Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography consists of over 100,000 images in a variety of formats including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, real photo postcards, stereographs, and mounted and unmounted paper prints. The collection is primarily made up of vernacular photographs of everyday life in Michigan taken by both professional and amateur photographers from the 1840s into the mid-twentieth century. In addition to supporting local history research, the collection has resources for the study of specific events and subjects. Included are images related to lumbering, mining, suburbanization; the industrialization of cities; travel and transportation; the impact of the automobile; the rise of middle-class leisure society; fashion and dress; ethnicity and race; the role of fraternal organizations in society; and the participation of photographers in business, domestic, and social life. The collection is only partially open for research.

The subject contents of different photographic format series within the Tinder collection vary, depending in part upon how each format was historically used, and the date range of that format's popularity. For example, cartes de visite and cased images are most often formal studio portraits, while stereographs are likely to be outdoor views. Cabinet photographs are frequently portraits, but often composed with less formality than the cartes de visite and cased images. The postcards and the mounted prints contain very diverse subjects. The photographers' file contains many important and rare images of photographers, their galleries, promotional images, and the activities of photographers in the field. See individual series descriptions in the Contents List below for more specific details.

Included throughout are images by both professional and amateur photographers, although those by professionals are extant in far greater numbers.

The Log of the Wiheda photograph album contains six pages of typescript narrative followed by 31 numbered photographs that together describe a six-day journey by motor-boat from Coopersville, New York, to Sorel, Quebec, by way of Lake Champlain, the Richelieu, and Saint Lawrence Rivers in August, 1908.

The Log of the Wiheda photograph album (15 x 19 cm) contains six pages of typescript narrative referring to 31 numbered photographs that follow, one to a page. The album describes a six-day journey by motor-boat from Coopersville, New York, to Sorel, Quebec, by way of Lake Champlain, the Richelieu, and Saint Lawrence Rivers in August, 1908. The photographs appear to have been taken by David P. Harris, "First Officer and part owner;" the narrative was written by William N. Harris, "Tenderfoot and scribe." Also on the trip were William H. Robinson, "Master and part owner;" Merritt M. Harrus, "Pedagogue and chief cook;" Fred Rainey, "Collegian and bottle washer;" and George Anderson, "Motor expert and utility man."

The photographs show views of the waterways, buildings, and people encountered on the trip. Views of Fort Lennox in Quebec, a shoe factory, and the town of Sorel are featured, also a few views of the Wiheda en route.

The album has a tan, embossed cover with braided string binding.