Search

Ann Arbor, Michigan businessman and Democratic mayor of the city, 1927-1931. Mayoralty files; papers, 1922-1926, concerning the Ann Arbor Board of Education; also papers, 1922-1952, of Staebler and Son, automobile dealership.

The Edward W. Staebler papers consists primarily of correspondence and subject files from the period when he was mayor of Ann Arbor. Smaller portions of the papers concern the family automobile dealership, Staebler and Son, and his involvement with the Ann Arbor Board of Education.

The Tyler-Montgomery-Scott family album chronicles multiple generations of the Tyler, Montgomery, and Scott families of the Philadelphia area from the 1860s through the 1930s. It includes approximately 275 items including studio portrait photographs, informal snapshots, newspaper clippings, postcards, letters, and other ephemera.

The Tyler-Montgomery-Scott family album chronicles multiple generations of the Tyler, Montgomery, and Scott families of the Philadelphia area from the 1860s through the 1930s. It includes approximately 275 items including studio portrait photographs, informal snapshots, newspaper clippings, postcards, letters, and other ephemera.

The album (33 x 25.5 cm) is string-bound with grey cloth covers. Most photographs in the album have detailed handwritten captions identifying people, often with their middle or maiden names as well as the location and date. The presentation of the album is not strictly chronological, especially in the latter half. The early generations of Tylers are represented in photographic formats such as cartes-de-visite, tintypes and cabinet cards, while later generations are represented in snapshots and postcards. When the album reaches the mid-twentieth century, it begins to resemble the modern family album with various forms of ephemera (newspaper clippings, drawings, letters, Christmas cards, etc.) supplementing the photographs of family and friends.

The album begins with a portrait of Frederick Tyler, his daughter Sarah Sophia Cowen, granddaughter Kate “Gwen” Cowen Pratt, and great-granddaughter Kate Pratt. George F. and Louisa R. Tyler as well as their children (including Sidney F. and Helen Beach Tyler) are also featured in the initial section of the album, along with many extended family members, friends, nurses, and pets. Among the family friends pictured are painter Frederick Church, writer Bret Harte, Leonor Ruiz de Apodaca y Garcia-Tienza, Gen. William Buel Franklin, patent lawyer and historian Woodbury Lowery, and the Duke and Duchess of Arcos (Jose Ambrosio Brunetti and Virginia Woodbury Lowery Brunetti). Several interior views of rooms in George F. and Louisa R. Tyler’s home on 201 South 15th St. taken in 1896 are also present, including a photograph of the “Children’s play room” that features their granddaughter Hope Binney Tyler Montgomery holding a doll. Hope, her parents Mary W. and Sidney F. Tyler, her husband Robert “Bob” L. Montgomery, and their children Mary, Ives, and Alexander are well-represented in the album.

Of particular interest are a number of photographs in different sections of the album that depict Theodore Roosevelt and his family. Some of these images are formal studio portraits, while others are more candid snapshots of Roosevelt with other people. One snapshot shows the family at play on the grounds of Sagamore Hill in 1897. Two photos taken at the White House including Helen Beach Tyler, daughter of George F. and Louisa R. Tyler and second cousin to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, are labelled “taken by Ted Roosevelt,” possibly referring to President Roosevelt’s son Theodore Roosevelt III. Helen Beach Tyler may be the “Nellie” who was the recipient of a partial letter included in the album which describes conditions at a wartime hospital (most likely in Italy) in 1915. Only the first two pages of this letter are included, and there is no indication of the identity of the writer. Helen Beach Tyler may also have been the principal compiler of this album. Supporting this possibility is the presence of an interior view of a bedroom at 201 South 15th St. (George F. and Louisa R. Tyler’s home) captioned as “Mother’s bedroom,” a signed portrait of Englishman Lytton Sothern captioned “Given to me by Mr. Sothern June 1872. Mr. Edward Sothern & his son Lytton Sothern sat at our table on ‘Oceanic’ my first trip to Europe,” and a portrait of Sara Schott von Schottenstein, Baronin von Prittwitz-Gaffron, bearing the inscription “to her friend Helen Tyler 1880.”

