Lecture Series – Lost on the Lady Elgin

When her hand touched the wood stock of a musket laying in a field of debris on the bottom of Lake Michigan from the once palatial sidewheel steamer Lady Elgin, it ignited a passion for the study of the ship’s tragic sinking on September 8, 1860, off Highland Park. Now 164 years after the worst disaster on the open waters of the Great Lakes, Valerie Van Heest, takes the audience back in time to the era of passenger travel on the Great Lakes, to the eve of a presidential election, to the brink of Civil War, and to stormy night when more than 300 people lost their lives on the Lady Elgin. Valerie’s multi-media presentation, with an accident reenactment and underwater footage, explores the ethical dilemmas surrounding the shipwreck incident, the discovery of its wreckage in 1989, a 10-year court battle over ownership of the wreck.

The Museum Lecture Series runs from September through April with a new lecture topic every month. Lectures are $10 per person and FREE for Museum members. Click here to reserve your tickets today!

Lectures are proudly sponsored by Nielsen-Wells Grant Fund & Mike and Susan Smith.