By Suzette Lopez
On March 16, 1958, Herman G. Runge sailed on. His name is not familiar to many today but he was a nationally recognized authority on Great Lakes vessels during his time. Herman lived in Milwaukee on South 34th Street and was a confirmed bachelor who was known to say comments like – he had no need for women, they just want to come in and clean up my house. Well, good thing he never paired up with one of those women because all that clutter, which was stacked up with only narrow pathways to walk through the house, was bequeathed to the Milwaukee Public Library upon his death. That 70 plus years of collecting vessel facts, photos, books, clippings, newspaper, magazines, etc. became the cornerstone of the Great Lakes Marine Collection. The collection has grown considerably in the years since, but it all started with Herman G. Runge.
Herman was born in Cedarburg, Wisconsin in 1874. He moved to Milwaukee with his family when he was six years old. He began systematically collecting ship information by the age of 14.
In 1899 Herman became an apprenticed glove maker at the Ellsworth Manufacturing Co. followed by working in a relative’s general store in Caledonia. He returned to Milwaukee and joined the ship chandlers Joys Brothers and later worked for the implement dealers Lindsay Brothers. In 1903 he began work for the Milwaukee Road as a coal clerk and recorded the coal used by the road’s locomotives in Milwaukee. Meticulous work much like his hobby of collecting marine facts. He stayed with the Road until his retirement in 1933.
Once retired, Herman was able to devote all his time to collecting marine lore. Each year he made an annual tour of all principal lake ports, visited with officials, captains and lake seamen. He spent hours going over old government records in the marine custom houses transcribing their information into his records. At the same time he kept up a heavy correspondence with other collectors, marine photographers, government agencies and shipping lines.
In 1937 the Shipmasters Association made Herman Runge an honorary member.
When he died, he had become indisputably one of the most knowledgeable and colorful collectors on the lakes.
All records kept by Herman were in his own handwriting – a handwriting which needs some effort to decipher. He was a frugal man and his records were mainly written on the backs of coupon flyers, church bulletins, envelop backs, and old photos (non marine of course). And yes that is chopped beef 3 lbs. for 44 cents and ready to eat Pigs Feet 3 lbs. for 25 cents and, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, cabbage free with corned beef for 19 cents a pound.
Once at the library, these records were transcribed and typed, by manual typewriter, onto data sheets of a sturdier card stock. His handwritten index cards, written on the back of photos, is still available to researchers but most of the information is now incorporated into the vessel files. The press release stated the highlights of the collection contained information on more than 85,000 ships, photos on more than 17,000 lake ships and index cards on more than 35,000 vessels.
In January 1959 the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society was formed to help promote and collect more marine history which would be combined with Runge’s vast collection. The Society was founded by prominent Milwaukee citizens who had a great interest in the Lakes such as Edmund Fitzgerald of Northwestern Mutual and Harry C. Brockel Milwaukee’s Port Director.
When the Runge Collection opened to the public, the Marine Room was located where now the Rare Books Room is at Milwaukee’s Central Library. There was a staff of six – two librarians, two junior librarians and two clerical staff – on hand to process the collection and help the public with their inquiries.
Today the Runge Collection is part of the Great Lakes Marine Collection a joint collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society. It is located in the Humanities Department, down the hall from the original Marine Room. Runge’s tremendous book collection was cataloged and is part of the library’s collection. Numerous other marine collections have been added through the years. The vessel files now number over 12,000 and we haven’t attempted to total all the photos. The data sheets are part of a database available on the library’s website called Shipshape. The fields of the data sheet are searchable through this data base. A digital photo collection of Milwaukee’s harbor and rivers is also available on the library’s website called Milwaukee’s Waterways. The collection is more accessible to the public now than Runge would have ever believed. We are still processing some of Runge’s materials today, after all, it was an entire house full.
One quiet frugal man can really make a difference!
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Suzette Lopez is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society.
Photo at top of page: Herman G. Runge at his home, May 1939.
Other Photos:
PHOTO CREDIT: Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society and Milwaukee Public Library.
