Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Literature at the University of Michigan; personal and professional correspondence relating to archeological expeditions and discoveries in Iran and the Near East.

The George Cameron papers consist of personal and professional correspondence mainly in the 1960s and 1970s. Very little of the materials relates to his work as founder and professor of the U-M Department of Near Eastern Studies. The bulk relates to his interaction and communication with other scholars in the field. The collection has been arranged into three series: Biographical, Correspondence, and Other materials.

Resident in China from Farwell, Michigan; papers concern her family life in Farwell, and missionary activities; include letters, diaries, and accounts of father, Josiah L. Littlefield, Farwell lumber dealer and visitor to China, 1916-1917; letters, 1918-1928, of husband, Dr. Dennis V. Smith, medical missionary to China, describing in part Chinese politics and civil war, 1918-1920; letters and other papers of Hazel Littlefield Smith, including materials concerning various European travels, and manuscripts of writings about Irish author Lord Dunsany, her father, and Farwell, Michigan; and photographs. Other correspondents of Hazel Smith include world-renowed scientists (Edwin Hubble and William Beebe), from Chinese Princess Der Ling, and from distinguished European writers and actors (Pierre LaMure, Selma Lagerlof, Brian Aherne, and Ronald Colman).

This collection was accumulated by Hazel Littlefield Smith and consists of materials concerning her career and interests and those of her family, specifically her husband, Dr. Dennis Smith, and her father, Josiah Littlefield (1845-1935), a pioneer lumberman and businessman in Farwell, Michigan.

The collection is particularly valuable for three topics: early days (late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) in Farwell, Michigan; missionary life in China in the period ca. 1915-1928; and the travels and writings of Hazel Littlefield Smith. The materials include correspondence, compositions and business-related materials of Josiah Littlefield; correspondence and other materials of Dr. Dennis Smith, Hazel Littlefield Smith (and Josiah Littlefield) concerning conditions in early republican China; and correspondence and other materials of Hazel Littlefield Smith concerning her travels in Europe (1920s-1950s), her management of the family farm near Farwell, Michigan (1940s), and her essays, poetry and other publications, including Lord Dunsany: King of Dreams.

The three principal figures in the collection--Hazel Littlefield Smith, Dennis Smith and Josiah Littlefield--were highly perceptive observers of persons and events. Their letters are rich in detail, whether describing travel experiences or everyday life in rural northern Michigan.

The collection is arranged into six series: Littlefield Family, China-related materials, Hazel Littlefield Smith, Miscellanea, Dr. Dennis V. Smith, and Visual Materials.

Republican U.S. Senator from Michigan, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines; files relating to his various career responsibilities, photographs, sound recordings.

The Homer Ferguson collection has been divided into eleven series based primarily upon the important phases of his public life: Personal; Circuit Judgeship; Senate Career; Interregnum: November 1954 - April 1955; Hoover Commission; Philippine Ambassadorship; United States Court of Military Appeals; Inter-Parliamentary Union; Photographs, Sound Recordings, and Myrtle Ferguson Papers.

Grandville, Kent County, Michigan, physician and public health official. Family and professional correspondence and other materials relating to his medical career, especially his education at the Detroit College of Medicine, private practice in Kent County, and work with professional organizations, including the Michigan State Medical Society and the Michigan Public Health Association; also material relating to his interest in the Reformed Church of Grandville; miscellaneous papers of father, Dirk Broek, and sister, Christina S. Broek; and photographs.

The Jacob Daniel Brook Collection reflects the activities of a man whose life was committed to the cause of medicine and public health. The collection has been arranged into four series: Correspondence, Professional and personal materials, Broek Family, and Photographs.

Detroit, Michigan, newspaper publisher. Papers of Scripps and of the James E. Scripps Trust established to ensure that control of Scripps's Evening News Association would remain with his immediate family. Series in the collection include: biographical material, notably unpublished biography and personal diaries, 1858-1868 and 1872-1881; business records of various Scripps newspapers and publishing companies; George H. Scripps probate records; and James E. Scripps trust records. Also, European journals by Scripps' wive, Harriet Josephine Scripps.

