Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Papers of Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, Abolitionist poet, and the Chandler family of Adrian, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, including Elizabeth's parents Thomas and Margaret Evans Chandler; Margaret's sisters Ruth Evans and Jane Howell; Elizabeth's brothers Thomas and William, and William's wife Sarah Taylor Chandler. Correspondence of Elizabeth and Thomas Chandler and Ruth Evans with family members in the East, Benjamin Lundy, and others, describing early settlement, agricultural conditions, and local and national anti-slavery movements; also family correspondence of Thomas and Margaret Chandler in Pennsylvania.

The Elizabeth Margaret Chandler collection includes both the papers of this abolitionist poet as well as papers of other members of the Chandler family of Pennsylvania and Lenawee County, Michigan. Represented in the collection are letters to/from Elizabeth's parents Thomas and Margaret Evans Chandler; Margaret's sisters Ruth Evans and Jane Howell; Elizabeth's brothers Thomas and William, and William's wife Sarah Taylor Chandler. Following 1830, much of the correspondence of Elizabeth and Thomas Chandler and Ruth Evans is with family members in the East, Benjamin Lundy, and others, describing their settlement in Lenawee County, agricultural conditions, and local and national anti-slavery movements. Other correspondents in the collection include William Bliss, Darius Comstock, Isaac Crary, Abi Evans, Jane Howell, Darius C. Jackson, Benjamin Lundy, William M. Sullivan and Matthew F. Whittier.

In all, there are twenty-two letters, 1830-1834, written to members of her family, from Elizabeth Margaret Chandler. The earliest letter, June 14, 1830, written from Philadelphia, discusses the advantages of emigrating to Michigan. The later letters are written from Hazelbank, a farm in Lenawee County, between Adrian and Tecumseh, where Elizabeth Chandler settled with her brother, Thomas Chandler, and her aunt, Ruth Evans. The letters describe the clearing of the land, the building of a log cabin and its furnishings, the planting of the first crops, and give an account of the district around the farm, its settlers (chiefly Quakers), its trade and agriculture, land and commodity prices. They contain scattered references to abolitionist activities, such as the boycott of slave-produced commodities, to the Black Hawk War in Illinois and Wisconsin, 1832, and to other current events. Fifteen letters, 1830-1835, on the same subjects, were written by Thomas Chandler and Ruth Evans; two letters, 1834, 1835, enclose copies of obituary notices on Elizabeth Chandler's death.

Also part of the collection are sixty letters, 1830-1842, written to Elizabeth and Thomas Chandler, and Ruth Evans, from Ruth Evans' sister, Jane Howell, Philadelphia, Pa. Several of these letters refer to slavery and to anti-slavery leaders, such as William Lloyd Garrison, Benjamin Lundy, Evan Lewis, and Charles C. Burleigh, coeditor with his brother, William Henry, of the abolitionist newspaper The Unionist; a few refer to the financial and mercantile disruption caused by President Andrew Jackson's monetary policy, resulting in the panic of 1837; two letters, 1835, mention the boundary dispute between the State of Ohio and Michigan Territory (the Toledo War); others refer to a controversy between the Hicksite Friends and the Orthodox Friends in New York, the danger of a cholera epidemic, Indian difficulties, the increase of settlers in Michigan Territory, and other contemporary topics; one letter, 1832, encloses a certification of Thomas Chandler's membership in the Society of Friends, and one letter, 1834, encloses a poem on the death of George Dillwyn (1738-1821), Society of Friends preacher.

