The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center is proud to announce the 26th annual Sonderegger Symposium will take place on Friday, November 13, 2026. The title of Sonderegger26 is The Power of Place and will be held in Northern Center Ballroom IV on the campus of Northern Michigan University. Admission is free and open to the public. There is no need to register.
This year's symposium is inspired by the 100th anniversary of the Barnes-Hecker Mining Disaster which took place on November 3, 1926. The largest mining disaster in Michigan history, it cost the lives of 51 miners at the mine which is just west of Ishpeming, Michigan. This year, there is a county-wide commemoration of this event, featuring a new memorial park at the site of the disaster. This year's Sonderegger Symposium is part of this commemoration and is funded in part by a grant from the America 250 MI committee. Click on this link to see all of the scheduled speakers at the event.
If you cannot attend in person but would like to livestream the event, go to this link, Sonderegger Symposium 2026 - The Power of Place.
Please click here to review any or all past 2002-2025 sessions. Videos of the presentations from some of the past symposiums can be watched on NMU Mediasite.
The Sonderegger Symposium is hosted with financial support from the Sonderegger family.