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Professor of geology and paleontology at the University of Michigan, director of the Michigan Geological Survey, and chancellor of Syracuse University, popular lecturer and writer on scientific topics and as a Methodist layman who worked to reconcile traditional religious beliefs to nineteenth-century developments in the fields of evolutionary biology, cosmology, geology, and paleontology. Papers include extensive diaries, field notes and maps from travels and geological expeditions, correspondence, speeches, articles and other publications and photographs.

The papers of Alexander Winchell are those of an orderly man who carefully documented his own life through well-organized correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and scrapbooks. Winchell kept thorough evidence of his activities, writings, lectures, and thoughts, for most of his life. The only area that seems poorly documented is his university teaching. The collection does not appear to include significant material relating to relationships with students in the classroom.

"Alexander Winchell, an editorial tribute," published in The American Geologist (Feb. 1892, MHC call number DB/2/W759/A512), includes a year-by-year account of Winchell's life, based on the papers, and probably written by his brother N. H. Winchell. Although there are no footnotes in this work, it provides a useful summary of Winchell's activities and clues to the existence of documentation in the collection.

The collection is divided into six major series: Biographical, Correspondence, Diaries and journals, Writings and lectures, Reference and research files, and Scrapbooks; and three smaller series: Visual materials, Processing notes, and Card files.

Winchell's bibliography is located in Box 1 (the most complete copy is in the "Permanent memoranda" volume), and drafts of many of his writings are found in Boxes 8-14. Copies of many, but not all, of Winchell's publications are found in the MHC printed collection. The card catalog includes details for all separately cataloged items. There are also three collections of pamphlets that are not inventoried: two slightly different bound sets prepared by N. H. Winchell after Alexander Winchell's death (MHC call numbers DA/2/W759/M678/Set A and DA/2/W759/M678/Set B) and a two-box collection of pamphlets collected by the University Library (MHC call number Univ. of Mich. Coll./J/17/W759).

Ermine Cowles Case was a prolific paleontologist and geologist, and a well respected professor of historical geology and paleontology at the University of Michigan. He was instrumental in the discovery and naming of several dinosaurs, and did considerable research on prehistoric vertebrates. The collection includes professional and person files that contain correspondence, organizational activities, recognitions, research, speeches, biographical records, and photographs. Inclusive dates span from 1805-1956, but most fall in the 1902s-1940s.

The records of Ermine Cowles Case span the course of his professional career, including his research, travels, and involvement in many scientific circles. Outside of academia, Case maintained correspondence with several family members and close friends, which this collection also contains. Aware of his contributions to history, Case filed away his many professional and personal correspondences noting in the first folder, "These letters are worth keeping and looking over. They contain much information of what went on, and many signatures of men active in Geology and Paleontology, both in U.S. and abroad, in my working time" (1947). Several small notes like these can be found throughout the collection among letters, photographs, and research materials. The series in this collection include: Professional Files, Personal Files, and Visual Materials.

Professor of paleontology and director of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. Includes correspondence and topical files.

The Lewis Burnett Kellum papers (5.8 linear feet and 1 oversized folder) primarily documents Kellum's professional life. The material is dated from 1837-1995 and consists of correspondence and topical files. Significant subjects in the collection include Kellum's fieldwork in Mexico as well as his involvement in 20th International Geological Congress that was held in Mexico. Also included in the Topical Files series is a small amount of material relating to his wife Gail Kellum Curtis (married in 1949).