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Ann Arbor chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; minutes and other organizational records.

The record group has been arranged into the following series: Minutes; Published Material; Yearly Files; Officers Files; Membership records; Topical Files; Genealogical records; Scrapbooks, Historians Albums; and Visual Materials. Of interest are files relating in part to the chapter's activities during the Spanish-American War and World War I. The genealogical records include cemetery records for various Washtenaw County cemeteries.

This collection is made up of personal letters to Elizabeth Hollister Lyons, whose friends and family members discussed their lives in Connecticut and Illinois. Some correspondents taught school and others commented on topics such as sewing, religion, and health.

This collection (182 items) is primarily made up of personal letters to Elizabeth Hollister Lyons, whose friends and family members discussed their lives in Connecticut and Illinois. Her correspondents included her sisters Artemisia (18 items, 1851-1902), Clara (20 items, 1852-1862), Emily (6 letters, 1853-1856), and Sarah (27 items, 1847-1871); her brother Lee and his wife Caroline (18 items, 1847-1867); and her parents Horace and Artemisia (18 items, 1849-1864).

Elizabeth's sisters Artemisia and Emily provided news of Salisbury, Connecticut, with additional comments from "Arte" about experiences teaching school. Clara wrote about sewing, dressmaking, and domestic life in Brooklyn, New York; one of her later letters refers to Salisbury residents serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Lee Hollister and his wife Caroline discussed their life in Illinois, where Lee taught school. Letters by a fourth sibling, Sarah Hollister Walker, pertain to her life in Metamora, Illinois, and to local religious issues. Horace and Artemisia Hollister, Elizabeth's parents, gave news of family and friends in Salisbury, discussed political issues, and mentioned the possibility of moving to Illinois with their children.

The remaining letters, from other family members and friends, concern the writers' lives in New England and the Midwest. Additional items include a printed letter to members of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Dodge, Iowa; Mary Lyons's diploma from the Normal Institute of Humboldt County, Iowa; a document regarding the disposition of Walter Lyons's estate; and miscellaneous notes.

Elsie Cree of Griggsville, Illinois, compiled this diary between 1900 and 1908. It consists of entries regarding her day-to-day life, trips, social visits with family and friends, and numerous other subjects.

Elsie Cree began her diary on January 5, 1900, although her last journal had ended July 6 (presumably of 1899). She noted that she was too poor to buy one herself, so waited for "Helen" to give her one for Christmas (page 1).

She wrote extensively about the Cree family--their deaths, sicknesses, weddings, etc., as to Cree, "Weddings and funerals go hand in hand" (page 16)--or such events as the Crees' purchase of a telephone in 1903 (page 58). Many entries contain observations regarding the people she interacted with, like the language quirk of a woman named Harriet who "puts 'en' on the end of words--milken, toasten & yea-yea for yes" (page 3).

Cree remarked on sewing she accomplished (ex. pages 13 and 14), or social events she helped to organize. A dancing party with 35 couples featured five or six of the mothers to "lend dignity to the occasion" and "attend to the refreshments" (page 71).

Additional entries include trips and visits Cree took, such as one to Chautauqua, New York (page 23), and sightseeing in Boston (page 30).

Enclosed are several letters, including a postscript regarding the Hatch coat of arms and from whom it could be furnished in a print suitable for framing; a letter dated February 20, 1928, to "Aunt Lucy" enclosing a typescript (present in the volume) that "father" wrote to General Logan in 1884, apparently from O. M. Hatch; and an eight page description of a "California trip" of June 25, 1914.

The diary's final date is in 1908.

The Sewing designs sample book contains 47 hand-stitched design samples made of thread on paper.

The Sewing designs sample book contains 47 hand-stitched design samples made of thread on paper. Designs range from simple to complicated shapes and patterns to fruit, a circular shell, and Native American-inspired objects such as a bow and arrow, a moccasin, a snowshoe, and a canoe. Multiple colors of thread are utilized. The sample book (24 x 28.5 cm) is closed with a string tie.

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Gerald T. and Charlotte B. Maxson printed ephemera collection contains over 5,000 pieces of assorted ephemera, the majority of which were commercially printed in the United States during the mid to late 19th-century.

The Maxson collection provides a valuable resource for the study of 19th-century visual culture, commercial advertising, and humor in addition to the role of gender, ethnicity, and race in advertising. American businesses are the predominant focus of the collection, though many international businesses are also represented. While trade cards are by far the most prevalent type of ephemera found in this collection, an extensive array of genres are present including die cut scrapbook pieces, photographs, engravings, maps, serials, and manuscript materials.

The 23 binders that house the Maxson collection were arranged by the collectors themselves. Items are organized somewhat randomly in terms of topical arrangement. While pockets of related materials can be found here and there (for instance, the entirety of Volume 16 contains circus-related items while Volume 11 contains an extensive number of Shaker-related materials), for the most part any given subject may appear in any given volume. In some cases, items are clustered as a result of having been acquired together or due to a documented common provenance. Occasional typed annotations written by the Maxsons help provide additional context for certain items.

