The Calcite Collection

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 Images from Rogers City’s Past, 1911-1981

           The Calcite Collection is made up of about 45,000 images, including more than 30,000 negatives, 12,000 photographs, and 1,890 35-millimeter slides.  The collection also includes several dozen canisters of 16-millimeter and 30-millimeter motion picture film, primarily from the 1960s and 1970s. 

Covering the period from 1911 to until the 1980s, the images document buildings, grounds, equipment, and employees at the Calcite Plant of Michigan Limestone & Chemical Co., vessels and personnel of the Bradley Transportation fleet, and activities in the community of Rogers City.  There are also some images of Michigan Limestone’s quarry at Cedarville, Michigan, which opened in the 1950s.

The images have been stored in a room in the laboratory at the Calcite Plant for many years.  Most of the negatives are stored in Manila paper sleeves that are not acid free.  Most of the sleeves bear an identification number and the date the negative was exposed.  Many also include a brief description of the subject of the image.  Some sleeves also contain details on the type of film used, shutter speed used, f-stop used, time of day the negative was exposed, lighting conditions (i.e., cloudy, bright, etc.), and the name or initials of the photographer.

More than 8,000 of the images are 5”x7” black-and-white format, including both glass plates and film negatives.  They are stored in two 7-drawer steel file cabinets.  Each drawer holds two rows of negatives, totaling about 1,000 per drawer.

The first seven negatives in the Calcite series are missing, as are many of the earliest negatives.  A total of 171 of the first 300 negatives, and 213 of the first 400, are missing from the collection. 

Cheboygan historian Ellis Olson says that 100-200 glass plate negatives he looked at during his visits in the late 1980s were damaged as a result of improper storage.  According to Olson, many had not been stored in sleeves and many had literally been “glued” together by their emulsions.  Other plates that had been stored in paper sleeves had been damaged by the glue used in the manufacture of the envelopes.  He said that he reported the damage to the manager of the lab, and pulled many of the damaged negatives out and stacked them on top of the file cabinets.  He is unaware of the disposition of those negatives.  Other negatives in the collection with similar damage have been found to be unsalvageable, so they may have simply been destroyed.  That may account for the large number of negatives missing from the early years of the collection. 

Many of the film negatives have also been damaged.  In most instances it appears that the negatives were not properly rinsed after they were developed and the chemicals destroyed the envelopes they were stored in.  In many cases, the emulsion has “glued” the negative to the envelope.  It is questionable whether the negative and envelope can be separated and the negative cleaned enough to salvage its image.  Opinions will eventually be sought from film archivists at both the Michigan State Archives and the Smithsonian Institution.

The first film negative in the collection is #363, dated October 30, 1914.  Glass plate negatives continued to be used occasionally until #436, exposed on October 23, 1915.

Most of the 5”x7” negatives have the date and an identification number marked on them.

The 5”x7” format film negatives continued to be used exclusively until June 13, 1922, when the photographers at Calcite began to also use 4”x5” format roll film.  Use of the roll film was made possible by the acquisition of a Graflex roll film back for the lab’s press-type camera.  Later, that format was replaced by 2¼”x2 ¼” black-and-white film.  The 4”x5” negatives and 2 ¼”x2 ¼” negatives are primarily stored in sleeves designed for used with 4”x5” negatives.  Some 4”x5” negatives are stored in 5”x7” sleeves, and some

2 ¼”x2 ¼” negatives are stored in sleeves designed for 2 ¼”x2 ¼” media.  The 4”x5” and 2 ¼”x2 ¼” negatives are primarily organized by subject, rather than chronologically.  In many instances, multiple negatives of the same subject are stored in a single sleeve. 

Cheboygan historian Ellis Olson visited the photo lab at Calcite in the late 1980s.  He reported that some 2 ¼”x2 ¼” negatives were stored in rolls.  No rolls of negatives were found in 2005.

Around 1960, 35-millimeter film began to be used in addition to the 2 ¼”x2 ¼” film.  Both 35- millimeter print film, mainly black-and-white, and 35-millimeter color slide film were used.  The 35-millimeter negatives are primarily stored in envelopes, organized by subject.  If both 35-millimeter film and 2 ¼”x2 ¼” film were shot of the same subject, it’s not uncommon for both types of negatives to be stored in the same envelope.