Other items of interest include portraits of Col. August Cleveland Tyler; several portraits of Brig. Gen. Robert Ogden Tyler; a portrait of French pianist Antoine Marmontel captioned “Mr. Marmontel Professor au Conservatoire gave us music lessons in Paris 1873-74”; a group portrait of Helen Beach Tyler, Mary L. Tyler, Alice Seward, Kitty Seward, and Ida Vinton posing with a silhouette of Sidney F. Tyler; photographs of painted portraits of George F. Tyler and Hope Binney Tyler Montgomery; a series of photos taken at the Spanish Embassy in Mexico City, some of which include the Duke and Duchess of Arcos, Woodbury Lowery, and Archibald Lowery; portraits of the Prittwitz-Gaffron family in Germany; photos taken around the world in various locations including Egypt, India, Germany, and Italy; images taken during an exhibition of sculpture by Stella Elkins Tyler (wife of George Frederick Tyler, Jr.), as well as a program from the event; and photos showing the family of Helen Hope and Edgar Scott.

Family historian; collected materials relating to the Burt family and other related families.

Historical documents, family papers, and photographs accumulated and maintained by Flora Burt relating to the Burt family and to other family lines. Included are materials and information pertaining to James P. McKinstry, officer in the U.S. Navy in the 19th century, and to John R. Williams, 1st mayor of Detroit. The collection also contains letters, 1839-1846, to William A. Burt from his son Alvin Burt, then doing survey work in Iowa; also letter, 1845, from William Burt to Alvin Burt, describing the solar compass that he patented.

The Geneseo, Illinois family photograph album (28 x 21 cm) contains 32 formal studio portraits of men, women, and children taken in Geneseo, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa from the 1870s to 1890s.

The Geneseo, Illinois family photograph album is a 34 page card album (28 x 21 cm) containing 32 formal studio portraits of men, women, and children taken in Geneseo, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa from the 1870s to 1890s. There are 27 cabinet cards, 3 cartes de visite and 2 tin types. An envelope in the front contains two loose photographs. There are three graduation portraits of young women, indicated by the presence of their diplomas. Of note is a photograph of a man wearing a Knights Templar uniform.

Educator, director of the Lewis Institute in Chicago, Illinois; professional and personal correspondence, diaries, and photographs.

The George N. Carman collection includes professional and family correspondence, autobiography and related materials, diaries 1875-1880, partly concerning his student life at University of Michigan, genealogical materials, photographs, and miscellanea relating to the Lewis Institute.

Major general in the U.S. Army, physicist, and inventor. Correspondence, personal account books, reports, military orders, student notebooks (U.S. Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University), notes and other material largely related to his scientific interests, particularly in telegraphy and trans-oceanic cables; also diaries kept while a West Point cadet, one of which contains a family history and autobiography; Ph.D. thesis in physics from Johns Hopkins University; and photographs.

The George Owen Squier papers include correspondence, personal account books, reports, military orders, student notebooks (U.S. Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University), notes and other material largely related to his scientific interests, particularly in telegraphy and trans-oceanic cables; diaries kept while a West Point cadet, one of which contains a family history and autobiography; Squier's Ph.D. thesis in physics from Johns Hopkins University; and photographs.

The Squier collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Inventions and Research; Military Career; Miscellaneous / Personal; and Education (West Point and Johns Hopkins).

Governor of Michigan 1949 to 1960, under-secretary of state for African Affairs from 1961 to 1965, and Michigan Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1986 and leader in state and national Democratic Party. Papers document his public career and aspects of his personal and family life and include correspondence, subject files, staff files, speeches, press releases and news clippings, photographs, sound recordings, films and videotapes.

The G. Mennen Williams Papers consist of official and personal files arranged into six subgroups: 1) Gubernatorial papers, 1949-1960 (681 linear ft.); 2) Non-gubernatorial papers, 1883-1948 and 1958-1988 (107 linear ft.); 3) Visual materials, ca. 1911-1988 (ca. 25 linear ft.); 4) sound recordings, 1950-ca. 1988 (5 linear ft.) Scrapbooks, 1948-1987 (43 vols.) and State Department Microfilm, 1961-1966 (23 reels).

As part of its own control system, the governor's office maintained a card index to the correspondents in many of the subgroups and series within the gubernatorial papers. This card file is located in the library's reading room. In addition, Nancy Williams and her staff compiled an extensive and detailed run of scrapbooks covering the Williams years. There is a separate inventory to these scrapbooks in a separately bound volume.

Strategy for Use of the Gubernatorial Papers: Although the Williams gubernatorial collection consists of hundreds of linear feet of material, the file arrangement created by the governor's staff is a fairly simple one to understand and to use.

