Collections & Archives

The Holt-Delhi Historical Society's collection and archive is ever growing. It is comprised of various pieces of history including yearbooks, pamphlets, signs, scrapbooks, photographs, and more!

The Holt-Delhi Historical Society's collection and archive is just as young as the organization, first assembled in 2014. We have been lucky to accept several large collections into our permanent local history collection and archive, as well as numerous individual donations which comprise much of our holdings.

Among other things, we maintain a local history library including Holt yearbooks, local history publications, local plat maps, directories, and more. Our archive includes some local family papers, including, most notably, those of longtime township supervisor John B. Fay. After the closure of the historic Grovenburg United Methodist Church in 2019, the HDHS received several boxes of material relating to the church's history. We do not, however, have any official church records.

We strive to preserve and exhibit items representing all aspects of town, including: dairy bottles, business signs, bricks from demolished buildings, uniforms, original documents, photographs, and more. If you have something that applies, please consider a donation to the HDHS! Visit our Donations page for more information. 

Visit our Genealogy page for more information on our collections which may be useful in family history research. 

Family and Individual Collections:

  • Consisting of two separate gifts, the Fay Family Collection comprises primarily papers and photographs spanning multiple generations of the noted Fay family of Holt. Included in the collection is (1) a large ledger scrapbook belonging to Delhi Township supervisor John B. Fay, highlighting his long career in public service; (2) several scrapbooks from the early lives of John W. Fay and Betty Draheim Fay; (3) early family history information and writings; (4) Holt United Methodist Church memorabilia; (5) Holt schools memorabilia, including diplomas, photographs, and more; and (6) local history related newspapers, clippings, photographs, etc.

    Gift of Gary Fay and Karen Meirndorf

  • A small but impactful collection of memorabilia pertaining to Walter Holz, Holt High School Class of 1948. The Holz family moved to Holt around 1935 and owned property on Aurelius Road near present day Cricket Ridge Apartments and St. Matthew Lutheran Church. The collection includes 1940s Holt varsity letters, yearbooks, awards, and a class treasurer ledger, among other memorabilia.

    Gift of Walter Holz

  • An important collection of photographs and negatives document Holt and Holt Schools in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Among the topics featured are athletics, band, cheer, and community events, including a visit of Governor G. Mennen Williams to Holt.

    A subsequent gift includes Holt School programs, photographs, and a 1940s Holt gold and brown sweater.

    Gift of Roger Boettcher

  • An extensive collection of artifacts, tools, memorabilia, and effects from the Kahres Dairy Farm in Holt and Delhi Township. See Kahres Collection page for more details.

    Gift of the Kahres Family

  • The Livensparger Collection contains two scrapbooks from her time as teacher and principal of Midway Elementary School. They include photographs of teachers, clippings, papers, and more related to her teaching career. Also included is a book of notes on various topics, a textbook containing her notes on Sex Education, and a guest and well-wishes book from her 1977 retirement.

    Gift of DiAnne Warfield

  • This collection consists of school newspapers and newsletters, alumni newsletters, alumni lists, class photographs, and more on the North School District. North was an independent district in northern Delhi Township until its annexation into Lansing in 1960. The collection also provides history of the Miller Road Community. The material was compiled by Paul Hein, historian for the North School Friends.

    Gift of Paul Hein.

  • An assemblage of plaques, awards, certificates, and commemorative items from the lives and careers of noted Lansing medical doctors Dr. Seong Hae Chi (1929-2024) and Dr. Ki Whan Oh Chi (1929-2019), also pertaining to their late son John W. Chi (1955-1975). The Drs. Chi were Holt residents from 1969 through the remainder of their lives and made an impact in both medicine and philanthropy in the area. Dr. Chi performed the first open heart surgery in the Lansing area in 1966.

  • A collection of photographs, clippings, and other memorabilia relating to Herbert E. Gunn, noted Holt figure, president of Holt State Bank, Delhi Township supervisor, and Holt postmaster. The collection spans multiple generations to include the Clemetsen family, and ancestors such as Caleb Thompson, Delhi’s first clerk.

    Gift of Siri Rainone

  • Materials relating to Chester M. Wilcox, a Holt native and member of the prominent local Wilcox family. He founded Wilcox Laboratories in 1912 in Lansing, which subsequently became the Wilcox-Gay Company, famous for its Recordio and other audio recording inventions and products. Wilcox and his company moved to Charlotte, MI, in 1926 and died there in 1958.

    Gift of Mary Wilcox Whitson

  • Papers from longtime local historian and author Inge Logenburg Kyler pertaining to Holt history research, articles, and an assortment of past donations from local residents to Kyler. Also includes research, articles, oral histories, and footage of the 1992 Delhi Township Sesquicentennial parade and festival, which Kyler co-chaired.

    Gift of Inge Kyler

  • The original paperwork and files from the publication of the 1987 book, A Michigan Sesquicentennial History of Delhi Township. The papers include the original research notes and sources of each author, drafts of each chapter, and material on the book’s publication.

  • The original master copy, draft, layout, and images for the 1976 publication Looking Back, issued by the Delhi Bicentennial Committee following the author Alida Chapman’s death.

  • An antique strong box containing papers and photographs relating to William Douglas, an early RFD Postal Carrier in Holt, and his ancestors, including Alpha Douglas of Holt.

