Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection consists of over 300 letters that Private Albert Starke Drischell wrote to his family in Baldwin, New York, while serving in the United States Army during World War II. The collection also contains letters and postcards that Drischell received during his military service. Drischell wrote about his experiences while training in various camps, participating in an educational program, working with army theatrical groups in the United States and England, and serving in Germany during the last months of the war and the first months of the occupation.

The bulk of this collection (1 linear foot) consists of over 300 letters that Private Albert Starke Drischell wrote to his family in Baldwin, New York, about his experiences in the United States Army from January 21, 1943-December 6, 1945. The collection also contains letters and postcards that Drischell received during his military service and a few ephemera items.

Drischell addressed the majority of his letters to his parents, and occasionally wrote to his younger siblings, Ralph and Ruth. He composed his first letters while at Camp Upton in Long Island, New York, soon after entering the service, and provided his impressions of the camp, his companions, military life, and training exercises. At Camp Swift, Texas, he wrote about his experiences at Texas A&M University, where he was among a group tested for entrance into a selective educational program. After being accepted, he moved to New Mexico and began taking college-level engineering courses at New Mexico College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts. He and many others found the coursework difficult, and by November he had failed a course and was removed from the program. While in New Mexico, he shared his determination to succeed and gave his opinions of other men in the army, particularly his negative opinions of those who drank to excess (July 8, 1943). He also mentioned his moral objection to the war.

Drischell left New Mexico for Fort Custer, Michigan, where he attended courses in military government and occasionally guarded German prisoners. In one letter, he expressed his fear that soldiers would have difficulty readjusting to civilian life after being schooled in "mass murder" (January 23, 1944). In early 1945, Drischell moved to Camp Reynolds, Pennsylvania, where his unit awaited overseas deployment. He continued to describe his experiences, offered his opinions on the army, and mentioned trips taken to the surrounding towns while on temporary leave. In mid-May 1944, Drischell arrived in Scotland, though he was transferred to England soon after. As part of a replacement battalion, he occupied much of his free time by accompanying women to dances and befriending local families. He also acted in a play put on by the army, and briefly toured with an army theatrical group in the fall of 1944, an experience he enjoyed and hoped to continue in his post-army life. Many of his letters from this time focused on the economic and physical hardships of the war, and other letters mention a visit to London (February 15, 1945), his support for Thomas E. Dewey in the 1944 presidential election (August 6, 1944), George Bernard Shaw's views on capitalism, communism, and democracy (August 8, 1944), and his efforts to obtain conscientious objector status.

After being deployed on the Continent in March 1945, Drischell shared his impressions of the devastated French and German countryside, through which he advanced as part of the 318th Infantry Regiment. After the war, he described the small Austrian town where he was stationed, in which German children born out of wedlock were being "raised for use in foreign lands" (May 16, 1945). Drischell also accounted for the gap in his letters between April and May, when he advanced deep into Germany and Austria and participated in active combat (May 31, 1945, et al.). Freed from the constraints of censorship after V-E day, he reported on some of his combat experiences, and he believed that he never directly killed an enemy soldier. Throughout his European service, Drischell continually voiced his appreciation for the United States and compared it to Europe, occasionally calling his native country a relative "utopia."

Drischell sometimes enclosed souvenirs from his European travels in his letters, including a French 50-franc note (March 25, 1945), German stamps (June 20, 1945), and clippings from the Stars and Stripes and other papers. By late August 1945, he was in Paris as a member of a traveling dramatic troupe, and he wrote less frequently. His final letter, dated December 6, 1945, reveals that he went on tour in Germany.

Additional items include 2 printed church programs from 1944, a newspaper clipping featuring an English unit's canine mascot, and a list of men from St. Peter's Church who served in the war, including Albert S. Drischell. One undated letter fragment from "Iggie" discusses his experiences as a soldier in India, and another by an anonymous writer concerns Drischell's acting and a mutual acquaintance named "Fip."

Albert Whiteley of Columbia County, Maryland, compiled these two notebooks while a student at Jefferson Medical College between 1837 and 1839. He recorded detailed lecture notes from numerous physicians on topics such as surgery, anatomy, obstetrics, general medicine, and chemistry.

Albert Whiteley of Columbia County, Maryland, compiled these two notebooks while a student at Jefferson Medical College between 1837 and 1839. He recorded detailed lecture notes from numerous physicians on topics such as surgery, anatomy, obstetrics, general medicine, and chemistry.