The bulk of the collection falls within specific functional groupings, corresponding to the various activities and responsibilities that Williams performed as governor. Thus, if the researcher is uncertain of what portions of the collection might be relevant to his/her research, he/she is advised to think in terms of gubernatorial function. Does the proposed research concern the workings or area responsibility of a state board? If so, the Boards and Commissions series would be the most likely place in which to find material. The election of 1954? Then Democratic Party/Campaign Papers should be first choice. The passage of a specific piece of legislation? Here, Legislative Files is an obvious choice. The possible choices (called subgroups and series) that the researcher has are listed in the Organization of the Collection section. A description of the contents of each of these subgroups/series is provided below.

If, at first, unsuccessful in finding material on any given topic, the researcher might consider these additional strategies:

1. Refer to the Williams card index (located in the library's reading room). Sometimes, the name of an individual associated with a subject provides the easiest point of access into the collection. This file is arranged alphabetically and lists the dates of letters between an individual and the governor's office. This file only indexes the larger series and subgroups in the collection. It does not index the staff files, or parts of the Democratic Party/Campaign subgroup. Nevertheless it is an invaluable tool, and can uncover important material otherwise buried.

2. Refer to the various series of staff papers. Staff members were often closely involved in a specific subject areas (Jordan Popkin and aging, for example) and thus their files are frequently rich in source material.

3. If only partially successful in locating desired material, the researcher should think of an alternative subgroup or series. The governor's office, for a variety of reasons, often filed related material in different locations depending upon the source of a document. Thus, information relating to a strike might be filed both under the Labor Mediation Board in Boards and Commissions, and Strikes in General Subjects. Furthermore, if the strike influenced a specific piece of legislation, there could be material in the Legislative Files.

Pediatrician, professor and philanthropist, joined University of Michigan Dept. of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases in 1934, and served with the 298th General Hospital Unit during World War II. Papers include medical school lecture notes, class of 1931 files, medical research files; correspondence, histories, photographs and motion pictures relating to the 298th General Hospital Unit, family history materials including Frank A. Towsley's diary, 1876, and family correspondence, 1878-1926 and photographs.

The papers of Harry A. Towsley provide a broad overview of the many facets of his career, including his medical education at the University of Michigan, his service with the 298th General Hospital during World War II, and his professional career as a pediatrician and educator. The collection is arranged in eleven series as follows: Biographical Material; Correspondence; Family History; Foundation Relations Committee Files; General Files; Iodine and Goiter Research; Pediatric Files; Student Notes; Reunion Files; 298th General Hospital Records; and Films.

Papers of Helen B. Van Tyne and earlier members of the Belfield family. Civil War papers and family correspondence of Henry H. Belfield, founder of the Chicago Manual Training School; and papers, 1944-1971, of Helen Van Tyne, Ann Arbor, Michigan civic leader and member of the citizens advisory council of the Washtenaw County Juvenile Court, concerning her interest in the problem of juvenile delinquency, the Michigan League for Planned Parenthood, the Michigan Council on Women in Business and Industry, and the James Foster Foundation.

The papers of Helen Van Tyne consist of materials relating to two major areas: Mrs. Van Tyne's involvement in various Ann Arbor-area civic organizations from the late 1940s until the late 1960s, and a collection of family papers, photographs, and ephemera, particularly relating to her grandfather, Henry Holmes Belfield (1838-1913). The collection has been divided into three series: Organizational Affiliations, Personal Papers, and Belfield Family Papers.

William Joseph and Ethel Fountain Hussey family of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and other materials relating especially to Hussey's activities as professor of astronomy and director of the astronomical observatory at the University of Michigan, including his scientific visits to South America and South Africa.

The Hussey family collection divides between the papers of William Joseph Hussey and his wife Ethel Fountain Hussey. The William Joseph Hussey papers includes correspondence, papers relating to his astronomical work, travels abroad, and affairs at the universities where Hussey held appointments, particularly The University of Michigan. Of interest are two letterpress books, two University of Michigan student notebooks containing notes on John William Langley's course in physics and notes on mathematics, account books, scrapbooks, and diaries of Argentina and South Africa travels and activities in The University of Michigan Observatory.

The papers of Ethel Fountain Hussey include correspondence, diaries, manuscript drafts of articles, and subject files relating to her organizational activities, her early work with the Michigan League and with the Association of Collegiate Alumnae. Some of the couple's correspondents included James B. Angell, Levi L. Barbour, Luther Burbank, Marion L. Burton, William W. Campbell, William L. Clements, Ralph H. Curtiss, David Starr Jordan, Robert P. Lamont.