Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection contains correspondence, letter books, and additional material related to the career of George Clinton Gardner, a surveyor and railroad engineer who worked in the United States, Mexico, and Peru throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Correspondence includes several letters related to Gardner's attempt to join the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers during the Civil War. The letter books provide details of Gardner's work with nitroglycerin in Pennsylvania, his experiences and travels while supervising railroad construction throughout Mexico, and his work with the Pacific Company in Peru.

This collection contains correspondence, letter books, and additional material related to the career of George Clinton Gardner, a surveyor and railroad engineer who worked in the United States, Mexico, and Peru throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Included are 17 letters, 4 letter books, 2 financial documents, 10 photographs, 1 printed copy of a painting, and several calling cards.

The Correspondence series has 17 items, including 15 directly related to George Clinton Gardner. These include 3 letters of recommendation that William H. Emory wrote in 1854 and 1856 regarding Gardner's work as a surveyor in the Pacific Northwest, with one addressed to President James Buchanan (August 13, 1856), as well as 5 letters related to Gardner's efforts to serve in the Union Cavalry and in the Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers during the Civil War (1861-1862). Postwar correspondence consists of 3 letters related to financial matters, 1 letter related to Gardner's surveying career, 2 personal letters addressed to Mary Gardner in 1889 and 1890, and a photographic Christmas card addressed to George Clinton Gardner from an acquaintance in Pacasmayo, Peru (1900).

The Letter Books series contains 4 letter books of Gardner's retained copies of his correspondence. The first letter book includes 27 pages of private letters to Messrs. Paul & Mooney and to James Mooney in Buffalo, New York, regarding property Gardner and his parents owned in Buffalo, as well as 2 related enclosed letters (3 pages). These are dated between September 27, 1862, and February 5, 1867, and primarily concern the finances associated with owning the land. Gardner frequently reported sending checks to pay for property taxes. One enclosed letter is dated January 11, 1868, and a second enclosed item is undated.

The second letter book is comprised of 42 loose pages from a single volume, dated between February 9, 1869, to February 14, 1874, with one letter dated October 28, 1879. The pages are numbered, though many are missing. Between 1869 and 1874, Gardner wrote to George M. Mowbray, a chemist involved in the development of nitroglycerin, and to other correspondents concerning Gardner's work overseeing submarine drilling for the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad Company. Many of the letters reflect Gardner's experiences with Mowbray's improved form of nitroglycerin, including a 5 1/2-page report Gardner wrote to General John G. Parke on August 2, 1869. Many letters from 1874 reflect the financial aspects of Gardner's property holdings in Buffalo, New York, and the single letter from 1879 relates to taxes he owed on property in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The third letter book (approximately 212 pages) consists of copies of letters Gardner wrote while working as the general manager of the Mexican National Construction Company, for which he supervised railroad construction on lines running west from Mexico City. The letters, written between September 9, 1881, and July 3, 1882, are addressed to both business and personal acquaintances, and cover Gardner's life, work, and travels throughout Mexico. He described recent developments in local railroad construction and often told his wife Fanny of his travels. The letter dated September 13, 1881, includes a diagram of a stateroom onboard the steamship Knickerbocker. He also discussed the local culture and economy, and provided details on contemporary Mexican life, particularly about the area west of Mexico City. Between January and July 1882, Gardner lived in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas. The letter book has been disbound, but the letters are in their original order.

The final letter book (approximately 84 pages) covers George C. Gardner's life in Peru between July 5, 1885, and November 9, 1895. The volume holds copies of personal and professional letters, including several lengthy ones to his wife Fanny, describing his travels around the country searching for and assessing coal deposits. He wrote a continuous letter "from the trail" during August and September 1895. Other topics he discussed are financial affairs and his work for the Pacific Company. Gardner returned to Washington by early October 1895, where he composed the volume's final letters.

The two Documents are financial accounts related to the settlement of the estate of General John McLean, Gardner's maternal grandfather (approximately 20 pages, May 8, 1821-December 27, 1828) and a list of "Charges against [an unidentified] Personal Estate" (1 page, undated).

