We found slices of the state's history personalized in dramatic, sometimes poignant, fashion in the excellent Michigan Historical Center, four blocks from the state capitol in Lansing.

Lumberjacks, miners, Native Americans, children, merchant seamen, trappers, farmers, even a chorus line of "Dancing Motorettes" from the 1957 Detroit Auto Show--they're all here, forever reliving their lives in displays that imaginatively offer an understanding of the state's settlement and growth.

The Willow Run bomber factory, just west of Detroit, turned out a B-24 Liberator bomber every 63 minutes. Among the 41,000 workers was a circus dwarf, whose job was to crawl inside the plane wings to help fasten rivets. He's pictured on the job.

The wrenching memories of students, migrant field-workers and single parents changed forever by the Depression are featured in poignant displays. One woman tells of her sorrow when, as an elementary-school student, she learned that only girls with white shoes would be allowed to march in her school's big parade. Next to her written story are the tattered black shoes that her impoverished father had colored white with house paint.

Another section features several rooms decorated with late 19th-century furnishings. In each room visitors read the recollections of five Michiganders, children at that time, whose memories demonstrate their different experiences growing up. For instance, in the schoolroom, their tales are told on old-fashioned slates on their desks. The last room has a satisfying look at the storytellers' lives as adults.

For Michael, the Historical Museum's focus on everyday folks was "pretty neat," while the splendid Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum "are awesome because they show you how inventions were improved on, to help people."

Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated August 2005.