Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

The Frederick Batchelder collection contains incoming and outgoing letters and documents related to the Connecticut minister, as well as essays he composed while attending Brown University in the late 1830s.

Of the 34 items in the Frederick Batchelder collection, 4 are incoming and outgoing letters related to Batchelder, 3 are documents pertaining to his service as probate judge in Stafford, Connecticut, and 27 are essays he composed at Brown University in the late 1830s.

The Correspondence series contains 2 letters that Batchelder wrote in 1834, and 2 that he received in 1868 and 1878. He debated philosophical issues, such as the role of civilization in producing human happiness. One of the incoming letters, written by an elderly friend, concerns the author's religious activities and convictions.

The Documents series consists of 3 items related to Batchelder's service as a judge in Stafford, Connecticut. They pertain to two inheritance cases and a dispute over local land.

The Essays series is made up of 27 essays about philosophical, literary, and political questions, composed during Batchelder's studies at Brown University. He explored aspects of American literature, the merits of learning history, "Advantages & Disadvantages of speaking the same language with Britain," the science of magnetism, effects of the division of labor, ethical dilemmas, and the treatment of Native Americans.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, school essays, ephemera, and other materials related to the family and descendants of Maskell Ewing of Radnor, Pennsylvania. The bulk relates to Maskell Ewing and his son, Maskell Cochran Ewing.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, school essays, ephemera, and other materials related to the family and descendants of Maskell Ewing of Radnor, Pennsylvania. The bulk relates to Maskell Ewing and his son, Maskell Cochran Ewing.

The Ewing family correspondence dates between 1784 and 1937, though the bulk falls between 1789 and 1845, with later groups dating from the Civil War and the mid-20th century. The earliest items include letters from Elinor Gardiner Hunter to her son James, written in the late 18th century, and incoming correspondence addressed to Maskell Ewing (1758-1825), often related to his financial affairs. Throughout the 1820s, Maskell Cochran Ewing (1806-1849) received letters from his mother and sisters while he studied at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. These letters reflect his military education and document women's lives in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. Maskell Cochran Ewing occasionally wrote letters from the academy, and received letters from former classmates in the years immediately following his graduation. Several letters addressed to Maskell Cochran Ewing date from the Civil War.

The Ewing family's diaries, journals, school books, and a sketchbook primarily belonged to Maskell Cochran Ewing and James Hunter Ewing. One of Maskell Cochran's journals contains notes from a surveying expedition for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal (1828). James Hunter Ewing composed 3 journals during the Civil War era.

Legal and financial documents comprise the bulk of the collection, with much of the material relating to the financial, legal, and real estate affairs of Maskell Ewing, with some items concerning Maskell Cochran Ewing's military career. Maskell Cochran Ewing kept a series of account books in 1859, intended for student use. Also of note is a set of United States debt certificates for goods seized for use by the Continental Army between 1780 and 1783. Bonds, receipts, financial records, and legal documents related to specific disputes also appear in the collection.

The Ewing family papers also include essays on many different topics, a manuscript map of West Point, and ephemera postcards, photographs, printed materials, and calling cards.

This collection is made up of letters written and received by Reverend Evarts Kent and members of his family throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kent and his family corresponded with friends and family members in several states, including Vermont, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Most letters concern family news, education, religion, travel, family relationships, and similar personal subjects. The collection also includes printed invitations, programs, and 23 photographs.

This collection is made up of letters written and received by Reverend Evarts Kent and members of his family throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kent and his family corresponded with friends and family members in several states, including Vermont, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Most letters concern family news, education, religion, travel, family relationships, and similar personal subjects. The collection also includes 2 documents and 23 photographs; printed invitations and programs are interspersed among the letters.

The Correspondence series comprises most of the collection, and contains approximately 4 linear feet of letters, which are primarily the incoming personal correspondence of Evarts Kent, his wife, and their children. The earliest items are Civil War-era letters between unidentified family members. The bulk of the collection begins around 1867, when Evarts Kent began to receive letters from his family and friends, who provided local news from Ripton, Vermont, and often commented on his recent marriage to Helen Beckwith. As Kent's father, Cephas, was a Congregational minister, the Kent family frequently discussed religious topics. In the early and mid-1880s, Michael E. Strieby and Joseph E. Roy of the American Missionary Association also corresponded with Kent.

