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Collection

Blass Family Papers, 1922, 2002

7.5 cubic feet (in 8 boxes)

Collection includes love letters, postcards, notes, and telegrams sent between Kenneth Blass and his future wife Marie F. Kleiner, 1922-1927. Kenneth's letters document his membership in and activities with the Ku Klux Klan.

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.