Collections

The collection consists of various photographic materials documenting a variety of Michigan locations, buildings, topics, and people.

The collection consists mostly of glass-plate and black and white film negatives of varying sizes, as well as some matching or related black and white photographs of varying size. There are also slides (4) and color photographs (9). The collection is organized into film negatives, glass-plate negatives, and negatives of Will B. Gregg. Each subseries is then organized alphabetically by topic. Most of the collection is undated, but some are dated 1904-1905, [1920s], 1927-1928, and 1972.

Major topics documented in the collection include the vacation resort communities on Sager’s Resort on Burt Lake; Bryant’s Hotel on Douglas Lake; Torch Lake Camp or Hayo-Went-Ha YMCA camp for boys, 1927-1928; and boat racing in Oden, Michigan [1920s]. Also included are the buildings, nature, people and animals of Boyne City, Charlevoix, Horton Bay, Pickerel Lake, Rosedale, Petoskey, Walloon Lake, as well as tourist sites on Mackinac Island. While a number of prominent people’s homes in Rosedale and Ellis Real Estate advertisements in Rosedale, and cottages at Pickerel Lake are identified, the majority of buildings and people in the collection are not.

People were photographed in both individual portraits and groups, doing a variety of functions including: enjoying picnics, social gatherings, fishing, hunting, driving horse-drawn buggies, sleds, and wagons, playing with pets, having fun, boating, racing boats, and posing with their families. They are also shown working on farms and in the logging business. Other topics documented include various boats, a town, possibly Onaway, a church, numerous houses, a boat livery station, vacation cottages, and some downtown stores, farms, fields, clouds, nature scenes of lakes, rivers, lakeshores, docks, forests, bridges, and piles of lumber. Horses appear in many of the images, as do dogs and cows, but dogs are also featured alone in two portraits.

The Logging, (7), People (7), and Walloon Lake, Michigan (6) Glass-plate Negatives which each measure 6.5x8.5 inches, undated, almost all have two images per plate. Otherwise each negative in the collections is of a single image.

There are also color photographs (9) and slides (4), 1972, generally related to Ernest Hemingway’s life in Horton Bay including images of buildings, a historic plaque, and some photographs of Ernest Hemingway’s family in 1915 photographed from books on Hemingway. For information on Ernest Hemingway see the finding aid for his collection.

The last box includes one folder of prints of images scanned from damaged glass-plate negatives, cellulose nitrate negatives, and a badly crinkled film. The best scan possible was made. The CD has been included with the prints.

Processing Note: Obvious duplicate images were withdrawn from the collection. A number of plates with what appeared to be dried muck and/or mold, plates with severe emulsion damage, and four neon yellow glass-plate negatives, as well as nitrate film negatives and positives on transparent film were scanned and the originals removed from the collection. The scans were added to the collection in order to protect the health of researchers and the chemical stability of the collection.

Collection includes 45 glass-plate negatives of people, log cabins, maple syrup gathering, bicycles, horses and buggies, saws, steam engines, and Pierce School, 1907,1913, and undated, of Ionia County, Michigan, and a positive glass slide of Gaylord, Michigan, undated.

The collection includes 45 glass-plate negatives measuring approximately 4.5 inches by 5 inches each of Ionia County, Michigan, people, log cabins, maple sugar gathering, bicycles, horses and buggies, saws, steam engines, and Pierce School, 1907, 1913, and undated. Also included is one positive glass slide, measuring 3 inches by 4 inches, manufactured by Moore, Bond and Co., Chicago, with the caption of "Henry Goslow and his mill, Gaylord, Mich.," undated. People documented in the negatives include: D. C. Minturn, Joe Bliss, Wm. C. Petrie, and H. S., George, and Irene Sargent. There is one folder of biographical information from census records of the people in the negatives. The identity of the creator of the collection is unknown.

Most of the people named in the collection lived in Orange or Sebewa townships of Ionia County, Michigan.Pierce School was located in Orange Township.

Collection includes 21 glass slides of the Grove Gardens of Saginaw, Michigan, circa 1907.

