Collections

The papers include his correspondence, diaries, notebooks, a list of Custom house employees, photographs, a printer's plate, and real estate papers for Colorado and Illinois.

The majority of the Papers include correspondence, 1870-1897 and undated, describing Custom House concerns, such as smuggling; the World’s Columbian Exposition (World’s Fair) in Chicago, 1893; Chicago life; stocks; real estate; and Republican Party Politics, 1890-1893.

Other materials include his diaries, 1905 and 1908; notebooks and a list of Custom House employees, 1890-1892; photographs; and a printer’s plate of his image; and a notebook of his mother’s estate, 1867-1898. Real estate papers relate to land in Colorado and Illinois, 1867-1910.

Item-level index cards are available to assist researchers.

Family papers, photographic images, promotion papers, and medical writings of Joseph Rowe Smith, Jr., letters to/from his brother, Henry Smith, military and medical papers of Joseph Rowe Smith, Sr., and miscellaneous family materials.

The papers of Joseph Rowe Smith, Sr., 1823-1859, and undated, document his diary of his military career, 1823-1835, which traces his traveling, survey work in Florida, illnesses, births, and deaths of children, his affection for his wife, and conversion to Christianity following exposure to several severe cholera epidemics are particularly interesting. His faith comforted him through the loss of two babies. Also of interest are medical reports on his injured elbow, and estate papers.

The papers of Joseph Rowe Smith, Jr., 1848-1910, and undated, include his promotion papers, photographic images, and his medical writings. Also found in Box 1 are letters from Henry Smith to his brother Joseph R. Smith, Sr., and a journal, 1870-1878, and several folders of miscellaneous materials of Horace Smith, 1870, 1920.

Miscellaneous family papers and photographic materials, mostly undated, complete the collection. Item-level index cards are also found in Box 3. Note: The Clarke also has two portraits of Smith: one is a small. framed, damaged water color portrait probably from his West Point graduation, circa 1823;the second is an oversized, framed, painted portrait of Smith in uniform with his arm in a sling, undated. For more information about the portraits, please refer to the Framed Art Inventory binder.

A letter Smith wrote on November 13, 1862 to President Abraham Lincoln recommending Rev. S. T. Carpenter of Polo, Illinois for chaplain at the Washington Park Hospital in Cincinnati. Note by Surgeon General W. A. Hammond concurring is housed in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. A link to the finding aid describing the letter is found at https://illinois.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/2557.

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.

Genealogies, photographs, publication, notes, correspondence, lists. and historical information of Margaret Drake Elliot.

Includes publications, family genealogies, maps, and other materials she gathered and her notes and drafts of the book.

Family correspondence mainly between Beach, his sister, brother, other relatives, friends, his parents and their siblings, friends, and relatives.

The collection mainly consists of family correspondence to Marvin from Gertie, mostly Frank, other relatives and friends. There is also earlier correspondence between Emma and Porter, their siblings, friends and other relatives. An unidentified tintype of a man is in the Biographical materials folder.

Court records include annulments, chancery cases, chattle mortgages, debt cases, divorces, estate settlements, foreclosures, gas and oil cases, guardianship cases, indentures, injunctions, calendars and proceedings, mortgages, prartnerships, pensions, petitions, poll lists, tally sheets, election returns, school reports, censuses, etc., support cases, tax assessments, other records, a tintype, miscellaneous.

The collection is one of the government records collections that came to the Clarke as part of a regional archives depository agreement with the State Archives. The collection was not processed at the State Archives.

Processing Note: Duplicate printed materials, miscellaneous and illegible items, and those non-permanent records that had far surpassed their records retention schedule were withdrawn from the collection during processing.

This artificial collection includes annual reports, reports of mine inspectors, brochures, stock certificates, and an issue of the American Journal of Mining, New York, August 18, 1866.

This artificial collection consists mostly of annual reports of mining companies, reports of mine inspectors, a few brochures or informational pamphlets about the mining companies and mining, stock certificates, and an issue of the American Journal of Mining, New York, August 18, 1866.

The papers include family correspondence about life in Sherburne, New York, and Marion, Michigan. Civil War correspondence of the New York Infantry 61st Regiment Company G reveals feelings of soldiers and civilians about the war and various battles. Also included are family photographs, obituaries, an autobiographical sketch, and an account book.

The collection includes family correspondence relating to farming and life in New York and Michigan, and the correspondence of Bullock and his comrades of the New York State Infantry 61st Regiment Co. G, revealing feelings of soldiers and civilians on the war, superior officers, the armistice, with descriptions of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Harpers Ferry West Virginia, and Sharpsburg, Maryland. Also included are family obituaries, photographs, autobiographical sketch of Bullock, and an account book, 1813-1820, of a carding mill, possibly owned by S. Bullock at New Hartford, Connecticut.

Numerous business records of lumber company and family papers of Millard D. Olds.

