Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

The Gerta Gage family photograph album contains cabinet card portraits of men, women, and children taken in various Michigan cities around the mid-1880s to mid-1890s. Some of the pictured individuals posed in groups or with animals, and two men wore Shriners uniforms. The album likely belonged to Gerta Gage, of Big Rapids, Michigan.

The Gerta Gage family photograph album (22cm x 29cm) contains 80 cabinet card photographs of men, women, and children, few of whom are identified. The studio portraits were taken in Michigan towns and cities such as Muskegon, Big Rapids, Petoskey, Jackson, Allegan, Ovid, and Traverse City, as well as in other locales such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Decatur, Illinois; and Chicago, Illinois. Two men posed in Shriners hats, a few posed with dogs, and one man, photographed by A. S. Green of St. Thomas, Ontario, blew cigar smoke while having his picture taken. Though most items are individual portraits, some subjects posed in groups of two to four; one image is a group portrait of seven men. The volume's padded covers are bound in blue and yellow cloth. "Gerta Gage" and "Gerta Gage Big Rapids Michigan" are engraved on the album's large metal clasp. The pages of the album are decorated to resemble wood.

This collection is made up of incoming letters to Governeur J. Tompkins of Salt Point and Clinton, New York, and to his wife, Elizabeth Doty Tompkins, from friends and family members in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee.

This collection is made up of approximately 190 incoming letters to Governeur J. Tompkins of Salt Point and Clinton, New York, and to his wife, Elizabeth Doty Tompkins, from friends and family members in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee.

Governeur Tompkins corresponded with male and female family and friends throughout the Midwest. George H. Gillins, an acquaintance, wrote around 20 letters from Prophetstown, Lombard, and Oak Park, Illinois, from 1874-1876. He commented on his work digging wells, political issues and the election of 1874, and Illinois agriculture. In his letter of April 4, 1875, he mentioned his attendance at a show featuring African-American performers. Tompkins received additional letters from his cousin, Ida Ostrom, who provided news from Paxton, Illinois, and Chicago, Illinois, where she lived around 1875.

Much of Tompkins's incoming correspondence consists of letters from two female pen-pals, Minnie Ramsay of Home, Tennessee, and Flora Belle Pearsall of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ramsay first wrote in response to his request for a female correspondent (February 1875) and she later wrote with a flirtatious tone. Her letter of August 2, 1875, contains a secondhand account of the death of President Andrew Johnson. Both Ramsay and Pearsall discussed courtship, education, temperance, their social lives, and differences between the North and South. Pearsall mentioned the death of General George Custer in her letter of July 12, 1876, and frequently referred to religious topics and conversions. Both Ramsay and Pearsall ceased to write in 1880, shortly after Governeur Tompkins married Elizabeth W. Doty.

After 1880, Governeur Tompkins received letters from various members of the Doty family, including H. A. Doty, one of Elizabeth's parents. Most of the Dotys' correspondence pertains to family news from Kansas and Missouri; one letter includes a description of a lynching (April 4 ,1882).

This account book contains records of Hannah Weldin's expenses between 1841 and 1855. The entries pertain to purchases of fabrics and apparel, shoes, and household items, as well as donations to religious societies. The final two pages consist of a list of books purchased between 1839 and 1857.

This account book (34 pages) primarily contains records of Hannah Weldin's expenses from February 13, 1841-December 28, 1855 (31 pages). She recorded her purchases of many different items, particularly related to apparel and sewing. Weldin bought fabrics such as calico, muslin, linen, gingham, cambric, and "French Merino"; pre-made items such as dresses, cloaks, handkerchiefs, gloves, shawls, scarves, collars, and bonnets; and related items such as buttons, beads, thread, lace, trimmings, and whale bones. She purchased shoes and boots and occasionally paid to have them mended. Some entries pertain to purchases parasols, pens, pencils, stationery, blank books, a hymnbook, combs, a toothbrush, lavender oil, and varnish.

Weldin occasionally donated to religious causes, such as a Sabbath or Sunday school and a foreign mission society, and had her daguerreotype taken on at least three occasions after 1849. Other entries reflect payments "for Education" (September 1855), for attendance at a lecture (March 13, 1855), and for a horticultural exhibition (September 20, 1855). On two occasions, she recorded expenses associated with having a "tooth pluged" (September 24, 1851, and September 20, 1855). The final 2 pages contain a list of books purchased between 1839 and 1857, including religious volumes, novels, poetry, and nonfiction.

