Literature

Published in the popular PDF format1, the downloads listed below are compatible with both Windows and Mac computers, and most hand-held devices. Those featured here are made freely available for historic and genealogical research purposes.2 Printed copies of some items are also available online. (Printed copies of government publications are made available online at cost by BoysMindBooks.Com.)

Privately Published Books
  • • South Manitou Island: From Pioneer Community to National Park Myron H. Vent — Myron Vent was an ancestor of one of South Manitou Island's first immigrant families, the George Johann Hutzlers, and was the first to write a book about Michigan's South Manitou Island. Although not always factually correct, this book has often been cited as a bibliographical reference owing to the depth of Vent's research.
  • • Pioneer Tales and Other Stories of South Manitou Island William E. and Myron H. Vent A hundred-year collection of island-life literary sketches encompassing the mid-1800's to the present century.
  • • The Manitou Passage Story Gene L Warner — Learn about the natural and human history of the Manitou Passage, from glacier to National Park! A light, indefinitive, sometimes romantic, account written in the conversation style of Alister Cook's America series.
  • • Beautiful Glen Arbor Township Robert Dwight Rader and the Glen Arbor History Group — "Facts, Fantasy & Fotos" ... An illustrated history of Glen Arbor Township, Michigan. Includes historical and cultural information about Glen Arbor, Glen Haven, Glen Lake, etc.
  • • The South Manitou Story Gerald E Crowner — A memoir of a young Coast Guardsman's first tour of duty as a surfman on South Manitou Island. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-rending, Crowner's charming mix of narratives and poetry is pure entertainment.
  • • Isle of View Charles M. Anderson — The illustrated memoir authored by Charles Anderson, a South Manitou Island farm boy. His book includes a variety of information about the island's topology, its flower and fauna, the people who lived there, and what life on the island was like in the early 20th century.
  • • Memo's of Betsie Bay Charles M. Anderson — Another illustrated memoir authored by Charles Anderson, who grew up as a South Manitou Island farm boy. His book includes a variety of information about Frankfort, his adopted home town, his commercial fishing experiences, especially in the North and South Manitou Islands area, and the Lake Michigan fishing industry in general ... its heydays and eventual decline.
  • • My Point of View Glenn C. Furst — A memoir authored by Glenn C. Furst, originally a South Manitou Island "Coast Guard Kid", who grew up as the stepson of the Keeper of the North Manitou Island Light Station. His book, essentially a chronical of his youth on North Manitou, includes a variety of information about the island, some of the people who lived there, and what life on the island was like for his family, living at the Light Station on the island's rather barren and secluded Dimmick's Point.
Government Publications
  • • A Nationalized Lakeshore Theodore J Karamanski — Subtitle: The Creation and Administration of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore It took 21-years to pass legislation creating the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The process was not a pleasant one; the story is evenhandedly presented in this well-researched illustrated history.
  • • Coming Through With Rye Brenda Wheeler Williams — An historic agricultural landscape study of South Manitou Island at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, Michigan.
  • • Farming At the Water's Edge Martha E McEnaney — An assessment of agricultural and cultural landscape resources in the Port Oneida Rural Historic District at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan.
  • • A Garden Apart Susan O. Haswell — An Agricultural and Settlement History of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Region, Michigan.
  • • Tending A Comfortable Wilderness Eric MacDonald — A History of Agricultural Landscapes on North Manitou Island, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan.
  • • South Manitou Island Light Station - Historic Structure and Cultural Landscape Report Quin Evans/Architects — All about the South Manitou Island Light Station: History and detailed engineering and technical specification.
  • • The Terrestrial Vegetatton and Flora of North and South Manitou Islands, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Brian T. Hadett and Robert J. VandeKoppl — A survey of the vegetation and flora of North and South Manitou Islands, with recommendations concerning resource management. Vegetation associations were mapped and described, and a catalogue of 490 plant species was compiled, including distributions of eight threatened native species.
  • • History Data Report on North Manitou Islands, Leelanau County, Michigan David L. Fritz, Historian — A summary of North Manitou Island's logging, farming, Life Saving/Lighthouse Service, and resort activities.
Visitor Guides
  • • Welcome To South Manitou Island Gene L Warner — An illustrated, pocket-size visitor's guide for South Manitou Island. For day visitors, hikers and campers, includes history, hiking and camping suggestions, what to bring, emergency information, and a trail map.
  • • Discover North Manitou Island Gene L Warner — An illustrated, pocket-size visitor's guide for North Manitou Island. For hikers and campers, includes history, hiking and camping suggestions, what to bring, emergency information, and a trail map.
  • • Visitor Guide Printing Instructions — Step-by-step instructions for printing and assembling the above Printer Friendly booklets.
Miscellaneous Shorter Works
  • • The Beck Family Immigrates Lillian Beck (Mrs Irwin Beck Jr) — Thumbnail sketch of the Beck family's immigration from Germany to South Manitou Island -1860
  • • Dear Ancestor Submitted by Bonnie Bellmer — An ode to ancestors - a poem
  • • Our Makoonsag Gene L Warner — A New Year's Day Reverie for January 1, 2004
  • • My Island Home Mae (Tobin) Carron (from Bonnie Bellmer) — A Remembrance - 1967
  • • The Sleeping Bear Warren Wayne Lamport — Early version of the familiar legend - c1904
  • • Why Remember Gene L Warner — Written for the Memorial Service at the South Manitou Island Cemetery Sunday, July 30, 2006

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