The first volume (6"x3.5", approximately 115 pages) contains notes on lectures that Dr. George McClellan, one of the founders of Jefferson Medical College, delivered between January 1838 and June 1839, concerning surgical methods. The second volume (7.75"x6", approximately 275 pages) contains notes on lectures by numerous instructors, including Samuel Colhoun, Samuel McClellan, John Revere, Granville Sharp Pattison, Jacob Green, Robley Dunglison, and George McClellan.

Each notebook covers a variety of medical topics, with discussions on specific diseases, ailments, and treatments, as well as general information about medicine and related topics. Treatments are frequently described in detail, and the notebooks record instructions for bloodletting, amputation, and other contemporary medical procedures. Medicinal treatments are occasionally mentioned, though the material concentrates primarily on physicians' practices. The second volume also contains lengthy discussions of human anatomy and physiology, a section on obstetrics, and information about general chemistry.

The Albert Wilder papers primarily consist of Wilder's letters home to his sister, Sarah, and brother-in-law, William, while he served in the Civil War. Wilder enlisted in the 39th Massachusetts Infantry in 1862 at the age of 21 and died after being wounded near Spotsylvania, Pennsylvania, 1864.

The Albert Wilder Civil War letters are written almost entirely to his sister, Sarah, and her husband, William, whose last name may have been Flaisdell. One letter, written from the hospital following his wounding, is addressed to his mother, and the final letter in the collection, written a week before his death, is badly tattered, showing how much it was fondled, read and reread, as a relic from the late Albert. Because his regiment saw so little military action for so long, the war news which Albert encloses in his letters is almost entirely second hand; he had little to report first-hand. There are no letters at all for three months after Mine Run, suggesting that the collection may be incomplete.

A constant theme of the early letters is advice to friends back home as to whether or not they should come to the war. He advises his married brother-in-law to stay at home, because there are enough single men to fight the war. He discusses the shoe trade back home in Massachusetts, and politics in the home state, with some information on camp life and the common soldiers' perspective on the leaders of the war. His letters to William are more substantive on the whole; those to Sarah are little more than one-liners in answer to her letters.

Two letters in the collection were written by James R. French to his parents. Men from the French family were in the 39th Massachusetts, but James was not among them. His letters are semi-literate, but illustrate well the quality of life found in the lower (rural?) class: he writes that morale in the regiment is low "sens we found out we ar fitine for nigers" and admonishes his parents to keep the money he sends to them: "I dont want that wife of mine if I must carle her wife to have a sent of it."

This collection contains correspondence between Albert W. Stahl, his sister Emma, and his wife, Blanche Vinton. Albert and Blanche Stahl often wrote to Emma Stahl about their lives in Lafayette, Indiana, where Albert worked for Purdue University during much of the 1880s. Albert also wrote letters in German to his mother, Henrietta Stahl.

This collection contains 62 letters that members of the Stahl family exchanged from November 1, 1883-October 19, 1890. Most items are Albert W. Stahl's letters to his sister Emma and to his mother Henrietta, who both lived in New York City; he wrote to his mother in German. Stahl discussed aspects of his life in Lafayette, Indiana, such as his participation in the "Daisy Dancing Club," and commented on the health of his wife, Blanche Vinton, who also wrote to Emma about her social activities in Lafayette. Some of Stahl's early letters refer to his decision to marry Blanche, whom the family had not met. In his later letters, Stahl mentioned travel to Chicago, his life in San Francisco, and family finances; he enclosed a letter from the Northwestern Mortgage Trust Company in his letter of February 5, 1889, and provided a list of private finance-related telegraph codes in his letter of July 30, 1890, which pertains to the status of a mortgage.

The collection also contains letters by Emma Stahl, who discussed her life in New York City and, in one letter, reproached her brother for deciding to marry without consulting his family (April 29, 1884), and by David P. Vinton, who wrote to Emma about his regret at a missed visiting opportunity (September 7, 1887).

The Albin K. Putnam papers contain the scattered correspondence of an Episcopal priest and his family in New England.

