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Governor of Michigan, writer, businessman; papers include correspondence, business records, speeches, writings, visual materials, diaries.

The Osborn collection consists of correspondence, diaries, business papers, scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials accumulated during his life. Materials prior to 1889 are scarce possibly because of a fire which destroyed Osborn's home; thereafter and up to the time of his death in 1949, the Osborn papers are voluminous, documenting each of this man's varied activities. Although his career as elected public official was limited to one term as governor, the collection reflects the importance of his life in areas beyond politics alone. His voice was heard, in letters and speeches and monographs, speaking out on the issues of the day - prohibition, conservation, the New Deal, and of course his life-long interest in the development of Michigan's Upper Peninsula economy and natural resources.

Collection of stereograph images of views of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the late nineteenth century.

This collection consists of six envelopes of stereographs published by Bailey & Whitesides, C. B. Brubaker, and A. G. Emergy, and some photographed by B. F. Childs. The images are scenes of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the late nineteenth century, including Michigamme, Houghton, Hancock, and Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan and the Pictured Rocks.

The Michigan Historical Collections Topical Photograph Collection offer a broad and varied glimpse into nearly one hundred years of Michigan history, from the 1860s into the 1950s. The provenance of most of the photographs has been lost and therefore these images have been grouped together by subject into an artificial accumulation. Subjects depicted range from industry and transportation to clothing styles and social customs.

The photographs in this collection were received from various sources. Subjects include carriages, automobiles, Great Lakes shipping, railroads, and mass transit, especially street railroads. There are also images documenting activities within the mining, forestry, and lumber industries, mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Also included are photographs of various ethnic groups and their societies, notably of Native Americans (1870s-1930s) of the Manistee and Ludington, Michigan, areas. Some of the images are street views and private residences in various Michigan towns and cities. Of interest are photographs of Michigan units taking part in the Spanish-American War and the "Polar Bear Expedition" of World War I. There is also a series of bookplates, [acquired from?] William H. Bicknell, many of which relate to the University of Michigan.

Papers collected by Minnie C. M. Fay of Battle Creek, Michigan. Genealogical, and family records, and photographs.

The Minnie Fay collection consists of genealogical and family records, family photographs, and a diary, 1857-1858 probably of a Henry Chandler.

These photograph albums contain pictures of scenery, people, and buildings in the Adirondack Region of northern New York and in Washington, D.C.

These photograph albums (19cm x 30cm) contain 49 pictures of scenery, people, and buildings in the Adirondack Region of northern New York. Labeled photographs show buildings, animals, and scenery in and around Ilion, New York; Clifton, New York; Oxbow, New York; Chippewa Bay, New York; the Grass River; the Oswegatchie River; and Washington, D.C. Houses and other buildings shown include a home on "Preston Isle" in Chippewa Bay, the "Old Morris House" (a colonial stone house), an abandoned iron furnace, the White House, and the United States Capitol. Photographs of construction equipment are also present. Of the individuals and groups pictured, only Jack Moffett, a young boy, is identified. Photographs of note include pictures of an encampment, the exterior of a log cabin decorated with pine boughs, game and fish, and replicas of the ships Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Two photographs indicate the photographer's interest in capturing motion: one shows the Empire State Express at full speed and another shows a woman throwing water, captured at a shutter speed of 1/50 second. The albums have black or blue binding with "Photographs" embossed in gold on the covers.

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).

Professor of conservation and conservation education at the University of Michigan. Professional papers.

The Richard Weaver papers relate to his activities as college naturalist at Dartmouth College; as project leader of the National Association of Biology Teachers' program to increase emphasis on teaching of conservation in schools. There are also files concerning interest in conservation education and his participation in conservation workshops and conferences in the United States and abroad in Pakistan in 1961. The series in the collection are Biographical/Personal; Cornell Fellow in Conservation Education; College Naturalist, Dartmouth College; National Association of Biology Teachers; Workshops, conferences; Fulbright Fellowship: Trip to Pakistan; University of Michigan; Writings, etc.; and Photographs.