In some instances, photographers at Calcite also used Polaroid film.  The plant owned several Polaroid cameras, now in the collection of the Presque Isle County Historical Museum, but few Polaroid prints have been found in the files.

Photographs in the collection are mainly 5”x7” and 8”x10” black-and-white prints.  Most of the 5”x7” prints were either in the envelope with the negative from which the print was made, or glued into 57 5”x7” scrapbooks.  The scrapbooks were found in three cardboard boxes stored on shelves in the storeroom at the lab.  They include the first 5,134 photos taken at Calcite, from 1911 until August 21, 1930.  The scrapbooks are referred to as “visitor’s books” in a note on one negative sleeve.

Most of the 8”x10”prints were in file folders, filed by subject, and stored in letter-size file cabinets.  The backs of some photos contain the date the photo was taken, but there is seldom more identification than that.  It is believed that all of the photos were made from negatives in the collection.

Ellis Olson says that when he visited the collection in the late 1980s he was told that all of the negatives in the collection had been printed, and that some were always on display around the plant.  Former employees of Calcite also report that there were once numerous 4-drawer file cabinets full of photographs.  Norm Haselhuhn said that lab personnel always made a print from each negative they developed.  A copy of each print was filed in the lab.  The disposition of those photographs is unknown. 

Slides were stored in plastic pages in a number of 3-ring binders and in two wooden slide storage drawers.  It is unknown whether the plastic pages are acid-free.  None of the slides appear to have been damaged.

The photographic lab at Calcite was shut down around 1990, and the equipment was removed to make room for installation of an x-ray analyzer.

            O-N Minerals acquired the collection when they purchased the Calcite plant from Michigan Limestone Operations.  In the spring of 2005, Charlotte Asikainen, a member of the board of directors of the Presque Isle County Historical Museum arranged for museum volunteer Mark Thompson to meet with John Nordin, O-N Minerals’ plant manager at Calcite.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss preserving the collection and making it accessible to the people of the Rogers City area. 

As a result of that meeting, O-N Minerals agreed to loan the collection to the Presque Isle County Historical Museum for an indefinite period of time.  As a condition of the arrangement, the museum was required to provide O-N Minerals with an inventory of images prior to their removal from the Calcite Plant.  Mark Thompson began inventorying the collection in August of 2005.  The inventory was completed on June 16, 2006, and the collection was then transferred to the Presque Isle County Historical Museum.

Michigan State Archivist Mark Harvey visited Rogers City in the fall of 2005 and met with Mark Thompson, Barb Rasche, Beach Hall, Char Asikainen, and other members of the museum’s board of directors.  Mark Thompson and Beach Hall also accompanied Harvey to Calcite so he could personally see the collection in situ. 

History

            The oldest surviving image in the collection is a 5”x7” glass plate negative from September 13, 1911.  It is a photograph of the crusher house and the “A-drive” conveyor.  The other early negatives document construction of the powerhouse, screenhouse (mill), loading line (loading dock), and the railroad trestle that served the power house and crusher.  A number of negatives also show the dredging of the harbor area by the dredge Majestic, and construction of the west breakwater. 

            Michigan Limestone & Chemical Company was formed in the spring of 1910.   Construction activities at Calcite began almost immediately.  By June of 1912, production had begun and the first loads of limestone were shipped from the plant.  The first load of stone went out on Pittsburgh Steamship’s Manola.  While photos exist of the Manola loading at Calcite, if any were taken by Calcite photographers they have not survived.  The second ship to load at Calcite was the steamer Calcite, built for Michigan Limestone’s Calcite Transportation Co. subsidiary.  There are photos in the collection of the Calcite’s first trip into Calcite, and she was frequently photographed during her long career, as were the other ships that were added to Michigan Limestone’s fleet over the years.  (The best history of Michigan Limestone and Bradley Transportation is Gerald Micketti’s Limestone—The Lifeline of Rogers City, privately published in 2004.)

            No record exists to explain why the photographic collection was begun.  The may represent “progress photos,” used to keep Michigan Limestone’s investors informed of activities at the plant.  Investors, most of who were in the New York City area, may even have required the photos as a condition of releasing funds to cover expenses at the plant.

