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Collection

Zelona Eaton journal, 1843-1925 (majority within 1843-1844)

166 pages (1 journal) and 2 letters

The Zelona Eaton journal is the diary of a Baptist minister from Troy, Ohio, who was active in the local anti-slavery and temperance movements. The volume is composed of a diary, in which Eaton discussed his ministerial duties and local issues concerning abolition, temperance, fornication, and sodomy (1843-1844); 3 pages of accounts for house-building materials (1843-1844); 9 philosophical essays with an introduction (undated); and 2 letters addressed to Lottie Churchill of Washington, Vermont (1823).

The Zelona Eaton journal is the diary of a Baptist minister from Troy, Ohio, who was active in the local anti-slavery and temperance movements. The volume is composed of a 95-page diary that Eaton kept from October 31, 1843, to September 17, 1844; three pages of accounts for house-building materials (December 1843-January 1844); 8 philosophical essays with an introduction (undated); and 2 letters addressed to Lottie Churchill of Washington, Vermont (1823).

In the diary, Eaton wrote about his daily life (health, food, family, and building a new house) and the activities of his church community in Troy. He wrote descriptions of his ministerial duties, such as travelling to meetings and conferences, visiting parishioners, performing marriages, lecturing, leading prayer meetings, raising funds for missionary work, and writing sermons. Eaton also described his intellectual and spiritual life in Troy. He attended a Millerite lecture (November 15, 1843), a lecture on phrenology (November 9, 1843), and multiple anti-slavery lectures (November 29, 1843; January 19, ,March 2 and 10, April 1 and 27, 1844). He often read the Cross and Journal and the anti-slavery paper The Emancipator, which some of his friends had procured for him. In the fall of 1843, he recorded thoughts on his own spiritual health, writing that he was, "Greatly distressed about my situation in temporal things...I have reason to think God is against [me]" (November 17, 1843). Eaton also kept track of some of his finances, which he worried about frequently, and often noted food and daily house work. He mentioned making sausages and vinegar, and purchasing coffee, cinnamon, buckwheat flour, eggs, rice, and apples.

Much of the journal concerns African Americans and the anti-slavery movement. On at least two occasions, Eaton interacted with two free African Americans: he visited a man named Mr. Newsome and loaned him money, and purchased items from another man named Mr. Smith. Registering the intensity of anti-slavery activities in his community, Eaton described the many anti-slavery lectures, debates, and prayer meetings that he attended. At the meetings, they discussed questions such as whether Congress should abolish slavery in Washington D.C. without the consent of the city's inhabitants, and what people who lived in free states could lawfully do to end slavery in the slave states (December 10, 1843). Eaton also served as the secretary for a group of women who formed a "ladies Society to educate colored persons" (December 3, 1843). He traveled one hundred miles to Brown County to visit what he described as a "Colored Association," perhaps a settlement of free African Americans, reporting, upon his return, that he "was much interested at the Association, mostly by the talent exhibited. They showed about as much attention to me, as an Association would have shown to one of their ministers (September 8, 1844)."

Eaton also recounts several controversies surrounding sex in his community. On March 14, 1844, Eaton wrote that he felt "exceedingly afflict[ed]" to have "Learned of an aggravated case of fornication by two of the members" of his church. A month later he excluded two parishioners from church service "for lewdness" (April 29, 1844). Eaton also gave an account of a case of "buggery." Minister T.A. Warner had "been accused of buggery, but not proved guilty [in a church trial]" and claimed to Eaton not to be guilty (July 25, 1844). Before his church, however, Warner had "Confessed the attempt & attributed it to a habit contracted when a boy." Eaton and a Brother Whitman informed Last Creek Church of the incident "because [they] thought, such a thing had much better go before a man than to come after him" (March 2, 1844) Eaton clearly felt disturbed by Warner’s purported behavior but what is especially noteworthy is the matter-of-fact tone Eaton used in writing about the situation.

