The collection includes: County Binders (28 cubic ft.); a Permit List (.25 cubic ft.); Permits, 1927-1988 (6 cubic ft.); Photographs, including seven Oversized Photographs, 1909,1974, undated (Approx. 6 cubic ft.); Subject Files, 1925-1982, undated (.25 cubic ft.); Reports, 1950s, 1970-1974, undated (.25 cubic ft.); Michigan. Dept. of Conservation. Geo. Survey Development Materials, 1912, 1932 (.25 cubic ft.); Negatives, ca. 1930-1985, undated (5.5 cubic ft.); and Slides, mostly unidentified and undated (Approx. 1 cubic ft. in 3 slide boxes).
Also included are musty and moldy Photographs and Negatives, 1951, 1982, undated (1 cubic ft.). [These materials need to be fumigated and are housed separately to avoid contaminating the rest of the collection. They should be used with care by researchers.]
The County Binders include drilling reports for section of townships in various counties. They include date, name of drilling company, location of drilling, types of layers the company drilled through, types of minerals, oil, and other materials found, depths at which materials were found, and thickness of the material found, as well as other information. The County Binders are filed in alphabetical order by the name of the county, and then by township name within each county.
Copies of MOGN News and the 60th Anniversary Photo Review are available in the CMU libraries.
Organizational History:
Michigan Oil and Gas News (MOGN) is a publishing organization that is related to, but separate from, the Michigan Oil and Gas Association (MOGA). MOGN has published the Oil and Gas News “since 1933”. Henry G. Hunt was the first Executive Secretary of MOGN. He was a newspaper man with seventeen years experience, part of which was covering Michigan oil development for major Michigan daily newspapers. Bruce B. Wardner of West Virginia was Hunt’s assistant.
Besides Oil and Gas News, MOGN has other publications, including: the MOGN Monthly Report, the Michigan Petroleum Desktop Directory/ Almanac, a Pocket Edition of the Directory, a Michigan Oil and Gas Drilling Map, a MOGN 60th Anniversary Photo Review (1993), and the Michigan Oil and Gas Story: County by County (1991). MOGN also sells a Michigan Natural Gas Transmission System Map from the Michigan Consolidated Gas Company (revised 1998). Lastly, MOGN also has promotional advertising and WellTrac, a digital well-completion data, land-grid data, data update service.
Michigan Oil and Gas Association (MOGA) represents the exploration, production, transportation, processing, and storage of crude oil and natural gas in the state of Michigan. It has nearly 1,000 members, including independent oil companies, major oil companies, and the exploration arms of various utility companies.
Formally created on December 1, 1933, MOGA monitors Michigan’s oil and gas industry, and the political, regulatory, and legislative interest in the state and national capitals through its Officers and Board of Directors. MOGA is the collective voice of the petroleum industry in Michigan. It addresses the problems and issues facing the various companies involved in the state’s crude oil and natural gas business.
MOGA provides a forum for industry spokesmen and various state, local, and federal officials. Members’ dues support various activities, including: representing the exploration, drilling, production, transportation, processing, and storage of crude oil and natural gas interests in Michigan; monitoring political, regulatory, and legislative activities in the state and nation’s capitals as they pertain to the petroleum industry in Michigan; and -monthly meetings about current trends.
Both MOGA AND MOGN have their main offices in Lansing. Michigan. (This information is from MOGA’s website www.michiganoil and gas association.org and MOGN 70th Anniversary Photo Review: a pictorial chronicle of Michigan Petroleum Exploration and Production History from beginnings to 1993 as viewed through the lens of Michigan’s Weekly Petroleum Magazine.)
