Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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.

Political activist, concert pianist, sister-in-law of Eleanor Roosevelt. Biographical materials; correspondence with politicians, musical figures and other dignitaries; also personal materials concerning her concert career, her campaign for Congress in 1942, notably a journal of her daughters' trip to Europe in 1949; and photographs.

The papers of Dorothy Kemp Roosevelt relate to her political and social interests and activities. The collection is divided into three series: Biographical materials, Correspondence, and Personal.

Major general in the U.S. Army, physicist, and inventor. Correspondence, personal account books, reports, military orders, student notebooks (U.S. Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University), notes and other material largely related to his scientific interests, particularly in telegraphy and trans-oceanic cables; also diaries kept while a West Point cadet, one of which contains a family history and autobiography; Ph.D. thesis in physics from Johns Hopkins University; and photographs.

The George Owen Squier papers include correspondence, personal account books, reports, military orders, student notebooks (U.S. Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University), notes and other material largely related to his scientific interests, particularly in telegraphy and trans-oceanic cables; diaries kept while a West Point cadet, one of which contains a family history and autobiography; Squier's Ph.D. thesis in physics from Johns Hopkins University; and photographs.

The Squier collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Inventions and Research; Military Career; Miscellaneous / Personal; and Education (West Point and Johns Hopkins).

Ann Arbor, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois family. Correspondence of Elihu B. Pond, editor of Michigan Argus, his sons, Chicago architects, Irving Kane and Allen Bartlit Pond, founders of firm of Pond & Pond, and other family members; include materials concerning family affairs, architectural projects, Jane Addams and the work of Hull House, European travels, politics especially as relates to period of the Civil War and the election of 1896; also photographs, architectural drawings and other visual materials.

The Pond Family papers consist primarily of correspondence and other materials of architects, Irving Kane (1857-1939) and Allen Bartlit Pond (1858-1929) documenting family matters, European travels, their involvement in the civic and social life of Chicago, and professional activities. The collection has been divided into four subgroups: Allen B. Pond papers; Irving Kane Pond papers; papers of other family members and miscellaneous; and visual materials.

Correspondence comprises the bulk of both the Allen and Irving Pond subgroups. This correspondence consists almost exclusively of exchanges between the brothers when they were separated because of travel, and with their parents and sister. There is little correspondence with clients, professional associates, or others outside of the family. The letters, however, are often detailed and revealing of the thoughts and activities of the Pond brothers. In addition to the usual descriptions of landscapes and social events when traveling abroad, their letters contain many comparisons of European and American trends in architecture, housing, the development of cities. To their family and with each other, the brothers also wrote of their non-professional interests: Chicago politics, social settlements in the city, humanitarian causes, and their involvement with various literary groups. Of note in the Allen Pond papers are letters containing references to Jane Addams and her work at Hull House. There are also accounts they received from family about Jane Addams and her talks when visiting Ann Arbor. Letters concerning Jane Addams are dated Sept. 1896; Jan. 1898; Sept. 18, 1898; Jan. 22,1900; Mar. 1901; May 28,1901; June 15,1901; undated 1901; Apr. 21,1902; July 7,1902; Aug. 18,1902; Feb. 16, 1903; Jan. 12,1904; Jan. 23,1905; Feb. 1905; May 29,1907; Mar. 1908; and Apr. 1908.

Their sister, Mary Louise and their mother, Mary Barlow (Allen) Pond wrote weekly of family affairs and the social and cultural events of Ann Arbor. Both comment extensively on the ideas and activities of many of the leading intellectual and literary figures of the day - William James, John Dewey, Kipling, Wharton and Shaw - as well as on their daily interactions with Angells, Cooleys and other prominent Ann Arbor families. Unfortunately, there are few surviving letters from Allen and Irving to the family in Ann Arbor. Much of the information in the collection about their work is therefore by indirect reference only.

Letters to his wife, Mary Soule, written while serving as an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War; Civil War diary, 1863-1865; a letter from Byron Stoddard of the Sixth Michigan Infantry; correspondence, 1890-1904, with J. C. Leonard who collected materials for University of Michigan Museums throughout the western part of the United States; literary manuscript of Annah May Soule; and photographs.

Portraits and photographs of Soule and his wife, Maryy Soule; group photograph of the officers of Company D, Sixth Michigan Infantry, 1861; and album, ca. 1865, of Civil War soldiers, most of whom were members of the Sixth Michigan Infantry.