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Collection

Balthazar Korab photograph collection, circa 1950-1997

1 linear foot

Architectural photographer based in Troy, Mich. Photoprints and copy negatives, chiefly a portfolio entitled "Man's Presence," a study of Michigan's manmade environment.

Representing but a tiny fraction of Korab's oeuvre, the collection held at the Bentley Library will nevertheless appeal to a broad range of researchers. Especially in a collective sense, Korab photographs are not only about architecture and architectural photography, but also about art, technology, modernism, photography's history, the environment, urbanism, ruralism, and the creative process itself. They also document one individual's spirited commitment to a life's work -- work expressed both analytically and emotionally.

The essence of the collection is a Korab portfolio entitled Man's Presence, a study of Michigan's man-made environment that drew him to dozens of towns, cities and rural areas in the upper and lower peninsulas. Photographs capture the quiet magnificence of silos and barns, the elegance of 19th century mansions, the utilitarian architecture of iron foundries and grain elevators. There are also pictures depicting ways man has wasted resources (an abandoned lumber mill, a barren tract of bulldozed land. A superb example of Korab's lifelong fascination with vernacular architecture, Man's Presence is a deliberate effort to capture on film Michigan worlds that otherwise might go unnoticed or become lost to future generations.

The collection is comprised of three series: Biographical Materials; Man's Presence Contact Sheets; and Man's Presence Copy Prints and Copy Negatives.

Collection

Michigan State Grange Records, 1873-2005

55.5 linear feet — 5 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder — 1 microfilm

Minutes of executive committee, 1874-2002 (with some gaps); minutes and proceedings of state convention, 1873-1880; financial records; and roster, 1873-1978, of lodges chartered by Michigan Grange, showing date of charter, location and other data; also records of various defunct local granges.

The records of the Michigan State Grange include minutes and proceedings of the state convention, minutes of the executive committee, financial statements; and rosters and applications for membership of individual chapters of the State Grange. Whenever a local chapter ceased operations, its records would be transferred to the State Grange office. The records of some of these defunct chapters make up the bulk of the State Grange record group. Records of local Granges may include minutes of lodge meetings, financial records and membership lists. The local records are listed in the contents list in the order in which they were received they were received from the state office. Two indexes, one by chapter name and the other by chapter number, should be used to locate the records of a particular chapter. The chapter numbers were assigned consecutively as the chapters were organized. Counties represented in these defunct chapters include Alcona, Antrim, Arenac, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Crawford, Emmet, Genesee, Gogebic Hillsdale, Iosco, Jackson, Lenawee, Macomb, Marquette, Menominee, Midland, Monroe, Montmorency, Oscoda, Otsego, Sanilac, Saginaw, Schoolcraft, Shiawassee, Tuscola, Washtenaw, and Wayne.

Another portion of the record group includes materials of W. J. Brake, who was a lecturer for the National Grange and who held office for the State Grange.

Other records of the Michigan State Grange were donated to the University Archives and Historical Collections of Michigan State University. The MSU Archives holds the Grange records from the following counties: Allegan, Barry, Benzie, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Clare, Clinton, Eaton, Grand Traverse, Gratiot, Ingham, Ionia, Isabella, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Kent, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Otsego, Ottawa, Shiawassee, St. Joseph, Van Buren, and Wexford.

Collection

Michigan Woman's Christian Temperance Union records, 1874-2006

16 linear feet (in 17 boxes) — 3 oversize volumes

State chapter of national temperance organization founded in 1874; records include correspondence of early W.C.T.U. workers, Alice E. H. Peters and Ella Eaton Kellogg; also minutes, scrapbooks, and other records of individual Michigan W.C.T.U. districts and chapters.

The Michigan Woman's Temperance Union records divide into seven series: Correspondence; Miscellaneous and Publicity; Printed Materials; District Records; County Union Records; Local Union Records; and Photographs. The records document the period of the Michigan WCTU's greatest influence, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the organization's gradual declining influence following the repeal of the prohibition amendment.