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This collection documents the social life of rural Pennsylvania immediately after the Civil War through the correspondence of Tom Appleby and Mattie McNeal Appleby before their marriage.

This collection of Appleby family papers, which consists of approximately 350 items, documents the social life of rural Pennsylvania immediately after the Civil War as described by young people of marriageable age. In addition to documenting the re-entry into civil society of soldiers after the war, these papers show the writers' fascination and absorption with personal relationships, particularly with members of the opposite sex.

The courtship letters between Tom and Mattie comprise the bulk of the collection (roughly 110 pieces); Tom wrote a majority of these letters. All of their letters date between 1866 and 1870. The other letters in the collection are nearly all directed to either Tom or Mattie. Other letters to Tom include courtship letters from Annie Kelly during the war; courtship letters from Mattie McKibbin slightly after the war; letters from his brother, Daniel C. Montague Appleby; letters from Mattie's sister Kate; official and business letters; wartime letters from his grandfather, Daniel Montague; and wartime support letters from various girlfriends and acquaintances. Other letters to Mattie include letters from her sisters Kate and Dutton; letters from her mother, Mary; and letters from her girlfriends.

Tom Appleby was a morally upstanding, attractive young man, so courtship and marriage played a large part in his life after the civil war. His first girlfriend, Annie Kelly, was younger than Mattie. She supported the war effort in theory, and hated "copperheads," but was terribly unhappy about Tom's decision to volunteer for the Union Army. She encouraged Tom not to serve again when his term was up: "I never want to see you going Drafted while there is any honorable way of getting away with it" (1865 April 8). Even before the war Tom's romantic interests were shifting to Mattie McKibbin, as evidenced by a letter from his brother Dan, which mentioned that Tom was escorting Miss McKibbin (August 27, 1862). On May 9, 1866, a disgruntled Annie wrote Tom, "it might perhaps be interesting for you to know that your humble friend is still in existence." Although unhappy, Annie accepted Tom's informal breaking of their courtship, and she did not write him again until 1868, when she gave the news that she had married David Willes on April 28.

Tom's second girlfriend, Mattie McKibbin, was wiser and probably older than Annie Kelly. Mattie turned down a suitor, "Frank," and her letters reveal the pressure on women to marry. Frank wanted to know, "how that old maid of McKibbin's is getting along," she wrote to Tom on February 14, 1866. "He (Frank) is the same man who less than one year ago went to tell McKibbin's favorite daughter that she was the very star of his existence and also wondered how I could refuse, or rather slight, the undivided love of a man of his years for the friendship of a boy." Mattie, who was older than Tom, felt awkward about her age, and was uncomfortable turning down the suitor, but obviously hoped that Tom would consider her for marriage. "Let him go about McKibbin's old maid I can bear it as bravely as he can his disappointment" (February 18, 1866).

Like Mattie McNeal, Mattie McKibbin taught school and wrote intelligent, thoughtful letters. When no marriage proposal came from Tom, Mattie McKibbin became jealous of Mattie McNeal. Mattie McNeal, on the other hand, could not believe that Tom was not seriously involved with Mattie McKibbin. Tom declared in one letter to Mattie McNeal that he was fed up with women in general and sarcastically concluded, "Oh but after all women are a good institution, and have good hearts (i.e. when they have any at all)" (November 26, 1867). In his letter of December 12, 1867, Tom tried more seriously to explain his relationship with Mattie McKibbin, stating that he felt they corresponded "as brother and sister." Mattie McKibbin set her sights elsewhere, and in January 1868 married a Mr. Lefferty, ending her somewhat tempestuous relationship with Tom. "I suppose Lefferty will not allow me to send letters about his house," Tom predicted (January 30, 1868).

During the late 1860s, Tom corresponded often with Mattie McNeal, who wrote while teaching school at "Amberson's Valley." Although Tom had several girlfriends, he was fairly conservative in his thoughts and actions. Both he and Mattie McNeal felt a certain intellectual and moral superiority over some of their companions. Mattie turned down a date in Maryland because he was "as dumb as -- well a mule...I want somebody along who is intelligent" (October 28, 1866). Tom agreed with her, stating, "I know it is a pleasure indeed to talk to an intelligent, sensible lady, on subjects scientific or intellectual" (December 4, 1867). Tom felt that he should not allow his emotions to overwhelm his intellect, especially with love: "So I get in love, step by step and don't plunge head over heels in a day or week" (November 5, 1867). Additionally, Tom did not believe he should have more than one girlfriend while in a serious courtship: "That where there is an engagement; or an intention to bring on an engagement; that it is unwise and impolitic to receive the attentions of another" (January 12, 1868). Mattie agreed with Tom's caution against yielding to the emotions of love: "Hope neither of us may love an imaginary being of our own fancy, but each other as we are, with many faults and failings" (July 25, 1869). Mattie even considered being nicknamed "Miss Modesty" a compliment (January 4, 1868).

