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Dexter, Michigan, farmer and chairman of the Washtenaw County Committee of the Greenback Party. Correspondence concerning activities of Greenback Party in county, particularly relating to election of 1878, and other papers concerning the Bates family during the Civil War.

The Charles Franklin Bates collection consists of correspondence, clippings, and miscellaneous relating to his war-time service and to his activities with the Knights of Labor and the Greenback Party. The collection is arranged into three series: Correspondence, Correspondence - Family, and Topical Files. Of particular interest is the Greenback Party correspondence which discusses the party's strategies, meetings, and speakers in the Ann Arbor area, the 1878 election, and local figures in the party. A letter, November 2, 1878, includes comments on the potential black vote for the Greenback party in the coming election. Much of the correspondence conveys personal and business information about Bates, especially correspondence with Emma and DeForest Lichfield and Gilett Salmon. There is, however, also letters about the Knights of Labor, especially a letter, 1886, from T.V. Powderly.

The microfilm is a duplicate of Greenback's Party correspondence folder with additional correspondence of family and friends.

Correspondence (1865-1901), with letters about his Civil War activities (including one written on Dec. 29, 1861 from Camp Lebanon to his parents, which contains a description of his quarters and the accidental burning of his tent); also a record of labor accounts, 1872-1875, military service papers and miscellaneous election tickets and campaign ribbons. Correspondents include: Charles M. Croswell and Fred M. Warner.

Soldier from St. Johns, Michigan who served in Co. A, Twenty-third Michigan Infantry during the Civil War, later Regent of University of Michigan, teacher, lawyer, Republican member of Congress from Michigan, and U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Correspondence, letterpress books; scrapbooks; genealogy, speeches, memoirs, and miscellaneous items; also scattered papers of his wife's family (Mary Cecilia Swegles Spaulding).

The Oliver Lyman Spaulding papers consists of correspondence, letterpress books, scrapbooks, genealogy, speeches, memoirs, and miscellaneous items; also scattered papers of his wife's family (Mary Cecilia Swegles Spaulding). The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Topical Files; Letterpress books, scrapbooks, diaries, etc.; Swegles Family papers; Photographs; and Masonic artifacts. Portions of the collection covering the years, 1861-1865, have been microfilmed and are available for inter-library loan.

Three diaries (1862-1865) tell of the everyday routine of army life, military operations in Kentucky, and comment on the weather, on the freeing of the slaves, and on other officers. Spaulding's "Military Memoirs" give a complete account of his army activities from the organization of his regiment through the Kentucky and Tennessee campaigns to his discharge. A testimonial (June 22, 1865) from officers of the 2nd Brigade, written at Salisbury, N.C., orders, official correspondence, and miscellanea regarding Morgan's Raid are also included. Also included in the collection are three letters from civilians in Charleston, S.C., describing the attack on Fort Sumter and other events of the beginning of the war. Two letters (Mar. 22 and Apr. 9, 1861) are from W. T. Adams, and the other (Oct. 24, 1861) is from Richard D. Tuttle.

Grand Rapids, Michigan family, involved in furniture making and other businesses, also active in local state and Republican Party politics and businessmen's associations. Papers include family papers and correspondence, business records, scrapbooks and visual materials.

The Sligh family collection consists of the personal and business papers of the four generations of Slighs mentioned in the biographical introduction: James W. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Jr., and Robert L. Sligh. Although there is some overlap, the files have been arranged into seven series, one for each of these three Slighs, one for the Sligh Furniture Company and related family businesses, and one each for Newspaper clippings and Scrapbooks, and Visual Materials.