Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Papers of the Upjohn family of Hastings and Kalamazoo, Michigan, collected by Dr. E. Gifford Upjohn. Papers and genealogical materials of Upjohn and related families, especially the Mills family, Kirby family, and Clough family; include materials concerning family activities, medical practice, and daily life; also papers concerning the work of Clough family members as missionaries to southern India; and selected Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company historical records; and photographs.

The Upjohn family papers, collected and preserved by Dr. E. Gifford Upjohn, consist of materials brought together by various family members primarily for genealogical purposes. More than a "family archive" because of the importance of the Upjohns as founders of the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company in Kalamazoo, the collection includes material spanning the period from the early 1800s to the present. The Upjohn Collection consists of three feet of manuscripts, two feet of family related books and bound manuscripts, and two feet of photographs.

Because of its diversity, the collection has been divided into five series of papers: Upjohn family; Families related to the Upjohns; Upjohn Company; Printed Materials; and Photographs.

Papers collected by Robert U. Redpath and Richard U. Light of the Upjohn family of upstate New York and western Michigan, founders of the Upjohn Company. Daybooks, daily journals, sermon notes, and journal of trip to America and on the Erie Canal in 1830 of William Upjohn.

This collection, accumulated by Robert U. Redpath and Richard U. Light, consists largely of papers of William Upjohn, born in England, who migration to New York in 1830. Much of the material dates from before the passage to America, and includes sermons, daybooks and journals, and material relating to his work as surveyor and timber appraiser. The materials after 1830 concern his passage to his eventual home in upper New York State and to his business endeavors. Of interest is a folder of the minutes of the Greenbush Debating Society in 1833. In addition, there is a series consisting of papers (mainly photocopied) of other family members, including correspondence, Civil War materials, and miscellanea. A final series is comprised of various medical volumes owned by Upjohn family members.

Transcripts for diaries of William Upjohn written from 1820 to 1826 were added to the collection in 2019.

The University of Michigan Herbarium, started in 1837, is home to over 1.7 million species and is one of the world's leading botanical collections. The U-M Herbarium records collection includes correspondence, photographs, and research materials documenting early Herbarium history, U-M's ethno botanical research practices, and the international professional discourse surrounding botanical research.

The collection represents the Herbarium's actions as a collector of the historical correspondence and photographs of botanical researchers. The records contained within this collection primarily document the research methods and professional conversations of American botanists. Through the correspondence and papers of Michigan and U-M botanists, this collection also documents the development of the Herbarium, its activities, and its status as a collector of botanical specimens and historical records. Researchers should note that there are photographs and plant specimens scattered throughout the correspondence series, and whereas the plant specimens are noted in the box listing, the photographs are not. The collection's four series include Harley Harris Bartlett Papers, Herbarium Historical Correspondence, Herbarium Historical Photographs, and Archived Website.

Church registers, baptismal records, and death and marriage records dating from 1704 to 1842.

The record group includes church registers, baptismal records, and death and marriage records dating from 1704 to 1842.

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.

Materials collected by Fred R. Schmalzriedt, a Detroit attorney.

This collection is comprised of contracts, dated 1799 and 1801, signed by Henry Dearborn and James McHenry, U.S. Secretary of War, for distributing food rations to various army posts, including Detroit and Michilimackinac.

Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan families; correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other family documents.

Although titled the Pattengill family papers, this accumulation is also the records of the Foster, Sharpsteen, and Woodward families. The historian of the family was undoubtedly Theodore G. Foster and his wife Margaret Foster (née Pattengill). Through these donors, the library received different family collections that have been separately cataloged, although they obviously contain inter-related materials. These other collections, also housed at the Bentley Historical Library are Theodore Foster papers (1835-1862); Henry R. Pattengill papers (1861-1939); and the Margaret Pattengill Foster papers (1903-1961).

This grouping of family materials is actually more about the Foster line of the family than Pattengill or Sharpsteen. The papers have been arranged by name of family: Foster, Pattengill, and Sharpsteen, with an additional series of various family members and miscellaneous. Within each family, the materials have been maintained as arranged by the donor into separate files for individual family members. Of particular interest are the papers of Seymour Foster who was postmaster of Lansing and active in preserving the memory of his brother Charles T. Foster who was killed during the Civil War. The Grand Army of the Republic named one of its veterans post in Charles T. Foster's name. Also included is a volume of transcribed correspondence of Theodore Pattengill Foster, describing his time as a soldier during World War II.

The collection is also of value for the genealogical research materials accumulated on the Foster, Pattengill, Springsteen, and Woodward families.

Family of Baptist ministers from New York state and southwestern Michigan; papers of Harvey Munger, his son William L. Munger, William's wife Octavia and other members of the Munger, Griffin, and Brown family.

The collection is organized by family member. The papers of Harvey Munger include correspondence and a journal/account book (1835-1847). The papers of William L. Munger include letters received from Walter Rauschenbusch (1886-1918), sermons, writings and articles, and other papers relating to his activities with the Michigan Anti- Saloon League. The Octavia Griffin Munger papers include correspondence with family members and friends, writings, and papers relating to her work with the Woman's Baptist Home and Missionary Society of Michigan. There are also small files of materials from other members of the Munger family that primarily contain correspondence. Of note are papers of Solomon Brown dating back to the eighteenth century and a letter received by Nancy Brown in 1841 from Sault Ste. Marie missionary, Abel Bingham, 1841. The collection also includes a copy of a letter written by Angie Bingham Gilbert describing events surrounding the murder of James Schoolcraft by John Tanner. Tanner had formerly been a captive of the Indians in the 1840s in the Sault Ste. Marie area of Michigan.

Williamston, Ingham County, Michigan, family. Financial records, clippings, and correspondence relating to Mullett Farm and John Mullett, surveyor; extract, 1864, from Meridian Township Register Book; letterpress book, journal, and correspondence, 1852-1893, of John H. Forster, surveyor, agent for Pewabic Mining Company, Hancock, Mich., and later owner of Springbrook Farm, Ingham County, Michigan; diary, 1840-1841, of Catherine Hall; and map, 1859, of Mullett Farm; and photographs.

The Mullett family collection contains many useful descriptions of the state, and is a good source of information for some of the state's economic and topographic conditions during the 19th century. The papers, 1825-1936, are broken down into four series.

First president of University of Michigan, 1817-1821, Presbyterian minister in Detroit, Blissfield, Michigan, and Elyria, Ohio; professor at Hamilton College; correspondence, diaries, sermons, speeches, and papers of other family members.

The John Monteith microfilm collection consists of correspondence, diaries, sermons, and papers of other family members. The originals of these materials are also available at the library; to best preserve the originals, access is limited to the microfilm copies.

The correspondence includes letters from Monteith to members of his family and others discussing current events, his work, travel, places visited, temperance reform, slavery, and bank failures. There are also letters to/from Monteith's wife, Abigail, his daughter, Sarah, his sons George, John Jr., Charles, and Edwin, and scattered letters from other relatives and friends. George's letters cover his service as an officer in the Fourth Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. Besides the letters there are diaries kept by Monteith (1815-1838), notes on his library, sermons and a volume of sermon outlines, speeches, notes on class lectures and other subjects, personal account books, a notebook (1820) containing Chippewa-English vocabulary, student notes (1797-1798) taken by Alexander Monteith at Dickinson College. In addition, there is a manuscript play written by John Monteith Jr. entitled, "The Raging Firelands," and a biography of Abigail Monteith, written by her son, Edwin (1859).

Of special interest is the annual report, Nov. 1818, of John Monteith to governor and judges of Michigan Territory concerning the University of Michigania.