Twenty-eight of the letters received by Elizabeth and Thomas Chandler and Ruth Evans in Michigan (1830-1852) were from other relatives and friends. Seven of these, 1831-38, were from Benjamin Lundy concerning a trip to Mexico, anti-slavery activities, and the first edition of Elizabeth Chandler's poems, which Lundy published in 1836; two letters, 1851, 1852, were from I. Prescott, publisher and bookseller of Salem, Ohio, discussing a republication of Elizabeth Chandler's poems; one, 1837, from Darius C. Jackson, delegate from Lenawee County to the Second Constitutional Convention of Assent, Ann Arbor, 1836, mentions the revision of Michigan laws, the Internal Improvement Bill, and the General Banking Laws Bill; one, 1837, from Isaac E. Crary, Michigan's first member of Congress acknowledges receipt of Thomas Chandler's petition against the Annexation of Texas, which Crary had presented to the House of Representatives; one, 1838, from William Bliss of Blissfield, lists the names of officers and members of the Anti-Slavery Society of Blissfield; one, 1839, from William L. Sullivan, Jackson, discusses Methodist anti-slavery meetings; one, 1838, describes the anti-abolitionist riots in Philadelphia, Pa., and the burning of Pennsylvania Hall, built in 1837 by anti-slavery societies for public meetings; three, 1837, are from Mathew Franklin Whittier (brother of John Greenleaf Whittier), Amesbury, Mass.

A calendar arranged by name of correspondent is available in the reading room card files.

Norris family of Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Papers of Mark Norris, Ypsilanti businessman and postmaster; papers of his wife, Roccena Vaill Norris, local teacher and woman's rights advocate; papers of their son, Lyman, attorney and regent of the University of Michigan, 1883-1884; papers of Lyman's son, Mark Norris, Grand Rapids attorney and Grand Master of the Knights Templar in the United States; papers of Lyman's daughter Maria Norris, Grand Rapids physician; papers of Mark's son, Abbott Norris; and related papers of other family members, notably the Whittelsey family of Connecticut.

The Norris family papers consists of three linear feet of correspondence, business papers, and scrapbooks. The bulk of the papers are letters among various family members which contain a wealth of information about 19th century daily life, social conditions, business affairs, and local and state politics. This collection is especially useful in researching: women's history; Norris family and kinship interrelationships; early area settlement and local history; university student life at the University of Michigan and elsewhere; 19th century economic conditions and political issues; and 20th century Freemasonry.

Gideon O. Whittemore family of Pontiac and Tawas City, Michigan. Business and personal correspondence of Whittemore, his wife, their son James O. Whittemore, and other members of the Whittemore, Mack, and Abram Mathews families; also business and legal documents, sermons, photographs, and miscellaneous papers, covering family matters, Tawas City, Michigan (which the family founded), lumbering, journey of the Mormons across the United States and settlement in Salt Lake City, Utah, University of Michigan and its branches, and family genealogy.

The papers date from 1817 to 1978, and include correspondence, business papers, deeds, genealogical materials, photographs and other papers of Gideon O. Whittemore, his wife, their son James Olin Whittemore and other member of the Whittemore, Mack, Harlow, and Abram Mathews families. Letters of Temperance Mack and Almira Covey document in part the journey of the Mormons across the United States and settlement in Salt Lake City. Other papers relate to activities in Tawas City (which the family founded), lumbering interests, and other business matters. A portion of the papers of James Olin Whittemore pertain to his activities as a student at the University of Michigan, class of 1846.

The Whittemore family collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Other Family papers; Genealogical records; Temperance Mack letters and related; Individual Whittemore family members; Photographs; and Business and professional ledgers and daybooks.

Flint, Michigan industrialist; governor of Michigan, 1865-1868. Correspondence concerning land speculations, lumbering, and political activities; correspondence of his son primarily relating to estate and land holdings; speeches, notes and other papers detailing his gubernatorial administration; deeds and other papers concerning land purchases in Ohio, Iowa, and Michigan; newspaper clippings, biographical material and obituaries; journals, diaries, notebooks, letter book, political scrapbook, 1866-1869, executive journal of state of Michigan, 1865-1867, farm records and accounts; and photographs.

