GLMS 41 - C. Patrick Labadie Collection

The C. Patrick Labadie Collection was transferred to the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes in a series of donations beginning in 1974. The Instruments of Gift were signed on April 10, 1984 and April 5, 1991.

Literary and property rights have been dedicated to the public and duplication is permitted for preservation and scholarly research. Processing was initiated in June 1980 by Martha Crain. Final processing of the compiled donations of Mr. Labadie was completed with the assistance of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant by Mark J. Barnes in August 1991.

Charles Patrick Labadie was born in Grosse Point, Michigan on March 17, 1940. Mr. Labadie studied engineering at the University of Detroit before joining the staff of the Detroit Historical Commission. The Great Lakes region has been Mr. Labadie's milieu throughout his career as an historian of the shipping industry. Past positions have also included employment with the Saugatuck Marine Museum in Saugatuck, Michigan and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit, Michigan. Since 1973, Mr. Labadie has been the Curator/Director of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Museum in Duluth, Minnesota.

As a frequently published author on Great Lakes shipping, Mr. Labadie's research has been extensive. His insights into maritime history and his donations to research centers place C. Patrick Labadie in a position of esteemed value among both his colleagues and studies of the Great Lakes region.

The collection contains a number of sources providing researchers with insights into Great Lakes shipping activities. Though not large (4 cubic feet), this set of maritime history resources permits users to examine subjects from daily vessel operations through logs and procedure manuals to issues of an industry-wide nature through annual meeting minutes for vessel officers. Coverage is extensive in time span, if not volume, with information dating from 1848-1980.

A record group on Proceedings (1.5 cubic feet) includes minutes from the 1956 and 1957 annual meetings of the Masters and Chief Engineers employed by the Pittsburgh Steamship Division of U. S. Steel and assorted log books from eight vessels dating from 1941-1974. The WILLIAM P. PALMER and the HENRY PHIPPS are covered the most extensively through the logbooks.

Reports (1.5 cubic feet) cover shipping activities from a construction and maintenance perspective through Offsets on the PHILIP R. CLARKE and the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON. Survey and Casualty Reports on nine vessels document the inspection process for damaged vessels. Vessel enrollment information offers a view of the effort to standardize registration and licensing procedures for Great Lakes vessels. Enrollment data for forty vessels (see Appendix 1) registered from 1848 to 1942 is included. Vessel Traffic reports for locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway record trip activities.

A record group on printed material (1 cubic foot) offers published works on shipping for examination. Fourteen items have been retained in the collection and Appendix 2 lists materials separated for cataloging in the main HCGL print materials collection.

Some 240 photographic images, including 159 glass plate negatives, have been separated for inclusion in the main HCGL photographic images catalog. The area around Saugatuck, Michigan and its role in the tourist excursion business in the 1900-1940 period receive coverage here.

PROCEEDINGS

MINUTES
Box 1
1956, 1957
Arranged chronologically
Series contains minutes of the annual meetings for Masters and Chief Engineers in the Pittsburgh Steamship Division of the United States Steel Corporation for March 26-28, 1956 and March 26-27, 1957. Included are discussions of issues such as reducing instances where crewmen missed departure time for vessels, intoxication, and operating expenses. Although only two years are represented, the information is detailed in describing fleet activities for the Pittsburgh Steamship Division of U. S. Steel Corporation.

LOGS
Boxes 1-3
1941-1974 (scattered)
Arranged alphabetically by type of log, then vessel name
Series contains assorted logs books for eight vessels: ANN ARBOR #7, WILLIAM J. FILBERT, E. G. GRACE, ROBERT HOBSON, WILLIAM P. PALMER, HENRY PHIPPS, PERCIVAL ROBERTS, and WILLIAM A. WHITNEY. Including in varying combinations for each vessel are Deviation Books, Engineer's Logs, Lay-Up Work Logs, Radar Logs, Ship's Logs, and Time Books.

REPORTS

OFFSETS
Box 4
June 30, 1952
Arranged numerically by hull number and then page number
Series contains statistical reports on two American Shipbuilding Company hulls (867, 868) showing such details as half-breadths on water lines, deck and stringer heights, buttock heights and sight edges. The vessels described are the PHILIP R. CLARKE and the ARTHUR M. ANDERSON.

