Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Teacher, Inspector of Schools in the Philippine Islands (1901-1905), and Presbyterian clergyman. Papers include biographical information, education and teaching materials, church miscellanea, diaries, correspondence and photographs.

The papers of Frederick G. Behner measure one linear foot and are contained in two series: Papers and Photographs. The Papers series is further divided into biographical information; education and teaching; church; personal materials; correspondence; and general materials.

The Biographical Information consists of photocopies of accounts that Behner's son, Frederick G. Behner, Jr., wrote using his father's diaries and oral accounts. The Education and Teaching file includes Behner's teaching certificates (1893-1895), his university papers from North Central College, his students' papers from the Philippine Islands, and some papers from Xenia Seminary School. His university papers are on a number of subjects, as are his students' papers, and are interesting as they reflect many social and political facets of the turn of the century.

The Church papers include his licensure and requests from various churches asking Behner to work at their church. The Personal file series includes Behner's diaries for the years 1901 through 1905 and chronicles his journey from Ohio down to the Philippine Islands, his years of teaching there, an extended trip home with major stops in Palestine and Europe, and his wedding. The 1901 diary is accompanied by a partial transcript. Also included a published volume of transcript of diary titled "One Man's Journey to the Philippine Islands: the Thomasite Adventure, 1901-1905." The Correspondence series (1896-1904) is very brief and arranged chronologically, containing only several letters. One letter of interest explains the purpose of the schools in the Philippine Islands; another is a permit to carry a shotgun. The General Materials series is also very brief; it contains two steamship liner booklets with notations by Behner and a certificate indicating that Behner was a member of the National Geographic Society.

Paul Cutler Showers was a journalist and freelance writer. His writing and editing days began through involvement with The Gargoyle and The Michigan Daily while attending the University of Michigan. Showers's papers document his lengthy journalism career through his writings, recollections, and correspondence regarding the Detroit Free Press, the U.S. Army's Yank Magazine, and the Sunday New York Times. Family history played an important role in his life and can be seen through his collection of family photographs, recollections, and stories. In his later years, Showers became a prominent children's author known internationally for his work with the "Read and Find Out" series of science books for beginning readers.

The Paul Cutler Showers Papers document the life of a writer and editor, a University of Michigan alumni, an avid genealogist, a World War II veteran, and a prominent children's author.

The arrangement of the papers maintains their original order of four series including Correspondence, Family History, Personal and Professional Papers, and Visual Materials. These are in alphabetical order except for the Personal and Professional Papers series, which follows its original chronological organization according to Paul Showers's career. The papers contain very little information about his work as a children's non-fiction author. This portion of his papers are within the Kerlan Collection, which is part of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota.

Battle Creek, Michigan and Washington, D.C. family including C.W. (Charles William) Post, cereal manufacturer, and anti-union activist and founder of Post City, Texas; and his daughter Marjorie Merriweather Post, executive of General Foods Co., wife of U. S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, art collector, philanthropist, socialite, and Washington D.C. hostess. C.W. Post papers, largely concern labor-management relations, unionism, the Postum Company, currency reform, advertising, and matters of food and hygiene; Marjorie Merriweather Post papers document her social activities and travel, philanthropies art collections, and the maintenance and preservation of her homes and other possessions.

The Post family collection includes papers of businessman and food processor, C. W. Post, largely relating to labor-management relations, unionism, the Post Company, currency reform, advertising, and matters of food and hygiene; and papers, photographs, and sound recordings of his daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, General Foods executive and philanthropist, relating to social activities and engagements, philanthropies, and the maintenance and preservation of her homes and other possessions.

The C.W. Post papers consist of manuscript items and printed works created by C.W. Post and retained by his daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post. The papers are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Detroit-born, amateur photographer and Navy veteran who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1941. Nims’ photographs document student life in Ann Arbor during the late 1930s, with particular focus on the popular student hangout The Pretzel Bell; and life in the Navy and the South Pacific during 1944-1945 and 1951-1952. The collection consists primarily of photographs and negative with some mixed material such as diaries, newspaper clippings, correspondence and ephemera.

The collection consists primarily of photographs and negative taken by Richard Nims with some mixed material such as diaries, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and ephemera. The collection contains the following series: Photographs/Negatives, Other Papers, and Motion Pictures.

M. M. and Carme H. Smyser were teachers and missionaries to Japan. The collection includes correspondence, diaries, financial and other notebooks relating to mission activities, and photographs.

The Smyser Family Papers, 1889-1984, document the missionary activities of Martin Mosser Smyser and Carme Hostetter Smyser in Japan. The papers include correspondence, diaries, a variety of financial and other notebooks relating to mission activities, and photographs.

The correspondence consists primarily of letters from M.M. Smyser to his daughter Lois Smyser Sutherland. These contain information on personal and family matters and on events and conditions at Smyser's mission. Also included are several of the reports Smyser sent to mission supporters. There are a number of letters, 1968-1984, from a Japanese scholar relating to the history of the Smysers' missionary work and to the missions of the Disciples of Christ church.

The diaries, 1902-1953, were kept by M.M. Smyser. They deal primarily with personal matters and day-to-day activities at Smyser's mission. The diaries from 1942-1944 contain a few interesting observations on life in Japan during the war from the viewpoint of an American sympathetic to the Japanese cause.

The financial and other notebooks include records of funds received from mission supporters, names of converts, Sunday school rosters, notes for sermons, and a record of Smyser's correspondence. There is also a parish record from Masardis, Maine, 1911-1914 and a volume of lecture notes taken by Carme Hostetter, 1889.

The photographs include portraits of the Smyser family, group photographs of American missionaries and Japanese students at Carme Hostetter's mission's in Tokyo, 1892-1897, and Sendai, 1900-1905, and from Smyser's Yokote mission, 1914-1954. There are also a number of scenic photographs.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 1907-1911, and Italy, 1911-1913. Ledgers and journals, scrapbooks/photograph albums containing clippings, photographs and mementos from his diplomatic career, and miscellaneous correspondence, clippings, and speech material.

The Thomas James O’Brien papers consist of ledgers and journals, scrapbooks/photograph albums containing clippings, photographs and mementos from his diplomatic career, and miscellaneous correspondence, clippings, and speech material. The Collection has been arranged into the following series: Scrapbooks / Photograph Albums; Financial records; and Correspondence and other papers.