Starting at the back of the volume, Eaton wrote 8 "dissertations," with an introduction and a transcript of a letter, that explore moral, religious, and philosophical questions (pages 162-98). Eaton's goal was to "attempt to enter into the immaterial world, & investigate the properties of spirit" (page 160).

Below is the list of essay topics:
  • Dissertation 1: Methods, What is meant by a Faculty of the mind? What is meant by a principle of mind?
  • Dissertation 2: Understanding
  • Dissertation 3: Taste
  • Dissertation 4: Will
  • Dissertation 5: Liberty
  • Dissertation 6: Natural & Mortal Agent
  • Dissertation 7: Good and Evil: Dr. Hendrick's Lecture on Good and Evil
  • Dissertation 8: Difference between Natural good and evil & Moral good and evil

Many of the essays have commentary labeled "Dr. Henricks Remarks" or "Professor's Remarks." These are brief notes and criticisms of the essays.

The two letters are addressed to Lottie Churchill, wife of Arthur Churchill, of Washington, Vermont (1923). One is from her cousin Cretia from Walla Walla, Washington (3 pages), and the other is from her friend Estella, from Morrisville, Vermont (8 pages). Both letters focus on personal news and mention food and cooking.

Collection

Women in Michigan Web Archive, 2010-2014

6 archived websites (online; multiple captures)

Online
Web collection of websites created by various women and women's organizations in the State of Michigan, archived by the Bentley Historical Library using the California Digital Library Web Archiving Service crawler from 2010-2015 and the Archive-It web archiving service beginning in 2015.

The Web Archive of Women in Michigan collection contains archived websites created by various women's groups and individual women of the State of Michigan. The websites have been archived by the Bentley Historical Library, using the California Digital Library Web Archiving Service crawler from 2010-2015 and the Archive-It web archiving service beginning in 2015. Access to all websites archived by the Bentley Historical Library is available at: https://archive-it.org/organizations/934.

Web Archives include websites of women's civil and religious organizations created by and for women and Michigan women public leaders, and home. The collection documents the accomplishments, activities, and initiatives of women in the State of Michigan.

The year that appears next to the website title in the contents list indicates the date that the website was first archived. Archived versions of the site from later dates may also be available.

Collection

William Young papers, 1765-1900

2 linear feet

The William Young papers center on the lives of William Young and his son-in-law John McAllister, Jr. The strengths of the collection are its documentation of William Young's careers as printer, publisher, bookseller and paper maker; the Associate Presbyterian Church; John McAllister's antiquarian interests; and the personal lives of the Young and McAllister families.

The William Young papers center on the lives of William Young and his son-in-law John McAllister, Jr., and through these lives document a wide scope of business, cultural, family and religious history both in America and Scotland. The strengths of the collection are its documentation of William Young's careers as printer, publisher, bookseller and paper maker; the Associate Presbyterian Church; John McAllister's antiquarian interests; and the personal lives of the Young and McAllister families.

The earliest papers in the collection date from William Young's days as a Scottish seminarian, and include valuable information on the Associate Presbytery of Scotland. A group of letters written after the Youngs' removal to America, 1784, documents European interest in the new nation: the immigrants received many letters from Scottish friends (and potential emigrants) inquiring into the details of America life. Young kept certain business concerns in Scotland; his brother Stephen and Agnes Young's brothers, William and John McLaws, were all active in the book trade, and their correspondence provides some insight into the burgeoning international book business.

The backbone of the collection is the correspondence relating to William Young's diverse business enterprises from the 1780s through 1820s. Among the later material, the correspondence between William Young McAllister and his thirty-year-old son, William Mitchell McAllister (7:54 and 56), stands out as illustration of a father's displeasure over his son's mismanagement of affairs during the disastrous panic of 1873. Also interesting is a plaintive letter written by the 52 year-old Thomas H. Young (7:59) in 1876, asking his aging father to bail out his business with a handout of $5,000.00. Box 8 contains a large quantity of receipts, accounts, and other business papers of Young's, along with information on the tangled settlement of Young's estate (8:30) and information on the settlement of other estates. Additional information on Young's estate is located with the oversized material (see Separation Record).

