Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

David Wheeler Palmer was a Bridgewater, Michigan school teacher and farmer. His papers consist of diaries, 1846-1864, 1876-1882, and 1887-1892, concerning daily activities and farm life. There are also papers of other family members, including Emmett Newton Palmer, a Brooklyn, Michigan physician, Fred E. Palmer, a surgeon who served in the Spanish-American War, and Louisa Palmer, who was a teacher in Hawaii.

The David Wheeler Palmer collection consists mainly of his diaries and other papers. These diaries, dating from 1846 to 1892 with some gaps, comment in detail on his life, his family, the weather, financial transactions, and local politics. Other portions of the collection include materials of other family members: Palmer's wife Fidelia Randall Palmer; her brother Roswell Randall, Jr.; Emmett Palmer, the son of David and Fidelia; Fred Palmer, the son of Emmett; and Joseph Palmer, the father of David. Of interest are the photographs accumulated by Dr. Fred Palmer while he was serving in the Philippines. These include images of Hawaii on route to the Philippines and of the Santa Mesa facility in the Philippines. Another family member represented in the collection is Louisa Palmer who taught in Hawaii. She was an inveterate traveler who wrote extensive letters describing places visited for her students and family.

Dominic J. Perrone Jr. was a prominent business man and Democrat politician in Ionia County, Michigan in the 1950s. He was an active member of the Ionia Public Board of Education and served for 16 years on the board. The collection contains files relating to his political career and businesses, his personal diaries, and photographs.

The papers of Dominic Joseph Perrone Jr. reflect Perrone's growth as a newsboy to a prominent business man and politician in Ionia County, Michigan. The papers date from 1927 to 1987.

Chairman of the board of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Services Board and Oakland County Judge of Probate. The collection includes files accumulated from his work as member and chairman of the Board. The Board was established in the 1960s to implement the new Michigan mental health code whose intent was to involve local communities in mental health care services. Also included personal correspondence with wife Elizabeth Sparks Adams, as well as diaries, family materials, and photographs, and materials relating to Adams' career as a judge.

This collection documents various aspects of Donald Adams' personal and professional life. The majority of records relate to his time on the Oakland County Community Mental Health Services Board. Also included here are family correspondence (in particualar, correspondence with his wife Elizabeth Adams), materials about his career as a judge, and about his family.

District judge from Warren, Michigan. Correspondence, campaign materials, and other papers concerning his work as delegate to Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, as Warren city councilman, and as attorney and judge; papers concerning local and state Democratic politics, and his activities with Polish-American organizations and his interest in Polish American history and personages. Also includes digital images.

The Don Binkowski collection consists of correspondence, campaign materials, and other papers concerning his work as a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, as Warren city councilman, and as attorney and judge; also papers concerning local and state Democratic politics, and his activities with Polish-American organizations.

Political activist, concert pianist, sister-in-law of Eleanor Roosevelt. Biographical materials; correspondence with politicians, musical figures and other dignitaries; also personal materials concerning her concert career, her campaign for Congress in 1942, notably a journal of her daughters' trip to Europe in 1949; and photographs.

The papers of Dorothy Kemp Roosevelt relate to her political and social interests and activities. The collection is divided into three series: Biographical materials, Correspondence, and Personal.

Author from New York and Flint, Michigan. Diaries, writing journals, drafts of writings, copies of books and articles, and miscellaneous correspondence and publisher's contracts; and photographs.

The Edmund Love collection consists of diaries, 1955-1980, and writing journals containing plots, character names, dialog, etc. In addition, there are drafts of his writings, reviews of his books, and photographs.

Elizabeth Sparks Adams was a member of the Michigan Historical Commission from 1941 (when she was appointed as the first woman commissioner by Governor Murray D. Van Wagoner) until 1996. She and her husband, Judge Donald E. Adams, were also active in the Democratic Party, specifically in Oakland County and Waterford Township. Mrs. Adams also actively researched and collected materials on family and local history. The collection consists of files accumulated throughout her life, particularly during her service with the Michigan Historical Commission and the Michigan Democratic Party. Also included are clippings, correspondence, legal documents, and photographs related to family and local history.

The papers are divided into seven series: Personal Papers, Michigan Historical Commission, Michigan Historical Collections, Miscellaneous, Democratic Party, Compiled Information, and Collected Materials.

Senior and executive vice president of the National Bank of Detroit, later chairman of the board. The collection concerns business activities, personal interests, and travels. Included are business and personal correspondence, journals, travel materials, and other materials relating in part to his interest in amateur radio.

The Ellis B. Merry Personal Papers were assembled by Merry during his lifetime and include a number of documents from his years spent at the National Bank of Detroit. The collection, as arranged by his stepdaughter, Jean Dodenhoff, focuses primarily on his business activities, personal interests and travels. Materials found here include business and personal correspondence, journals, lists, some legal documents and publications, commendation certificates, travel itineraries, chronologies, reports, and memorabilia. There are a significant number of photographs documenting the boards of directors on which he served as well as the bank-related activities in which he participated. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Business Activities; Personal Activities; Personal Journals; Travel; and Photographs.

Governing body of the Episcopal church in western Michigan, established in 1874; records include bishops' files, diocesan organization and committee files, photographs, scrapbooks, diocesan historian files.

The records of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan are a rich resource of material, not only for the programs and activities of the Episcopal Church in western Michigan, but also for their documentation of the role of the church in the life of the various communities served by the diocese.

Records from the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan first came to the Bentley Historical Library in 1972. Since then, the diocese has made several significant additions to their records. In 1999 the record group was reprocessed with the aim of drawing together like materials. The record group now consists of twenty-two separate series. These are: Bishop's Files, Chancellor, Treasurer, Diocesan Historiographer, Standing Committee Files, Miscellaneous Files, Diocesan Record Books, Publicity Files, Defunct Parish and Mission Churches Files, Diocesan Committee Files, Diocesan Organization Files, Diocesan Financial Records, Visual Materials, Sound Recordings, Scrapbooks, Western Michigan University (WMU) Ministry Files, Women's Organizations, Miscellaneous office and staff files Bulletins of Church Services, Church of Christ the King, Miscellaneous parish materials, and Miscellaneous diocesan materials.

Professor of history and director of the Michigan Historical Collections at the University of Michigan; professional correspondence, lecture and research notes, speeches, writings, and personal miscellanea.

The F. Clever Bald collection includes correspondence, speeches, lecture and research notes, and manuscripts of published and unpublished research writings. Of interest is Bald's manuscript of his "The University of Michigan in World War II." Other World War II materials include completed questionnaires which he sent out to Michigan colleges and universities relating to their activities during the war. There are also letters (1944-1946) received from Chester A. Antiau discussing his work with the U. S. Army Information and Education Service during World War II including comments on conditions in Italy and Germany. Other parts of the collection are the letters he wrote while serving in the 111th Ambulance Company. Other files concern his activities with the Michigan Historical Collections, the Civil War Centennial Observance Commission, and the Algonquin Club of Detroit.