Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Missionary family to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; correspondence, sermons of Abel Bingham, diaries of Hannah Bingham reflecting her daily activities and religious convictions.

The collection documents the lives of a missionary family to the Ojibwa Indians of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The papers have been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Abel Bingham ministerial papers; Miscellaneous; and Bound Account Books and Diaries. The collection is of value for the family correspondence, for the sermons of Abel Bingham, and for the diaries of Hannah Bingham reflecting her daily activities and religious convictions (1817-1868). There are also papers concerning Fountain Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids in the 1850s.

Manchester Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan, farmer. Material concerning farming activities, English's work with the Southern Washtenaw Farmers' Club, local Democratic Party affairs, his work as clerk of the Iron Creek (Manchester Township) Free Will Baptist Church; correspondence; miscellaneous account books of family members, notebooks containing reference information, and reports of the overseer of highways for Manchester Township; and photographs. Correspondence includes a letter from Thomas English of West Virginia, who was formerly an enslaved person. The collection also includes a diary of Lucy English, Albert D. English's sister.

The English collection documents different phases of his life and provides the researcher with material for the study of Manchester, Michigan between 1880 and 1910. In addition to correspondence, the collection includes notebooks containing the newspaper columns on local affairs which English wrote for several county newspapers. There are also 18 "Ready Reference Books" containing lists of local, state, and national political candidates and office holders, Manchester property owners, lists of school teachers and graduates, church leaders, as well as other information gleaned from almanacs and newspapers over the years. Included are also several farm journals of Albert English and his father Benjamin English, and a personal diary and a scrapbook of Albert's sister Lucy English (in marriage, Lucy Simmons). Much of the correspondence files concerns the Free Will Baptist Church. Correspondence includes one letter from Thomas English of West Virginia, a formerly enslaved person, whom Albert English apparently contacted in regard to the family genealogy. There is no record of continued correspondence on this subject.

Professor of geology and paleontology at the University of Michigan, director of the Michigan Geological Survey, and chancellor of Syracuse University, popular lecturer and writer on scientific topics and as a Methodist layman who worked to reconcile traditional religious beliefs to nineteenth-century developments in the fields of evolutionary biology, cosmology, geology, and paleontology. Papers include extensive diaries, field notes and maps from travels and geological expeditions, correspondence, speeches, articles and other publications and photographs.

The papers of Alexander Winchell are those of an orderly man who carefully documented his own life through well-organized correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and scrapbooks. Winchell kept thorough evidence of his activities, writings, lectures, and thoughts, for most of his life. The only area that seems poorly documented is his university teaching. The collection does not appear to include significant material relating to relationships with students in the classroom.

"Alexander Winchell, an editorial tribute," published in The American Geologist (Feb. 1892, MHC call number DB/2/W759/A512), includes a year-by-year account of Winchell's life, based on the papers, and probably written by his brother N. H. Winchell. Although there are no footnotes in this work, it provides a useful summary of Winchell's activities and clues to the existence of documentation in the collection.

The collection is divided into six major series: Biographical, Correspondence, Diaries and journals, Writings and lectures, Reference and research files, and Scrapbooks; and three smaller series: Visual materials, Processing notes, and Card files.

Winchell's bibliography is located in Box 1 (the most complete copy is in the "Permanent memoranda" volume), and drafts of many of his writings are found in Boxes 8-14. Copies of many, but not all, of Winchell's publications are found in the MHC printed collection. The card catalog includes details for all separately cataloged items. There are also three collections of pamphlets that are not inventoried: two slightly different bound sets prepared by N. H. Winchell after Alexander Winchell's death (MHC call numbers DA/2/W759/M678/Set A and DA/2/W759/M678/Set B) and a two-box collection of pamphlets collected by the University Library (MHC call number Univ. of Mich. Coll./J/17/W759).

Farmer at Volinia Township, Cass County, Michigan. Journals, financial records, papers of other family members.

The collection is divided into three series: Journals, Farm records, and Other Family Members.

Circuit court judge and Michigan Supreme Court justice; his wife, Ann Lapham Graves, was a Battle Creek educator and civic leader; their son, Henry B. Graves, was a Detroit lawyer. Family correspondence concerning life in Battle Creek, Michigan, student life of H. B. Graves at the University of Michigan, 1879-1882, Kansas land speculation, 1883-1885, the Spanish-American War and legal affairs; personal journals and circuit court and Supreme Court record books of B. F. Graves; and photographs.

