Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Correspondence, legal papers, bills and receipts dealing with personal and business affairs as well as military service (including court martial records). Correspondence contains a letter dated March 19, 1865 from Frederick Schneider, written after his parole from Confederate prison; letters, January 15 and March 12, 1865, from Joseph Moody containing detailed descriptions of Traverse City, Michigan; a letter dated March 27, 1865 to Major C. A. Lounsberry describing the attack on Fort Stedman; and letter, April 1865, mentioning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Also includes photographic portraits of John C. Boughton.

Diary entries on daily life, the weather, and battles in which he participated; also includes a photograph (photostatic copy). Typewritten copy of a diary (1861-64) kept while he was serving in the 4th Michigan Infantry as sergeant and lieutenant. Most of the entries are short and terse. The chief items of interest concern his service with Professor Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe (an American Civil War aeronaut who pioneered military aerial reconnaissance) and his balloon. Also includes Bancrofts reflections on the following battles: Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. There is an outline of what a day in camp is like; descriptions of marches-the countryside, fatigue, the weather, food or lack of it, and campsites. He tells about foraging for food and for building materials, and describes his quarters. He speaks of General McClellan and President Lincoln; of his reading, and of his bouts with dysentery and the remedies prescribed. He was mustered out in June of 1864. The original of the diary is in the Auburn University Special Collections and Archives, Alabama.

The Franklin H. Bailey collection contains correspondence, diaries, a scrapbook, photographs, and other materials (including military discharge papers, Civil War songbooks, and scientific papers). 56 letters written to his parents in Adrian, Michigan from 1861-1865 detail his time in the military, with references to camp life, religion, sickness, concern over money matters, and skirmishes in which he was engaged, including a graphic account of the battle of Pittsburg Landing. An additional undated Civil War letter from Minerva Bailey's first husband, Levi Greenfield, reports on rumors of victories at Richmond and Vicksburg. Later correspondence includes letters he wrote to his wife while on a trip abroad in 1873 and a scrapbook of letters, 1880-1901, primarily concerning educational matters. Diaries (1865-1883) at least partially written in Pitman shorthand provide additional information on his war service, student life at Hillsdale College, finances, and teaching and scientific interests. A poem titled "Big Yank" refers to the Peninsula Campaign in 1862.

Resident of Lawton, Mich., and corporal in Co. D, 6th Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. Letters to his family commenting on his life in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the Civil War. Portrais of Alford and of his wife Ann Maria Stewart Alford.

The collection contains correspondence to his family, (particularly his sister, Helen) commenting on his life in New Orleans, Louisiana during the Civil War. Also included is a copy print portrait of Alford in uniform with a gun in his hand, and a copy print of his wife, Ann Maria Stewart Alford.

Papers and photographs collected by Robert D. Aldrich relating to the history, people and institutions of Concord village in Jackson County, Michigan; include correspondence, diaries, account books and other papers of Concord residents; records of Concord social organizations, businesses, schools, and church and governmental bodies.

The Robert D. Aldrich collection consists of materials--manuscript, printed, and photographic--documenting the history of Concord, Michigan, in western Jackson County. The collection spans the period from the arrival of the first settlers in 1831 to the 1980s. There are a few items dating back into the eighteenth century (as early as 1783) since the papers of some pioneer families predate their arrival in Concord. The bulk of the collection, though, falls in the period since the Civil War.

The collection documents every facet of life in Concord. Included are the papers of numerous Concord citizens consisting of personal correspondence, diaries, account books and newspaper clippings about them. In addition, Aldrich collected the records of various Concord businesses and organizations, as well as some church, school, and governmental records.

The collection has been divided into two series: Manuscript and Printed Materials, and Visual Materials. Both series are arranged alphabetically either by personal name or name of organization, or by general subject area, such as Circus, Underground Railroad, etc.