The 8 card photographs in the Photographs series include one portraying a boy named Clinton Gardner Reed (May 22, 1884) and one taken at the Exhibition of Philadelphia in November 1876, as well as a carte-de-visite and a photographic portrait of Charles Kitchell Gardner. The final item is a black-and-white reproduction of a painting depicting a scene from Charles Le Brun's opera "La Famiglia di Dario ai Piedi di Alessandro," mounted on a thick card.

The Ephemera series contains several calling cards for Mrs. George H. Brodhea. Among several envelopes is one from the White House to Fanny Gardner .

This collection is made up of autobiographical manuscripts, correspondence, documents, and family photograph albums related to James B. Pond, Sr. and Jr. Some of the items pertain to Pond's service during the Civil War and both father and son's lecture business.

This collection is made up of autobiographical manuscripts, correspondence, documents, and family photograph albums related to James B. Pond, Sr. and Jr. Some of the items pertain to Pond Sr.'s service during the Civil War and both father and son's lecture business.

The Pond Family Papers series includes one box containing miscellaneous correspondence ranging in date from 1896-1932, Civil War related material, autobiographical sketches, family photographs, and personal photograph albums.

The Civil War related material includes a few items relating to James Pond's Civil War service in the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry, among which are a typescript of official reports relating to the massacre at Baxter Springs, Kansas, a printed poem on the massacre, and a printed notice of the death in the 1880s of William T. Brayton of the 3rd Cavalry. Pond also collected other reminiscences of the war, including an autobiographical account of Mrs. Horn, wife of a Missouri surgeon, which includes a description of Quantrill's raiders pillaging town and taking her husband prisoner, and a memoir of Edward P. Bridgman, a soldier in the 37th Massachusetts Infantry who served with John Brown in 1856, and may have known Pond.

More than half of this series consists of autobiographical manuscripts, parts of which, at least, were published as magazine articles. Most of these focus on his early years (prior to 1861) when he and his family were living a marginal existence in frontier Wisconsin and when he was a young man in search of a livelihood. The collection includes three major manuscripts, each present in several copies or versions, all of which are related to each other - "A Pioneer Boyhood," "The American Pioneer: My Life as a Boy," and "Pioneer Days" - plus there are less polished manuscripts of childhood and Civil War reminiscences. All appear to have been written initially in 1890, though some copies were apparently made several years later. In addition, there is an autobiographical sketch "How I got started in the Lecture Business" in which he describes his part in Anna Eliza Young's "apostatizing" and entering onto the lecture circuit.

The collection also contains 5 photograph albums. These volumes contain over 800 personal photographs taken between 1896 and 1902, including many pictures of family members at leisure both indoors and outdoors and Pond's business acquaintances from his lecture agency. Travel photographs include views of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, as well as a group of pictures taken during a visit to England, Switzerland, and Germany in 1901. European items include a series of colored prints, located in Volume 4. The albums contain images of locomotives, railroad cars, and steamships. Volume 1 contains images of the inauguration of William McKinley and Volume 2 contains images of crowds gathered for a GAR parade in Buffalo, New York. Throughout the albums are glimpses of various lecture tours and clients including John Watson (Ian Maclaren) and Anthony Hope in Volume 2 and Francis Marion Crawford in Volume 3. Other notable figures include Sam Walter Foss and William Dean Howells in Volume 1, Charles W. Blair and Edward William Bok in Volume 3, and Sir Henry Morton Stanley, Charles William Stubbs, Robert Stawell Ball, Horace Porter, Frank Thomas Bullen, and Israel Zangwill in Volume 4. In addition to the albums, there are loose photographs of family, James B. Pond Jr., and the Adventurers' Club of New York. Oversized photographs are housed in Box 3.

