David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography
“David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography” Research Guide
The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography consists of over 120,000 images in a variety of formats including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, cartes de visite, cabinet photographs, real photo postcards, stereographs, and mounted and unmounted paper prints. The collection is primarily made up of vernacular photographs of everyday life in Michigan taken by both professional and amateur photographers from the 1840s into the mid-twentieth century. In addition to supporting local history research, the collection has resources for the study of specific events and subjects. Included are images related to lumbering; mining; suburbanization; the industrialization of cities; travel and transportation; the impact of the automobile; the rise of middle-class leisure society; fashion and dress; ethnicity and race; the role of fraternal organizations in society; and the participation of photographers in business, domestic, and social life. The collection is open for research.
This research guide is intended to offer a broad overview of holdings at the Clements Library related to the David V. Tinder Collection. It is meant as a starting point for researchers interested in this topic, not an exhaustive list of all relevant materials. If you have any questions about this guide or our holdings please contact us here.
The William L. Clements Library offers fellowships to help scholars access the Library’s rich primary source collections for research. The James E. Laramy Fellowship in American Visual Culture, the Clayton Lewis Fellowship in American Culture, and other week-long and short-term fellowships specifically support research projects related to the David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography. Visit the Fellowships website for information regarding application information and deadlines.
Biography
David V. Tinder was born in Lima, Ohio, in 1926, and moved to Flint, Michigan, as a child. He served in the United States Navy as an electronic technician’s mate until he was honorably discharged in July of 1946. Dave Tinder attended Flint Junior College for one year before transferring to the University of Michigan, which awarded him a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1949. Tinder spent the majority of his career as a project engineer and engineering manager to new product development in the Detroit area.
Tinder began collecting antiques in the late 1950s, starting with leaded glass lamps, art glass and ceramics, Art Nouveau pewter, and Japanese bronzes. Inspired by William C. Darrah’s 1964 book A History of Stereographs in America and Their Collection, he amassed a large group of international photographic stereo views. By the early 1970s he began trading his international collection for Michigan stereo views and other early photographic formats related to Michigan. Eventually this would include examples of virtually every popular photographic format used by both professional and amateur photographers in the first century of photography.
Tinder became increasingly interested in the lives and careers of the photographers represented in his collection and began creating The Directory of Early Michigan Photographers. The combination of his collection and research has led to his recognition as the leading authority on the subject of early Michigan photography.
Tinder passed away in 2016.
Series of the David V. Tinder Collection
The David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography is organized primarily by photographic format, and sorted either by geographic location, photographer, or subject content.
Series I. Cased Images
Cased daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. Primarily portraiture with some special subjects. Date range from 1840s-1860s. Approx. 95 items. Finding Aid.
Series II. Cartes de Visite/card photographs
Alphabetized by photographer with special interest subjects sorted separately. Comprised mostly of studio portraiture. Includes small cdv sized tintypes. Date range from 1860-1900. Approx. 13,000 items. Finding Aid.
Series III. Stereographs
Sorted by county, place name, photographer and/or publisher, with a few special sets that are grouped separately. Comprised mostly of outdoor views. Date range from 1859-1920. Approximately 6,900 items. Finding aid.
Series IV. Cabinet Photos
Alphabetized by photographer with special interest subjects sorted separately. Comprised mostly of studio portraiture. Date range from 1868-1900. Approx. 19,000 items. Finding Aid.
Series V. County File
Alphabetized by county, including all 83 Michigan counties. Includes card mounted photographs of varying sizes and formats, unmounted paper prints, photomechanical prints, large tintypes, pieces of ephemera, clippings, and real photo postcards. Includes views of places, events, activities, group and individual portraits. Includes images of unidentified locations in Michigan as well as non-Michigan images. Additional “Overflow” section found at tail end of series. Date range 1860s-1990s. Approx. 8,850 items. Finding aid. (see also: County by Map)
Series VI. Over-Sized File
Sorted by subject. Includes large card mounted photos and unmounted paper prints. Includes views of places, events, local scenes, group portraits, Cirkut Camera panoramas. Also includes examples of fine art photography by contemporary Michigan photographers known personally to the collector, David V. Tinder. Date range 1860s-1980s. Approx. 452 items. Finding aid.
Series VII. Photographers File
Alphabetized by photographer. Housed in ring binders, approximately 24 binders containing biographical entries and materials related to over 800 historic Michigan photographers. Includes both original and reproduction photo portraits of photographers, views of gallery storefronts and interiors, images of photographers in the field, advertising samples, etc. Approx. 1,800 items. IN PROCESSING — LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Series VIII. Real photo postcards
Alphabetized by Michigan County, place name, and subject. All 83 Michigan counties are represented. Date range 1906-1950s. Over 66,000 postcards. Finding aid.
Series IX. Photo albums and photographically illustrated books
In chronological order. Includes both professional and amateur photographic albums, carte de visite albums, travel collections, school albums, published books, souvenir viewbooks, and pamphlets with photographic plate illustrations. Date range 1860s-1970s. Approx. 158 volumes. Finding aid.
