Off the Record: A Pictorial History of Saugatuck in the '40s And '50s-the Unpublished Photographs of Bill Simmons

In 1998, the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society received a collection of nearly 3,000 photographs shot in and around Saugatuck by Bill Simmons before, during, and after he served as editor of the Saugatuck Commercial Record. Since most of the photographs existed in negative form only and had never been printed or published in the paper, the collection is both literally and figuratively "off the record." Members of the society have selected 157 representative images from this collection to create the most extensive visual history of Saugatuck in the 1940s and 1950s. Unlike earlier photographers who separate Saugatuck's townscape and landscape from its citizenry, Simmons shows how people interacted with the local geography, villagelife, and work. For those who lived there during the same time as Simmons, the photographs collected in "Off the Record" will recall particular nostalgic events, people, and locales. For all readers these images of a half-century ago add new meaning and insight into our history and remind us how photographs shape the way we identify and define our past.