Beautiful, colored, homemade, glass lantern slides (21) of classical gardens in bloom in spring in the Grove district of Saginaw, Michigan. Each slide measures approximately 3 inches x 4 inches. The slides are undated, but annotation in the original listing states that the last three lantern slides were taken using the autochrome process, which was marketed to the public in 1907. The slides probably date from circa 1907. The slides are in the original numerical order. Images of the following gardens are included: Will McClelland, Mrs. Harwood Gilbert, G. H. Boyd, R. Judd, R. S. Montague, Treanor, C. L. Ring, Fred Buck, Mrs. Herman Zahnow, and Mrs. Blumbes. The slides are in excellent condition.

All of the gardens documented in the collection were very large and gorgeous, including classical architecture, fountains, and extensive grounds bordering on Lake Linton. Clearly the owners of the gardens were very wealthy Saginawians. According to Saginaw Images, at http://www.saginawimages.org (viewed February 5, 2009), Saginaw received 125 acres on September 5, 1905 from the Honorable Ezra Rust for a large park. This included property in Hoyt's Subdivision and the area known as the Middle Ground, which had previously been the site of many lumber mills. Lake Linton, also known as Rust lake or Wright's Bayou, ran behind the Grove mansions located on the west side of South Washington Avenue in Saginaw. In 1907-1908 Ojibway Island was built, swamp land was dredged, and lowlands were filled in. In 1924 Lake Linton was cut in half by Ezra Rust Drive which was constructed by a boat being sunk and covered with dirt. Additions to the park continued until 2000.

The collection The collection, 1906, 2017, and undated, 1.25 cubic ft. (in 3 boxes) consists mostly of 284 glass-plate negatives mostly documenting building, people, and events in Alger, Michigan, 1906, 1911-1916, 1919 and undated.

The collection, 1906, 2017, and undated, 1.25 cubic ft. (in 3 boxes) includes 284 glass-plate negatives, one of which has two different images on it (#819-820) and two film negatives, mostly documenting building, people, and events in Alger, Michigan, 1906, 1911-1916, 1919 and undated. Most of the images are dated, or if undated date from, 1911 through 1916. There are a few 1906 images of California oil fields and derricks (3), and a man washing a buggy dated 1906, and an undated image of a southwestern Indian village, taken on a train, probably dates from the 1906 California trip. There is only one 1919 image, that of two seated women by a front window/ awning of a store with a dog, another store in background, July 1919.

In Box 3 (.25 cubic foot) there is one folder of notes October 1911-February 1917 by the photographer in various detail of which images were taken when, sometimes specified to days, sometimes not within the month, with names of subjects and some other details, such as Mrs. Allen’s birthday party (copies, 2017). There are images with dates for which there are no notes, for example 1906 and August 1912. There are original notes from the photographer for which there are no specifically identified images, such as September, November-December 1912, June 1914, Feb. 1915, Aug 1916, Feb. 1917. There are dated images for which there are no original notes, for example July 1915, Sept. and Nov. 1916, July 1919. Sometimes the notes and the images have slightly different dates, for example three baseball game images are dated May 6, 1916 but the notes say May 7, 1916. A number of the descriptions are to vague to match with specific images, such as all the names of men and MC [Michigan Central] Depot. There are six images of the depot, but not enough data to decipher which image was taken in which month and year. There are also a number of baby portraits, but again, not enough data to match the write baby image and name.

Another folder includes prints of a sample of the plates, undated. One of the images is of ships in a harbor and that glass-plate negative is not extant in the collection. Notation in pencil by the archivist links the image to the negative.

Also included in Box 3 (.25 cu. ft. box) is a Lewinstein Jewery Company (Midland, Mich.) Jewelry box, rectangular, crushed, purple velvet, cream satin lining, 6.5x4.25x1 inches, undated.

Most of the negatives have a date (written in various ways by the photographer), and/or number, or, more rarely, additional descriptive information, written onto the back of the plate. Some were grouped in paper or sleeves with numbers, dates, or additional information. Descriptive information which was written onto the back of the plate are noted in the Box and Folder Listing in “quotation marks,” while descriptive information that was that was on the original sleeve, papers surrounding a pile of negatives, or on the original paper Notes from the photographer are noted in the Box and Folder Listing in ‘commentary marks’. Some glass-plate negatives have no number, no information, and in a few cases the numbers or dates are obliterated by time or emulsion damage. The span of plate numbers ranges from #1 to 920, and there are many large gaps in the number sequence. The number sequence does not always follow chronological order. If undated images resemble closely other dated images, the same date has been added to the undated image in brackets [].