After the mid-1870s, the correspondence is primarily between Evarts and Helen Kent and their children, Ernest, Grace, and Willys, who exchanged letters with their parents and each other from their childhood into their early adult lives. Ernest discussed his educational experiences, including his time at Iowa College,his experiences in preparatory school and as a young adult and at Iowa College, and occasionally composed letters to his father in Latin. The Kent siblings sometimes included sketches or more refined drawings within their letters. Their letters reveal details about their relationships with each other, their personal lives, and their religious beliefs. Later items from the World War I era often concern Willys's wife, who signed herself "Roxi," and the couple's experiences while spending their summers at Camp Arcadia in Belgrade, Maine. A relative named "Jupe" also wrote Evarts Kent an extensive series of letters throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including a group of 20th-century letters about travel in the Black Mountains of North Carolina.

The Documents series is made up of a 2-page document containing several sets of church minutes compiled in Benson, Vermont, between March 1790 and September 1792, and a partially printed receipt for a payment made to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in 1870.

The Photographs series holds 23 photographs, primarily snapshots, of unidentified individuals. Though most are portraits, 2 depict a woman riding a bicycle and one is a self portrait of a woman, "taken by herself in front of a looking glass." The photographs include one cyanotype.

This collection contains the personal correspondence of Levi Henry Elwell and his family. Elwell was a professor in Amherst, Massachusetts, and many of the letters relate to his children's studies at Vassar College and Amherst College, as well as their everyday lives in Massachusetts and New York.

This collection contains 226 personal letters, 8 Greek-language examinations, and 5 loose newspaper clippings regarding Levi Henry Elwell and his family.

The Correspondence series contains letters between and to members of the Elwell family. During his early days as a student at Amherst College and as a teacher in Poughkeepsie, New York, Elwell wrote to his mother, Harriet Adaline Elwell, and fiancée, Abbie Miner Nickerson, about his scholarly life and experiences. In these letters, Levi and Abbie often discussed their engagement and wedding plans. Though later correspondence includes some letters that the couple sent to Levi's parents, most originated from their children, Marion, Florence, and James. The sisters frequently wrote each other to discuss Marion's experiences at Vassar College. They also received mail from various friends, several of whom enclosed sketches. Levi Elwell wrote many of the later letters to his daughter Florence during her studies at Vassar College, including a postcard entirely in Latin (June 1906) and a report on the family's reaction to witnessing Halley's Comet (May 10, 1910). Though the letters primarily concern personal news, correspondents occasionally discussed contemporary politics; in a letter to Marion dated October 30, 1904, Levi described the American political landscape and discussed his own political views. Around 11 newspaper clippings are enclosed in various letters.

The Newspaper Clippings and Exams series has 8 examinations (December 20, 1897-January 20, 1908) for students of Amherst College, who were required to translate and interpret classical Greek texts, printed in their original language. The 5 loose newspaper clippings concern women's colleges (May 14, 1910), faculty promotions at Amherst College (undated), dirigible balloons (undated), and Halley's Comet (2 items, ca. April 1910).

This collection contains letters and documents related to the family of Congressman Ebenezer Jackson, Jr., of Savannah, Georgia, and Middletown, Connecticut. Jackson and his father wrote and received personal letters about contemporary political issues. The letters offer commentary on the Missouri Compromise, the 1860 United States presidential election, secession, and the Civil War. Jackson also wrote about his travels in Boston, Massachusetts, and offered advice to his brother Amasa, who attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the mid-1820s.

This collection contains 9 letters and 2 documents related to the family of Ebenezer Jackson, Jr., of Savannah, Georgia, and Middletown, Connecticut. Jackson and his father wrote and received personal letters about contemporary political issues such as the Missouri Compromise, the 1860 United States Presidential election, secession, and the Civil War. Jackson also wrote to his father about his travels in Boston, Massachusetts, and offered advice to his brother Amasa, who attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the mid-1820s.

