Turfgrass Information Center Slide Collections

As part of the Turfgrass Information Centerā€™s commitment to retain as much of the turfgrass literature as possible, the definition of what constitutes the ā€œliteratureā€ has been discussed, refined, and has evolved over the past 35 years. Therefore, we have developed a collections statement to guide us; briefly though, it includes: Monographic content, Serial content, ā€œSeparatesā€, and Images.

Though we have collected many formats, we have primarily focused on collecting photographic slides, both glass and plastic film. As the turfgrass industry was experiencing a large amount of growth in the 1940s-1960s, most of the images captured at that time were produced on photographic slides. Oftentimes these photographs were taken with the intention of being used as an educational tool, either for students or fellow researchers. These photographic legacies document many of the turf facilities, individuals, equipment, cultural practices, and research efforts of turfgrass pioneers.

The Turfgrass Information Center has been lucky enough to receive several slide collections of notable figures in the turfgrass industry, with about 67,000 slides currently in the collection. Any time it has been possible, we have acquired the rights to digitize these images ā€“ that way when time and funding present themselves, we can work on making these fascinating, historical images available to the broader public. Presently, two of these Collections have been digitized - totallying about 14,000 images, but are by no means complete.

Physical Collections that have been in part digitized:

  • The Noer/MilorganiteĀ® Image Collection
    • Acquired in 2000, The Noer MilorganiteĀ® Image Collection is on indefinite loan to the Michigan State University Libraries. The collection features some 25,000 images, most of which are 35 mm slides. In addition, there are some color and black & white positives and negatives, as well as a few motion pictures.
      To read more about the history of the Noer/MilorganiteĀ® Image Collection, see: https://tic.msu.edu/noermilorganite
  • The Dr. James R. Watson, Jr. Image Archive
    • Acquired in 2024, the Dr. James R. Watson, Jr. Image Archive features selections from a total of about 19,000 images taken by Dr. Watson throughout his career. This prototype archive currently contains 77 images.