Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Papers and photographs collected by Robert D. Aldrich relating to the history, people and institutions of Concord village in Jackson County, Michigan; include correspondence, diaries, account books and other papers of Concord residents; records of Concord social organizations, businesses, schools, and church and governmental bodies.

The Robert D. Aldrich collection consists of materials--manuscript, printed, and photographic--documenting the history of Concord, Michigan, in western Jackson County. The collection spans the period from the arrival of the first settlers in 1831 to the 1980s. There are a few items dating back into the eighteenth century (as early as 1783) since the papers of some pioneer families predate their arrival in Concord. The bulk of the collection, though, falls in the period since the Civil War.

The collection documents every facet of life in Concord. Included are the papers of numerous Concord citizens consisting of personal correspondence, diaries, account books and newspaper clippings about them. In addition, Aldrich collected the records of various Concord businesses and organizations, as well as some church, school, and governmental records.

The collection has been divided into two series: Manuscript and Printed Materials, and Visual Materials. Both series are arranged alphabetically either by personal name or name of organization, or by general subject area, such as Circus, Underground Railroad, etc.

The Franklin H. Bailey collection contains correspondence, diaries, a scrapbook, photographs, and other materials (including military discharge papers, Civil War songbooks, and scientific papers). 56 letters written to his parents in Adrian, Michigan from 1861-1865 detail his time in the military, with references to camp life, religion, sickness, concern over money matters, and skirmishes in which he was engaged, including a graphic account of the battle of Pittsburg Landing. An additional undated Civil War letter from Minerva Bailey's first husband, Levi Greenfield, reports on rumors of victories at Richmond and Vicksburg. Later correspondence includes letters he wrote to his wife while on a trip abroad in 1873 and a scrapbook of letters, 1880-1901, primarily concerning educational matters. Diaries (1865-1883) at least partially written in Pitman shorthand provide additional information on his war service, student life at Hillsdale College, finances, and teaching and scientific interests. A poem titled "Big Yank" refers to the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.

Diary entries on daily life, the weather, and battles in which he participated; also includes a photograph (photostatic copy). Typewritten copy of a diary (1861-64) kept while he was serving in the 4th Michigan Infantry as sergeant and lieutenant. Most of the entries are short and terse. The chief items of interest concern his service with Professor Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe (an American Civil War aeronaut who pioneered military aerial reconnaissance) and his balloon. Also includes Bancrofts reflections on the following battles: Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. There is an outline of what a day in camp is like; descriptions of marches-the countryside, fatigue, the weather, food or lack of it, and campsites. He tells about foraging for food and for building materials, and describes his quarters. He speaks of General McClellan and President Lincoln; of his reading, and of his bouts with dysentery and the remedies prescribed. He was mustered out in June of 1864. The original of the diary is in the Auburn University Special Collections and Archives, Alabama.

Three diaries (1863-1865) written while he was serving in Company D, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, as quartermaster sergeant and later lieutenant. Most of his entries concern the weather, food, sickness, letters, camp life,and battles with brief references to Gettysburg, Opequon, and Appomattox Court House. A large portion of his time was spent in the Campbell General Hospital, Washington, D.C. On May 19, 1864 he mentions Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln's visit to the hospital. Barbour was a resident of Fenton, Mich. This collection also includes an 1863 diary of Barbour's brother Frank A. Barbour. Frank Barbour served in Company A, 5th Michigan Cavalry. He died July 10, 1863, from wounds received in action at Gettysburg. The diary contains Frank's description of the events leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg, and George's account of his brother's last days.

Translations of letters, 1847-1850, of Gotthardt Bechtold describing his trip to, impressions of, and settlement in America; also diary, 1861-1865, of Frederick W. Bechtold, soldier in Co. B, 12th Missouri Volunteers during the Civil War (partially in German); typescript translations of Bechtold's diary and of his letters, 1862-1864; and miscellaneous other family letters (some in German).