The photos may also have been intended to be a more esoteric historical record of the development and operation of the plant and fleet, or “brag books” that could be shown to visitors.  There is a note on negative number 102701, dated June 10, 1947, indicating that the photo was for use in the “Visitor’s Book.”  The only other reference found refers to them merely as “scrapbooks.” 

It is interesting to note, however, that the scrapbooks full of photos were not stored in the main office at Calcite, as you might have expected if they were regularly shown to visitors.  We know that because the original main office was completely destroyed by fire in 1925.  If the scrapbooks had been kept in the main office they would definitely have been destroyed in the fire.  The fact that they survived the 1925 fire suggests that the scrapbooks may have been stored in the chemistry laboratory, where the photo processing equipment was located.  In that case, the scrapbooks may actually have comprised more of an archival collection than a set of brag books for visitors.

It’s possible that the photographic collection was intended to serve several purposes.  We know that the primary purpose of the collection changed over time.

            Prior to the fire that destroyed the original Main Office in 1925, the information on the manila sleeves containing the negatives was typewritten, except for the “Negative No.,” which was written in ink.  After the fire, all of the information on the sleeves was handwritten, possibly because the typewriters had been destroyed in the fire.  The “Subject” section on the negative sleeves used to store negatives prior to 1925 were filled out very precisely.  The amount of information on the negative sleeve varied considerably over time.  After negative number 2176, on November 25, 1925, for example, the “Subject” section on the sleeve was not filled out.  That section normally carried a short explanation of what was shown in the image.

            In 1926, Michigan Limestone began producing Calcite Screenings, a magazine about the company and its employees.  With the publication of Screenings, many of the photographs taken were for use in the magazine, or for possible use in the magazine.  Norm Haselhuhn, one of the photographers, says that they were always looking for shots that could be used to illustrate items in Screenings.  By the 1930s, there had been a definite change in the content of the images in the collection.  With a growing focus on providing illustrations for Screenings, there was a significant emphasis placed on employee-oriented images.  Photos taken for possible use in the magazine showed the homes of employees, the results of their hunting and fishing trips, and their community and religious activities.  The number of “scenic” photos also increased.  Screenings  was published until 1963 and several complete sets are in the collections of the museum.

            Norm Haselhuhn says that some photos were also sent to Michigan Limestone’s Detroit office, apparently to keep management personnel there informed about activities at Calcite.  According to Haselhuhn, some photos also went into the safe in the plant manager’s office.  He said they included “ones [the plant manager] liked . . . or disliked.”

            Starting in around 1928, some photos in the collection were processed by Craig’s Studio in Rogers City.  It is unknown why those photos were not processed in the photo lab at Calcite.

            The identification system for negatives changed over time, and lab personnel frequently deviated from the standard system that had been in use.  In August of 1929, for example, the normal 1-up numbering system was abandoned for a series of 145 negatives with images from festivities surrounding Calcite’s receipt of a Sentinel of Safety award for 1928.  Those negatives, each in a separate sleeve, were numbered from 1 to 145.  Negatives taken around that time of subjects other than the safety celebration followed the 1-up numbering system that had been in use.

            In 1936, lab personnel began putting multiple negatives of the same subject in the same sleeve.  In many cases, the negatives in an envelope had been taken over a period of time, so the dates on the envelopes commonly give only the month and year.

            In 1949, lab personnel began using a new numbering system.  On January 1, 1949, they began with negative number 1, rather than continuing with the 1-up numbering system that had been in use since 1911.  After that, a new numbering sequence began on January 1 each year.

What Was Photographed

            The subjects covered by the images in The Calcite Collection fall into four basic categories:

                                    1.  “The Plant,” including personnel, buildings, and equipment.

                                    2.  “The Boats,” including crewmembers.

                                    3.  Community activities, particularly those involving employees

     or their families.

4.  “Scenic photos” taken for use in Calcite Screenings.

            The largest share of images in the collection document activities at Michigan Limestone’s Calcite Plant, referred to simply as “the plant” by local residents.  The images document virtually all construction, equipment acquisitions and installations, operations, and problems encountered.  “Problems” covers everything from storm damage to the harbor, to the derailment of trains, to employees being injured or killed on the job.

