Collections

Law firm records include legal records of estates, divorces, chancery cases, and debt collection, correspondence, and numerous land records. McKee family records are also included.

The collection includes many types of legal records, including: Estates, Divorces, Chancery Cases, and debt collection papers. Correspondence is from clients, lawyers, legal firms, banks, and various land offices. Some of the larger case files include those of the Bank of Lansingburgh (New York) and the Indian Mill Creek Salt Company (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Numerous land records include: State Tax Deeds, Indentures, Mortgages, Bounty Lands for Veterans and their widows, Deeds, Plat Maps, and Receipts for land. The firm had many clients in Michigan and New York (State).

McKee family records include family correspondence, 1840s-1874, undated; legal cases, and Aaron McKee’s (father of James McKee) inheritance case, 1856-1864. Also included is the 1862 license for Ball and McKee and a letter of protest over the removal of the soldiers’ memorial in Grand Rapids, 1908.

Processing Note: Personal materials of John Ball were apparently removed when this collection first came to the Clarke and became the John Ball Family Papers.

Papers include consists of copies of Basil’s notes on his family, diaries from 1904, a bound version of Diary of a ninety-eighter, and the cover page and maps of Cumming’s book.

There are three versions of Basil’s diary. The first version is the handwritten original, which he kept in Alaska, along with a more legible 1904 version. The second version is a typescript that closely follows the original, probably written after 1910. The third version was published by John Cumming as Diary of a ninety-eighter. (Copies of this book are separately cataloged in the CMU libraries.)

The diary described Basil’s trip, mining experiences, companions, Nels Seaver and Ed Burmeister, and Alaska in detail.

The collection consists of copies of Basil’s notes on his family, diaries from 1904, a bound version of Diary of a ninety-eighter, and the cover page and maps of Cumming’s book.

The collection includes publications, meeting minutes, and photographs related to the American bicentennial.

The collection consists largely of publications regarding the American Revolution bicentennial, the celebration of the bicentennial in Michigan, and Michigan Week before and during the bicentennial, 1963-1968 and 1971-1989. Materials include magazine and newspaper articles (copies), newsletters, reports, a few photographs and meeting minutes, and other materials from federal, Michigan, and local bicentennial councils and commissions. A large, although incomplete, run of the Bicentennial Times [Wash.: American Revolution Bicentennial Administration], 1974-1976 (Scattered) is also included, as are a number of special or collectors’ editions of bicentennial newspapers, fliers, bulletins, a calendar, and an issue of Superman Salutes the Bicentennial, 1976. Most of the materials were mailed to John Cumming, who later donated them to the Clarke.

Processing Note: Numerous, miscellaneous generic advertising fliers were withdrawn from the collection during processing because they were of minimal importance in documenting the bicentennial.

The papers include biographical materials, miscellaneous, photographs, postcards, and an autograph album.

The collection includes biographical materials, miscellaneous, photographs, postcards, and an autograph album. An inventory is available to assist researchers.

Collection includes love letters, postcards, notes, and telegrams sent between Kenneth Blass and his future wife Marie F. Kleiner, 1922-1927. Kenneth's letters document his membership in and activities with the Ku Klux Klan.

The collection consists of love letters, postcards, notes, and telegrams sent between Kenneth and Marie during their four year courtship, 1922-1927. Materials are organized chronologically, with a typed transcript of the correspondence on the front and the original materials (often a letter and envelope) on the back of a polyester page. The pages are organized chronologically into binders. One folder of press releases about the collection is included in the front of Box #1.

The letters provide a view of courtship, life, one-room schoolhouses, teaching, the daily struggles of a working man, and love in the 1920s. Kenneth was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. His letters notes his attitudes about and various social activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Michigan in the 1920s. He wanted to be married in a Ku Klux Klan ceremony, but Marie declined this idea.

The collection consists of Schock's recording business correspondence and the actual recordings, mostly of Mount Pleasant area businesses, organizations, people and schools.

This collection consists of Schock’s recording business correspondence, documenting arrangements and ideas for recorded interviews, commercials, dance recitals, and musical recordings, mostly of Mount Pleasant people, businesses, schools, and organizations, and Central Michigan University faculty and students musical productions, 1991-1997, and undated. Included are paper business correspondence, notes, drafts of scripts, as well as informational materials about the businesses and organizations (1 cubic ft.), and the master and draft cassette recordings (in 6 cassette storage boxes). The Mary McGuire School cassettes document activities school teachers and students pursued after receiving a unique state grant. Hash marks in folder descriptions indicate illegible words written on the cassettes.

