The late local historian Charles E. Frohman of Sandusky, Ohio, collected more than 14,000 historic photographs documenting Lake Erie’s Western Basin, its shoreline communities,and the Erie Islands. The collection includes images that date from before the Civil War and span nearly one hundred years.

Four thousand of the images are the work of Sandusky, Ohio commercial photographer Ernst Niebergall. From ice harvesting and railroads to early aviation and island leisure activities, the Niebergall photographs richly depict the everyday lives and activities of Lake Erie's southern shoreline residents. The photographs, taken between 1909 and 1915, provide a record of communities in transition as old methods gave way to advances in industry and technology.