The Albin K. Putnam papers contain the scattered correspondence of an Episcopal priest, documenting a life from its early setbacks in obtaining an education to its early termination in a lingering death. The collection is composed of three main sections. First are letters written by friends and relatives of Dorothy Abbott Putnam, 1821-1830 (29 August 1821-30 March 1830; 10 October [n.d.]), principally on religious topics. Second are letters by Albin K. Putnam from the time of his entry into Dartmouth College in 1834 to his death in 1847 (27 September 1834-3 January 1849). These detail Putnam's years as a student and priest, his illness and death, and his wife's difficult adjustment to widowhood. Interspersed are a few other letters not specifically relating to Albin and Fanny but which provide a more rounded picture of the Putnam family as a whole.

The third series of letters (6 August 1849-5 June 1850) document an intriguing chronicle of an old-age romance, in which William Spaulding, Dorothy Putnam's newly widowed brother-in-law, recalls how forty years earlier, he had wooed Dorothy before marrying her sister. This culminates in a second proposal of marriage, and a second refusal.

This collection includes the correspondence of Alexander C. Christopher, who enlisted in the 6th Ohio Infantry Regiment during the Civil War, and his son Charles W. Christopher, an officer in the U.S. Navy, who was on sick leave in the Hawaiian Islands from 1875 to 1878. It contains two letters received by Alexander in 1863 from his commander, 9 letters from Charles to Alexander while he was in Hawaii and California, 5 other letters received by Charles, as well as 10 letters and 3 legal documents related to Charles Christopher's estate.

This collection includes two letters received by Alexander Christopher in 1863, nine letters from Charles to Alexander Christopher, 1875-1883, five letters received by Charles Christopher, 1868-1878, and 10 letters and three legal documents related to Charles Christopher's estate, 1884-1888.

Alexander C. Christopher received two letters from a friend, Nicholas Longworth Anderson, on January 31 and November 28, 1863. Nicholas Longworth Anderson was the commander of the 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiment. The first letter discussed Nicholas Anderson's injuries, for which he received a surgeon's certificate, and mentioned a visit from Alexander's wife and daughter, "little Belle." The second letter included a memoriam for Major Graves, "a most gallant soldier and a most estimable gentleman." Anderson also wrote of his hope that the regiment would be disbanded soon, and said that he had received an anonymous letter accusing him of cowardice for remaining at home to heal from his wounds, signed by "One who pays your salary."

Charles W. Christopher's correspondence includes two letters of introduction written for him by naval officers, John Woolley and Louis Eugene Yorke; nine letters to his father, Alexander C. Christopher; and three letters received from friends, J. A. Hassinger and J. R. Carmody. In his letters to his father, he described his activities in Hawaii while convalescing from unspecified lung and throat ailments. He resided with Owen Holt, a rancher in Hawaii. Daily activities included assisting with cattle roundups, hunting for game in the mountains, reading, and going to town. In several letters, he was concerned about a lack of funds and anxious to draw his pay so that he could send money home to his father, who was apparently in financial difficulties as well.

In one letter from Waialua, Oahu, Charles described the funeral arrangements for a Chinese man who had died of an aneurism. "Mr. Holt has several Chinamen at work, but today, all except two were absent, on account of the funeral of one of their nation, Ah Kee by name. He had a small patch of cane, and came to see Mr. Holt on Thursday last about procuring some oxen for carting his cane to the mill…I believe they place a pig and a chicken by the grave, and afterwards eat them, and hold a species of high carnival" (1876 December 2).

He also shared his thoughts on naval work: "Seamanship and Gunnery are life studies. The former requires experience as well as theory, and the latter is so varied in its applications, and so constantly changing as to the instruments employed that no one man can be considered perfect in the branch. Like many other things in this world, the more insight one gets, the less does one know, unless some particular branch of the study is made a specialty" (1876 December 2).

In a later letter to his father from Harbin Springs, California, Charles described the scenery and mineral springs in the area (1883 December 2). By that time, he had lost much of his sight and had difficulty walking. After Charles W. Christopher's death in 1884, his father wrote to the Treasury Department to file a claim for "arrears of pay and mileage" due to the late Lieutenant Christopher. Between 1884 and 1886, he received five letters in response. Beginning in 1886, he also corresponded with a lawyer, John Paul Jones, regarding the case.

The Charles W. Christopher materials were formerly part of the Hawaiian Islands collection at the Clements Library.

Alexander Dunlop was a Scottish immigrant to South Carolina in 1685. His memorandum book contains a short narrative of his voyage to Antigua, entries concerning his financial affairs, a letter to his wife, and land rental entries from his son John.

The memorandum book of Alexander Dunlop is divided into three parts. The bulk of the book is written in Dunlop's hand between 1686 and 1688. Later additions were made by Dunlop's son John in 1699. Two additional entries are made in an unidentified hand.