The David Schock 2021 addition, 1989, 2021, and undated, consists of various videos Schock contributed to with and without the help of Central Michigan University (CMU). Box 8 contains all health-related videos with majority focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness and a few focusing on various systems of the body. Box 9 includes education-related videos, such as a series titled Problem Solving Students, a series from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education videos, and other educational resources. Boxes 10 and 11 house videos filmed in collaboration with the Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP) that feature multiple public service announcements (PSAs) and Roll Call videos. Box 12 features raw footage of Schock’s documentary Road to Andersonville. Included with this are interviews for the documentary. Box 13 contains miscellaneous film that do not fit into a clear category. Some examples of this are VHS tapes about quail egg hatching, sculptures, and music.

Box 14 contains materials related to Justice Elizabeth Weaver. Schock helped write Justice Weaver’s book, a copy of which is separately cataloged in the Clarke. Also included are correspondence and interview release forms and Thelma South Schaibly’s 1994 publication of short stories to teach children morals and the meaning of life.

A few folder titles require further description, which we received from the Donor in April 2021. NGS is the abbreviation for the National Geographic Society. Schock created a video for them about geographic education with Mike Libbee of the CMU Geography Department. PDS is likely in collaboration with OHSP. The Hospice Experience documented hospice in Mount Pleasant. The Audition Crashes were stock footage of crashes for the OHSP projects, for example Life’s a Wreck, a film about physics concepts.

The addition is organized by topic, format, and chronological order.

Boxes 8-13 are each 1 cubic foot boxes and Box 14 is .5 cubic foot.

Researchers may also be interested in his personal papers collection, other recordings, and the papers of Elizabeth A. Weaver, which are separately housed and cataloged in the Clarke.

Copyright Note: Copyright is complicated for this collection. CMU holds the copyright for materials used in programs for the CMU Education Materials Center, including interviews from the early 1990s with young people infected with AIDS. The copyright for the Interfaith Ministries immigrant labor tapes, used for final appeals, is held by the Interfaith Ministries, Schock holds the copyright for the Road to Andersonville documentary material, regarding ceremonies held for Michigan Native Americans buried at Andersonville Prison in Andersonville, Georgia.

Permission/Release forms: The only interview permission/release form in the collection is for an interview with one of Elizabeth A. Weaver’s relatives (see Box 14).

The collection includes papers, volumes, photographic materials, keys, and blueprints. The focus of the collection is Michigan ferries and the Ann Arbor Railroad Company ferries, but other ferries and boats are also documented, as well as railroads, towns, related topics, and people.

The papers are divided into two main series: Captain Bacon’s personal materials (approximately .5 cubic foot), and Ferries, Ferry-Related Materials (the rest of the collection).

Captain Bacon’s personal materials include mostly correspondence about ferries, shipping, shipping history, his dismissal, Benzie Area Historical Museum, his membership cards, photographs, and legal documents.

The Ferries and Ferry Related Materials include employment agreements and memorandum between company employees and the company, usually the Ann Arbor Railroad Company related to ferries; Ann Arbor Boat Company organizational records, 1916-1958; photographs, blueprints, correspondence, certificates of inspection and enrollment, sales records, reconstruction records, licenses, financial records, casualty records, log books, marine shop time books, keys, specifications for parts, mostly propellers, oil and lubrication books, and other materials documenting numerous ferries including the Ann Arbor No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, Arthur K. Atkinson (originally Ann Arbor No. 6), Badger, City of Midland 41, City of Green Bay, City of Milwaukee, Viking (originally Ann Arbor No. 7), Wabash (originally City of Green Bay), and the Grand Haven; Ann Arbor Railroad Company organizational records re: trains and ferries, 1895-1992, undated; Benzie Area Historical Museum and Historical Society materials; Correspondence from Superintendents of Steamships; information on various railroads, ship building companies; information on Benzie, Elberta, and Frankfort, Michigan; Information Bacon was going to include or not include in his book; various I.C.C. (Interstate Commerce Commission) dockets, decisions, and applications concerning railroads and car ferries; Michigan-Wisconsin Transportation Company materials; related court cases, particularly about abandonment of the ferries or parts of railways; materials documenting Michigan and other railroad reorganization or rationalization plans; various annual reports; newspaper clippings (copies) of many ferries, railroads, and related topics; numerous reports; job information, lists of positions and duties. Other materials document (somewhat) unions, such as BRAC (Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks); administration units, and officers, such as the Association of Maritime Officers.

Besides I.C.C. and railroad plans railroads are also documented in stock certificates, passes, calendars, tariffs, and other materials. Specific railroads well documented in the collection include the Ann Arbor Railroad Company, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company/ Chessie System, and the Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton Railroad Company. Other railroad companies for which at least one item is found in the collection include: Escanaba and Lake Superior, Grand Truck Western, Green Bay and Minnesota, Manistee and North-East, Manistique and Lake Superior, and Pere Marquette, and Conrail.

