Kathryn (Kate) Schmitigal created and designed this project as an MSU student. After spending her summers with her grandparents in Goetzville, she felt its history was worth collecting and preserving. While taking a grant writing class at MSU in the fall of 2003, she was inspired to do a history project for the town and wrote and received a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council for the funds to record the stories of growing up in Goetzville. Along with her grandmother, Barb Schmitigal, Kate volunteered her time to the project, most of which involved planning and postproduction during the spring and summer of 2004. She used resources from a variety of sources, including the Raber Township Board in Goetzville, the MSU Museum, MATRIX, the Chippewa County Historical Society and the help of Curator Julie Avery. Kate received a BA in History and Museum Studies from Michigan State University in 2004 and is currently working on a Masters in Museum Education at the George Washington University in Washington DC.

Documenting childhood in the rural Eastern Upper Peninsula, the Goetzville Oral History Collection Project, recorded thirteen stories of individuals who grew up in the region during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The project, which took place in the spring of 2004, was funded by the Michigan Humanities Council and Raber Township, and was performed by Kathryn Schmitigal, with Barbara Schmitigal.