This collection contains both the personal papers of James E. Scripps and the records of the thirty-year trust he created shortly before his death in 1906. This collection is divided into four series: Biographical Materials, Business Records, George H. Scripps Probate Records, and James E. Scripps Trust Records. The bulk of this collection concerns the running of the Evening News Association. The records of the Evening News Association, the James E. Scripps Corporation, and the James E. Scripps Trust, with related litigation materials, attest to the complexity of this Detroit newspaper operation. Two European journals in the Biographical Materials series belong to Scripps' wife, Harriet Josephine Scripps. The journals contain information about the Scripps family, including relations with James Scripps' sister, Ellen Browning Scripps, who was a journalist and a philanthropist, and the founding donor of the Scripps College.

Papers of Michigan family including Joseph Comstock Jones, school superintendent and textbook publisher; Alice Van Hoosen Jones, teacher in East Saginaw, Michigan, and daughter of Van Hoosen farm owners Sarah Taylor and Joshua Van Hoosen; papers of Elisha Jones, half-brother of Joseph and professor of Latin at University of Michigan. Collection primarily comprised of correspondence, 1860-1950, and photographs, circa 1860s-1910.

The Jones family papers are comprised of correspondence, photographs, genealogy material, and other family papers. The bulk of correspondence is that of Alice Van Hoosen Jones, 1876-1950. She corresponded with her sister, Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, her parents, Sarah and Joshua Van Hoosen, among other friends and family members. The papers also include correspondence of J.C. Jones, 1860-1902; papers of Elisha Jones, 1871-1888, including correspondence related to his European travels and legal papers; and photographs of J.C. Jones, his sister, Sarah, and Alice Van Hoosen Jones.

Naturalist, professor of zoology and paleontology at the University of Michigan. Autobiography and biographical material; correspondence, diaries and travelogues, and writings concerning in part his collecting expeditions for the University Museum to South America, China, the Philippines, and other parts of the Far East; also papers reflecting his thoughts on science, religion, philosophy and evolution; and photographs.

The papers of Joseph Beal Steere consist of four feet of manuscript and visual material, one oversize volume, and one oversize folder covering the years 1861-1941. The collection is organized into seven series: Autobiography/Biography, Professional and Published Correspondence, Diaries and Travelogues, Writings, Photographs, and Correspondence with family and friends (1861-1926).

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.

Organist and professor of music at the University of Michigan, and other members of the Christian family; correspondence, clippings, concert programs, and other papers re his teaching, concert career, European student days, etc.

The Palmer Christian collection is comprised of four series: Correspondence and other papers; Programs and reviews of recitals; Madrigals; and Photographs. The correspondence is noteworthy for long-term correspondents such as symphony conductor Eric De Lamarter who regularly communicated with Christian for over twenty year period beginning in 1925 and from Eugene Ormandy. During World War II, Christian received many letters from former students then serving in the military.

Upper-class Michigan family in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with various business interests including lumbering, mining, and land transactions in Montana, Michigan, California, West Virginia, and British Columbia. The family was also active in the development of the Orchard lake area, especially during in the 1920s through the 1940s. The collection contains both business and personal materials including correspondence, subject files, legal records, maps, blueprints, and photographs.

The Palmer Family papers document the activities of an upper-class family in nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Michigan. The strength of the collection is its documentation of the growth of early business in Michigan. The Charles Henry Palmer (Senior) series contains the bulk of this information, with papers documenting his activities as an investor in mining and railroads in Michigan's Upper Peninsula from the 1850s through the 1880s. The balance of the collection contains both business and personal materials documenting the lives of various Palmer family members. Materials include correspondence, legal materials, business records, photographs, diaries and journals, and newspaper clippings.