Visible History

The Saugatuck Douglas Art Club Calendars from 1966 through 2011 
The Saugatuck Douglas Art Club has published an annual calendar since 1966.  It features black and white drawings of local scenes by local artists.  From 1966 through 1980, the calendar was produced with two pages for each month, or 25 pictures, including a cover.  Since then, it has had a standard format, with one page for each month, which requires a minimum of 13 pictures, including a cover.

791 pictures have been published in the calendars from 1966 through 2011, though some have been duplicated on more than one calendar, either accidentally, or intentionally.  The 1986 calendar, for instance, featured a best-of selection from the previous twenty years.  The number of unique pictures, from 1966 through 2011, excluding duplicates, is 752. 
We researched the history of the calendars for an Art Club program in June, 2010.  Jack Sheridan provided the digitized copies of some of the years of calendar pictures that the Historical Society stored some years back, Peggy Boyce provided her nearly complete collection of calendars, and Jane Van Dis provided copies of the years Peggy didn't have.  We've created a complete digital record of all the pictures in all the calendars we have ever published. 
Here are the totals for the artists who contributed the largest number of drawings.  These numbers exclude duplicates: 
Sylvia Randolph 59
Jane Van Dis 54
Peggy Boyce 52
Cathie Moore 45
Pauly Brockington 44
Anne Richter 42
Angie Van Hamersveld 27
Pauline Randall 22
Donna Tibbitts 20
Alyce Bartz 18

​Subjects are a little harder to analyze.  There are a lot of pictures of the lake, or the river.  But insofar as specific landmarks of the area are concerned here are the most often drawn subjects:
Peterson Mill 14
Butler Street (different views) 13
Mt. Baldhead 10
SS Keewatin 10
West Shore Golf Course 8
Pier Cove 8
Oval Beach 8
Chain Ferry 7
Ox Bow 6
Old Lighthouse 6