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The Michigan collection contains appoximately 300 miscellaneous items relating to the history of present-day Michigan between 1759 and 1947.

The Michigan collection contains approximately 300 miscellaneous items relating to present-day Michigan during the 18th through the 20th centuries. Spanning 1759 to 1947, it comprises letters and documents pertaining to Native American activities, French settlement, trade, politics, town growth, agriculture, and land surveying.

• August 8, 1763, account of the Siege of Detroit by James MacDonald.
• Speech to the Ottawas attributed to Pontiac [1763].
• Robert Rogers' request for the removal of "Mr. Roberts the Commissioner of Indian affairs" (September 4, 1767).
• May 12, 1781 deed granting Michilimackinac to the British, signed by four Chippewa chiefs with their totem marks.
• A letter from John Jacob Astor, dated August 18, 1819, which refers to the fur trade and "Mackinaw skins."
• Discussion of the advantages of Niles, Michigan, by a recent settler (Sept. 1, 1836).
• August 26, 1840, letter concerning the political and economic climate of Michigan.
• Discussion of farming near Kalamazoo, Michigan (January 28, 1847).
• Three letters from Robert McQuaid, a soldier in the 27th Michigan Infantry during the Civil War (May 21, 1863; July 12, 1863; June 28, 1864).
• A letter dated August 7, 1916, with a description of summer vacation on Isle Royale.
• A letter on the prospects of the Democratic Party in Michigan (May 13, 1935).

The Thomas Bradford family papers contain the incoming correspondence of the Philadelphia lawyer's family. The collection includes personal letters written by a variety of acquaintances, professional letters related to Bradford's financial affairs, and correspondence from his son Thomas, a Presbyterian minister.

The Thomas Bradford family papers contain the incoming correspondence of the Philadelphia lawyer's family. Many of the earliest letters in the collection relate to Thomas Bradford's personal finances, and much of the collection consists of letters written to Thomas and his wife Elizabeth by their children. Vincent L. and Juliet S. Bradford frequently wrote of their daily lives while living in Niles, Michigan, in the 1830s, where he worked as a lawyer. Thomas Budd Bradford also sent news to his father about his life in Michigan and about the Presbyterian Church in Warminster, Pennsylvania, after his return to Philadelphia. He frequently mentioned religion. Elizabeth Bradford, who married William T. Dwight, often wrote from her home in Portland, Maine, sharing family news. Other personal correspondence includes several letters of condolence written in March 1841, following a child's death, and a late letter from Thomas Bradford's grandson, Henry E. Dwight, who gave his opinion on American military action in Mexico (December 1, 1846). The collection also holds two drafts of an unsigned letter to President John Tyler, recommending William Bradford for the head of the Philadelphia Post Office (August 14, 1843).

Also included is a selection of personal correspondence addressed to Elizabeth Ann Bradford, wife of Samuel Bradford, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, throughout the 1840s. She primarily received letters from female friends. Samuel and Elizabeth Bradford's relationship to the Thomas Bradford family is unclear.