Calendar

Every year, MHSD selects the work of a different photographer to feature in its yearly calendar. Members of the Marine Historical Society of Detroit receive the Society's handsome full color calendar of Great Lakes ships, sure to please any ship buff. Each month features a color picture and information relating to the history of the vessel. JOIN the Marine Historical Society of Detroit and get your calendar. The current year's calendar is available to members only, but past calendars are available at a modest cost to all on our publications page.

 

This year we are pleased to feature the photography of JAMES BARTKE and JOHN R. WILLIAMS. Read on to hear how the MHSD recovered this amazing collection. It seems safe to say no story of historic preservation is odder than that of the James "Jim" Bartke Collection. Jim was a long-time Chicago ship enthusiast and marine photographer who documented the scores of international vessels arriving the heartland after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. There often were a dozen or more vessels docked at Chicago's Navy Pier, and Jim did his best to get pictures of most of them, thankfully on durable Kodachrome film.

 

A member of our society for many years, Jim passed away in early 2019. Although his impressive slide collection had been verbally promised to another member of our group, Barry Andersen, nothing had been written down. A godson, Jim's only heir, decided he didn't want to be bothered with passing along the slides. He told us the photos were going in the trash and refused to change his mind. An offer of money did not help. It was then Barry swung into action. Despite being in Canada with the borders closed due to COVID-19, he refused to let the collection be lost. He was finally able to contact a friend of Jim's who put him in touch with Jim's neighbor, Len.

 

"I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Len Karpus, said Andersen. "This gentleman, in his mid-80s, spent evenings Dumpster-diving to rescue as many slides as possible from the trash. He knew Tuesday was trash day, so he waited until after dark and wheeled the Dumpsters into the garage where he took out the slides and photos and put them safely in boxes."

 

Eventually, MHSD board members Matt Miner and Nathan Leindecker made two Chicago road trips to relieve Len of his treasure, which consisted of 70 shoebox-sized containers, about 97,000 slides in total, and trailer them back to Michigan. Since the metal slide trays had been upended into the trash with the slides jumbling together as they fell, each had to be examined and sorted.

 

As an unexpected bonus, many images from the camera of John R. Williams were also included. Jim also collected slides and photos of trains and aircraft, so those images had to be set aside. Matt's living room became jam-packed with slides, photos and other oddities from the collection, and he deserves a big thank you for sorting and beginning the long scanning process.