Holiday Break Activities

The Detroit Historical Museum and Dossin Great Lakes Museum will be open all week between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. This year, the Detroit Historical Museum will feature free programming for the whole family from Monday, December 26 – Saturday, December 31.

In addition to our Noon Year’s Eve event on Saturday, December 31, we'll have activities from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Throughout the week:

• Take photos with fashionable props and create your own fashion designs with “fashion plates” and coloring sheets in our Fashion D.Fined: The Past, Present and Future of Detroit Fashion exhibit, which is in the final days of its run.

• Design your own record album cover in the Allesee Gallery of Culture.

• Take part in a social media history hunt throughout the museum.

We’ll also screen favorite films from our film series all week at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the auditorium. Films include:

• Monday, December 26 – “Detroit: Remember When, Made in the Motor City”

Better Made Potato Chips, Sanders Fudge, Velvet Peanut Butter and Gratiot Auto Supply are among the brands, landmarks and people that played a major role in defining Detroit and Detroiters’ identity to the rest of the country. Narrated by broadcast legend Erik Smith, this documentary takes viewers cruising through the Woodward-Gratiot automotive corridor, dining at American Coney Island and Buddy’s Pizza, while listening to the voices of famous Detroit personalities such as Jo-Jo Shutty McGregor and Ken Calvert. The film also includes interviews with the likes of Brian Jefferson, the CEO of Sanders Fudge and Keith Wunderlich, the author of Vernor’s Ginger Ale. Running time: 120 minutes.

• Tuesday, December 27 – “Detroit: Remember When, Houses of Worship”

Detroit and its surrounding communities are home to some of the most historic and architecturally significant religious buildings in the country. As immigrants from around the world swelled Detroit’s population, they brought their faith and cultural traditions with them and
reflected those traditions in the churches, synagogues, and mosques they erected. This film takes viewers on a one-hour tour of eight of the area’s most revered religious facilities representing a range of faiths and traditions. In many cases, images of the current and earlier structures will help tell these transformative stories. Running time: 90 minutes

• Wednesday, December 28 – “Detroit: Remember When, History of Detroit Television”

Soupy Sales. Johnny Ginger. Auntie Dee. Sonny Elliot. Robin Seymour. Bill Bonds. The list of characters who entered our living rooms through Detroit television is long and colorful. This documentary examines local TV from the late 1940s to the 1990s. Highlights include rare footage including an amazing vocal performance by 14-year-old Ursula Walker, who today is a Detroit jazz legend; profiles of Soupy Sales, Sonny Elliot, Bill Kennedy and other local celebrities; the story behind one of the longest-running TV series in America, Detroit’s American Black Journal; recollections from Mitch Ryder and others, and much more. Running time: 45 minutes. 

• Thursday, December 29 – “Detroit: Remember When, Motor City Memories”

Travel back in time and experience Detroit traditions that live on in rare films, old photographs, and fond memories in this extraordinary documentary. From Briggs Stadium to Boblo, Black Bottom to the Boulevard, this made-in-Detroit documentary captures the spirit of the city in reminiscences of what used to be and remembrances of what once was. Summer days at Belle Isle, the Vernor’s soda fountain, Jefferson Beach and Edgewater Park are among the sites revisited in footage and from Detroit-area family collections and media archives. Running time: 44 minutes. 

• Friday, December 30 – “Detroit Mob Confidential”

This film explores the history of Detroit’s La Cosa Nostra Family, which, in many ways, is the most successful crime family in the United States. In addition to law enforcement and media sources, former associates reflect on the past and their work with Detroit Mafia members in sports gambling and other criminal activities. Several hundred unique and never-seen-before surveillance photographs from Federal law enforcement are used as well as family photos of Don Joe Zerilli on his Grosse Pointe estate. “Detroit Mob Confidential” is the first and only documentary made about America’s most secretive and most successful Mafia family. Beginning in 1912 and finishing in 2009, “Detroit Mob Confidential” is a must-see film for any student of American history, crime buffs, and Detroiters of all ages and backgrounds. Running time: 79 minutes.