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The Elisabeth Barnett Fisher Papers consist of the family letters of Elisabeth Fisher along with financial records, photographs, ephemeral items, and eight miscellaneous items. The most common themes of the letters are family news and finances, fashion, religion, courtship, marriages, deaths, and opinions about the Civil War.

The Elisabeth Barnett Fisher Papers consist of 63 letters to Elisabeth Fisher, 25 financial records, two photographs, 13 ephemeral items, and eight miscellaneous items.

The primary correspondents of the letters in the Correspondence Series are: Gabriel G. Barnett (brother), Hester Ann Barr (sister), Mary A. Hochstetler (sister), Caroline Barnett (sister), Cal M. Barnett (sister), Sarah Barnett (sister-in-law), David D. Barnett (brother), Susannah Fair (sister), E.H. Barnett (sister-in-law), Sarah Ann Senff (cousin), and Jacob Barnett (father). The majority of the 63 letters in the collection were written during the Civil War by family members (48) and friends (15). With the exception of 19 letters from her brother, Gabriel G. Barnett, and 7 letters from her sister, Hester Ann Barr, no other correspondent wrote more than 5 letters; consequently, the subject matter in the collection is very diverse. However, the most common themes throughout the correspondence are family news and finances, fashion, religion, courtship, marriages, deaths, and attitudes and opinions about the Civil War. The solders letters are typically brief and primarily consist of descriptions of camp life. Several of the letters from home include patriotic exhortations; one describes a patriotic rally and another reveals the anti-Lincoln sentiments of an 1860 Democrat. The letters also demonstrated the economic hardships the family suffered as a result of the war.

The Financial Papers Series includes tax bills, receipts, and records of Elisabeth's bills paid for by her son, Erwin G. Barnett, successor to his father’s harness business.

The Photographs, Documents, and Ephemera series contains: 3 'flirtation' cards; a funeral card for the death of a 13 year-old girl; a calling card; 2 cartes-de-visite of a young girl and young man; a Reichsbanknote; several newspaper clippings; Valentine Fisher's confirmation certificate; and George W. Rulow's post of the Grand Army of the Republic transfer card.

The Miscellaneous Series holds two notes on the Barnett/Fisher genealogy.

• Rough pen illustration of two swans, January 15, 1860.
• Pen illustration of a feather, May 28, 1860.
• Rough pen illustration (of a chicken or a saddle), December 31, 1860.
• Pen sketch of a plant, June 6, 1861.
• Pen illustration of a bearded man with hat, January 13, 1864.
• Pen illustration of feathers, undated.
• Two miscellaneous cards have printed illustrations of flowers on them.
• Printed image of an ark, plus additional religious imagery on confirmation document of Valentine Fisher.

The collection also includes several patriotic letterheads and envelopes.

This collection is made up of letters written and received by Reverend Evarts Kent and members of his family throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kent and his family corresponded with friends and family members in several states, including Vermont, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Most letters concern family news, education, religion, travel, family relationships, and similar personal subjects. The collection also includes printed invitations, programs, and 23 photographs.

This collection is made up of letters written and received by Reverend Evarts Kent and members of his family throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kent and his family corresponded with friends and family members in several states, including Vermont, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Most letters concern family news, education, religion, travel, family relationships, and similar personal subjects. The collection also includes 2 documents and 23 photographs; printed invitations and programs are interspersed among the letters.

The Correspondence series comprises most of the collection, and contains approximately 4 linear feet of letters, which are primarily the incoming personal correspondence of Evarts Kent, his wife, and their children. The earliest items are Civil War-era letters between unidentified family members. The bulk of the collection begins around 1867, when Evarts Kent began to receive letters from his family and friends, who provided local news from Ripton, Vermont, and often commented on his recent marriage to Helen Beckwith. As Kent's father, Cephas, was a Congregational minister, the Kent family frequently discussed religious topics. In the early and mid-1880s, Michael E. Strieby and Joseph E. Roy of the American Missionary Association also corresponded with Kent.

