Collections

The collection includes materials on Missaukee County, Michigan, history.

Materials gathered on various historic aspects of Missaukee County, Michigan. There is no Notebook #2 in the collection.

The papers include mostly correspondence, reports, and notes on Isle Royale, notebooks, biographical information, an autograph album, and family correspondence.

The collection includes Dustin’s articles, correspondence, reports and notes on Isle Royale, notebooks, and personal items, such as biographical information, newspaper clippings (copies) by/about him, an autograph album, and family correspondence. A number of his publications and another collection on George A. Custer are also housed in the Clarke Historical Library.

The papers include documents and transcriptions of papers of and about Frederic Baraga and an engraving.

The collection consists of copies of transcribed documents assembled from originals or photocopies in the U. S., Canada, and Europe by the Historical Commission of the Bishop Baraga Association. The goal of the Association is to the promoted the Cause for Beatification of Bishop Baraga.

An extensive list of the documents includes, for each item: date, name and location of author, and recipient and institution where the document is housed. This list was compiled by the Association in 1954 and is found after the finding aid. Transcripts are filed within the boxes in chronological order.

Most of the documents are letters from Baraga to other clergy about his mission work and aspects of Catholicism. Some letters are to his siblings. Material after his death includes a eulogy and letters from clergy about Baraga.

The collection contains accounts, insurance papers, land papers, legal forms, and letters of Frederic Bronson.

The collection includes Frederic Bronson’s correspondence, 1832-1863, undated; accounts, records of loans, mortgages, 1828-1863; deeds, maps, and other land, business, and personal papers, 182?-1861, undated. Lands covered include those in Chicago, Michigan, Somerset County (New Jersey), western New York counties, New York (city), Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The Clarke also has the original papers of Isaac and Arthur Bronson, Frederic’s father and brother, and the Bronson Family Papers (See those finding aids.). These collections include some additional papers of Frederic Bronson.

On microfilm, the Clarke has the Bronson Family Papers deposited at NYPL (Mss. Micro F-40, 30 reels of positive microfilm). Here, amidst papers of numerous Bronson family members, are found Frederic’s letters, 1825-1861, 1863 (reel 6, 17-18, 23, 25); miscellaneous, 1829-1854 and accounts, 1839-1863 (reels 26-27), and Bronson land and miscellaneous papers (reels 7-9, 18, 25, 29-30). Frederic’s Land Book, 1840, covering Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, is part of the Arthur Bronson Papers in the Newberry Library. The negative microfilm of this book (Acc#565) is also available at the Clarke. The Land Book, 1840, was filmed by the Chicago Historical Society in 1978 and donated to the Clarke.

The collection includes material created or collected by Halbert about the Michigan PBB disaster and how it affected him and his family.

The collection includes material created or collected by Halbert about the Michigan PBB disaster and how it affected him and his family. Materials he created include: his co-written article with Jackson, an invitation letter from American Veterinary Medical Association and his speaking notes, his Outline for Bitter Harvest, his personal health records, speeches, speaking notes, and his testimony before the Michigan House of Representations (1974) and US House of Representatives (1978). Materials he collected includes newspaper, magazine, and journal articles in which he is cited, thanked, and/or discussed, remarks by Governor William G. Milliken about Toxic Chemicals in Michigan, June 24, 1978 and PBB history/legislative report from Milliken administration, undated [1978], and Remarks by Lt. Governor James H. Brickley about PBB in Michigan, October 4, 1978, and reference materials about PBB. A 1986 VHS videotape of Bitter Harvest was separately cataloged. The collection is organized alphabetically and in good physical condition, with some acidification.

Researchers may also be interested in other PBB research manuscript collections and secondary sources about PBB in the Clarke Historical Library, including the memoir, Bitter Harvest (1978).

Processing Note: During processing social security numbers were blacked out on copies of health records and those pages were photocopied. Extremely acidic materials were photocopied and the originals, as well as duplicates of other materials (1 folder total), were withdrawn and returned to the donor, as per the donor agreement.

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.

The collection includes papers and photographs about Alpena, Michigan, and general Michigan history.

This collection of papers and photographs focuses on the history and people of Alpena, Michigan, although there are other Michigan counties and topics documented in it. Additional related Michigan materials may be found in several other photographic and papers collections of Fred R. and Tom C. Trelfa.

The collection consists mostly of glass-plate negatives documenting dynamos, Great Lakes ferries, nature, baseball, buildings, people, logging,and other topics, in or near Hurley, Saint Ignace and Montreal, Michigan, near Marquette.

The collection includes glass plate negatives sizes 3x5 inches, 3.25x5 inches, 4.25x4.25 inches, 5x7.5 inches, 5x inches, 5x8.5 inches, and 21 acetate film negatives, size 3.5x5.62 inches. Topics include dynamos, industry, Great Lakes ferries, nature, baseball, parlors, buildings, railroads, lumber, ships, logging, mine shafts, people in Hurley, Saint Ignace, and Montreal, Michigan, near Marquette. It appears that negatives in boxes 1-3 were probably taken by W. Wells Lamb, a photographer from Glidden, Wisconsin. Other photographers are unidentified. Items were identified as much as possible from labels, slips of papers, notes on original boxes, and, whenever possible, information on/in the negatives themselves. Negatives with damage such as fading, spotting, oxidation, cracks, broken or missing pieces, deteriorated or flaking emulsions have been noted on the sleeves. (For information on Fred R. Trelfa see the finding aid to his other collections.) Boxes 1-8 measure 4x7x10.5 inches, smaller than a .5 cubic foot letter-size box.

Photographs and negatives of various types, mostly of Michigan people, places, events, focusing on Alpena, Michigan, and the Trelfa family.

This collection includes photographs, negatives, and rolled photographs. A large number of the images are from Alpena, Michigan, but various people and places in Michigan are documented in the collection. Most of the images are not dated. Boxes 11-18 are an addition. An alphebtical index of the negatives in Boxes 11-18 is in the front of Box 11. Abbreviations are duplicated from original notes.

The collection consists of various financial records, meeting minutes, membership lists of the Friends of Veteran's Memorial Library.

The collection consists of various financial records, meeting minutes, and membership lists of the Veteran’s Memorial Library. The collection is organized by type of record, alphabetically, and chronologically

The 2021 addition includes meeting minutes, treasurer’s reports, foundational documents, lists of board members, membership lists, organizational history, project files and photographs of their various activities, 1976?-2021.