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Saginaw and Chesaning, Michigan newspaperman; member of the Michigan Legislature; founder of the Chesaning Showboat, an important Michigan tourist attraction. Biographical material; correspondence, 1941-1990, including letters about Howell written after his death; travel diaries, 1923-1952; Chesaning Showboat file; newspaper clippings; and photographs.

The Papers of Chester M. Howell measure .25 linear feet and are contained in three series: Papers, Newspaper Clippings, and Photographs.

The Papers series is comprised o Biographical Material, Correspondence, travel Diaries, and Chesaning Showboat files. The Correspondence (1941-1990) file includes some letters written after Chester M. Howell's death that recount his life and activities.

The Newspaper Clippings series contains articles by and about Howell, especially relating to the Chesaning Showboat and the Chesaning Argus newspaper.

The Photographs series includes images of Saginaw, Michigan and of Howell's newspaper activities in Saginaw and Chesaning; photographs taken while a state legislator; photos of Mackinac Bridge; and miscellaneous personal photos.

Researchers should note that other than the photographs there is not much material relating to Howell's political life. The material predominantly relates to the Chesaning Showboat and the Chesaning Argus.

Michigan congressman and senator, head of the U.S. Office of Price Administration; papers include correspondence, legislative files, speeches, political files, business and legal records, diaries and scrapbooks, visual materials, and sound recordings.

The Prentiss M. Brown Collection is rich and full and offers researchers materials on a variety of local and national topics reflecting the diversity of the man's private and public life. The earliest item in the collection is a letter book dated 1902-04 of James J. Brown, like his son a prominent St. Ignace attorney. The collection then picks up Prentiss M. Brown's entrance to the legal profession in 1917, traces his rise to public office, his work in Congress and with the O.P.A., and then concludes with his later business interests and his crusade upon behalf of the Mackinac Bridge.

The Brown Collection comprises approximately twenty-eight feet of correspondence, letterbooks, scrapbooks, diaries, speeches, topical and legislative files, photographs and phonograph records, and legal case files and business records. Covering the period 1917 to 1973, the papers concentrate most heavily in the years 1932-1942 when Brown was in the U.S. Congress. The greatest gap in the collection is in the period of the 1920s when Brown was making his first bids for political office. Also missing are any extensive files for the time of Brown's O.P.A. directorship. What the collection has on the O.P.A. are largely speeches, scrapbooks, and congratulatory letters.