Ebenezer Jackson, Jr., authored 4 letters in this collection. He wrote 2 letters to his father in which he discussed his impressions of Boston, a publication in support of the War of 1812 (March 13, 1814), and his Pennsylvania to Connecticut travel plans (July 5, 1825). Jackson's mother, Charlotte Fenwick Jackson, contributed to his first letter, urging her husband to keep "Harriette" in school. Ebenezer Jackson sent 2 letters to his brother Amasa, who attended the Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut, in 1820, and the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1823; he offered educational advice and congratulated him on his academic achievements.

Ebenezer Jackson, Jr., received 4 political letters from acquaintances. A committee in Middletown, Connecticut, strongly urged Jackson to accept his nomination for a United States Senate seat in 1834 and explained the reasons why he would be a strong candidate (March 13, 1834). Hezekiah Huntington wrote about political parties and the 1860 presidential election (August 21, 1860); former Florida governor Richard K. Call strenuously voiced his opposition to secession (January 19, 1861); and United States Senator Lafayette Sabine Foster affirmed his support for the Union's military efforts against the Confederacy, as well as his disdain for the peace efforts of Horace Greeley and others (January 27, 1863).

Ebenezer Jackson, Sr., sent 1 letter to William Van Deusen, in which he shared his opinions about the Missouri Compromise (March 25, 1820). He anticipated continued conflicts between the North and South over slavery, and mentioned the possible effects those conflicts might have on British opinion about the United States.

The collection's documents are an undated copy of a 1672 deed between John Stows and John Willcoke for land in Middletown, Connecticut, and an 1836 memorandum of the estate of Ebenezer Jackson, Sr., addressed to Mary C. Oliver of Boston, Massachusetts.

The collection consists of two volumes relating to the Dunwoody family of Marple Township, Pennsylvania, produced between 1807 and 1829. The first volume is a memoranda and expense book kept primarily by James Dunwoody, between 1807 and 1815. It documents financial transactions for meat and livestock, crops, and farm labor. Records also indicate when female laborers began their employment with the family, likely for domestic service, listing the wages and expenses for three of them. The second volume is a copybook kept by Jane B. Dunwoody in 1829 while attending the Marple Union Seminary, focusing on practicing forms for banking, business, legal, and real estate transactions.

The collection consists of two volumes relating to the Dunwoody family of Marple Township, Pennsylvania, produced between 1807 and 1829. The first volume is a memoranda and expense book kept primarily by James Dunwoody, but with references to his sons John, William, and Joseph, between 1807 and 1815. It documents financial transactions for meat and livestock, crops, and farm labor, with several entries with women or notes about cash being provided to wives. Records also indicate when female laborers began their employment with the family, likely for domestic service, including one under-age girl who took up work with her parents' consent and one African American woman ("Black Hariott"). It lists the wages and expenses of Hannah Griffith, Anna Griffith, and Hanah Sithers, documenting the items they were acquiring while in the employ of the family. A recipe for making pills is present, as well as a page of household expenses. The volume has paper covers with woodcut illustrations of four scenes: "Two Sturdy Bull Dogs," "The Fox and the Goat," "An Ass and His Master," and "A Dog and his Shadow."

The second volume is a copybook kept by Jane B. Dunwoody in 1829 while attending the Marple Union Seminary, focusing on banking, business, legal, and real estate transactions. She studied document forms, such as indentures for apprentices, promissory and judgement notes, property leasing, proxy votes, bonds, bills of sale, mortgages, among others. The volume has illustrated, printed covers. The front cover is labelled "The Pet Lamb" and shows a man holding a lamb in his arms with pasted-on letters "JBD Book," and the back cover is labelled "The Pheasant" and shows a pheasant accompanied by a description of the bird by Goldsmith.

Daniel Conover composed this mathematics exercise book containing definitions, problems, solved examples, rules, cases, and remarks. Subjects covered include practical geometry, mensuration of superficies, conic sections, mensuration of solids, and cylindrical rings.

Daniel Conover composed this mathematics exercise book containing definitions, problems, solved examples, rules, cases, and remarks. Subjects covered include practical geometry, mensuration of superficies, conic sections, mensuration of solids, and cylindrical rings. Short sections relate to the application of the principles to the work of artificers, bricklayers, masons, carpenters and joiners, slaters and tilers, plasterers, painters and glaziers, pavers, as well as the construction of roofs and measuring timber. Conover illustrated examples of geometric shapes and angles, some painted with watercolors. A watercolor painting of a building also appears in the volume.