The Crapo papers have been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Personal and Biographical; Political; Business records; and Miscellaneous (mainly financial). The collection relates primarily to the career of Henry H. Crapo with the files dating after 1869 pertaining to the business activities and political activities of his son W. W. Crapo.

In 1992, the bulk of the Crapo papers was microfilmed. This finding aid begins with a listing of the contents of the microfilm followed by a container listing of those portions of the collection which were not microfilmed. For reasons of preservation, the researcher should use the microfilm copy. Access to the original materials will be limited to the unmicrofilmed portions of the Crapo papers.

Hamburg, Livingston County, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, family. Correspondence, newspaper clippings and photographs of the Lohmiller, Twichell, and Hollister families.

The papers of the Twichell family document three generations of the extended Twichell families. It includes extensive correspondence files, reminiscences of life on turn-of-the-century Michigan farm and of student life the University of Michigan, files relating to the family businesses including boardinghouses in Ann Arbor, and photographs of family members, towns in Michigan, and University of Michigan students. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence, Alphabetical Files, Photographs, and Sound Recordings.

The first railroad west of the Appalachians. Correspondence, legal papers, receipts, account books, bank statements, and stock certificate books; also reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission and Michigan and Ohio regulatory agencies. and minutes, 1834-1919, of the Board of Directors.

The Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad record group consists of minutes, correspondence, annual reports to regulatory agencies, and various business and legal documents, including payrolls, stock transfers, dividends paid, and check registers.

Records of railroad companies, mainly Michigan lines, absorbed with the merger of the New York Central Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company into the Penn Central Transportation Company.

The nature of the records of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad reflects the recent history of the two companies. When the Penn Central Transportation Company was formed in 1968, the offices of New York Central--the junior merger partner--were dismantled and only a small percentage of records retained. Therefore, the extant New York Central records consist almost entirely of minutes and account books of a routine nature. By contrast, records of the Pennsylvania Railroad were relatively undisturbed by the merger and are today richer and more varied than those of the New York Central. The Penn Central records are most useful for their documentation of the growth of the railroad industry. They depict an industry in constant flux due to the opportunities for success offered by a burgeoning industry and the intense competition among railroads that resulted. A single volume of records often contains minutes of two or more railroads, reflecting either the failure of the original company or its takeover by or merger with another company.

Besides documenting the history of individual railroads and of the railroad industry as a whole, the Penn Central records are a good source on the economic and commercial development of Michigan and neighboring states, and provide insight into the rise and decline of various towns along the railroad. Minutes of New York Central subsidiaries, for example, contain discussions of negotiations with town officials over the proposed construction of tracks, bridges, depots, and the like. Similarly, the locality files in the Superintendent--Toledo Division series of the Pennsylvania Railroad records consist of correspondence and memoranda regarding improvements to, or the abandonment of, stations in small towns in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. This series also contains substantial correspondence files on Toledo, Detroit, and Grand Rapids.

Labor and social historians will find the Penn Central records useful in illuminating the lives of workers and in documenting relations between management and workers. More than 40 feet of labor relations files of the Ann Arbor Railroad include agreements between the company and unions, grievances, petitions concerning work rules and pay, wage and hour schedules, and circular letters. There are small series of labor relations files of other companies scattered throughout the collection. Researchers will also find information on the workplace and working conditions in the locality files of the Superintendent--Toledo Division series of the Pennsylvania Railroad; these files contain, for example, memoranda concerning clubrooms and sleeping quarters for workers in city depots.

There is very little technical material in the Penn Central records; photographs are likewise scarce. The most notable exceptions are in the car ferry files, found in three subseries of the Pennsylvania Railroad records: General Manager--Western Region, Vice-President and General Counsel, and Subsidiaries: Mackinac Transportation Company. The car ferry files include maps, plans, specifications, blueprints, and some photographs.

