Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The Blanchard family papers document the lives and careers of several members of the Blanchard, Cobb, and Proctor families from the mid-nineteenth century through the late twentieth century. Includes visual materials, publications, personal writings, and extensive correspondence files.

The Blanchard Family Papers document the professional achievements and personal lives of several generations of a scientifically minded and artistically gifted family. The papers focus heavily upon the eminent plant pathologist and nematologist Nathan A. Cobb, his wife Alice Vara Cobb, their daughter, biologist Frieda Cobb Blanchard, and her husband, herpetologist Frank Nelson Blanchard (the latter two of whom were professors at the University of Michigan). In addition to the photographs, drawings, correspondence, journals, and writings of these four individuals, the collection is rich in family correspondence, diaries, and personal papers from other members of the Cobb and Blanchard families (and their forebears and branches, including the Bigelow, Proctor, Ross, White, and Randall families). The Blanchard Family Papers will be of value to researchers interested in a variety of topics: scientific endeavors and methodologies (and in particular those related to agronomy, nematology, botany, and herpetology); the visual arts and the development of photography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; colonial and provincial life in Australia and Hawaii (respectively); and the daily affairs of American (and Michigan) families throughout the twentieth century. The Blanchard Family Papers consist of seven series: Nathan A. Cobb, Alice Vara Cobb, Frieda Cobb Blanchard, Frank Nelson Blanchard, Blanchard and Cobb Family Letters, Other Family Members, and Isaac G. Blanchard.

United States Representative and Secretary of the Navy; collection includes correspondence, 1880-1927, concerning personal matters, business affairs, and political activities; letters to Mrs. Denby regarding Denby’s death; articles, speeches, notes and memoranda on various topics including the Teapot Dome Scandal, Panama Canal, relations with China, and the United States Navy; photostats of letters exchanged between Nathaniel Denby and George Bancroft, 1845-1846; and photographs.

The Edwin Denby papers, dating from 1845-1846 and 1880-1929, are organized into five series: Correspondence, Articles and Speeches, Topical Files, Personal/Biographical, and Photographs. Denby's papers document his political career as United States Representative and Secretary of the Navy, and include relevant information on such topics as the United States Navy, the Panama Canal and the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Richard Schneidewind's collection of photographs, stereographs, newspaper articles and advertising materials about the Igorot peoples of the Philippines, and "Igorot Villages" traveling exhibits in the U.S., Canada and Europe that his company, the Filipino Exhibition Company, organized and managed between 1905 and 1913; also photographs of locations in the Philippines and Hawaii taken ca. 1899.

Photo albums and photographs dating from Richard Schneidewind's military service in Hawaii and the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. Images depict locations, street scenes, military camps and hospitals in the Philippines and Hawaii, and group photographs of military units. Also photographs and stereographs depicting Schneidewind's "Igorot villages": group photographs and individual portraits, scenes, dances, etc.; newspaper clippings documenting the tours, programs, advertising materials, and business contracts signed by Schneidewind and the Igorots.

Paper records include admission tickets and passes to Igorot Village exhibits at state fairs and expositions; advertising flyers and brochures for the Igorot Village exhibits; Schneidewind's contracts with Igorots Felingao and Ugaog [Ugaag?] (1905); newspaper clippings and articles reporting about Igorot Village exhibits in various locations; photographs and stereographs, with mostly staged images, of Igorot Village exhibits, as well as miscellaneous photographs, including Schneidewind's portraits; among miscellaneous items are Schneidewind's business card and 2 letters (one in French).

The Photo album contains mostly photographs of Hospital Corps officers, personnel, nurses and patients, as well as military ships, hospitals, historic buildings and street scenes in Manila, Makati, Caloocan, Corregidor Island, Honolulu, and other locations. Also includes undated photographs of scenes from the Igorot Village exhibits.

The two Scrapbooks contain newspaper articles and clippings, as well as some advertising materials. The larger scrapbook mostly contains U.S. materials, 1907-1909 and undated, and the European tour materials (some in French), dated 1913-1914. The smaller scrapbook in original binding contains materials from the European tour, 1911-1912.

The two Oversize folders contains loose materials found in the European tour scrapbook: an undated photograph of Igorot Village exhibit; undated group photograph containing portrait of Schneidewind's son Richard (his last name spelled Schneidowin); and 3 newspaper articles (1910, 1912 and undated)