Edna E. Williams self-portrait, circa 1903, age 20. Fair Haven’s Most Prolific 20th Century Photographer
This project is to document the life and work of Edna E. Williams. With out her work we would not have nearly as clear a picture of Fair Haven in the early 20th century. Through her eyes we can see a time when many landscapes and buildings looked much as they had decades earlier.
This project is continually developing.
We have begun to inventory and index each of her known photos. We would like to annotate them with what information we can garner about each one. If you know anything about the content of one of her photos please let us know. If you have suggestions, memories or images to contribute, please collaborate on this project with us.
Thus far, we’ve started galleries in the following categories.
Postcards Edna had many of her images published as postcards as well as printing individual photos herself on postcard stock.
Landscapes These images include Main Street, the lake, the bay, the railroad trestle and the many ships that sailed the Great Lakes importing and exporting goods at Fair Haven.
Portraits Among the types of photos Edna took were portraits of people, livestock and pets.
Children One of Edna’s favorite portrait subjects was children in natural and posed settings. This is evidenced by the number of child photos in her collection.
Still Life A few of Edna’s still life photos have survived.
The Negatives Project A great many of Edna’s celluloid and glass negatives survive due to Edna’s granddaughter, June MacArthur preserving them. Our goal is to produce images from these original sources, either by scan or printing them. This page will display our progress.
This project is made possible by the many people who have preserved Edna’s images through the years and made them available for us to work with.
The greatest of these is the collection of
Phil and June MacAthur
Others who have contributed text and images. The Fair Haven Public Library – Raymond T. Sand Collection
Williams Family Collection George Sheldon
Grant Family Collection
Colonel Edgar Denton Eric VanGraafeiland
Robert Kolsters