A large portion of the collection consists of records of small railroads that ran through Michigan or were based in Michigan. Records of these companies are brief, often including nothing more than articles of incorporation, a few pages or a volume or two of minutes, and perhaps some annual reports and financial records. Although many of these railroads were subsidiaries of either the Michigan Central Railroad, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, or the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, they have been filed under the parent company of which the sub-system was a part (New York Central, Pennsylvania, or Ann Arbor Railroad) to promote ease of access. Thus, for example, records of the Canada Southern Bridge Company, a subsidiary of Michigan Central Railroad, are filed under New York Central Railroad, the parent company of Michigan Central. Researchers uncertain of the parentage of a particular railroad should look in the subsidiaries section of the contents list under Ann Arbor, New York Central, and Pennsylvania Railroads. The railroads in each of these subsidiaries sections are arranged in alphabetical order.

Brief histories of individual railroads can be found in the "Green Books"--the annual reports of the New York Central Railroad Company and its subsidiaries. There are several published histories of the Pennsylvania Railroad in boxes 183 and boxes 155-157 and on microfilm in box 60.

A card file giving the date of incorporation, name changes, and parentage of subsidiaries of the Michigan Central Railroad, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, and the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad has been photocopied and can be found in box 1 of the collection. This folder also contains a list of records in the Public Archives of Canada of Grand Trunk and Great Western Railway system properties in the United States. Finally, there is a section of Aids, Gifts, Grants and Donations to Railroads Including Outline of Development and Successions in Titles to Railroads in Michigan by the Michigan Railroads Commission (1919).

Information in this finding aid concerning the histories of the various railroads was drawn from the collection itself, from sources compiled by the project archivists, and from the following published sources: William Frederick Dunbar All Aboard! A History of Railroads in Michigan (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969) and Henry E. Riggs, The Ann Arbor Railroad Fifty Years Ago (Ann Arbor Railroad Company, 1947?)

Republican congressman and U.S. district judge from Lansing, Michigan. Correspondence, business and legal papers, manuscript addresses, photographs, and miscellaneous items; include material concerning Michigan politics and his Civil War activities as a member of Congress; journal, 1871 containing a few brief entries on business matters.

The papers of John Wesley Longyear spans the period from 1837 to 1875. The bulk of the collection covers two periods of Longyear's life: his two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-1866) and his service as U.S. district court judge (1870-1875).

A. L. Williams family of Owosso, Michigan. Personal and business correspondence of A. L. Williams, Owosso, Michigan pioneer, railroad entrepreneur, and spiritualist; and personal letters of other members of the family, including May Williams Dewey, wife of E. O. Dewey (Thomas E. Dewey family); and miscellaneous newspaper clippings, business ledgers, and personal and business diaries concerning business affairs and daily activities; "spirit messages" received from departed family and others; also photographs.

The Williams Family [Owosso] collection consists of 2 linear feet of material. It includes the personal and business papers of four generations of Williamses from 1838 to 1953. However, the bulk of the material relates to the family of Alfred Leonzo Williams between 1860 and 1890.

Family of Brackley Shaw of Adrian, Michigan, Republican state representative from Lenawee County, Michigan, 1869-1870, later state senator, 1881-1884. The collection consists of personal correspondence of Shaw, his son Horatio W., and his brother Horatio W. Shaw.

The Shaw family collection consists of letters to and from several members of the Shaw family of Lenawee County during the period 1840-1938, with the bulk falling in the years roughly 1860-1890. Family members represented include Horatio Shaw (1822-1910), a Presbyterian missionary and clergyman; his brother, Brackley Shaw (b. 1818), member of the Michigan Legislature (1869-70; 1881-84); and Brackley's son, Horatio W. Shaw (1847-1918), Michigan artist. The letters have been described by chronological time period.

1845-1848: Letters from Horatio Shaw to Brackley Shaw

1850-1859: Largely family correspondence, including some letters home (1855, 1857) from Reverend and Mrs. Horatio Shaw from their missionary station in Allahabad, India.

