GLMS 37 - Emmett R. Dowdell Collection

This one cubic foot collection contains pictorial and printed material regarding the Great Lakes sailing career of Emmett R. Dowdell and his leisure activities after retirement. Two scrapbooks form the largest series in the collection. Volume 1 contains photographs, clippings, postage stamps, greeting cards, and brochures spanning the years 1860-1976. Most items are of twentieth century origin. The subjects of these items include views of vessels on which Dowdell was employed and other Great Lakes freighters. Street scenes in Lakewood and Lorain, Ohio show buildings, sporting events, and the Lorain harbor.

Greeting cards and brochures form a large portion of scrapbook one and reflect holiday greetings and vacation plans form Dowdell's personal life. The cards offer researchers with an interest in American popular culture a view of the conventional forms of expressing get well, holiday, and birthday wishes from the 1950s to the 1970s. Brochures offer information on popular leisure activities and travel destinations.

The second scrapbook is more narrowly focused on events in November 1958 surrounding the sinking of the CARL D. BRADLEY. All the clippings in this volume relate to the BRADLEY and its crew.

Printed material not placed in the scrapbooks is similar to the bound items. Vacation literature and Great Lakes vessel information form this series. Items here date from 1913-1976.

A series of nine photographs not bound in scrapbook one completes the collection. Of significance here is a 1920 photograph of Emmett Dowdell on the deck of the VERONA with his crewmates.

SCRAPBOOKS

SCRAPBOOKS
[1860-1975]
Box 1, Folders 1-2.
Arranged chronologically.
Series contains 2 scrapbooks compiled by Emmett R. Dowdell regarding his sailing career on the Great Lakes and his personal life. Scrapbook on contains photographs, greeting cards, clippings, postage stamps, and brochures. A few items date from the nineteenth century, but most are of twentieth century origin. The photographs frequently show Mr. Dowdell on various Great Lakes vessels in the years from 1914 to the 1940s. Street scenes for Lorain and Lakewood, Ohio also appear.

Greeting cards appear in large numbers regarding events in Dowdell's life after retirement to Escondido, CA. Christmas, birthday, and get-well cards predominate.

Clippings, stamps, brochures, and other items reflect hobbies of Mr. Dowdell. Brochures from many vacation destinations provide interesting material on American leisure activities in the 1960s and the 1970s. Cruise ships and beach resorts are frequently the subject of the brochures.

Scrapbook two is entirely concerned with the sinking of the CARL D. BRADLEY in Lake Michigan during November of 1953. News clippings form the primary content of this scrapbook. Dowdell's hand written commentaries on reported defects in the BRADLEY present and experienced Great Lakes sailor's view on the disaster's cause.

PRINTED MATERIAL

PRINTED MATERIAL
[1913-1976]
Box 1, Folder 3-4.
Arranged chronologically.
Series contains loose printed items similar to material found in the scrapbook series. Vacation related literature and Great Lakes vessel information form this series.

PHOTOGRAPHS

PHOTOGRAPHS
1920, 1941-1942, 1969, n.d.
Box 1, Folder 5.
Arranged chronologically.
Series contains twelve loose photographs similar to those in the scrapbooks series. Three items are postcards of the San Diego, CA harbor. One shows Dowdell's retirement residence in Escondido, CA.  Another photograph shows Dowdell in 1920 with other crew members of the VERONA at Detroit, MI.  The remaining seven depict Dowdell aboard the CRETE in 1941 and 1942.

Box 1: Scrapbooks

Folders

1. Scrapbook, 1860-1976
2. Scrapbooks, 1958
3. Printed Matter, 1913-1976
4. Printed Matter, n.d.
5. Photographs, 1920, 1941-1942, 1969, n.d.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3