Press Releases
Kodak 309 Color Positive Safety Film (Ektachrome‑process)
for Postcard 23770: Charlevoix’s Villa Modern Motel, ca. early 1960s
Date: May 17, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: geoffrey@chxhistory.com
Major Discovery of Lost Bob Miles Postcard Archive
Charlevoix, MI — The Charlevoix Historical Society is pleased to announce the rediscovery of a long‑lost archive created by renowned Charlevoix photographer Bob Miles, whose postcard business helped carry the city’s name around the world for more than four decades. The archive now enters the collections of the Society’s Museum at Harsha House, where it joins much of Miles’s career photographic work and his personal holdings of 19th‑century and early‑modern Charlevoix photography — a body of material that forms the core of the museum’s holdings.
Miles retired in 1972 after a 41‑year career that included a thriving postcard enterprise beginning in the 1930s with black‑and‑white images and expanding into full‑color production in the 1950s. Over the years, he sold hundreds of thousands of postcards featuring Charlevoix scenes. Upon retirement, Miles sold his production masters and remaining postcard stock to professional photographer and postcard publisher Helen Gaskin, who produced and distributed Charlevoix‑area postcards during the 1960s and 1970s.
For more than fifty years, the materials Miles transferred to Gaskin were believed lost.
Recently, the Society was contacted by members of the Gaskin family, who discovered the archive while clearing the home of the late photographer. The collection includes hundreds of original negatives, color slides, and vintage postcard stock, representing decades of Charlevoix imagery. Among the most significant items are the original production masters, on large-format positive sheet film, for many of Miles’s iconic postcards of the 1960s, some showing expected color degradation due to age, but still retaining their historic and visual importance.
After reviewing the materials, the family decided that the entire collection belonged with the Charlevoix Historical Society and arranged for its donation. The transfer was completed on April 10, when family representatives met with Harsha House Curator David Miles to deliver the archive.
“This is one of the most important donations we have ever received,” said Curator David Miles. “The rediscovery of Bob Miles’s original postcard archive fills a major gap in our photographic record of the community.”
The Society will begin cataloguing and preserving the collection immediately.
Date: February 26, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: rachel@missionpointpress.com
A Defining New Chapter in Great Lakes and Northern Michigan History:
The City on Three Lakes to Chronicle Charlevoix’s Maritime Legacy
Traverse City, MI — The Charlevoix Historical Society is preparing to release The City on Three Lakes: A Maritime History of Charlevoix & the Surrounding Region (Mission Point Press, June/July, 2026), a landmark new publication and the Society’s most ambitious project in more than a generation. Produced as a large-format, museum-quality volume, the 675-plus-page book offers an immersive visual and historical exploration of Charlevoix’s maritime identity, examining its unique waterways, and the people, places, traditions, and defining moments that shaped the region across centuries.
“This project represents a true milestone for the Charlevoix Historical Society,” said Geoffrey Reynolds, president. “After years of planning, research, and collaboration, we are excited to share a publication reflecting both the depth of our collections and the Charlevoix area’s enduring relationship with the water.”
Building on the legacy of Bob Miles’ Charlevoix, a foundational pictorial history published by the Society in 1976, The City on Three Lakes marks a bold step forward. Lavishly designed and richly illustrated, the book serves as a definitive reference, visual archive, and lasting cultural record.
A Visual Journey of Remarkable Scope
Featuring more than 875 images, The City on Three Lakes presents the most colorful and comprehensive visual history of Charlevoix’s maritime past ever assembled. Many photographs had never before been published, revealing expansive new perspectives on how water shaped daily life, commerce, recreation, and identity of the region. The limited hard-cover edition will be printed by one of the nation’s leading art book printers, ensuring museum-quality reproduction.
“We have never produced a book of such scale and quality,” said David L. Miles, curator and co-author. “We are thrilled to bring this definitive source of Charlevoix area history to a new audience, and to continue celebrating the unique stories that make it one of the true jewels of northern Michigan.”
Images are drawn primarily from the Charlevoix Historical Society’s collection of more than 40,000 historic photographs, and enriched through collaborations with leading public and private institutions in Michigan and beyond.
Connecting Past and Present: A Wider Perspective
For the first time in the Society’s publishing history, original contemporary photography was commissioned for this volume, creating a dynamic dialogue between historic and modern Charlevoix. The principal contemporary photography was taken by John Doskoch, president of the Charlevoix Photography Club.
“Our goal was not just to document Charlevoix through exceptional images, but to expand its story within a broadened perspective,” said Ole Lyngklip, Society board member, curatorial advisor, and co-author. “We sharpened the focus and widened the lens to show its relationship to the wider region, and the broader historical arc which shaped this very small, but truly remarkable corner of the world.”
The volume features contributions from leading voices in history, conservation, and culture—among them Eric Hemenway (Anishinaabe/Odawa) and Mary Pedley and Sierra Laddusaw, curators at the University of Michigan’s William L. Clements Library. A foreword by former TIME correspondent and best-selling author Charles Eisendrath offers a personal reflection on the Charlevoix area.
Proceeds from the sale of The City on Three Lakes will help support the curatorial and educational mission of the Charlevoix Historical Society’s Museum at Harsha House.
“This book is not only a record of where we have been,” Reynolds added, “it is an investment in preserving and sharing Charlevoix’s history for generations to come.”
About the Charlevoix Historical Society
The Charlevoix Historical Society is dedicated to curating, preserving and sharing the rich history of the Charlevoix area. Through its collections, museum exhibits, programs and publications, the Society educates the public, celebrates the unique heritage of the region, and offers resources that foster research and a richer understanding of Charlevoix’s past. Its Museum at Harsha House is located at 103 State Street in Charlevoix.The Society’s landmark preservation work was recognized with the 2025 Michigan Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.
About the Authors
David L. Miles is an award-winning historian and author specializing in the history of Charlevoix, Michigan. He has written ten books and produced two documentaries. His latest book, Boulders: The Life and Creations of Earl Young, Charlevoix’s Master Building in Stone, was selected by the Library of Michigan as a Michigan Notable Book, and received a State History Award from the Historical Society of Michigan, both in 2021. He also contributed to an Emmy-winning documentary on Earl Young that aired on Michigan PBS.
Ole Lyngklip is a first-time author who began curatorial collaborations with the Charlevoix Historical Society in 2018 with the exhibit 150 Years of Photography. The exhibit, which he co-curated with David Miles, documented Charlevoix’s photographic history from the late 19th century to the early modern era. His second exhibition in 2022, A Maritime History of Charlevoix, also co-curated with Miles, sparked the idea for this project. He currently sits on the boards of the Charlevoix Historical Society and the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
About the Book
The City on Three Lakes: A Maritime History of Charlevoix & the Surrounding Region
Charlevoix Historical Society, David L. Miles, Ole Lyngklip
Mission Point Press, June/July, 2026
About the Publisher
Mission Point Press is a hybrid publisher based in Michigan, dedicated to producing high-quality books that illuminate regional history, culture, and the natural world. The publisher collaborates closely with authors, institutions, and cultural organizations to bring carefully researched, visually compelling works to a broad audience.