Collections

Family of Burke A. Hinsdale, professor of education at the University of Michigan and president of Hiram College. The collection contains the papers of Burke Hinsdale and the papers of his three daughters, Mary Louise, Ellen Clarinda, and Mildred. Materials include correspondence, diaries, and photographs.

The Hinsdale family papers consist of material from Burke A. Hinsdale and his three daughters Mary, Ellen, and Mildred. The collection contains correspondence, journals, photographs, and other materials documenting the personal and professional lives of the Hinsdale family.

Some of the correspondents represented in the collection include Randolph G. Adams, John R. Alden, James B. Angell, Denis W. Brogan, Nicholas M. Butler, Donald J. Cawling, William E. Dodd, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Albert B. Hart, Anne O'Hare McCormick, Alice Freeman Palmer, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Stimson, and Charles Sumner.

Diary by a 20-year-old teacher from New York, containing observations made during an 1853 stay in Mississippi, including thoughts on slavery, African American churches, Southern culture, and the outbreak of a yellow fever epidemic from which he died. The volume also contains a eulogy in a different hand for Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke.

The 79-page James A. Marshall diary covers July 5-August 27, 1853, during which time Marshall traveled around Mississippi before falling ill with yellow fever and dying on September 5. An unknown person removed 54 pages of writing preceding the July 5 entry. Marshall’s diary contains lengthy and opinionated daily entries, many of which probe Southern society, which, as a New Yorker, he found quite foreign. In one entry, Marshall criticized Southern women: “indulgence certainly is a distinguishing characteristic of the southern lady. Physical exercise they all are averse to and if they even drop their handkerchief upon the floor at their feet, if no servant or gallant is near to pick it up…it must lie there until one comes to restore it” (p. 73). In another entry, Marshall expressed surprise that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was available in Mississippi, writing, “it seems the people here are not ‘afraid’ of reading such books, or having them circulated” (p. 75).

Marshall had an interest in African Americans, and on several occasions, visited a “Colored People’s Church, Methodist I inferred,” but criticized the service for its loudness, comparing it to a “meeting of the shaking Quakers” (p. 85). On July 23, he gave details of a slave auction that he attended: “One girl was sold for eight hundred and eighty dollars, only 16 years old and quite good looking. The man who bought her made no scruple of telling his object in buying her” (p. 98). Despite his special interest in African Americans, his opinions were paternalistic, and he expressed support for slavery, even speculating about owning a plantation himself: “It really would be very interesting it seems to me to have, as all the large planters have, a family of several hundred at ones control: not because of the power allowed, but to feel the satisfaction of being a tender Master to them, and to feel that all their interest were united and to enjoy the pleasure of giving them pleasure” (p. 117).

At the end of the diary, Marshall mentioned the yellow fever epidemic that would kill him within weeks, writing, “I shall not stop at Natchez on account of the Quarantine which has been established both at N. and Vicksburg on account of the prevalence of yellow fever… I am convinced that there is little if any danger to any one who uses due caution in diet” (103).

The volume also contains a 7-page eulogy on Mary Lyon, the founder of Mount Holyoke College, seemingly written by someone who knew her personally. The essay describes Lyon’s personality, manner of dress, and recounts things she said to her students. Also laid into the volume is a religious meditation.

Professor of astronomy and director of the Observatory at University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin. Correspondence, professional papers, travel journals, and files of astronomical observations and calculations.

The James C. Watson collection consists of correspondence with astronomers, University of Michigan colleagues, and other scientists and inventors; professional papers, travel journals of trips to Alaska, China, Sicily, Egypt and Arabia; and files of astronomical observations and calculations, mainly pertaining to asteroids. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence and related; Professional papers; Travel and personal; Photographs; and Astronomical observations calculations.

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.

Eight letters of recommendation for Fisher from fellow officers relating to his Civil War service; correspondents include Melvin Brewer (Sept. 18, 1863), John W. Geary (June 31, 1863), W. D. Mann (Aug. 27, 1863), Angelo Paldi (Oct. 7, 1863), C. H. Town (Oct. 17, 1863), and C. I. Walker (Aug. 13, 1861); also one letter (April 21, 1863) from George C. Gordon of Company I, 24th Michigan Infantry. Collection also includes a typescript of excerpts from Fisher's diary describing a Michigan boat trip from Detroit to Ontonagon via Sault Ste. Marie in 1850, and student days at the University of Michigan in 1860; also diary of an overland trip to California in search of gold and the return trip by sea, with comments on mining; three University of Michigan student notebooks on courses by James V. Campbell, Thomas M. Cooley, and Charles I. Walker; and notes on the James Fisher family by Max Fisher.

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).

Author from Adrian, Michigan; correspondence, manuscripts of books, plays, short stories and poetry.

The collection is arranged into three series: Correspondence; Writings and related materials; and Other Materials (which includes a diary of a trip to Italy in 1895 and a notebook from a bicycle tour made in Europe in 1899). Much of the correspondence is with her husband Stuart H. Perry and with her children and grandchildren.

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.

Professor of philosophy at Glasgow University and University of Michigan. Extensive correspondence, scrapbooks, lecture notes, addresses, newspaper clippings and other papers relating to questions of philosophy and to his activities at University of Michigan; diaries, 1896-1927, relating to his European travels and career at the University; and photographs.

The Wenley papers have been divided into the following series: Correspondence; University of Glasgow/Queen Margaret College; Biographical and personal; Notes from University of Michigan and other courses and lectures; Speeches and addresses; Miscellaneous; and Scrapbooks.

The Ogden collection consists of diaries written by Sarah and Edward Ogden detailing trips to places in Europe, Russia, the United States and Mexico from the years 1886 to 1908.

The Sarah and Edward Ogden diaries consist of seven diaries written by Sarah Ogden, one expense book kept by Edward Ogden, and one other diary, possibly written by Edward Ogden. The diaries span the years from 1886 to 1908.

A trip taken from 1886-1887 was to Europe, and the destinations were as follows: England (June 1886); Germany (July 1886); Austria and Switzerland (August 1886); France (September 1886); Spain (October 1886); France (the end of 1886, and early 1887); Italy (March 1887); Denmark (June 1887); St. Petersburg and Moscow (July and August, 1887); England (September and October, 1887); and then back to the United States. The trip taken from 1889-1890 was from New Jersey to Seattle, then south to Vera Cruz, Mexico, and back north again to New Jersey. The trip in 1891 was south to Florida. The final trip in 1908 was also to Europe -- Amsterdam, Coblenz, and Bologne.