A while back I was contacted by Lisa M. DeChano-Cook, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Western Michigan University about my antique photographs. She said that she and her colleague, Mary L. Brooks, were writing a book about the Kalamazoo River and were interested in photos of that subject.
The book is now published, and Lisa sent me an autographed copy. It’s a gorgeous collection of photos and information about the history of the river. If you are interested, just click through the following image of the book to order from Amazon.
They used several of my photographs. And they also found photographs in the archives at Western that were taken by grandpa’s uncle, Joseph DeKorn. In the 70s or 80s, my grandfather donated a lot of photographs and glass negatives to the archives. Notice that the one at the archives is the same photograph that I use for the header of my blog–the flood at the Water Works Bridge in 1904.
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The above is another one from the archives. I also have a copy of this one. In fact, I posted it a year and a half ago, wondering if it was it, in fact, the Monarch Paper Mill. According to DeChano-Cook and Brooks, it is the Monarch Mill. I guess I can go back and revise that blog post. (How many times have I said that–and then how often do I do it? I need a blog assistant–any offers? haha)
This is one of the photos I sent to Lisa:
The book states:
Many farmers tried to fence in their property because they knew that the river flow would change and they could not use it as a stable boundary. In the photograph, a wire fence spans a shallow part of the Kalamazoo River. The reflection of the fence in the water makes it appear as though it is a wire pedestrian bridge.
So thrilled when blog readers relate to what they find on this blog. I always end up learning a lot!
The Family Kalamazoo 
Nice! I have seen others in that series (Images of America) for places in the Northeast. They do a nice job.
About updating old posts…sometimes I do, if I think it’s important. Other times I just put a link to the old post in the new post so that it creates a pingback to the old post. Whether anyone ever notices is unlikely, but at least I feel I’ve done something!
I have 2 or 3 of these books, in fact. They really give a great feel for the history of a specific place. I’m so thrilled that the Kalamazoo River is now part of the series!
I would like to update my whole blog as I have gained SO much knowledge about subjects I wrote about way back when, but because I’ve used the all-over-the-place method, it would be impossible to do too much cleanup. Pingbacks are good ideas, but probably only useful to someone who understands what they are and so chooses to look for them.
Right…but at least I know where they are! It helps me when I go back to an old post. Sometimes I then will make an update.
Your blog is so well organized though!
Well, sort of. I do it as I research, and I tend to research one line at a time, one family at a time. But then things do pop up!
Yes, but it’s very clear to the reader how organized you are, and it helps because your posts tend to be in a row on a certain branch.
Maybe that helps balance how confusing the posts themselves are!
Haha, thinking about the chaos on here, maybe I should rename The Family Kalamazoo to The Poet’s Take on Family History ;).
🙂 Everyone has to do what works for them! The readers will follow along.
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It is good that people are still publishing in paper and a book will be a beneficial research tool for some historian or genealogist, thank you for posting about it.
Cynicism? Hahaha. I still read paper works. In fact, I have a Kindle and started to use it quite a bit and now I find I’m back reading mainly real books. They have so many advantages over that crummy little screen.
Very exciting…I love that you have so much history in one place too!
Me too. Thanks, Sharon!
I also love this book series. How nice to be able to participate in this one.
It’s so cool to see the family photos reach a wider “readership”!
Wonderful for you
It is pretty cool to have my grandfather’s uncle’s photos shared this way!
Very cool