Collections

State component of larger national organization serving interests of war-time veterans. Series include meeting minutes, annual reports, convention proceedings, constitution and by-laws, records of American Legion Hospital, and records of various youth programs and other community service projects.

The records of the Michigan department of the American Legion date from the early days of the department in 1919 up to the late 1990s, and document the internal functions of the organization as well as various projects and community service programs undertaken by the department. The record group contains the following series: Executive Committee Files, Proceedings and Annual Reports, Publications, Assorted Meeting Minutes, Michigan Department Annual Reports, Cancelled Post Files, Other Records, Otter Lake Children's Billet, Scrapbooks and Photograph Albums, and Sound Recording. Portions of the records are available on microfilm only.

The collection includes charter, meeting minutes, financial records, annual reports, correspondence, scrapbooks, and other organizational records.

The Isabella County chapter records include meeting minutes, annual reports, correspondence, financial records, fund-raising campaign materials, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous relating to the chapter’s operations and activities, 1917-1979. Four Red Cross uniforms that were donated with this collection were transferred to the Central Michigan University Museum in October 1976.

History; board minutes and other records of the chapter, and of the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti branches; activities files detailing work of chapter in matters of public health and wartime home services; newsletters; scrapbooks and newspaper clippings; and photographs.

The records of the Washtenaw County Chapter of the American Red Cross span the years from 1916 to 1975 and document the history of the first fifty years of the Red Cross in Washtenaw County. One may trace the growth of this organization from the early meetings at the home of Dr. Louis P. Hall on Hill Street in Ann Arbor in 1917 through the war efforts to the successful building campaign and the fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1967. Best documented are the administrative activities and the Home Service efforts of the county chapter. This record group is divided into five series: History, Administration, Activities, Informational, and Scrapbooks.

This photograph album contains 57 photographs of the Jinan Station of the American Presbyterian Shantung Mission from ca. 1923 to 1928. Much of the images show the Murray High School for Girls and its students.

This photograph album 57 photographs of the Jinan Station of the American Presbyterian Shantung Mission from ca. 1923 to 1928. Many of the images show the Murray High School for Girls and its students. Young girls are shown in the school yard being led through routines and stretches, in class portraits, on a riverboat, and likely participating in May Day celebrations dancing around a maypole. The girls are shown wearing two-piece qipao uniforms with a white blouse and black skirts or trousers. In several photographs students can be seen waving the first national flag of the Republic of China. Two images include a stamp on the back that reads, "Dr. Evalena S. C. Fleming, American Presbyterian Mission, Tsinanfu North China." Dr. Fleming was an amateur photographer and likely the owner of the album. The accordion style album also contains five loose photographs in a mylar sleeve.

The album is 18.25 x 12 cm with decorative cloth covers.

Colin V. Dyment, Lt. A.R.C., 91st Div. wrote these American Red Cross, 91st Division (World War I) death reports for the benefit of bereaved family members. Written in 1919 and with varying degrees of detail, they describe the circumstances of the deaths of men in the 91st Division - almost exclusively during the Meuse-Argonne and Belgian offensives, September-November, 1918.

The American Red Cross 91st Division death reports consist of 29 reports, each of which documents the deaths within a particular company or companies, battalion, or detachment within the 91st. Every page bearing an American Red Cross letterhead, the documents begin with a list of deceased soldiers' names and emergency contacts and are followed by a description of each man's death. The reports comprise 332 pages and relate the wartime deaths of 781 men.

The author of the reports, Colin V. Dyment, Lieutenant A.R.C, was a "searcher" within the 91st Division. His reports each proceed in a chronological fashion, beginning in the first phase of the Meuse-Argonne offensive and ending variously - as the final deaths suffered by each unit occurred at different times. Some of the units lost their last man in the second phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and others not until their service in Belgium.

With as much detail as he was able, Dyment related the military context, troop movements, geographical surroundings, and precise events that led to the death of the soldiers. The descriptions are at times narrative, sometimes including last words, final dialogues with other men, physical descriptions of the men, and exact burial locations (when known). Where he did not bear witness, he attempted to include the contact information of officers or soldiers who had, so that bereaved family members might query them for information about their loved ones. The individual reports often read like stories, telling of the same battles with a focus on different companies, battalions, and detachments.

One report of non-combat casualties describes a train wreck near Bonnieres, France, in which a French freight train crashed into the rear of a military troop train. The 91st suffered the loss of 30 men from the Machine Gun Company and Medical Detachment of the 362nd Infantry unit.

