Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Gladwin, Michigan family. The collection consists of diaries, account books, and family miscellanea.

The Hanna family collection consists of the diaries and account books generated by various members of the Hanna family of Gladwin, Michigan. Isaac Hanna's diaries comment on his business dealings and activities as a town official. They were transcribed by Esther Munster, daughter of Isaac's son Will, who also provided the biographical information incorporated in this introduction.

Congregationalist missionary to Angola, and other members of the Miller family. Family letters, missionary newsletter, personal diaries concerning life in Hancock and Detroit, Michigan; Miller family materials; and photographs.

The collection consists of personal papers of Janette Miller and other members of the Miller family. The collection includes family letters, missionary newsletter, personal diaries concerning life in Hancock and Detroit, Michigan, photographs, and Miller family materials.

Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan, family. Correspondence and other materials relating to daily life and family activities; collection of sheet music; and photographs.

The Richardson family papers (letters, photographs, and business records) illustrate the lives of ordinary rural Americans from the 1860's to the 1940's.

Papers of the Edward and Nellie Wilson Whitehead family of Coldwater, Branch County, Michigan. Family letters largely concerning daily activities, including occasional mention of land prices, social customs, fashions and health problems.

The collection of the Whitehead family of Coldwater, Michigan consists entirely of letters from family and friends. The correspondence centers around Edward and Nellie Wilson Whitehead, chiefly from Nellie Whitehead's sisters Lucy Wilson Gifford Smith, Leothie Wilson Culver, Orpha Wilson, and Laura Wilson, and her cousins Mary and Naomi Baker. The bulk of the letters were written in the 1870's when Edward and Nellie Whitehead were living in Webster and Churchville, New York. There are, however, a few earlier letters (the first being in 1862) as well as some later in the 1880's. With the last composed in 1900. The letters are all of a general type with an occasional passage discussing land prices and conditions, fashions of the days health problems, etc. The majority speak of family concerns-neighborhood and family gossip. The correspondence came from Angola, Indiana; Battle Creek, Batavia, Coldwater, Jackson, and Sturgis, Michigan; and Batavia, Churchville, and Webster, New York, with the largest share, naturally, coming from Michigan.

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.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, family. Correspondence and business and legal papers of Julius Coe Denison; diaries, 1886-1890 and 1897-1907, of Julius' wife, Cornelia Carter Denison, describing daily life; and diaries, 1879-1889, of their son, Arthur Carter Denison, concerning in part his activities as student at the University of Michigan in the 1880s.

The Denison Family papers date from 1848 to 1907 and measure one linear foot. The papers document the day to day activities in a segment of the lives of Julius and Cornelia Denison and their son Arthur.

The papers of Julius Coe Denison date from 1848 to 1878 and include correspondence, receipts, land deeds and other papers. The papers of Cornelia Denison (1885 to 1907) and Arthur Denison (1879 to 1889) are principally diaries which contain brief entries about their daily activities, lists of books they read, and lists of expenses. The early diaries of Arthur Denison document his activities at the University of Michigan.

Officer with the 23rd Michigan Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War, later Saginaw County, then Evart, Michigan, local government official. Biographical material, correspondence, Civil War files, and diaries relating to local and wartime activities, family matters, and professional activities.

The William Augustus Lewis papers include biographical material, correspondence, Civil War files, and diaries relating to local and wartime activities, family matters, and professional activities. the papers are organized into the following series. Biographical, Correspondence, Civil War, Miscellaneous, and Diaries.

A. L. Williams family of Owosso, Michigan. Personal and business correspondence of A. L. Williams, Owosso, Michigan pioneer, railroad entrepreneur, and spiritualist; and personal letters of other members of the family, including May Williams Dewey, wife of E. O. Dewey (Thomas E. Dewey family); and miscellaneous newspaper clippings, business ledgers, and personal and business diaries concerning business affairs and daily activities; "spirit messages" received from departed family and others; also photographs.

The Williams Family [Owosso] collection consists of 2 linear feet of material. It includes the personal and business papers of four generations of Williamses from 1838 to 1953. However, the bulk of the material relates to the family of Alfred Leonzo Williams between 1860 and 1890.

