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Collection

James B. Angell Papers, 1845-1916

16.5 linear feet (in 17 boxes) — 1 oversize folder — 6 volumes

Online
Papers of James Burrill Angell, the third President of the University of Michigan (1871-1909) and U.S. Minister to China (1871-1909) and Turkey (1897-1898). Includes correspondence, lectures and lecture notes, addresses and articles, subject files and personal materials, and photographs.

The Angell papers documents Angell's academic and diplomatic career. There is extensive material on all phases of University of Michigan business, particularly Angell's contacts with the state legislature, the board of regents, faculty relations, and the various schools, colleges, departments and divisions. Much of the correspondence and the Angell diaries relate to his diplomatic missions, higher education in the United States, and family matters.

Collection

Frederick G. Behner papers, 1893-1924, 1893-1924 (majority within 1896-1908)

1 linear foot

Teacher, Inspector of Schools in the Philippine Islands (1901-1905), and Presbyterian clergyman. Papers include biographical information, education and teaching materials, church miscellanea, diaries, correspondence and photographs.

The papers of Frederick G. Behner measure one linear foot and are contained in two series: Papers and Photographs. The Papers series is further divided into biographical information; education and teaching; church; personal materials; correspondence; and general materials.

The Biographical Information consists of photocopies of accounts that Behner's son, Frederick G. Behner, Jr., wrote using his father's diaries and oral accounts. The Education and Teaching file includes Behner's teaching certificates (1893-1895), his university papers from North Central College, his students' papers from the Philippine Islands, and some papers from Xenia Seminary School. His university papers are on a number of subjects, as are his students' papers, and are interesting as they reflect many social and political facets of the turn of the century.

The Church papers include his licensure and requests from various churches asking Behner to work at their church. The Personal file series includes Behner's diaries for the years 1901 through 1905 and chronicles his journey from Ohio down to the Philippine Islands, his years of teaching there, an extended trip home with major stops in Palestine and Europe, and his wedding. The 1901 diary is accompanied by a partial transcript. Also included a published volume of transcript of diary titled "One Man's Journey to the Philippine Islands: the Thomasite Adventure, 1901-1905." The Correspondence series (1896-1904) is very brief and arranged chronologically, containing only several letters. One letter of interest explains the purpose of the schools in the Philippine Islands; another is a permit to carry a shotgun. The General Materials series is also very brief; it contains two steamship liner booklets with notations by Behner and a certificate indicating that Behner was a member of the National Geographic Society.

Collection

Ingle family papers, 1849-1907

30 items

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Collection

Arthur Lyon Cross Papers, 1897-1940

16 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Professor of English history at University of Michigan. Correspondence with European and American historians, publishing houses, editors of learned journals, members of his family, and friends; also manuscripts of books and articles, lecture notes, student records, business papers, personal account books, diaries, 1938-1940, with comments on world events, and miscellaneous papers; and photographs.

The Cross papers are divided into the following series: Correspondence; Miscellaneous and undated papers; Personal/Biographical; University of Michigan; Publications, articles, and related; Research and lecture materials, and Photographs.

Collection

Geddes and Randall Family Papers, 1835-1909

1 linear foot — 3 oversize volumes

The Geddes and Randall Family papers record early life in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area. The papers include financial records of paper and sawmills, pioneer reminiscences, personal photographs, and genealogical materials.

The Geddes and Randall Family Papers are subdivided into two series, one for each family. John Geddes papers include reminiscences of his coming to Michigan and his settlement in Ann Arbor. There are also financial records of the sawmill and a journal of daily happenings, 1845-1889, also containing genealogical information. The Randall family papers include correspondence, financial papers and brief diary entries of William Randall; and photograph albums of Sarah Randall.

Collection

Claudius Buchanan Grant papers, 1830s-1924

.4 linear feet (7 folders and 5 volumes in 1 box)

Online
Native of Ann Arbor, Mich. and officer in the U.S. Civil War; served as a Regent of University of Michigan and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. Collection includes a diary, 1862-1865, written while serving in Co. D, 20th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War and recounting daily activities and the sieges of Knoxville and Petersburg; correspondence, mainly with his mother and wife, while a student at University of Michigan and during the Civil War; papers of other family members; and portraits of Grant and members of his family as well as and water-colors of Civil War.