The Maxson Collection Subject Index serves as a volume-level subject index for materials found throughout the binders. The subjects indexed here are generally representative of both visual and commercial content. In addition to more general subjects, many names of specific people, places, buildings, events, and organizations that appear in the materials have also been listed. Researchers engaging with this collection should be aware that they will encounter numerous examples of racist caricatures, especially ones depicting African American, Native American, Irish, and Chinese people.

Josephine Augustus kept this journal between 1899 and 1904, writing record and diary-like entries of her experiences running a boarding house and farm near Columbus, Ohio.

Josephine Augustus recorded her work repairing and cutting dresses, cutting carpet rags, making clothing, quilting, creating a scrapbook, and washing. She also noted how many persons were present for dinners and work done by her assistants. Augustus also made notes on the weather, illnesses, and the travel and activities of other persons (such as who attended a funeral). On February 25, 1900, "Jose Ruth Mag Katie & Bina Martin" went to M-P church to hear a woman from Japan lecture.

Josephine Augustus produced fewer entries between 1901-1902 and afterward her writing becomes more internally focused and personal, detailing her struggles with difficult nights and grief for her mother. The last entry is dated January 5, 1904; the rest of the notebook is blank save for two brief pages of expenses, possibly written by Augustus.

This collection contains 20 pre-printed daily diaries by Maria Jennings Barnard née Gibbs of East Wareham and Onset, Massachusetts, for the years 1865, 1866, 1867, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1880, 1881, 1914, and 1924-1932. Maria J. Gibbs' diaries pertain to home life (especially cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other housework). In the 1860s and 1870s, while in her 20s, she remarked on her work at cotton mills and sewing establishments in Plymouth and Middlesex Counties as well as her experiences living at various boarding houses. At the end of 1876, she married Nantucket sailor Benjamin A. Barnard and the diaries of 1880 and 1881 include content on household labor, child rearing, visits to other areas in the state, and loneliness from her husband's absences. Barnard wrote her later diaries, 1914 and 1924-1932, following the death of her husband in 1895, from Onset, Massachusetts, where she wrote about time with her daughter Nellie Barnard Robbins and grandson Lloyd Robbins, trips around Eastern Massachusetts, annual trips to Florida for the winter, cooking, cleaning, and visiting friends. The remainder of the collection is comprised of eight diaries, account books, address books, memoranda books, and wallets pertaining to the family of Maria Barnard's granddaughter Mildred Grace Robbins née Adams of Attleboro, Massachusetts, between 1913 and the 1950s.

This collection contains 20 pre-printed daily diaries by Maria Jennings Barnard née Gibbs of East Wareham and Onset, Massachusetts, for the years 1865, 1866, 1867, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1876, 1880, 1881, 1914, and 1924-1932. Maria J. Gibbs' diaries pertain to home life (especially cooking, cleaning, sewing, and other housework). In the 1860s and 1870s, while in her 20s, she remarked on her work at cotton mills and sewing establishments in Plymouth and Middlesex Counties as well as her experiences living at various boarding houses. Her 1872 diary includes a two-month trip to Chicago to visit relatives, with content on the aftermath of the Great Fire of 1871. Maria suffered from regular headaches and frequent nearly debilitating sicknesses. At the end of 1876, she married Nantucket sailor Benjamin A. Barnard and the diaries of 1880 and 1881 include content on household labor, child rearing, visits to other areas in the state, and loneliness from her husband's absences. Bernard wrote her later diaries, 1914 and 1924-1932, following the death of her husband in 1895, from Onset, Massachusetts, where she wrote about time with her daughter Nellie Barnard Robbins and grandson Lloyd Robbins, trips around Eastern Massachusetts, annual trips to Florida for the winter, cooking, cleaning, and visiting friends. When the 1932 diary concluded, Maria was 86 years old. The remainder of the collection is comprised of eight diaries, account books, address books, memoranda books, and wallets pertaining to the family of Maria Barnard's granddaughter Mildred Grace Robbins née Adams of Attleboro, Massachusetts, between 1913 and the 1950s.

The Polly C. Bishop Mansfield Collection contains poetry and sewing produced by Mansfield while a young woman during the mid-nineteenth century. Four poems entitled "Remembrance," "Nevermore," "Friendship," and "Persevere" are written on both sides of a slim sheet of paper. Mansfield hand-sewed a stuffed fabric fish, drawing scales, gills, and eyes on it with ink. The fish is affixed with thread to a manuscript note that reads, "Sarah Heaton Stiles and Polly Bishop Mansfield had a bet on and Polly was to give Sarah a shad, in payment. And she (Polly) made this shad, perhaps about 1850-2. They were young women."

The Polly C. Bishop Mansfield Collection contains poetry and sewing produced by Mansfield while a young woman during the mid-nineteenth century. Four poems entitled "Remembrance," "Nevermore," "Friendship," and "Persevere" are written on both sides of a slim sheet of paper. Mansfield hand-sewed a stuffed fabric fish, drawing scales, gills, and eyes on it with ink. The fish is affixed with thread to a manuscript note that reads, "Sarah Heaton Stiles and Polly Bishop Mansfield had a bet on and Polly was to give Sarah a shad, in payment. And she (Polly) made this shad, perhaps about 1850-2. They were young women."