Michigan Democratic congressman, 1847-1851, Republican governor, 1855-1858, and U.S. Senator, 1859-1861; correspondence and genealogical papers of the Bingham and Warden families of Livingston County, including letters from Kinsley, his wife Mary Warden, his son James (First Lieutenant, Sixteenth Michigan Infantry, who died in 1862), and Robert Warden, Jr.; correspondence concerning family affairs, political and legislative matters, Bingham's inauguration in Lansing, Michigan, in 1857, and the Civil War; letters to Warden from friends in Scotland and Camillus, New York including one from Henry S. Sinn about slavery and the Civil War; and diary, 1862-1863, kept by Mrs. Bingham.

The Bingham papers are comprised of two series, Correspondence and Other Materials, reproduced on four rolls of microfilm. The Correspondence series includes personal letters (originals and typescripts) between members of the Bingham and Warden families. There is extensive correspondence (1848-1861) between Bingham and his wife, Mary Warden Bingham, during his absences while serving in government offices in Lansing, Michigan and Washington, D.C. There is also a substantial correspondence from James W. Bingham, writing to his parents during his boarding school years at the Normal School in Ypsilanti, Michigan and one year while studying at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Later letters between James and his mother were written while James was serving with Co. H, 1st Michigan Infantry at Alexandria, Va., and then in Chicago and Peoria, Ill., as a recruiting officer in Co. B, 2nd Battalion, 16th U.S. Infantry (with which he was later on active duty in Kentucky). The letters concern the attitude of the citizens of Alexandria towards the Michigan troops, the assassination of Colonel Ellsworth, the Zouaves, social and camp life, marches and skirmishes, political news of the day and the towns in which he was encamped. Bingham died of disease at Bardstown, Ky., Nov. 9, 1862. The collection also includes three letters from Kinsley S. Bingham concerning the Battle of Bull Run. Also of interest are letters in 1850 referring to John, a nephew who participated in the California Gold Rush, where he died. The Other Materials series includes political speeches written by Kinsley S. Bingham, as well as newspaper clippings related to his death and memorial, and to the deaths of both of his sons. There is also genealogical notes made by family members for both the Bingham and Warden families, newspaper clippings about later family members, letters between extended family members, and miscellaneous and ephemeral materials.

Original and typescript of diaries (1862-1865) written while Boston was serving in Company H, 20th Michigan Infantry. The entries are chiefly descriptions of army life and battles in the campaign of Fredericksburg, first and second Kentucky campaigns, Vicksburg, the Wilderness, and Petersburg. National Park Service maps with a synopsis of the campaigns have been added to the typescript copy. The April 22, 1863 entry speaks of Frank Thompson (Sarah E. E. Seelye) as their brigade postmaster. The collection also contains thirty-seven letters (Jan. 1863-Apr. 1865) written to his aunts while Boston was serving in the 20th Michigan Infantry. He was sick and in hospital camps before Petersburg; once there, he gives accounts of activities there (Sept. 1864-Apr. 1865): picket duty, building fortifications, battles. He comments on food, the coming election, an African American regiment, General Burnside, the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, boxes from home, prisoners, the draft, and the reaction to the death of Lincoln. He describes two Thanksgiving dinners, and especially the fall of Petersburg. The collection also include's Boston's discharge certificate from the Union Army.

Correspondence and miscellaneous business papers including Civil War letters exchanged between John C. Buchanan and his wife, Sophia Bingham Buchanan, while he was serving as first lieutenant in Co. D. of the 8th Michigan Infantry. Many of the letters are almost sermons and philosophical essays about his home and family, religion, his country and the war and its leaders. Others are detailed descriptions of camps and camp life, such as Seabrook plantation in South Carolina and its Negroes, James Island and its reptiles; his quarters and food; sea transports; marches, skirmishes and battles with the Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign and around Fredericksburg. The collection also includes letters from Claude Buchanan while he was a student at the University of Michigan; letters (1847-1858) of J. Irwin Beaumont of Mississippi and Minnesota to Angie Bingham (Gilbert); notebooks, speeches, business papers, and a diary of a trip to the South in 1884 made by Claude Buchanan.

