Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The Smith-Parker-Hicks-Winegar Family Papers document the history of several branches of the family who settled in Southern Michigan in the mid-1830s. The collection's seven series contain genealogical records, biographical materials, financial and business records, family correspondence, travel papers, military papers, as well as collected news clippings and scrapbooks about the Detroit Tigers.

The Smith-Parker-Hicks-Winegar Family Papers comprises the papers of various family members collected and maintained by Dr. George and Mrs. Lois Winegar. The collection is divided into seven series: Genealogical Papers and Miscellaneous Family Records, the Robert R. Smith papers, the Blanche Smith Parker papers, the Lois V. Parker Hicks papers, the W. J. Bryan Hicks papers, the George and Lois Winegar papers, and the Detroit Tigers Scrapbooks and Collected Material. The collection is organized around individual family members except for the first series, which contains genealogical and personal papers of multiple people from various family branches.

Gamma Deuteron Charge (chapter) of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity, instated at the University of Michigan in 1889. Records include original and digital copies of annual composite photographs of the members of the University of Michigan chapter, as well as drawings of an unbuilt fraternity house designed by Alden B. Dow. Also included are a volume of meeting minutes; an oversize ledger detailing per person costs; and an alumni register.

The Theta Delta Chi Gamma Deuteron Charge records consist of yearly composite photographs of the members of the chapter; a ledger detailing per person costs of fraternity life; and an alumni register. Particularly of note is a volume of handwritten meeting minutes which date from 1947-1956. The minutes detail the "Meetings of the Charge" and cover house events, planning, and finances, house morale and interpersonal conflicts, and other issues related to the running of the Gamma Deuteron Charge chapter. Also included in the minutes volume are treasurer notes from 1951-1972.

The collection also contains the original copies of the composite photographs, as well as digital copies. Also included are a small number of drawings of an unbuilt fraternity house that were designed by Alden B. Dow.

Letters describing his war-time activities as a first lieutenant and later a captain; includes details about the battles of Stone's River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, as well as the sieges of Kennesaw Mountain and of Atlanta. He expresses admiration for Generals Rosecrans and Thomas, tells of transporting prisoners and deserters, describes a hanging, and defines the Legion of Honor. Also contains some papers concerning his wife Lottie Langdon Conely's family and two Civil War letters to Lottie from David P. Ingraham (from Brooklyn, Mich.), a lieutenant and captain in Co. A, Ninth Michigan Cavalry, who tells about celebrating the Fourth of July and Christmas, and describes the Tennessee mountains. Includes unidentified photos of a beach party and bicyclists.

Tom Van Zoeren was a park ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. His collection contains oral history interviews relating to the history of the Sleeping Bear Dunes region and other Michigan localities.

The Van Zoeren collection contains oral history interviews conducted between 1979 and 2010, and includes copies of scanned photos and supporting documents. The interviews are available variously on audio cassette tapes and online. Transcripts or summaries are found in the collection for many of the interviews. The Van Zoeren collection is organized in two sections by format.

The first section contains analog files and audio cassette tapes. This section is arranged in series by family interview: Basch/Lanham/Van Zoeren oral history interviews, 1993-2000; George Burfiend oral history interviews, photo collection, and farm tour, 2005-2008; DeKorne family oral history and photographs, 2006; Doan family oral history interview, 2006; Dottie (Ashmore) Lanham oral history and photograph collection, 2003-2008; Alfred and Loraine (Olsen) Mason oral history interview and photo collection, 2001-2004; Leonard Thoreson oral history interview and photos, 2005-2006; and Frederick and Margretha Werner Farm oral history interview and photo collection, 2006-2007. These series contain information related to the families and interviews in the form of text, scanned and printed images, and audio and video recordings.

1. Basch, Laura (Oleson), of the Port Oneida, Michigan, area (audio cassettes and online)
2. Burfiend, George, relating to Burfiend farm and Port Oneida (online)
3. DeKorne, Jack relating to the family of Boudewyn and Kate DeKorne of Grand Rapids and Glen Lake, Michigan (online)
4. Fargo, Judy Carole and Ruth Ann Doan Jones, relating to the Frank and Alma Doan family of Croswell, Michigan ( online, filed under Doan family)
5. Lanham, Dottie, relating to her life and to Burdickville and surrounding area (online)
6. Lanham, John, of Burdickville, Michigan (audio cassettes and online)
7. Mason, Alfred and Lorraine [referred to as 'Loraine' in some collection materials] (Olsen), relating to their families, the family farms and the Port Oneida community (online)
8. Miller, Charles, relating to the Frederick and Margretha Werner farm in Port Oneida (online, filed under Werner)
9. Stuber, Mary Lou, relating to the Frederick and Margretha Werner farm in Port Oneida (online, filed under Werner)
10. Thoresen, Leonard, relating to his family, the family farm and the Port Oneida community (online)
11. Thoreson, Leonard, relating to the Frederick and Margretha Werner farm in Port Oneida (online, filed under Werner)
12. Van Noord, Trudy, relating to the family of Boudewyn and Kate DeKorne of Grand Rapids and Glen Lake, Michigan (online, filed under DeKorne family)
13. Van Zoeren, Jay, of Vriesland, Michigan, 1948 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School (audio cassettes and online)