This collection arrived at the Clements Library with twelve additional items: typescript copies of nine letters and two postal cards from Harry B. Critchlow of the 363rd Ambulance Company, 316th Sanitary Train, 91st Division and one typescript document entitled "Who Won the War," written by William H. Johnston in collaboration with General John J. Pershing. These additional materials relate directly to the 91st Division, but their relationship, if any, to the death reports is unclear.

Harry B. Critchlow of Portland, Oregon, sent these letters to his parents and to his brother Walter, mainly in August 1917, while at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and Fort Riley, Kansas. In them, he described life in military camp and the activities of his fellow soldiers. In a letter dated June 19, 1918, from Camp Lewis, Washington, he anticipated his deployment overseas. Following the War, he sent two postal cards from France, assuring his family that he was still alive.

William Johnston's typescript copy "Who Won the War" is made up of transcripts of letters between himself and General John J. Pershing, regarding the accuracy of Pershing's portrayal of the 91st Division in his memoir of the war.

The Ammon Hennacy Papers were acquired from the family of Hendrik Anderson, who had stored them for many years after Hennacy's Southwest sojourn. In the course of the years the papers were re-arranged, and in some cases mixed with Anderson's own papers. The bulk of the collection ranges from 1936-1944, although many items are undated.

These papers are particularly significant in their documentation of Hennacy's early years of study, his prison experiences, and his relationships with his family and various close friends, including Dorothy Day. Hennacy's notes and manuscripts document his attentive reading and study habits, while his handwritten "Gospel in Brief" includes his own cross-references (including to Tolstoy) and interpretations of the New Testament (a second volume of this project may be found in the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center). Hennacy's letters are filled with political and social arguments; they document his constant effort to convince other people of his views.

In his personal papers, the notes on travels with Selma Melms in 1921-1925 are rich in detailed descriptions of places visited, people met, and miles traveled. Some of these latter notes appear to be written by Melms.

The Hennacy Papers are divided into seven series: Correspondence, Manuscripts, Printed Materials, Notes and Book Reviews, Personal files, Subject files and Hendrik Anderson papers.

Correspondence comprises roughly 1/3 of a linear foot. Of particular note are letters from Ralph Borsodi, Holley Cantine, Dorothy Day, Theodore Debs, Mohandas K. Gandhi, E. Haldeman-Julius, Hippolyte Havel, Thomas Keall, Lucy Parsons, Maximillian Olay, Boris Yelensky, and the Sunrise Farm Cooperative Community. The correspondence from Day, most of which is undated, is intimate in tone, touching on daily events as well as spiritual matters. Day coaches Hennacy through his conversion, complains lightly about people who hang around her but are "not really concerned in our point of view" (in a letter dated only "Saturday"), and frequently expresses worry about his health and safety. In one letter, Day indirectly addresses the physical attraction between them, and asserts her celibacy.

The letter from Gandhi is apparently not written in his hand, but appears to be signed by him. The signature, in different ink than the letter itself, matches Gandhi's as reproduced in published letters. The letter is marked "Yerawa Central Prison 3rd April," and includes a blue symbol, perhaps a censor's mark, at the top margin. Since Gandhi was in the Yeravda (or Yerawa or Yeravada) Central Prison (in Poona or Pune, Maharashtra, India) from March 1922 until February 1924, it is most likely that this letter dates from 1923. In response to a letter from Hennacy, Gandhi gently rejects Christian Science, and asserts his belief in God "...not in the hope that He will heal me, but in order to submit entirely to His will, and to share the fate of millions who, even though they wished to, can have no Scientific medical help." Gandhi adds that he often fails to carry this belief into practice.

Hennacy's outgoing correspondence is arranged chronologically. It includes his letters to Dorothy Day, to his family, the Fuller Brush Company (1923 to "Dad Fuller" and 1929 to Mr. Eckman), Upton Sinclair (1924, 1932, 1935), Gandhi (1933), President Roosevelt (1934), Emma Goldman (1936) and many others. While nearly all are dated, many are addressed only with the correspondent's first name. The letters are preserved as typed carbon copies in most cases, usually not signed by hand. They cover a wide range of topics, from personal relations to political and religious concerns, to the pragmatics of publication, travel and meetings.

The Manuscripts series contains both typed and handwritten manuscripts by Hennacy, including chapter drafts from his book on Christian Anarchism. The "Prison Writings" folder contains letters and statements produced by Hennacy during his imprisonment in 1919. These include detailed descriptions of prison conditions and Hennacy's own classification of prisoners according to their crime, background, ethnicity and honesty ("rat," "professional rat" and "potential rat").