This collection contains 8 letters written to Marcia Coffing Holley and her husband, Alexander Hamilton Holley, by Maria Coffing, Marcia's sister, as well as 1 from Marcia to her brother, Joshua B. Coffing. Most of the letters relate to women's education in the mid-1830s. The collection includes a description of Maria Coffing's experiences at Grove Hall School in New Haven, Connecticut.

This collection contains 8 letters written to Marcia Coffing Holley and her husband, Alexander Hamilton Holley, by Maria Coffing, Marcia's sister, as well as 1 from Marcia to her brother, Joshua B. Coffing. Marcia wrote to her brother from Grove Hall School on February 25, 1834, while he was at Yale, and shared her vision of him poring over his coursework, armed with a copy of Webster's Dictionary and the speeches of Daniel Webster. Maria Coffing wrote the remaining 8 letters, including 6 to her sister and 2 to her brother-in-law, the future governor of Connecticut, and filled them with news of her life at Grove Hall School in New Haven, Connecticut. Maria attended school throughout the summer and fall of 1836, and shared details of her coursework and instructors; she enjoyed her time there and hoped to attend college lectures in the future.

This collection is made up of correspondence, diaries, writings, documents, and other items related to the Clarke family of Gilmanton and Manchester, New Hampshire. The materials concern the Civil War, life in 19th-century New Hampshire, education, and other subjects.

This collection contains correspondence, diaries, writings, documents, and other items related to the Clarke family of Gilmanton and Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Correspondence series (approximately 920 items) comprises the bulk of the collection. Most of the correspondence written between the 1850s and the early 1870s is made up of letters between and addressed to William Cogswell Clarke, Anna Maria Greely Clarke, and their three eldest children: Stephen Greely Clarke and his wife, Lydia Mason Wight Clarke; Anna Norton Clarke and her husband, Robert M. Appleton; and Julia Cogswell Clarke. A few letters by Mary Ann Wight are also present. Letter enclosures include a lock of hair, plants, cartes-de-visite, and newspaper clippings.

The Clarke family's personal correspondence focuses primarily on life in and news of Gilmanton and Manchester, New Hampshire throughout the 19th century. Writers discussed religious beliefs and activities; romantic relationships, courtship, and marriage; births and deaths; social activities; teaching and education; politics; and other subjects. During the Civil War, some writers shared news of battles, regiments, casualties, and the general progress of the war.

After 1871, many items are incoming and outgoing letters between and addressed to Julia C. Clarke, her sister Anna, and their mother. Some of Julia's letters pertain to her life in Framingham, Massachusetts, while Anna Clarke Appleton and Anna Greely Clarke provided news from Lake Village, New Hampshire, and Manchester, New Hampshire. During the 1880s, Julia wrote a series of letters to William H. Ladd, discussing newspaper advertising (particularly with regard to schools); her experiences in Lake Village, Kents Hill (Maine), and Boston, where she worked for the Chauncy Hall School; and advice for Ladd's upcoming visit to Europe. Groups of enclosed newspaper clippings contain advertisements for educational institutions. Other late personal letters to members of the Clarke family concern travel in Asia, estate administration, and finances.

Additional correspondence from the 1870s to the 1910s includes a large number of business letters, including many related to Stephen G. Clarke's legal career. Other groups of correspondence include letters to Edward Reilly of San Francisco, California, about mining concerns in Arizona and New Mexico; to Lafayette H. De Friese of New York City about the timber industry and shipments of logs; and to a man named "Bagley" of New York City. Other personal correspondence includes love letters from "Dolph" to "Sadie" and letters related to O. F. Bryant, who taught at or attended Chauncy Hall School. New York City lawyer Ernest G. Stevens received several business letters in the early 1910s.

