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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.

Founded by Hermann A. Brunn in Buffalo, New York, Brunn & Company were designers and builders of automotive bodies from the 1920s through the early 1940s, and are best known for the bodies constructed for the Lincoln Division of the Ford Motor Company. Brunn also built automobiles for private individuals, many of whom were well-known members of American business and society circles, including J.C. Penney and J.P. Morgan. Hermann C. Brunn, son of Hermann A., produced numerous designs for the company, and then continued his career at the Ford Motor Company following the closing of Brunn & Company in 1941. The collection documents the work of Brunn & Company, Hermann A. Brunn, and Hermann C. Brunn, through engineering drawings, photographs, paint and upholstery samples, customer order records, correspondence, and research materials.

The Brunn collection has been divided into four series: Correspondence, Design and Engineering, Images, and Sales and Marketing.

The Correspondence series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent and then chronologically within each file. The letters are primarily from customers to Hermann A. Brunn expressing appreciation for the work done on their vehicles. Letters that are circa 1970 includes material written by and sent to Hermann C. Brunn during his employment at Ford Motor Company, and in regards to modern restorations of Brunn vehicles. In cases where a specific vehicle can be identified, the correspondence has been filed with the photographic images of that particular vehicle. Some of the letters were part of a scrapbook and many letters are glued to the same page, as a result at the end of correspondence there are several letters listed together which indicates they are glued together and in the same folder.

The Design and Engineering series is divided into three subseries: Brunn & Company Drawings, Other Drawings, and Hermann C. Brunn. The material in the series consists primarily of drawings produced by Brunn & Company illustrating the various body designs produced by the firm, which are, for the most part, reproductions, or blueprints. The drawings show the left (driver) side elevation of the vehicle and, in some cases, include a plan view of the interior layout. Dimensions, if shown, detail the passenger interior space. The name, or initials, of the designer, customer name, and notes detailing specific vehicle configuration and trim can be found on many of the drawings. The drawings have been arranged alphabetically by make of chassis, then chronologically by date drawn and design number. Data for body style, model, chassis wheelbase in inches, engine configuration, order number, and customer name has also been included in the file title, where known. The Other Drawings subseries consist of a smaller number of drawings that originate from other manufacturers, including General Motors and the Ford Motor Company. The Hermann C. Brunn subseries consists of materials created by Hermann C. Brunn in the period after the closing of Brunn & Company, and includes a manuscript for an article describing the history of the brougham body style.

The Images series is divided into five subseries: Negatives; Vehicles, Brunn & Company; Vehicles Other, Non-vehicle, Brunn & Company; and Non-vehicle, Other. Image formats include black and white, and color, photographic prints and negatives. The bulk of the subjects are Brunn & Company vehicles, with images illustrating the exterior of completed automobiles. In many cases the prints and negatives are marked with the vehicle order number and many images are loose pages from a scrapbook. Images of body construction, interior, and body detail are captured for some vehicles. Non-vehicle subjects include the [1929] Paris, France, Auto Salon. Non-Brunn & Company subjects include several of images of the Aqua Cheetah, an amphibious vehicle built for the United States Army by the Amphibian Car Corporation. Another group of photographs are labeled “Best of Brunn” I and II which are an assortment of photos from various car models.

The Sales and Marketing series consists of brochures, print advertisements, owner lists, price lists, and a number of large-format upholstery and paint samples. The series also includes a Customer Order Book for 1935-1937. This journal records all vehicles built by Brunn & Company during that time period, with entries for order number, order date, body style, model number, customer name, body number, trim and paint specification, intermediate construction dates, and vehicle completion dates.

Detroit, Michigan attorney, shell collector and student of conchology. Correspondence, notebooks, and lists relating primarily to his interest in mollusca and shell collecting; also copies of family letters, 1830-1841, written from Buffalo, New York, Grand Rapids and Detroit, Michigan; a University of Michigan student notebook from a course in physics, 1874.

The Bryant Walker collection consists largely of correspondence from throughout the world with conchologists. There are, in addition, his manuscripts of his writings, various lists, charts, and inventories, and miscellaneous family materials and a University of Michigan student notebook of a class on physics.

Detroit German-American business; scrapbooks containing a variety of printed material, photographs, handwritten accounts of sentiments and occasions, and hand-drawn ink illustrations.

The Carl E. Schmidt collection consists of sixteen volumes of scrapbooks documenting the wide scope of Schmidt's interests. These scrapbooks were compiled and numbered by Schmidt himself, although some of the explanatory text was added by a friend, Dr. Tobias Sigel, who was himself a German immigrant and prominent citizen of Detroit. The scrapbooks are filled with a variety of printed material, photographs, handwritten accounts of sentiments and occasions, and hand-drawn ink illustrations. Much of the scrapbooks' text is in German, including many clippings from German language newspapers. The illustrations in Volume II are particularly attractive. They are hand-drawn red and black ink illustrations of fanciful, legendary themes relating to Walhalla.

