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Correspondence and miscellaneous business papers including Civil War letters exchanged between John C. Buchanan and his wife, Sophia Bingham Buchanan, while he was serving as first lieutenant in Co. D. of the 8th Michigan Infantry. Many of the letters are almost sermons and philosophical essays about his home and family, religion, his country and the war and its leaders. Others are detailed descriptions of camps and camp life, such as Seabrook plantation in South Carolina and its Negroes, James Island and its reptiles; his quarters and food; sea transports; marches, skirmishes and battles with the Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign and around Fredericksburg. The collection also includes letters from Claude Buchanan while he was a student at the University of Michigan; letters (1847-1858) of J. Irwin Beaumont of Mississippi and Minnesota to Angie Bingham (Gilbert); notebooks, speeches, business papers, and a diary of a trip to the South in 1884 made by Claude Buchanan.

Helmecke family of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Letters from Carl Albert Helmecke and his sister Marie Gertrud Helmecke while students at the University of Michigan; and photographs.

The collection consists primarily of letters (in German) written to family and friends from Carl A. Helmeck and his sister Marie Gertrud Helmecke while attending the University of Michigan. The letters of Carl Helmecke date from 1908 to 1913 and include some letters written while attending a summer class in Dijon, France in 1911 and while employed as a tutor in Florida in 1913. The collection also includes some photographs and memorabilia from the period when attending the University.