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Collection

Horace Mann, Jr. papers, 1864-1868 (majority within 1864)

56 items

Horace Mann, Jr. (1844-1868) was a noted American botanist and the eldest son of the well-known educational reformer, Horace Mann (1796-1859). His papers include two journals, a letter, and a draft of an article related to his botanical research in the Hawaiian Islands in 1864, a partial draft of a book review, clippings, nine maps, and 33 photographs.

The Horace Mann, Jr., papers include two journals, March 2-3, 1864 and May 5-July 28, 1864, a letter to Asa Gray, August 30, 1864, a draft of an article related to his botanical research in the Hawaiian Islands in 1864, an excerpt from a draft of a book review, and clippings related to the eruption of Mauna Loa in 1868. A manuscript copy of portions of a work by Jules Remy, translated by William T. Brigham and published in 1868, is also included. The collection includes 33 photographs of the Mojave Desert and Hawaii, ca. 1863-1864, and eight manuscript maps of Hawaii and one of California, drawn by Horace Mann, Jr., ca. 1864-1865.

His first journal describes two days he spent in California before embarking for Hawaii, during which time he called on several people, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, did some sight-seeing, and collected specimens. The second journal describes his first three months in Hawaii and contains daily entries from his arrival on May 5 through July 28, 1864. He wrote about the people he met, travels around the islands, and plant collecting activities. In a ten-page letter to his mentor, Asa Gray, on August 30, 1864, Mann described a five-week trip to the big island of Hawaii during the month of August. His letter includes a lengthy description of his explorations and the physical features of the island. He also wrote of his intention to send the specimens he had so far collected to the Boston Society of Natural History. He then intended to sail in the missionary brig Morning Star in September on a six-month cruise to the Caroline, Marshall, and Kingsmill Islands to collect specimens, although it is unclear whether or not he ever took this trip. A 31-page draft of an article titled "The Hawaiian Islands" chronicles Mann’s travels and the many sights he saw. The collection also contains a partial draft of a book review by Mann of Field, Forest, and Garden Botany, which was published in The American Naturalist, vol. 2, 1869. In addition, there are five newspaper clippings from the New York Tribune, May 26-June 12, 1868, regarding the eruption of Mauna Loa in April 1868.

A manuscript copy of portions of Jules Remy's Contributions of a Venerable Savage to the Ancient History of the Hawaiian Islands, translated by William T. Brigham, is also included in the collection. Two hundred copies of this translation were privately printed in 1868, and it was reprinted in the appendix of Charles Nordhoff''s Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands, 1875.

Thirty-three albumen photographs, ca. 1863-1864, depict the landscapes and vegetation of the Mojave Desert, soldiers and Paiute Indians at Fort Mojave, a volcano in Hawaii, and two Hawaiian plants photographed in a studio. Hand-drawn maps, ca. 1864, include one map of Sonoma, Napa, and Yolo Counties, California, and eight maps of the Hawaiian islands, particularly noting geographical features. The maps of Hawaii correspond to Mann's travels among the islands and his observations as recorded in his draft article, "The Hawaiian Islands."

The Horace Mann, Jr., papers were formerly part of the Hawaiian Islands collection at the Clements Library.

Collection

Horace Mann papers, 1823-1876 (majority within 1823-1857)

163 items (0.5 linear feet)

The papers of Horace Mann (1796-1859), lawyer, congressman, and educational reformer, contain correspondence and documents spanning his early legal career to the years before his death, as well as miscellaneous quotations, notes, and photographs.

The Horace Mann papers date from his early career as a lawyer until 1857, two years before his death (plus a single outlying 1876 item). The collection contains 52 letters (1823-1876), 83 bills/receipts (1824-1833), 15 legal documents (1824-1837), 2 promissory notes (1826; 1829), 4 graphic items, 1 printed bibliography, and 6 autographs, notations, and miscellaneous items.