The Claudius Buchanan Grant papers provide insight into the Civil War as experienced by a Union officer and also document life in the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century. This collection is comprised of three series: Personal Papers, Family Papers, and Visual Materials.

Collection

Hussey Family papers, 1876-1926

8.5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

William Joseph and Ethel Fountain Hussey family of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and other materials relating especially to Hussey's activities as professor of astronomy and director of the astronomical observatory at the University of Michigan, including his scientific visits to South America and South Africa.

The Hussey family collection divides between the papers of William Joseph Hussey and his wife Ethel Fountain Hussey. The William Joseph Hussey papers includes correspondence, papers relating to his astronomical work, travels abroad, and affairs at the universities where Hussey held appointments, particularly The University of Michigan. Of interest are two letterpress books, two University of Michigan student notebooks containing notes on John William Langley's course in physics and notes on mathematics, account books, scrapbooks, and diaries of Argentina and South Africa travels and activities in The University of Michigan Observatory.

The papers of Ethel Fountain Hussey include correspondence, diaries, manuscript drafts of articles, and subject files relating to her organizational activities, her early work with the Michigan League and with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. Some of the couple's correspondents included James B. Angell, Levi L. Barbour, Luther Burbank, Marion L. Burton, William W. Campbell, William L. Clements, Ralph H. Curtiss, David Starr Jordan, Robert P. Lamont.

Collection

L.G. Bates General Store (Elsie, Mich.) records, 1857-1920

1.5 linear feet — 5 oversize volumes

Clinton County, Michigan, general store. Business financial records, family correspondence and history, diaries, photograph album of the Sickels-Bates family, and miscellanea.

The record group consists of financial records detailing the operation of the L. G. Bates General Store and its predecessor firm, J. F. Hasty and Co. As the dates of some of the records precede the opening of the Hasty store, it is possible that some of the accounts and ledgers are of a Sickel family member. In addition, the collection includes family correspondence, diaries and notebooks probably of Bates, family history and genealogy, photographs, and printed material.

Collection

Ludwig Family Papers, 1838-1985, 2000

6 linear feet (in 7 boxes)

The Ludwig Family Papers document the lives of members of the Ludwig family from the time of their arrival in the United States of America in 1733, through 1985. This collection includes family histories, scrapbooks, and family photographs. Also included in the collection are both personal and professional papers of Claud Cecil Ludwig, Frederick E. Ludwig, and Ruby Newman Ludwig.

The Ludwig Family record group covers a period of time from the 1850s to the 1980s. The collection of information documenting the history of the Ludwig family includes family histories, ancestral charts, and a large collection of photographic materials. The diaries and scrapbooks included in the collection describe everyday life during the periods covered. The collection is particularly strong in documenting the lives of Claud Cecil Ludwig and Frederick E. Ludwig.

Collection

Frank G. Millard Papers, 1904-1976

4 linear feet (in 6 boxes) — 7 oversize volumes — 1 phonograph record

Republican attorney general of Michigan, 1951-1954, general counsel of the Department of the Army. World War I letters, papers detailing work as chairman of the committee on emerging problems of the Michigan Constitutional Convention; miscellaneous genealogical material, and diaries and memoranda books; scrapbooks concerning political career, especially his service as state attorney general; and photographs.

Only a few papers survived Millard. Correspondence, most interesting for his letters written in France during 1917, and a small body of papers from his committee chairmanship at the 1961 state constitutional convention, highlight the collection. A large number of newspaper clippings about his career, and many awards and citations he received, are also available. A few items regarding his military career, his political activities and his membership in the Masons can also be found.

A large number of photographs and albums are also found in the collection. Included are five scrapbooks, 1955-1961, covering the period when Frank Millard was general counsel in the Department of the Army. These scrapbooks are 70-80 percent photographic, and the remainder consist of clippings, programs, correspondence, schedules and itineraries. Another scrapbook covers the years 1912-1914 when Millard was a student at the University of Michigan. It also contains three pages of earlier material dated 1901-1910. This scrapbook is more than half photographic in content with the rest consisting of programs, clippings, and memorabilia.