Collections

The Sarah Lloyd collection contains 244 journal entries kept by Sarah Lloyd between 1741 and 1760, and a draft of a religious essay, likely written by John Lloyd, Sarah's husband. Sarah frequently discussed her thoughts on religion and mentioned pregnancies and childbirth, sickness and death of family members and neighbors, and the progress of the French and Indian War.

The Sarah Lloyd collection (7 items) contains six journals and journal fragments kept by Sarah Lloyd between 1741 and 1760, and a draft of a religious essay, likely written by John Lloyd, Sarah's husband. The journals contain 244 entries, the majority of which reveal her religious views. Sarah also discussed her pregnancies and childbirth, sickness and death in her community, and the progress of the French and Indian War.

The earliest entries are two essays from 1741, one a "Covenant" with God and the other a "Self-examination." Sarah's semi-weekly entries begin on July 22, 1744, the day she was "propounded" and joined the church. Her journals are largely spiritual in nature, but incorporated into her introspective religious entries are references to the physical world around her. She mentioned pregnancies and childbirth, childrearing, drought and thunderstorms, cases of smallpox and measles, deaths of family members and neighbors, and the progress of the French and Indian War. During the war, Sarah and her husband quartered British troops for the winters of 1758 and 1759. In her early April journal entries for both years, she expressed relief that, after four months of sharing their home with troops, the house was theirs again. She prayed about military victories and defeats in an attempt to accept both as God's will. Also well documented are her pregnancies. Often several months before a birth she started praying for a safe delivery and the ability to breast-feed her child. Of note is a mention of an African American child born to a servant in their household on March 8, 1753.

The religious essay is a 16-page manuscript, dated April 1752 at Stamford, Connecticut, with the dates April 6, 1762, and April 18, 1770, added in the margin of the first page. The item contains biblical passages and essays or sermons.

Records, 1802-1884, of the American Fur Company at Mackinac Island; records of the collector of customs; records concerning history of Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa County, and Mackinac County, including marriage records for Chippewa County, 1824-1870, minutes of Chippewa County Automobile Association, 1917-1930, and miscellaneous personal diaries.

The strength of the Sault Ste. Marie collection is the records of the American Fur Company at Port Mackinac. These records date as early as 1802 and include shipping documents from the Sault Ste. Marie area and nearby ports from 1802 to 1884. Among these documents are shipping manifests, clearance documents, bills of sale, enrolment bonds, Treasury Department circulars to custom collectors at the Port of Sault Ste. Marie and nearby ports, and personal and business correspondence.

Other portions of the collection are files maintained by Myron W. Scranton. Scranton was a son-law and business partner of Peter B. Barbeau.

The Semantha Atkeson papers consist of three antebellum letters of a Buffalo, Virginia (now West Virginia), teenager. The fourth item is a journal excerpt describing in detail Atkeson's experiences during the opening stages of the Civil War, and the last item is a school essay written by Atkeson.

In the collection's three letters, each one page long, Semantha Atkeson corresponded with cousins and acquaintances about daily life in antebellum Buffalo, Virginia. In her letter of August [1856], written to a cousin, Semantha discussed the teachers at her school and related the burning of her Uncle Crawford's house, as well as her grandmother's close brush with death: "…it got set afire by granmother's pipe she let a coal drop on the bed in her room there…but she did not know it till she heard the ceiling crack…and when she seen the fire she was so bad scared that she could not holloar [sic]." Semantha shared further details of her studies, which she generally enjoyed, in a short letter to Mary Pattin (March [1859]). In the third, and final, letter in the collection, dated October 27, 1860, Semantha listed and described five 1859 deaths "in our family," including two "little negro boy[s]" and "old aunt Nanny…an old negro woman who had been helpless as a child for 2 years." Semantha also provided a detailed account of the illness and death of a brother, who died of an "inflammation of the brain."

The collection also contains 8 pages from Semantha's journal, written in October and November 1861, in which she recounted her experiences during the beginning stages of the Civil War. The Atkeson family staunchly supported of the Confederacy, and Semantha's writing vividly reflected their political opinions. Semantha often mocked Union soldiers and twice wrote about taunting them by cheering for Jefferson Davis. She also witnessed a gathering of hundreds of troops for the Confederate cause, and was subject to a Union search of her family's home. Her acquaintance Mary Pattin assisted in nursing wounded soldiers during this time, and Semantha wrote about Mary's experience with two soldiers who, despite both being seriously wounded, "still continued to fight they talked and argued, until they become so excited, that they were injuring their health."