The following inventory is a general guide to the contents of each volume. For those scrapbooks that were paginated by Schmidt, specific sections of special interest have been noted in the inventory. Volume 2 also has its own, original index. There is one corresponding folder for each of thirteen of the volumes. These folders contain loose items removed from volumes one through eleven, thirteen, and fourteen.

As the inventory shows, Schmidt was most thorough in documenting his recreational and farming interests, and his political activity in Detroit, at the state level, and in the German-American community. There is, however, very little information about his tannery business.

The Conesus Lake Camping commonplace book contains poetry, drawings, and autographs compiled by a group of friends who camped near the New York lake in August 1889.

The Conesus Lake Camping commonplace book contains poetry, drawings, and autographs compiled by a group of friends who camped near the New York lake in August 1889. The loosely bound, 32-page volume opens with an inscription from William Cullen Bryant's poem "The Painted Cup," (p. 1) and also includes a copy of "Of a'the Airts the wind can blaw…," a poem by Robert Burns (p. 3). Of particular interest is a cheerful and humorous narrative poem composed by a woman staying with several female friends under the watchful eye of a chaperone, Aunt Margaret, and a male "protector," Rob. The poem, entitled "Camping Out," describes each of the six members of the camping party and includes a few of their adventures as well as a hint of nostalgia (pp. 19-25; p. 10). The book also contains a series of short cheers associated with prestigious colleges, including Princeton and Yale (p. 12), and, two ink drawings of three male friends: Newton Shepard, William S. Church, and F. B. Foster. One drawing, a tree labeled "Log Cabin" and adorned by an owl (p. 5), appears to be a detail of a larger image of a log cabin labeled "Eagle Point" (p. 32). The book also contains a number of autographs collected from camp visitors from around the country.

University of Michigan chapter of a fraternal organization with an academic orientation. Constitution, minute books, treasurer's books, pledge class yearbooks, and visual materials.

The records of Delta Upsilon have been divided into three series: Organizational Materials, Scrapbooks, and Photographs.

Papers of Benjamin Douglass and his sons, Samuel T. Douglass, Detroit attorney and jurist, and Silas H. Douglas, professor of chemistry at the University of Michigan, and member of Douglass Houghton's Northern Michigan survey. Correspondence, scrapbooks, letter books, and miscellanea concerning family affairs, business and university activities; also contains records of the Douglass and Walker and Campbell Law Firm; and papers of individual members of Silas Douglas’ family, including his wife Helen Welles Douglas, their children Samuel T. Douglas, Marie Louise Douglas, and Catherine Hulbert Douglas, and other Douglas and Welles family members; and photographs.

The Douglass Family collection spans the period 1812-1911 and comprises eight linear feet of manuscripts, one linear ft. of photographs, three outsize volumes, and 1 folder of oversize materials. The collection include the papers of Benjamin Douglass and his two sons, Samuel T. (1814-98) a lawyer and Detroit judge, and Silas H. (1816-90), a professor at The University of Michigan. Although Silas came to use the family name of Douglas rather than Douglass, the paper indicate that there was little consistency.

The collection consists of personal and professional correspondence, letterpress books, business and legal papers, scrapbooks, photographs, and family materials. The collection, except for series of photographs and maps, is arranged by family member name.

Edward Bruce Williamson was a noted entomologist and botanist in the early part of the 20th century. He spent most of his career as an amateur, but active and well-respected, scholar of odonata (dragon and damselflies) and served as the curator of odonata for the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology from 1916 to his retirement in 1933. He also owned and maintained the Longfield Iris Farm in Bluffton, Indiana where he propagated award-winning irises. The collection includes correspondence, drawing, field notes and reports from his collecting trips, and photographs.

The Edward Bruce Williamson collection contains material dating from 1891 and spanning the next forty years until his death in 1933. Most of the collection focuses on Williamson's activities as an entomologist, though also it includes some personal correspondence and photographs. The collection is divided into four series, Correspondence, 1891-1935, Drawings, Miscellaneous, Notes and Paper Drafts, and Photographs.

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.

Papers of Emerson F. Powrie, Ann Arbor, MI public schools teacher (1945-1948), principal (1948-1971), and Central Administration employee (1972-1977); and his wife Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie, teacher for the hearing-impaired children.

The Powrie family papers have been divided into three series: Emerson F. Powrie papers; Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie papers; and Visual Materials.

The Emerson F. Powrie's papers represent the bulk of the collection. The collection follows Powrie's career as an educator and Ann Arbor Public Schools Principal, and reflects on challenges and developments that took place in Ann Arbor Public Schools system in 1950s-early 1970s. Materials shed light on process of racial desegregation in schools among students as well as faculty; important demographic, social and economic changes in the area, and their effect on the student body, (i.e., school enrollment, racial and socio-economic composition of classes, etc.). Topics of teachers' education and training, and religion in public schools are prominent in correspondence.

The Gwendolyn Sutton Powrie's papers include her writings and research materials on the subject of teaching the hearing-impaired children.