    Gift of Bill Thorburn

  • The Gladys Brown Collection encompasses six handmade bisque dolls produced in Holt by Mrs. Brown for the 1959 Lansing centennial celebration. The collection includes a sign for the doll set made by Sterling S. Alf.

    Gift of the Brown family

  • The Marian Elizabeth Hoskins Rolfe Collection comprises of material pertaining to the Gunn School and Holt Public Schools. Ms. Rolfe (1920-1995) and her brother attended the Gunn School before she later graduated with the Holt High School Class of 1937. Included are Gunn School class souvenirs, a 1937 HHS diploma, photographs, and a book presented by a teacher at the Gunn School.

    Gift of John Rolfe

  • See Gunn School Records for further details on the contents of this collection.

    Gift of Craig A Whitford

Collection Feature

John B. Gass Lighthouse Clock

Gift of Stewart Powell

John B. Gass (1926-1983) was a noted local figure with an international reputation as a horologist - a clockmaker and repairman. A longtime Holt resident, Gass had a shop at his Holt home on Cedar Street and was a professional repairman for Lansing’s Linn and Owen Jewelers for more than two decades. This is believed to be the last clock he made after working on it for many years. The wood casing is made from the wood siding of his abandoned childhood home in Kentucky and the glass globes were custom made and handblown in England.

Collection Feature

Untitled Painting by Arvilla Friar, c. 1975

Gift of Mike Grant from the family of Lt. Donald Green

Arvilla Friar (1927-2019) is a well-known local artist, active in the 1970s and 1980s. Her works in oils and watercolors often depict old houses and barns of Michigan’s back roads. A member of the Lansing Art Guild, she is also noted for her works documenting local historic sites throughout Lansing and Holt.

Works by Friar have been displayed at many local shows, libraries, and the Lansing Art Gallery and garnered numerous awards. A tryptic watercolor by Friar depicting the historic Menger farm in Holt hangs in the Delhi Township Hall board room.

Collection Feature

Lansing Centennial Dolls by Gladys Brown

Gift of the Brown family

These dolls were handmade by longtime Holt resident Gladys J. Brown. The front two are Mr. and Miss Lansing Centennial, made in 1959 for Lansing's centennial. They were displayed in downtown Lansing during the centennial celebration. The sign was painted by Sterling Silver Alf, Holt artist and sign painter. Mrs. Brown was a professional doll maker. She molded the head, hands, and feet in plaster, then poured a porcelain slip, fired them, and finished each piece by hand. The clothes are custom garments based on Godey's Ladies Book.

Collection Feature

Wilcox-Gay Recordio

Gift of Winston Stebbins and Lille Foster, and
Malcolm W. Stebbins and Jamila Boulima.

Chester Martin Wilcox was born in 1895 in Holt to Byron Wilcox and Jane (Thorburn) Wilcox. A prominent name in the community, Wilcox Road is named for the family as their farm was located on the road. Chester attended Holt Schools from his early years through the tenth grade in 1910, before Holt offered high grades. He went on to Lansing High School in 1911 then studied electrical engineering at Michigan Agricultural College. In 1910, at age fifteen, Chester started his small company Wilcox Radios in this parents’ basement. Early on in the company, Chester moved to Charlotte, Michigan.

While in Charlotte, Wilcox Radios manufactured amateur radio components and kits on West Lawrence Avenue. By 1926, they added consumer radios to their operations. In 1931, Paul Gay joined Chester Wilcox forming the Wilcox-Gay Corporation. Wilcox and Gay moved their operation into the old Bennet Furniture factory in Charlotte and expanded their business to include tape decks, reel-to-reel, televisions, police radios, and record players. In 1939, they launched their most noted product: the Recordio. With advertisements in Life Magazine and beyond, the Wilcox-Gay Recordio was very successful having sold 25,000 units in the first year. Musicians like Les Paul and Johnny Cash recorded using Recordios. The machines recorded 78 rpm transcriptions with decent fidelity. The Great Depression hurt the company and the new adoption of magnetic tape recordings was also a major blow to the company.

In 1950, Leonard Ashbach of the Leonard Ashbach Company acquired controlling interest in Wilcox-Gay. By 1955, all of Ashbach’s holdings were consolidated into Grundig-Majestic. Chester Wilcox died in 1958 and is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Charlotte.

This Recordio was one of several that belonged to the Arthur C. Stebbins family of Lansing. It was kept at the family’s non-winterized cottage in Roaring Brook, Harbor Springs, Michigan.

Digital History Archive

The Holt-Delhi Historical Society's digital history archive is comprised of hundreds of digitized copies of photos, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous ephemera relating to Holt.

The Holt-Delhi Historical Society's Digital History Archive is made up of many different sub-collections organized by donor and by topic. 

For instance, we have received numerous donations of photographs which we have scanned in order to more efficiently share the historical images with the public. In some instances, we have both the physical copy and a digital copy for easy access. In many cases, we have harvested historical images from those shared with us via social media, email, and elsewhere.

Ephemera is defined as anything that was not intended to last, such as event programs, posters, ballots, newspapers, etc.; typically things that were initially made to be enjoyed for a short period of time, but have survived over the years. We have many pieces of local ephemera in both physical and digital form.

Though we have hundreds of individual digitized pieces of material we are always looking for more. If you have material to contribute to our digital archive - be it photographs, newspaper clippings, or beyond - please visit our Donations page for more information on donating physical material and digital material. 

If you would like to access our digital archive, please contact us.