Collections

Dexter, Michigan, collector of materials relating to the history of railroading in Michigan. Correspondence, subject files, printed matter and photographs; contain material concerning the Ann Arbor Railroad, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, the Manistee and Northeastern Railway Company, the Michigan Central Railroad, the Pere Marquette Railroad, and Ephraim Shay.

The Stoner collection contains about 3,600 photographs and negatives collected by Stoner, relating primarily to Michigan railroads. The collection also contains related manuscript materials.

Stoner's major collecting interests were in the Ann Arbor, Grand Trunk Western, and Pere Marquette Railroads and their predecessors, and in logging railroads, especially Ephraim Shay's railroad and others using Shay locomotives. Along with these lines, the collection contains photos of dozens of other railroads, not all in Michigan.

The photographs most commonly depict locomotives, often with their crews posed beside. Other common subjects are railroad stations (exteriors only), train wrecks, trains in motion, logging operations, carferries, railroad bridges, the Detroit-Windsor railroad tunnel, and street railroads.

Dozens of Michigan cities and towns and a number of places in other states are represented in the collection. Places depicted most often in the photos include Ann Arbor, Cadillac, Detroit, Durand, Frankfort, Harbor Springs, and Howell, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.

The collection is organized into seven series: Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, Unclassified negatives, Papers, Classified negatives, and Duplicate material.

Appended to this finding aid are two indexes, one for railroads and company names, the other for subjects. The indexes contain references to all items in the Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, and Unclassified negatives series.

The index to railroads and company names indexes logging and industrial companies that operated railroads, as well as railroad lines themselves. It does not index locomotive manufacturers, nor does it index the names of railroad museums where some of the photos were taken.

The index to subjects indexes place names and topical subjects. It does not index the term "locomotives" since the majority of the photos in the collection would be indexed under that heading. Place names are indexed if the photo includes a view of some part of the place or of some event at the place. Close-up views of locomotives that do not show any background are not indexed by place, even if the description of the photo identifies where it was taken.

Papers of the Douglass family and the Nellis family of Newaygo County, Michigan. Courtship letters of Joseph and Matilda Douglass, also of their daughter Belle and William Anderson; letters of Joseph Douglass and George Nellis about their cavalry service during the Civil War; letters of relatives and friends who emigrated to Iowa, Dakota Territory, Colorado, and California.

In general the letters are filled with "mundane" family news: births, sicknesses, deaths, marriages, visitors, crops/business, money/debts, school, and chores. Sickness and death receive the largest single share of attention, including references to medical care and doctors. There are scattered, but illuminating accounts by youngsters of their schooling, including several letters ca. 1890-1894 by teenager Vera Barton in Big Rapids. As a whole the collection is a good source for discovering the role and attitudes of "average" American women in the late 19th century. The majority of letters are written by women and often to their sisters, daughters, or mothers.

The folder labeled "1862-1865, Joseph and Matilda" follows their courtship during Joseph's service in Company A of the 6th Michigan Cavalry during the Civil War. The "1862-1868, Family" folder includes more wartime letters from Joseph and letters from Matilda's brother, George (who served in Company A of the 10th Michigan Cavalry), and Matilda's father, Andrew (who fought Indians in Dakota territory). The descriptions of military service tend to be brief and laconic, though there are interesting references to hospital life and the brotherhood of Michigan volunteers.

As noted in the contents list, other folders include correspondence concerning the divorce of Lida Nellis Burshaw from her husband John, Lida's death, and the raising of the Burshaw children by the Nellis-Douglass family. The correspondence of Joseph and Matilda's daughter Belle (Belinda) through her late teens and early adulthood, including her courtship with her husband Will Anderson, form an interesting part of the collection. Joseph Douglass died March 2,1894. Many of the letters after that date shed light on Matilda's widowhood.

When deciphering the penmanship in this collection, it is necessary to be aware that many of the correspondents were poorly educated, so that spelling is extremely erratic. Also, the legibility of the copies varies greatly, due to the yellowed paper and faded ink of many of the originals.

Bishops files, records of executive and administrative bodies and of diocesan organizations, staff files, parishes and mission's materials, and visual materials and sound recordings.

The records of the diocese of Michigan have been arranged into the following series: Bishops' files, Executive and administrative bodies, Diocesan organizations, Diocesan programs, Diocesan staff, Parishes and missions, Clergy, Audio and visual material, and Miscellaneous.

The record group is most valuable for its documentation of the history of the diocese and the individual churches within its administration, with a lesser amount of material pertaining to religious functions performed and to the operation of diocesan administrative groups and departments. For a number of reasons, there is scant material pertaining to the administration of the diocesan office or to the special programs that have been initiated by it over the years. Some of this material may be found in the papers of individual bishops whose papers have also come to the library and are separately cataloged. These include Samuel McCoskry, Samuel Smith Harris, Charles D. Williams, Herman Page, and Richard Emrich.

Governing body of the Episcopal church in western Michigan, established in 1874; records include bishops' files, diocesan organization and committee files, photographs, scrapbooks, diocesan historian files.

The records of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan are a rich resource of material, not only for the programs and activities of the Episcopal Church in western Michigan, but also for their documentation of the role of the church in the life of the various communities served by the diocese.

Records from the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan first came to the Bentley Historical Library in 1972. Since then, the diocese has made several significant additions to their records. In 1999 the record group was reprocessed with the aim of drawing together like materials. The record group now consists of twenty-two separate series. These are: Bishop's Files, Chancellor, Treasurer, Diocesan Historiographer, Standing Committee Files, Miscellaneous Files, Diocesan Record Books, Publicity Files, Defunct Parish and Mission Churches Files, Diocesan Committee Files, Diocesan Organization Files, Diocesan Financial Records, Visual Materials, Sound Recordings, Scrapbooks, Western Michigan University (WMU) Ministry Files, Women's Organizations, Miscellaneous office and staff files Bulletins of Church Services, Church of Christ the King, Miscellaneous parish materials, and Miscellaneous diocesan materials.

This collection contains correspondence, a school notebook, and other material related to Howard W. Wiltse, a native of Hannibal, New York, who graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1861.

This collection (13 items) contains correspondence, a school notebook (approximately 200 pages), and other material related to Howard W. Wiltse, a native of Hannibal, New York, who graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1861.

Howard W. Wiltse entered the University of Michigan Law School in 1859, the year it was founded, and graduated in 1861. From November 29, 1859-December 18, 1860, he composed class notes in a copy of Clayton's Quarto Diary for 1859. Wiltse's notes are based on lectures by the school's three professors (James V. Campbell, Thomas B. Cooley, and Charles I. Walker) and concern a wide range of legal topics, including civil law and criminal law, with an emphasis on economic practices; individual lectures often pertain to legal precedent. A dried fern leaf is laid into the volume.

Letters (10 items), a financial document (1 item), and a newspaper (1 item), once laid into the volume, also relate to Howard W. Wiltse's experiences in New York and Michigan. He wrote 2 letters to an unidentified brother in March 1852 and April 1855 about his experiences teaching school in a town called Burns, and he wrote 7 letters to other family members between May 1859 and April 1862. Wiltse discussed his studies at the University of Michigan Law School, the cost of his schoolbooks, and his legal career in Big Rapids, Michigan. In one letter, written on stationery depicting five of the university's buildings, he mentioned the turbulent political situation just before the Civil War (February 19, 1861). Later items include a financial document (April 3, 1874) and a letter from a man named Charles to a woman named Nettie (September 3, 1886). Howard W. Wiltse also sent his family the first issue of the Mecosta County Pioneer (April 17, 1862).