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Noer/Milorganite® Division MMSD Image Collection

The Turfgrass Information Center received the Noer/Milorganite® Division MMSD Image Collection on indefinite loan in the summer of 2000. The collection features over 14,000 35-mm slide images originally organized by O.J. Noer. The images were taken between 1924 and the early 1980s by Noer and others, with the majority shot between 1945 and 1970.

The images are predominantly color photographs of lawns, sports fields, and golf courses throughout the United States and Canada. There are also close up photographs of many different varieties of grasses, diseases, pests, as well as images of golf holes and other turf-based landscapes. Before its transfer to MSU, the slide collection was located at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewer District (MMSD). Now on indefinite loan to the Michigan State University Libraries, the Turfgrass Information Center has begun to digitize the slides for public access.

The image collection was a welcomed addition to the Turfgrass Information Center, as it is an important componet of the TIC effort to preserve the history of turfgrass science and culture.

TIC's goal is to systematically catalog, digitize, preserve, and host online the entire Image Collection. Current progress on the processing of the images includes harvesting of all printed ledgers. Additionally, a small number of glass slides have been digitized. For more information on what is hoped to be accomplished, please see the Processing Prospectus.

All images on this page from the Noer/Milorganite® Division MMSD Image Collection MSU Libraries Turfgrass Information Center.