1860-1865: Correspondence includes a few items pertaining to the Civil War, most of which does not relate to Michigan.

1866-1870: A great deal of political correspondence is included in these years, particularly during 1869, when Brackley Shaw served as a Republican member of the state House of Representatives from Lenawee County. There are letters from Shaw to his wife describing events in Lansing, and correspondence with various persons on such subjects as railroads, prisons and other state institutions, and dentistry regulation. There is also a letter of H. E. Baker (Detroit Advertiser and Tribune) to Brackley Shaw, dated December 25, 1668, with comments on the character of Senator Zachariah Chandler.

1871-1879: Mostly family correspondence, including letters written from White Cloud, Kansas, with descriptions of conditions there in the late 1860's and early 1870's.

1880-1890: Considerable political correspondence during Brackley Shaw's two terms as Republican member of the state senate (1880-1884). Topics covered include: homeopathic medicines, temperance and prohibition, Republican Party politics, prisons and reformatories, protection for corporate minority stockholders, and a great deal of correspondence pertaining to the election of a United States Senator in the spring of 1983. There is a large collection of letters from Shaw to his wife describing his senatorial activities. Also included are letters, 1881, 1383, 1884, from various Philadelphia artists to Horatio Shaw, the painter, and letters, 1881-92, from H. Shaw (signed "Pat") to his wife Susie. Some letters contain references to well-known American painters of the time, including comments on Shaw's style and abilities as an artist

1891-1936: family correspondence.

Marquette, Michigan businessman, Democratic state senator, and Republican regent of the University of Michigan. Letterbooks and correspondence relating to activities in the Democratic Party in Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula, to his service within the state legislature, and to state and national elections, 1876-1896; also correspondence and other records concerning his extensive business interests that include Northern Michigan iron, insurance, banking, and general investments.

The collection documents the development of the economy of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from the perspective of one of its pioneer entrepreneurs. Through correspondence and other business records, there is documentation of White's extensive business interests in Northern Michigan iron, insurance, and banking. Other portions of the collection concern his service in the state legislature and his involvement in state and national elections, 1876-1896.

Peter White's correspondence, the largest portion of the collection, has been divided into two series: correspondence/business papers and insurance correspondence. The papers for 1850-1853 deal with White's activities as clerk for Robert Graveraet. Also discussed in this early period are legal matters with some material on his work as postmaster and various family matters. The correspondence for 1854-1862 deals with early mining companies with whom he had association and provides some information about the financial aspect of various organizations. White acted as a marketing agent for several companies and this aspect is covered well. The term served by White in the state legislature is covered very sparsely.

Beginning in 1863 White activities expand to encompass insurance and banking concerns. While the iron interest is well represent in the papers for 1863-1873, insurance and banking occupy an increasingly important place. After 1874, White's insurance business is heavily represented in the correspondence. Banking also continues to occupy an important place but the iron companies are far less frequently a subject of discussion. Local politics is also discussed in the correspondence for 1874-1891. As someone who had been actively engaged in politics and public service, White commented on state and national election campaigns from the 1870s to the 1890s. Most notable are letters exchanged pertaining to the campaign of Williams Jennings Bryan in the presidential election of1896. Beginning in 1902, the insurance correspondence decrease and the investment phase of White's career make itself evident. After 1900 correspondence with the University of Michigan and its history department becomes more important.

The remainder of the collection consists of Business Records, divided between folder records and bound records. Each of these series includes records of specific companies with whom Peter White was associated. These include the Phenix Iron Mining Company, the Michigan God Company, the Manhard-Jopling Company, the Lake Superior Leather Company, and the Schoolcraft Iron Company.

Homeopathic physician from Monroe, Michigan; correspondence, letterpress books, diaries, and other papers of Sawyer, his wife and daughter, and of members of the Toll family.