The Pond Lecture Bureau Papers series consists of one box containing client files (arranged chronologically), loose photographs, and ephemera. Much of the content consists of correspondence between clients/prospective clients and photographs of clients (likely for promotional material). This series spans from 1877 to the 1940s covering periods of ownership from both James B. Pond, Sr. and Jr. Some of these clients are as follows: Henry Ward Beecher, Reverend Joseph Parker, Thomas DeWitt Talmage, Leon Pierre Blouet, Reverend John Watson (Ian Maclaren), William Winter, Edward Rickenbacker, Harry A. Franck, Gunnar Horn, Maurice Brown, and Major Radclyffe Dugmore. Unidentified oversized photographs and a scrapbook are housed in Box 3.

The Lars Gustaf Sellstedt family collection is made up of correspondence, poetry, ephemera, and other materials related to Sellstedt and his descendants, particularly his daughter Eva and her husband, Frank H. Potter. The papers pertain to Sellstedt's religious beliefs, his travels in the Caribbean, his interest in fine art, and his influence and legacy in Buffalo, New York. Other items pertain to Frank Potter's life in Berlin, Germany, in the mid-1880s and to the genealogy of the Younglove family.

The Lars Gustaf Sellstedt family collection (0.75 linear feet) is made up of correspondence, poetry, ephemera, and other material related to Sellstedt and his descendants, particularly his daughter Eva and her husband, Frank H. Potter. The papers pertain to Sellstedt's religious beliefs, his travels in the Caribbean, his interest in fine art, and his influence and legacy in Buffalo, New York. Other items pertain to Frank Potter's life in Berlin, Germany, in the mid-1880s and to the genealogy of the Younglove family.

The Correspondence series (109 items) contains letters related to the Sellstedt, Potter, and Younglove families. In the mid-1840s, Sellstedt exchanged letters with his future wife, Louise Lovejoy; some of his other early correspondence concerns religion, art, and travel to the Caribbean in late 1848 and early 1849. In the early 20th century, he received letters from acquaintances and admirers about his books From Forecastle to Academy and Art in Buffalo.

Many items from the late 19th century pertain to Sellstedt's daughter Eva and her husband, Frank Hamilton Potter, including a series of letters that Potter wrote to his parents about his life in Berlin, Germany, in the mid-1880s. Frank and Eva Potter's son, Lars Sellstedt Potter, occasionally wrote to his mother as a child. The series also contains mid-19th century letters between William K. Scott and his cousin Moses C. Younglove, mid-20th century letters about an art exhibit commemorating Lars G. Sellstedt, and an undated letter from "Santa Claus" to a group of children. The series includes 2 print narratives by Samuel Younglove, entitled "Battle of Oriskany" and "The Battle of Bennington" (June 12, 1897).

The Writings series (113 items) contains 23 essays and 90 poems. Longer essays pertain to "Architecture and Sculpture" (58 pages) and to the history of art in Buffalo, New York (2 items, 99 pages and 47 pages); at least one of the essays about Buffalo was incorporated into Sellstedt's book Art in Buffalo. Other items pertain to the politician James Osborn Putnam, an acquaintance of Sellstedt's. The poetry (90 items), much of which was written by Sellstedt, concerns love, friendship, nature, and religious subjects; at least one poem is a friend's tribute to Sellstedt. The series includes 8 published items, housed together.

The Watercolors and Sketches (5 items), attributed to various persons, depict infant children, a Roman soldier, a woman, and a home. The Photographs (19 items), comprised of card photographs and photographic prints, mostly show members of the Sellstedt family, including Lars G. Sellstedt, Caroline Scott Sellstedt, and Eva Thorén Sellstedt. The pictures are studio portraits, outdoor portraits, and snapshots taken during a fishing trip. The series contains 3 copies of a memorial poem dedicated to William Scott Sellstedt ("Willie"), each illustrated with a photograph of him.

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery Exhibit Materials (around 20 unique items) include documents, promotional materials, and captions, which are related to an exhibit and reception held in honor of Lars Sellstedt in September 1972.

Newspaper Clippings (66 items) pertain to the life of Lars G. Sellstedt, including retrospectives about his life and obituaries. Some clippings concern the Albright-Knox Gallery's 1972 Sellstedt exhibit.

