A woman photographer’s collection is rare, much less one from Michigan. The collection consists mostly of 8 x 10 inch glass plate negatives, one film negative, and a copper engraving plates (in the last box). Each negative is in a folder instead of a folder. Most of the images are of women, children, babies, and families, although there are a few images of men, often in World War I uniforms, stores, wedding parties, a dog, a choir, and some sports teams (basketball and football), and school groups or graduating classes. Many of the images are identified. Only a few images are dated, 1920-1924. Many of the images of the children are charming.
Most of the images are of people or buildings in Fremont, although a few images are identified as groups or people from Hesperia, Holland, Whitecloud, and Walkerville, Michigan. Schools noted in the collection include Fremont High School, Brookside School, and Christian School. School basketball and/or football teams and class photographs include those from Whitecloud, Hesperia, Holland, and Fremont, Michigan.
Processing Note: By the time the collection was donated to the Clarke, many of the negatives were cracked or broken in pieces, while others had emulsions separating or separated from the glass. Those with images lost or badly deteriorated were returned to the donor as requested, which constituted about half of the original collection. Thus, researchers will find many numbers missing in the numerical sequences.
Biography:
In 1900, Ernest E. Noble (November 1874- ) was 23 years old and employed as a schoolteacher. He lived in Greenwood Township, Oceana County, Michigan, with his widowed mother Mary E. Noble (born in October 1860- ), and siblings: Flora (January 1877- ), Mabel (March 1880- ) and Ira (October 1883- ). Nearby neighbors included other Noble family members. Mary had emigrated from England in 1863. All of her children were born in Michigan.
Ernest married Bessie B. (surname unknown) (1875- ) by 1906. Together they had two children: Ellen Hope (1907- ) and Lachlan William (March 10, 1909-December 17, 1994). They lived in Fremont, Michigan, 1911-1932.
A photography studio in Fremont, Michigan, is noted in the Michigan Gazeteer, 1911-1931/1932 issues, under the name of Ernest E. Noble, Photographer. However, 1920 Federal Census records for Fremont, Michigan, list Ernest E. Noble as a fruit farmer and his wife, Bessie B. Noble, as a photographer with her own studio, working on her “own account.” The studio was located at 119 East Main Street, Fremont.
(This information is from the 1900 and 1920 federal censuses for Michigan, Social Security Death Index, and the Michigan Gazeteer. The address of the studio is from the librarian at Fremont Area District Public Library.)