After the mid-1870s, the correspondence is primarily between Evarts and Helen Kent and their children, Ernest, Grace, and Willys, who exchanged letters with their parents and each other from their childhood into their early adult lives. Ernest discussed his educational experiences, including his time at Iowa College,his experiences in preparatory school and as a young adult and at Iowa College, and occasionally composed letters to his father in Latin. The Kent siblings sometimes included sketches or more refined drawings within their letters. Their letters reveal details about their relationships with each other, their personal lives, and their religious beliefs. Later items from the World War I era often concern Willys's wife, who signed herself "Roxi," and the couple's experiences while spending their summers at Camp Arcadia in Belgrade, Maine. A relative named "Jupe" also wrote Evarts Kent an extensive series of letters throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including a group of 20th-century letters about travel in the Black Mountains of North Carolina.

The Documents series is made up of a 2-page document containing several sets of church minutes compiled in Benson, Vermont, between March 1790 and September 1792, and a partially printed receipt for a payment made to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in 1870.

The Photographs series holds 23 photographs, primarily snapshots, of unidentified individuals. Though most are portraits, 2 depict a woman riding a bicycle and one is a self portrait of a woman, "taken by herself in front of a looking glass." The photographs include one cyanotype.

William Montague Ferry served as missionary to Indians at Michilimackinac, Michigan for the United Foreign Missionary Society, 1822-1834 and as clergyman in Grand Haven, Michigan. William Montague Ferry, Jr. served in the 14th Michigan Infantry in the Civil War, as University of Michigan Regent and later moved to Park City, Utah where he was active in Democratic Party politics. Thomas W. Ferry served as congressman, 1865 to 1871, and as U.S. Senator from 1871 to 1883. Papers include correspondence describing missionary work of William M. Ferry, Sr., civil war letters of William M. Ferry, Jr., some political correspondence of Thomas W. Ferry, and letters of Amanda White Ferry, wife of William Sr.

The Ferry family collection consists of letters and typescripts of letters from William Montague Ferry and his wife Amanda White Ferry describing their trip from Ashfield, Massachusetts, to Mackinac Island and their missionary work among the Indians; letters, 1862-1901, of Colonel William M. Ferry, University of Michigan regent, particularly to his wife and other relatives while serving in the Fourteenth Michigan Infantry during the Civil War; speeches and letters from contemporary politicians to Thomas White Ferry, lumberman and U.S. Senator; and two scrapbooks of newspaper clippings on the Ferry family. Correspondents in the collection include: Susan B. Anthony, Henry P. Baldwin, Zachariah Chandler, Schuyler Colfax, William M. Evarts, Hamilton Fish, Rutherford B. Haye, Whitelaw Reid, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Founded in 1865, the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor has a history of social activism and involvement with the University of Michigan community. The records contain church files and annual reports, sermons and correspondence of church ministers, and church publications--including the weekly newsletter. The papers also include materials of minister Kenneth Phifer regarding his views on assisted suicide and Jack Kevorkian, and also the issue of racial justice with the Ku Klux Klan rallies in Michigan.

The records of the First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Ann Arbor have been divided into seven series: Church History, Record Books; Church Reports; Yearly Files; Church Publications; Topical Files; and Ministers' Files.

The Fox Island Lighthouse Association is a non-profit organization founded to preserve the South Fox Island light station in northern Lake Michigan. The collection contains both paper and digital records, and consists of materials created or collected by the association as part of their efforts to preserve the light station.

The collection contains both paper and digital records and consists of materials created or collected by the Fox Island Lighthouse Association as part of their efforts to preserve the South Fox Island light station. Collected material includes copies of U.S. Lighthouse Service and Coast Guard records from the National Archives, including photographs. The collection also includes the association's newsletters, newspaper articles about the association or the light station, a historic structures report developed for the association by U.P. Engineers & Architects, and a series of oral history interviews of former lighthouse personnel, conducted by association members.

The Fox Island Lighthouse Association records are organized into four series: Organizational Records, Collected Research Materials, Oral Histories, and Visual Materials. All but the Visual Materials series contain both print and digital records, and some documents exist in both formats.

The Francis Edmonds papers document the art and business world of the early 19th century and the interrelationship between business and the arts. The correspondence reveals both the practical and aesthetic concerns of artists, and the interest of business men in art as a symbol of personal and national "culture."

