Business correspondence, 1856-1936
The Business Correspondence series consists of letters of George N. Fletcher, Frank W. Fletcher, and the office correspondence of A.F. Fletcher & Co., Fletcher Pack & Co., and George N. Fletcher & Sons.
The Business Correspondence series consists of letters of George N. Fletcher, Frank W. Fletcher, and the office correspondence of A.F. Fletcher & Co., Fletcher Pack & Co., and George N. Fletcher & Sons.
Approximately 5 cubic feet (in 3 boxes, 23 volumes, 1 Oversized folder, 1 Oversized rolled item)
The collection originally was in small packets of related materials which accounts for overlapping chronological sequences. It is organized by format, location, and date into Correspondence, some with Track Blueprints, Movements of Trains, Track Schedules, and various Financial Account Books, 1846-1960.
1 volume
The Butler Clarkson journal (approximately 45 pages) contains an account of the author's 1855 voyage from the Bass Strait in Australia to Holyhead, Wales, as well as financial accounts for numerous expenses after Clarkson's immigration to Lansingburgh, New York.
Clarkson began his travel journal on March 23, 1855, in the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania, and recorded brief daily entries until sighting Holyhead, Wales, on June 8, 1855. His entries report weather and wave conditions and often take note of the scenery, with frequent remarks on the ship's location and places passed, such as New Zealand, Cape Horn, and Trinidad. He occasionally mentioned marine life, including turtles, porpoises, and whales, and on one occasion he saw a whale attacked by a swordfish (May 8, 1855).
The volume also has accounts that Clarkson kept between 1857 and 1866. These related to a variety of services and goods, including expenses for keeping horses and accounts with the Rensselaer County Bank. Some accounts are dated at Lansingburgh, New York. Financial agreements between Butler Clarkson and George Clayton are also present. Other entries are a list of addresses, a drawing of a person, and a birth record for Clarkson's children. The journal is one of "Henry Penny's Patent Improved Metallic Books" and includes a metal stylus for use on its special paper.
1 folder
Genealogical materials as well as Civil War letters relating to Captain Ebenezer Butterworth of Co. C, 1st Michigan Infantry. Correspondence includes a letter (Apr. 29, 1861) from the "Coldwater Young Ladies" presenting Butterworth's regiment with a token; also includes letters relating to Butterworth's death from George Rhodes (Aug. 21, 1861) and from Wells Walbridge (Dec. 27, 1861). The collection also contains family portraits, including ones of Captain Ebenezer Butterworth.
3 volumes
The Buttolph family collection contains two diaries and an account book chronicling the experiences and expenses of Larnard D. and Florence W. Buttolph of Corfu, New York, in the late 19th century. Florence's diary (80 pages), kept between March 10, 1872, and September 28, 1872, relates her social life and daily experiences, including visits to neighbors and attendance at school; she frequently helped her mother around the house, and knitted in her spare time.
The first 40 pages of Larnard’s diary contain addresses and a correspondence record, and the remainder of the volume is a daily diary kept between April 8, 1873, and January 15, 1874, reflecting his experiences traveling by train to California and working at a mill in the northern part of the state. The first few entries, dated in April, cover his transcontinental railroad trip, during which he wrote about his impressions of Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming. He reached California by the end of that month, and spent the remainder of the year working various jobs near Sacramento, including mill work and ranching. Though he made some money and was able to travel to San Francisco in December, he decided to return to New York in mid-January 1874.
The final item is Larnard's account book, covering farm expenses between 1882 and 1889, with a few 20th-century items laid in. The first few pages reflect the general state of his finances in 1882 and 1883, and more specific later accounts cover his transactions with local butchers, shearers, and laborers; some record purchases and others sales. Among the items laid in is a printed document for stockholders, entitled "The Pennsylvania Railroad System in 1923" (May 15, 1924).
Visual material includes an ink drawing of a bird and butterfly, as well as tintypes and other photographs of Buttolph family members and anonymous individuals.
1 item
This collection contains the disbound contents of a scrapbook that Massachusetts minister Calvin Durfee kept during the mid-19th century. The first item is Durfee's 14-page journal describing his domestic travels from April 22, 1851-June 20, 1851. He embarked from South Dedham, Massachusetts and travelled, often by steamboat, across northern New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. The journal records Durfee's daily activities, including delivering sermons and making social calls in numerous cities, and also contains a genealogical record of his sister's family, the Lashiers of Maine, New York (page 10).
The journal is followed by biographical sketches of pastors from Pittsfield and Lanesboro, Massachusetts, clipped from the Berkshire Courier (approximately 14 pages); the clippings include manuscript annotations. Two additional clippings are a history of the pastors of the Presbyterian Church at Whitfield, Massachusetts, and a note regarding the marriage of Durfee's son Charles. The collection also contains 7 sermons that Calvin Durfee delivered by between 1852 and 1876, consisting of 6 manuscripts and one newspaper reproduction. Four of the sermons are between 18 and 30 pages long.
Additional printed material includes a program from Charles S. Durfee's ordination in Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 8, 1869; a related letter of congratulation; and a printed invitation from the First Presbyterian Church of Newburyport (August 24, 1869). The original scrapbook cover is housed with the collection.
3 linear feet — 1 oversize folder
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.
8.0 linear feet — 1 oversize folder
This collection reflects the papers amassed by Camilla and Ethel Green over nearly a century. It is divided into four series: Family Background and Documents, University of Michigan, Correspondence, Photographs. The bulk of the collection occurs from 1910 to 1955 and features correspondence with various friends and family members; a large portion of the letters has been organized by correspondent and/or the correspondent's family, and the remainder is sorted chronologically.
1 volume
This volume (994 pages) contains Camilla Sink's journal, copied by one of her children (February 1, 1857-November 1, 1877, pp. 1-837); poems, biographical sketches, proverbs, and genealogical information (pp. 838-928); and a diary kept by one of Sink's children (January 1, 1900-December 10, 1900, pp. 928-994).
Camilla Sink's journal entries are prefaced by remarks about her life, death, and character, written by one of her children. Sink wrote almost daily from February 1, 1857-April 13, 1877, but illness led her to write only sporadically until her final entry on November 1, 1877. She most frequently commented on the weather, her social activities, and news of her children and their families. Sink lived in Rome, New York, and spent time visiting her family in Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; and Elkhart, Indiana. Sink provided news of her illnesses and ailments, or those of her children and other acquaintances, and sometimes discussed her feelings about bereavement and aging. Some of her entries from the spring of 1861 mention marching soldiers; in mid-April 1865, she wrote about the death of Abraham Lincoln and the journey of his funeral train. On September 29, 1876, she recounted a visit to Washington, D.C., and entries from early October 1876 concern her visit to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.
The second section of the volume contains poetry, writings, biographical sketches, and genealogical information copied by and written about Camilla Sink and her descendants. Poetry and proverbs concern topics such as bereavement, and one of her children wrote a memorial poem in her honor (pp. 886-887). Genealogical information pertains to the births, marriages, and deaths of Camilla Sink's parents, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. A second series of journal entries, written by one of Camilla Sink's children, concerns the author's daily life and social activities in 1900. Items laid into the volume include a photographic postcard with a girl's portrait; a newspaper clipping; 3 certificates related to the academic progress of Chester Weier and Gladys Kleckner in Monroe, Michigan (June 20, 1907-June 14, 1912); and a certificate regarding Gladys Kleckner's confirmation at St. Stephen's Church in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, on March 14, 1915.