Additionally, the collection holds a school essay entitled "The Bear," written by Atkeson for an assignment and received as "very good" by an instructor.

The Sewell P. Barker journal concerns Barker's daily activities in northern New York between January 1843 and September 1845. Barker taught school in several towns near Rochester, New York, and frequently attended religious meetings and church services.

The Sewell P. Barker journal (336 pages) concerns Barker's daily activities in northern New York between January 1, 1843, and September 21, 1845. Barker taught school in several towns near Rochester, New York, and frequently attended religious meetings and church services.

Barker dedicated his journal on January 3, 1843, by copying five "Rules of Life" attributed to Thomas Jefferson. Originally from Sweden, New York, Barker frequently traveled to and taught in towns such as Greece, Riga, Brockport, Churchville, Spencerport, and Chili, New York. He reported the subjects of sermons and other religious gatherings he attended, noted the days on which he taught school, and recorded the names of those with whom he boarded while traveling. Several entries from early 1843 refer to courses he attended at "the Institute" in Brockport, New York. On September 20, 1843, Barker went to Rochester, where he heard a speech by Martin Van Buren (p. 91). From April 1844-June 1844, he lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked for the firm Churchill & Co. He described his travels by stagecoach and steamboat and reflected on his separation from his wife, whom he had married on Thanksgiving Day 1843 (December 14, 1843, p. 124). While in Cincinnati, Barker attended services at several Methodist churches. Some entries include religious poetry. The final page (p. 336) has a note on the drowning death of Daniel Foster of Strattanville, Pennsylvania, on May 11, 1844.

Officer with the 6th Michigan Infantry and Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War; personal papers relating to wartime service and accumulated records of the 6th Michigan Heavy Artillery.

The microfilm collection of the papers of Seymour Howell have been brought together from two separate collections: papers donated by the family and records which Howell himself donated to the Washtenaw County Historical Society and which subsequently have been deposited with the Bentley Historical Library. The collection from the family includes more personal items: a diary, a wartime notebook, letters, photographs, and a scrapbook. The Howell papers from the Washtenaw County Historical Society consist almost entirely of records of the 6th Michigan Artillery maintained by Howell. These include invoices, receipts, requisitions, ordnance reports and communications, and orders.

Papers, 1877-1926, of William Shaw, physician in Morrice, Michigan, including diaries, notebooks, and records of patient appointments and accounts; patient books, 1884-1891, of brother, Alexander Shaw, physician in Watertown, Dakota (later South Dakota); papers, 1907-1977, of Milton Shaw, son of William and Anna Shaw, Lansing physician including correspondence, diaries, professional files, and materials relating to medical career in the military, especially letters written during World War I; and photographs.

The Shaw family papers date from 1877 to 1977 and contain materials principally relating to the medical careers of three family members. Included are 25 volumes (1892-1926) containing patient appointments and accounts of Dr. William Shaw. Among his other papers are diaries and notebooks pertaining to his early career in the schools at Motherwell, Ontario, Canada where he taught for eleven years from about 1877 to 1888. Also included in the collection are the patient books of Dr. Alexander Shaw (1854-1892). There is one folder of correspondence written by Harold Shaw, to his parents, William and Anna, during World War I while serving with the 85th Division.

The papers of Dr. Milton Shaw (1889-1977) constitute the principal part of the collection and reflect his active professional career. His papers include correspondence to his parents, William and Anna, from France during World War I as well as materials concerning the other phases of his military career including his involvement with several veterans organizations. Dr. Milton Shaw's connections with professional and service organizations were numerous and involved positions on the governing boards of the Michigan Welfare League and the Michigan Heart Association as well as the Directorships of the University of Michigan Alumni Association (1946-1949) and the Ingham County Chapter of the American Red Cross (1933).

The Shaw family papers also includes visual material such as family portraits; military related photographs; and depictions of University of Michigan student life including classroom medical activities, class portraits, reunions, a scrapbook, and photographs of unidentified women medical students.

John F. Shepard family; diaries, photographs, recipes and correspondence concerning family matters and nineteenth century farm life; also professional correspondence, student notebooks and lecture notes of John F. Shepard.

