[Photograph album of an African American family traveling to Idlewild, Michigan].

[Michigan], [circa 1920s]

Purchased from Waiting for Godot Books on the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts & Letters Fund, 2011.

This material is open for research.

Idlewild is an unincorporated community in Lake County, Michigan founded in 1912 by white developers as the Idlewild Resort Community. The community became a top vacation destination for African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century and drew thousands of visitors annually until the resort declined in popularity following the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Photograph album containing circa 190 photographs of an unidentified African American family visiting various locations in Michigan, including Belle Isle, Freeland, Idlewild, Midland, and the Pine and Tittabawassee Rivers. Photographs consist chiefly of informal portraits of family members and friends, including men, women, and children, many of whom are identified in captions by their first names. Recreational activities depicted include canoeing, children playing and riding bicycles and horses, and swimming. Photographs also include: views of men and women in automobiles; and views of houses, farm buildings, and farmland. 12 photographs were detached from the album prior to acquisition by the library and are housed separately.

English

February 04, 2021

Photograph Album of an African American Family Traveling to Idlewild, Michigan. James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Photograph Album of an African American Family Traveling to Idlewild, Michigan. James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.