The Young Papers also contains rich resources for study of the history of the Associate Presbyterian Church in America. One of the smallest Presbyterian denominations, the Associate Presbyterians preserved few primary resources and little survives from their presence on the American scene; the Young Papers contain some of the earliest records known for that church (folder 8-37). Among other Associate Presbyterian ministers represented in the collection is Rev. Thomas Hamilton (1776-1818), William Young's son-in-law. Much of the work compiled by John McAllister Jr. in compiling the Associate Presbyterian volume of Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, is preserved in folder 8:10.

Yellow fever in Philadelphia (1793) and the nation's first major cholera epidemic (1832) are both well documented through letters containing medical information, largely confined to home remedies and professional advice on medicines. There is some discussion of Frances Stevenson's illness which cost her the use of a leg, resulting in her use of a prosthesis (6:88). In addition, there is a detailed report on the body of Dr. William R. Grant in 1852 (folder 7:6).

The photographs associated with the collection include valuable insights into family relations within both the Young and McAllister families (1:1 to 1:8), particularly when seen in conjunction with the large number of personal letters between family members. William Young's instructions to his housekeeper (3:54), John McAllister's consultations with his wife on business matters, race relations in Philadelphia (5:9, 6:11), relations with a mother-in-law (4:58), and the execution of Robert Morris's seldom-mentioned and ne'er-do-well son Charles (4:21) are among the topics discussed. Perhaps the wittiest correspondent is Mary Ann Hunter, a friend of Eliza Young McAllister, whose observations on Philadelphia society in the first decades of the 19th century are trenchant and insightful and read almost like a novel.

Collection

Watkins and Livingston family scrapbook, 1773-1882 (majority within 1773-1839)

94 items (1 volume)

The Watkins and Livingston family scrapbook contains letters between members of the Watkins, Livingston, and Jay families; genealogical data recorded by Lucretia Elizabeth Hamersley Rylance; and miscellaneous drawings and newspaper clippings related to the families.

The Watkins and Livingston family scrapbook includes 94 items relating to the Watkins and Livingston families. Lucretia E. Hamersely Rylance created the scrapbook in 1882 and included family correspondence retrieved from her Aunt Beebee's attic as well as her own genealogical research.

The bulk of the collection consists of 69 letters, with many written between sisters Susan Symmes and Judith Watkins. The letters primarily regard family news and concerns, noting health, marriages, and social visits. Additional topics mentioned include the American Revolution, the death of Governor Dewitt Clinton, the Peggy Eaton scandal, Cherokee removal, the nullification crisis, bank and tariff struggles, the anniversary of Andrew Jackson's Battle of New Orleans, the Panic of 1837, African American servants, Fanny Kemble Butler, and Austrian exile Giovanni Albinola. Letters from John Jay and his descendants are also represented in the collection. With women from prominent families penning many of the letters, the correspondence also highlights women's relationships, reading habits, engagement with financial matters, and occasionally thoughts on political affairs.

The Watkins and Livingston family scrapbook also includes newspaper clippings, a family tree, a cabinet card, a pen and ink drawing of a scene from a fairy tale, and colored pen and ink drawings of family coats of arms. See the Detailed Box and Folder Listing for more information about each item.

Collection

Uriah Lee family collection, 1850-1912

39 items

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, Uriah Lee's discharge papers, and a photograph.

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items (1850-1912) related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, and Uriah Lee's discharge papers.

The Correspondence series (32 items) contains 27 letters that Uriah Lee wrote to his family while serving in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D. C. Lee provided details about his daily life as a soldier, and discussed soldiers' attitudes toward officers, food, and clothing; encounters with former slaves; the weather; and political issues. He also mentioned specific battles, and his letter of May 18, 1863, includes a hand-drawn map of his company's route from New Berne, North Carolina, to Washington, D. C. Leonard Lee wrote 3 letters during his Civil War military service, and discussed similar topics. In his postwar letters, Uriah Lee offered advice to his younger siblings and discussed family affairs. Anne Lee wrote a letter to Lyman Lee in which she recounted the events surrounding the death of a man named Edward, and Chauncey received an unsigned letter about his wife Eva's visit to the writer.