The Hayner family carte-de-visite album contains carte-de-visite and tintype studio portraits taken in Troy, New York, around the 1860s-1870s. The photographs include pictures of many members of the Hayner family and various other families, and some individuals are pictured more than once.

The Hayner family carte-de-visite album (14cm x 21cm), which belonged to Martin H. Hayner, contains 94 carte-de-visite and tintype photographs taken in Troy, New York, around the 1860s-1870s, as well as one lithograph of a young woman and young man. The brown leather cover has a floral design stamped in gold; a floral design is engraved into the sides of the pages. The studio portraits, comprised of 65 cartes-de-visite and 29 tintypes, are mostly pictures of grown men and women of various ages, including members of the Hayner family, Christian clergy, and members of various other families; some were photographed as couples. Smaller groups of items show infants and young children. Nearly all of the individuals pictured are identified, and one carte-de-visite is a photograph of Abraham Lincoln. Some of the tintypes are hand colored. A list of individuals pictured is housed with the album.

This photograph album contains portraits of direct descendants of Elijah Hubbell and Hannah Fields of Danbury, Connecticut, as well as members of associated families, including the Van Allen family of Janesville, Wisconsin, and the Lynes family of Otsego County, New York.

This album (16cm x 12cm) contains 36 carte-de-visite and two tintype portraits of members of the Hubbell family, Van Allen family, Lynes family, and others. The Hubbell and Lynes families lived in northern and central New York, and the Van Allen family lived in Janesville, Wisconsin. Formal studio portraits show men, women, and children of various ages, and some individuals are pictured more than once. Most of the photographs are labeled, and labels exist for some items that are no longer present. The covers are bound in green cloth, with a decorative design in relief.

This photograph album contains carte-de-visite and tintype portraits of unidentified individuals taken primarily in Ionia and Clinton Counties, Michigan, in the mid- to late 19th century.

This photograph album (15cm x 12cm) contains 27 carte-de-visite and 15 tintype portraits of unidentified individuals taken in the mid- to late 19th century. Only one subject, Mr. J. C. Sessions, is identified. The studio portraits mostly show adult men and women of various ages, sometimes photographed in couples and, on two occasions, with children. A few portraits of individual children are included, including two of a young boy who was also photographed at a later date. The album has a green cover with a raised geometric design; a metal clasp that was once affixed to the volume is no longer extant.

This collection contains 20 letters, 1 document, and 1 essay fragment related to members of the extended Jackman family, who lived in Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington during the late 19th century. The material, which includes many letters by women, concerns topics such as religion, family life and news, the Civil War, family history, and education.

This collection contains 20 letters, 1 copied document, and 1 essay fragment related to members of the extended Jackman family, who lived in Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois, Minnesota, and Washington during the late 19th century. The material, which includes many letters by women, concerns topics such as religion, family life and news, the Civil War, family history, and education. Most correspondents wrote only 1 or 2 letters.

The first item is a letter David McDonald wrote about Indiana University School of Law in 1848, addressed to an unidentified recipient. A notarized document dated April 4, 1851, provides genealogical information about the family of Elijah and Eunice Hall, and most remaining items are letters written to and received by their daughter Mary Ann and her descendants. The letters concern a variety of topics related to daily life throughout the latter half of the 19th century, including educational experiences (Ada's letter of February 14, 1858, from Moline, Illinois, for example) and the problems associated with earning a living in Illinois and Indiana (Mary A. Jackman's letter of July 10, 1859, for example). Some correspondents discussed religion, such as their spiritual beliefs and skepticism about Universalist teachings (January 5, 1862). During the war, one person wrote about an acquaintance who had briefly served in the Union Army, and Mary A. Merriman shared her opinion that the Civil War was a chastisement of the nation for "pride and naughtiness of heart" (June 5, 1863).

Later letters include mentions of Elijah Hall's War of 1812 service and its detrimental effects on him, and William Grupe's Civil War service. One letter concerns an unidentified woman's life in San Francisco, California, in 1878, and 6 late items reflect the Grupe family's life in Dayton, Washington. Among the latter are a letter about social life at the Washington State Normal School in 1900, and an undated essay fragment entitled "When a Western Girl Comes East" (4 pages) about regional differences and misconceptions between the residents of the Pacific Coast and the state of New York.

The Kellogg family photograph album contains formal carte-de-visite and tintype portraits of men, women, and children taken mostly in Morenci, Michigan, and Wauseon, Ohio, around the mid-1860s.