The entries by Alexander Dunlop include a short narrative of the voyage of the vessel Richard and John of London from Kelburne (south of Largs, Ayrshire), in 1686 [folios 93-92, reversed at back of book]. Other entries related to this voyage include a note concerning £15 received from Lady Cardross, February 26, "to be delivered to My Lord Cardros when I shall come to portroyall in Carolina" and a note dated July 26 in Antigua that the money "was sent by me A D to Mylord Cardros with Tho: Steill some tyme my servitor according to his recept" [folio 2]. A copy of Steill's receipt, partly torn away, is on folio 4 the verso of folio 2 contains more accounts between Dunlop and Steill, particularly pay for the latter's service in the several weeks spent in Antigua. Folios 5 and 90b-89b contain accounts possibly related to this voyage.

The book also has a long letter from Alexander Dunlop to his wife Antonia [folios 7-13b]. Topics of the letter are money matters, sale of an estate to the Earl of Dundonald, the Earl's resignation in favor of the Dunlops' son John, their other children, and debts. This letter may have been Alexander's draft of intentions for care of his affairs after his death as he writes, "so you & freends may divyde among the childen as they deserve" [folio 9b:]. Other entries by Alexander also concern financial affairs and debts [folios 3, 5-6, and 89b-86b, folio 88 mentions "tutors" and "curators."]

The entries of John Dunlop all address the Dunlop's affairs in Scotland including financial notes and debts. Detailed descriptions, and tables titled "Rentall of the Lands of Dunlop," June 13, 1699 mentions a number of specific places, including the parks of Dunlop [folio 17], Auchentiber [folios 29b, 34], Stewarton [folio 34b], Mirrimouth [folio 20] and rents paid in money or in kind included meal, beer, hens, capons, coal, etc., some given with cash equivalents.

Additional notes in an unknown hand are made at the end of the rental accounts and with the letter of Alexander to his wife.

The Alexander family papers document the family, life, and early career of pianist Margaret June Alexander (also known as Vonya Alexandre) throughout the early 1900s. The collection is made up of two journals kept by her mother, Myrilla M. Anderson, plus letters, writings, artwork, family photographs, printed programs, sheet music, and other materials related to this Decatur County and Indianapolis, Indiana, family.

The Alexander family papers document the family, life, and early career of pianist Margaret June Alexander (also known as Vonya Alexandre) throughout the early 1900s. The collection consists of two journals kept by her mother, Myrilla M. Anderson, plus approximately 1 linear foot of letters, writings, artwork, family photographs, printed programs, sheet music, books, newspaper clippings, and other materials related to this Decatur County and Indianapolis, Indiana, family.

Margaret's mother, Myrilla Anderson Alexander, wrote two journals during Margaret's early life and stages of her musical career. The first, kept between 1894 and 1896, documents Myrilla's experiences during Margaret's infancy and a list of musical lessons, associated fees, and required books. The second journal covers 1907 to 1917, and focuses primarily on Margaret's musical performances, complemented by enclosed newspaper clippings, correspondence, and programs.

The Alexander family papers include Myrilla M. Anderson Alexander's sketchbook of ink, watercolor, and charcoal illustrations. A hand bound book appears in the collection, written for Myrilla Alexander by R. E. Sylvester, which contains poetry and sketches.

The collection includes 4 letters by Myrilla Alexander, picture postcards, calling cards, 2 blank living wills from the state of Florida, and a 1945 marriage certificate for Carl F. Grouleff and Vonya Kurzhene. A typed document titled "Remembrances of Anna Stover and Edith Surbey" recounts the friends' lives from their early education through their ongoing religious charity work. Other items include a handwritten description of Margaret June Alexander's 1913 performance at Carnegie Hall, a list of quotations, and a certificate regarding the eligibility of Mary Alexander Tarkington and Caroline Anderson Haugh to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Approximately 110 photographs depict Margaret June Alexander, her performance partner Mischel Kurzene, and members of the Alexander, Anderson, and Tarkington families. An address book kept by Myrilla Alexander includes addresses and birthdays of family and friends.