The Invitations, Cards, Documents, and Realia series (11 items) includes printed and manuscript invitations, a calling card, an embroidered piece of fabric, and a stock certificate for the Buffalo Cremation Company.

The Genealogy series (9 items) contains histories of the Younglove family, written by and addressed to Moses Younglove, as well as items related to the Gay family and to the life of Lars G. Sellstedt.

The Puffer-Markham family papers (1,875 items) is comprised of business letters, personal letters, legal documents, and financial records related to an extended family with business and agricultural interests in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, and South Carolina. Also present are letters from five Civil War soldiers, containing descriptions of their wartime experiences.

The Puffer-Markham family papers (1875 items) is comprised of business letters, personal letters, legal documents, and financial records related to an extended family with business and agricultural interests in Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, and South Carolina. Also present are letters from five Civil War soldiers, containing descriptions of their wartime experiences.

The Correspondence series (1535 items) contains family business and personal letters. These largely document William G. Markham's business activities in selling wheat, cattle, and sheep, as well as personal letters from Guy Markham's children, grandchildren, spouses, and friends from upstate New York. The family letters report on news, daily life, sickness, and courtship. Also present are letters related to Charles C. Puffer's business activities: as a banker in Massachusetts before the war, and as a plantation manager in Reconstruction-era South Carolina. Among the personal papers are many Civil War-era letters, involving both business carried on during the war and letters from Union soldiers on the frontlines.

The papers concerning Guy Markham and his son William Guy Markham are almost exclusively related to business matters. Guy was involved with farming in and around Rush, New York. William G. Markham, who inherited much of his father's land, established himself in the cattle industry. Throughout the 1870s, he received orders for Durham cattle (shorthorn heifers) from New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, and as far as Denver, Colorado, and Walla Walla, Washington Territory. Letters concerning his interest in cotton are also represented. He was president of the Sea Island Cotton Company, trustee of the Port Royal Cotton Company, and an associate with the United States Cotton Company. Beginning around1880, Markham became heavily involved with wool production and corresponded with other national and international woolgrowers, including the National Wool Growers Association, headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, which lobbied the House of Representatives against a congressional act that would lift overseas wool tariffs. He had multiple dealings with selling sheep and wool in Australia and South Africa.

Other Markham letters relate to William's siblings Wayne and Mary. Wayne Markham described his agricultural activities and his life in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Mary wrote of her experiences at the Music Institute of New London, Connecticut, and frequently requested money to cover her school expenses.

The Charles Puffer letters cover his business interactions with the Shelburne Falls Bank, and the Puffer-Markham partnership, which purchased plantations in Beaufort and Hilton Head, South Carolina (summer of 1865). In 15 letters to his wife Emma Puffer (1870-1876), Charles, while living in Columbia, South Carolina, described managing plantations for his family, working as an activist for the state’s Republican party (particularly in the 4th congressional district), and his relationship with Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain. He reported on a disorderly state convention in 1870, and of receiving $16,000 from Governor Chamberlain to distribute to county convention attendees with the promise that Charles would become county treasurer (September 4, 1874). By 1876, Charles had declared that he had left politics.

• January 2, 1870
• January 13, 1870
• March 11, 1870
• June 2, 1870
• July 27, 1870
• August 1, 1870
• January 1, 1871
• February 10, 1871
• August 22, 1874
• September 4, 1874
• October 7, 1874
• December 1874
• January 14, 1876
• April 12, 1876
• [1870s]

Between 1887 and 1890, the collection focuses on the lives of sisters Linda and Isabel ("Belle") Puffer, daughters of Charles and Emma Puffer. These comprise 12 items sent from and 39 items addressed to the sisters, while they were attending Wellesley College.

The collection contains 22 letters from five Civil War soldiers: Horace Boughton (9th and 143rd New York Infantry), Morris R. Darrohn (108th New York Infantry), Isaac R. Gibbard (143rd New York Infantry), Charles W. Daily (50th New York Engineers), and Samuel P. Wakelee (54th New York National Guard). Horace Boughton, who wrote eleven of these letters, described his regiment's activities and instructed his friend William Guy Markham on how to allocate his paychecks to his family and business interests. Below is a list of Civil War soldiers' letters.