The two young adults focused more on morality as they became involved in evangelical Christianity. Both Tom and Mattie were Presbyterians, though Tom often went to Methodist services. Mattie once went to an immersion baptism ceremony, although she was not sure what she should make of the ritual: "I though it was quite gay to see the gentlemen dive under, but when it came to the ladies it made me shudder" (December 8, 1866). Both Mattie and Tom decided they wanted to make a public declaration of their faith in Christ. "The greatest desire of my heart is that I may love and serve God acceptably," Tom wrote Mattie (January 5, 1868). Mattie agreed, but showed a considerable amount of self-deprecation, stating, "I do so much want to be a Christian, a child of God but I am so sinful, so unworthy, and deserving only God's wrath and curse" (June 4, 1868). Tom, too, felt that he was lacking in goodness, but both persisted in their religious search, with guidance from the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Shade Gap, Mr. W.C. Kuhn. Mattie's letters to Tom often discuss her religious views and activities at length, including her opinions of sermons and preachers. She also discussed aspects of her work as a schoolteacher, such as her decision to hold evening spelling lessons in addition to regular classes.

If Tom was unhappy about his own impure thoughts and actions, he was doubly unhappy about his brother, Daniel. Dan was in many ways Tom's opposite. He was frivolous and carefree. While in the army, he wrote, "I have one or two sporting women, but I want one of respectability to go to church with" (March 24, 1865). He signed some of his letters "Blossom." Dan retained his wild ways while working with Tom in the dry goods store in Mount Union.

Both Mattie and Tom disapproved of Dan's behavior. As Tom experienced his religious revival and Dan became more seriously involved with his cousin Allie, Tom's disapproval grew: "I fear his precepts have not always been the most wholesome. He seems restrained by nothing save the restraints of society, and these he violates behind the curtains" (February 16, 1868). Allie's mother disapproved of their relationship, so Dan and Allie arranged "clandestine meetings." In her letter to Tom on April 10, 1869, Mattie was impressed and almost jealous of the disobedient behavior of Dan and Allie: "Dan and Jim brought them [Kate and Allie] home the old lady never dreaming that Dan was within 300 miles of her daughter. ha! ha!" Yet in her next letter, possibly because she was rebuked by Tom, Mattie wrote, "I don't approve any more of Allie's style than I do of Dan's" (April 14, 1869). In May 1869, Dan eloped with Allie, heading west to Quincy, Illinois. The last letter from Dan (January 21, 1870) described how he developed close business contacts and personal friendships with the Jewish community.

Early in their letters Tom and Mattie discussed politics frequently, although they were rarely in agreement. Tom was a moderate Republican while Mattie was more conservative, although she supported the Civil War. When she was invited to represent republican interests in Rohrersville, Maryland, she declined. "I think they are radicalized," she wrote Tom on October 13, 1866, "I see negro equality exemplified very often, last Sabbath I saw a white man walking beside the blackest negro I ever saw. Suppose he was an abolitionist." The Civil War was discussed infrequently, with emphasis being on the effects of war and not on battles. Tom's heart went out to the mothers who lost their sons in the war: "It is indeed a sacrifice to give an only son to one's county" (December 22, 1867).

Mattie and Tom particularly enjoyed discussing their relationship and the relationships of other people; Mattie often reported on social and leisure activities at Amberson's Valley. In their letters before 1868, Tom and Mattie wrote to each other in a teasing, somewhat guarded fashion. "I should like to say 'good evening Mattie' have a hand shake and just one sweet kiss. Of course I wouldn't get the latter," Tom wrote to Mattie on March 13, 1867. As they grew more at ease with each other, their letters became less guarded and more affectionate. Throughout their correspondence, Mattie never feared to speak her mind, and tended to be more forthright than Tom. When Tom offended her in his description of human nature, Mattie fired back at him, "Men do well term all their weaknesses 'woman like,' when women would scorn to employ their minds for a moment with the narrow thoughts that men confine themselves to, not speaking of their degrading habits and vulgar speeches" (January 4, 1870).