This collection consists mostly of the Business Records of M. D. Olds and Co. (Boxes #4-36 and 335 volumes) and some personal Family Papers (Boxes #1-3). All aspects of the business interests of Millard D. Olds, including timberlands, timber, lumber, coal and wood delivery, lumber camps, ferryboats, railroads, poultry and oranges, sugar, apartment buildings, etc. are documented. Also documented are private real estate deals, loans, mortgages, and court cases in which he was involved. There are also materials relating to the estates of several people that Olds was involved with, including Julia and Robert B. Small, Horace N. Olney (who may have been a cousin), and Valentine Fries. He became involved with these estates and with several small businesses because he was financially invested with the deceased person or troubled business. He also advised Lillian Robinson, widow of his one-time business partner, about business matters.

Family Papers (3 boxes or 1.25 cubic ft.) is organized alphabetically by topic. It includes biographical materials, family deeds, house plans, M. D. Olds’ estate materials, two photographs, and personal correspondence. The largest section is the personal correspondence, 1908-1945 and undated (9 folders), which includes letters to and from Olds, Ora, and their daughters and sons-in-law, as well as other relatives.

Business Records is divided by format (Papers and Volumes) and then by function. Papers include Subject Files and Business Correspondence. The Volumes are mostly financial Account Books, although some Non-Financial Volumes are included.

The Subject Files (23 boxes or 11.5 cubic ft.) include: reports, legal records, court cases, estate records, statistics, meeting minutes, and government forms such as accident reports or coal proposals. All of M. D. Olds’ business and legal interests are documented here, as are his Michigan, Ohio, California, and Oregon concerns.

The Subject Files are boxed by size (Legal Size in Boxes #4-18 and Letter Size in Boxes #19-26) to best use limited space. There is an alphabetical run of topics in each set of boxes. In a few cases, related correspondence has been interfiled there.

The Business Correspondence (11 boxes, #27-36, or 5.5 cubic ft.) is organized chronologically by people or companies with lots of correspondence in a given year meriting its own folder(s). Both Art Schupp and Lou Buhrman wrote to Olds about business or legal concerns. Lou wrote about the Pacific and Eastern Railway Court Cases while Art wrote about the Columbia or Paulding Sugar Co.

The Business Correspondence documents various business concerns including lumber camps; Olds’ Scalers, notably John Lyberg; tugboats; government relations; the business interests of Olds’ sons-in-law, and the Olds Bros. General Store (1931). Most of the folders are thin.

The Volumes (335 Oversized volumes or 36 cubic ft.) vary greatly in size. For the sake of convenience, they are housed together. Most of the volumes are Account Books. This subgroup is further divided by function. Each function group is organized chronologically on paper, although they may actually be shelved by size, with extremely heavy or large volumes located on the bottom of a stack of volumes.

The Non-Financial Volumes include: Township Survey Books, 1897-1922, undated; Field Report Sheets, 1919; Real Estate Book, 1894-1903; Letterpress Books, 1901-1907; Telegram Books, 1909-1918, undated; Memo and Steno Books, 1897-1918, 1923

The Account Books include: Account Books, 1898-1921; Apartment Books, 1924-1937; Bank Accounts, 1923-1944; Cash Books, 1904-1931; Companies Olds Purchased, 1885-1924; Lumber Accounts (various), 1893-1936; Ledgers, 1893-1938; Trial Balance Books, 1907-1917; Payroll Books, 1910-1955; Lumber Camp Books (various), 1895-1913; Coal Shipment Books, 1936-1950; Coal and Wood Delivery Books, 1904-1964; Log Scale Book, 1891-1893; Scale Weight Books, 1906-1965, undated; Steamer Books, 1900-1925

Blueprints (8), undated, mostly of the Olds' residence are found in 1 Oversized folder.

Processing Notes: The collection originally included 119 cubic ft. of papers in oversized boxes and 309 volumes. Duplicates, most tax materials, receipts, bills, generic correspondence, publications, and other peripheral materials were returned to M. D. Olds’ descendants as per their request. Also returned were photocopies of all personal correspondence retained by the Clarke. 54 cubic ft. of material (in 36 boxes, 335 volumes, and 1 Oversized volder) has been retained by the Clarke.

The papers include mostly Minnie's diaries, 1901-1905, 1922-1923, 1924-1969; a 1902 embalming course workbook of her husband, E. G. Van Deusen, 1902; R.G. Van Deusen's account book,1842-1849, and meeting minutes of the Knights of the Modern Maccabees Tent 419 (Elsie, Michigan), 1910, 1915.

The collection consists mainly of Minnie’s diaries from 1901-1905, 1922-1923, and 1925-1969. She recorded the weather; her and her family’s daily activities; and local marriages, births, and deaths. Also included are her World War II ration books, 1943-1944; her miscellaneous correspondence; stock certificates; and copies of family-related newspaper clippings, 1899-1944 scattered). E. G.‘s embalming course workbook, 1902; his father’s account book, 1842-1849; meeting minutes of the Knights of the Modern Maccabees Tent 419 (Elsie, Michigan), 1903-1913; and some related correspondence, 1910 and 1915, are also included. E. G.’s brother, Milo R., was Commander and Secretary of Tent 419 from 1903-1913. Some clippings and biographical information on Milo R., Roe G., and E. G. Van Deusen are in the miscellaneous folder.