Russell D. Smith papers, 1976-1989 (majority within 1976-1981)
1.5 Linear Feet (1 record center box and 1 manuscript box.)
Comprise autobiography, personal correspondence, 1976-1980, and legal records, 1978-1980.
1.5 Linear Feet (1 record center box and 1 manuscript box.)
Comprise autobiography, personal correspondence, 1976-1980, and legal records, 1978-1980.
1 envelope
The collection consists of photographs (scattered dates) relating to life and activities in Cheboygan, Michigan.
7 linear feet
The Michigan Masonic Publications collection includes programs, flyers, handbooks, newsletters, bylaws, directories, rituals, and miscellaneous publications of a variety of Masonic organizations in Michigan. Statewide bodies and local bodies in Southeastern Michigan are most strongly represented. Although materials printed as early as the 1850s are found in the collection, the bulk of items date from the 1950s through 1970s.
Histories of organizations and proceedings of the major orders in Michigan, as well as a few reference works relating to freemasonry in general, are cataloged separately in the Michigan Historical Collections printed works catalog.
1.25 cubic ft. (in 3 Boxes)
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.
1 cubic foot (in 1 box)
The collection includes farmstead and barn surveys of some of the Isabella County, Michigan, townships. The surveys were completed by volunteers between 1993 and 2017 and include colored photographs, some maps and drawings, township, section, date, address, owner’s name, common name of farm, types of buildings, their condition, notes on details, type of land plan, size, and condition of barn listing its architectural features, names or advertisements, foundation, and a sketch of the farm layout. Also included are some unidentified black and white and colored photographs.
Surveys of farmsteads and barns in Coldwater, Deerfield, Denver, Fremont, Gilmore, Nottawa, and Union townships of Isabella County, Michigan, were completed by 2000 and compose this collection. Townships that have not yet been surveyed include: Vernon, Wise, Sherman, Isabella, Broomfield, Chippewa, Rolland, Lincoln, and Coe.
.25 cubic feet (in 1 box)
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.
2 cubic feet (in 4 boxes)
Collection of 264 glass-plate negatives measuring either 4 inches x 6 inches or 4 inches x 5 inches, mostly unidentified, and all undated [1880-1920]. Included in the collection are portraits and group images of men, women, and children, as well as some buildings, instruments, a band, camping with tents, and horses and buggies. A few identified images are Godon Ripenburg of Clare, Michigan, the Clare Bakery, two Fish family gravestones of Isabella County, Michigan, John D. Oren of Michigan, and the ferry "Manistee." The creator is unknown. There are also two positive images, one of a seated woman cut down into an oval shape on a broken glass plate. The other is a small, partial black and white print of a church and factory taken from negative #97.
Federal census for Michigan show John D. Oren (born about 1868) lived in Duplain, Clinton County, Michigan, in 1910 and in Seneca, Lenawee County, Michigan, in 1930; David Fish (born about 1833) lived in Denver Township, isabella County, Michigan, in 1900; and Gordon Ripenburg (born about 1883) lived in Clare, Michigan, from 1910 to 1918.
2 cubic feet (in 2 boxes)
Collection of 849 film negatives measuring 3.5 inches x 5 inches, and 485 measuring 5 inches x 7 inches, [1920-1945]. The creator is unknown. Negatives are organized into the topics of babies, boys, children, couples, girls, men, including some in graduation caps and gowns and various World War II uniforms, and women, including some in graduation caps and gowns. There are both portraits and group images, including some wedding and anniversary photographs. There are also miscellaneous images, including pets, buildings, caskets and grave sites, and a few sets of multiple images on one negative. Also included are three small photographs of women. None of the people or locations are identified.
5.5 Linear Feet (9 small manuscript boxes and 2 oversize boxes.)
Forms part of the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. This collection includes promotional materials for eggs and meat products, many published by egg-producer or meat-producer organizations, such as the American Egg Board and the National Live Stock and Meat Board. Products featured include pork, ham, sausage, bacon, beef, ribs, steak, extract of beef, veal, lamb, turkey, chicken, and lunchmeat. Publications date from the 1890s-2004, with most material concentrated between the 1930s-2000s.
1.5 Linear Feet (2 small manuscript boxes and 1 oversize box.)
Forms part of the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. This collection includes promotional materials related to preparing food for or with children. A number of publications from flour companies, such as Gold Medal and Pillsbury, focus on baking; while fruit companies such as Ocean Spray and the California Tree Fruit Agreement promote fruit or fruit-juice recipes; and a handful of publications feature a broader array of recipes. A few publications promote healthy food choices for children. Three items in box 307 are picture books from the 1920s promoting Royal Baking Powder and Royal Gelatin, which also include recipes using those products. Materials date from 1905-1998, with most items dating from the 1920s-1950s.