Beginning with a letter to Ira Barton, in which he praises Barton's oration at the previous year's Independence Day celebration (March 20, 1823), the forty-eight outgoing letters of Horace Mann cover a variety of topics. Eloquently written, these letters provide information about Mann's own thoughts and perspectives. Many of them contain responses to requests to give lectures and others pertain to his perpetually full schedule. They include remarks regarding opposition to the Massachusetts Board of Education in the years following its formation, discussions with P.M. Upson (a Eutaw, Alabama teacher) about his annual reports and the Common Journal (1845), suggestions to J.B. Vandever for the construction of a school (1851), plans and details surrounding the formation of a teachers' institute at Fitchburg, Massachusetts (in correspondence with Charles Mason, 1845), comments on his nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1848, efforts to procure funds to send Mr. Pierce to the World Peace Convention in 1849, friendly conversations with and advice to Samuel Downer, Jr. (from Antioch College, 1854-1857), and other subjects.

Horace Mann did not write two of the letters in this collection. One, by Edward Everett, nominates an unnamed person to a position on the Massachusetts Board of Education (to fill Edward A. Newton's vacant seat). The other, written in 1876 by Mary Mann to Miss Jacobson (who was inspired by Horace Mann's work), encloses a fragment from one of his manuscripts.

The 83 bills/receipts include itemized fees for Horace Mann's services as prosecuting attorney for clients in Norfolk County. Each of these financial documents include fees for writs, entry and court dues, travel expenses, trial attendance, and individual tasks, such as receiving and swearing in the complainant and summoning witnesses.

The 15 legal documents are miscellaneous, related to almost as many different court cases. Most of them regard financial claims and are signed by Horace Mann as attorney for the plaintiffs. One document stands out above the others: the appointment of the first Massachusetts Board of Education, dated May 25, 1837. Signed by Edward Everett and Secretary John P. Bigelow, this item names James G. Carter, Emerson Davis, Edmund Dwight, Horace Mann, Edward A. Newton, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Thomas Robbins, and Jared Sparks to the Board. It bears the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Four graphic items in the collection include three portraits of Horace Mann and a single negative. These images are: one reproduction of an illustration; one hand-colored and mounted albumin print (oval vignette); and one modern photographic reproduction of an earlier touched-up reproduction of a daguerreotype (with an accompanying negative).

The collection contains a printed 31-page "Bibliography of Horace Mann," prepared by Horace Mann’s son, Benjamin Pickman Mann, December 9, 1896. This bibliography was published in the US Bureau of Education, Report of the Commissioner for 1896-1897, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C., 1898).

A small selection of quotations, notations, autographs, and miscellany completes the collection. One signed quotation reads: "I would rather imitate the actions of one good man than to possess the autographs of all the great men in the world." Another small sheet contains the autographs of several Massachusetts Congressmen. Other miscellaneous items include fragments of papers on the responsibilities and jurisdiction of a town's school committees and rules for proper behavior.

Collection

Houck, Kibler, and Smith families papers, 1853-2012 (majority within 1910-1946)

5.0 linear feet — 1 oversize box

Genealogical collection for the Houck, Kibler, and Smith families, whose ancestors settled Michigan between the 1840s and 1900s. Includes correspondence, estate records, diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, war records, and other materials.

This genealogical collection traces the roots of three Michigan families. The papers include correspondence, estate records, visual materials, and war records.

Collection

Howard H. Russell Papers, 1840-1946

3 linear feet

A leading figure of the Anti-Saloon movement, founder of the Ohio Anti-Saloon League, first general superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of America and superintendent of the New York Anti-Saloon League. Papers include manuscript letters, speeches, diaries and miscellaneous material, and photographs. Letters include correspondence with many prominent prohibitionists and other social reformers.

The Howard Hyde Russell papers held by the Bentley Historical Library consist of three linear feet of manuscript letters, speeches, diaries and miscellaneous material, and photographs, 1849-1946. The Russell papers include professional correspondence and speeches relating to his work with the Anti-Saloon League, biographical and autobiographical writings, diary entries, notebooks and newspaper clippings and other miscellanea; family correspondence, including papers of his father, Joseph A. Russell, and his wife, and collected historical letters.

