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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).

Professor of history at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. Correspondence, diary, student essays, and lecture notes.

The Andrew C. McLaughlin collection consists of correspondence concerning his scholarly interests, essays and a law thesis written while he was a student at the University of Michigan, and eight volumes of lecture notes on lectures he gave while at the University of Michigan. There is, additionally, a diary from his visit to Germany in 1893, a scrapbook and other material concerning a visit to England for the purpose of interpreting America to British audiences, and biographical information. Some of McLaughlin's correspondence included Charles K. Adams, John F. Jameson, Pierre Margry, John T. Morse, and Ira Remsen.

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.

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.

Professor of education at University of Michigan. Correspondence, diary of European trip (1931), manuscripts, lecture notes and articles.

The bulk of the Davis collection consists of manuscripts, lecture notes and articles. Included is his manuscript autobiography entitled "A Country Lad" and "History of the Ann Arbor Rotary Club." The lectures are on educational topics. In addition, the collection has correspondence largely relating to University of Michigan and School of Education affairs, and a diary of a trip to Europe in 1931.

Professor of English at University of Michigan. Correspondence, diaries, and topical files relating to his interest in English grammar and usage, his evaluation of various dictionaries, his interest in Polish-American relations, and the controversy surrounding Henshaw Ward's denial of Peary's discovery of the North Pole.

The Wells collection is comprised of the following series: Subject file; Personal diaries; Robert E. Peary; and Other papers.

Professor of sociology at University of Michigan. Papers contain correspondence, including letters, 1881-1884, written to his family while traveling in Europe, and correspondence with his parents, Mary E. and Thomas M. Cooley, and his wife, Elsie Jones Cooley; addresses, notes, essays, book reviews, notes and material for sociology courses; student notebook, 1893-1894, on lectures given by John Dewey; diary of a trip through the Smokey Mountains in 1883; and journals detailing his personal thoughts and tracing the evolution of his ideas on sociology and democracy; and photographs.

The Charles Horton Cooley papers consist of correspondence, journals, Cooley's notes for lectures, student notebooks, various writings by Cooley, articles about Cooley and reviews of his books and photographs. The papers, particularly the correspondence, reveal much about Cooley's personal and family life. The journals and lecture notes provide insight into the development of Cooley's ideas and his place in the field of sociology. Though the collection includes only a small amount of correspondence with other leading sociologists, the journals and lecture notes record Cooley's comments on and critiques of the theories and methods in the developing discipline.

Papers, 1925-1979, of Charles L. Stevenson, professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, and his wife, Louise Destler Stevenson. Correspondence with philosophers George E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein; Stevenson-Destler courtship letters; student letters from Yale in the 1920's; also manuscripts and lecture notes on philosophy; diaries of Louise Stevenson; draft of her novel; and sermon books 1841, 1845-1846 of his great grandfather, the Rev. Isaac D. Williamson, New York state clergyman.

The Charles L. Stevenson papers consist of his student notebooks from Yale, Cambridge and Harvard Universities; course materials and notes for his lectures in philosophy courses at the University of Michigan and professional correspondence, including letters with Ludwig Wittgenstein and George E. Moore; professional writings; and personal and family papers. The collection is divided into the following series: Personal/biographical; Correspondence; Education: Yale, Cambridge, Harvard; Course materials and lecture notes: Yale, University of Michigan; Writings and Research Notes; Miscellaneous; Louise Destler Stevenson Papers; and Other Family Members.

Economist, instructor in economics at the University of Michigan. Correspondence, diaries, and miscellanea.

The Douglas Brown papers consists of correspondence, both professional and personal, files relating to his work as a teacher of economics at the University of Michigan, and diaries maintained as a young man.

Curator of the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens and professor in the Department of Botany; journals, films, photographs, plant list, and drawings of plant habitats from the 1938 Nevill's Colorado River Expedition and following travels in 1939; also articles written about the expedition.

The Elzada Clover collection consists almost entirely of material relating to the 1938 Nevill's Colorado River Expedition. Included are Clover's journals, motion pictures of the trip, photographs, plant list, and drawings of plant habitats both from the 1938 Expedition and from later travels in 1939. There are also articles written about the expedition.

In 2009, DVD use copies were made of the motion pictures.