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David Wheeler Palmer was a Bridgewater, Michigan school teacher and farmer. His papers consist of diaries, 1846-1864, 1876-1882, and 1887-1892, concerning daily activities and farm life. There are also papers of other family members, including Emmett Newton Palmer, a Brooklyn, Michigan physician, Fred E. Palmer, a surgeon who served in the Spanish-American War, and Louisa Palmer, who was a teacher in Hawaii.

The David Wheeler Palmer collection consists mainly of his diaries and other papers. These diaries, dating from 1846 to 1892 with some gaps, comment in detail on his life, his family, the weather, financial transactions, and local politics. Other portions of the collection include materials of other family members: Palmer's wife Fidelia Randall Palmer; her brother Roswell Randall, Jr.; Emmett Palmer, the son of David and Fidelia; Fred Palmer, the son of Emmett; and Joseph Palmer, the father of David. Of interest are the photographs accumulated by Dr. Fred Palmer while he was serving in the Philippines. These include images of Hawaii on route to the Philippines and of the Santa Mesa facility in the Philippines. Another family member represented in the collection is Louisa Palmer who taught in Hawaii. She was an inveterate traveler who wrote extensive letters describing places visited for her students and family.

Materials collected by J. M. Bagley, which include the family papers of Coldwater (Mich.) politician Corydon P. Benton. Benton's papers contain about 15 letters (Sept. 28, 1861-Dec. 3, 1862) from his son Edwin Benton, a soldier with the 44th Illinois Infantry who was killed in action at Stones River, Tenn., as well as a letter (Jan. 8, 1863) from B. F. Kneppen relating to Edwin Benton's death. Benton's papers also include correspondence (1871-1880) of another son, Frank Benton, who was a student at Michigan Agricultural College and a missionary to Cyprus. The collection also includes the correspondence from 1849-1862 of Daniel Wilson of Ovid Township in Branch County, Michigan. These materials contain letters from Wilson's nephews John Willson (Apr. 11, 1862) written from Belmont, Ky., and O. Wilson (Mar. 30, 1863) of the 4th Rhode Island Artillery, Battery C, written from Falmouth, Va. Another portion includes five letters (Dec. 17, 1861-Mar. 9, 1862) of William Babcock, written from Kentucky and Tennessee.