November Publication of a New Article

"FROM A DISTANCE: AMERICAN GRAFFITI" BY AL DAWSON AND JULIE CLAIRE DEVOE will be published next month in the historical and genealogical quarterly, "Michigana". The authors unravel the mysteries behind dozens of signatures (christened "The Scribbles" by Julie Claire) in two abandoned upper rooms of a historic building in Lowell, Michigan, near Grand Rapids. Al and Julie plan to expand this research into a book for publication late 2019. The Scribbles date from the 1870s (when the building was constructed) to 1921, shortly before Al's grandfather and family opened Dawson Bros. Bakery on the ground floor. 208 E. Main Street now houses Chimera Design, a jewelry business run by Julie Claire and her husband, Cliff. As owners of the building, Julie Claire and Cliff could have painted over this graffiti (a smaller patch appears on the third floor) but wisely saw they had an historical find and called in an art restoration specialist, who cleaned and sealed the walls containing "The Scribbles" on the upper stories.