Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Ann Arbor, Michigan photographer. Photographic images taken to accompany articles in the Ann Arbor Observer. Images include Ann Arbor businesses, buildings, neighborhoods, parks, landmarks; also photos of local personalities, politicians, business people, and University of Michigan faculty and staff members.

The Peter Yates collection is made up of approximately 5200 negative strips, or 26,000 images, of photographs taken for the Ann Arbor Observer between 1978 and 1990. The collection documents both the ordinary and the eccentric in Ann Arbor, as photographs of politicians, professors and business people are interspersed with images of local "characters" and unusual events. Neighborhoods, parks and buildings are also represented in the collection. The negatives are stored in chronological order, according to the date of the issue in which they appeared.

The index is arranged in alphabetical order by subject, and each entry includes the date of the Observer issue in which the photograph was published. The index is not comprehensive, but provides access to photographs of notable people, institutions and trends in Ann Arbor. For example, not every restaurant review photograph has been indexed, but "institutions" such as the Fleetwood Diner and the Gandy Dancer do appear on the list.

For further subject access to the Ann Arbor Observer, please consult the Index to the Michigan Alumnus, LSA Magazine and Ann Arbor Observer in the Bentley Library reading room.