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Battle Creek, Michigan and Washington, D.C. family including C.W. (Charles William) Post, cereal manufacturer, and anti-union activist and founder of Post City, Texas; and his daughter Marjorie Merriweather Post, executive of General Foods Co., wife of U. S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, art collector, philanthropist, socialite, and Washington D.C. hostess. C.W. Post papers, largely concern labor-management relations, unionism, the Postum Company, currency reform, advertising, and matters of food and hygiene; Marjorie Merriweather Post papers document her social activities and travel, philanthropies art collections, and the maintenance and preservation of her homes and other possessions.

The Post family collection includes papers of businessman and food processor, C. W. Post, largely relating to labor-management relations, unionism, the Post Company, currency reform, advertising, and matters of food and hygiene; and papers, photographs, and sound recordings of his daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, General Foods executive and philanthropist, relating to social activities and engagements, philanthropies, and the maintenance and preservation of her homes and other possessions.

The C.W. Post papers consist of manuscript items and printed works created by C.W. Post and retained by his daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post. The papers are arranged alphabetically by subject.

The Pratt family papers present a chronicle of middle-class women's lives between the 1850's and 1890's.

The Pratt family papers present a chronicle of middle-class women's lives between the 1850's and 1890's. The writers are uniformly literate and attentive, and the majority of the letters are of a strongly personal nature. While some letters stand on their own, the collection should be seen as one large, continuous document presenting a nineteenth century "woman's" life in many of its aspects, from cleaning and cooking to marriage, childbirth, child rearing, sewing, gardening, travel, music, reading, teaching, religion, death, and friendships. The composite portrait that emerges is stronger than the portraits of any single woman, though the personalities of several of the correspondents are very strongly expressed. As a result, the Pratt Papers is a valuable resource for the study of women's work, as teachers, employees, and home makers, as well as their emotional and personal lives.

The primary focus of the Pratt papers is Emma Louise Pratt (b. 1864 April 8) of Revere, Mass. The collection includes several hundred letters addressed to her, as well as some of her diaries, the diaries of her only brother, Willie (d. 1888), 1881, 1883, and 1886, and notes between Emma and her mother, Emeline. Most of the letters were written by Emma's intimate friends and family members, including several of her aunts and cousins, and these provide the main dialogue of the collection and construct a fascinating image of the development of one young woman's personal relationships during the post-Civil War period. There are four women with whom Emma most consistently corresponded: Claribel M. Tilton Crane, Emma Lois Proctor, Mabel H. Drew Croudis, and Lola V. Jefferds.

Claribel (or Clara) M. Tilton Crane was a school chum of Emma's who moved from Revere to Malden, Mass., in 1873, and a few years later to Quincy. Their correspondence began when the girls were still teenagers, with Claribel describing her new home, her school, friends, pets, clothes, and fancy work, and she and Emma occasionally exchanged riddles and conundrums. The two developed a private code, words that had special meaning to each other, and Claribel often included words at the top of her letters that have no obvious relationship to the text. Over the Christmas holidays, which coincided with her birthday, Claribel always described her presents for that year, a practice that continued even after she and Emma became adults. The subject matter of Claribel's letters changed as she grew and began working in a dry goods store in Quincy owned by her brother, Charlie. Her letters include descriptions of her work, sewing, clothes, and her married life with a man named Crane. Claribel's health was never very good and a great many of the later letters describe her various convalescences. In some of these, Claribel includes floor plans of her home as well as written descriptions.

Emma's cousin, Emma Lois Proctor, moved to LaCrosse, Wisc., when very young to live with her father, Alfred, and new stepmother. The collection includes a few letters from Mary Ann Proctor dating from the 1860's, which refer to Emma Proctor and other family members, and it appears that when Mary Ann Proctor's mother died, Emma returned east to live with the Pratt's until she grew up. Emma Proctor's early letters describe her trip to Wisconsin, her father's farm and family, her work there, her sewing and fancy work, and her efforts to become a teacher. Other members of the Proctor family had also gone west to live, some in Wisconsin, others in Chicago, or as far west as Montana and Washington Territory, and Emma Proctor kept in close contact with all. She eventually became a teacher, and considered moving to Kallispell, Mont., to join a brother and his wife and teach school. The letters she wrote during an 1890 trip to Kallispell include some fine descriptions of the state and of the Flathead Indians. She decided that she would return to Wisconsin, though five years later she returned to Montana.

Mabel H. (Drew) Croudis from Medford, Mass., was another of Emma Pratt's cousins, though from which side of the family she is related is not clear. Mabel and Emma began corresponding in 1881 and their letters continue throughout the entire collection. The two women were exceptionally close and wrote to each other with great regularity, almost every week, and visited each other often. Mabel usually addressed Emma as "Susan" and signed her letters "Betsy". Her letters are filled with family news, discussions of her work as a bookkeeper in her brother's store, and with inside jokes and stories that she and Emma shared. Because of their closeness and the regularity with which they wrote and visited, Mabel's letters tend not to provide a very complete picture of their relationship, though their intimacy comes through very clearly. It appears that neither Emma nor Mabel planned on getting married, even when they reached their early twenties, and Mabel often commented on their plans to grow old together and live in their own "snuggery." Mabel eventually married George Croudis, and this event appears to have put a strain on the friendship. Soon after Mabel's marriage, Mabel complained to Emma about never hearing from her anymore, and implored her to understand that their friendship need not change simply because she has gotten married.

Lola V. Jefferds was another friend of Emma Pratt's who, like Claribel, moved from Revere to Livermore Falls, Me. She and Emma corresponded regularly, though not quite as frequently as Claribel or Mabel. Lola was a spirited person who wrote interesting, usually very descriptive letters. Like Emma, she did not plan on marrying, occasionally expressing a disdain for the men she met, stating that she would prefer to remain single if these men were her only options. Lola's father owned a furniture store in Livermore Falls where Lola worked along with her parents. The family took charge of the local post office at some point, probably through political patronage, and Lola soon began to work there.

Emma Pratt spent a month's holiday with Lola in August, 1891. During this time, she wrote an average of two letters per day to her parents, representing some of the few extant letters written by Emma. These include descriptions of her vacation, the landscape, Lola and her family, and, above all, her homesickness and feelings of guilt at being away from her home and mother. Emma worried constantly that she should not be on vacation, but nevertheless appeared to have a good time. It is unfortunate that Emma's letters to her friends and cousins are not present, for these would be particularly helpful in rounding out the picture. From the letters written to Emma it is known that she was a very descriptive and lively letter writer. Her friends often comment on the pleasure, comfort and amusement they derive from Emma's letters. The collection includes one letter, or rather story, that Emma sent to her cousin Mabel (Betsy) describing a lawn-party at Lola's, that offers a good glimpse into the wit and powers of observation that made Emma such a popular correspondent.

Emma Pratt corresponded regularly with several other women, including her cousins Nettie Maria Fellows (47), Edith Dann (43), Georgie Renton (23), Anna Linn Renton (15), and her aunt, C. Augusta Renton (27). The collection also includes other correspondence of Augusta's, mostly with her sisters, Emeline Pratt and Olive M. Homans (29). The letters from Nettie and Edith are not very illuminating, consisting primarily of brief discussions of family and the weather. The letters from Augusta and her daughters, Georgie and Anna Linn, however, are interesting when placed together. The Rentons owned a boarding house in East Gloucester, Mass., in which all three women worked, and Augusta's letters include interesting discussions of her life as a mother, boarding house keeper, and friend. Augusta also described the health problems of her son, Freddie, who suffered from a diseased leg. Georgie and Anna Linn began to write to Emma when they were very, through the period in which Georgie entered Wellesley College as a student in the late 1880s. Augusta Renton died in 1890, leaving Georgie, Anna Linn, and a cousin(?) Edith Dann, grief stricken and doing their best to cope with Augusta's death.

The 29 letters from Emeline Pratt's sister, Olive M. Homans, are especially interesting. Olive was a lively writer with a good sense of humor and a strong sense of what she felt was right and wrong. Her correspondence with Emeline began in 1867 after she has moved to Hannibal, Mo., with her husband, Willie Homans. She describes her new home in Missouri, her friends, and vacations to Minnesota, Ohio and Michigan. Olive taught Sunday school to freedmen in Missouri.

Emma's diaries, written in 1883-1887 and 1889-1892, consist only of one page entries, and are not particularly introspective. However, there are a few instances in which Emma manages to express her feelings within this space. It is in here that Emma's relationship with her father and mother becomes clearer, as well as Emma's frustration at feeling that she is a financial burden to her father because, at the age of 19 and unmarried, she still lives at home and is not contributing to the family's income. This frustration influenced her feelings toward both her parents, though in very different ways. Emma grew very protective of her mother, and assumed the role of the dutiful daughter trying to ease her mother's burden. At the same time, she seemed to grow angrier and angrier with her father, though her basic love for him always remained. Emma expressed an interest in becoming a dressmaker, but complained that she never had the time to learn, as she was so busy with housework, church activities, and (apparently) letter writing. At the end of each entry in her diary, she kept track of the Bible verse she had read for the day.

In August, 1888, Emma's brother, Willie, died in a drowning accident. Her diary from this year is absent, however in 1889, almost every entry mentions Willie, Willie's death, and Emma's grief and disbelief that her brother was taken from her. The collection includes a substantial number of letters of condolence as well. At about this time, both Emma and Emeline began a correspondence with a woman, Emma Aldrich, whose daughter had recently died. The daughter and Willie were buried in the same cemetery, and the letters from Emma Aldrich deal mainly with the cemetery plots and the death of her daughter and Willie.

Parallel to the letters of the Pratt and Proctor family is a very significant series of correspondence relating to the Stebbins family. This series forms a self-contained body of approximately 75 letters dating between 1854 and 1869, which may have been collected by Emma or written by relatives, but connections to either the Pratt or Proctor families is unclear. The focus of these letters is a woman, Laura Stebbins, from Springfield, Mass., whose teaching career took her into positions in the Deep South in the 1850s, and to Washington, D.C., to teach freedmen in the 1860s, and also includes a number of letters from a man, Eugene, probably her brother. Laura appears to have suffered from poor health, experiencing a great deal of trouble with her eyes. It is also apparent that her family and friends admired her greatly. She was considered to be an unselfish friend and teacher, selfless, and always thinking of others. From their perspective, Stebbins was the "perfect" woman who represented the "angel in the house," so to speak.

The Stebbins correspondence includes some excellent descriptions of the life of a woman teacher during the late ante-bellum period, her attitudes toward teaching, her students, and the south, and there are several letters that concern the education of freedmen and the end of the war and early Reconstruction period in Virginia. Like Laura, Eugene worked with freedmen in Norfolk, Va., both for an unidentified employer and the Freedmen's Bureau, and his letters are packed with interesting description and thoughts about his work, his home, Laura's teaching and health, and the aftermath of the Civil War. The collection also includes several letters written to Laura from family members and friends, including two women teachers with whom Laura seems to have been particularly close, Martha E. Swan and "Jennie."

Among other items, the Stebbins letters include two particularly interesting letters from a woman, Marcia A. Gleaner, that describe her experiences as an employee in a wholesale cloak store on Broadway in New York City in 1862. In the first letter, Marcia expressed her disgust with New York City and with her working and living conditions. In the second, she described an accident at work in which a women fell down the stairs while she and the other 150 others were leaving for the day.

Finally, there is a sequence of letters that is difficult to trace to the Pratt, Proctor or Stebbins families. These are a group of letters from the French, West, and Richardson families in Oberlin and Pittsfield, Ohio, Potsdam, N.Y., Jaffrey and Rindge, N.H., Cornish, Me., and Fitchburg, Mass.. There are several interesting letters from Abijah French from California where he has gone to see his brother Levi. Levi has "gone mad" and was unable to recognize Abijah as his brother, though he was able to remember all of his brothers and sisters' names -- Abijah, Alvira, Augusta, and Maria -- as well as his parents', Richard and Percilia. Abijah also describes California and his trip westward. It is possible that these families are related to the Pratts and Proctors; there is a letter from Carrie L. Richardson from Cornish, Me. (1893 January 26) to Emma which makes a reference to Grandma Pratt and to Emma's mother's health. An expense account book and miscellaneous receipts and notes belonging to Oscar W. Grover may represent items relating to Emma Pratt's would-be, or actual, husband.

St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan family. Papers of family members, primarily correspondence of Ann G. Loomis Preston with her father, Jonathan Loomis, and with her sons Wallace and Fowler, sailors in the Union navy during the Civil War; typescript of excerpt of Civil War diary of Wallace Preston; paper, 1978, of Harriet N. Preston based upon family Civil War experiences; photographs, clippings and miscellanea concerning family and St. Joseph, Michigan.

In 1972, a bundle of over forty Preston family letters, dating mainly from 1850 to 1870, were discovered in the attic of the family home in St. Joseph. Over the next few years, Harriet N. Preston, wife of Arthur G. Preston, Jr. (grandson of Wallace Preston), took an interest in these letters and the Preston family history. Mrs. Preston arranged the letters, compiled typed transcripts, and authored several papers based on the letters.

The Preston family papers document Great Lakes shipping in the nineteenth century, the Union Navy during the Civil War, and daily life in St. Joseph, Michigan during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The collection has been divided into five series: Correspondence; Legal Documents; Newspaper Clippings, Scrapbook and Miscellaneous Materials; Family Histories; and Photographs.

Minutes, 1888-1919, including; correspondence, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks concerning party affairs; also papers, 1929-1970, concerning Prohibition Party in Michigan; papers, 1918-1930, concerning prohibition in Great Britain; papers, 1951-1958, concerning the National Temperance and Prohibition Council; and minutes, 1872, of the State Central Committee of the Prohibition Party of Michigan; also photographs and films.

The Prohibition National Committee record group is arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Minutes and other papers; Press and printed; Sound recordings; Other organizations; and Visual materials. Except for the significant minute books of the party's national executive committee in the 1880s, most of the record group dates from the 20th century after the passage of the 18th Amendment. Information regarding the earliest years of the Prohibition Party in unfortunately missing in this record group.

Printed books, pamphlets, and serials by John Harvey Kellogg, Battle Creek, Michigan physician, food scientist, and founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, on a variety of medical and health topics and explaining and promoting the remedies and treatments he espoused through his Battle Creek Sanatorium.

Printed books, pamphlets, and serials by John Harvey Kellogg, on a variety of medical and health topics and explaining and promoting the remedies and treatments he espoused through his Battle Creek Sanatorium

The Puffer-Markham family papers (1,875 items) is comprised of business letters, personal letters, legal documents, and financial records related to an extended family with business and agricultural interests in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, and South Carolina. Also present are letters from five Civil War soldiers, containing descriptions of their wartime experiences.

The Puffer-Markham family papers (1875 items) is comprised of business letters, personal letters, legal documents, and financial records related to an extended family with business and agricultural interests in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, and South Carolina. Also present are letters from five Civil War soldiers, containing descriptions of their wartime experiences.

The Correspondence series (1535 items) contains family business and personal letters. These largely document William G. Markham's business activities in selling wheat, cattle, and sheep, as well as personal letters from Guy Markham's children, grandchildren, spouses, and friends from upstate New York. The family letters report on news, daily life, sickness, and courtship. Also present are letters related to Charles C. Puffer's business activities: as a banker in Massachusetts before the war, and as a plantation manager in Reconstruction-era South Carolina. Among the personal papers are many Civil War-era letters, involving both business carried on during the war and letters from Union soldiers on the frontlines.

The papers concerning Guy Markham and his son William Guy Markham are almost exclusively related to business matters. Guy was involved with farming in and around Rush, New York. William G. Markham, who inherited much of his father's land, established himself in the cattle industry. Throughout the 1870s, he received orders for Durham cattle (shorthorn heifers) from New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, and as far as Denver, Colorado, and Walla Walla, Washington Territory. Letters concerning his interest in cotton are also represented. He was president of the Sea Island Cotton Company, trustee of the Port Royal Cotton Company, and an associate with the United States Cotton Company. Beginning around1880, Markham became heavily involved with wool production and corresponded with other national and international woolgrowers, including the National Wool Growers Association, headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, which lobbied the House of Representatives against a congressional act that would lift overseas wool tariffs. He had multiple dealings with selling sheep and wool in Australia and South Africa.

Other Markham letters relate to William's siblings Wayne and Mary. Wayne Markham described his agricultural activities and his life in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Mary wrote of her experiences at the Music Institute of New London, Connecticut, and frequently requested money to cover her school expenses.

The Charles Puffer letters cover his business interactions with the Shelburne Falls Bank, and the Puffer-Markham partnership, which purchased plantations in Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina (summer of 1865). In 15 letters to his wife Emma Puffer (1870-1876), Charles, while living in Columbia, South Carolina, described managing plantations for his family, working as an activist for the state’s Republican party (particularly in the 4th congressional district), and his relationship with Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain. He reported on a disorderly state convention in 1870, and of receiving $16,000 from Governor Chamberlain to distribute to county convention attendees with the promise that Charles would become county treasurer (September 4, 1874). By 1876, Charles had declared that he had left politics.

• January 2, 1870
• January 13, 1870
• March 11, 1870
• June 2, 1870
• July 27, 1870
• August 1, 1870
• January 1, 1871
• February 10, 1871
• August 22, 1874
• September 4, 1874
• October 7, 1874
• December 1874
• January 14, 1876
• April 12, 1876
• [1870s]

Between 1887 and 1890, the collection focuses on the lives of sisters Linda and Isabel ("Belle") Puffer, daughters of Charles and Emma Puffer. These comprise 12 items sent from and 39 items addressed to the sisters, while they were attending Wellesley College.

The collection contains 22 letters from five Civil War soldiers: Horace Boughton (9th and 143rd New York Infantry), Morris R. Darrohn (108th New York Infantry), Isaac R. Gibbard (143rd New York Infantry), Charles W. Daily (50th New York Engineers), and Samuel P. Wakelee (54th New York National Guard). Horace Boughton, who wrote eleven of these letters, described his regiment's activities and instructed his friend William Guy Markham on how to allocate his paychecks to his family and business interests. Below is a list of Civil War soldiers' letters.

• October 27, 1861: Horace Boughton at Fort Corcoran
• December 1, 1861: Horace Boughton at Fort Cass
• May 4, 1862: Horace Boughton at a camp near Fort Davis, Virginia
• July 27, 1862: Horace Boughton at Westover, Virginia, concerning recruitment problems and arguing that seasoned troops are much more valuable than new recruits
• July 27, 1862: Horace Boughton at Westover, Virginia
• August 6, 1862: Horace Boughton at Westover, Virginia
• October 28, 1862: Morris R. Darrohn on picket duty near Harper's Ferry; at Bolivar Heights he had a view of the house where John Brown took Louis Washington prisoner; he mentioned meeting the enemy at the battle of Antietam; that day he milked a stray cow so they could have cream in their coffee
• November 14, 1862: Horace Boughton now with the 143rd New York Infantry stationed at Upton Hill, Virginia, and president of a court martial
• February 25, 1863: Horace Boughton at New York 143rd Infantry headquarters, to Susan Emma Markham, discussing his ideas on womanhood and "the yoke of matrimony"
• March 27, 1863: Morris R. Darrohn at Falmouth, Virginia, concerning drills, dreaming of home, and being trapped along the Rappahannock River at the Battle of Fredericksburg
• March 29, 1863: Horace Boughton requesting photographs of the Markham family for his album
• June 5, 1863: Morris R. Darrohn near Falmouth, Virginia
• June 13, 1763: Isaac R. Gibbard near Williamsburg, Virginia, concerning leaving Yorktown with a division led by General Gordon; notes that "miasmas and diseases at West Point came very near whipping our regiment out…the Rebels said they would not attack us but let the diseases do it."
• July 30, 1863: Isaac R. Gibbard sick at the Seminary Hospital at Georgetown, mentioned starting a band of musicians
• August 16, 1863: Horace Houghton at New York 143rd Infantry headquarters, advising William not to join the war if possible
• January 3, 1864: Morris R. Darrohn near Stevensburg, Virginia, cautioning against joining the Masons or the military
• January 31, 1864: Horace Boughton at Bridgeport, Alabama
• April 16, 1864: Charles W. Daily at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, expecting a march on Richmond that may be "the greatest battle of the war within 10 days"
• [1864]: Samuel P. Wakelee to Puffer while guarding "Johnnys at Elmira" prison; he paid a prisoner tobacco to mould a Delta Kappa Epsilon ring in silver; he described the prison and wrote: "We have 10,600 Rebs in the Pen [,] Dirty, Lousy, Godforesakin crew[.] The majority of them are stalwart & robust…"
• January 19, 1865: Horace Boughton on board the ship St. Patrick and discussed traveling by railroad
• February 7, 1865: Horace Boughton at Bridgeport, Alabama
• February 26, [1860s]: Cousin William reported on visiting various corps and hearing members of Congress, "the negro minstrels have a dance" and meeting General Fitzgerald

• July 1, 1842: School essays by Margaret G. Greenman
• September 19, 1853: Homer Broughton to Guy Markham concerning picking out a tombstone for their grandmother
• June 7, 1855: Horace Boughton's description of a trip from Rush, New York, to St. Paul, Minnesota, with details on the town
• October 14 and 25, 1855: Wayne Markham in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to his brother, discussing moving into a new house, noting the price of meat in Michigan, and reflecting on the moral and industrious character of the citizens of the town
• December 4, 1860: Mary Markham to her father describing visiting family in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Ionia, Michigan
• November 6, 1763: Certificate for William Markham joining the Lima, New York, chapter of Freemasons
• August 18, 1864: A letter from Mt. Morris, New York, concerning a lawsuit over a $50 cow killed at an Avon railroad crossing
• September 5, 1864: Henry Puffer to Charles Puffer concerning purchasing land in Hilton Head, South Carolina
• January 15, 1865: This letter from Henry M. Puffer and Company contains a drawing of a house on Gardner Plantation
• February 11, 1865: News sent to Charles Puffer concerning land purchased for plantation farming in Beaufort, South Carolina
• March 1, 1865: William Markham concerning returning soldiers purchasing land that is interest free for three years, and other news from South Carolina
• June 19, 1765: Robert C. Clark to William Markham regarding visiting Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, and noting the failure of the Genesee Valley Oil Well
• January 6, 1866: George Fisher of Rochester, New York, concerning the state of the local Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter
• September 13, 1866: Letter from the Cook and Martin Music Dealer in Rochester, New York, concerning the sale of a piano, on letterhead featuring a picture of a piano
• August 26, 1868: From a St. Louis member of Delta Kappa Epsilon providing for a member who can write in shorthand
• April 15, 1869: Brooklyn photographer E. Bookhout gives prices for his services
• [1860s]: M.F. Randolph to William Guy Markham detailing the price of cotton before the Civil War
• January 5, 1870: Homer Broughton in Topeka, Kansas, to his family in New York concerning his productive new farm on an "old Indian field" and the many new settlers in the area purchasing land at "government prices"
• January 13, 1871: A pencil sketch of people standing at podiums
• June 1891: Papers related to shipping ewes and rams to Cape Town, South Africa
• 1892: Print of an Atwood Ram named Wooly Bill, 1549, bred by C.W. Mason in Vergennes, Vermont
• December 28, 1893: Instructions for judging sheep at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago sent to W.I. Buchanan of the Department of Agriculture
• July 2, 1902: Francis E. Warren of the National Wool Growers Association to William G. Markham concerning a treaty with Argentina that would harm the American wool industry

The Correspondence series contains 172 undated items. Of note is a letter with a hand-sketched map of plots of farm land near St. Joseph, Michigan, and a series of school essays written by Margaret G. Greenman (Mrs. Sumner Clark) on "Broken Friendships," "Penmanship," "Envy and Deceit," and "Buds of Flowers" among others.

The Documents series (114 items) contains legal and business documents relating to the family's land holdings and entrepreneurial endeavors. Included are the land deeds and mortgages of William Markham, Guy Markham, Phoebe Markham, and William Markham (primarily in Genesee County, New York), records for debts, land purchases, whiskey purchases, estate documents, and business agreements between the Sea Island Cotton Company and the United States Cotton Company.

The Accounts and Financial Records series (199 items) consists of material related to the personal and business activities of the Markham and Puffer families, including materials documenting management of the cotton companies during Reconstruction. Personal records amount to accounts and bills for tuition, day labor, magazine and newspaper subscriptions, furniture purchase and repair, insurance, and groceries. The business accounts document the Sea Island Cotton Company, the Hilton Head Cotton Company, and the accounts of C.C. Puffer (1865-1767). Present are accounts for plantation supplies, office expenses, salaries, cotton sold on speculation, sales of stocks, lists of share owners, and various receipts. Of note are the records for salary advances made to South Carolina freedmen in 1866.

• April-October 1840: Accounts of C.S. Boughton
• September-December 1856: Accounts of William Guy Markham
• 1865-1867: Two accounts of William Guy Markham's accounts with D.W. Powers Bank of Rochester

The Printed Items series (21 items) is comprised of blank Sea Island Company stock certificates, and government records related to the regulation of United States wool and fabric production. These records include the following bills from the 57th Congress: H.R. 6565, H.R. 14643, H.R. 14488, and documents concerning "Shoddy vs. Wool" and the National Wool Growers Association (1901-1902). These items were of interest to William Guy Markham, a wool producer and sheep expert.

The Miscellaneous series (6 items) contains photographs, stamps, and other miscellaneous material. One photograph is of Mrs. Hinkley Williams, Mrs. L. Boltwood, and Mrs. E. Boltwood ("Three Generations") sent to Guy Markham in 1892. The second photograph is of 84-year-old Hinkley Williams of Gorham, Massachusetts (1892). Also of interest is a list of Guy Markham's presidential picks from 1824-1888.

Michigan family from Adrian and Flint, Michigan. Family papers, sound recordings, and photographs.

The collection is arranged by family name: Tomlinson, Pomeroy, and Raab. The earliest item is an account maintained by Alexander Tomlinson of Sherwood, Michigan. Within the Raab family papers are diaries, 1891-1892, of Florence Raab concerning her life in Adrian, Michigan. In addition, the collection includes papers and audio-tapes of Irving T. Raab reminiscing about his student life at the University of Michigan in the years before 1900. These tapes also concern his life in Flint and career as Presbyterian clergyman. The photographs in the collection are of family members.

The Rabbi Levin collection contains his two books (in three volumes), Sefer Ha-Aderet Veha-Emunah. Many of Levin’s ideas concerning various Talmudic tractates are collected in these volumes. The chapters are arranged by the order of the Mishnah, and in the last volume he discusses some biblical matters. The published volumes have been removed from the collection of manuscript material and cataloged separately. The collection also contains family documents, manuscript notebooks, and miscellaneous notes.

The manuscript materials have been organized to facilitate research. Four files contain a variety of materials relating to Rabbi Levin and his family. The first file contains biographical details about Rabbi Levin. The second file has information about his son, while the third file contains all the information about Levin’s patent for a calculating machine. In addition to being rabbi, Levin was also an inventor. He invented one of the earliest machines that was able to perform simple calculations involving adding and subtracting. The original machine is currently housed in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The fourth file contains correspondence between Levin and Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Chief Rabbi of Palestine. The letters from Rabbi Kook are on his personal stationery.

The core of the collection consists of Rabbi Levin’s twenty two notebooks. Each notebook was assigned a distinct identification number. The numbers are arbitrary and do not represent any chronological or thematic order. The notebooks are all in Levin’s hand, written in a mixture of Yiddish and Hebrew, but also in English written in Hebrew letters. The majority of the notes written in the notebooks are drafts of text, or fragments of drafts, in preparation for sermons he gave in various synagogues, or for lectures he presented on special occasions. There are also notes and ideas that apparently never were developed into complete essays or speeches. The sermons and lectures were for all kinds of occasions, which are summarized under the following titles: Ceremonies, Biblical Sermons, Holidays and Festivals, Additional Talmudic Sermons, and General.

Ceremonies cover all stages of a person’s life, from birth to death. In some cases, Levin prepared general orations for funeral or wedding services to be used as needed; while others are specific, and the name of a person and details about that person are included. An example is the memorial for Dr. Theodor Herzl (Notebook #14). In many cases, Levin explained the custom of the ceremony and would often include an analysis or argument. For example, in one of the orations for brit milah (circumcision ritual), Levin argued that the meaning of the ceremony was not just religious, but also had a more general, nationalistic side. In the same ceremony description, he emphasized that in Judaism’s view, parents had no right to harm their children, as children were not their parents’ property (Notebook #1). For a bar-mitzvah ceremony, Levin based his blessing on “a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is his mother’s grief” (Proverbs 10:1, Notebook #1.) and explained the broader concept behind the quote. Based on these notebooks, it appears that many of the ceremonies that he conducted were funerals. Often he began his oration with “Lord, what is man that You should care about him … man is like a breath … ”Psalms 144:3-4). Sometimes, however, he also used other citations. For example, in Notebook #1, he compared the contemporary saying, “Life is Short,” to the saying “The day is short and the task is great” (Aboth 2:15). The following summary contains is a list of the ceremonies that appear in each notebook.

Biblical Sermons likely delivered in the synagogue each Shabbat, are concerned with Shabbat observances, most of them following a consistent format: first Levin quoted from the weekly Torah readings, next he discussed some Talmudic questions or arguments connected with the quote; this is followed by a concentration on a general topic. In many cases, the general topic dealt with historic events that were happening at the time of writing. Levin emphasized the hard times Jewish communities experienced in various places in Europe, in particular, in his Russian homeland. For example, in November 1915, Levin cited “and Esau said,” Let us start on our journey … ” (Genesis 33:12, Va-Yishlah weekly reading), and spoke about the Jewish people who were loyal to Mother Russia and fought in the Russian Army. But in return, their country engaged in pogroms and stole the belongings of many Jewish families (Notebook #15).

Having lived through World War I, Levin often mentions the war and its horrible results in his notebooks. On December 3, 1914, he also explained how the Americans fought the Turks (Notebook #7). In many of his orations, his main message is that the contemporary, materialistic world encourages wars. For example, on August 20, 1921 (Notebook #4), Rabbi Levin explains the Shelah-Lekha weekly reading, and told his audience that God is against all the golden crowns that human beings like czars and sultans put on because they bring about war. Levin argued that disputes should be settled through discussion and not by the sword.

Levin considered education an important tool in safeguarding the spirit of Judaism and in preventing conflict. On January 15, 1916, while discussing the Beshallah weekly reading, Levin declared that contemporary schools, similar to the schools in Europe, encouraged heroic exploits and wealth, instead of spirituality; therefore, they encouraged warlike behavior. He argued that fighting does not solve any problems, and never defeats evil (Notebook #15). Levin had some faith in efforts to resolve problems in the world through negotiations and to bring peace to the world. Thus, on November 12, 1921, commenting on the Lekh-Lekha weekly reading (Notebook #5), he addressed a “World Peace Conference in Washington,” connecting it to the prophecy of the last days: “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6).

In some of his biblical sermons, Levin would bring up current disputes in the Jewish world: On October 23, 1915, while talking about the Va-Yera reading, he discussed Orthodox and Reform views of the way Judaism should be practiced, and the question of practicing “half Judaism” (Notebook #15). In another instance, while discussing the Va-Yera reading, Levin mentioned the dispute in Baltimore (1917) which concerned the question of “Who is a Jew?” (Notebook #4). In the summary, one can find which weekly readings were discussed in each notebook.

Although they are part of biblical sermons, Holidays and Festivals are mentioned separately. For many of the holidays, Levin discusses the customs and the sources of these days. He comments upon the “Hellenization” phenomenon (Notebook #2), in the Hanukkah story and the four cups of wine of the Passover seder (Notebook #12). He also relates the history upon which the holidays were based. An example can be found in an entry for Hanukkah, on December 25, 1921, where he expounds on the admiration that the Israelites had for the Hasmoneans, and compares it to the attitude the Americans had toward Lincoln (Notebook #4). On September 18, 1920, which was Shabbat Shuvah, Levin translated the meaning of “Hear Oh, Israel” and the sanctification of the Holy Name. He connects it to what was happening at the time to Jews who lived under the Bolsheviks in Russia and in Poland (Notebook #4). For the Festivals (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur,) Levin discusses the spirit and message of biblical passages. On March 11, 1922, Shabbat Zakhor, Levin read “Remember what Amalek did to you … ” (Deuteronomy 25:17) and coped with the idea of revenge, which is in opposition to the spirit of the Bible. He explained that if the Jewish people would remember how they were rescued, it could intensify their spirit to fight and be strong in difficult times (Notebook #12). Even in his writings about holidays, Levin always considered contemporary world events, and he encouraged his audience to keep their spirits up. On April 12 1921, he talks about Nissan - the month of redemption. Levin writes that he found signs of deliverance in the recognition of the nations of the Zionist Congress and its president (Notebook #2). On Shavuot, on June 1, 1922, Levin talked about the hope that the Balfour Declaration gave to the Jewish people. Although he felt that there were many problems with the British mandate and its pro-Arab stance, Levin was reassured that, with faith, the people of Israel were close to achieving salvation. In the summary, one can find a list of holidays that were discussed in each notebook.

Additional Talmudic Sermons, refers to those chapters where Levin taught about Talmudic issues and Mishnah tractates. In some of the notebooks, he drafted sermons that appear in his book Sefer Ha-Aderet Veha-Emunah. Some sermons were published exactly as they appeared in the notebooks; only portions of the original writings were used for other sermons that appeared in the book. As a result, at times, the notebooks reveal more of Rabbi Levin’s ideas and thoughts about a given subject than does his book. In the summary, there are lists of all the tractates that are discussed in each notebook. Also, some of the notebooks serve as a type of index or concordance for studying Talmudic tractates.

General incorporates a wide-range of non-religious subjects, even some that were discussed as part of the weekly biblical readings. Levin always brought some Talmudic and biblical aspects to general topics, and in many cases added some humor to a serious subject. For the opening of a conference on July 23, 1921, Levin related the history of the survival of Judaism, comparing it to the endurance of the parochet (the curtain which hangs in front of the synagogue cabinet which holds the Torah scrolls and commemorates the curtain in front of the holy ark of the Temple in Jerusalem) and to the endurance of the national flag (Notebook #3). On January 9, 1915, in a conference of Hamizrahi in Chicago, Levin presented the idea represented by the passage “But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out,” (Exodus 1:12 - Notebook #7).

Many of Rabbi Levin’s writings are related to the hope for the creation of a Jewish state. In an oration for a conference, he emphasizes the necessity of a Jewish state for the survival of the Jewish Diaspora (Notebook #8). Levin celebrated any declaration or promise made by Great Britain, or any other nation, in reference to the establishment of a Jewish state. In one of his essays, he quoted Dr. Haim Weizman (Notebook #3). For a banquet that was held at the Carmel Restaurant in Detroit on August 14 1920, Levin discussed, among other issues, the importance of the Balfour Declaration (Notebook #3). In preparing for a conference that took place on November 13, 1920 (Notebook #2), Levin discusses the redemption of the people of Israel as a result of the decisions that took place in London. He tries to remind people how the Hellenization of Jews is artificial and untrue to the faith, and he calls upon the Jewish people to return to the way of the Torah. At a Hamizrahi conference, in 1921 (Notebook #2), Levin compares the people of Israel to a worshipper who finds it difficult to arise from bed for the morning prayers. He beseeches Jews to wake up and return to the way of Torah, and he complains that the people who built the Jewish state created divisiveness within Judaism.

Levin was active in Hamizrahi, (Orthodox Zionist organization, known also as Mizrahi: literally means “Eastern”, but actually derived from the Hebrew acronym for “Spiritual Center” - merkaz ruhani). His speeches included some of the debates that took place in Hamizrahi concerning what the nature of the Jewish state should be. In Levin’s opinion, the Zionist movement should follow the way of the Torah. He compared the Zionist movement and Hamizrahi to the two cherubs in the temple of God: each had his individual way to perform God’s will, but both were necessary for the temple (Notebook #8). Levin referred to the passage “No bread -- no learning, no learning -- no bread.” Levin relates that between 1267-1854, the Jewish people were concentrating on the study of the Bible, and only later did they begin farming and other livelihoods, and that is where Zionism and Hamizrahi stood at this time.

Levin was very concerned that the Jewish people were quarreling amongst themselves. At a Hamizrahi banquet during a conference in Detroit on November 22, 1913, Levin told the people not to be deceived by the solemn atmosphere that prevailed in the hall while the real world of Judaism was segmented and even hostile (Notebook #4). On January 9, 1915, at a conference of Hamizrahi in Chicago, Levin stressed that the point of having the gathering was not the bellyful of food that was served during the conference which gave the participants a sweet taste, rather their purpose was to overcome the bitter taste of assimilation and persecution by creating a place for the Jews in their own country (Notebook #7). In another preparation for a Hamizrahi conference (Notebook #2), Levin explained that, so far, not many practical deeds, like buying land, had been done to help building the country of Israel. The organization was mainly busy with internal arguments about which way the country of Israel should choose. Levin was concerned that the Zionist movement was not following the way of the Torah. In an additional Hamizrahi conference on October 6th, 1920, he talked about those who condemned and those who blessed the Zionist movement. He explained the two viewpoints, and their connections to historic events like the Peace Conference in Paris (Notebook #3). However, he highlighted that the goal was more important than the dispute. Therefore, the Jewish people should show unity, or their cause would suffer. On January 17, 1914, he emphasized that in spite of the difference of opinions between the Orthodox factions, they all should be united and help to build the country of Israel, otherwise, they would not be part of the country (Notebook #4).

Rabbi Levin was very active in fund-raising for good causes, and was always concerned that the money would serve its cause and not the people who collected the money. For example, on January 12 1918, while acting for “Distribution Funds for the Land of Israel” Levin admonished the audience not to use the money for food for the banquets held to raise the money (Notebook #4). On Shavuot 1921, he talked for the Jewish Foundation Fund “Keren ha-Yesod.” He encouraged the idea of giving a tithe, and begged the people not to wait until God would build the country of Israel. He also praised and endorsed Dr. Weizmann, who had collected money all over the world, but did not take a penny for himself (Notebook #5).

Levin took part in building synagogues and participated in opening ceremonies for several new synagogues in Detroit. He stressed the importance of keeping the synagogues active all year around, and not just to build nice houses for keeping God in a beautiful place (Notebook # 9, #18). Levin was also involved in building religious schools in the Detroit area. In some of his orations he discusses these events; for example, the laying of the corner-stone for the Talmud-Torah School in Detroit, on July 15 1922 (Notebook #12) where he discussed the efforts to preserve Judaism in the modern world. In other notes he considers the question of whether Jewish studies needed to include the full spectrum of the sciences, or just concentrate on biblical subjects (Notebook #9).

Levin did much work on behalf of charitable projects, such as orphanages (Notebook #18), and hospitals. On August 2, 1913, he was involved in opening the “Bikur Holim” hospital and sanatorium for needy patients in Mount Clemens, Michigan (Notebook #13). On November 22, 1915, he participated in a fund-raiser for the “Hevra Kaddisha” burial society. Rabbi Levin thought that it was essential to have a Jewish burial society which offered all Jewish people the opportunity to be buried according to the laws of the Torah (Notebook #15). The summary includes a list of the topics that are discussed in each notebook.

This collection consists of reminiscences (written about 1919?) of Hodnett's experiences in France during World War I; a diary (1913-1918) of his father (name unknown), an army clerk in the Philippines and later along the Mexican border, a genealogical notebook of the Oram family, and photographs. The photographs are portraits, some of which are in uniform.