• October 27, 1861: Horace Boughton at Fort Corcoran
• December 1, 1861: Horace Boughton at Fort Cass
• May 4, 1862: Horace Boughton at a camp near Fort Davis, Virginia
• July 27, 1862: Horace Boughton at Westover, Virginia, concerning recruitment problems and arguing that seasoned troops are much more valuable than new recruits
• July 27, 1862: Horace Boughton at Westover, Virginia
• August 6, 1862: Horace Boughton at Westover, Virginia
• October 28, 1862: Morris R. Darrohn on picket duty near Harper's Ferry; at Bolivar Heights he had a view of the house where John Brown took Louis Washington prisoner; he mentioned meeting the enemy at the battle of Antietam; that day he milked a stray cow so they could have cream in their coffee
• November 14, 1862: Horace Boughton now with the 143rd New York Infantry stationed at Upton Hill, Virginia, and president of a court martial
• February 25, 1863: Horace Boughton at New York 143rd Infantry headquarters, to Susan Emma Markham, discussing his ideas on womanhood and "the yoke of matrimony"
• March 27, 1863: Morris R. Darrohn at Falmouth, Virginia, concerning drills, dreaming of home, and being trapped along the Rappahannock River at the Battle of Fredericksburg
• March 29, 1863: Horace Boughton requesting photographs of the Markham family for his album
• June 5, 1863: Morris R. Darrohn near Falmouth, Virginia
• June 13, 1763: Isaac R. Gibbard near Williamsburg, Virginia, concerning leaving Yorktown with a division led by General Gordon; notes that "miasmas and diseases at West Point came very near whipping our regiment out…the Rebels said they would not attack us but let the diseases do it."
• July 30, 1863: Isaac R. Gibbard sick at the Seminary Hospital at Georgetown, mentioned starting a band of musicians
• August 16, 1863: Horace Houghton at New York 143rd Infantry headquarters, advising William not to join the war if possible
• January 3, 1864: Morris R. Darrohn near Stevensburg, Virginia, cautioning against joining the Masons or the military
• January 31, 1864: Horace Boughton at Bridgeport, Alabama
• April 16, 1864: Charles W. Daily at Rappahannock Station, Virginia, expecting a march on Richmond that may be "the greatest battle of the war within 10 days"
• [1864]: Samuel P. Wakelee to Puffer while guarding "Johnnys at Elmira" prison; he paid a prisoner tobacco to mould a Delta Kappa Epsilon ring in silver; he described the prison and wrote: "We have 10,600 Rebs in the Pen [,] Dirty, Lousy, Godforesakin crew[.] The majority of them are stalwart & robust…"
• January 19, 1865: Horace Boughton on board the ship St. Patrick and discussed traveling by railroad
• February 7, 1865: Horace Boughton at Bridgeport, Alabama
• February 26, [1860s]: Cousin William reported on visiting various corps and hearing members of Congress, "the negro minstrels have a dance" and meeting General Fitzgerald

