Biography - Margaret Mabelle Kariean

Archive Image
Add to Shoebox  View Your Shoebox  User Login
Title: Biography - Margaret Mabelle Kariean
Photographer: Carl Peterson of Gazette
Subject Headings: Persons, Manners and Customs - Clothing and Dress, Woody Plants - Trees
Condition: Good
Description: Mrs. Kariean displays the results of a day in the field. She says that the blueberries are less plentiful this season than they were last year. [Mrs. Kariean holds a roasting pot full of blueberries. She holds a cigarette in one hand and her glasses in the other. See comment section for story.]
Source of Description: Daily Mining Gazette Article [Cataloger]
Institution: Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections
Donor: Robert Skuggen
Date of Photo: August 7 1965
Medium: still image
Color: black and white
Size: 10 cm x 13.9 cm
Polarity: Positive
Image No: MS051-024-006-001
Collection Name: Daily Mining Gazette Photograph Collection
Terms of Use: Rights to reproduce and distribute this image may be restricted. Contact the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections for further information.
User Comments:
• Margaret Mabelle Kariean, 70 summers old and blueberry picker extraordinary. She carries a large pan of blueberries to the table outside her tent. The filtered cigarette that droops from a corner of her pursed lips is a mute reminder that this is all very much here and now. Mrs. Kariean has spent the past 49 summers living in a tent on the shores of Rice Lake. During the winter she lives in Laurium. She is, as she puts it, in the blueberry racket."According to what her mother told her, Margaret Mabelle was born in 1895 on a boat in Copper Harbor. She was unable to elaborate on this. Ever since her marriage in 1916, Mrs. Kariean has been spending her summers at the lake. Her husband passed away in 1950. A son, who works during the day, usually spends the nights with her at the camp. They have no car. A bicycle is the son's method of travel. When an occasional trip to town is necessary, Mrs. Kariean said there are friends with cars who oblige.The berry picker came from a family of 11 children and has had 10 children herself. Now, at the camp in addition to her son, she keeps a dog and a cat. The dog's name is Roscoe and the cat answers to Mike.A small oil stove is used for cooking. On cold nights it furnishes the necessary warmth for the tent. Kerosene laterns supply the only light. [Daily Mining Gazette Article, August 7, 1965] "
4/15/2008 9:17:48 AM by Christine Holland, Archives