Sometimes the photographer gave different images the same number, in which case the archivist has given one an A and the other a B in the description to tell them apart.

#258A May 1914 large group dressed up seated at laden picnic table, may be ‘Picnic Dunn’s Grove May 1914’ or ‘May 3, 1914 Mrs. Allen’s birthday party’ (see #247-248, 255, 258B)- minor emulsion issues on edges, May 1914 and #258B in May 1914 pile, group or men, women, boys standing, sitting on porch with pillars, mostly wearing hats, sign reads ‘our high grade Indian remedies for sale here,” may be ‘Picnic Dunn’s Grove May 1914’ or ‘May 3, 1914 Mrs. Allen’s birthday party’(see #247-248, 255, 258A), May 1914.

If there is no number, but the image clearly relates to an/other numbered image/s, the archivist has noted the relationship by…. #253 “5/10/14” little girl seated in a child’s wagon, barn and large wagon in background (see no#after253), May 10, 1914 and #253 “5/10/14” little girl seated in a child’s wagon, barn and large wagon in background (see no#after253), May 10, 1914 and No#after#253 “5/10/14” little children, boy holding handle of child’s wagon, little girl seated in wagon, wagon and houses in background, same girl in #253 (see #253), May 10, 1914.

If there is no number, but the image clearly relates to an/other unnumbered image/s, the archivist has noted the relationship by……. No#oil1 ‘California 1906 oil derricks’ – some emulsion damage, 1906 and No#oil2 ‘California oil fields, 1906’ – emulsion damage around edge, 1906 and No#oil3 ‘California oil fields, 1906’ – emulsion loose at top edge, 1906.

If the image has no# and does not directly to another image the archivist has given it a number noting something distinctive, when possible, in the image, like this: No#bicycles man, two boys wearing hats by large, leafy tree, one with scooter, four bicycles – emulsion flaking off on side, bottom edges, undated.

At the time the photographer relied upon good outdoor light and did not use any type of flash bulbs. Therefore most of the images are taken outside on a sunny day in the summer, although there are some images taken on snowy days, and some images taken when the trees are bare, either early spring or late fall. A few outside hunting images were probably taken in early fall.

Only a few inside images exist, two inside a church, one inside a store, and a few of women or children inside a house or studio.

Most of the images involve people, buildings and events, mostly in Alger, Michigan. Individual and group portraits, a picnic, birthday party, a skating party, a baseball game, hunting, and family and neighbor gatherings predominate. Men, women, children, and babies and a railroad section crew of six men are documented. Buildings in Alger include the school, Kern’s store, a drug store, Post Office, Methodist Episcopal Church, now Alger United Methodist Church, land store, and other downtown buildings, houses, and barns. The Michigan Central Railroad tunnel and a bridge are included. Vehicles include horse drawn buggies, wagons, a child’s wagon, a truck, and a REO car, circa 1905-1906. Horses, a dog and a dead dear are documented.

Images probably or definitely not taken in Alger include Southern Pacific train and engine, the oil fields and derricks of California and an image of southwestern Indian village.

Physical condition notes: All the negatives measure 4x5 inches. Most of the glass-plate negatives are in overall good condition, although a number (as noted in their individual description) have some emulsion damage, usually along the edges, and a few have stains. Two have an edge broken off, one edge is missing, the other is in the negative sleeve. One glass plate (#828) is bright yellow in color. The jewelry box has been crushed to close further than designed. It is rectangular, 6.5x4.25x1 inches, covered in purple velvet with a cream satin lining, undated.

This artificial collection consists of Alma (Mich.) miscellaneous.

The collection, 1918, 1935, and undated, includes internal business correspondence and purchase receipt documents for Gamble-Skogmo in the Great Lakes area. Additionally, there are documents pertaining to Alma Masonic Lodge Membership, which includes the application and acceptance certificate of Alma College’s President Harry Crooks. One oversized folder of photographic portraits of men (3), undated, unidentified completes the collection. This is an artificial collection of material found in an Alma (Mich.) building while it was being renovated.

Processing Note: .25 cubic foot of duplicates, including copies of materials from the Clarke, reading materials, and blank cards were removed from the collection during processing. Also, some documents were photocopied, the copies were retained and the originals were removed.

Leonard Refineries, Inc. Promotion items.