Settlers in Englishville, Michigan. Family correspondence, diaries, legal papers, newspaper clippings and other materials relating to farm life, personal affairs, and the Civil War.

The Buck family collection includes correspondence, diaries, legal papers, newspaper clippings, and other materials relating to farm life, personal affairs, and the Civil War. Included are letters of Curtis Buck and Andrew Buck relating to the Civil War. Also of interest is a letter of John Bettis, June 10, 1864, regarding his running a saw and grist mill in Chattanooga during the war. Other family members represented in the collection are Charles W. Buck and Myron and Susan Field Buck.

Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan, area family; correspondence, diaries, and other family materials.

The Campbell family collection includes correspondence and other family materials. Items of interest include Civil War correspondence of Gabriel Campbell and John S. Farnill; correspondence, diaries, and teaching materials of William Campbell; personal correspondence of Mary and Sarah (Sadie) Campbell concerning farming, local Republican politics, and school affairs; and printed materials concerning the Free Silver question and the election of 1896. The papers of Robert C. Campbell include diaries and University of Michigan student notebooks. Of interest are the notes he took from the lectures of John Dewey in philosophy, Henry Carter Adams in political economy, Burke A. Hinsdale in pedagogy, Joseph B. Steere in zoology, and A.A. Stanley in music, among other professors. The collection also includes high school notebooks of Carrie Read and E. Mabel Read.

Surveyor of lands in northern Michigan and in the Upper Peninsula; Macomb County land speculator; journal of his surveying expedition along the shores of Lake Superior, letters received, historical essays, family materials.

The George Cannon collection consists of letters, a journal, historical essays written for the Macomb County Historical Society, and various land records, including some surveying notes. Most of the letters were received by Cannon or other members of his family. There is in these letters much documentation relating to the Upper Peninsula and to the history of the settlement of Macomb County. Of especial interest are those letters and documents relating to the border dispute between Wisconsin and Michigan (particularly in the period of the first decade of the 20th Century) arising out of a surveying error in the 1830s. Many of the letters are from Upper Peninsula businessman and University of Michigan Regent Peter White.

Other items of interest are essays and lectures of the students who attended the Stony Creek Lyceum Rochester School where Cannon taught in the 1840s, a few Civil War letters from his brother Levi Cannon who served with Co. B of the 22nd Michigan Infantry, and essays Cannon wrote on his surveying mentor William A. Burt and on the early settlement of Macomb County.

Daniel Carlisle family of Buchanan, Michigan; family correspondence, diaries, and photographs.

The Carlisle family collection consists of two feet of material dating from 1860 to 1972. The papers relate to various members of the Daniel Carlisle family of Buchanan, Michigan. The collection contains correspondence between Hannah L. Carlisle and her husband, Daniel Carlisle. Include as well are letters and eight of Hannah Carlisle's diaries, written between 1885 and 1900 and largely concerning her life in Dead wood, South Dakota.

Other family members represented in the collection are William and Phyllis Carlisle and Vivian Carlisle. The letters of William D. Carlisle concern his service in the US Navy during World War II. The letters of Phyllis Carlisle relate both to her student life at the University of Michigan during the early 1940s and to her service in the Waves during the war. The letters of Vivian Carlisle were written while a student at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University during the 1940s.

Other items of interest is a folder of genealogical material and a letter written by Francis A. Carlisle while serving in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, describing his experiences.

A diary (1864-1865) written while Carpenter was serving in Company E, 4th Michigan Cavalry. Includes a concise report of each day's activities; entries describe army life (including foraging and skirmishing), his daily job of horseshoeing, the battle of Selma, and the capture of Jefferson Davis in May 1865.