Although the Shepard family papers (1807-1934) cover three generations, the bulk of the materials are from John F. Shepard. The earliest correspondence is primarily addressed to his father Arthur, and to his grandfather John from family members and relatives. The letters deal with health, crops, and relatives. There are also letters from John F. Shepard's wife Berenice to her mother Mary Barnes (maiden name Van Valin) and from Berenice's father Charles to her mother. The Barnes and VanValins lived in Marshall, Michigan.

The John F. Shepard papers include professional correspondence from 1911 to 1934, mostly relating to University building plans. There are also minutes (1921-1925) of the Committee of Five on the Comprehensive Building Program, as well as Shepard's student notebooks from philosophy and psychology courses taught by James R. Angell and James H. Tuft at the University of Chicago, and by Alfred H. Lloyd and Walter B. Pillsbury at the University of Michigan.

The photographs are mainly of his wife's family, many from the late nineteenth century.

Vice-president and secretary of the University of Michigan; correspondence; research materials for his biographies of university presidents; files relating to activities on the Ann Arbor City Council; course notes from classes at the University of Michigan; and photographs.

The Shirley Wheeler Smith papers include a combination of personal and professional materials. Much of Smith's career with the U-M is documented in the official records of the University, most notably in the records of the Secretary's Office and the papers of the presidents under whom he served (Angell, Hutchins, Burton, Little, and Ruthven). Even so, these papers contain much material relating to the business affairs of the U-M. The extensive correspondence files (with partial index) demonstrate wide influence in all phases of University operations as he corresponded with presidents, faculty, members of the board of regents, and other university personnel. Also documented in the collection is Smith's activities with the city of Ann Arbor and with other community organizations.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Research for writings; Topical files; Ann Arbor City Council; Papers (by date); Personal and miscellaneous; and Photographs.

This collection is made up of correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, and realia related to the family of Universalist Rev. James Shrigley of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The collection spans 1761 to 1955, with the bulk of the materials covering the lives of Rev. James Shrigley (1813-1905) and his son James Burley Shrigley (1846-1914).

The Shrigley family papers are divided into four series: Correspondence and Documents; Diaries, School Books, and Scrapbooks; Photographs and Watercolor Illustration; and Realia. The collection spans 1761 to 1955, with the bulk of the materials covering the lives of James Shrigley and James Burley Shrigley.

The Correspondence and Documents series is divided into two sub-series: Family correspondence and documents, and financial records.

The Shrigley family correspondence and documents subseries contains letters from George S. White, Margaret Shrigley, and James B. Shrigley. James B. Shrigley and Ella G. Oler's marriage certificate and license are present. The items in this subseries were found in a portable writing desk, described below. The Financial records subseries is comprised of receipts and warrant deeds for Corlienus DeHart. DeHart's connection with the Shrigley family has not been determined. Two family account books date from 1764 to 1787 and 1803 to 1811.

The Diaries, School Books, and Scrapbooks series contains seven bound volumes. Three journals by James Burley Shrigley date from 1859-1864, while he was a teenager in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The third volume contains several watercolor illustrations, including one of a US steamer Monitor-inspired hat. The collection includes two scrapbooks compiled by James B. Shrigley and Arthur Shrigley. James's scrapbook contains a biography of his father Reverend James Shrigley and several signed letters and clipped autographs of prominent public individuals, such as P. T. Barnum and Daniel Webster. Arthur's scrapbook contains holiday-themed newspaper clippings.

The Photographs series contains images of multiple members of the Shrigley family and scenes of Frankford, Pennsylvania. Among the photographs are cabinet cards of Reverend James Shrigley and Mary Shrigley, and stereograph cards of Frankford, Pennsylvania, in 1875. The series includes ten photographs that were removed from their frames; three of the frames (original to the photographs) were retained and are filed in the Realia series.

The Realia series contains a portable writing desk, a leather pouch, and three frames. The items in the family correspondence and documents series above were found within the portable writing desk. The owner of the desk has not been determined. The three frames were original to three photographs described in the photographs series.

Soldier in the Third Michigan Cavalry stationed at San Antonio, Texas during the Civil War. Diary describing his Civil War activities, return to Michigan, and school work at Albion College.

Diary describing his daily routines while stationed in San Antonio, Texas during the Civil War as well as his return to Michigan and school work at Albion College.