Educator and forester; correspondence, articles, reports, consulting files, and printed material concerning interests in forest management, forest fire control, use planning, forestry education, and participation in several land use lawsuits, including suit on the multiple use plan for Sylvania area, Ottawa National Forest; and photographs.

The Davis collection documents his various activities as a teacher, consultant, and practicing forester. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical / Personal; Correspondence; Writings; University of Michigan Student, 1932-1933; University of Michigan Faculty, 1949-1966; Yale University Faculty, 1967-1974; Society of American Foresters; Conferences and Programs attended; International Forestry; Consulting File; Forest Management; Forest Cutting Practices Study, 1944-1957; Continuous Forest Inventory Study, 1959-1960; Nashwaak Pulp and Paper Company Case, New Brunswick, 1967-1972; Other topics; Photographs.

Detroit Free Press outdoor writer and later faculty member in the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources. Files of Detroit Free Press outdoor pages and conservation articles, clippings, and photographs, correspondence, and notes on Michigan conservation history, pesticides, pollution, plants and animals, hunting and fishing, parks, rivers and lakes, conservation writing, and ecology; also manuscript of history of conservation in Michigan with background information; and materials gathered for intended biographical study of Michigan conservationists.

As a long-time observer of the Michigan conservation scene, Van Coevering collected a wide range of materials to document the history of hunting, fishing, and wildlife management, the development of state parks and forests, political development of the Department of Conservation and Conservation Commission, concerns about pollution and pesticide poisoning, and other conservation and environmental matters in Michigan. This collection is made up of his writings and background materials on all these topics.

The collection contains only a part of Van Coevering's papers. His "personal" papers were destroyed by his widow after his death. Included here are "historical" papers collected in the course of his work as an outdoor writer. The papers include press releases, clippings, memoranda, reports, and other documents collected by Van Coevering as well as correspondence. Van Coevering's outgoing correspondence is generally of the information-seeking type, and provides little insight into his ideas.

The collection is divided into five major series: Publications, Reference file, School of Natural Resources file, Michigan conservation history file, and Photographs. There is also a small folder of obituaries and other personal information in Box 1. In 1996, the library received an addition to the collection. This 1996 accession from Frank Angelo includes the manuscript of "A Brief History of Conservation in Michigan," and the accompanying research as well as background research for a proposed history of prominent Michigan conservationists.

The Henry Fairfield Osborn photograph albums contain pictures taken during a visit to Germany and Russia in 1898 and while camping in Colorado in 1899.

This collection consists of two photograph albums that once belonged to Henry Fairfield Osborn. The first volume (19cm x 26cm), which has the title "Russia 1898" imprinted in gold on the front cover, contains 124 photographs (each 8.5cm square) taken in cities such as Paris, France; Cologne, Dresden, and Munich, Germany; St. Petersburg, and Moscow, Russia; five loose items, including a cyanotype and a view of the Eiffel Tower, are laid into the front cover. The pictures from Russia are mostly scenes of everyday city life, often showing local residents and horse-drawn vehicles. Some of the pictures from Germany show an outdoor market in a city square. One group of images was taken along a lake or river in a mountainous region, and another at a zoo; a man poses next to a hippopotamus's open mouth in two of the images. Visible landmarks include Cologne Cathedral (Cologne), a statue of Friedrich Wilhelm III in Heumarkt Square (Cologne), Kreuzkirche (Dresden), The Bronze Horseman (St. Petersburg), Kazan Cathedral (St. Petersburg), the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Moscow), the Cathedral of the Annunciation (Moscow), Spasskaya Tower (Moscow), the Kremlin (Moscow), the Isartor (Munich), and the Glyptothek (Munich).

The second volume (29cm x 38cm) has the titles "Photographs" and "Colorado 1899" imprinted on its front cover, the latter in gold. The 269 photographic prints, often mounted five or nine to a page, are scenes from a camping trip showing mountainous and wooded landscapes, camp and campers, and travelers on horseback. One group of photographs features a woman on horseback, and another group shows the head of a buck, complete with antlers. Two images show lightning strikes against a dark background. Henry David Osborn appears in at least one photograph--at the head of a group eating outdoors.