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Detroit German-American business; scrapbooks containing a variety of printed material, photographs, handwritten accounts of sentiments and occasions, and hand-drawn ink illustrations.

The Carl E. Schmidt collection consists of sixteen volumes of scrapbooks documenting the wide scope of Schmidt's interests. These scrapbooks were compiled and numbered by Schmidt himself, although some of the explanatory text was added by a friend, Dr. Tobias Sigel, who was himself a German immigrant and prominent citizen of Detroit. The scrapbooks are filled with a variety of printed material, photographs, handwritten accounts of sentiments and occasions, and hand-drawn ink illustrations. Much of the scrapbooks' text is in German, including many clippings from German language newspapers. The illustrations in Volume II are particularly attractive. They are hand-drawn red and black ink illustrations of fanciful, legendary themes relating to Walhalla.

The following inventory is a general guide to the contents of each volume. For those scrapbooks that were paginated by Schmidt, specific sections of special interest have been noted in the inventory. Volume 2 also has its own, original index. There is one corresponding folder for each of thirteen of the volumes. These folders contain loose items removed from volumes one through eleven, thirteen, and fourteen.

As the inventory shows, Schmidt was most thorough in documenting his recreational and farming interests, and his political activity in Detroit, at the state level, and in the German-American community. There is, however, very little information about his tannery business.

Ypsilanti, Michigan automobile salesman, antique collector for Greenfield Village, and real estate agent for the Ford Motor Company. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and pamphlet material concerning his work for Ford Motor Company, and his interest in William H. McGuffey and Stephen Foster; and photographs.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Newspaper clippings; Printed Material; Greenfield Village acquisitions; Real estate acquisitions; and Photographs.

Professor of engineering at the University of Michigan. Photos of Johnston's personal and family life in Wyoming and Michigan, including student activities at the University of Michigan; photos of his work on water projects in the West and in Egypt; and photos of Camp Davis, the summer engineering camp of the University of Michigan in Cheboygan Co., Michigan..

The Johnston collection spans the years of 1888-1928. The bulk of the collection is comprised of photographic prints, mainly cyanotypes, and glass plate negatives. Scattered papers are also present and include biographical material and topical files relating to Johnston's personal, religious, and professional activities. The collection has been arranged into five series, which include: Personal and Family Photographs, Work Photographs, Camp Davis Photographs, Glass negatives, and Biographical Materials.

Dexter, Michigan, collector of materials relating to the history of railroading in Michigan. Correspondence, subject files, printed matter and photographs; contain material concerning the Ann Arbor Railroad, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, the Manistee and Northeastern Railway Company, the Michigan Central Railroad, the Pere Marquette Railroad, and Ephraim Shay.

The Stoner collection contains about 3,600 photographs and negatives collected by Stoner, relating primarily to Michigan railroads. The collection also contains related manuscript materials.

Stoner's major collecting interests were in the Ann Arbor, Grand Trunk Western, and Pere Marquette Railroads and their predecessors, and in logging railroads, especially Ephraim Shay's railroad and others using Shay locomotives. Along with these lines, the collection contains photos of dozens of other railroads, not all in Michigan.

The photographs most commonly depict locomotives, often with their crews posed beside. Other common subjects are railroad stations (exteriors only), train wrecks, trains in motion, logging operations, carferries, railroad bridges, the Detroit-Windsor railroad tunnel, and street railroads.

Dozens of Michigan cities and towns and a number of places in other states are represented in the collection. Places depicted most often in the photos include Ann Arbor, Cadillac, Detroit, Durand, Frankfort, Harbor Springs, and Howell, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.

The collection is organized into seven series: Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, Unclassified negatives, Papers, Classified negatives, and Duplicate material.

Appended to this finding aid are two indexes, one for railroads and company names, the other for subjects. The indexes contain references to all items in the Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, and Unclassified negatives series.

The index to railroads and company names indexes logging and industrial companies that operated railroads, as well as railroad lines themselves. It does not index locomotive manufacturers, nor does it index the names of railroad museums where some of the photos were taken.

The index to subjects indexes place names and topical subjects. It does not index the term "locomotives" since the majority of the photos in the collection would be indexed under that heading. Place names are indexed if the photo includes a view of some part of the place or of some event at the place. Close-up views of locomotives that do not show any background are not indexed by place, even if the description of the photo identifies where it was taken.

The Electric railway engineer photograph album consists of approximately 235 photographs and 1 booklet documenting the professional and personal life of an unidentified railway engineer specializing in electric rail line infrastructure.

The Electric railway engineer photograph album consists of approximately 235 photographs and 1 booklet documenting the professional and personal life of an unidentified railway engineer specializing in electric rail line infrastructure.

The album (25.5 x 30.5 cm) has dark green cloth covers with “Photographs” stamped on the front cover. All of the album pages are loose and fairly brittle, but the images are in generally good condition.

