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Earnie Best Collection

 Collection
Identifier: RH-A-3822

Scope and Contents

This collection is made up of a series of aerial photographs of farmlands from various townships and counties from the 1970s. The majority of the collection is from 1974 with Kalamazoo County township sections being the predominant records in the file. Please note Allegan, Barry, Cass, Calhoun and St. Joseph County sections are put in box 8. There is also are two “various county, various township” folders in box 8 of the collection if a patron is unable to find a section they are looking for. Also note that there are some missing sections. For example Kalamazoo County, Charleston Township starts at section 4 instead of the #1. These missing sections are assumed to be town or city land that Earnie Best was not interested in selling or not to have been present when the collection came into the Western Michigan University Archives and Regional History Collections.

Dates

  • Creation: 1975

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Earnie Best, who graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, is a southwest Michigan realtor who owns Earnie Best Realtor and Land Broker. "Earnie Best Realtor is a real estate office that specializes in farms, vacant acreages, recreational timber and hunting land, commercial and development parcels and country property.” (Earnie Best, http://www.earniebest.com/, 2016).

Extent

8 boxes

Language of Materials

English

Physical Description

The collection amounts to 8 cubic feet and is composed of farmland aerial photographs from mainly Kalamazoo County, but also from other counties in southwest Michigan. The aerial photographs are arranged by county of origin. From county of origin they are organized by township (abbreviated Twp. in collection). From township they are organized by section number. Typically one folder of contents consists of one or two sections each folder. The photographs of the individual sections are typically of different farmland plots within the given area photographed. Roads, houses and other buildings can be observed from the photographs as well. There are markings denoting the size/shape of the different farmland plots. As Earnie Best is a realtor in the Kalamazoo County area, it is assume that the plots of land are measured to be sold in some capacity.

The majority of the photographs of the collection are on thin 8.5 inches by 11 inches paper. They are typically in good shape. Some photographs have experienced fading. Some other photographs have rust marks on the back of them. However, the majority of the photographs are in good shape and can be discerned with relative ease.

Provenance

The collection is composed of 8.0 cubic feet of farmland aerial photographs from mainly Kalamazoo County, but also from other counties in southwest Michigan. The photographs date from approximately 1975.

Title
Earnie Best Collection Finding Aid
Author
Connor Wilson
Date
1975
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Western Michigan University Archives & Regional History Collections Repository

Contact:
Charles C. and Lynn L. Zhang Legacy Collections Center
1650 Oakland Drive
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5307 US
(269) 387-8490