In 1977, the bulk of the Russell papers were microfilmed along with one linear foot of correspondence, financial records, and other documents held by the Ohio Historical Society on loan from the Westerville Public Library of Westerville, Ohio. This material when filmed was interfiled with the Bentley Historical Library folders, and includes correspondence dealing with personal, business and temperance matters, 1877-1911; notes for speeches and sermons, undated; congratulatory correspondence on the occasion of Russell's 65th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary, 1920; correspondence and other papers of James B. Merwin concerning Merwin's association with Abraham Lincoln and both Merwin's and Lincoln's connections with the temperance cause; a diary, 1891, of records, 1891-1896, including an account book, notes payable, and cancelled checks; an undated typescript Russell biography and an incomplete typescript autobiography of Russell's father, Joseph A. Russell, 1899. All Ohio Historical Society material are designated "OHS"; Michigan Historical Collections materials are designated "MHC."

Collection

Hubbell Family Papers, 1859-1983

2 linear feet (in 3 boxes) — 1 oversize folder

Benzonia and Ann Arbor, Michigan; papers of individual family members, detailing in part activities in the Philippines, 1907-1912. The collection also contains photographs and albums of images from the period when they lived in the Philippines.

The Hubbell Family Papers date from 1859 to 1983 and measure one linear foot. Included in the collection are genealogical material, and correspondence and other papers of individual family members.

Collection

Hussey-Wadsworth family papers, 1830-1945

255 items (1.25 linear feet)

The Hussey-Wadsworth papers document the involvement of two well-to-do families in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and, less intensively, in the two World Wars.

The Hussey-Wadsworth papers fall into two main categories, documenting the involvement of two well-to-do families in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and, less intensively, in the two World Wars. While military involvement forms the core of the collection, there is also interesting material relating to the social and educational lives of upper class New Yorkers, business affairs, and of particular note, the Reconstruction period in Georgia. The collection centers around three main figures: George Tuttle Hussey, his son, George Alexander Hussey, and Andrew S. Wadsworth.

Highly educated and a gifted writer, George Alexander Hussey's letters are uniformly interesting and enjoyable. One of the most remarkable of his letters is a 61 page description of his tour through Bavaria and Switzerland, written in November, 1860. With room to spare, Hussey lavished attention on the sites in Munich, Zürich, and Dachsen, where he marveled at the waterfalls, and he was captivated by everything from the sublime mountains to a cheese maker's simple house, the Freiburg Bridge, and European power politics. Hussey's appreciation of the landscape, architecture and high culture, however, did not extend to the "ignorant" masses whom he observed groveling in prayer to a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Shortly after returning from Europe, Hussey became a Union soldier and began relating his experiences to his father. A common complaint in his correspondence was his desire for a commission. Believing that influence and money purchased rank, Hussey told his father that both were necessary if he wished to become a first lieutenant and then a captain, and when his father did not respond with the alacrity which Hussey felt due, he scolded him. The delay, he insisted, had cost him one hundred dollars (67). Ambitious, young Hussey did finally achieve the rank of captain. He was discharged in November, 1863, reenlisted the following May, and again, almost immediately began his pursuit of a commission, this time, though, through the help of his friends rather than his father (81).

Tensions between George Alexander Hussey and his father extended deeper than the simple matter of assistance in obtaining a commission. The animosity may have stemmed from the length of time it took the younger Hussey to repay a debt he had incurred during his European tour. In December 1860, George IV borrowed forty dollars from K. Grossgebauer, a resident of Gotha, Germany (47, 53). George III apparently accused his son of lying about the debt, and in response, George IV complained that his father treated him like a child (53). By May, 1864, Private Hussey had paid off the debt, but the ill feelings continued to grow (80). As a result, he began directing his letters to his mother and sister.

