Project Scroll Research Note 2026-60
John Inbody at Eagle Lake, Michigan, in the summer of 1910: French’s Landing and French’s Hotel in the Catalog of Copyright Entries
Summary
Two real-photo postcards of French’s Hotel, Eagle Lake, Michigan, marked “Copyright by Inbody,” are held by the Library of Congress. The Copyright Office’s printed Catalog of Copyright Entries for 1910 dates them and adds five more Eagle Lake views by the same photographer, John Inbody of Elkhart, Indiana. On 4 July 1910 he registered “Eagle Lake, Mich.: French’s landing. 1–3.—Good fishing.—Launch race,” together with five views of Edwardsburg, including the Grand Trunk station; on 30 July 1910, “Eagle Lake, Mich., French’s hotel” (J 143801); and on 27 August 1910, “Eagle Lake, Mich., French hotel” (J 144708). The entries fix the dates of the two hotel cards, show that Inbody worked the lake on at least two occasions that summer, and record the name French’s Landing in use in July 1910.
The record
Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1910, pt. 4, n.s. vol. 5 (Washington, 1910), p. 321, entry 17787–17804
“Inbody (J.), Elkhart, Ind. … Eagle Lake, Mich.: French’s landing. 1–3.—Good fishing.—Launch race. © July 4, 1910; 2 c. each July 5, 1910; J 142855–142857, 142860, 142866. Edwardsburg, Mich.: Elkhart st.—Grand trunk station.—Main st.—Post-office.—Public school. © July 4, 1910; 2 c. each July 5, 1910; J 142861–142865.”
Internet Archive · See the record
Ibid., p. 354, entry 19748–19756
“Eagle Lake, Mich., French’s hotel. © July 30, 1910; 2 c. July 30, 1910; J 143801.”
Internet Archive · See the record
Ibid., p. 394, entry 21961–21969
“Eagle Lake, Mich., French hotel. © Aug. 27, 1910; 2 c. Aug. 29, 1910; J 144708.”
Internet Archive · See the record
What it changes
The two Library of Congress cards of French’s Hotel are dated by their registrations to 30 July and 27 August 1910, and five further Eagle Lake views by Inbody of 4 July 1910 are added to the record of the resort: three of French’s Landing, one of fishing and one of a launch race. The hotel’s landing is shown under the French name in the summer of 1910.
Limits
The catalogue records the dates of registration and deposit, not the day each photograph was taken. The five views of 4 July 1910 are known only from their titles; no copy of them has been identified. The 1912 band-concert card bears no name and is not among Inbody’s 1910 entries.
What we searched before calling it new
Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1910, pt. 4, read on the page images, with its index of claimants; the Internet Archive’s full text for Inbody with Eagle Lake and Edwardsburg; the Library of Congress catalogue; the Edwardsburg Area History Museum’s postcard gallery; Jo-Ann Boepple’s columns in the Edwardsburg Argus (2009, 2011). None cites these registrations.
Our standard for calling a finding new is set out in How we research, and how we weigh each kind of record in Scrollsigns.
“New” means new to print as far as we can tell. If you know of an earlier publication, tell us and we will credit it here and raise the note’s version.
Works cited
Earlier work, catalogues and databases named in this note, besides the records quoted above.
- Jo-Ann Boepple, “Revisiting the history of French’s Hotel and Resort,” Edwardsburg Argus, 18 August 2011. https://www.leaderpub.com/?p=563862
The full story
The finding is set out in context, with the rest of its sources, in Band night at French’s Hotel, Eagle Lake. In the discoveries register:
How to cite this note
Michael Urbanski, “John Inbody at Eagle Lake, Michigan, in the summer of 1910: French’s Landing and French’s Hotel in the Catalog of Copyright Entries,” Project Scroll Research Note 2026-60, version 1 (5 November 2026), https://projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-60/. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23968756.
BibTeX
@techreport{urbanski202660,
author = {Urbanski, Michael},
orcid = {0009-0006-8183-5828},
title = {{John Inbody at Eagle Lake, Michigan, in the summer of 1910: French's Landing and French's Hotel in the Catalog of Copyright Entries}},
institution = {Project Scroll},
type = {Project Scroll Research Note},
number = {2026-60},
year = {2026},
month = {nov},
url = {https://projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-60/},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23968756},
note = {Version 1}
}