The Francis Edmonds papers are about evenly divided between the banking and art scene. The collection is valuable in depicting the interrelationship between business and the arts in mid-nineteenth century New York, where a small group of men dominated art promotion and patronage. Edmonds, a man with one foot in both worlds, naturally occupied a prominent position, and his correspondence reveals both the practical and aesthetic concerns of artists, and the interest of business men in art as a symbol of personal and national "culture."

There are 70 different correspondents represented in this small collection, so its story must be pieced together from multiple fragments. Luckily, there are two published biographies of Edmonds which help to make sense of this scattered correspondence by placing it in context. Roughly, the letters can be divided into those from artists, those from business contacts, and those to or from family members. Their subject matter, however, is not so neatly separated -- and that is what makes the Edmonds Papers so interesting, for bankers talk of art in addition to business, artists of finances as well as aesthetics, and Edmonds may have been the only man to whom these combined interests were communicated.

The largest set of correspondence consists of letters from Francis Edmonds to elder brother John Worth Edmonds, who became prominent as a judge, politician, and writer on spiritualism. Letters written between 1823 and 1829 show the young man to have been much inclined toward personal improvement, and to have looked upon his elder brother as a worthy critic and role model. He self-consciously uses their correspondence as a means to improve his writing style and intellectual development, and mentions writing projects he is at work on. An 1829 letter refers to progress in art work: "About my neighborhood I am getting to be a little known as a painter however I am not at all intoxicated with success as yet."

Edmonds' letters to his brother reveal little of marriage or home life, but are good barometers of his psychological state and his views on life. Clearly he had no illusions about the business and political world, commenting in a March 31, 1829 letter that the Edmonds family had been "to [sic] kind in this world, too much trusting to the good will of mankind and they have suffered for their generosity. It is time we changed their nature's [sic]. ... if two hands are offered you spit in the worst & shake the best." Perhaps this attitude sustained him later on when he lost his prominent banking position, for he comments to his brother in October 1856 that "the sensitive feeling which has so influenced my conduct in going into the world is rapidly wearing away," which he knew would happen with time. In August, 1859, he writes that he is unhappy with his new position at the American Bank Note Company, and has to take the "bile" of those who are jealous and competitive of one another. It appears that he may have had an opportunity to regain his old bank job, but writes to John in 1861 that he has no interest in it, as his old boss would feel threatened by him.

Letters to Edmonds from John Gourlie, Charles Leupp, Jonathan Sturges, and Fanning Tucker, primarily dating from the 1840's, depict the interest in art held by some in the business world. These men, all of whom knew Edmonds in a business setting, also associated with him in societies for the promotion of art, bought and commented upon his paintings and those of other artists, and looked to him for advice when acquiring art for themselves. Many of the letters discuss both banking and art. A particularly interesting one, from Gourlie on June 15, 1841, criticizes artists' refusal to be business-like. Commenting upon rivalry between the Apollo Association and the N.A.D., he remarks that artists "are a queer set. ... So sensitive and at the same time so blind to their own interests." He believes popularization of art, as the Apollo does with its subscriptions for pictures or engravings, is the key to supporting artists, for "[a]ssociations in this country are what the aristocracy is in Europe." Gourlie asserts that rivalry between the Academy and Apollo is a good thing, for "rivalry is the life of all business and pictures may be made business matters as well as cotton or cocoa.!"

Yet correspondence to Edmonds from fellow-artists show them to have been aware that their work was a commodity. An 1841 January 30 letter from Daniel Huntington to Edmonds in Paris comments on hard times in New York, remarking that the arts are now "stagnant," as "[t]he mass of painters are I believe lasily waiting with hands in empty pockets for the revival of Commerce & the increase of orders for portraits." Huntington has sold a sketch he began in Rome of "one of those ragged and flea-inhabited beggar boys" for $100, and sold two heads painted at Florence for $150 each. He must be concerned with what will sell well "in these starving times." Artists Joseph Adams, Thomas Cole, and John Kensett also write of both art and money. They seem to have used Edmonds as a combination personal banker and agent, asking him to sell paintings for them, choose and execute stock transactions, or make loans with paintings offered as collateral. Because of his contacts he was also able to secure artists commissions, contracting with Cole for a painting, employing Asher Durand to copy a picture for engraving, hiring engravers to work from paintings to prepare Apollo Association and Art-Union premium offerings.

