Collections

The collection consists mostly of glass-plate negatives documenting dynamos, Great Lakes ferries, nature, baseball, buildings, people, logging,and other topics, in or near Hurley, Saint Ignace and Montreal, Michigan, near Marquette.

The collection includes glass plate negatives sizes 3x5 inches, 3.25x5 inches, 4.25x4.25 inches, 5x7.5 inches, 5x inches, 5x8.5 inches, and 21 acetate film negatives, size 3.5x5.62 inches. Topics include dynamos, industry, Great Lakes ferries, nature, baseball, parlors, buildings, railroads, lumber, ships, logging, mine shafts, people in Hurley, Saint Ignace, and Montreal, Michigan, near Marquette. It appears that negatives in boxes 1-3 were probably taken by W. Wells Lamb, a photographer from Glidden, Wisconsin. Other photographers are unidentified. Items were identified as much as possible from labels, slips of papers, notes on original boxes, and, whenever possible, information on/in the negatives themselves. Negatives with damage such as fading, spotting, oxidation, cracks, broken or missing pieces, deteriorated or flaking emulsions have been noted on the sleeves. (For information on Fred R. Trelfa see the finding aid to his other collections.) Boxes 1-8 measure 4x7x10.5 inches, smaller than a .5 cubic foot letter-size box.

Photographic materials collected by the Trelfas, documenting a wide range of Michigan and national people, places and events.

This collection, 6.25 cubic feet (in 14 boxes) 1849-1925, and undated, was donated over a period of time by one or both of the Trelfa brothers and is divided into six series. The series were established by accession number and topic matter. For a more detailed listing see the Box and Folder Listing. Overall the collection is in good physical condition.

Series 5 consists of 0.75 cubic ft. (in 2 boxes) Acc#2643, Spanish-American War images. Box 1 includes 52 and Box 2 contains 19 film negatives in homemade glass casings, #807-1740, #1742-1760, all undated, each measures approximately 5x4 inches. Topics include views of Washington, D.C., war camp, streets and buildings, camp, officers, soldiers, horses, tents, two unidentified African-American girls, three unidentified African American boys, an unidentified native man with a mule cart full of furniture, parade ground, railway, people, animals, etc.