The collection includes a Dura Lube Motor Oil Can; Plastic Cups (2); Mackinac Bridge Souvenir Glass; Soo Locks Souvenir Glasses (2); Hosiery Mending Kit; Matchbook Covers (4); Printing Plates (6); Water Heater Regulation Tags, Large (3); Water Heater Regulation Tag, Small; Golf Tees in Cover; Cigarette Lighter; Plastic Clip; Leonard Money Clip and Case; Golf Ball Markers and Case; Rain-Chek Tube and Holder; Rain-Chek Box; Kaysons Golden Rhapsody China "Ask Me" Button; and Kaysons patented Golden Rhapsody China Saucer, Tea Cup, and Plate, all dated 1961. Processing Note: Some items once contained hazardous materials such as oil or lighter fluid; however, all hazardous waste has been removed. Local gas stations and their owners noted on some items include: Eisemann Oil Company, Chelsea and Ann Arbor (Mich.); Geo. Freres, Muskegon (Mich.); and Al's Super Service, St. Johns (Mich.). Researchers may be interested in the Leonard collection and publications also housed at the Clarke Historical Library.

Processing Note: Some items once contained hazardous materials such as oil or lighter fluid; however, all hazardous waste has been removed.

Dr. Albrecht’s Musical Compositions, 1954, 2018, and undated, and her 2020 obituary, 3.5 cubic feet (in 3 boxes, 1 Oversized, flat box) include a wide variety of many of her original musical compositions, scores, and parts.

Dr. Albrecht’s Musical Compositions, 1954, 2018, and undated, and her 2020 obituary, 3.5 cubic feet (in 3 boxes, 1 Oversized, flat box) include a wide variety of many of her original musical compositions, scores, and parts. These are mostly sacred music, in various formats, in English, Latin, German, and Russian. The collection is organized by series, alphabetically by title, and by size. The series are based mostly on a list of her works compiled by Steven Egler and Mary Stewart Kiesgan, her friends and faculty at CMU’s School of Music, and include: Original Choral Works with Organ; Voice and Piano / Harpsichord / Instruments; Hymn Arrangements and Concertatos; Works for Instruments / Instruments and/or Voice and Organ / Piano; Works for Solo Organ; Works for Solo Piano; Works for Orchestra; Transcriptions to Orchestra and Other Media; Descants and Choral Verses. Another series, not in the list, but which was in one of the original oversized folders in which the collection was delivered to the Clarke, is Instrumental Parts. Two other series added by the Archivist are: Unidentified Pieces, all of which are undated, and Music by Other Composers, with various dates. The formats include handwritten pencil or pen on paper, onion skin, ditto copies, and generic computer or Sibellius copies. A few pieces in the collection are incomplete or lack some of the instrumental parts that should be present. Copies were made of items with significant damage and only the copies were retained in the collection.

Processing Note: Numerous pieces were taped in various places and some consisted of stanzas which were generously taped onto larger pieces of paper for playing ease, resulting in much acidification. These were photocopied to prolong their life and only the copies retained. There were also several cases of oversized onion skin copies with extensive rectangular holes, barely attached to each other by peripheral onionskin strips of borders. To prevent further damage and loss of the material, these onionskins were also copied and only the copies were retained in the collection. Ditto copies, mostly pre-1980 versions smell due to their chemical composition, but deterioration is minimal. During processing .5 cubic foot of duplicates and copied acidic or onionskins were withdrawn and returned to the donor as per the donor request.

This collection includes images, newspaper clippings and articles, financial records, reports, pamphlets, recognition materials, letters, and newsletters.

This is an addition to the American National Red Cross Isabella County Chapter (Mich.) Organizational Records collection. This collection includes images, newspaper clippings and articles, financial records, reports, pamphlets, recognition materials, letters, and newsletters. Of particular interest are: materials related to the Mount Pleasant Indian School, a poem about soldiers who fought in the Iraq War, and Hurricane Hugo relief efforts. Except for one legal-size folder, everything else in the collection is letter-size.

Processing Note: Approximately .25 cubic foot of materials was withdrawn from the collection during processing, including national publications, general Michigan materials, duplicates, and originals which were acidic or damaged. Photocopies of acidic or damaged materials were added to the collection. Some objects were transferred to the CMU Museum, including: a framed display of Red Cross pins, three miniature Red Cross vehicles, a nursing uniform with top, pants, and hat, two metal first aid boxes with supplies within them, and a few national publications.