The first page contains sixteen signatures from participants in the 30th reunion of the Union College class of 1885. Subsequent photographs include several views of Union College campus, aspects of student life (including dorm room interiors and a group of portraits showing crossdressing men captioned “Minstrels"), and formal portraits of members of the Kappa Alpha Society in the mid-1880s, presumably including some of the attendees at the reunion whose signatures are represented.

The unidentified presumed compiler of the album can be seen in several photographs. He appears to have been an engineer specializing in infrastructure projects for electric-powered rail systems and was active in the early stages of when railroads in the United States were moving towards electrification. Many of the smaller circular photographs found throughout in the album were likely produced by a Kodak No. 2 camera, while larger format prints and cyanotypes are also present.

Contents are arranged chronologically starting with the compiler's student days before focusing on various professional assignments and elements of his personal life. During the ten years following his graduation from Union College the compiler apparently participated in several railroad development projects, mainly in what would become Washington State but also in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Idaho. Photographs from this period of his life include views of survey camps along the Columbia River and other regional waterways, interior and exterior views of the compiler’s home in Tacoma, portraits of his growing family, and snapshots of Klickitat people (including a group portrait of three women picking hops). By 1896 the compiler and his family appear to have moved back east, settling in New Rochelle, New York. Photographs from this period include documentation of projects on intercity lines on Staten Island and other nearby boroughs, a project in upstate New York, and numerous images of friends and family. The Albany and Hudson Railway and Power Company’s new electric train line to various towns between Hudson and Albany required establishing power sources along the route. As a small group of photographs in this album show, this necessitated constructing a dam at Stuyvesant Falls on the Kinderhook Creek which would provide electric power to the rail line and various local businesses. The final pages of the album document the construction of Hudson Park Dock in New Rochelle as well as leisure activities such as the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup auto races and a naval review in Oyster Bay.

A total of 18 loose photographs are included towards the back of the album. Images include a group portrait of Union College students from the 1880s, a studio portrait of a young woman and infant taken in the mid-1890s in Tacoma, and a double exposure of a woman standing next to an automobile in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1918. Also present is a printed pamphlet replete with numerous halftone reproduction images titled “Letter from Mayor Clarke to the Voters of New Rochelle with Pictures of Improvements Under His Administration” which highlights several civic infrastructure projects (including the Hudson Park Dock) undertaken during the tenure of mayor Henry Clarke.

Fletcher, Pack and Company and A. F. Fletcher & Company were two early Alpena, Michigan lumber companies. Financial, land, and other business records.

This record group includes financial records, records of land purchases, and other miscellaneous business materials. There are also some photographs detailing scenes of lumbering activities. Although described here together, these are the records of separate Fletcher family companies: Fletcher, Pack Company and the A. F. Fletcher Company. The relationship between these two companies is not clear.

Ann Arbor, Michigan based hydraulic engineer known for his multiple arch dams, hydroelectric plants, and for developing the Hazen-Williams hydraulic tables, designed and consulted on numerous water power and dam projects. Papers include biographical files, material relating to construction of dams and power plants on the Huron River and elsewhere, and papers relating to Michigan Engineering Society.

The papers of Gardner Williams, 1900-1931, include biographical material; papers relating to the history of Michigan Engineering Society; project files detailing construction of Huron River power plants and dams at Argo, Barton, Geddes, Superior, and French Landing; other Michigan project files for dams and plants in Sault Ste. Marie and elsewhere; Detroit Edison consultation materials; engineering reports by, or including comments of, Williams; and photographs.

The Williams papers came from the offices of Ayres, Lewis, Norris and May, Ann Arbor engineering firm. Obviously a fragment, they cover only the period of 1900 to 1931, with photographs spanning the dates 1900 to 1945.

The collection begins with a folder of biographical material and a folder regarding the history of the Michigan Engineering Society. Except for these, the collection divides into four series: Power Plants and Dams, the Detroit Edison Company, Engineering Reports, and Photographs.

Silas J. McGregor (1874-1954) was the Captain of Company E of the 34th Michigan Volunteer Infantry during the Spanish-American War. Consists of photos of Iron Mountain, Michigan and, soldiers, including one taken in front of the Central House Hotel. Also includes photos, dated circa 1910-1919, of hydraulic power works in Quinnesec, Michigan.

The Silas J. McGregor photograph collection consists of photos of Iron Mountain, Michigan, soldiers, including one taken in front of the Central House Hotel. Also includes photos, dated circa 1910-1919, of hydraulic power works in Quinnesec, Michigan.

Graduate of the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan in the class of 1911, later Detroit businessman. Papers and photographs relating to student life and activities.

The collection consists of programs and newspaper clippings largely concerning student life at the University of Michigan. The photographs are portraits and snapshots of Taylor, family members and friends; photographs of the construction of Barton Dam in Ann Arbor, Michigan; photographs of University of Michigan student surveying projects; and photographs of University of Michigan students, groups, and activities. In addition, there is an arithmetic notebook, 1833, of H. Green, student at the Detroit Academy. This item was probably collected by Taylor or perhaps in the possession of a family member.