            The second largest category of images is of the ships of what eventually became the Bradley Transportation Company, generally referred to simply as “the boats.”  From 1912 until 1988, the Bradley fleet operated a total of 11 self-unloading bulk freighters, used primarily to haul limestone from Calcite to customers around the Great Lakes.  Most of the images show the boats in the harbor at Calcite, loading at Calcite, or layed up at Calcite.  Until the 1950s, few of the images were actually taken aboard the boats, with the exception of “open houses” held in conjunction with christenings, or rechristenings. 

Then, in the early 1950s, we began to see many photographs taken aboard the ships, often showing crewmembers at work.  It was about that time that Duane McLennan went to work in the lab and began taking photographs.  Duane had previously worked on the boats for a number of years.  His familiarity with the boats may have made it possible for him to take more shipboard photos than previous photographers could.

“Winter work” activities were also documented, showing mainly repairs done while the boats were layed up at Calcite during the winter months.  Many photographs were also taken of ships from other fleets that loaded or unloaded at Calcite.

            Employees of the plant and the boats appear in many of the previous two categories of images that appear in the collection, but they are often only ancillary to the primary purpose of the photographs—to document construction activities, equipment, or operations.  After publication of Calcite Screenings began, the employees themselves were often the primary focus of the images.  Photos were taken for use with news items about employees.  Some of those were job related, but they were just as likely to relate to the employees personal life, such as weddings or wedding anniversaries; or to the employees hobbies, such as hunting, fishing, or gardening.  Many group photos were also taken, showing all the employees of a department at the plant, or all the crewmembers on one of the Bradley boats.  Substantial coverage in Screenings was also devoted to the community involvement of Michigan Limestone and its employees, and photographs were taken to illustrate those articles.

            Many community activities were photographed because Michigan Lime supported them, or because they involved company employees.  Michigan Limestone was a major community supporter, contributing to churches, schools, the library, the hospital, sports facilities, and to many activities, such as 4^th of July celebrations.  Employees, particularly those in management positions, were encouraged to be active in their communities.  Many were leaders in their churches, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sea Explorers, Little League, and civic and fraternal organizations.  The civic and religious activities of the company and its employees were reported on in Screenings, and the photos taken to illustrate that coverage constitute an extensive archive of community activities.

            The fourth category of photographs included “scenic photos” taken solely for use in Calcite Screenings, or at least for possible use in Calcite Screenings.  Many of the photos in this category ended up the magazine’s cover, while others illustrated articles.  These photos often have an artistic quality that is lacking in photos in the previous three categories.

The Photographers

On September 13, 1911, a photographer named Wilson took the oldest surviving negative in the collection, negative #8.  On September 4, 1911, H. W. Harris took negative #38.  Harris is identified as the photographer of all photos from #38 through #309, taken on May 8, 1914. 

Wilson reappears in the negative files on May 12, 1914, when he took image #310.  Between then and May 26, 1914, he took images #311-314. 

H. W. Harris took all of the photographs from #315 and #629, which was taken on August 31, 1917.  After that, the name of the photographer is seldom identified on the negative sleeves.  On March 26, 1924, however, several negatives indicate that the photos were taken by “J.A.V.”  J.A.V. was Joseph A. Valentin, who was in charge of the lab at that time. 

A “J. D. Benborr” took photos in July of 1924.  In December of 1928, quite a number of photos were taken by Erhardt A. Schultwitz.  He is listed in the 1930 Rogers City Directory as “head timekeeper” at Calcite.

From March 1932 until May 24, 1935, comprising negatives 5886-6194, most of the photos were taken by George Jones.  Jones apparently worked in the lab at that time.

            We know that the “photographers” at the plant were almost always employees of the lab.  Knowing how to use a camera and develop photographs was not a condition of getting a job in the lab, however.  Norm Haselhuhn, who worked in the lab from 1950-53, says that after he went to work in the lab he was taught to take and develop photographs by lab manager Paul Thornley.  He and Owen Kroll were “partners,” taking most of the photos during that period.  Dewey McLennan went to work in the lab sometime in the 1950s, and he seems to have been the primary photographer into the 1970s.

            Other lab personnel who were involved with the photo collection included Wally Mulka, John Martin, Tony Trapp, and Steve Truan.