William D. Carle III collection

Collection

Identifier: GLMS-0130

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

Photographs taken and collected by attorney William Carle during his career as an attorney and Great Lakes enthusiast. Also contains a number of vessel log books spanning the 1950s-1970s.

Dates

Creation: 1894-1993
Creation: Majority of material found within 1953-1993

Extent

13 Cubic Feet (12 card boxes, 4 letter manuscript boxes, 1 half letter manuscript box, 3 record storage cartons, 1 flat box, and 16 volumes)

Creator

Carle, William D. III (Person)

Scope and Contents

This collection is divided into two series. The first consists of several thousand photographs both taken and collected by William D. Carle throughout his life. As a Great Lakes enthusiast and former sailor, Carle was an avid photographer of vessels, especially in the Cleveland area. He also met and befriended Dr. Richard Wright, founder of the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes here at the University Libraries. The two often exchanged photo negatives and prints to add to each other's collections. The majority of the photographs are undated. A small run of negatives at the end of the series document legal cases Carle was a part of in his capacity at the law firm McCreary, Hinslea, and Ray. These cases either involved vessel accidents or personal injuries on docks or vessels.

The second series consists of manuscript material. The main portion of this series is several dozen logbooks from various Great Lakes vessels. The largest sets are from the HENRY STEINBRENNER and MERLE M. MCCURDY. The rest of the series consists mainly of scrapbooks and miscellaneous manuscript materials. The first scrapbooks are photocopies of two volumes of ships leaving and arriving at the port of Sept Iles, Quebec. The other three scrapbooks document the M.A. Hanna Company and the fire aboard the passenger steamer NORONIC.

Biographical Sketch

William D. Carle III was born in Cleveland, OH, in 1929. Starting at age sixteen, he spent four seasons as a sailor aboard the EMORY L. FORD. This began a lifetime of knowledge and love of Great Lakes shipping. After obtaining a business degree from Miami University in 1951, Carle obtained a job as an industrial relations manager for Pittsburgh Steamship Company, a subsidiary of United States Steel. He worked in this capacity for four years while also completing a law degree from Cleveland-Marshall Law School. With this change in career focus to law, Carle began working with the law firm McCreary, Hinslea, and Ray of Cleveland (now known as Ray Robinson Law Co., L.P.A.), specializing in maritime law. He eventually became partner, and eventually went so far as to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was active in a number of professional (and other) organizations, including the International Association of Defense Counsel, Maritime Law Association of the United States, America/Ohio/Cleveland Bar Associations, and the Great Lakes Historical Society. He served for a time on the Board of Trustees for the latter. As a long-time advocate for the preservation of regional maritime history, Carle played a pivotal role in getting the steamer WILLIAM G. MATHER brought to Cleveland as a museum ship. Carle passed away in 2013.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.