Elizabeth Lee kept 3 Diaries between July 1851 and November 1878, concerning her thoughts and activities as a wife and mother. Among other topics, she discussed housework, the weather, her family, social engagements, and religion. Most of her entries are brief lines about the weather and the housework she was able to finish, with details of church meetings provided every few days.

The Documents, Poetry, and Miscellaneous series is comprised of 5 items. Fanny Hosier wrote Uriah Lee a poem that reflected positively on Southern rights and secession. Uriah Lee's military discharge papers from 1863 and 1865 are also included. A piece of ephemera illustrates 4 badges of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Collection

Thomas Davenport collection, 1864-1867

5 items

This collection consists of letters, poetry, and memoirs that Thomas Davenport of Antwerp, New York, wrote in the mid- to late 1860s, primarily concerning his religious beliefs. Davenport discussed topics such as salvation, the afterlife, and sin.

This collection (5 items) consists of letters, poetry, and memoirs that Thomas Davenport of Antwerp, New York, wrote in the mid- to late 1860s, primarily concerning his religious beliefs. Davenport discussed topics such as salvation, the afterlife, and sin.

In 3 Letters to a niece, a nephew, and his sister Nancy (January 4, 1864-September 20, 1867), Davenport discussed his social activities and provided news about his acquaintances, who included a woman named Emeline (or Emoline) and a man named Erastus Kellogg. He mentioned local news, the cultivation of sugar and potatoes and, on one occasion, some of the effects of the Civil War (May 7, 1866). His letters include a narrative poem about courtship (January 4, 1864) and riddles (September 20, 1867).

The standalone Poem is a 47-page meditation on salvation, judgment, and similar topics, particularly related to the Christian view of death. The poem frequently references Biblical stories of Adam and Eve and Jesus Christ.

Thomas Davenport composed a volume of Memoirs (90 pages) focusing on his religious life, including his "vision of the New Jerusalem" and "treatise[s] on various Subjects." Written in or after 1863, the manuscript intertwines Davenport's religious affirmations, biography, and poetry. The first portion of the book is an essay on the Christian view of sin and salvation, as well as a brief note about Davenport's conversion to Christianity. Davenport also described Heaven, which he called "New Jerusalem," as he witnessed it when he was a young man (pp. 12-14). Along with explaining his own religious convictions, he commented on other religions, including Mormonism (p. 24) and Catholicism (pp. 24-25). After page 34, most of the loosely bound volume is comprised of poems on religious topics and dedicated to friends and family members. The poems are frequently interspersed with brief narrative accounts of Davenport's life, including his work as a clothier's apprentice (pp. 49-51).

Collection

Thirza Finch diary and letter transcriptions, 1858-1870

480 pages

The Finch diary and letter transcriptions volume contains Thirza Finch's sporadic (or selected) diary entries from 1858-1870, plus copies of letters written to Thirza and other family members from her brothers who served in the Civil War.

The Finch diary and letter transcriptions contains Thirza Finch's sporadic (or selected) diary entries from 1858-1870, plus copies of letters written to Thirza and other family members from her brothers in the service. Unfortunately, in many cases the diary entries and letters appear to be extracts of the originals, rather than true transcriptions, and there is no way to know what has been omitted.

Except for a few entries written during the first year of the war, while Thirza was at Maple Valley, the diary entries are generally brief. These few entries, though, are a powerful record of the uncertainty felt by civilians caught in a war zone, and of the fear and suspicion surrounding the appearance of unknown persons, white or Black, soldier or civilian, northern or southern. The diary is at its best in the few days surrounding the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, when Thirza writes longer pieces, and when events take place at a very rapid pace and the tension reaches its peak. There are also several excellent entries relating her experiences nursing Union soldiers -- semi-voluntarily, it seems -- and hosting "deserters" from the Confederate Army.

