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Grand Rapids Michigan businessman and politician, active in lumbering and banking in Wisconsin and Michigan, Democratic party official, head of Board of World's Fair Managers for Michigan, overseeing state's exhibits at 1893 Columbian Exposition. Collection primarily documents business activities with some material on World's Columbian Exposition, as well as personal and family material.

The Weston collection primarily documents the career of Isaac M. Weston. Included are smaller series of papers of his brother and father. The collection includes correspondence, topical files, business and legal papers, and photographs. Of note are materials concerning Michigan's exhibit at the World Fair in 1893 and papers concerning lumbering and land interests in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Detroit, Michigan businessman and civic leader. Business correspondence relating to Weber's activities as a dealer in timber lands, his role as a member of the Art Commission in the development of Detroit, Michigan's Cultural Center, his involvement in the construction of the Detroit-Windsor bridge and tunnel and his activities during World War I; and correspondence and class notes of his sons, Harry B. and Erwin W. Weber, while attending University of Michigan; also photographs, including family portraits, aerial views of Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, photographs of the construction of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and Ambassador Bridge, and glass negatives of family vacations in Upper Michigan, Ontario, and Quebec; and maps of land and timber holdings

The William C. Weber papers cover 28 linear feet (30 boxes), outsize folders, and 15 outsize volumes. Besides information on timber and mineral lands in Michigan, the important aspects of the Weber papers include information on the development of the Cultural Center of Detroit and Weber's very controversial role in it, items on the Detroit-Windsor bridge and tunnel and the development of the Border Cities, and the papers of his two sons, especially the letters they wrote as students at the University of Michigan and their class notes and examinations.

There is one foot of materials related to the Cultural Center (Box 19 and outsize folders) and another of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and Ambassador Bridge (Box 20 and outsize folders).

Architectural site plans and property maps of the Detroit Cultural Center are also found in the outsize unbound material.

The collection includes maps relating to Weber's his land holdings in northern Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, including maps of land survey, of timber estimates, and tax and title status for Michigan lands, maps of Windsor subdivisions, maps of coal mining region around Caryville, Tennessee and property maps of the Detroit Cultural Center.

Student papers, 1930-1987 prepared for classes in history at the University of Michigan (primarily Michigan history class taught by Lewis G. VanderVelde, but also including research papers for classes taught by Sidney Fine and others); topics concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; and local community history.

The student papers are organized alphabetically by author in two series, which are similar in date range and topics covered. Topics of papers concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; local community history and University of Michigan history. A topical index to the papers is available in the first box of the collection.

Traverse City, Michigan, free-lance writer and conservation editor of Field and Stream magazine; correspondence, manuscripts of writings, diaries, topical files, and photographs.

The collection includes correspondence, manuscript articles, and conservation columns; materials collected by the Michigan Writers' Program concerning Michigan logging; also diaries, speeches, newspaper clippings, notebooks, genealogy, photographs, and miscellaneous material concerning Titus' interest in conservation, forestry, and fishing.

Ludington, Michigan, business firm established by Justus S. Stearns. Topical files relating to business interests, including papers concerning their conviction on charges of receiving illegal refunds from the Pere Marquette Railroad, and relating to the sale of their property in L'Anse to the Ford Motor Company; and also microfilm of records of business operations at Ludington and one of their subsidiary firms at Bennett in Lake County, Michigan.

The Stearns papers consist of three boxes of manuscript material and thirty-three rolls of microfilm. Virtually all of this concerns Stearns' complex business dealings. There is no personal correspondence and but a single manuscript folder describing Stearns' political career. The microfilmed material are volumes primarily detailing the history of the Stearns Salt and Lumber Company. The records fall into two distinct groups, those created before 1900 and those done after the turn of the century.

Before 1900 the company's records are very straightforward. They consist of cashbooks, journals and ledgers. The only complication is that there were two sets of ledgers. The ledgers from Ludington apparently are the main records of the firm, those maintained at Bennett, Michigan, were of Stearns' box manufacturing, saw, planing and shingle mills. The records were microfilmed chronologically.

After the turn of the century the firm's record keeping became far more bulky and opaque. For microfilming, these records were divided into six groups: general ledgers and journals, sales ledgers, lumbering operations, payrolls, mill and manufacturing reports, and miscellaneous records (some of firms other than Stearns Salt and Lumber).

The general ledgers and journals are arranged chronologically. There are three types of ledgers (transfer ledger number 1, transfer ledger number 2 and transfer ledger number 3) and two types of journals (a general journal and a journal 2B). Apparently each ledger type and journal 2b had some specific purpose, but all explanatory material has been lost, and the entries are very cryptic. These records were filmed in their entirety.

