Before the Institute, before the blog, there was the county. Ionia County: Carboniferous Era to 1900 is Gerald M. Wieczorek's geological and pioneer history of Ionia County, Michigan — a chronicle of dated firsts, running from the Carboniferous era to 1900. Entry by entry it sets down when things became possible there: his own example is the first time people in Ionia could board a stagecoach and go to California. The deep geology comes first, because the pioneers' county sat on it; the book is the record of the two laid end to end.
One entry in the record dates itself oddly early. Gerald printed his email address in the book in 1995 — among the first people to have one, printed before he knew what email was. It stands in the book as a pioneer entry of another kind.
| Title | Ionia County: Carboniferous Era to 1900 |
|---|---|
| Author | Gerald M. Wieczorek |
| Published | Self-published, Ionia, Michigan, 1995 |
| Extent | 112 pages, illustrated |
| References | Bibliographical references on pages 50–51 |
| Catalog | MeLCat (Michigan eLibrary Catalog) |
| Surviving copy | Saranac Clarksville District Library — Saranac Local History |
| Call number | 977.423 WIE |
| Status | Library use only |
The Director's own copies were lost in a house fire. So far as the record shows, the Saranac copy is the surviving one — held on the local history shelf, not to leave the building. A photograph of its cover has been requested from the library, and will stand at the head of this page when it arrives.
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