Residents of Calhoun and Lenawee counties, Michigan. Family letters and documents.

This is a collection of family letters preserved by Betsey Mitchell Strong and donated to the Michigan Historical Collections by her grandson Homer Dennis Strong. The collection consists of approximately 1400 family letters and documents covering the period of 1836 to 1925 and three volumes of transcriptions of the documents made by Doris Boldt.

The collection is maintained in numbered envelopes in approximate chronological order. In 1988, the library received a first accession of some 440 letters with a register of these letters compiled by Doris Boldt. This register included document number, date, recipient, sender, and notes about contents.

In 1990, Mr. Strong donated nearly 1000 additional letters and documents with typed transcriptions of the collection made by Doris Boldt. In the two year interim since the first accession, however, Boldt had created a new numbering sequence for the collection. This numbers refer to the pages of the transcription volumes. Once again, Boldt provided a register to letters. This register includes both original numbers and revised numbers.

Papers, of the Josiah Littlefield family of Monroe County and Farwell, Clare County, Michigan. Correspondence, typescript of autobiography, and excerpted typescript of University of Michigan student diary, 1867-1871, of Josiah Littlefield, surveyor, lumberman, and conservationist; also letters of other members of the Littlefield and Hall families; and photographs.

The Littlefield family collection documents several generations in the life of a family which migrated from Grafton, New York about 1830, and came to Michigan, settling first near Ash in Monroe County and later in Farwell in Clare County. The collection (311 items) spans the period of 1834 to 1935, and consists almost entirely of letters among family members, though there is a small group of printed items dealing with University of Michigan activities and life in Farwell, Michigan. Included with the papers are the correspondence, autobiography, and excerpted diary of Josiah Littlefield. There is also correspondence of Littlefield's wife, Ellen Hart Littlefield, his mother, Mary Hall Littlefield, his daughter, Ellen Littlefield Elder, and his uncle, Edmund Hall.

The correspondence comprising the collection includes several recurring subjects: schooling, medical treatment, social customs, religious matters (selecting ministers, sermons, and church activities), agriculture (types of crops grown and prices received), food prices in Michigan, fashions of domestic furnishings (see Josiah Littlefield folder: September 13, 1874, September 24, 1874, October 4, 1874 and January 1, 1874 from Ellen Hart Littlefield; Mary Hall Littlefield folder: October 14, 1874 from Josiah Littlefield; Ellen Hart Littlefield folder: March 3, 1875 from Lucy Hart and October 5, 1873, letter from Josiah Littlefield; see Ellen Hart Littlefield folder: April 25, 1875 from Jessie Hart Williams).

Interesting though brief descriptions of Oberlin College in the 1830's occur in letters from Edmund Hall (see Martha Smith Hall folder: February 15, 1840 from Edmund Hall; and Mary Hall Littlefield folder: May 21, 1836 and October 11, 1836 from Edmund Hall). Mr. Hall apparently became involved in abolition activities in Michigan in the mid 1840's. A listing of seven speeches scheduled for September or October, 1844 is in the first Edmund Hall folder.

In the area of women's history, parts of the collection cover several topics of interest in addition to those referred to as recurring subjects. Martha Smith Hall, Josiah Littlefield's maternal grandmother left her husband E.F. Hall in New York state about 1830 and migrated to Michigan with her children. She managed to establish a new home and raise and educate her family without any economic help from her husband. (see Martha Hitchcock folder: February 2, 1854 from E.F. Hall, October 12, 1855 from Carolina A. Kinsley; see Edmund Hall folder: August 13, 1855 and August 21, 1855 from Carolina A. Kinsley, October 20, 1855 from Martha Hitchcock, and October 2, 1855 to Mrs. Kinsley from Edmund Hall).

Reference to a case of post-natal depression so severe that it culminated in temporary insanity and the killing of a child occurs in the Josiah Littlefield folder (January 15, 1875 from Ellen Hart Littlefield). Descriptions of another serious post-natal depression are contained in the Josiah Littlefield folder (January 15, 1875 from Ellen hart Littlefield and May 21, 1877 from Margaret Hart).