The Kellogg family photograph album (14cm x 21cm) contains formal studio portraits of men, women, and children taken mostly in Morenci, Michigan, and Wauseon, Ohio, around the mid-1860s. The photographs, comprised of 41 cartes-de-visite and 4 tintypes, show men, women, and children, sometimes photographed in pairs or groups. Some photographers are identified, such as "traveling artist" W. H. Cunningham. Mary McKenzie Stranahan presented the album to Mrs. Reba Kellogg, her daughter, in Wauseon, Ohio, on June 5, 1865. The brown leather cover has a tooled geometric design, and the title "Album" is stamped in gold on the spine.

The Ladd family carte-de-visite album contains carte-de-visite and tintype portraits of members of the Ladd and White families, as well as other individuals. The volume belonged to a woman named Annis.

The Ladd family carte-de-visite album (14cm x 12cm) contains formal studio portraits of members of the Ladd and White families, as well as other individuals. The photographs are comprised of 30 cartes-de-visite and 6 tintypes. An index to the photographs is partially filled out, though some items may not remain in their original positions or may have been removed. The volume contains pictures of men, women, and children, sometimes photographed in pairs; one child is shown sitting in a baby carriage. Some items have the photographer's name and studio location printed on the back; many were taken in Sterling, Illinois, and various towns in Michigan. The volume's brown cover has a raised geometric design, and the book has one metal clasp.

The Laura Page Butcher photograph album contains photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera pertaining to Butcher's leisure activities and travels in the United States, Europe, and North Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Laura Page Butcher photograph album (27cm x 37cm) contains around 350 photographs with newspaper clippings and printed ephemera pertaining to Butcher's career as an artist, her leisure activities, and her travels in the United States, Europe, and North Africa from June 1897-June 1903. The photographs include single prints, cyanotypes, and individual prints assembled into panoramas. Most of the photographs are original snapshots, with professionally portraits and some commercially produced views included. The album has been reconstructed and re-bound; the original cover, with the title "Photographs" printed on the front, is housed separately. Some quotations and captions, usually providing a location and date, are written directly onto the album pages or onto photographs.

Most photographs are informal and studio portraits of men and women, pictures of women enjoying leisure activities, exterior and interior shots of mansions and hotels, and views of natural and urban scenery from Butcher's vacations and international travels. Portrait subjects include Laura Page Butcher, her traveling companions, artist friends, and a large formal wedding party. Groups of women are shown painting, riding horses, driving carriages, swimming in an indoor pool, and golfing. Butcher's travel photographs from Paris, France; Funchal, Madeira; Granada, Spain; Algiers, Algeria; and Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt, focus on urban scenery, landmarks, and local populations. Included are the Eiffel Tower, Alhambra, the Great Sphinx, and Giza pyramids. Timeless examples of tourists photographed at Giza in Egypt appear. Photographs of Paris include the Exposition Universelle of 1900. Butcher's return to the United States on the steamship St. Louis is documented with several dramatic seascapes. Many images of leisure activities taken along the eastern shore of the United States. Other images of note show the parade for the dedication of the Fairmount Park, Philadelphia Washington Monument in 1897, an American soldier in uniform taken in Manila, Philippines; one colored photomechanical print shows a group of people in Algiers surrounding a ritual activity or performance. Also of note is a panorama of a bull fight given by Spanish prisoners of war held on Seavy's Island, Maine, with William Jean Howells identified as a spectator.

The album also includes newspaper clippings and ephemera items. The clippings are primarily society page items about the activities of Laura Page Butcher and her siblings, such as the family's vacations in West Virginia, Laura's winter in France, and Alice Tyson Butcher's wedding. Quotations often pertain to art, among other subjects.

Of particular note are the photographs, notes, and ephemera related to Butcher's art career. Images appear of young women in artists' smocks with palettes, in life classes, sketching outdoors at the Shinnecock School, in a Paris atelier and other unidentified studios. An interest in James McNeill Whistler is revealed by the inscriptions quoting Whistler's "Ten O'Clock" lecture, a copy of the butterfly monograph of Whistler, and comment on Whistler's work transcribed from the periodical "The Trimmed Lamp" appearing on pages five and ten, and Whistler antidotes in clippings elsewhere in the album. Material related to Butcher's participation in the exposition of the Société Nationale des Beaux Arts at the Grand Palais, including her letter of admission, is on page 19.