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Grand Rapids Camera Club collection

 Collection
Identifier: Collection 139

Scope and Contents

This collection includes a sample of early 20th century photographic images taken by members of the Grand Rapids Photo Club, and made available here through the original glass plate negatives. The specific date and identification of the individual photographer is unknown, and most images are unidentified. Most of the views are of scenes, though they sometimes included individuals, unidentified. Several of the images show landscapes or waterways. Several include buildings.

The Club papers accompanying the images document the annual exhibit or salon for 1899-1940. Some of these exhibit catalogs include names of club members, as well as advertising. Only three of the annual program booklets are included in the collection, 1922/23, 1939/40, and 1940/41. A few additional exhibit catalogs include Grand Rapids members participating in national exhibits or competitions.

All positive prints of the images are in black and white. Some of the prints show evidence that the glass negative is damaged. Several images (contact prints) do not provide clear definition of the objects captured in the images.

Dates

  • 1899-1931

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Organized in 1898, the Grand Rapids Camera Club sponsored annual photographic exhibitions and provided the means for exchange of photographic information among Western Michigan residents.

Extent

5.5 Linear Feet (19 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Camera Club was organized in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1898. This collection includes 251 glass plate negatives, circa 1898-1910. Many of the images depict Grand Rapids area views, while others detail various turn-of-the-century (19th) Michigan towns, including Ada, Bay City, Delton, Holland, Middleville, and Spring Lake. The Grand Rapids views include buildings, street scenes and transportation, waterways, landscapes, events and many scenes including groups of people. Of note are the views of Grand Rapids carnival, crowds turning out for local troops leaving for and returning from the Spanish-American War, the 1904 flood, and a balloon ascension. Also included in the collection are exhibit catalogs (1899-1940), and a few annual program booklets, documenting club activities.

Numbering and Arrangement

The glass negatives have been numbered sequentially using the collection number “139” as the first element. This number is given on the back of the matching print, but can easily be confused with the print location number, which also begins with “139.”

The prints have been arranged by broad subject sets, in alphabetical order, rather than in numerical order.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Old Collection, the Camera Club and Library purchase of contact prints.

Accession number G10.BJ17 and unknown

Provenance note

The provenance of the collection seems to be the Camera Club, based on labels on the containers in which the negatives were housed. Since these containers are not original, there is a possibility that the images may have come from a different source.

Related Materials

Below are archival photo collections of club members.

Coll. 018 Fitch Photo Collection

Coll. 069 Charles VanderVelde Glass Negatives and Photos Collection.

Also, Samuel Ranck, Ryerson Librarian, Coll. 219, and Frank DuMond, Director of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Coll. 019, were members.

Coll. 109, the GRPL Administrative Archives, includes a photo showing a sign for a Grand Rapids Camera Club exhibit, at the Grand Rapids Public Library, ca. 1940.

Coll. 059, #737, is also a photo of a sign for the Grand Rapids Camera Club, on the Ryerson Library Building. This view shows three trucks full of people, with the sign just visible on the front of the building in the background.

Coll. 216, the GRPL Ephemera Collection, Clubs Series, has some duplicates of the exhibit catalogs, as well as some additional years of the annual programs for the Club.

Index

Ada (Mich.) - box 1, folder 1

AuSable River, 1902 - box 1, folder 2

Balloon ascension - box 1, folder 3

Bass Lake - box 1, folder 4

Bay City (Mich.) City Hall - box 1, folder 5

Bay City (Mich.) Harbor - box 1, folder 6

Bay city (Mich.) Train Station - box 1, folder 7

Black River - box 1, folder 8

Bos Horsemen's Party - box 1, folder 9

Bridge Street Bridge. Construction, c.1904 - box 1, folder 10

Bridges - box 1, folder 41,45

Bridges. Grand Rapids - box 1, folder 11

Bridges. Michigan box 1, folder 12

Butterworth Road box 1, folder 13

Campau Square views - box 1, folder 14,28

Carnival. Grand Rapids' first, 1897 - box 1, folder 15

Carnival. Grand Rapids' last - box 1, folder 16

Circus, Cadillac (Mich.) - box 1, folder 17

City halls - box 1, folder 5

Clam wagon - box 1, folder 18

Comstock Park (Mich.) - box 1, folder 19

Courthouses. Interiors - box 1, folder 39-40

Crescent Street view - box 1, folder 21

Delton, Mi. - box 1, folder 20

Division Ave. S. views - b.2, folder 7

Dredge. Ludlow - box 1, folder 22

Farm scene - box 1, folder 23

Fire Department equipment - box 1, folder 24

Flood, 1904 - box 1, folder 25

Grand Haven (Mich.) - box 1, folder 26

Grand Rapids Battalion encampment - box 1, folder 27

Grand Rapids Battalion leaving, 1898 - box 1, folder 28

Grand Rapids Battalion returning, 1898 box 1, folder 29

Grand Rapids chamber of Commerce trip box 1, folder 30

Grand Rapids views box 1, folder 31

Grand River views box 1, folder 32

Gull Lake (Mich.) box 1, folder 33

Harbors - box 1, folder 6

Holland (Mich.) - box 1, folder 35

Holland (Mich.). Black Lake - box 1, folder 36

Hotels - box 1, folder 36

Ionia Street views - box 1, folder 28

John Ball Park - box 1, folder 37

Kent County Courthouse - box 1, folder 38

Kent County Courthouse. Interiors, 1907 – box 1, folder 39

Kent County Democratic Stand – b.1, folder 16

Kent County Probate Court. Interiors - box 1, folder 40

Leonard Street Bridge - box 1, folder 41

Lincoln Park - box 1, folder 42

Log cabins - box 1, folder 2

Michigan Veterans Facility - box 1, folder 43

Middleville (Mich.) - box 1, folder 44

Mills - box 1, folder 19

Native American – b.1, folder 15

North Park - box 1, folder 45

North Park railroad bridge - box 1, folder 45

Ottawa Beach Inn - box 1, folder 36

People. Alger Russell A. - box 1, folder 46

People. Julian family - box 1, folder 47

Picnic - box 1, folder 20

Plaster Mill - box 1, folder 49

Probate judges - box 1, folder 50

Prohibition - box 1, folder 51

Race tracks - box 1, folder 19

Reeds Lake views – box 1, folder 52

Republican Headquarters – b.1, folder 15

Rivers - box 1, folder 2,8

Soldiers - box 1, folder 27-29

Spring Lake (Mich. - box 1, folder 53

Star Knitting Mill workers - box 1, folder 54

Steamboat. Grand - box 1, folder 55

Steamship. Holland - box 1, folder 34

Thornapple Lake - box 1, folder 56

Train stations - box 1, folder 7,44

Trains - box 1, folder 57

United States Post office - box 1, folder 58

Walker Road - box 1, folder 58

Title
Finding Aid for the Grand Rapids Camera Club collection
Status
Completed
Date
January 1991
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Grand Rapids History Center Repository

Contact:
Grand Rapids Public Library
111 Library Street NE
Grand Rapids Michigan 49503 USA
616-988-5497