Photographic materials includes photographs, negatives, postcards, and slides, and is comprised of three main subgroups, railroads, ships (ferries and other boats, ships), and lumbering. The Ships section is by far the largest portion of photographs focusing mainly on car ferries. Car Ferries across Michigan are featured, notably the: Ann Arbor Car Ferry 1-7, Arthur K. Atkinson, the Badger, Viking, Ludington Car Ferry, Sparta, and several from Wisconsin. The collection is extensive and covers the time period between 1880s to the early 2000s. Many of these images were in acidic photograph albums or scrapbooks from which they were removed. There are also some oversized photographic materials. Slides are found in Box #25. Lumbering is documented solely through photographs, 1899-1915, undated.

Oversized materials include various car ferry records, photographs, some maps showing railroad property and lines, and blueprints (9 Oversized folders), as well as other materials. The blueprints are mainly ferry propellers, shafts, valves, deck arrangements, and other parts. The blueprints are housed in a map cabinet due to their size.

Ferry keys are found in two small boxes (Boxes #23-24).

In Box 15, item 1, the license for Art Frederickson is really unusual. Art was an Ann Arbor captain who was well known on the lakes. He and his wife, Lucy, wrote several books on the car ferries and sold shipwreck maps in the 1960s-1970s. Their collection was sold to the Institute for Great Lakes Research (now the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes) at BGSU. Seven books about ferries, trains, ships, and shipwrecks by Arthur C. Frederickson are separately cataloged and in the Clarke’s book collection.

In Box 15 the last item, Development and Design of Lake MI Car Ferries, Paper Presented, 1948, by Art Zuehlke, who was the man at Manitowoc Shipbuilding. There is a memorial to him at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Collection is at the museum.

Spelling Note: There were inconsistencies in the collection as to how car ferries or carferries are spelled, as well as Michigan, Mich., or MI, and the way company names are abbreviated. These inconsistencies were continued in the Box and Folder listing. If Bacon titled a folder with an acronym, such as BRAC, that is how it is presented here, with a note to explain what BRAC is. Sometimes vessels were listed as M/V or M.V. (motor vessel) or S.S. or S/S (steam ship) and sometimes not.

Processing Note: Approximately 18 cubic ft. of duplicates, materials that were fragile, acidic, or moldy, and had to be photocopied, materials that included social security numbers, any materials of investigations and grievances of ferry employees, Bacon’s personal bills, medication directions, and any reading, blank, or peripheral materials were withdrawn from the collection. In addition, a large number of publications 121 items were separately cataloged as books, manuals, or serials, and added to the Clarke publications collection.

Allergy Note: Please note that some of the materials have a musty smell to them, especially most of the oversized volumes. Researchers with allergies should use these materials with care.

The collection consists mainly of material Professor Loeb presented to the Art Department Committee in order to earn tenure and be promoted; her Subject Files; her Vita; and copies of some of her publications.

The collection consists of material Professor Loeb presented to the Art Department Committee for Re-appointment, Tenure and Promotion in order to earn tenure and be promoted. This information includes Student Opinion Surveys (SOS), examples of her publications, presentations, syllabi, and other supporting documentation, 1980-2001 (Scattered) approximately .75 cubic ft.; her Subject Files, 1981-2000 (Scattered) approximately .5 cubic ft., on a variety of Art Department, Women’s Studies, and other university topics, committees, and events; and her Vita and copies of some of her publications, 1 folder, 2007.

This is the only collection of a professor’s papers from the CMU Art Department in the Clarke. Some of the Invitations/Exhibits, 1981 are the only surviving examples of information about art shows by university art professors or students.

Processing Note: General information in the collection about CMU departments was withdrawn from the collection and filed in the CMU vertical file.

This collection consists of the CMRPOA’s organizational records, 1984, 1992, and undated.

This collection consists of the CMRPOA’s organizational records, 1984, 1992, and undated. Records include: constitution, correspondence, membership, program ideas, secretary minutes and yearly reports. The correspondence folders contain letters from two Michigan congressman, Donald W. Riegle, Jr. and Bill Shuette. Both their letters discuss tax bills in progress in Congress.

Processing Note: During processing .25 cubic foot of duplicates, publications, blank forms, miscellaneous notes were removed from the collection. Two Michigan publications were separately cataloged, and the newsletters of the Michigan Landlords Association and Michigan Rental Housing Association were added to the Michigan Vertical Files. The collection is in alphabetical and chronological order.

The collection includes Central Michigan University baseball score books, 1950, 1983.

The only year not documented in this collection is 1951. The Score Books give play-by-play histories of the game, 1950, 1952-1983. A few miscellaneous papers relating to the games are included in some of the books. (Baseball team photographs are in the CMU. Picture File at the Clarke Historical Library.)