Collections : [Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library]

The records include GLLKa's Board of Directors meeting minutes, lists of members, reports, correspondence, subject Files, oral history interviews, materials related to efforts to get Mackinaw declared a National Lighthouse Museum site, materials related to the Great Lakes Lighthouse Museum, and oversized materials.

The collection includes GLLKA’s Board of Directors’ Meeting Minutes, Lists of members, Annual and other Financial Reports; Correspondence, including general correspondence, correspondence re: the St. Helena Light Station, Books-In-Print, and various historical institutions; Subject Files, document the project grant for the oral histories, interview forms, information about persons who were interviewed, and the various publications and other endeavors of GLLKA. Actual interview cassette tapes are in two small boxes.

The 2007 addition (Boxes 10-15) is predominantly minutes, reference materials, plans, and subject Files for the National Lighthouse Museum proposal. Oversized materials include various Michigan House of Representatives Concurrent Resolutions, 1995, drawings of Great Lakes Lighthouses and their locations that GLLKA has created and distributed, and the Ninth Law of Congress, an Act to Establish and for the Support of Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys, and Public Piers, approved in 1789 (20th c. copy and transcription). Scrapbooks, 1943, 1999 (3 cubic ft.), a video, pin, and bumper sticker complete the collection.

The 2008 addition (Boxes 17-21 and Oversized folders #5-6) consists mainly of GLLKA general materials, notebooks; Great Lakes Lighthouse Museum, Board of Directors and Committees Meeting Minutes, 1997-1998 (Scattered), Newspaper Clippings (copies), and other reference materials, and St. Helena Lighthouse Restoration Project Materials and Photographs. Box#21 (slide box) consists of colored slides, 1997-1998, arranged alphabetically by topic.

Abbreviations used in the collection are reproduced in the box and folder listing.

The collection is ongoing.

Copies of GLLKA’s publications are available in the Clarke Historical Library.

The collection contains copies of exhibits that Planisek created on a wide variety of subjects that are related to local history including: shipwrecks, lighthouses, Mackinaw City history, and Emmet County history. The bulk of the Boxes 1-4 is information gathered on the Enbridge Energy line 5, which carries oil under the Straits of Mackinac. The 2020 Addition, Acc#76337, Boxes 4-11 and Oversized folders #2-3, focuses on the work by Sandy Planisek and Dick Moehl planning, creating, and running the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum on the decommissioned United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Mackinaw (WLGB-83), moored in Mackinaw City.

The collection, 1998, 2017, and undated contains copies of exhibits that Planisek created between 1998 and 2017. These displays cover a wide variety of subjects that are related to local history including: shipwrecks, lighthouses, Mackinaw City history, and Emmet County history. The bulk of the collection is information gathered on the Enbridge Energy line 5, which carries oil under the Straits of Mackinac. Planisek was decidedly anti-Enbridge. Contents of this collection included newspaper clippings, photographs, online articles, letters and pamphlets. A folder of biographical materials is also included. A later addition includes oral histories (on CDs), 2017: a recorded presentation by Bob Sweeney, Executive Secretary of the Mackinac Bridge Authority about the Mackinac Bridge; Jim Tamlyn about the A-frame used to un/load the Chief Wawatam railroad cars in Mackinaw City, and a CD of related images; and a joint interview about how the Michigan State House really used to work, with Patricia “Pan” Godchaux, who served 1997-2002, and Pan’s campaign manager, Susie Stafford. The collection is organized alphabetically and chronologically in the order in which it came to the Clarke.

The 2020 Addition, Acc#76337, Boxes 4-11 and Oversized folders #2-3, focuses on the work by Sandy Planisek and Dick Moehl planning, creating, and running the Icebreaker Mackinaw Maritime Museum on the decommissioned United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Mackinaw (WLGB-83), moored in Mackinaw City. The ship was decommissioned in 2006. There are also materials related to the later working years of the WLGB-83 before it was decommissioned, and the new USCGC Mackinaw (WLBB-30). On the back of many of the photographs in the collection, the names and ranks of the ship’s crew are listed. Audiovisual materials including microcassette, Hi8, MiniDV, VHS, DVDs, CDs, and photographs are found throughout the addition. Oversized materials include a signed pennant and proposed master site plans. The addition is also organized alphabetically and chronologically. All boxes in the Addition are .5 cubic foot boxes.

Researchers may be interested in related collections by Richard L. “Dick” Moehl, the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, and those related to Mackinaw area history which are also in the Clarke Historical Library.

Most of the text collection was originally received on four CDs. For the convenience of researchers, we printed off all the contents of the CDs and organized the papers. For reference to the CDs, each document has been labeled in the upper right-hand corner with a number that corresponds to the disc from which it came, in order to keep some resemblance of the original order of the collection. The original CDs are filed under miscellaneous materials in the Enbridge collection. In the 2020 Addition, six items were separately cataloged and 3 cubic feet was returned to the donor as per the donor agreement.