The collection reflects the publishing interests of Nick and Helma Mika. It comprises four main series: photographic files, reference files, printing process files and other materials. The collection is strong in local history materials, particularly relating to the history of the United Empire Loyalists, railways, and the city of Belleville.
The photographs are arranged by subject matter and cover activities in and around the town of Deseronto, Ontario. The majority date from the late nineteenth century and many depict the lumber-related industries of the Rathbun Company in Deseronto. There are also photographs of school groups, churches, railways, First World War airfields and portraits of Deseronto citizens.
This collection contains a variety of materials relating to the history of Deseronto and Hastings County. Items include:
video of the 1989 Deseronto Centennial and Homecoming celebration, 4-5 August 1989, including performances of the Centennial Song, a Main Street parade, a baby show, karate demonstration and fireworks
File on the 1989 Deseronto Centennial celebrations
35mm slides of historic views of Deseronto
Morrison family snapshots of unidentified people
Photograph of an aircraft from Camp Mohawk on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, August 1917
Series of 120 photographs of Deseronto, taken around 1995. Many are aerial shots, others are of individual houses. A few depict individuals: Don Lindsay, Dennis Vick, Dick Beare, Joe Carter, Ed Gordanier
'A Building Code for Smaller Municipalities' by the National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, 1947
County of Hastings directories for 1983, 1984, 1985
County of Hastings receipts and expenditures statement, 1921
By-law to Regulate the Running At Large of Animals and for Other Purposes, Township of Tyendinaga, 6 August 1895
File of 'Deseronto Firsts' compiled by Ken Brown
File of photographs, press clippings and list of entrants in Deseronto's Easter Parade of 2006
16 photographs of empty lots in Deseronto, taken 2004
File of partial letters from Joe Goold to his sweetheart, Marnie, written while he was based in Detroit, 11 September to 11 October 1919, with blank postcards of Deseronto scenes and a letter from Elizabeth Goold to Bill Hunt concerning the letters
File on James Fairbairn including a newspaper extract and a studio photograph taken by him.
Typescript biography of Harry B. Free (Camp Rathbun flight instructor) by Margaret Crothers, 1991
File on the Dryden family, including a photograph of the Drydens at the Peterborough Lift Lock (https://flic.kr/p/9dmEYZ)
File of clippings about Gwen Lazier Braidwood, 2005
File of clippings about Deseronto mayor Glen Belcour, 1995-2002
Ontario Hydro maps for parts of Hastings County and copies of Grand Trunk Railway plans from Library and Archives Canada. Includes a photograph of Canadian National Railway employees at Belleville, Ontario (online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/cabhc/39400300370/) and booklet C.T. 405 from Penn Central with "Special Instructions Governing Operation of Signals and Interlockings", 1968
Three additional Hydro maps were added from David Pershick's estate in January 2024 (2024-007/1-3), with two aerial photographs of railway yards in Toronto (2024-007/4-5, in poor condition).