The Diaries and Journals series consists of 5 items. Anna Maria Greely (later Clarke) kept 2 diaries from October 12, 1828-June 19, 1829, and June 26, [1872]-September 21, 1872. Her entries, which were written mostly on loose scraps of paper, concern daily life, social calls, and activities with family members and acquaintances. The later diary contains frequent mentions of Clarke's children. The remaining items concern an unidentified author's Bible readings and Christian beliefs (September 12, 1858-April 24, 1859); "Mrs. Robinson's" desire to write a journal for the benefit of her 7-year-old daughter Kitty, who required instruction in housekeeping (July 1, 1868); and Emma F. Moore's "Two Days on the Concord River," describing her travels with a companion (undated).

The Writings series is comprised of essays (15 items), published articles (2 items), letters to the editor (6 items), drafts (2 items), rejected submissions (9 items), "A Reading of the Will: A Farce" (1 item), "Seminal Weakness" (1 item), poems (30 items), and a speech. The essays, by Stephen G. Clarke, Lydia M. Wight, and Anna Greely Clarke, concern topics such as politics and history, morality and religion, English and Latin grammar, teaching and education, and horse breeding. The rejected submissions are primarily poetry, including one about African Americans. "The Reading of the Will" is a farce and "Seminal Weakness" is a lengthy essay on the male reproductive system. Many of the poems concern religion and nature. The 54-page speech is a presidential address delivered by Dr. Nahum Wight before the New Hampshire Medical Society. He discussed the society's history and goals, medical history and education, and his own medical career.

The School Papers series contains Latin Exercises (5 items), Academic Notes (19 items), Debates (2 items), and items related to the Chauncey Hall School (21 items). The academic notes and debates largely pertain to Stephen G. Clarke's studies, including items regarding animal classification and birds. One lengthy debate considered whether men were influenced more by women or money. The Chauncy Hall School subseries consists of newspaper advertisements, several copies of a printed advertisement, and correspondence from recipients of a circular and from managers at the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph and the Chicago Tribune. One item is an invitation to the school's "Promotion Day," held on June 12, 1894.

The Documents series is divided into two subseries. Financial Documents (10 items), most of which concern Stephen G. Clarke, include accounts, receipts, a promissory note, and bank checks. One document between Willard B. Farwell and the American Machine Gun Company concerns the ownership of Farwell's inventions and patents. Printed Documents (11 items) include certificates regarding Stephen G. Clarke's attendance at Harvard University (July 16, 1855) and Josephine Evarts's license to practice medicine in Connecticut (April 1, 1929), documents regarding the activities of the American Folklore Society and the Wednesday Club (1892 and undated), and descriptions of an invention, the Hussey Motor Battery, by Willard B. Farwell (undated). A price list for advertisements in the Chicago Tribune and a sign regarding the treatment of animals in a scientific laboratory are also present.

Newspaper Clippings (12 items) include obituaries for William C. Clarke, articles about the Clarke family, advice for young writers, advertisements, and poetry.

The Photographs series (2 items) contains a portrait of an unidentified man, likely taken around the 1860s or 1870s, and a picture of a home and its large front garden. Both prints are mounted on large cards.

The Genealogy series consists of family trees written into a bound volume of blank genealogical tables that belonged to Julia C. Clarke. The tables concern ancestors of Julia C. Clarke and their families; some lineages are traced back as far as the 1600s. Many of the pages have cut-out sections to coordinate records across different trees and pages.

This collection is made up of 23 letters that Charlotte York wrote to her fiancé and husband, Stiles P. York, in the mid-19th century. She discussed her life in Tarrytown, New York, while her husband was in New York City.

This collection is made up of 23 letters that Charlotte York wrote to her fiancé and husband, Stiles P. York, in the mid-19th century. She discussed her life in Tarrytown, New York, while her husband was in New York City.

Charlotte wrote 5 letters from November 6, 1845-March 22, 1852, and 18 undated letters during the couple's courtship and after their wedding. In one undated letter, identified as "Thursday 2 o'clock," Charlotte anticipated their upcoming wedding and her transition from single to married life, and she later wrote one letter on their anniversary, May 12. Before and during their marriage, she reflected on her feelings for her husband and on her role as a housewife. She also reported the weather conditions and provided news about her neighbors and family members, particularly her mother and her sister Alletta. One letter is about her visit to Newburgh, New York, in March 1852. Charlotte occasionally referred to the Tarrytown Female Seminary, which she ran out of her home, and the collection includes a manuscript advertisement for her services, accompanied by a list of references.