KALAMAZOO -- Hidden in the details of black-and-white negatives recently given to the city's historic preservation coordinator are images showing slices of mid-20th Century life in downtown Kalamazoo and beyond.

"These photos are like a time machine,'' said Sharon R. Ferraro.

The large-format negatives from 4x5 inches to as large as 8 x10 inches are well exposed, intensely sharp and packed with details of street scenes and buildings.

"You can see people out shopping with their kids," Ferraro said. "The buildings and cars are different from today, but somehow the people appear the same. You can see the humanity."

The dozens of negatives, along with a few large prints, were given to Ferraro by the Light family and were taken by commercial and aerial photographer John Todd, whose career spanned four decades. Some of the envelopes containing negatives have handwritten notes saying the negatives inside were never printed -- perhaps out-takes from Todd's archive.

The oldest negatives show soldiers marching east on Michigan Avenue in 1941, before World War II. People solemn faces pack the sides of the street as the soldiers pass. Other images chronicle the 1950's with busy street life and the several angles of Kalamazoo's pedestrian mall.

There are also aerial photos, including one showing the first signs of construction on I-94 at Portage Street.

Ferraro is donating the photographic work to the Portage Library, adding to a larger collection of Todd's commercial photographs. The John Todd Photographic Collection consists of over 13,000 negatives of Southwest Michigan from 1940 to 1981. The primary focus of the collection is on the city of Kalamazoo. Currently available in a digital archive are over 1,000 images which represent a cross section of Todd's life work. Copies are available by contacting the Portage District Library's Local Historian.

"Having professional photographs that chronicle history are so important. They show how different the past was and how things change," Ferraro said.

"As a preservationist, I tell people we don't want to stop change, we want to be rooted in its growth. I've seen a huge surge of interest in Kalamazoo's history," said Ferraro, Kalamazoo's historic preservation coordinator since 2001.

On June 18-19, on Father's Day weekend, people can explore inside several historic building spaces on the annual "Hidden Kalamazoo" tour.

"Beside visiting the State Theatre, people can see the Ladies Library, the old Montgomery Wards space above Terrapin on the Mall," Ferraro said of some of the stops on the self guided tour. "In Bronson Park, we'll talk about the historic fountain along with members of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (Gun Lake Tribe)."

Hidden Kalamazoo tickets, which will cost $15 and be good for both days, will be available starting May 1 at locations including D&W Fresh Market, The Spirit of Kalamazoo, Douglas & Son, and at Kalamazoo City Hall.