Among the correspondence copied into the book, a few of the letters from Thirza's brothers are outstanding, though most are fairly routine, and many have been edited down during the copying process. Particularly noteworthy are a letter written by Richmond following the death of their father, in which he laments the fact that the family have drifted apart, and the series of letters written during the siege of Washington, N.C. Edwin's letters describing a spirited cavalry skirmish at Lacey Springs and the trenches at Petersburg three days before the fall are also excellent, as is his lengthy description of a huge snowball fight between members of three New York regiments and the 1st Vermont Cavalry.

Collection

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (Ann Arbor, Mich.) records, 1834-2014

19.5 linear feet — 1 oversize volume — 1 oversize bundle

Ann Arbor, Michigan Episcopal Church; vestry and parish records, liturgical materials, Christian service and educational materials, administrative records, printed material, and photographs.

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church has created a rich body of material which documents both its own history and its place within the history of Ann Arbor. The records of the parish have been arranged into nine series: Vestry; Registers; Church Programs; Administrative Records; Scrapbooks; Diocese of Michigan and other non-parish material; Liturgical Materials; Publications; and Photographs.

Collection

Religious Communities of Michigan Web Archive, 2010-2014

30 web sites (online; multiple captures)

Online
Web collection of websites created by various religious communities of the State of Michigan, archived by the Bentley Historical Library using the California Digital Library Web Archiving Service crawler from 2010-2015 and the Archive-It web archiving service beginning in 2015.

The Web Archive of Michigan's Religious Communities collection contains archived websites created by various religious communities and institutions of the State of Michigan. The websites have been archived by the Bentley Historical Library, using the California Digital Library Web Archiving Service crawler from 2010-2015 and the Archive-It web archiving service beginning in 2015. Access to all websites archived by the Bentley Historical Library is available at: https://archive-it.org/organizations/934.

Web Archives include websites of churches, mosques, religious community centers and educational institutions who call the state of Michigan home. The collection is especially strong in documenting African American, Arab American, and Native American communities, business, religious, cultural and civil rights organizations, as well as distinguished individuals who belong to these communities.

The year that appears next to the website title in the contents list indicates the date that the website was first archived. Archived versions of the site from later dates may also be available.

Collection

Paul Blanshard papers, 1912-1979

30.3 linear feet — 3.91 GB

Online
Author and social and religious commentator. Papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and drafts of articles and books, and other papers, including material concerning his student years at the University of Michigan, as Congregational minister, educational director of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America, assistant editor of The Nation, chief of the New York City Department of Investigations and Accounts under Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930's, economic analyst for the Caribbean Committee of the U.S. State Department during World War II, and free lance writer noted for his observations on the Catholic Church in America and abroad.

The Paul Blanshard papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, drafts of articles and books, and speeches. The papers covering the period of 1912 to 1974 document the variety of Blanshard's life: his student years at the University of Michigan (1910-1914), his career as Congregational minister in East Boston, Massachusetts and Tampa, Florida (1917-1918), his work as educational director of the Amalgamated Textile and Clothing Workers of America in Rochester and Utica, New York (1900-1924), as secretary and lecturer of the League for Industrial Democracy (1924-1933), as correspondent and associate editor of The Nation (1928-1929), as director of the City Affairs Committee of New York (1930-1933) and head of the New York Department of Investigations and Accounts under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1934-1938), as director of the Society for the Prevention of Crime (1941-1942), as senior economic analyst and consultant to the director of the Caribbean Commission of the U.S. Department of State; and as freelance writer and critic of the Roman Catholic Church in America and abroad. The Blanshard collection also includes papers of his first wife Julia Blanshard and his second wife Mary Hillyer Blanshard.

The collection has been arranged into seven series: Correspondence; Writings and Related Materials; Biographical Information; Sound Recordings; Photographs; Julia Anderson Blanshard papers; and Mary Hillyer Blanshard papers.