George Alexander's letters also reflect some of the problems facing Union officers. In June, 1862, he wrote that ten officers of the 83rd Regiment had resigned in two months and that many more would have done the same had their resignations been accepted. Apparently, the officers did not get along well with the regiment's colonel, who was said to be "a perfect idol of gold and silver" (37). In March, 1863, eight more officers tendered their resignations, followed by seven more in June. This tumult in the officers' ranks was matched by ill discipline, and arrests were not uncommon. In July, 1863, for example, eight officers were under arrest, and in July, 1865, after some "unknown" soldiers "played a Yankee trick" on a general at Morris Island, the entire 165th Regiment was disarmed and sent as prisoners to Fort Sumter. Even the officers were placed under arrest, though according to Hussey, they had done nothing wrong (121).

Although the 165th Regiment was said to have a good reputation, in Hussey's opinion, it was a poor organization. While traveling on the Victor, the soldiers threw food valued at $1,000 overboard, some men were known thieves while in the service, and more than one hundred of the regiment's soldiers served time in correctional institutions, with about the same number listed as deserters (85). While at Hart's Island, two soldiers even tried to escape in a general's boat (80).

In addition to a fine description of the activities of the 165th Regiment, the Hussey-Wadsworth Papers includes a number of references to white opinions of African American civilians and soldiers and the general rise in racial tensions during early Reconstruction. In June, 1865, for example, Hussey reported that Black civilians were in control of the South Carolina rice plantations and he was impressed with their industriousness. Nevertheless, Black and white soldiers were involved in a number of altercations in Charleston, including one particularly violent incident in which African Americans were accused of using brickbats on the whites (121). Some white soldiers who refused to mount guard with Black soldiers were imprisoned at Fort Pulaski (121).

When not fighting or quarreling with each other, the Union soldiers spent some of their time battling Confederates. Hussey's letters include accounts of several skirmishes, most notably of the Siege of Suffolk in May, 1863, which left forty Union privates and four officers wounded, including Hussey (61). Among Hussey's other duties was escorting Confederate prisoners to camps and forts. In September, 1864, he accompanied 150 prisoners to Camp Chase, Ohio. Along the way, Confederate sympathizers tried to give the prisoners money, food, and clothing (92), and given the strength of this sentiment, it is not surprising that a month later, when leading 200 Confederate officers to Fort Delaware, Hussey wrote that they were all "secessionists to the backbone" (93).

During the presidential election in 1864, Hussey appears to have been in the minority of his regiment in supporting Lincoln. Four-fifths of the 165th Regiment, he wrote, favored McClellan (94), though all of the soldiers of the 165th mourned the president's death (112).

Andrew S. Wadsworth's letters also provide valuable documentation of military experience, focused on the period of the American intervention in the Philippines. His letters provide several accounts of skirmishes with Filipino insurgents, including a vivid description of the skirmish in which he was wounded and a quartermaster sergeant was killed. The letters are equally important in documenting an average soldier's attitudes toward the enemy in one of America's first imperial wars. Wadsworth had few kind words for the insurgents, whom he frequently referred to by racial epithets, and commented not only on their primitive weapons -- mostly bows, arrows and shields, but also on their tactics. By Wadsworth's reckoning, the insurgents battled American soldiers two or three times a week, and were known to jump out of trees in ambush (173).

In other letters, Wadsworth turned his eye to the battered Spanish gunboats in Manila Bay (158), the American victory at Manila (160), Filipino civilians (158, 159, 160), and Chinese laborers engaged in the novelty trade (160, 161), and whom the Filipinos hated (161). Referring to Manila, Andrew wrote that it was "behind the times," but that it had the finest electric lighting he had ever seen. He asserted, however, that the Filipinos were not concerned with cleanliness: people suffering from either smallpox or leprosy walked the streets of Cavite openly, and Filipino civilians removed the clothes of dead Spanish soldiers and resold them. Andrew himself bought a pair of pants and a shirt.

