People in every profession use different tools to help complete their work. Each tool is important, but if some are missing, there would still be a good chance to complete the project. It’s just that the material would help fill in gaps. This happens with historical research. Many times those of us in the public history field wish we could find a certain newspaper or image. While our local institutions such as the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the Kalamazoo Public Library and the Zhang Legacy Collections Center contain a wealth of resources, there are still some items I wish could be found.
Missing Issues of the Kalamazoo Gazette
Local researchers, authors, archivists, curators and librarians who work with materials relating to Kalamazoo would all agree that the biggest mystery for years has been the missing issues of the Kalamazoo Gazette. The gap runs from Nov. 14, 1862, to Sept.16, 1870, much of it during the Civil War, when the Gazette was published weekly. Over the years, various theories have developed about why these issues are missing. One factor that may have played a part is that between these years there were seven publishers of the newspaper. Some of these publishers may not have seen the value in preserving the issues. Maybe someday they will be found in an attic or institution. Wonders never cease.
Golf Course Records
While there are many businesses, churches, organizations and institutions whose records are being preserved locally and used by researchers, there are some that I wish would be found someday. Among these are materials from the Arcadia Brook Golf Course, an 18-hole course that opened in 1927 and had rock gardens, putting greens, a tearoom and grill, and horses. Located on what is now the campus of Western Michigan University, the golf course was closed by 1945 for campus expansion. Other records relating to golf that would be interesting to see would be those from the Wanikin Golf Club, a nine-hole course in what is now the West Main Hill neighborhood and a predecessor to the Kalamazoo Country Club. These and other records would help give us a wider picture of what life was like in this community.
Kalamazoo Board of Education Minutes, Volume 1
The Kalamazoo Public Schools district was established in 1833 and was operated initially by the village trustees. That changed in 1859 when the state of Michigan allowed voters in a school district to elect a school board to operate the schools. The first report of the Kalamazoo Board of Education appeared in the Kalamazoo Gazette in September 1859, sharing a variety of information about student numbers, curriculum and expenses. The Kalamazoo Public Library’s Local History Room has Volumes 2 and 3 of those early years, but Volume 1, which covers the years from 1859 to 1864 is nowhere to be found. Fortunately, the Kalamazoo Gazette published some of the information from the board, but the minutes probably would have provided more detailed information.
Sanitarium Photographs
It would be a challenge to estimate how many images exist of Kalamazoo people, places and events just in the various public collections in the area. Despite this abundance of images, there continue to be elusive photographs that may exist but have not been found yet. This illustration shows the Kalamazoo Sanitarium (later known as the Fletcher Sanitarium), a building that was completed in 1901 and located on the corner of Oakland Drive and Austin Street. So far, the only two known photographs of it are one showing the rear of the building and one that appeared in the Kalamazoo Gazette when the sanitarium burned down in 1914. Western State Normal School, now Western Michigan University, purchased the land in 1916, and it is now the site of Walwood Hall, originally built as a women’s dormitory but now houses administrative offices.
1890 Census
Every 10 years since 1790, the United States has conducted a census of its population, asking a variety of questions that give a good snapshot of the makeup of the country at that time. The results of the majority of these censuses can be found on websites like Ancestry or Family Search. The 11th U.S. census, conducted from June 1 to July 1, 1890, asked questions about home ownership, immigration, naturalization and service during the Civil War. Unfortunately, except for some fragments, almost all of these 1890 census records were lost in a fire on Jan. 10, 1921, in Washington, D.C., leaving a gaping hole for those who want to find information about the United States during that time.