Series X. Framed photographs
Photographic prints in vintage decorative frames or printing frames used for exposing contact prints. IN PROCESSING — LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Series XI. Small formats
Small mounted prints, unmounted snapshots, tintypes, miniature souvenir portfolios. IN PROCESSING — LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Series XII. Detroit Publishing Company
Process related examples of mass produced lithographic prints and postcard production and advertising. IN PROCESSING — LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Series XIII. Henry Stephens Lumber Company
Archive material including documents, photographs, and printed advertising examples.IN PROCESSING — LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Series XIV. Black River lumbering photographs
Mounted albumen prints circa 1880s of lumbering operations in Alcona County, Michigan. 16 items. Finding aid.
Series XV. C.C. Buskirk Railroad Photographs
Railroad locomotives, lumber camps, transport of logs via truck and rail in various Michigan counties all photographed by C.C Buskirk of Big Rapids. Date range 1885-1939. 7 items. Finding aid.
Series XVI. Owen Fawcett theatrical photos
Photographs of the British born actor, Owen Fawcett (1838-1904) and his family. 41 items. Finding aid.
Series XVII. Objects and realia
Small objects and realia related to Michigan photography. IN PROCESSING — LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR RESEARCH
Series XVIII. Glass slides and negatives
Glass plate negatives, positive prints, lantern slides, and transparencies related to Michigan photography. Approx. 515 items. Finding aid.
Series XIX. World War I Polar Bear Expedition Photographs, U.S. Signal Corps
193 gelatin silver prints produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps during the Allied Forces’ Polar Bear Expedition in Russia from 1918-1919. 193 items. Finding aid.
Subject Headings
Materials from the David V. Tinder Collection can be found by looking through the finding aid for this collection.
Subject Headings:
- David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography.
- Photographs shelf.
- African Americans
- Agriculture--Michigan.
- Athletes--Michigan.
- Automobile factories.
- Automobile industry workers.
- Automobiles--Design and construction.
- Bands--Michigan.
- Bicycles.
- Boats and boating.
- Business.
- Camping--Michigan.
- Cities & towns--Michigan.
- Copper miners--Michigan.
- Crimes--Michigan.
- Cycling--Michigan.
- Detroit
- Disasters--Michigan.
- Domestic life--Michigan.
- Dwellings--Michigan.
- Education--Michigan.
- Electric railroads--Michigan.
- Farms--Michigan.
- Fraternal lodges--Michigan.
- Indians of North America.
- Iron miners--Michigan.
- Labor--Michigan.
- Leisure--Michigan.
- Logging--Michigan.
- Lumber camps--Michigan.
- Mackinac Island (Mich.)
- Mackinac County (Mich.)
- Mining--Michigan.
- Mining machinery.
- Musicians--Michigan
- Occupations--Michigan.
- Photographers--Michigan.
- Railroad stations--Michigan.
- Railroads--Michigan.
- Roads--Design and construction.
- Schools--Michigan.
- Steamboats--Michigan.
- Stores & shops--Michigan.
- Wars.
- Women--Michigan.
- Women Athletes--Michigan
- Women--Societies and clubs.
Digital Resources
Digitized Archival Collections
- Real-photo postcard series
- The real-photo postcard series of the collection, consisting of approximately 66,000 images, has been described using crowdsourced data generated via the Zooniverse platform. This project, called Picturing Michigan’s Past, was completed in partnership with the Shapiro Design Lab, with support from the University of Michigan Library Information Technology, Digital Content and Collections unit.
- Directory of Early Michigan Photographers
- The Directory of Early Michigan Photographers, compiled over several decades, identifies virtually every known commercial and significant amateur photographer that worked in the state of Michigan from the first known appearances in the 1840s into the early twentieth century. With over 8,000 records, the Directory stands as an unsurpassed resource for historians, collectors, curators, archivists, genealogists, and anyone interested in the early history of photography in the United States.
- Clements Library Image Bank
- The Clements Library Image Bank, hosted by the University Library, contains a selection of visual materials from the Clements collections, including maps, prints, photographs, and drawings from various periods in early American history. All images may be freely downloaded in high-resolution format.
Other Digital Resources
- Article in Quarto #54: “Picture Day”
- Article in Quarto #45: “So, What’s in a Photo?”
- Occasional Bulletins #2: The David V. Tinder Collection
- Blog post: Breaking into the Past: An Instance of Code Cracking in the Tinder Postcard Collection
- Blog post: Picturing Michigan’s Past: Explore History Through Photo Postcards
- Blog post: Clements Library SAA Archives Blitz
- Blog post: The Carte de Visite Phenomenon
Preferred Citation
For the main photograph series:
David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. The majority portion donated by David B. Walters in honor of Harold L. Walters, UM class of 1947 and Marilyn S. Walters, UM class of 1950.
For the Real Photo Postcard series:
David V. Tinder Collection of Real Photo Postcards, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. Gift of David and Cynthia Walters, Meaghan and Joel Cole, and Jennifer and Zachary SantAmour.
Last Updated 7/17/2026