The Benjamin F. Graves papers consist of family correspondence concerning life in Battle Creek, Michigan, student life of H. B. Graves at the University of Michigan, 1879-1882, Kansas land speculation, 1883-1885, the Spanish-American War and legal affairs; personal journals and circuit court and Michigan Supreme Court record books of B. F. Graves; and correspondence of Henry B. Graves and Ann Lapham Graves. The collection has been arranged by name of individual family member: Benjamin F. Graves; Lapham family; Henry B. Graves; and Miscellaneous.

The correspondence of Benjamin F. Graves includes letters from Henry B. Brown, December 26, 1890; Julius C. Burrows, March 17, 1869; James V. Campbell, 1858-1883; Isaac P. Christiancy, June 1868, November and December 1862, February 1873, August 1877; Thomas M. Cooley (throughout); Donald M. Dickinson, undated and December 1883; Alpheus Felch, December 1894; and John W. Longyear, April 1864 and March 1865.

Papers of the Birney, McClear (variant spellings), and Hankerd families collected in part by Marian T. Hankerd of Pleasant Lake, Michigan. Genealogies and family history; correspondence and other papers of James Birney and his wife Bridget McClear, Irish immigrant settlers to Bunker Hill in Ingham County, concerning family matters, his experiences in the California gold fields, politics and Catholic Church activities; letters of Terrence McCleer from the California gold fields; Henry Birney family letters and account books; Henrietta Township, Jackson County, Michigan, materials, including township records and assessments, and records of Henrietta Farmer's Club; Bunker Hill Township, Ingham County, Michigan, assessments; scattered records of SS. Cornelius and Cyprian Catholic Church in Bunker Hill; and related photographs.

The Birney Family collection documents the lives and activities of three inter-related families: the Birneys, McClears (variant spellings), and Hankerds. Covering the years 1835-1972, the collection consists of family correspondence, legal papers, personal and financial ledgers, and clippings; materials relating to Bunker Hill Township in Ingham County and Henrietta Township in Jackson County; and collected materials pertaining to SS. Cornelius and Cyprian Catholic Church in Bunker Hill.

The collection has been arranged into nine principal series: Family / Genealogical James Birney Family, the Henry Birney Family, the Patrick Hankerd Family, Henrietta Township, Bunker Hill Township, SS. Cornelius and Cyprian Catholic Church in Bunker Hill, Photographs, and Robert Stack research papers.

The Blanchard family papers document the lives and careers of several members of the Blanchard, Cobb, and Proctor families from the mid-nineteenth century through the late twentieth century. Includes visual materials, publications, personal writings, and extensive correspondence files.

The Blanchard Family Papers document the professional achievements and personal lives of several generations of a scientifically minded and artistically gifted family. The papers focus heavily upon the eminent plant pathologist and nematologist Nathan A. Cobb, his wife Alice Vara Cobb, their daughter, biologist Frieda Cobb Blanchard, and her husband, herpetologist Frank Nelson Blanchard (the latter two of whom were professors at the University of Michigan). In addition to the photographs, drawings, correspondence, journals, and writings of these four individuals, the collection is rich in family correspondence, diaries, and personal papers from other members of the Cobb and Blanchard families (and their forebears and branches, including the Bigelow, Proctor, Ross, White, and Randall families). The Blanchard Family Papers will be of value to researchers interested in a variety of topics: scientific endeavors and methodologies (and in particular those related to agronomy, nematology, botany, and herpetology); the visual arts and the development of photography in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; colonial and provincial life in Australia and Hawaii (respectively); and the daily affairs of American (and Michigan) families throughout the twentieth century. The Blanchard Family Papers consist of seven series: Nathan A. Cobb, Alice Vara Cobb, Frieda Cobb Blanchard, Frank Nelson Blanchard, Blanchard and Cobb Family Letters, Other Family Members, and Isaac G. Blanchard.

William H. Boyd family of Monroe, Michigan. Correspondence, diaries, addresses, photograph, and miscellaneous papers concerning family and business affairs, temperance, slavery and the First Presbyterian Church of Monroe, Michigan. Correspondents include: Isaac P. Christiancy and Alpheus Felch.

The Boyd family collection includes correspondence, diaries of family members, addresses, photographs, and miscellaneous papers concerning family and business affairs, temperance, slavery and the First Presbyterian Church of Monroe, Michigan. Correspondents include: Isaac P. Christiancy and Alpheus Felch.

Professor of German at the University of Michigan and Columbia; mostly correspondence of Thomas with his family, professional colleagues, publisher, etc.; also some correspondence of his wife after his death; speeches, lecture notes, biographical sketches; papers include material on language studies at Michigan and Columbia, attitudes of academia toward Germans in World War I, accounts of European travels in 1877, 1896, and 1900; Civil War letter of Steven Thomas, Calvin's father.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/personal material; Correspondence; Lectures and addresses; Journals/diary; Scrapbooks; Other family members papers; and Publications.

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.