The Hussey-Wadsworth Papers also provide a brief but interesting description of trenches and bombing during the First World War (210), and there is brief commentary on censorship, the German retreat, and the determination of American soldiers (208, 210). One letter refers to the bombing of London during Word War II (232) and to war rationing in both the United States and Great Britain (231, 232).

According to Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, George Tuttle Hussey sold stamps to collectors and issued bronze pennies. Examples of these stamps and coins, dated 1863, are housed in the Postal History Collection.

Collection

Hutchins family papers, 1837-1951

4 linear feet — 2 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder

Allegan County, Michigan, family; correspondence, diaries, photographs, and business papers.

The collection consists of family correspondence, genealogical materials pertaining to the history of the Hutchins and Robertson families, miscellaneous writings of Henry Hudson Hutchins, papers concerning the family's fruit growing interests, and the development of the Saugatuck and Ganges Telephone Co. The collection is of significance for materials relating to the history of Allegan County, Michigan.

Collection

Ingle family papers, 1849-1907

30 items

The Ingle family papers center around Olive Ingle, the daughter of a Free Methodist minister. The collection includes her diary and family record album, family correspondence, and photographs.

The papers include the diary of 16 year old Olive, which runs from 13 January to 14 March 1880. The collection also includes one letter from a boyfriend to Olive written in 1884, two letters written by members of the Ingle family in 1849, five other family letters, a funeral notice, notes for a funeral service, a family record album, and photographs of Olive, her father, her friends, and her husband, James Bortel.

In her diary Olive wrote about the things that were important to a young girl living in a rural area in the 1880s: home life, school, family, friends, and above all, boys. A young man who received much consideration in the early pages of her diary was a fellow named Frank. On Friday, January 16 Olive wrote, "Oh, I wish he would write for I want to hear from his so bad." On January 20 she did receive a letter from him and wrote, "I was fearful glad to hear from my darling once more."

One of Olive's recurring problems was how to handle competing suitors. On January 21, she considered one boy, Will Doll, who seemed to like her. "He thinks I like him but I do not it will never do him any good to think any thing of me." On January 25 she discussed two other boys, "Johnie Hartsell and Mr. Golden wanted to go home with me but I would not let them. Oh how I wish that they had not asked me for I did hate to say no but I would not let either go with me as long as I am corresponding with Frank he is all the one I care a bout at one time." It seems that Johnie Hartsell was persistent; Olive noted three occasions when he did serve as her escort. Soon, his name appears with frequency and there is no further mention of Frank. The relationship between Mr. Hartsell and Olive can be characterized as slightly competitive as well as affectionate. She wrote on February 6 of a social event that she and John Hartsell both attended, "he thought he was going to act so smart that evening but I did not care. I can act just as smart as he can." By February 13, Olive and her friend Esther were scheduling rendezvous with John H. and his friend Dan G.

Olive wrote about her young girl friends, Amy, Daisy, Nancy, Emma, and in particular, Esther. Olive and her girl friends spent their days in school or at home ironing, baking, cooking, and cleaning. Their social lives revolved around choir meetings, social functions, Church, Sunday school, and house calls. Their greatest thrills were being a little bit bad and flirting with boys. On February 18, Olive's school teacher had to separate her from Esther for talking too much during class. On February 28, Olive and Esther had an adventure together:

Esther and I went out calling went to Simptons and then to Uptergrass and while us was thair, thair was to tony fellows cam a long on the side walk they was a going to Fremont one he through a kiss at me and I through one back and then Esther and I both got to flirting with them (Oh we had a boss time).

In the same entry, Olive divulged, "Had my fortune told to night. She told me I would have an offer of marrage from a tall heavy set person light completion blue eyes dark brown hair She does not know everything."