Printed Materials contains Hennacy's clipping files, as well as articles published by Hennacy. It is not clear whether Hendrik Anderson might have added clippings to some of these files in later years.

The fourth series,Notes and Book Reviews, consists of three original Hennacy folders ("Anarchism Book Reviews," "Anarchism Notes and Articles," and "Extra Copies of Notes"), and a varied sample of Hennacy's research notes that have been re-foldered. Most of these are undated, although the dates may be extrapolated from the publication dates and sometimes from the home address Hennacy included. Hennacy's own inventory for his notes in 1938 are in the folder "Index to Notes."

Personal files and Subject files are both very small series, comprising a miscellany of materials. Of particular interest are the photographs, many of which are inscribed and a few of which are dated, and the "Honeymoon Hiking Adventure," a set of notes concerning Hennacy's travels around the country with his bride Selma Melms in 1921-1925.

The Anderson Papers, roughly 1⁄2 linear foot, date primarily from 1942-1944. They comprise leaflets, publications, and a negligible amount of correspondence. Most of the material concerns Anderson's efforts in pacifism and the Socialist Party in California and other western states.

Unit of the University of Michigan concerned with the procurement of cadavers for anatomical instruction, includes registers and permits detailing the acquisition and tracking of cadavers for medical instruction at the University of Michigan

These records document the acquisition and tracking of cadavers for medical instruction at the University of Michigan for nearly a century, beginning in 1881. Although these records were created to fulfill an administrative need, researchers will find that the records contain an abundance of information. In addition to the obvious genealogical information, quantitative and qualitative statistics on causes of death and ages of death can be extracted from these records. This documentation also provides commentary on changing social values, as the sources of cadavers moved from unclaimed paupers, to the development of program sustained by voluntary donations.

Collected papers documenting the role of Michigan in World War I, including the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1919, the "Polar Bear Expedition."

The collection includes diary (1918-1919) of Henry Ahrens, 330th Field Artillery; scrapbook (1916-1936) of Ernest Kaser, 126th and 128th Infantry; papers of Thomas J. McCarthy, 339th Infantry, chiefly relating to disability and insurance; papers of Carl G. Olson, 337th Infantry, including a letter received from relatives; papers of Jesse H. Stage, 160th Depot Brigade, Camp Custer, including letters received from relatives; pamphlets from the YMCA, Red Cross and other publishers; ration cards, artifacts, and photographs.

Photographs and postcards of Camp Custer, Mich.; group photos of members of 32nd Division in the Army of Occupation in Germany, 1919; 160th Depot Brigade, Camp Custer; oversize group portraits of members of 41st Machine Gun Battalion; 107th Supply Battalion; 214th Field Signal Battalion; 330th Field Artillery; Company B, 337th Infantry; 339th Infantry; 2nd Company, Officers' Training School, Camp Custer; and survivors of the troop ship Tuscania; portraits of members of 339th and 340th Infantry; photos of 126th and 128th Infantry in scrapbook of Ernest Kaser; postcard of military parade in Flint, Mich.; 330th Field Artillery pennant.

Professor of history at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. Correspondence, diary, student essays, and lecture notes.

The Andrew C. McLaughlin collection consists of correspondence concerning his scholarly interests, essays and a law thesis written while he was a student at the University of Michigan, and eight volumes of lecture notes on lectures he gave while at the University of Michigan. There is, additionally, a diary from his visit to Germany in 1893, a scrapbook and other material concerning a visit to England for the purpose of interpreting America to British audiences, and biographical information. Some of McLaughlin's correspondence included Charles K. Adams, John F. Jameson, Pierre Margry, John T. Morse, and Ira Remsen.

African American musician and bandleader Andy Kirk began a career that spanned more than thirty years in 1919, when he joined the George Morrison Orchestra as a saxophonist. He went on to earn renown as a bandleader and musician within the Big Band and Jazz genres. The Andy Kirk papers include photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and the rough draft manuscript for his autobiography 20 Years on Wheels.

The Andy Kirk Papers are comprised of newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, and personal papers which document the career of musician and bandleader Andy Kirk. The collection covers the years 1923 to 1991 but most of the materials are from Kirk's active career within the years 1935 and 1950. The collection was initially processed by the Center for Afro-American and African Studies. It is divided into eight series: Correspondence, Writings, Legal Papers, Photographs, Scripts, Clippings, Ephemera, and Topical Files.