David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography, ca. 1845-1980
Approximately 113,000 photographs and 96 volumes
Approximately 113,000 photographs and 96 volumes
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.
Approximately 113,000 photographs and 96 volumes
1 volume
The Gerta Gage family photograph album (22cm x 29cm) contains 80 cabinet card photographs of men, women, and children, few of whom are identified. The studio portraits were taken in Michigan towns and cities such as Muskegon, Big Rapids, Petoskey, Jackson, Allegan, Ovid, and Traverse City, as well as in other locales such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Decatur, Illinois; and Chicago, Illinois. Two men posed in Shriners hats, a few posed with dogs, and one man, photographed by A. S. Green of St. Thomas, Ontario, blew cigar smoke while having his picture taken. Though most items are individual portraits, some subjects posed in groups of two to four; one image is a group portrait of seven men. The volume's padded covers are bound in blue and yellow cloth. "Gerta Gage" and "Gerta Gage Big Rapids Michigan" are engraved on the album's large metal clasp. The pages of the album are decorated to resemble wood.
1 volume
The Tourist photograph album (15 x 21 cm) contains approximately 245 pictures from around the Southwest and Midwest United States taken by an unknown photographer around the turn of the 20th century. Southwest photographs include mission churches in California and New Mexico, rock formations, cliff dwellings at Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde, Balanced Rock in the Garden of the Gods, and a pueblo. Several photographs feature Native Americans, including: women with traditional squash blossom hair styles; a man carrying a small child in a sling on his back; a woman in a shop with baskets, wool and dry goods; a woman seated in front of a loom with partially finished cloth; a man sitting in a white-washed interior with skeins of wool, holding a spindle with a hand carder at his feet. One photograph shows mummified human remains posed next to a bottle of whiskey and skull, indicating likely tomb desecration. Also included are unidentified Southwestern streets, beach scenes, and the storefront of J.M. Archuleta in Colorado. Midwest photos include images of the Palace of Fine Arts (Museum of Science and Industry) in Chicago, Mackinac Island, the Marquette Monument in St. Ignace, Soo Locks, and the Great Lakes steamer North Land, and a lake and cottage. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and the SS Chief Wawatam are also pictured. Many photographs are significantly faded. Some manuscript captions are included.
The album includes two cyanotypes and a postcard with a cartoon satirizing the Brigham Young's polygamy.
The album has a half bound pebbled leather cover and is stored in a three-part wrap with brown cloth spine.
approximately 1,530 items in 12 boxes
The William A. Lewis photograph collection consists of approximately 1,530 items pertaining to a wide range of visual subjects that are represented across a variety of photographic formats including daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, stereographs (which form the bulk of the collection), and glass plate negatives as well as modern slides, film strips, snapshots, and postcards.
The subject matter of this collection is thematically and chronologically diverse and reflects the broad interests of the collector, with the U.S. Civil War and 19th-century views of American and European cities being particularly well-represented topics. The collection is organized into four main series according to subject matter and is further divided into specific subject groupings within each series. In most cases, multi-item sets have been kept together and placed within the most generally appropriate subject grouping. An extensive number of photographers and publishers are represented throughout the collection including the likes of H. H. Bennett, C. B. Brubaker, John Carbutt, Centennial Photographic Company, B. F. Childs, E. & H. T. Anthony & Company, Alexander Gardner, T. W. Ingersoll, International Stereoscopic View Company, Keystone View Company, William Notman, Timothy O'Sullivan, William Rau, Strohmeyer & Wyman, Underwood & Underwood, and F. G. Weller.
The following list provides a breakdown of every topical subsection of the collection and includes item counts for each grouping: