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The William B. Sprague and Joseph H. Hedges collection is made up of 134 letters, notes, and fragments largely dating between 1842 and 1899. The correspondence, largely outgoing letters from W. B. Sprague and J. H. Hedges, concerns the autograph and other collecting activities of William B. Sprague of Albany, New York; Eliza H. A. Allen of Providence, Rhode Island; Eliza's cousin Elizabeth Rotch Arnold of New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Joseph H. Hedges of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The William B. Sprague and Joseph H. Hedges collection is made up of 133 letters, notes, and fragments largely dating between 1842 and 1899. The correspondence, largely outgoing letters from W. B. Sprague and J. H. Hedges, concerns the autograph and other collecting activities of William B. Sprague of Albany, New York; Eliza H. A. Allen of Providence, Rhode Island; Eliza's cousin Elizabeth Rotch Arnold of New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Joseph H. Hedges of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The papers are arranged in three groups: letters by William B. Sprague; correspondence of Joseph H. Hedges; and other correspondence, notes, and fragments. William B. Sprague's primary recipients were Eliza H. A. Allen (80 letters) and her cousin Elizabeth Rotch Arnold (19 letters), with an additional seven letters to other recipients. Joseph Hedges's correspondence includes 19 incoming and outgoing letters. An additional eight miscellaneous letters, notes, and fragments complete the collection.

William Sprague's letters largely related to the contents of his, Allen's, and Arnold's collections, recent acquisitions, desiderata, and trades/gifts of autographs between Sprague and Allen and between Sprague and Arnold. They also touch on other collecting activities. On multiple occasions Eliza Allen and Elizabeth Arnold sent Sprague contributions to his wife Henrietta's collection of shells (see for example W. B. Sprague to Elizabeth R. Arnold, November 2, 1842, and January 21, 1843), which Sprague often reciprocated with gifts of autographs. He also discussed with them his use of the franking privilege of various friends in Congress.

William B. Sprague's 80 letters to Eliza H. A. Allen date from 1840 to 1875 (bulk 1840-1850). They are mostly in his own hand (with the exception of four letters in the hand of an amanuensis), and signed variously "WB Sprague" and "WBS." He sent them largely from Albany, New York; other locations include Boston, Massachusetts; Flushing, New York; and Andover, Connecticut. Toward the end of their correspondence, multiple years passed between letters.

Correspondence with Elizabeth R. Arnold in this collection is comprised of 19 incoming letters from Sprague. They are entirely in his own hand and signed variously "WB Sprague" and "WBS". He sent them from Albany, New York, 1842-1849.

The Sprague miscellaneous correspondence contains eight letters dating from 1828-1862:

• One letter from Sprague to Robert Gilmore, of Baltimore, Maryland, another pioneer of American autograph collecting, regarding an exchange of autograph specimens.
• One letter from Sprague to Joseph B. Boyd of Cincinnati, Ohio, regarding books, autographs, and material relating to William Whipple.
• One letter to Sprague from C. F. Mercer, likely Charles Fenton Mercer, son of Revolutionary politician James Mercer, regarding Mercer's potential gift of autographs to Sprague.
• One letter to Sprague from Isaac Taylor, of Stamford, Essex, another autograph collector, regarding their collections.
• One letter from Sprague to Mrs. David Coffin of New Bedford about her shipment of shells which he is adding to his collection and his efforts to preapre autographs to send in return.
• Three letters from Sprague to unknown recipients, likely other collectors, regarding various exchanges and gifts of autographs.

The incoming and outgoing letters of Joseph Hedges date from 1843 to 1899 and pertain to a variety of subjects. Many of his correspondents were autograph dealers and other autograph collectors, and wrote about the purchase and trade of autographs. Hedges signed his letters variously "JH Hedges" and "JHH."

The collection includes eight additional letters, notes, and fragments. It includes five letters sent by Bangs, Merwin and Co.; John J. Morris; Adrian H. Joline; Charles H. Morse; and Lyman C. Draper. It also includes a list of autograph materials, an autographed note mounted on cardstock, and a cardstock folder fragment bearing fragments of notes.

Detroit, Michigan businessman and civic leader. Business correspondence relating to Weber's activities as a dealer in timber lands, his role as a member of the Art Commission in the development of Detroit, Michigan's Cultural Center, his involvement in the construction of the Detroit-Windsor bridge and tunnel and his activities during World War I; and correspondence and class notes of his sons, Harry B. and Erwin W. Weber, while attending University of Michigan; also photographs, including family portraits, aerial views of Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, photographs of the construction of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and Ambassador Bridge, and glass negatives of family vacations in Upper Michigan, Ontario, and Quebec; and maps of land and timber holdings

The William C. Weber papers cover 28 linear feet (30 boxes), outsize folders, and 15 outsize volumes. Besides information on timber and mineral lands in Michigan, the important aspects of the Weber papers include information on the development of the Cultural Center of Detroit and Weber's very controversial role in it, items on the Detroit-Windsor bridge and tunnel and the development of the Border Cities, and the papers of his two sons, especially the letters they wrote as students at the University of Michigan and their class notes and examinations.

There is one foot of materials related to the Cultural Center (Box 19 and outsize folders) and another of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and Ambassador Bridge (Box 20 and outsize folders).

Architectural site plans and property maps of the Detroit Cultural Center are also found in the outsize unbound material.

The collection includes maps relating to Weber's his land holdings in northern Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, including maps of land survey, of timber estimates, and tax and title status for Michigan lands, maps of Windsor subdivisions, maps of coal mining region around Caryville, Tennessee and property maps of the Detroit Cultural Center.

This scrapbook contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and other material about New York businessman William C. Roberts. Most items pertain to the New York Standard Watch Company and other business ventures. One group of letters concerns Roberts's efforts to gather biographical information about Civil War veterans.

This scrapbook (around 100 pages) contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and ephemera related to various personal and business ventures of New York businessman William C. Roberts. Most of the items are advertisements, other ephemera, and newspaper clippings concerning the New York Standard Watch Company, the Republican Club of the City of New York, and the Chatham & Lebanon Valley Railroad. Some items include biographical sketches of William C. Roberts and other prominent New York businessmen, and one group of clippings pertains to Roberts's unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1892. The scrapbook contains photographs and printed portraits of William C. Roberts and a photograph of a Chatham & Lebanon Valley Railroad locomotive (page 61).

In the late 1880s and early 1890s, Roberts received a small series of letters from Civil War veterans and veterans' relatives responding to his requests for autographs, photographs, and information for planned biographical sketches. Two of the letters provide narratives about individual soldiers' experiences. Additional correspondence includes telegrams and a letter from Chauncey Depew about recruitment for the Republican Club of the City of New York (March 19, 1898). The scrapbook contains a small number of items related to Roberts's personal life, such as a business card, a certificate of his admission to Harvard Law School, and an invitation to his wedding.

This collection is made up of the correspondence of William Dickson, a prominent member of the Republican party during and after the Civil War, and a perceptive observer and critic of the leading political characters and movements of his day. In 1860, he became part of inner Washington political circles, associating with Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, and Salmon Chase, and participating in the framing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

The William Dickson papers include letters from an impressive array of the politically prominent, including Roscoe Conkling, James A. Garfield, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, Rutherford B. Hayes, Salmon Chase, and George B. McClellan. Most are post-1870, but the several Civil War-era items are highly significant, particularly for their content regarding African-Americans. Copies of two letters of George McClellan, one to Winfield Scott and one to Salmon Chase [incomplete], are frank and informative. The former comments on Confederate strength and strategy, while the latter openly criticizes Lincoln and Stanton, and sets forth anti-abolition views: "...forcible abolition of Slavery should have no place in the policy of the Government. It should not free a slave, merely that a human being might be freed." An 1864 letter to Dickson from Gen. Lew Wallace disputes a statement that black brigades were not permitted to defend Cincinnati in 1863. Secretary of War Stanton wrote to Dickson in 1864, explaining refusal of a commission Dickson had supported, and in 1865 lamenting the death of Lincoln. Post-war letters from then-Representative Rutherford Hayes to Dickson praise his political judgment and comment revealingly on Reconstruction. In one of January, 1867 he disagrees with Dickson's recommendation of moderation and patience, asserting that "'the negroes and interlopers' are unprotected and are greatly in need of it," and that southerners worship power and only respond to its use. Moreover, "[t]hose people are our enemies until they agree to terms of settlement." Dickson's published address on Reconstruction spells out his views in support of black citizenship and suffrage. An 1870 letter from William Slocum Groesbeck, legal representative of President Johnson for the impeachment proceedings, alludes to a letter of Dickson's which defines policies similar to those adopted in the Emancipation Proclamation. He writes that Dickson may be associated "more intimately" with that "great historical event" than he is aware.

Dickson had strongly personal views about McClellan and Lincoln, based on pre-war associations with the future president, on time spent in Washington during the early stages of the war, and on his association with Thomas Marshall Key, McClellan's aid de camp and Dickson's pre-war law partner. After a week at McClellan's headquarters he came away disillusioned and disgusted, later recording his observations in an essay, "A Leaf from the Unwritten History of the Rebellion," written in response to the publication of McClellan's autobiography. This fascinating document damns McClellan as a weak and cautious leader who "organized the army not for victory, but for defeat," and whose influence remained long after he himself departed: "His impress remained almost to the end. His army could stand up and be killed; but it never had the confidence that leads to victory." He characterizes headquarters as a den of intrigue and plotting, with one element so loyal to McClellan that they would have overthrown the government for him. The general himself, Dickson believed, despised Lincoln both "as the representative of the abolition sentiment" and for his "ungainly gait and low birth." He permitted his staff to make the president " a subject for ridicule and merriment." One of his aides, talking to Stanton, referred to Lincoln as "the d-----d old Gorilla." Dickson also writes, in an unpublished draft, in defense of his former partner Key, who was accused in a book by Stanton-intimate Don Piatt [Memories of the Men Who Saved the Union] of being the "evil genius" behind McClellan. He acknowledges Key's influence but lays the credit for McClellan's failure at his own feet.

Dickson writes of Lincoln with respect and affection -- but with clear-eyed honesty. In the "Unwritten History" he analyzes Lincoln's character and political talents, noting both strengths and weaknesses, and using first-hand experiences to support his views. Another essay, "Abraham Lincoln at Cincinnati," written for Harper's Magazine in 1884, describes Lincoln's visits to the city during the course of his career. It discusses his long relationship with Stephen A. Douglas, and describes his legal and political acumen and the force of his personality.

Although a bystander rather than an office-holder, Dickson remained politically informed and involved throughout his life, and virtually all of the correspondence in this collection concerns political issues. The strongest set of letters are from George William Curtis, avid social reformer and editor of Harper's Weekly. During a correspondence of over 20 years the two commiserated and argued over the fortunes and philosophy of the Republican party and its leading lights. Topics of discussion include the Grant administration, the Hayes presidency, Roscoe Conkling, Grover Cleveland and civil service reform, tariff issues, the character and career of James Blaine, the Harrison administration, various Republican office-holders, and their shared view of the decline of their beloved party. Near the end of his life Dickson resigned his membership in the Lincoln Club and supported the Democrats in their tariff reform efforts, joining with his friend Curtis in condemning the Republican party as "a boodle party" which has lost its "moral enthusiasm."

This is a small and somewhat disparate collection featuring many correspondents, but it is unified by the theme of politics from the point of view of an "old school" Republican. Dickson watches and writes with distaste as his party betrays, in his eyes, the ideals of its originators, to become the voice of corporate power and government by class division. An important related topic is the character and political methods of Abraham Lincoln, especially as expressed in his relationship with McClellan in the early days of the Civil War. Of particular interest is Dickson's characterization of the President's politically expedient views on emancipation, as contrasted to the strongly anti-abolitionist sentiments of McClellan and many of his fellow-soldiers. The quality of the Dickson Papers far outweighs the size of the collection, for there are few letters which do not have significant content on the conflicting currents of wartime and post-war Republican politics.

Resident of Detroit, Michigan. Exterior and interior photographs of home on Charlotte Avenue in Detroit.

The William E. Beal photograph collection consists of exterior and interior photographs of home on Charlotte Avenue, Detroit, Michigan.

This collection contains a diary, a 4-volume manuscript autobiography, 8 newspaper clippings, 2 court documents, and 15 photographs related to William Flick, a manual laborer who lived in Illinois, Oregon, and Idaho in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This collection (27 items) contains a diary, a 4-volume manuscript autobiography, 8 newspaper clippings, 2 court documents, and 15 photographs related to the life of William Flick, a manual laborer.

Between November 2, 1916, and January 30, 1917, William Flick kept a Diary detailing his travels on an Illinois canal, his hunting expeditions, and his work as a clam digger. He wrote about traveling with his brother, Albert, and working on his boat.

William Flick's Autobiography, composed in 4 spiral-bound notebooks in 1958, begins with his birth in 1872 and documents his work and movements throughout his teenage and adult years. In his narrative, which he claimed to have written "because I don't think any one [sic] around here has made a success of as many ocupations [sic] as I have," Flick reminisced about his family, jobs, and acquaintances in Illinois, Oregon, and Idaho, and shared observations about his life. The final volume of the autobiography contains Flick's reflections on some of the technological and social changes he witnessed during his lifetime.

The Documents and Newspaper Clippings series (10 items) contains a summons and a deposition from Ogle County, Illinois, related to Albert Flick, as well as 8 newspaper clippings related to William Flick and his family. The clippings document family news and deaths, including the accidental death of Flick's daughter Flossie.

Fifteen Photographs depict William Flick and his family, including several taken during Flick's time as a logger in Creswell, Oregon, and as a clam digger in Illinois, as well as one taken in front of a carpenter's shop in Chicago, Illinois. One portrait shows Marlow Flick in his Navy uniform. Four items are photographic postcards.

Professor of pedagogy at the University of Michigan; chancellor of University of Nashville and president of Peabody Normal College. Correspondence and other papers concerning his activities in education and family matters.

The collection has been arranged into two series: Correspondence and Other papers. The correspondence dates from 1853 to 1933 and includes many letters addressed to his second wife Elizabeth Clark prior to their marriage. The Other Papers series concerns his activities as an educator and college president. Materials in this series include addresses, lectures, autobiographical and biographical volumes, personal account books, visual material, and other miscellaneous notebooks.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, businessman. Consists of photos of Ann Arbor.

The collection consists of photos of Ann Arbor buildings and of an Ann Arbor railroad accident. Also included is a view of Broadway Avenue and a group portrait of the Mandolin Club.

Methodist Episcopal clergyman and editor of Michigan Christian Advocate. Correspondence relating to his editorial work and his interest in economic and labor problems, including the Flint, Michigan, Sit-Down Strike of 1937; also sermons, student paper, notebooks of classes at Albion College, and record of weddings performed in 1913 at the First Methodist Church of Battle Creek, Michigan; and photographs.

The collection is arranged into three series: Correspondence, Sermons, and Other Materials. The great bulk of the collection is comprised of the manuscripts of his sermons in the period of 1895 to 1915.

Professor of Geology at the University of Michigan; reprints of articles on various geological topics including his research and exploration in Greenland.

The Hobbs collections consists of pamphlets and reprints of articles on various geological topics including his research and exploration in Greenland.