Collections

Danish-Lutheran pastor from Muskegon, Grayling, and other Michigan locales; sermons and other pastoral materials.

The Peder Kjølhede papers consists mainly of his sermons and sermon notes, with some photographs and miscellaneous records of various church functions and celebrations.

State representative from Chippewa County, Michigan. Correspondence and business papers dealing with mining, fishing, shipping, fur trading, lumbering and other businesses in the Northern Peninsula, particularly in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; also maritime papers, ships' manifests from Michilimackinac and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, miscellaneous American Fur Company papers, and papers on lighthouse administration, the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, and Republican politics.

This collection of eight microfilm rolls divides into two series: Correspondence and business papers, and Maritime papers. Although titled the Peter Barbeau collection, the papers are of Barbeau and others Northern Michigan businessmen. The papers detail business activities, particularly in Sault Ste. Marie area and concern mining, fishing, shipping, fur trading, lumbering, and other businesses. Also included are maritime papers consisting of customs papers and ships manifest from Michilimackinac and Sault Ste. Marie. Found within the collection as well are miscellaneous American Fur Company papers, papers on lighthouse administration, the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, and some Republican politics.

The Pierson Family papers cover the period between 1821 and 1996. Prominent members of the family include lawyer and politician Job Pierson (1791-1860) who served in Congress as a representative of New York from 1831 to 1835, and his son Reverend Job Pierson of Michigan. The collection is composed primarily of family correspondence, legal papers, genealogical research, newspaper clippings, printed materials, and visual materials, which include photographs, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes, tintypes, and ink drawings. The collection also contains materials documenting Clara Dillingham Pierson’s writing career as a children’s book author.

The Pierson Family papers cover the period between 1821 and 1996. The collection is composed primarily of family correspondence, legal papers, genealogical research, newspaper clippings, printed materials, and visual materials, which include photographs, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes, tintypes, and ink drawings. The collection also contains materials documenting Clara E. Dillingham Pierson's writing career as a children's book author.

The collection has been arranged into four principal series: Family Groups, Clara E. D. Pierson (1868-1952) Papers, Visual Materials, and Other Materials.

St. Joseph, Berrien County, Michigan family. Papers of family members, primarily correspondence of Ann G. Loomis Preston with her father, Jonathan Loomis, and with her sons Wallace and Fowler, sailors in the Union navy during the Civil War; typescript of excerpt of Civil War diary of Wallace Preston; paper, 1978, of Harriet N. Preston based upon family Civil War experiences; photographs, clippings and miscellanea concerning family and St. Joseph, Michigan.

In 1972, a bundle of over forty Preston family letters, dating mainly from 1850 to 1870, were discovered in the attic of the family home in St. Joseph. Over the next few years, Harriet N. Preston, wife of Arthur G. Preston, Jr. (grandson of Wallace Preston), took an interest in these letters and the Preston family history. Mrs. Preston arranged the letters, compiled typed transcripts, and authored several papers based on the letters.

The Preston family papers document Great Lakes shipping in the nineteenth century, the Union Navy during the Civil War, and daily life in St. Joseph, Michigan during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The collection has been divided into five series: Correspondence; Legal Documents; Newspaper Clippings, Scrapbook and Miscellaneous Materials; Family Histories; and Photographs.

Free Will Baptist minister, professor and acting president of Hillsdale College. Correspondence and other materials concerning the Free Will Baptists, Hillsdale College and its predecessor, Michigan Central College at Spring Arbor, with mention of Dunn's anti-slavery and Republican Party activities; also Civil War letters from his sons, Francis Wayland Dunn and Newell Ransom Dunn.

The Ransom Dunn collection includes both his own papers and those of other family members, including his father John Dunn and Ransom Dunn's wife Cyrena Emery Dunn. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence received by Ransom Dunn in the period of 1835 to 1900. These letters concern the Free Will Baptist Church and the growth and development of Hillsdale College and its predecessor, Michigan Central College at Spring Arbor. Some of the letters concern anti-slavery and Republican Party activities; others relate to personal and family affairs. Importantly, there are letters from his sons Francis Wayland Dunn and Newell Ransom Dunn, as students at Hillsdale and as soldiers serving in the Civil War. One of the letters in the collection is from Austin Blair (Feb. 23, 1853) discussing the legality of an injunction on Michigan Central College, Spring Arbor. Other portions of the collection include Dunn's writings on theological topics, sermons, diaries, and a few photographs.