Because of their bulk, the company's sales records were sampled. Every third account was filmed. A sufficiently large sample remains to allow a researcher to statistically reconstruct the firm's trading patterns.

Stearns kept a separate set of books detailing work in the field. These are grouped together as "Lumbering Operations" records. They include ledgers, journals, cashbooks, and sales records. The volumes are arranged chronologically. Most were sampled. Every third ledger account was filmed. Every other month of the journals was filmed. Because of their complex arrangement sampling of the sales records would have been very difficult, and thus they were filmed in their entirety.

Payrolls were also sampled. Every third month was filmed. Camp payrolls apparently refer to field operations, Ludington payrolls to workers at Stearns' home operations. The "Record of Employees" is a very brief volume giving a great deal of information about Stearns' Ludington office workers and middle level administrators. Marital status, children, club affiliations, property ownership, and financial status are among the items included.

Mill and Manufacturing records are production reports of Stearns' Ludington operations. They were filmed in their entirety. The miscellaneous volumes include a wide variety of documents, all filmed in their entirety. Included are inventory control books, records of land transactions, a sand register, records of the Stearns Warehouse Company, the Epworth League Railway and the M. Reichardt & Son Piano Manufacturing Company.

Records of the Mitchell and McClure Lumber Company of Saginaw, Michigan and Duluth, Minnesota. Correspondence and financial papers concerning company land and lumbering enterprises, and later activities in home building, silo construction, and silage production; records of A.J. Stevens & Co. and McClure-Stevens Land Company of Gladwin, Michigan also business files and diaries of company co-founder, William C. McClure.

The record group is divided into the following series: Mitchell and McClure Lumber Company; William C. McClure materials; Other Business Enterprises; and Financial records. In addition to the records of the company, the record group includes documentation of other enterprises, such as home building and silo construction and silage production. There are also some records of the A.J. Stevens Land Company of Gladwin, Michigan. The William C. McClure series is important for the run of personal diaries maintained by McClure in the period of 1872-1903.

Saginaw, Michigan, lumberman and businessman, and Michigan State Tax Commissioner, 1912 and wildlife conservationist and sportsman. Papers include extensive correspondence files, business records and photographs.

The William Mershon collection consists of correspondence dealing with Mershon's various activities as a lumberman, Saginaw businessman, and member of the State Tax Commission in 1912. Subjects included in the papers are Michigan wildlife conservation, the Michigan Sportsmen Association, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, the Michigan State Tax Commission, Michigan politics, the Democratic party, personal business investments, lumbering and mining interest, and personal affairs.

The collection also includes diaries, a book of notes on hunting and fishing trips, and various business records such as cash books, time books, ledgers, and journals. These primarily concern his investments and lumbering business. Many of the business records are available on microfilm. The collection also includes photographs.

Materials documenting the business transactions and personal communications of the Edward Ingraham family of Bay City, Michigan and Old Saybrook, Connecticut between the years of 1852 and 1881. The collection is particularly strong in legal documentation of the time periods covered, including deeds, agreements, insurance policies, permits and certifications Family and professional correspondence also account for a large portion of the collection.

This collection is comprised of family letters and business records from the Edward Ingraham family. The materials were first collected by Arthur Ingraham Martindale, and were further arranged by Arthur's children. Materials are divided into two series: the Marguerite M. Braden series and the Helen Martindale Roberts series.

Timber manager of the Kneeland Bigelow Company of Bay City, Michigan. Autobiography; correspondence, 1899-1924 (scattered); Kneeland-Bigelow Company records, 1912 and 1923-1929; subject files relating to his interest in conservation, reforestation, forest fire prevention, local Republican party affairs, road improvement, and the development of the northern Lower Peninsula as a tourist and recreational region.

Documenting his business and public service activities, the Herman Lunden papers cover the period from the late 1890s to 1929. The collection includes Biographical/Personal material; Correspondence; Kneeland-Bigelow records; and an Alphabetical File.

John J. Loughray's collection of materials relating to the history of Northern Michigan, particularly Roscommon County and logging activity.

The John J. Loughray collection contains photographs, postcards, printed histories, plat maps, and reminiscences relating to the history of Roscommon County, Mich., particularly Houghton Lake, Prudenville, and Roscommon as well as the logging industry. Visual materials include photographs of logging activities and locations within Northern Michigan and Loughray and his family and maps of Roscommon County. The collection also includes a documentary video, "Sawdust and Shanty Boys: Logging the Saginaw Valley White Pine," copyright 2006. The materials are arranged alphabetically by area/subject name.