In addition to news about boys and friends, Olive's diary also discussed her parents, especially when they were absent. Her parents were often away, presumably because of Thornton Ingle's work on the circuit. Olive did not write about her father's work. Instead, she discussed its impact on her, particularly her sadness about being left alone and in charge of the house keeping.

The Ingle collection also includes several letters. The first, written July 25 1849, is from Ann E Cowdrick, Olive's relative on her mother's side. Ann wrote home from Turkey, [New York] to her friend Sarah A. Clapp of Henry Co. Ohio. Ann apologized to Sarah for behaving badly before leaving Henry, regretting that they parted on such bad terms. "I am a great way from you I may take sick and die or perhaps a watery grave may be my doom on my return you know there is danger on the lake and on the land also. But I hope Sarah to return safe home to meet you in friendship for I am sure there is nothing else between us."

A later letter is directed to Olive Ingle from a suitor, known only as A.F.W. He wrote to Olive on September 22, 1884, relieved that she had written, as he thought she no longer wanted to correspond with him. A farmer, he seemed to want to convey a sense of his financial success, and discussed why his career was more promising than others. He responded to Olive's mention of attending a holiness meeting, which suggests that Olive was following the family tradition of religious involvement.

The last part of the Ingle family papers is Olive's family record album, in which she recorded the detailed history of her family. She recorded birth, marriage, and death dates for several generations. By the time that she recorded her family's history, she had married James Bortel and had two children; Doris, born in 1892, and Genevieve, born in 1894.

Olive's family record begins with an account of the life and death of her maternal grandparents, Joseph and Margrat Cowdrick, and her paternal grandparents, Isaac and Susan Ingle. Of her grandmother Cowdrick's death she wrote, "I remember when I stood beside her coffin, the peaceful smile that rested on her dear old face and the hands folded on her breast that had so often waited on me."

Religion is a recurring theme in Olive's album. Of her parents she wrote, "I have all way[s] had good Christian parents who tryed to raise us in the way of christians and the fear of the Lord. How thankful we aught all to be for good Christian parents, for how may children have drunken fathers and mother, who never speaks a pleasant word." Olive also described the conversion experiences of her father and mother, "My mother was converted when but a girl she was a good Baptist. She was baptized when thair was ice in the river. they cut a hole in the ice a baptize them."

Collection

Isaac M. Weston Papers, 1859-1899

6 linear feet — 3 oversize volumes

Grand Rapids Michigan businessman and politician, active in lumbering and banking in Wisconsin and Michigan, Democratic party official, head of Board of World's Fair Managers for Michigan, overseeing state's exhibits at 1893 Columbian Exposition. Collection primarily documents business activities with some material on World's Columbian Exposition, as well as personal and family material.

The Weston collection primarily documents the career of Isaac M. Weston. Included are smaller series of papers of his brother and father. The collection includes correspondence, topical files, business and legal papers, and photographs. Of note are materials concerning Michigan's exhibit at the World Fair in 1893 and papers concerning lumbering and land interests in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Collection

Isaac Newton Demmon papers, 1858-1920

1 linear foot — 1 oversize folder

Professor of English at University of Michigan. Correspondence, essays, a diary, and photographs.

The Demmon collection is comprised of the following series: Correspondence; Manuscripts; Essays and addresses; Other papers; and Photographs. The correspondence is both professional exchanges and personal letters among family members. Included are Demmon's student letters from Butler University and The University of Michigan, and two Civil War letters (1864) written while he was serving with 132nd Indiana Infantry. Among his professional correspondence are letters from James B. Angell, William L. Clements, Martin L. D'Ooge, Karl E. Guthe, Henry B. Joy, James McMillan, Moses C. Tyler. There are also lecture notes and other papers pertaining to his teaching duties; three volumes of personal accounts (1899-1920); a diary (1869) kept while he was a professor at Alliance College, Ohio, in which he mentions Mark Twain and John A. Bingham. The photographs include portraits, family photos and tintypes; photos of Demmon in the classroom, and of Demmon's residence in Ann Arbor.