The Sawyer collection consists of correspondence and other papers of Alfred I. Sawyer, his wife Sarah Toll Sawyer, their daughter Jennie Toll Sawyer, and other members of the Toll family. The collection, in addition to family matters, relates to Sawyer's career as a homeopathic physician, his advocacy of the study of homeopathy within the curriculum of the University of Michigan, and his extensive activities within Masonry. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Various subjects -- Sawyer and Toll families; Homeopathy and homeopathic practice; and diaries of Sawyer and his daughter Jennie Toll Sawyer.

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.

Correspondence relating to politics and his activities as regent of the University of Michigan; also material concerning the depression and impact of the New Deal on agriculture in Michigan.

Benzonia and Ann Arbor, Michigan; papers of individual family members, detailing in part activities in the Philippines, 1907-1912. The collection also contains photographs and albums of images from the period when they lived in the Philippines.

The Hubbell Family Papers date from 1859 to 1983 and measure one linear foot. Included in the collection are genealogical material, and correspondence and other papers of individual family members.

Railroad fireman, 1882-1887, and engineer, 1887-1934, for the Michigan Central Railroad. Miscellaneous personal and collected material relating to his interest in railroads, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and his work with the Michigan Central Railroad; include membership cards and certificates, clippings, time tables, ca. 1870-1905, tire report, 1893, wage agreement, 1887, and photographs.

The Wholihan collection is a small collection of miscellaneous materials accumulated by Wholihan as fireman and engineer with the Michigan Central Railroad. There are three small series in the collection: Miscellaneous; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; and Michigan Central Railroad.

Records of the Ruggles & Rademaker of Manistee, Michigan, and of the predecessor land and lumber enterprises of Charles Ruggles and Edward Buckley, including the Buckley and Douglas Lumber Co., the Manistee and Northeastern Railroad, and the Emeline Bath Co. of Chicago, Ill. Financial records and business correspondence of Edward Buckley, Charles Ruggles, and John Rademaker; also files concerning lawsuit between Ruggles and Buckley.

This record group, although named for the salt company owned and operated by Charles F. Ruggles and John Henry Rademaker from 1920 to its sale in 1931, is also an accumulation of records of the business enterprises and land dealings of Charles Ruggles beginning in 1866 and of the partnership operations of Ruggles and Edward Buckley. Included are business correspondence, financial records, organizational materials, and litigation files. Many of the financial records have been microfilmed.

Fletcher, Pack and Company and A. F. Fletcher & Company were two early Alpena, Michigan lumber companies. Financial, land, and other business records.

This record group includes financial records, records of land purchases, and other miscellaneous business materials. There are also some photographs detailing scenes of lumbering activities. Although described here together, these are the records of separate Fletcher family companies: Fletcher, Pack Company and the A. F. Fletcher Company. The relationship between these two companies is not clear.

Dexter, Michigan, collector of materials relating to the history of railroading in Michigan. Correspondence, subject files, printed matter and photographs; contain material concerning the Ann Arbor Railroad, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, the Manistee and Northeastern Railway Company, the Michigan Central Railroad, the Pere Marquette Railroad, and Ephraim Shay.

The Stoner collection contains about 3,600 photographs and negatives collected by Stoner, relating primarily to Michigan railroads. The collection also contains related manuscript materials.

Stoner's major collecting interests were in the Ann Arbor, Grand Trunk Western, and Pere Marquette Railroads and their predecessors, and in logging railroads, especially Ephraim Shay's railroad and others using Shay locomotives. Along with these lines, the collection contains photos of dozens of other railroads, not all in Michigan.

The photographs most commonly depict locomotives, often with their crews posed beside. Other common subjects are railroad stations (exteriors only), train wrecks, trains in motion, logging operations, carferries, railroad bridges, the Detroit-Windsor railroad tunnel, and street railroads.

Dozens of Michigan cities and towns and a number of places in other states are represented in the collection. Places depicted most often in the photos include Ann Arbor, Cadillac, Detroit, Durand, Frankfort, Harbor Springs, and Howell, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.