• July 1, 1842: School essays by Margaret G. Greenman
• September 19, 1853: Homer Broughton to Guy Markham concerning picking out a tombstone for their grandmother
• June 7, 1855: Horace Boughton's description of a trip from Rush, New York, to St. Paul, Minnesota, with details on the town
• October 14 and 25, 1855: Wayne Markham in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to his brother, discussing moving into a new house, noting the price of meat in Michigan, and reflecting on the moral and industrious character of the citizens of the town
• December 4, 1860: Mary Markham to her father describing visiting family in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Ionia, Michigan
• November 6, 1763: Certificate for William Markham joining the Lima, New York, chapter of Freemasons
• August 18, 1864: A letter from Mt. Morris, New York, concerning a lawsuit over a $50 cow killed at an Avon railroad crossing
• September 5, 1864: Henry Puffer to Charles Puffer concerning purchasing land in Hilton Head, South Carolina
• January 15, 1865: This letter from Henry M. Puffer and Company contains a drawing of a house on Gardner Plantation
• February 11, 1865: News sent to Charles Puffer concerning land purchased for plantation farming in Beaufort, South Carolina
• March 1, 1865: William Markham concerning returning soldiers purchasing land that is interest free for three years, and other news from South Carolina
• June 19, 1765: Robert C. Clark to William Markham regarding visiting Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, and noting the failure of the Genesee Valley Oil Well
• January 6, 1866: George Fisher of Rochester, New York, concerning the state of the local Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter
• September 13, 1866: Letter from the Cook and Martin Music Dealer in Rochester, New York, concerning the sale of a piano, on letterhead featuring a picture of a piano
• August 26, 1868: From a St. Louis member of Delta Kappa Epsilon providing for a member who can write in shorthand
• April 15, 1869: Brooklyn photographer E. Bookhout gives prices for his services
• [1860s]: M.F. Randolph to William Guy Markham detailing the price of cotton before the Civil War
• January 5, 1870: Homer Broughton in Topeka, Kansas, to his family in New York concerning his productive new farm on an "old Indian field" and the many new settlers in the area purchasing land at "government prices"
• January 13, 1871: A pencil sketch of people standing at podiums
• June 1891: Papers related to shipping ewes and rams to Cape Town, South Africa
• 1892: Print of an Atwood Ram named Wooly Bill, 1549, bred by C.W. Mason in Vergennes, Vermont
• December 28, 1893: Instructions for judging sheep at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago sent to W.I. Buchanan of the Department of Agriculture
• July 2, 1902: Francis E. Warren of the National Wool Growers Association to William G. Markham concerning a treaty with Argentina that would harm the American wool industry

The Correspondence series contains 172 undated items. Of note is a letter with a hand-sketched map of plots of farm land near St. Joseph, Michigan, and a series of school essays written by Margaret G. Greenman (Mrs. Sumner Clark) on "Broken Friendships," "Penmanship," "Envy and Deceit," and "Buds of Flowers" among others.

The Documents series (114 items) contains legal and business documents relating to the family's land holdings and entrepreneurial endeavors. Included are the land deeds and mortgages of William Markham, Guy Markham, Phoebe Markham, and William Markham (primarily in Genesee County, New York), records for debts, land purchases, whiskey purchases, estate documents, and business agreements between the Sea Island Cotton Company and the United States Cotton Company.

The Accounts and Financial Records series (199 items) consists of material related to the personal and business activities of the Markham and Puffer families, including materials documenting management of the cotton companies during Reconstruction. Personal records amount to accounts and bills for tuition, day labor, magazine and newspaper subscriptions, furniture purchase and repair, insurance, and groceries. The business accounts document the Sea Island Cotton Company, the Hilton Head Cotton Company, and the accounts of C.C. Puffer (1865-1767). Present are accounts for plantation supplies, office expenses, salaries, cotton sold on speculation, sales of stocks, lists of share owners, and various receipts. Of note are the records for salary advances made to South Carolina freedmen in 1866.

• April-October 1840: Accounts of C.S. Boughton
• September-December 1856: Accounts of William Guy Markham
• 1865-1867: Two accounts of William Guy Markham's accounts with D.W. Powers Bank of Rochester

The Printed Items series (21 items) is comprised of blank Sea Island Company stock certificates, and government records related to the regulation of United States wool and fabric production. These records include the following bills from the 57th Congress: H.R. 6565, H.R. 14643, H.R. 14488, and documents concerning "Shoddy vs. Wool" and the National Wool Growers Association (1901-1902). These items were of interest to William Guy Markham, a wool producer and sheep expert.

The Miscellaneous series (6 items) contains photographs, stamps, and other miscellaneous material. One photograph is of Mrs. Hinkley Williams, Mrs. L. Boltwood, and Mrs. E. Boltwood ("Three Generations") sent to Guy Markham in 1892. The second photograph is of 84-year-old Hinkley Williams of Gorham, Massachusetts (1892). Also of interest is a list of Guy Markham's presidential picks from 1824-1888.