The collection consists of love letters, postcards, notes, and telegrams sent between Kenneth and Marie during their four year courtship, 1922-1927. Materials are organized chronologically, with a typed transcript of the correspondence on the front and the original materials (often a letter and envelope) on the back of a polyester page. The pages are organized chronologically into binders. One folder of press releases about the collection is included in the front of Box #1.
The letters provide a view of courtship, life, one-room schoolhouses, teaching, the daily struggles of a working man, and love in the 1920s. Kenneth was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. His letters notes his attitudes about and various social activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Michigan in the 1920s. He wanted to be married in a Ku Klux Klan ceremony, but Marie declined this idea.
Biography:
Marie F. Kleiner (June 3, 1903-May 1976) of Greenwood Township in Clare County, Michigan, attended the summer teachers’ course at Central Michigan Normal School, now Central Michigan University (CMU), in 1921. She then taught in various one-room schoolhouses in Harrison, Michigan, 1921-1927. Her future husband, Kenneth Blass (May 31, 1897-April 1985) of Baldwin in Lake County, Michigan, worked as a postal worker in Detroit, 1921-1927. Kenneth and Marie were married on June 20, 1927. After their marriage and honeymoon they lived in Detroit from 1927 until 1953 when they returned to live in Baldwin (Mich.). Together they had four children: Kenmar E. and James M. Blass, Katherine C. Blass McBride, and Barbara E. Blass Wetzel, who is also a CMU graduate. (This information is from the collection and the Social Security Death Index website.)