Mattie even felt free to ponder the differences between married and single life: "I often wonder which is happier, an independent maiden, or a loving and loved wife. But guess Paul is about right, in his conclusion that those who marry do well , but those who remain single do better" (September 12, 1868). Despite her conclusion, she did long to marry Tom, and began to get impatient. When giving Tom her birth date, she complained it was "enough to shock the nerves of a delicate, sensitive spinster" (April 10, 1869). Mattie brought up the words "spinster" and "old maid" frequently after she turned 26. Mattie's illness in 1869-1870 delayed their wedding, and at one point Tom was concerned that she would never recover. When she did recover, both looked forward to the happy date, although they tried to treat it with the seriousness they felt it deserved.

Mattie's sisters, Kate and Dutton, who wrote to Mattie while she was away teaching, offered their own views on marriage. Dutton, Mattie's senior by six years, was increasingly concerned with her single status. "I think on the whole an old maid is to be pittied, but instead of pity they may expect the sneers and jeers of the more favored ones" (January 7, 1869). Kate, on the other hand, felt perfectly happy with her single status, and found suitors to be a nuisance. In one letter to Mattie [late 1867], she wrote that she had a "Drake" to keep her company, but also wrote, "I do not care for him at all ... but some of the folks think we are deep in love and I make them believe so all I can. I don't care I am going to leave this neck of the woods soon not to return." When Dutton, in a shared letter with Kate, wrote that she wished that "some sensible man" would court her or Kate, like Tom courted Mattie, Kate disagreed: "Now I for my part do not want any of the low-lifed creatures that call themselves: Lord's of Creation. Pretty Lords indeed! Staying out nights until 12 o clock and then coming home to abuse there poor neglected wives" [October 1868].

Some time after Mattie's marriage, Dutton married James Elliot Harper. Kate, of course, remained single and did not leave Shade Gap as she had hoped. Before Mattie's death, she and Tom were friendly, exchanging letters and even visits, so it was natural for Tom to turn to Kate when seeking a second wife and mother for his children. The letters unfortunately provide scant information about Mattie's death or Kate's marriage to Tom.

The Appleton-Aiken papers contain letters and documents relating to the family of John Aiken and his wife Mary Appleton of Lowell and Andover, Massachusetts. The collection contains correspondence about textile mills at Lowell, collegiate education, and the development of the towns of Lowell and Andover, Massachusetts, and Brunswick, Maine. The family letters also include numberous personal references to Mary Aiken's sister, Jane Appleton, both before and after her marriage to the future 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce.

The Appleton-Aiken papers contain over 575 letters and documents relating to the family of John Aiken and Mary Appleton, his wife, of Lowell and Andover, Massachusetts. The collection contains correspondence documenting family life among the upper classes in Massachusetts in the early industrial age, and contains useful information on the textile mills at Lowell, collegiate education, and the development of the towns of Lowell and Andover, Massachusetts, and Brunswick, Maine.

The correspondence centers on the interests of a large and powerful family. Mary and John Aiken's children were all well-educated and wrote erudite letters. Many of the Appletons and Aikens were professionally involved in education, and several series of letters include valuable information on college life and curricula at mid-nineteenth century. Charles and William Aiken attended Dartmouth College in the 1840s and 1850s, and their letters are filled with an undergraduate's opinions on coursework, professors, and education. There are also several examples of secondary school writing assignments from John and Mary Aiken's children and grandchildren.

In a different vein, the letters of Alpheus Spring Packard written while he was professor of natural history at Bowdoin College, offer a unique perspective on the development of that institution, and particularly of its science curriculum. There are many other letters relating to Bowdoin College, since the entire Appleton family seems to have retained a strong interest in the college for years after the death of Jesse Appleton, its former president. For example, Mary Aiken's mother, Elizabeth, writes particularly interesting letters about the progress of the college after the death of her husband, in 1819. Also worthy of note are several letters written by Jennie Snow, whose husband was on faculty at the University of Kansas during the 1870s.

The Aikens were heavily involved in capitalizing textile mills throughout northern New England. A few items provide particularly interesting information on the mills at Lowell, including an October, 1836, letter in which Mary describes a walk-out and strike at the mill, and a letter from her brother, Robert Appleton (1810-1851), describing a shipment of cotton arriving at the mill in 1835 from London. Robert also inspected Governor William Badger's (1799-1852) new cotton factory at Gilmanton, New Hampshire. In 1871, Mary and John's daughter Mary describes a book, Lillie Phelps' The Silent Partner, designed to improve the condition of the mill "operatives." Two other items are of some interest for the study of mill life, one a letter from J. Whitney regarding the acts of sabotage against the mill performed by Edward Webb, an employee (1834 May 1) and the other a letter in which a woman suggests women learn sewing, a skill badly deteriorating under industrialization.

