Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Western Michigan teacher, businessman and local historian. Correspondence, journal, speeches, notes and articles.

The collection is arranged into four series: Correspondence; Journals; Speeches, notes and articles; and Other materials. The collection documents his career as a teacher in Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and Galesburg, Michigan. Of interest are his experiences as a teacher in Mississippi before the Civil War. The correspondence and journals reveal his scholarly and political interests. The collection also includes minutes, 1861-1876, of the Galesburg Temperance Society.

Orlan Arnold was an environmental chemist who conducted research on water and air pollution. Virginia Safford Arnold was a pianist and music teacher. The collection includes correspondence, professional papers, biographical material, press clippings, and photographs relating to life and careers of Orlan Arnold and Virginia Safford Arnold. Also included are genealogical and other materials for the Albright, Crawford, Safford, and Sunderland families.

The Arnold-Safford family papers contain photographic materials and mementos dating from as early as 1856, but the majority of the collection is comprised of materials from the beginning of the twentieth century through the late 1930s. The collection is divided into four series: Orlan Arnold Papers, Virginia Safford Arnold Papers, Genealogical Research, and Family Photographs and Mementos.

The Arnold Transit Company is the longest operating ferry line on the straits of Mackinac. Founded in 1878 by George T. Arnold, the line continues to transport thousands of passengers and tons of freight every year. The record group consists primarily of early financial records, various property interests of Arnold Transit, and the estates of the Arnold family.

The record group consists primarily of early financial records, dating back to 1850, before the company was founded. Other records document the various property interests of the Arnold Transit Company (ATC), and the estates of the Arnold family. The vessels themselves are represented through various certificates, manifests, and logs. Historical advertisements of Arnold Transit have been preserved, as well as promotions of the straits of Mackinac and surrounding area in general. Architectural plans, documents of area organizations, information on competing lines, and a fair number of photographs round out the collection.

The record group is comprised of seven series: Administration, Union Terminal Piers, Topical Files, Area Organizations, People, Visual Materials, and Vessels.

Materials documenting the business transactions and personal communications of the Edward Ingraham family of Bay City, Michigan and Old Saybrook, Connecticut between the years of 1852 and 1881. The collection is particularly strong in legal documentation of the time periods covered, including deeds, agreements, insurance policies, permits and certifications Family and professional correspondence also account for a large portion of the collection.

This collection is comprised of family letters and business records from the Edward Ingraham family. The materials were first collected by Arthur Ingraham Martindale, and were further arranged by Arthur's children. Materials are divided into two series: the Marguerite M. Braden series and the Helen Martindale Roberts series.

U.S. District Court Judge, Eastern District of Michigan; Federal trial court case files, personal and professional correspondence, scrapbooks, University of Michigan student notebooks, and other materials concerning legal activities, Republican Party politics, prohibition, the election of 1924, Sigma Alpha Epsilon affairs; also family materials, including grandfather, John J. Tuttle, Leslie, Michigan, Ingham County official and businessman; and photographs.

The Arthur J. Tuttle Papers are arranged in 13 series: case files, opinions and jury instructions, topical office files, conciliation commissioners, criminal files, correspondence, letterbooks, scrapbooks, University of Michigan, financial matters, miscellaneous biographical materials, Tuttle family materials, and visual materials.

Arthur R. Kooker was a professor of history at the University of Southern California. His specialty was the anti-slavery movement. In the course of his work on his dissertation, Kooker acquired, from different sources, material pertaining to the anti-slavery movement in Michigan. Collection includes correspondence, notebooks, writings, and genealogical material of Nathan M. Thomas, Schoolcraft, Michigan, physician, anti-slavery spokesman and activist, agent for Signal of Liberty (abolitionist newspaper) and conductor on the underground railroad; include letter describing Kansas in 1856, letters discussing pre- and post-Civil War politics, especially as relates to anti-slavery, and letters from Gerrit Smith, 1858-1859.

