Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Bishop of the Michigan Diocese of the Episcopal Church, 1906-1923, and advocate of the "social gospel" views of Walter Rauschenbusch. Papers consist of correspondence, notebooks on labor and social issues, and biographical material.

The papers of Charles D. Williams, Episcopal bishop of Michigan, include correspondence concerning personal and church affairs and the social gospel movement, including correspondence with Walter Rauschenbush, Samuel Mather, and Lucretia Garfield; also sermons and addresses, 1885-1923, journals of European trips, 1896, 1917, and 1921, notebooks on social and labor problems, material on the 1908 forest fire at Metz, Michigan (Presque Isle County), and material on the Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio in 1898; biographical writings by his sons, Benedict Williams, his wife Lucy V. Williams, and his secretary, Charles O. Ford; letters of condolence from fellow clergy, including Reinhold Niebuhr; also photographs.

Republican U.S. Senator from Michigan; advocate of the United Nations and bipartisan foreign policy. Correspondence, scrapbooks, diaries, and visual materials.

The Arthur H. Vandenberg collection consists of 8 linear feet of materials (available on microfilm), 25 volumes of scrapbook/journals, and assorted audio and visual materials. The collection covers Vandenberg's entire career with a few folders of papers post-dating his death in 1951 relating to the dedication of memorial rooms in his honor in the 1970s. The collection is divided into four major series: Correspondence; Speeches; Campaign and Miscellaneous Topical; Clippings, Articles, and Scrapbooks; Miscellaneous and Personal; Visual Materials; and Sound Recordings.

Professor of German at the University of Michigan and Columbia; mostly correspondence of Thomas with his family, professional colleagues, publisher, etc.; also some correspondence of his wife after his death; speeches, lecture notes, biographical sketches; papers include material on language studies at Michigan and Columbia, attitudes of academia toward Germans in World War I, accounts of European travels in 1877, 1896, and 1900; Civil War letter of Steven Thomas, Calvin's father.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/personal material; Correspondence; Lectures and addresses; Journals/diary; Scrapbooks; Other family members papers; and Publications.

Collected materials include Civil War diary (1863) of William Harts, soldier with Co. B, 1st Michigan Infantry; also papers of Leon Bell, member of 339th Infantry (Polar Bears) sent to northern Russia after World War I.

1st Lieutenant, Co. M., 339th Infantry, sent to northern Russia at the end of World War I. Diary (with transcription) describing war-time activities, 1917-1919; scrapbook of clippings from Detroit and Toledo newspapers describing the "Polar Bear" expedition; orders received; photographs; and CD-ROMs of selected items.

Diary (with transcription) describing war-time activities, 1917-1919; scrapbook of clippings from Detroit and Toledo newspapers describing the "Polar Bear" expedition; orders received; photographs.

Grand Rapids, Michigan family, involved in furniture making and other businesses, also active in local state and Republican Party politics and businessmen's associations. Papers include family papers and correspondence, business records, scrapbooks and visual materials.

The Sligh family collection consists of the personal and business papers of the four generations of Slighs mentioned in the biographical introduction: James W. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Jr., and Robert L. Sligh. Although there is some overlap, the files have been arranged into seven series, one for each of these three Slighs, one for the Sligh Furniture Company and related family businesses, and one each for Newspaper clippings and Scrapbooks, and Visual Materials.

Soldier from Grand Rapids, Mich., member of 337th Ambulance Company who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes diaries and reminiscences of his service in Russia and training at Fort Custer, Michigan; also his diaries of life in Grand Rapids, photographs, motion pictures, and miscellaneous.

The collection includes diaries and a reminiscence of his service in Russia, at Obozerskaya and Archangel, and his training at Fort Custer, Mich.; also clippings and miscellanea. The collection also includes views of Fort Custer, Mich., and photos taken in Russia (both U. S. Signal Corps photos and snapshots) of American and allied soldiers, cities and towns, Russian people, battle scenes, and means of transportation; also a motion picture (16 mm original with DVD and streaming file use copies) containing miscellaneous scenes of American troops in Archangel. Also included Smith's diaries dated 1910 and 1914-1916.

Soldier from Detroit, Mich., member of Co. E, 339th U.S. Infantry who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes diary of service in Russia, Nov.7, 1918-Jan.14, 1919 and other war-related papers.

The papers include a diary, Nov. 1918-Jan. 1919, describing daily life, monotony, the weather, and fighting at Kodish, Dec. 1918. Also included are newspaper clippings, miscellanea, and photographs. Also artifacts: helmet, shell casing trench art (75 mm), 37 mm shell, VFW Post 436 cap, and uniform insignia. (The photographs and artifacts have not been digitized.)

Port Huron, Michigan attorney; officer in the Michigan National Guard beginning in 1905, later Judge Advocate with the U.S. Army during World War I. After the war, Pepper was chief law officer of the MNG where he was advisor during the Flint Sit-Down strike of 1937. Biographical material; correspondence with family and friends concerning in part current events and politics in pre-World War I Canada; correspondence with wife Katherine while serving in France 1918-1919; papers relating to his official responsibilities with the Michigan National Guard, as Judge Advocate, and as member of veterans organizations; include files relating to the Copper Miners' Strike of 1913 and to the Flint Sit-Down strike; also diaries, 1916-1919, of his experiences serving on the Mexican border and in France during the First World War; papers relating to Republican party activities in 1920 and 1924; and photographs.

The Samuel D. Pepper papers cover Pepper's military service and legal career, as well as his relationships with family and friends. The collection provides particularly strong documentation of the impact which Pepper's Michigan National Guard (MNG) service had on personal and professional aspects of his life. The papers are divided into four main series: Personal, Military Activities, Professional and Political Activities, and Photographs.

Digital copies of materials relating to the military service of James F. O'Brien, who served as 2nd lieutenant in Company E, 339th Infantry, sent to Archangel, Russia at the end of World War I, the "Polar Bear Expedition."

This collection contains digital records; the original papers and/or photographs are owned by the donor. The digital items in this collection were digitized from originals by the individual donors before being received by the Bentley Historical Library. Preservation copies of these files with their original file names and CD-ROM file structures intact have been submitted to Deep Blue. Access copies of these digital files can be viewed by clicking on the links next to the individual folders in the Content List below.

In this finding aid, the files have been arranged into one series, Papers and Photographs. Within each series, files are listed numerically according to the file arrangement they were given by the donor. The files in this collection are in JPG and BMP format.

Files include digitized military documents diary entries, photographs relating to his service ca. 1918; also includes photographs of O'Brien and Captain Otto Odjard in a hospital ward, and photographs and newspaper clippings, possibly at the Detroit Ordnance District ca. 1943.