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.

The Safford Sunderland papers trace several generations of a Southeastern Michigan family, showcasing everyday life and Michigan (as well as U.S.) history over the course of the first half of the Twentieth Century.

The Safford Sunderland Family collection consists of the papers of Gertrude Sunderland Safford, her husband Homer E. Safford, his sister Ada M. Safford, and of two of the Sunderland Saffords' daughters, Helen Safford Toohy and Mildred H. Safford. The papers also contain information on and materials from Gertrude Sunderland Safford's parents, Jabez T. Sunderland and Eliza Jane Read Sunderland; her siblings, Edson Read Sunderland and Florence Sunderland; and the Sunderland Saffords' other two children, Truman Sunderland Safford and Virginia Safford Arnold. Additionally, there is some material from and on Helen Safford Toohy's husband (Clifford M. Toohy) and daughters (Janet Toohy Ferguson and Phyllis Toohy). Finally, the collection contains Ada Murray Safford's extensive genealogical materials on the Murray and Safford families.

The papers are organized into six series arranged by family member: Photographs, Gertrude Sunderland Safford, Homer Erwin Safford, Ada Murray Safford, Mildred Hortense Safford, and Helen Safford Toohy.

Wife of University of Michigan President, James B. Angell and member of Collegiate Sorosis. Angell served as the president of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of Congressional Church. The Daughters of the American Revolution Ann Arbor chapter has been named after Sarah Caswell Angell. Collection includes Sarah Caswell Angell's diaries and letters concerning Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan life, her church activities, social life, the Daughters of the American Revolution activities, family affairs, and travels to Turkey and China.

The Sarah Caswell Angell papers primarily consist of her her diaries and correspondence, as well as records of her father, Alexis Caswell, and other family members. While much or the correspondence is personal in nature (specifically to her friends and family), the collection includes a folder with materials focused on her work with the Chicago World’s Fair as well as the Ann Arbor chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The diaries included within the collection document some of Angell’s daily activities as well as describe her trips to China and Turkey with her husband.

Records, 1802-1884, of the American Fur Company at Mackinac Island; records of the collector of customs; records concerning history of Mackinac Island, Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa County, and Mackinac County, including marriage records for Chippewa County, 1824-1870, minutes of Chippewa County Automobile Association, 1917-1930, and miscellaneous personal diaries.

The strength of the Sault Ste. Marie collection is the records of the American Fur Company at Port Mackinac. These records date as early as 1802 and include shipping documents from the Sault Ste. Marie area and nearby ports from 1802 to 1884. Among these documents are shipping manifests, clearance documents, bills of sale, enrolment bonds, Treasury Department circulars to custom collectors at the Port of Sault Ste. Marie and nearby ports, and personal and business correspondence.

Other portions of the collection are files maintained by Myron W. Scranton. Scranton was a son-law and business partner of Peter B. Barbeau.

John F. Shepard family; diaries, photographs, recipes and correspondence concerning family matters and nineteenth century farm life; also professional correspondence, student notebooks and lecture notes of John F. Shepard.

Although the Shepard family papers (1807-1934) cover three generations, the bulk of the materials are from John F. Shepard. The earliest correspondence is primarily addressed to his father Arthur, and to his grandfather John from family members and relatives. The letters deal with health, crops, and relatives. There are also letters from John F. Shepard's wife Berenice to her mother Mary Barnes (maiden name Van Valin) and from Berenice's father Charles to her mother. The Barnes and VanValins lived in Marshall, Michigan.

The John F. Shepard papers include professional correspondence from 1911 to 1934, mostly relating to University building plans. There are also minutes (1921-1925) of the Committee of Five on the Comprehensive Building Program, as well as Shepard's student notebooks from philosophy and psychology courses taught by James R. Angell and James H. Tuft at the University of Chicago, and by Alfred H. Lloyd and Walter B. Pillsbury at the University of Michigan.

The photographs are mainly of his wife's family, many from the late nineteenth century.