2024 Bridging History Celebration honoring the Maurer Family and Maurer Publishing
Please mark your calendar for Wednesday, July 17, 2024, when we will celebrate the contributions of the Maurer Family and Maurer Publishing at the MHS Bridging History Celebration at Little Bear East.
The MHS Bridge Award for Historical Impact is given to those who inspire use with their outstanding philanthropy, community involvement, and dedication to preserving history so that others may learn from it. We are honored to celebrate the contributions of the Maurer Family and Maurer Publishing whose names have been synonymous with journalism and integrity on Mackinac Island, St. Ignace, and the Les Cheneaux Islands for more than six decades. Their impact on all of Mackinac County has been profoundly felt by many and we proudly celebrate their dedication to make their community a better place.
Maurer Publishing began with Wesley and Margaret Maurer, Sr. and continued with Wesley and Mary Maurer, Jr. until March of 2023. Wesley Maurer, Sr. was a professor of journalism at the University of Michigan and dedicated to improving journalism education. During his extensive career he received numerous accolades for his work. The highest honors include receiving the title of professor emeritus from the University of Michigan, the Honor Medal for distinguished service in Journalism, and induction to the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.
Mr. and Mrs. Maurer, Sr. purchased the Mackinac Island Town Crier in 1957 to use the small-town paper as a laboratory for graduate journalism students interested in community journalism. They extended the laboratory when they purchased the weekly Harbor Springs’ newspaper Harbor Light in 1963, eventually turning the paper over to a former student. In 1975 the Maurer family purchased the Les Cheneaux Weekly Wave and then The Republican News & St. Ignace Enterprise. The paper was later renamed to The St. Ignace News and incorporated the Weekly Wave in 1978. Wesley Maurer, Sr. was devoted to social justice and to professionalizing the field of journalism and believed that “the newspaper is the basic element of the community, its institutions and life. The newspaper’s objective should be information” (Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame). He lived this purpose and instilled these values in his family. Dedication to journalism education, seeking the truth and reporting it has been a hallmark of the Maurer family, as well as a love of history and preservation of the past which is still seen every week in Wes Maurer, Jr.’s popular column, “Looking Back.”
The net proceeds of this event go toward finishing the Straits Cultural Center.
