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The Arnold Transit Company is the longest operating ferry line on the straits of Mackinac. Founded in 1878 by George T. Arnold, the line continues to transport thousands of passengers and tons of freight every year. The record group consists primarily of early financial records, various property interests of Arnold Transit, and the estates of the Arnold family.

The record group consists primarily of early financial records, dating back to 1850, before the company was founded. Other records document the various property interests of the Arnold Transit Company (ATC), and the estates of the Arnold family. The vessels themselves are represented through various certificates, manifests, and logs. Historical advertisements of Arnold Transit have been preserved, as well as promotions of the straits of Mackinac and surrounding area in general. Architectural plans, documents of area organizations, information on competing lines, and a fair number of photographs round out the collection.

The record group is comprised of seven series: Administration, Union Terminal Piers, Topical Files, Area Organizations, People, Visual Materials, and Vessels.

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.

Michigan congressman and senator, head of the U.S. Office of Price Administration; papers include correspondence, legislative files, speeches, political files, business and legal records, diaries and scrapbooks, visual materials, and sound recordings.

The Prentiss M. Brown Collection is rich and full and offers researchers materials on a variety of local and national topics reflecting the diversity of the man's private and public life. The earliest item in the collection is a letter book dated 1902-04 of James J. Brown, like his son a prominent St. Ignace attorney. The collection then picks up Prentiss M. Brown's entrance to the legal profession in 1917, traces his rise to public office, his work in Congress and with the O.P.A., and then concludes with his later business interests and his crusade upon behalf of the Mackinac Bridge.

The Brown Collection comprises approximately twenty-eight feet of correspondence, letterbooks, scrapbooks, diaries, speeches, topical and legislative files, photographs and phonograph records, and legal case files and business records. Covering the period 1917 to 1973, the papers concentrate most heavily in the years 1932-1942 when Brown was in the U.S. Congress. The greatest gap in the collection is in the period of the 1920s when Brown was making his first bids for political office. Also missing are any extensive files for the time of Brown's O.P.A. directorship. What the collection has on the O.P.A. are largely speeches, scrapbooks, and congratulatory letters.