Chadwick's diary (Mar. 10, 1864-Mar. 14, 1866) tells of camp and scouting duties in Missouri and Arkansas and forays against General Shelby; a steamer trip to take part in the engagement against Mobile; the overland march in "mopping up" operations in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; the trek to San Antonio, Texas where they were part of the Military Department of the Southwest under General Sheridan, guarding the Mexican border and engaging in garrison and scouting duties. Special mention is made of the trouble with Colonel Mizner; the mutiny over rations and "unfair" orders with resulting court martial; a review of troops by General Sheridan; and a description of San Antonio.

Collection includes a diary (1862-1864) that contains brief notations of daily activities and maps of military engagements. Also includes some photographic portraits (one colored) and correspondence.

A diary (Jan. 1, 1862-Apr. 30, 1863) kept while he was serving in Company D, 9th Michigan Infantry as corporal and sergeant (1861-1864), mostly in Tennessee. The brief entries tell of guard and picket duty and other daily activities in camp and on the march, of an occasional skirmish with the enemy, the weather, and church attendance. He also describes the battlefield of Stones River. Also includes miscellaneous papers relating to his military service and an address to the Grange, ca. 1870.

Flint, Michigan industrialist; governor of Michigan, 1865-1868. Correspondence concerning land speculations, lumbering, and political activities; correspondence of his son primarily relating to estate and land holdings; speeches, notes and other papers detailing his gubernatorial administration; deeds and other papers concerning land purchases in Ohio, Iowa, and Michigan; newspaper clippings, biographical material and obituaries; journals, diaries, notebooks, letter book, political scrapbook, 1866-1869, executive journal of state of Michigan, 1865-1867, farm records and accounts; and photographs.

The Crapo papers have been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Personal and Biographical; Political; Business records; and Miscellaneous (mainly financial). The collection relates primarily to the career of Henry H. Crapo with the files dating after 1869 pertaining to the business activities and political activities of his son W. W. Crapo.

In 1992, the bulk of the Crapo papers was microfilmed. This finding aid begins with a listing of the contents of the microfilm followed by a container listing of those portions of the collection which were not microfilmed. For reasons of preservation, the researcher should use the microfilm copy. Access to the original materials will be limited to the unmicrofilmed portions of the Crapo papers.

Comments on wartime activities, including description of Sherman's Georgia Campaign.

The collection includes two diaries, for 1864 and 1865. In the 1864 diary, Dean tells of directing and supervising men in erecting and operating sawmills and building storehouses, hospitals, bridges, etc. around Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga. He also writes of the move from there to the siege of Atlanta and the occupation of Atlanta; of deserters, prisoners, destruction of railroads, regimental inspections, and camp life in general; and of the return march to Chattanooga in six and one-half days. The 1865 diary (Jan.-June), kept while he was in Chattanooga, tells about the weather, building barracks, duties, social activities, the surrender of Lee, death of Lincoln, and mustering out. Also includes miscellaneous citations, commissions, legal documents relating to his military service and his work as regent, and a statement (notarized by Dean) of Victor C. Vaughan pertaining to the Douglas-Rose dispute, 1878.

Professor of English at University of Michigan. Correspondence, essays, a diary, and photographs.

The Demmon collection is comprised of the following series: Correspondence; Manuscripts; Essays and addresses; Other papers; and Photographs. The correspondence is both professional exchanges and personal letters among family members. Included are Demmon's student letters from Butler University and The University of Michigan, and two Civil War letters (1864) written while he was serving with 132nd Indiana Infantry. Among his professional correspondence are letters from James B. Angell, William L. Clements, Martin L. D'Ooge, Karl E. Guthe, Henry B. Joy, James McMillan, Moses C. Tyler. There are also lecture notes and other papers pertaining to his teaching duties; three volumes of personal accounts (1899-1920); a diary (1869) kept while he was a professor at Alliance College, Ohio, in which he mentions Mark Twain and John A. Bingham. The photographs include portraits, family photos and tintypes; photos of Demmon in the classroom, and of Demmon's residence in Ann Arbor.