What are footprints doing on this Copper Range Company document?
A note from Florence E. Gregorich documents that certain records from the Copper Range Company’s old Boston headquarters were sent to Houghton for the use of Dr. J. Robert Van Pelt (former president of Michigan Tech and the library’s namesake) in writing a history of the Copper Range Company.
In September 1976, vandals broke into the warehouse and scattered many of the records. Due to a lack of time and manpower, there was no attempt to reassemble the records before they were moved into storage at White Pine Mine, from where the material was later donated to the Michigan Tech Archives.
Most likely the vandals were frustrated to have gone to the trouble of breaking into a warehouse only to discover boxes of records, rather than electronics. However, I like to think that they did this specifically to make trouble for future archivists. I imagine them shouting “archive this!” as they fling the papers across the room.
This project is supported with a grant from the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.
