TECUMSEH: Images of the Past Volume II (Volume I is sold out)

     Ashley Chase has been collecting memorabilia and information about Lenawee County for the past 40 years. He first concentrated on anything having to do with banks. He more than likely has the most complete collection of Lenawee County bank memorabilia. His collection started with coins. That led to currency, postcards and photos.

     At one point in his quest for banking history, Chase expanded his collection to include books, photos, postcards and other memorabilia related to Tecumseh and Lenawee County. Because he is known as a person who appreciates history and memorabilia, he is often given photos or offered first dibs at purchasing items related to this passion. He has journals of long-ago Tecumseh residents, an assembly of maps that list merchants from the 19th century, and furniture that includes a good story attached to each piece.

     A life member of the Tecumseh Historical Society, Chase has made many presentations and provided information to the organization and many other groups when needed.

     Because he felt it was important to preserve the history of the area, he decided to share part of his collection of photos, few of which have been seen by the general public before now.

     The 2017 Tecumseh City Calendar, for which Ashley provided photos, led him to reconnect with former co-workers Linda Hewlett and Kerry Hamilton Smith, who have a similar passion to preserve the community’s history. Linda works for the City of Tecumseh as its marketing coordinator. While working on the calendar project, she and the city’s Economic Development and Downtown Development Director Paula Holtz, kept saying as they perused his photos, “Ashley needs to publish a book.” After much though, Linda approached Ashley with the idea, to which he said, “Yes, let’s do it.” Linda mentioned the book project to Kerry, who works as a staff writer for the Tecumseh Herald, during an interview for an article about the calendar, and she approached Ashley to see if there was a need to have someone write and edit captions for the photos. The rest, as they say, is history. Tecumseh: Images of the Past Volume I was published in June 2017.

     Ashley had many other photos he wanted to share. Volume II is the result of his commitment to making sure part of Tecumseh's history is memorialized for all to enjoy.

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