The collection consists mostly of variously sized tinted portraits, film negatives, glass-plate negatives, lantern slides, and tin types, of diverse topics.

This is a miscellaneous collection housed together because of format, not because of provenance. Parts of the collection were donated by several donors over a period of time prior to 1996.

The materials are divided by type of format and size. Some materials which were originally housed or appear to have come from the same donor have been processed together. Therefore, Film Negatives and Glass-Plate Negatives are in two locations in this collection. Ex. Film Negatives are found in both Boxes 1 and 4. In this collection are found Colored, or Tinted, Glass Portraits, Film Negative portraits of men, women, children, and couples [probably from the 1940s-1950s]; Glass-plate negatives of men and women, buildings and structures, a train, and a train station; Lantern Slides; two pamphlets; and Tin Types. Only one Glass-plate negative of construction is dated, 1901. The rest of the materials are undated and may run from the late 19th through the early 20th century.

While many of the images are unidentified portraits of men, women, children, couples, and groups, cows, and miscellaneous, identified images include that of Dr. Anspach (See the catalog record and finding aid to his papers under CMU. Office of the President for further information on him), George Muhlberg [men fencing], the train station at Hudson (Mich.), lumberjacks, the Michigan state capitol, the Chippewa Hotel on Mackinac Island, Dog Sleds, Lumber Yards, and numerous Straits ferries. Among the ferries are Lansing Shoal, Duluth, Tionesta, Juanita, Straits of Mackinac, City of Mackinac, City of St. Ignace, the St. Ignace, and the Majestic. Ferries identified by company name only include the Goodrich Transit Company and Arnold Transit Company.

Also of particular note in the collection are glass-plate negative advertisements for a wide variety of topics including: ad space, businesses, clothing, food, miscellaneous, newspapers, personal, products, and a theater.

Also found in the collection are some World War I “Support the War,” 1918 and undated, propaganda glass-plate negatives. Lastly, there are two Methodist Episcopal Church bulletins, one from Clarkston, 1918, and Wayne, 1912. The decision was made to not separately catalog the bulletins at this time.

Box 6 includes Miscellaneous which may be some photographic experiments with exposure. A number of the images appear to have superimposed images or other visual distortions.

Processing Note: Two glass-plate negatives were so badly cracked that they were withdrawn from the collection. Several others suffered damage from being cracked and/or the emulsions being almost or partial peeled away from the glass. These were scanned by the Clarke’s web master, Pat Thelen, on June 20, 2007. The originals, which could be safely housed without causing further damage to the emulsions, were retained, along with a paper print-out of the image from the scan. Those originals which were so severely deteriorated that they could not be safely housed, were withdrawn from the collection, and a CD of the scan as well as a paper print-out of the image were added to the collection in their place.

The Elizabeth Anspach Papers, 1914, 1994, and undated, consist of biographical materials, photographs, postcards, diplomas, report cards, honorary speeches, and newspaper clippings (copies).

The Elizabeth Anspach Papers, 1914, 1994, and undated, consist of biographical materials, photographs, postcards, diplomas, report cards, honorary speeches, and newspaper clippings (copies). The topically grouped material is arranged alphabetically. A large portion of the photographs consist of family, baby, vacation, and retirement photos. Many of the diplomas are from Elizabeth’s time at Detroit Teaching College, Cornell, and Harvard, which is in Latin. The newspaper clippings range from her father’s obituary to retirement clippings honoring Elizabeth’s life and career. The award speech and lecture pamphlets all highlight the various achievements and awards that Elizabeth received. The newspaper clippings and award papers all commend Elizabeth for her contributions to education, children, and various organizations throughout the public health field. There are no materials specific to George Wheeler in the collection. The only item in the collection specific to Charles L. Anspach is their wedding invitation.

The photograph albums and scrapbooks document several periods of Elizabeth’s life and family, as well as contain a wedding invitation to Elizabeth and George Wheeler’s wedding. The scrapbooks also contain various items documenting Elizabeth’s life between her retirement and her death in 2003. The oversized folder contains her diplomas, as well as her 1946 Harvard class photograph.

Processing Note: During processing, 10 cubic feet of three-dimensional objects were transferred to the CMU museum. A box of photograph frames and one oversized folder of duplicates and out-of-scope materials, as well as acidic clippings (copies were retained in the collection in the Clarke) were returned to the donor as per the donor form.