The collection includes a letterbook with 25 letters written by John Aiken to his family from Europe. He wrote these letters during one of his business trips to examine textile operations; along with general travel descriptions, he reported information about cloth production and marketing. Additionally, the collection contains a diary kept by John Aiken during this trip. In the volume, which covers the dates September 1, 1847, to December 20, 1847, Aiken briefly recorded his current location or recent travel, the weather, and any sightseeing or social activities that occupied his day. Aiken noted visits to tourist attractions, including the Tower of London and the Tuileries Garden, and also used the volume to track several financial accounts accrued throughout the period. Detailed notes at the back of the volume also reflect his keen interest in the textile industry and the mills he visited while abroad.

On a more general level, the Appleton-Aiken papers are an useful resource for studying family dynamics among the upper class. The letters are filled with discussions of family members, relations between husband and wife or parent and child, and include some interesting commentary on local religious life, revivals, church meetings, and family piety.

Two photographs have been transferred to the Clements Library's Graphics Division for storage. Photocopies of these are included in Box 6 in the folder containing Miscellaneous items.

The Arabella Chapman carte-de-visite albums primarily contain carte-de-visite and tintype photographic portraits of members of the Chapman family, middle-class African Americans from Albany, New York. Also pictured are friends, neighbors, and a few prominent abolitionists and public figures.

The Arabella Chapman carte-de-visite albums (16cm x 13cm) contain 95 carte-de-visite and tintype photographic studio portraits of the family, friends, and associates of Arabella Chapman, along with public figures and role models. The photos were taken from the 1860s to the turn of the century, with the bulk from the 1870s and 1880s. An inscription indicates that "Bella" Chapman received the second album from R. H. Bundy on October 3, 1878. The albums' covers are bound in blue leather, with designs carved in relief and metal clasps.

The first volume has 32 cartes-de-visite and 17 tintypes, including commercially produced photographs of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and John Brown. Also included is an autographed carte de visite by New York State Representative and Underground Railroad organizer William Henry Johnson (1833-1918). The second volume has 24 cartes-de-visite and card photographs, as well as 22 tintypes. Each volume has a partially completed index, with some manuscript captions written directly on some mounts and album pages. The sequence of photographs does not correspond to the indices.

Many of the photographs were taken by photographers in Albany, New York, along with a few images taken during visits to Pleasure Island Park; Saratoga, New York; and other locations. Arabella Chapman appears in six photographs taken at different times in her life.

Portraits of Arabella Chapman's immediate and extended family make up the largest portion of the photographs, including repeated photographs of her parents, future husband, siblings, cousins and nieces, daughter, and in-laws. The majority of the remaining images show Chapman's school friends, family friends, and neighbors from Albany. These include William Brent, a hotel waiter born in Washington, D.C.; Jim Goines, a porter; Charlie Butler, the son of a billiard hall owner and also employed as a waiter; and Anna Latour, the Chapmans' next-door neighbor, whose brother William was a waiter. Some portraits show Arabella's female peers, such as Elizabeth Myers, the daughter of Stephen Myers; Anna Bolden, listed both as a student and as a servant in a white household; and Mary Crosby, who with Chapman formed the only recitation team from Wilberforce in Albany's 1868 annual public school exhibition. A photograph pasted into the last page of the second volume shows Arabella's children and their neighbors, the Spragues.

Ardis Press was an independent publishing house in Ann Arbor founded by Carl and Ellendea Proffer in 1971 that was dedicated to the printing of Russian literature. The publishing house was known both for their English translations of previously untranslated works, as well as Russian printings of 20th Century Russian and Soviet authors. Additionally, they would print the works of contemporary Russian authors as well as anthologies and literary criticisms. Ardis operated from 1971-2002 when it was sold to Overlook Press. The majority of the materials in this collection are from the 1970s-1990s. Noteworthy pieces of this collection include the Russian anthology Metropol, the Russian Literature Triquarterly, and correspondence and manuscripts from a variety of Russian authors, including: Lev Kopelev, Vladimir Nabokov, Osip Mandelstam, Marina Tsvetaeva, Joseph Brodsky, and Sasha Sokolov.

Materials have been divided into seven series. 1. Author/Name Files: This series includes correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper articles, contracts, and publishing materials for Russian authors and translators. Materials are arranged by author's last name.

2. Collected Works/Corporate Authors: This series includes correspondence, manuscripts, newspaper articles, and publishing materials from corporate authors or anthologies of works. Materials are arranged by corporate name or anthology name.