The collection is organized into seven series: Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, Unclassified negatives, Papers, Classified negatives, and Duplicate material.

Appended to this finding aid are two indexes, one for railroads and company names, the other for subjects. The indexes contain references to all items in the Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, and Unclassified negatives series.

The index to railroads and company names indexes logging and industrial companies that operated railroads, as well as railroad lines themselves. It does not index locomotive manufacturers, nor does it index the names of railroad museums where some of the photos were taken.

The index to subjects indexes place names and topical subjects. It does not index the term "locomotives" since the majority of the photos in the collection would be indexed under that heading. Place names are indexed if the photo includes a view of some part of the place or of some event at the place. Close-up views of locomotives that do not show any background are not indexed by place, even if the description of the photo identifies where it was taken.

Corporate records of C.J.L. Meyer of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and Hermansville, Michigan, manufacturer of doors, lumber for sashes, hardwood flooring, and related products; records of the William Mueller Company of Escanaba and LaBranche, Michigan, a firm taken over by Wisconsin Land and Lumber in 1909. Financial journals, ledgers, inventories, payroll ledgers; letterbooks of C.J.L. Meyer, Edwin P. Radford, company superintendent, and of other company officials; office correspondence files; and photographs.

This record group which came from the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company in Hermansville, Michigan is in fact an accumulation of records from three distinct business enterprises. First, there are records of C.J.L. Meyer business enterprises in Chicago and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Next are records maintained in Hermansville with the establishment of the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company in the 1870s. A third, smaller portion of the records are from the William Mueller Company, which WLL purchased in 1909.

When originally received in 1948, the records consisted of nearly 500 volumes of business journals and ledgers, time books, and letterpress books. During 1979-1981, the library began a program of microfilming to reduce the size of the record group. With the permission of the company, records that had been microfilmed were discarded. Also discarded were records duplicative in content of the records on microfilm. Other records were retained in the original without filming. The record group then consisted of 53 reels of microfilm representing approximately 112 volumes of business records, 65 oversized volumes, and 42 linear feet of boxed records (volumes, letterpress books, and correspondence files). In 2006, the library received additional microfilm (18 rolls) and digital materials containing scanned images of the photographs in the possession of the IXL Museum, which is the repository for the records of the company not received with the first accession. These records, which were retained, include personal correspondence of C.J.L. Meyer, some records of Meyer prior to the establishment of WLL, and records then considered current or of continuing value to the operation of the company.

The record group has been arranged as much as possible into series, but the researcher should note that identification of individuals volumes or files was not as certain as one would like. Thus, for example, there are various ledgers and journals, some with overlapping dates, but it was not always clear where these records were created or what function or division within the firm they documented. The fact that the company retained some of the earlier records accounts in part for what appear to be broken series. Further complicating the structure of the following finding aid is the interspersing of microfilmed materials and oversize volumes. Similar kinds of records (such as time books), for example, are thus found both in original and on microfilm.

As much as possible, like kinds of records have been kept to together (letterpress books, etc.). These are followed by records known to be created by a specific organization or maintained in a specific locale (e.g. Fond du Lac). The series in the record group are: Letterpress books (mainly business correspondence); Letterpress books (mainly business correspondence); Inventories, order books, etc.; C. J. L. Meyer Business Records; Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company; William Mueller Company; Photographs; and IXL Museum additions.

In 2007, the IXL Museum of Hermansville, Michigan, successor to the company and custodian of additional records of the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company, entered into agreement with the Bentley Library to exchange microfilm of selected portions of the records housed in the other's repository. In addition, the two repositories agreed that the Bentley Library would place on indefinite loan to the IXL Museum the originals of WLL photographs in its possession, and that the IXL Museum would donated to the Bentley Library digital copies of all of the many hundreds of photographs in its collection.