Additional files relating to these and other persons are available online.

The second section consists of one series of digitized material, oral histories, photos, and other historic materials from the Sleeping Bear Dunes region. The digital files were created or assembled by Van Zoeren and were received on an external hard drive. This series is further divided into subseries by type of material: Information on Farms, Families, etc.; Oral History Audio Files; Historic Images; Video Recordings; Genealogies; Census and Cemetery Records; Historic Maps; and Other Resources. Some of the content may be digitized versions of items in the analog portion of the collection.

Organized in 1879 to "cultivate the public taste for music," the Society sponsors concert series, opera, dance and theater performances at the University of Michigan. The records consist of director's files of Albert A. Stanley, Charles A. Sink, Gail Rector, and Kenneth Fischer; include correspondence relating to performances and management of the Society; ledgers and account books, board of directors minutes and packets; files concerning the Choral Union, the University of Michigan School of Music, the Henry S. Frieze Memorial Organ Fund, and Hill Auditorium; also visual materials and audiotapes of Board meetings.

The records of the University Musical Society document its founding in 1879, governance and administrative restructuring through the years, its activities sponsoring musical, dance and theatrical performances on campus, and its role in music and arts education. The records include directors' correspondence files, board of directors minutes, ledgers and financial records, photographs, sound recordings and videotapes.

Intellectually, the records are organized into eight series: Directors' Correspondence, Financial records, Historical file, Board of Directors, Committees, Topical File, Contracts, Photographs, President's Correspondence, Staff Files, Executive Directors' Files, and Motion Pictures (film, videotape and digital materials).

The records were received in several major and numerous small accessions and the physical arrangement of the records (the order in which they are arranged in boxes/folders) reflects this. In this finding aid, the records are described in term of their intellectual organization regardless of the particular accession in which they were received. As a result, the box number order in which the descriptions are displayed in the contents list will not always be consecutive.

Warren Petoskey is an Odawa and Lakotah elder. He is a writer, musician, dancer, and lectures on the history of American Indian boarding schools. The collection includes materials related to his professional and personal activities and interests, biographical and historical information, copies of genealogical records, as well as personal photographs and audio recordings.

The Warren Petoskey collection, 1873-2016, contains correspondence regarding presentations that Petoskey has held and his professional performance, copies of genealogy and family records, writings -- including his poetry, essays, and his published memoir, Dancing My Dream, --photographs of himself and family members, certificates for language learning and earned in the course of his work as an addictions counselor, and other materials that document Warren's life as an Odawa and Lakotah elder. The collection also includes an oral history interview audio recordings, the contents of an audio CD, Sacred Dream, with Native American music written and performed by Warren Petoskey, and an archived website for Petoskey's ministry, Dawnland Native Ministries.

Saginaw, Michigan, lumberman and businessman, and Michigan State Tax Commissioner, 1912 and wildlife conservationist and sportsman. Papers include extensive correspondence files, business records and photographs.

The William Mershon collection consists of correspondence dealing with Mershon's various activities as a lumberman, Saginaw businessman, and member of the State Tax Commission in 1912. Subjects included in the papers are Michigan wildlife conservation, the Michigan Sportsmen Association, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, the Michigan State Tax Commission, Michigan politics, the Democratic party, personal business investments, lumbering and mining interest, and personal affairs.

The collection also includes diaries, a book of notes on hunting and fishing trips, and various business records such as cash books, time books, ledgers, and journals. These primarily concern his investments and lumbering business. Many of the business records are available on microfilm. The collection also includes photographs.

