the public’s attention.  The Wyandotte Herald of Aug. 24, 1900, reported that Gus went to Detroit to speak to his estranged wife.  The paper printed Gus’ self-serving summary of the reunion.  He related that Lucy acknowledged that he had been good to her and how she fell to her knees and, between sobs, confessed that she preferred Charlie, despite the fact that he was not handsome.  Gus continued with his account, saying that, rather than seek revenge, he called Charlie in, and making him kneel beside Lucy, placed his wife’s hand in Charlie’s hand, saying:  “Lucy … be good to the children; Charlie, be good to Lucy, as she has been a good wife to me.”  Gus added that he then treated both to ice cream at a local parlor and then helped move furniture to the couple’s new home.  However, Lucy’s recollection, reported in the same article, is different.  She asserted that she never fell to her knees or confessed to anything and would seek a lawyer.  Despite all this, Gus and Lucy reunited, but not for the better.  More turbulence and tragedy lay in their future.  In 1903, Gus was found guilty of beating his wife.  Upon hearing the ugly details, a crowd attempted to lynch Gus.  It was Gus’ turn to fall to his knees and beg for his life.  Authorities intervened.  Apparently, the couple remained together through 1906.  In that year, 4-year-old James accidently fell off the lighthouse pier and drowned.  That year, the Gramers finally divorced.  Gus soon married another woman.  In 1909, he was transferred to the lighthouse in Toledo but was suspended for insubordination.  When he refused to leave the lighthouse, an inspector from the Lighthouse Service in Buffalo was sent, along with a marshal and police to remove him.  As the Detroit Free Press noted with some understatement, “Wherever Gus has been, things usually have happened.”  https://www.thenewsherald.com/news/lighthouse-keeper-had-his-share-of-bad-times/article_473c391c-a5a1-58b2-be26-59d7625bc89c.html  See also http://michiganlighthouseguide.com/keepers.html 

EARTHDAY.ORG’s theme for Earth Day 2021 is Restore Our Earth™, which focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.  More than 1 billion people in 192 countries now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world.  On this page, you will find key messaging and resources on Restore Our Earth.  The toolkit includes all necessary materials to post on social media, write your own op-ed, or send a note to your network.  https://www.earthday.org/toolkit-earth-day-2021-restore-our-earth/  Earth Day 2021 is Thursday, April 22. 

April 15, 2021  Sotheby’s plunged into the evolving world of cryptoart—and into the knotty question of the meaning of value—with the US$16.8 million sale of non-fungible token (NFT) art created by a renowned digital artist known as Pak.  The core component of the multi-part sale, which took place via the online marketplace Nifty Gateway over the course of three days through Thursday, April 14, was Open Editions—fungible cubes that collectors could buy “infinitely” during the open slots of the sale for a predetermined price that rose from US$500 on the first day of the sale to US$1,000 on the second and US$1,500 on the third.  The sale comes on the heels of Christie’s landmark auction of Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, an NFT by Mike Winkelmann, the artist known as Beeple, which sold for US$69.3 million during an online auction that ended March 11.  In May, Christie’s will follow up with a set of nine images of CryptoPunks—considered the original NFTs—that are owned by software developers and Larva Labs founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson, who created them.  Phillips, meanwhile, is currently offering REPLICATOR by Michah Dowback, an artist known as Mad Dog Jones, in an online auction that ends April 23, 2021. The work, which can make new NFTs from itself every 28 days, currently carries a bid of US$2.4 million.  Abby Schultz  https://www.barrons.com/articles/questioning-value-in-sothebys-16-8-million-sale-of-paks-digital-art-01618524847

No man was more influential than John Muir in preserving the Sierra's integrity.  If I were to choose a single Californian to occupy the Hall of Fame, it would be this tenacious Scot who became a Californian during the final forty-six years of his life.  It was John Muir whose knowledge wedded to zeal led men and governments to establish the National Park Service.  Yosemite and Sequoia in California, the Petrified forest and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the glacier wilderness of Alaska are what they are today largely because of this one man, in whom learning and love were co-equal.  Lawrence Clark Powell  https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/powell_tribute.aspx  Born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, John Muir immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 11 years old.   In 1892 he founded the Sierra Club.  He served as its first president, a position he held until his death in 1914.  https://www.biography.com/scholar/john-muir 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2354   April 21, 2021