In the Clarke, we have a few manuscript collections that have interesting items documenting Halloweens of years past.
In the Trelfa Photographic Collection, 1886-1920, Series 6, which contains Sepull Glass-plate negatives, there are early Alpena images showing how Halloween was celebrated in Alpena in 1904. These images can be found in Box 2, Folders 45 and 46. Click the link to view the catalog record and finding aids for this collection (the fifth finding aid link includes the listing noting the Halloween images).
Above are glass-plate negatives found in the Trelfa collection, 1886-1920 of ghost scenes painted on Alpena store windows.
Another set of materials with images from Halloweens of yore is the Norm Lyon Papers, 1920-91. In Box 1 are film negatives of Lyon's children in Halloween costumes in the 1930s and 1940s. Box 2 contains film negatives of Mount Pleasant store fronts with Halloween scenes painted on the windows (these are undated). An example with a cat, a witch on a broomstick, and a Halloween field scene is below. Click the link to view the catalog record and finding aid for his papers.
Moving away from street scene, in the Nellie May Davis Finley Family Papers, 1881-1978, we find undated 20th century greeting cards in Box 21 Folder 3. This includes the party invitation below. Click the link to view the catalog record and finding aid for this collection.
Lastly, there are Halloween greeting cards and postcards in our miscellaneous Display Items collection. This is an uncataloged, inventoried collection. Here’s something you don’t see on the store shelves today -- a Halloween pumpkin balloon postcard.
