The Perschbacher real estate listing cards collection
Scope and Contents
The George Miller Collection, #112 previously included the real estate multiple listing cards received from his 1990 accession, along with his pictorials listed in this finding aid. The listing cards were initially divided into two series, each arranged alphabetically, the first covering the period 1953-1962; the second the period 1963-1971. Around 1993, Local History Desk staff member Betty Gibout undertook the task of interfiling the 2 separate alphabets into one file. No documentation was kept to indicate which slips came from which original accession and firm, i.e. provenance was not maintained.
In 1996, 1998 and 2002, additional accessions of real estate listing slips were received, including some that had once belonged to the George Miller firm, through the Kirchgessner gift. It was believed that the 1996 accession of the Perschbacher accession duplicated many of the Miller entries, and the decision was made to keep it separate, maintaining the collections integrity instead of interfiling. Accession documents state the gift has approximately 200,000 cards, dating back to the 1940’s. The bulk of the material appears to be from the early 1950s to the early 1980s.
By 2003, the initial George Miller gift, Roberta Horton’s Greenridge Realty 1996 accession, plus the 2002 Kirchgessner, Western Michigan Realty Group gift of slips once belonging to George Miller, had been integrated into one filing order in Coll. 287.
Listing cards for razed or otherwise demolished structures are being withdrawn from the larger order of Coll. 287, to a separate smaller file, by Father Dennis Morrow. But, it is believed that no items have been removed from Coll. 286.
All of the various files are arranged first alphabetically by street name, then numerically within that street name. While Coll. 287 remains housed in wooden card catalog cabinets located on the open floor, the Perschbacher has been moved to acid free boxes, and is secured in the environmentally controlled closed stacks.
Dates
- circa 1950-1982
Extent
19.8 Linear Feet (83 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection includes printed slips documenting real estate for sale in the Greater Grand Rapids, Michigan area. The slips include commercial and residential properties as well as vacant land. The slips usually include an image of the property on one side with a sales description on the other side.
The cards or slips in this particular collection are believed to all have come from the Perschbacher firm. Other slips from other firms have been interfiled in a separate collection, which is now called the Betty Gibout real estate listing cards (Collection #287).
Immediate Source of Acquisition
W.F. Perschbacher III, accession number 1996.016.
- Title
- Finding aid for the Perschbacher real estate listing cards collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- R. Mayne
- Date
- July 2003
- 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
Grand Rapids Public Library
111 Library Street NE
Grand Rapids Michigan 49503 USA
616-988-5497
localhis@grpl.org