SURVEY AND CASUALTY REPORTS
Box 4
1953-1980
Arranged alphabetically by vessel name, then chronologically
Series contains reports of inspection of vessels of a routine nature and those assessing damage from collisions. Vessels included are the EUGENE J. BUFFINGTON, D. M. CLEMSON, THOMAS F. COLE, ALVA C. DINKEY, D. G. KERR, WILLIAM A. MC GONAGLE, GOVERNOR MILLER and the J. P. MORGAN.

VESSEL ENROLLMENTS
Box 5
1848-1942
Arranged alphabetically by vessel name
Series contains photocopies of information taken from Certificates of Enrollment and Abstracts of Enrollment filed for vessels registered at Great Lakes ports with the Federal Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation. Enrollments for twenty-seven different vessels from the period 1848 to 1942 are described. See Appendix 1 for a listing of these vessels. Information likely to appear on these enrollment sheets includes in part: port and date of registry, names of owners, names of masters, place of construction of the vessel, builder of the vessel, dimensions and descriptions of vessels.

VESSEL TRAFFIC CONTROL TRANSIT RECORDS FOR THE ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY SNELL AND EISENHOWER LOCKS
Box 5
1970, 1975, 1977-1980
Arranged chronologically
Series contains records of passages through two locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway. Recorded in part are daily accounts of traffic through the locks noting vessel names, whether headed upbound or downbound on the Seaway, country of registry for vessel, times of arrival and departure, dimensions of vessels, cargoes, and destinations.

WINTER MOORING REPORTS
Box 5
1903
Arranged alphabetically by vessel name under each port
Series contains vessel names, ports where moored for the winter and owner of vessel. The document is a photocopy of the original. The ports are listed in a random sequence: Chicago, South Chicago, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Ashtabula, Erie, Bay City, Buffalo, Collingwood, Conneaut, Dollar Bay, Escanaba, Fairport, Lorain, Detroit, St. Joseph, Benton Harbor, South Haven, Saginaw, Sault Ste. Marie, Manistee, Port Huron, Green Bay, Manitowoc, Duluth, Grand Haven, Ludington, Houghton, Toronto, and West Superior.

PRINTED MATERIAL

PRINTED MATERIALS
Boxes 6-7
1959-1973
Series contains fourteen printed items. See the Course Guide for St. Lawrence River for maps designated to assist navigation of the St. Lawrence Seaway. A set of procedure manuals on lake shipping prepared by U. S. Steel is also of interest.

Inventory

Box 1

Folders

Box 2

Folders

1. Lay-Up Night Men Work, November 23-December 12, 1965
2. Radar Log E. G. GRACE, June-November 1948, May-October 1974
3. Radar Log unknown vessel, June-December 1974
4-9. Ship's Log HENRY PHIPPS, March 24-November 21, 1966, April 10-December 15, 1973
10. Ship's Log WILLIAM A. WHITNEY, May 5-July 14, 1941

Box 3

Folders

1-5. Ship's Log WILLIAM A. WHITNEY, July 15-October 10, 1941; April 28-October 23, 1942; April 10-December 11, 1948; November 2-3, 1952; November 24-27, 1953
6. Ship's Radio/Telephone Log WILLIAM J. FILBERT, April-December 1969
7. Time Book, ANN ARBOR #7, December 1959-June 1961

Box 4

Folders

Folders

1. Vessel Enrollments, 1838-1942
2-4. Vessel Traffic Control Transit Records for the St. Lawrence Seaway Snell and Eisenhower Locks, May 6-December 15, 1970
5-6. Vessel Traffic Control Transit Records for the St. Lawrence Seaway Snell and Eisenhower Locks, July 10-December 23, 1975
7-9. Vessel Traffic Control Transit Records for the St. Lawrence Seaway Snell and Eisenhower Locks, April 1-December 29, 1977
10-11. Vessel Traffic Control Transit Records for the St. Lawrence Seaway Snell and Eisenhower Locks, April 18-December 21, 1978
12. Vessel Traffic Control Transit Records for the St. Lawrence Seaway Snell and Eisenhower Locks, April 2, 1979
13. Vessel Traffic Control Transit Records for the St. Lawrence Seaway Snell and Eisenhower Locks, April 7-August 27, 1980
14. Winter Moorings, 1903

Box 6

Folders

Box 7

Folders

Appendix 1: Vessel Enrollments