The collection's printed items include programs for musical events, sheet music, newspaper clippings, and two books. Approximately 50 programs reflect Margaret June Alexander's musical career between 1907 and 1927. Obituaries for members of the Alexander and Tarkington families appear within the collection's newspaper clippings. Multiple copies of an undated, printed advertisement for "Dr. Alexander's Effervescing Headache Powders" are also present. The collection's 2 books are G. W. H. Kemper's A Medical History of the State of Indiana (Chicago: American Medical Association Press, 1911) and Joseph Tarkington's Autobiography of Rev. Joseph Tarkington (Cincinnati: Curts & Jennings, 1899).

The papers of Alexander J. Rice consist of letters written by Rice while service as a medical officer in the United States Navy during the Mexican War.

The papers of Alexander J. Rice consist of 31 letters, all but one of which were written by Rice to members of his family, and nearly all of which were written during his service in the Mexican War. These letters, addressed to his father, John (a cashier at the Bank of New Hampshire), sisters Lizzie (d. 1850) and Augusta, and a brother (who was eventually disowned as a wastrel) form a small, but nearly complete record of a little known facet of the war, the naval operations off the Gulf Coast, and they make for captivating reading. Rice's intelligence, his fascination with the country and people, and his aptitude for close description and a good story make the collection a particularly rich resource for study of the activities of an average naval ship in a distant theater, and for American attitudes toward the war, Mexico, and Mexicans.

Other than a constant concern for the unhealthy climate, the prevalence of chills, fevers, and pestering insects, there is very little specific information on Rice's duties as a medical officer. The group of 13 letters written from the Coatzacoalco River include fascinating discussions of the hardship of being the only medical officer aboard ship, and document Rice's frustration in attempting to get the Navy to alleviate the poor sanitary conditions aboard ship, and the problems with the ship's officers, poor provisions, and inadequate medical supplies. The letter of July 22-26, 1847, is a particularly long and extraordinary account of the effect of the harsh conditions and poor sanitation in tropical waters and its effects upon the crew. These letters, too, document the frustration and inactivity of blockade duty in a stagnant backwater, but at the same time, Rice's continuing fascination with the country and people.

A series of seven letters written from Ciudad del Carmen (Camp.), Campeche (Camp.) and Sisal (Yuc.) document Rice's experiences as witness to the Caste War in Yucatán. Before being sent to Campeche to protect white refugees, Rice's sympathies clearly lay with the white population, but he and his shipmates came to sympathize with the Indians, arguing that not only had the whites provoked the crisis, but they were lazy, selfish, and ungrateful even for the protection the Navy afforded. Rice's opinions were strengthened upon receiving news of atrocities committed by whites upon the Indian population, the first when an armed force slaughtered a group of women and children, the second when Indians were killed by poisoned food left in deserted villages.

This collection is comprised of 12 incoming and outgoing letters of Alexander Lyman Holley, and 1 report card. Holley wrote 7 letters to his father, Alexander Hamilton Holley, about his educational experiences in Farmington, Connecticut, and about his life in New York City in the early 1860s. He received letters from his father (2 items), stepmother (1 item), and grandfather (1 item), who provided advice and news. His wife Mary wrote 1 letter to her father-in-law.

This collection is comprised of 12 incoming and outgoing letters of Alexander Lyman Holley, and 1 report card. Holley wrote 7 letters to his father, Alexander Hamilton Holley, about his educational experiences in Farmington, Connecticut, and about his life in New York City in the early 1860s. He received letters from his father (2 items), stepmother (1 item), and grandfather (1 item), who provided advice and news. His wife Mary wrote 1 letter to her father-in-law.

Alexander Lyman Holley composed 7 letters to Alexander Hamilton Holley between 1841 and 1862. His first 4 letters concern his education and social life at Furnace Village, [Massachusetts], and Farmington, Connecticut. He wrote about his social life, progress in school, and travels (including his June 19, 1847, letter regarding a trip to the "Bristol copper mines"). In 2 later letters, he reflected on anti-Union rioting and railroad destruction in Baltimore, Maryland (April 27, 1861), and on the difficult birth of his daughter Gertrude (October 28, 1862).

Holley's stepmother, Marcia Coffing Holley, shared her anticipation of his upcoming visit (April 28, 1849). His father wrote 2 letters dispensing life advice on alcohol, socializing, and other topics (11 pages, July 7, 1849, and July 23, 1849). Other correspondence items are a note Holley received from his grandfather, Erastus Lyman, concerning financial matters (October 9, 1854), and a letter Mary H. Holley wrote to her father-in-law about family news. The final item is an undated report card for Alexander Lyman Holley, with a brief note Holley wrote on the back.