3. Business Records: This series includes materials related to the operation of Ardis Press. It will have three sub-series: Publicity, Company Information, and Author Personnel.The Publicity sub-series includes will have three further sub-series: Reviews, Articles/Exhibit Info, and Marketing/Advertising. Reviews are arranged by author's last name, and both Articles/Exhibit Info and Marketing are arranged by subject. The Company Information sub-series includes sales information and records about Ardis. It is arranged by subject. The Author Personnel series includes three further sub-series: Royalties, Contracts, and Rights. The Royalties series has correspondence, invoices, and documentation for author's royalty statements. It is arranged by author's last name. The Contracts series includes contracts and documentation between authors and Ardis and is arranged alphabetically. The Rights series has documentation, invoices and correspondence regarding copyright and use permissions. It is arranged by subject.

4. Media: This series includes photographs, negatives, slides, audio, and visual materials from Ardis and its employees, authors and their families, Russia and the Soviet Union, and various interviews. Materials are arranged into two sub-series: Photographs + Albums, and Video + Audio. Materials are arranged by media type.

5. Artwork: This series includes artwork from Russian artists, some used for book covers. Materials are arranged by artist last name.

6. Carl and Ellendea Proffer Personal Papers: This series includes documentation, correspondence, awards and programs related to Carl and Ellendea Proffer. Materials are arranged by subject.

7. Non-Ardis Materials: This series includes documents, booklets, and posters from Russian sources but that are not related to Ardis. Materials are arranged by subject.

Daily newspaper published in Owosso, Michigan. Formerly known as Owosso Weekly Press, Evening Argus, and Press-American. Materials consist of full newspaper issues spanning 1862-2016, assorted newspaper clippings, photographs, and research material for articles.

The records document newspaper issues and articles regarding Shiawassee County and national news published by the Argus-Press located in Owosso, Michigan between 1862-2016. Material includes microfilms of full newspaper issues, newspaper clippings, photographs, and research material related to select articles. Series and subseries may have overlapping subjects, and folders are arranged according to original order. The collection is divided into two series: Publications and Arranged Clippings.

Orlan Arnold was an environmental chemist who conducted research on water and air pollution. Virginia Safford Arnold was a pianist and music teacher. The collection includes correspondence, professional papers, biographical material, press clippings, and photographs relating to life and careers of Orlan Arnold and Virginia Safford Arnold. Also included are genealogical and other materials for the Albright, Crawford, Safford, and Sunderland families.

The Arnold-Safford family papers contain photographic materials and mementos dating from as early as 1856, but the majority of the collection is comprised of materials from the beginning of the twentieth century through the late 1930s. The collection is divided into four series: Orlan Arnold Papers, Virginia Safford Arnold Papers, Genealogical Research, and Family Photographs and Mementos.

The Arnold Transit Company is the longest operating ferry line on the straits of Mackinac. Founded in 1878 by George T. Arnold, the line continues to transport thousands of passengers and tons of freight every year. The record group consists primarily of early financial records, various property interests of Arnold Transit, and the estates of the Arnold family.

The record group consists primarily of early financial records, dating back to 1850, before the company was founded. Other records document the various property interests of the Arnold Transit Company (ATC), and the estates of the Arnold family. The vessels themselves are represented through various certificates, manifests, and logs. Historical advertisements of Arnold Transit have been preserved, as well as promotions of the straits of Mackinac and surrounding area in general. Architectural plans, documents of area organizations, information on competing lines, and a fair number of photographs round out the collection.

The record group is comprised of seven series: Administration, Union Terminal Piers, Topical Files, Area Organizations, People, Visual Materials, and Vessels.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, family. Correspondence, other papers and photographs of Arthur Brown, Ann Arbor attorney and mayor, and officer and director of the Washtenaw Abstract Company; also papers of his wife, Cora Pulcipher Brown, largely concerning work with Americanism Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution during World War II.

The Brown family collection is unfortunately a fragment of materials with very few of the papers created by either Arthur or Cora Brown surviving. What remains relate almost exclusively to the legal career of Arthur Brown, in particular to his service to various persons as a collector of bad debts, and to Cora Brown's work with the Americanism Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution during World War II.

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.

Materials documenting the business transactions and personal communications of the Edward Ingraham family of Bay City, Michigan and Old Saybrook, Connecticut between the years of 1852 and 1881. The collection is particularly strong in legal documentation of the time periods covered, including deeds, agreements, insurance policies, permits and certifications Family and professional correspondence also account for a large portion of the collection.

This collection is comprised of family letters and business records from the Edward Ingraham family. The materials were first collected by Arthur Ingraham Martindale, and were further arranged by Arthur's children. Materials are divided into two series: the Marguerite M. Braden series and the Helen Martindale Roberts series.