In this first of three installments of the Let’s Go Back series, we take a look at how the Hemingway Collection at the Clarke Historical Library got its start. Over the course of 20 years, the Clarke has created one of the most robust collections of Hemingway material anywhere in the country. Through photographs, letters, and family scrapbooks we get a glimpse at what life was like for the Hemingway family (and many others) in Northern Michigan at the turn of the 20th century.

In parts 2 and 3 of this series, we take a closer look at the Hemingway Family Scrapbooks and the letter Ernest wrote to his friend Jim Gamble in the summer of 1919.