The Walter "Flash" Jarocki photograph collection includes photonegatives and two oversize photoprints and organized into three series: Walter "Flash" Jarocki, "Gordie," and Unknown photographer.
Walter "Flash" Jarocki was commercial photographer and the Hamtramck, Michigan. He served in the Coast Guard during World War II, then spent 20 years with the Hamtramck Fire Department, 6 of them as the Fire Marshall. In the 1950s he photographed and reported for the Hamtramck's newspaper The Citizen and for the mayor's office. In 1960 Jarocki moved to Tarpon Springs, Florida. In 1972-1980s he worked as a reporter and photographer for Tampa's WTVT television station.
One of his most important clients in the 1950s was the city of Hamtramck itself: its citizens, businesses, schools, and its leaders, such as mayor Albert J. Zak. Albert Zak, "the man with the plan for Hamtramck," was elected mayor in 1952 on promises of better recreation and health programs, slum clearance, more jobs, and clean streets and alleys. Zak opposed loans and raises for city employees, while financing continuous street-sweeping and paving of city alleys at the expense of the pension fund. In 1963 Zak took an appointment with Wayne County and resigned as Hamtramck's Mayor. He was re-elected mayor in 1974, having appealed to voters' desire for stability on the campaign trail, but died in office the following year. In the 1950s Jarocki took hundreds of photographs during Zak's administration, chronicling the official activities of the mayor and the accomplishments of the city government. Jarocki also took photographs of Hamtramck's citizens, sports teams, businesses, public events, street views, etc. for the Hamtramck Citizen newspaper.
In 1980 Robert W. Kozaren was elected the Hamtramck mayor, to become the longest-served mayor in the city's history (1980-1997). During Kozaren's tenure a General Motors assembly plant was built in Hamtramck, as well as the William Dickerson Detention Facility. The city also gained in population in the 1990s.