Willis C. Patterson, the first African American professor at the University of Michigan's School of Music, was an active faculty member from 1968 to 1999. He was a professor of voice and associate dean for academic affairs. Patterson directed the Men's Glee Club from 1969 and 1975 and spent summers as a faculty member at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. While maintaining an active concert career and fulfilling teaching duties, Patterson organized a Black American Music Symposium and compiled several works on African American composers. Patterson played an active role in securing funding and mentorship for students of color and disadvantaged students both at Michigan and in the Ann Arbor community. The collection includes some biographical material, but focuses mainly on his professional career, musical career, and collection of works by African American composers. It includes correspondence, research, photographs, clippings, publications, and topical files.

The Willis C. Patterson papers include some biographical material, but focuses mainly on his professional career, musical career, and collection of works by African American composers. The collection includes correspondence, publications and research material, photographic material, posters, student records, clippings, and topical files.

Corporate records of C.J.L. Meyer of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin and Hermansville, Michigan, manufacturer of doors, lumber for sashes, hardwood flooring, and related products; records of the William Mueller Company of Escanaba and LaBranche, Michigan, a firm taken over by Wisconsin Land and Lumber in 1909. Financial journals, ledgers, inventories, payroll ledgers; letterbooks of C.J.L. Meyer, Edwin P. Radford, company superintendent, and of other company officials; office correspondence files; and photographs.

This record group which came from the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company in Hermansville, Michigan is in fact an accumulation of records from three distinct business enterprises. First, there are records of C.J.L. Meyer business enterprises in Chicago and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Next are records maintained in Hermansville with the establishment of the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company in the 1870s. A third, smaller portion of the records are from the William Mueller Company, which WLL purchased in 1909.

When originally received in 1948, the records consisted of nearly 500 volumes of business journals and ledgers, time books, and letterpress books. During 1979-1981, the library began a program of microfilming to reduce the size of the record group. With the permission of the company, records that had been microfilmed were discarded. Also discarded were records duplicative in content of the records on microfilm. Other records were retained in the original without filming. The record group then consisted of 53 reels of microfilm representing approximately 112 volumes of business records, 65 oversized volumes, and 42 linear feet of boxed records (volumes, letterpress books, and correspondence files). In 2006, the library received additional microfilm (18 rolls) and digital materials containing scanned images of the photographs in the possession of the IXL Museum, which is the repository for the records of the company not received with the first accession. These records, which were retained, include personal correspondence of C.J.L. Meyer, some records of Meyer prior to the establishment of WLL, and records then considered current or of continuing value to the operation of the company.

The record group has been arranged as much as possible into series, but the researcher should note that identification of individuals volumes or files was not as certain as one would like. Thus, for example, there are various ledgers and journals, some with overlapping dates, but it was not always clear where these records were created or what function or division within the firm they documented. The fact that the company retained some of the earlier records accounts in part for what appear to be broken series. Further complicating the structure of the following finding aid is the interspersing of microfilmed materials and oversize volumes. Similar kinds of records (such as time books), for example, are thus found both in original and on microfilm.

As much as possible, like kinds of records have been kept to together (letterpress books, etc.). These are followed by records known to be created by a specific organization or maintained in a specific locale (e.g. Fond du Lac). The series in the record group are: Letterpress books (mainly business correspondence); Letterpress books (mainly business correspondence); Inventories, order books, etc.; C. J. L. Meyer Business Records; Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company; William Mueller Company; Photographs; and IXL Museum additions.

In 2007, the IXL Museum of Hermansville, Michigan, successor to the company and custodian of additional records of the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company, entered into agreement with the Bentley Library to exchange microfilm of selected portions of the records housed in the other's repository. In addition, the two repositories agreed that the Bentley Library would place on indefinite loan to the IXL Museum the originals of WLL photographs in its possession, and that the IXL Museum would donated to the Bentley Library digital copies of all of the many hundreds of photographs in its collection.

Singing group established in 1902 as the University of Michigan Girls' Club before changing the name to Women's Glee Club in the 1940s. The group performed on campus and throughout Michigan as well as touring nationally and internationally. The group disbanded in 1953 and was reactivated in 1976. This records include concert programs and posters, fundraising information, correspondence, photographs, audio/visual recordings of performances, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks. Also included are administrative papers including budget information, schedules, rosters and rules.

The Women's Glee Club collection dates from 1903 to 2017 and is comprised of multiple accessions. Because these accessions came with little discernible structure, and because their contents overlapped, they were combined into one collection made up of printed and manuscript materials, as well as posters, scrapbooks, sound and video recordings in a few different formats. The collection has been divided into four series: Audio/Visual Materials, Topical File, Scrapbooks and Concert Posters. The first two series of the collection have been arranged alphabetically by topic, and chronologically within the files. The Scrapbooks series is contained in Box 2, and each scrapbook has retained its original organization.