The Arthur R. Kooker collection consists of collected materials on the anti-slavery movement in Michigan. It came to the library in two principal accessions, 1979 and 1984. The collection is small but rich in source material. Included are correspondence, notebooks, writings, and genealogical material of Nathan M. Thomas, who was a Schoolcraft, Michigan physician and anti-slavery activist. Thomas was agent for the abolitionist newspaper The Signal of Liberty, and a conductor on the underground railroad. The collection includes letters discussing pre- and post-Civil War politics, especially relating to the issue of slavery. Of special note is a letter describing the situation in Kansas in 1856 and letters from Gerrit Smith, 1858-185. One of Kooker's interest was the underground railroad. Among the materials that he collected is a notebook probably compiled by a conductor in which he lists the stops of safe haven in the journey from the South through Michigan and into Canada. This volume also lists the names of fugitive slaves who made their way to Canada.

Ann Arbor, Mich., civil engineering, surveying, and planning firm. Cadastral maps, showing land ownership, of Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor, Mich.; also maps of mill sites on Huron River at Broadway in Ann Arbor. Many of the maps drawn by J. B. Davis.

The maps in this collection were not created by Atwell-Hicks, but were apparently acquired by the firm in the course of its business.

There are four groups of maps in the collection: Plat maps of Washtenaw County (20 maps), Plat maps of Ann Arbor (11 maps), Maps of mill sites along the Huron River at Broadway in Ann Arbor (7 maps), and Miscellaneous (1 map).

Plat maps of Washtenaw County include one map for each township, which show names of initial land purchasers and subsequent landowners through about the 1850s. Plat maps of Ann Arbor are cadastral maps (show property boundaries) and some show land ownership as well. Maps of mill sites along the Huron River at Broadway in Ann Arbor show in great detail the complex of mills, millraces, dams, and outbuildings in the Broadway area. Miscellaneous includes one map of a lake in Lenawee County.

Materials collected by Helen Blair Lamar and subsequently donated to the Blair Society for Genealogical Research and pertaining to the Austin Blair family of Michigan and related family lines, the Hanks family and the North family. The collection, arranged by family name and then by individual, includes original with some typed transcripts of family letters, diaries, legal documents, poetry, personal items, and visual materials.

Helen Blair Lamar kept the papers of the Blair, Hanks and North families for many years. After her death they were given to the Blair Society for Genealogical Research, which in turn donated them to the Bentley Historical Library. This collection exemplifies the slightly random character of family papers accumulated over several generations. There is a wide variety of material on a large number of individuals. In an attempt to keep things as clear as possible, the majority of the papers--manuscript, typescript and printed--have been arranged by FAMILY GROUPS which are subdivided by Personal Name and arranged by generation. This is followed by a small second series of miscellaneous PRINTED MATERIALS. A substantial third series of VISUAL MATERIALS includes Scrapbooks, Photographs, Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes, Tintypes and Glass Plate Negatives.

Correspondence, 1861-1864, of family members who served in the Civil War, including brothers William Baird (Co. C, 6th Michigan Cavalry and later Co. K, 23rd U.S. Colored Infantry) and Henry C. Baird (Co. L, 7th Michigan Cavalry), cousins William E. Baird (Co. E, 22nd Michigan Infantry) and Frederick Diem (Co. C, 6th Michigan Cavalry); other family correspondence of the Civil War era, a reminiscence by William Baird of his family history and Civil War experiences, and miscellanea. William Baird's reminiscence includes an account of his parentage, life on a farm in St. Clair County, early schooling and teaching experiences, and his experiences in the Civil War. He enlisted in Company C, 6th Michigan Cavalry in 1862, and was in winter camp in Washington. The highlights of his journal are the battle of Gettysburg, where he was wounded; studying in a Philadelphia hospital to become a commissioned officer; the granting of his commission through the help of Representative Francis W. Kellogg, and his assignment as first lieutenant to Company K, 23rd U. S. Colored Infantry.

Farmer at Volinia Township, Cass County, Michigan. Journals, financial records, papers of other family members.

The collection is divided into three series: Journals, Farm records, and Other Family Members.