Calcite Screenings

 

            Calcite Screenings began in 1926 as a safety publication for the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Co. and the Bradley Transportation fleet.  The magazine quickly evolved into much more than a safety publication, however, with articles about all aspects of operations at the Calcite Plant and the Bradley boats.  It also included reports on events and activities in Rogers City and the surrounding area, personal items about employees and their families, even cartoons and jokes.  Most issues were extensively illustrated with photos, most taken by Calcite employees working in the lab.  The slick-looking magazine was distributed to Calcite and Bradley employees and retirees, and it’s likely that the sales staff also had copies distributed to customers and prospective customers around the country.

            After Calcite became a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, the magazine began to report on activities at other quarries owned by the company.  In fact, the name of the magazine was eventually changed to simply Screenings.  Publication of the popular magazine was discontinued in 1963, probably as a cost-saving measure.

            Screenings has always been very popular with local residents, not just Calcite and Bradley employees.  Back issues are an excellent source of genealogical information and historical material on the Calcite Plant and the Bradley boats.  Those uses will be greatly facilitated by having copies of the magazine available online in a searchable format.  The museum has DVDs containing copies of all 38 years of Screenings on sale at our online store or at the museum. Click here to go to the store.

You may also view the Screenings online by clicking here.

Note: When conducting a search on the DVD, it's possible that not all specified items will be found (although the majority will). There are several reasons for this:

- The quality of the text on the page scanned (these books are old)
- The spelling in the Screenings vs. the spelling used today   
  (especially  family names)
- The ability of the optical character recognition (OCR) program to   
   identify all characters during the scanning process.