Collections

This collection includes approximately .75 cubic feet (in 2 boxes) of Michigan genealogical-related material, mostly photocopies, 1922, 2019, of Donna Hoff-Grambau.

This collection includes approximately .75 cubic feet (in 2 boxes) of Michigan genealogical-related material, mostly photocopies, 1922, 2019, of Donna Hoff-Grambau. Included in the collection are church, cemetery, school, and local information from the Michigan counties of Bay, Isabella, Midland, Missaukee and Saginaw. Also included from Bay County is an incomplete run of the Bay County Genealogical Society’s publication The Clarion, 2004-2012. Many churches and cemeteries are documented in the collection, including several Indian Cemeteries, including photographs of headstones. Information on Bay County hospitals, Michigan Board of Registration of Nurses, and a student paper of Donna’s about the history of hospitals and nursing in Isabella County are also in the collection. A few documents from the Central Michigan Normal School (later Central State Teacher’s College and Central Michigan University), and Mount Pleasant High School, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, are included. Completing the collection are some Michigan Civil War documents (copies), materials on Donna’s family, and some of her own personal notes. The collection is organized alphabetically and by county where applicable.

Processing Note: Per the donor form, the .25 cubic foot of materials withdrawn from the collection were offered to the Isabella County Historical Society. One publication was separately cataloged.

This collection of family papers includes photographic materials, papers, family trees, and newspaper or magazine clippings of the Copeman and Reimer families and their friends and family from the Mount Pleasant, Michigan area.

This collection of family papers includes photographic materials, papers, family trees, and newspaper or magazine clippings of the Copeman and Reimer families and their friends and family from the Mount Pleasant, Michigan area. The collection is organized by series, alphabetically, and chronologically. Overall, the collection is in very good condition with some acidification, one glass plate negative with a broken corner, and tintypes which are a bit warped with minor edge damage. The major series of this collection are Copeman, Reimer, and Simonds. Nina Copeman is the main person in connection in the Copeman papers due to her historical family research. Much of the series consists of photographic materials including multiple formats of photographs from ambrotypes and tintypes through color photography. Papers consist of family correspondence, including about family history, materials related to their relative Linda Ronstadt, and the Henry Baldwin Copeman family farm in Crawford, Michigan. The Reimer series also consists of family photographs and materials, with photographs of reunions and family headstones in Palo and Mount Pleasant cemeteries. The Simonds series consists of photographs of family and their grocery store located in Mount Pleasant. The rest of the collection consist of family photographs and materials from the related Brownell, Ettinger, and Preston Families, as well as materials related to Palo Schools, Central State Teachers College, later Central Michigan University, history, and postcards with substantive notes between family members and photographic postcards of family members. The Oversized folder contains photographs of the Henry Baldwin Copeman Farm and Copeman and Reimer family trees.

Researchers should note that materials related to the family’s homestead in Idaho, Kenneth and Taimie Preston’s college photographs, Kenneth Preston’s work with the Civilian Conservation Corp, and Henry B. Copeman’s remaining diaries (including all Ku Klux Klan entries) were donated to the University of Idaho by the donor. The remaining material related to the family’s lives in Idaho were donated to Coeur d’Alene Museum and the Kellogg Museum by the donor.

Processing Note: .75 cubic feet of photographic materials, miscellaneous, and duplicates were withdrawn during processing. Acidic news clippings and materials were photocopied and the copies retained within the collection. Interfiled into other collections in the Clarke were seventeen postcards, two Michigan vertical file items, and a CMU commencement program. In August 2023, a 1852 wedding bedspread from Centreville, Pennsylvania, two Michigan friendship pillows, and miscellaneous family jewelry were transferred to the Ionia County Historical Society, and an Almont, Michigan, miniature tourist creamer or pitcher was transferred to the Almont Michigan Historical Society. Other miscellaneous items without a definite family provenance were withdrawn during processing.