Collections

the collection contains guest books,account books, inventories, history, payrolls, patient reports, and visitor register.

The collection consists mostly of account books, staff payrolls, inventories, reports of patients admitted, discharged and expired, guest books, and a visitors register.

Papers consist mostly of business correspondence related to the oil drilling business in mid-Michigan, as well as related plat books, forms, genealogical materials, and miscellaneous.

The collection consists mostly of business correspondence to/from Will Spencer, 1934-1938 (1.5 cubic ft. in Boxes 1-3). Will signed his letters as F.W. Spencer. The correspondence is in alphabetical order by surname or company name. Most of the correspondence is from Will to people who owned property in mid-Michigan inquiring if they would like to lease their land for gas/oil drilling to Phillips Drilling Company of Butler, Pennsylvania. Some of the correspondence is between Will and county officers about land that might be purchased for taxes, inquiries re: ownership of certain property, and requests to the Department of Natural Resources for plat maps. There are also some bills and receipts for maps or mapping. There are also occasionally requests to Spencer for some of his farm products. There is no personal correspondence in the collection.

Plat books in which specific properties are marked are found in Box 4 (a letter-size .25 cubic foot box). Also in this box is a publication on Fringe Wells of the Crystal-New Haven Files and the Beaverton Area, 1936, by C. Roe.

Box 5 (a legal-size .25 cubic foot box) includes miscellaneous materials related to Michigan oil exploration and leasing. Of note are lists of properties owned by Indigenous people in Denver and Isabella townships, Isabella County, which were available for oil or gas leases, 1934, 1936. People listed as holding this land include: Wellington, Joseph, and Israel Collins; Mary Conley; George Corbin; Mary Egleston; Mary Isaac; Johnson Jackson; Emma McClure; Jane Nottawa; Eliza and Mary Ann Pay-she-min-nee; Maria Pelcher; Lucy and E.(Earnest) Pontiac; William and Albert Strong. The 2021 addition is mostly housed in Box 5 and includes: 1934 miscellaneous; typed lists of oil well permits issued by the Michigan Department of Conservation, 1938; materials Spencer collected, created, or signed for Paul Odil including mostly copies of oil and gas leases and agreements, and correspondence, 1931-1933. ALso included are typed English 201 papers that Hazel Spencer wrote while attended Central State Teachers College, now Central Michigan University, in 1934.

Family papers include correspondence, diaries, account books, school notebooks, autograph books, legal papers, obituaries, teaching contract and certificate, a history of Shepherd, Michigan, and specifications for the Shepherd town hall.

This collection of family papers includes correspondence, diaries, account books, school notebooks, autograph books, legal papers, obituaries, a teaching contract and certificate, a history of Shepherd, and specifications for the Shepherd town hall. It provides an interesting view of the lives of early Shepherd pioneers.

The papers include newspaper article, Central Michigan University Faculty Association letters, personal correspondence, and copies of Chaffer's publications.

The Papers consist of newspaper articles, Central Michigan University (CMU) Faculty Association (FA) letters, personal correspondence to fellow colleagues, copies of Chaffer's published articles, 1972-1985 and Mathematics Department photographs, prints from digital images, 2001-2005. The Shepherd [Mich.] Argus newspaper article (copy) describes a mathematical workshop for high school students run by Professor Chaffer. Letters are from the FA, highlighting the disputes over the changing of contracts and payments regarding union dues. The personal correspondence is between Chaffer and Mr. Martin Gardner, concerning "magic cubes."

This is an incomplete, unofficial set of Vernon (Isabella County, Mich. : Township) Township records. Also included are three oversized scrapbooks and a copy of the graves in a cemetery.

The collection includes a miscellaneous group of incomplete township records. Most of the records are some type of election records, including absentee voter applications and lists, appointments, board of election inspectors miscellaneous, bonds, caucus meeting minutes, election returns, instruction ballot, oaths of office and acceptances, resignations and tally sheets, some of which are in book form. Other township records include Board of School Inspectors petitions, a dog tax list, meeting minutes, one set each) for the highway commissioners and township board, miscellaneous correspondence and receipts, and sheep damage bills.

Also included with the donation are three oversized volumes, all scrapbooks of mostly newspaper articles. Volume I, 1915-1969, mostly undated, includes mid-Michigan births, deaths, marriages, and events from local newspapers. Volume II, 1961-1966, documents mostly news of Shepherd high school, including sports, homecoming, and students. Other articles document soldiers, babies, some Winn, Michigan, news, two images with text of Representative Al Cederberg, and articles by Ruth Lau and Ida Clark. Volume III, 1914-1918, and 1941-1945, mostly document Isabella County, Michigan news articles of World War II soldiers, women who served, their letters, obituaries, and related article. There are two pages of WWI material, including an image with text of members of the Mount Pleasant Indian School who enlisted with a list of WWI dead soldiers from Isabella County on the back.

An oversized copy of the graves of Woodland Cemetery (Rosebush, Michigan), undated, on greased paper completes the collection. The location of the cemetery was identified by the donor. The copy includes names from gravestones but not the dates. The copy was repaired at one point with scotch tape, which was removed by the archivist, so now the copy is in two pieces. The copy has sustained some stain damage from water and perhaps mildew, although there is no odor.

Processing Note: Three live birth certificates were sent to the Michigan Department of Health. According to the township record schedule most of these records should have already been destroyed. However, they are now kept as examples. Acidic materials or those with mold were copied and the originals were withdrawn from the collection, totaling approximately .25 cubic feet.