The artists' letters are highly interesting for their gossip and commentary on the art scene, both in New York and abroad. They describe work in progress, discuss the merits of major exhibitions, comment on the activities of the N.A.D., and chronicle the life of the expatriate artist as he moves from place to place in season, sending work home for display and (hopefully) sale, scrambling for funds to finance work abroad. It seems to have been a small and convivial "old boys' network" who worked and traveled together and critiqued each other's painting. Edmonds enjoyed seven months of the artist's life in 1840-41, and perhaps this cemented his position as an insider with other artists.

In two important letters of 1840 November 7 and 1842 December 14 Thomas Cole agrees to do a painting of Mt. Etna on commission and describes the finished product. He explains the location and elements of the picture in detail, noting that he may be accused of having "scattered the flowers with too profuse a hand. This is not possible. Sicily is truly the land of flowers..." He hopes the picture "will come to the lot of some one whom we would choose," or that "some good New Yorker will purchase it. I myself will give a hundred dollars & the View of Lake Schroon in Mr. Ridner's room for it." In April 1843 John Kensett writes extensively of the Paris art scene, describing specific works he has seen and including a small pencil sketch of one by Jules Louis Coignet.

Also of particular interest are three 1844 London letters from publisher and bookseller George Putnam, who worked to raise awareness of American art abroad. One solicits articles on American art from Edmonds, assuring him that despite prejudice there are many in England who would be interested in "a little information about American doings in some other arts than the art of raising the wind." In December, reporting on the disappointing reaction of a major critic to three American paintings Edmonds sent for display, he ruefully remarks that the criticism typified English ignorance of America. Putnam was advised to "'tell them to paint some American subject (!) Something of the Indian life.' He was rather incredulous when I suggested that Indians were as great a novelty, nearly, in New York as in London." Still, he wrote, hundreds had viewed and appreciated the paintings, so they had served a good purpose.

One letter in the collection involves neither art nor banking, but Civil War service in Virginia. It is from an old friend of Edmonds, William Fenton, who went to war along with his two sons and served as a colonel in the 8th Michigan regiment. Fenton describes a massive camp along the Rappahannock in detail and indignantly decries the "slaughter" at Fredericksburg as "almost unjustifiable," and due to "old fogeyism" in military strategy. "What was good strategy in the time of Napoleon may not be now." He criticizes political meddling in war and the advancement of "pets." Fenton encourages Edmonds to visit camp, for "[s]uch sights will never again be seen on this continent."

Besides correspondence, news clippings, some later genealogical material, and a draft excerpt from Edmonds' autobiography (ca.1860), the collection includes several pencil sketches by the artist. Eight rough but skillful sketches on small scraps of paper feature indoor and outdoor scenes of people and animals. One is water-colored. There is also a large preliminary study of Edmonds painting "The Bashful Cousin". It is not identified as such, and background scene and details differ from the finished version, but the two main characters are clearly recognizable.

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.

The collection consists of correspondence, miscellaneous bank notes and printed material (including documents related to the government of the Confederate States of America), and a photographic portrait. There are six letters (1862-1865) written to his brother in which Field describes Camp Palmer; gives a graphic account of a march in pouring rain and the night spent sitting on shocks of wheat; tells of the capture of their picket line through the use of a countersign countersign; and discusses the soldiers' vote and the practice of enlisting men from the South as substitutes for northern draftees. Field also gives details of the battle in which he was wounded and criticizes officers in command. The collection includes one letter (Sept. 4, 1863) from Capt. George W. Lee relating to transportation charges for Field.

Friedrich Schmid was a pioneering clergyman, regarded as the first Lutheran pastor in Michigan. He organized the first Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in the state, helped organize some 20 churches in southeastern Michigan, and founded and served as the first president of the Michigan Synod. Collection includes digital images of records of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1833-1875.

Materials in this online collection include digitized copies of registers of baptisms, marriages, deaths, and general information about families in the congregations of Salem Lutheran Church and Zion Lutheran Church (along with its precursor organization, Bethlehem Church) in the period between 1833 and 1875.