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

The Abraham Lincoln assassination book illustrations collection consists of 300 photographic reproductions likely produced during the 1960s of various 19th-century photographs, paintings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, posters, and ephemera related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The Abraham Lincoln assassination book illustrations collection consists of 300 photographic reproductions likely produced during the 1960s of various 19th-century photographs, paintings, illustrations, maps, diagrams, posters, and ephemera related to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The collection provides a thorough pictorial history of Lincoln's assassination and its aftermath using photographic reproductions of select period sources. The reproductions are contained in three volumes that have been grouped into five thematic sections: "Assassination" and "Flight and Capture" (Volume 1); "Trial and Execution" and "The Funeral" (Volume 2); and "Funeral at Springfield" (Volume 3). Each thematic section is introduced with a typed index that identifies images and their original sources, which are often listed in abbreviated forms. Image sources that are cited include the Library of Congress (LC), National Park Service (NPS), Chicago Historical Society (CHS), National Archives (NA), New-York Historical Society (NYHS), Lincoln National Life Foundation (LNLF), Illinois State Historical Library (ISHS), Leslie's Illustrated, Harper's Weekly, Claude Simmons (C.S.), and more. While the subject and source of each image are noted, but there is no accompanying text or narrative concerning the events. This collection appears to have been assembled in relation to the prospective publication of an illustrated book on the topic, possibly during the 1960s as a centennial piece. Many of the photographs have chapter and page notations on the back, though there are no specific references to the author or the intended title of the prospective book.

The indexes for each thematic section are as follows:

• Second Inauguration - LC
• Mary Lincoln - LC
• Abraham Lincoln - LC
• Major Henry Rathbone - NPS
• Clara Harris - LC
• Lincoln Closed Coach - CHS
• Points in Downtown Washington - LC
• Ford's Theater from the South - ISHL
• Ford's from the North - ISHL
• Star Saloon Next to Ford's - NPS
• Simulated Night View
• Playbill April 14, 1865 - NPS
• Laura Keene - LC
• Dress Circle - NPS
• Orchestra and Parquette - NPS
• Interior Plan - NPS
• Box 7 and 8 - US Signal Corps
• Box, Orchestra, Dress and Family Circles - ISHL
• Stage and Box - Ford Museum
• Full Stage - NPS
• Diagram of Stage - From Pitman
• Stage with Explanatory Key
• Setee Used in Box - NPS
• Chair in Which Lincoln Sat - NPS
• Plan of Box - From Harper's Weekly, 4-29-65
• Doors Leading to Box - F. Leslie's Ill. News. 5-13-65
• Stick Used to Bar Door - NPS
• Seating Arrangement in Box - NPS
• Booth's Knife and Dagger - NPS
• John Wilkes Booth - NA
• The Deringer - NPS
• Berghaus Sketch from F. Leslie's I.N. 4-29-65
• Treasury Guards Flag - NPS
• Berghaus Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-6-65
• Booth's Spur - NPS
• Booth's Boot - NPS
• Berghaus Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-20-65
• Dr. Charles Leale - LC
• "Borne by Loving Hands" Bersch Painting - NPS
• Simulated Night View of Petersen House
• Room Where the President Died - NPS
• Front Parlor - NPS
• Back Parlor - NPS
• Plan of the Petersen House
• Plan with Key
• Contemporary Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-20-65
• The Alexander Ritchie Painting - LC
• Contemporary Sketch - F. Leslie's I.N. 4-29-65
• Enlargement from the Bachelder Painting - Brown U.
• Diagram of the Wound - from Eisenschiml
• Seringer with Probe, Bone and Ball - NPS
• The William Seward House - NPS
• Attack on Seward by Paine - from Hawley
• Secretary of State William Seward - LC
• Lewis Paine (Powell) - LC
• Frederick H. Seward - NA
• Paine's Revolver and Dagger - NPS
• Paine (LC) and Sketch from Harper's Weekly
• House Where Lincoln Died Present Day - NPS
• Ford's Theater Years Later - NPS
• William Clark, Occupant of the Rear Bedroom - NPS
• Corp. James Tanner - NYHS
• Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles - NPS
• Secretary of [W]ar Edwin M. Stanton - LC
• The Rev. P. D. Gurley - LC
• Surgeon General J. K. Barnes - NA
• Journalist friend Noah Brooks - ISHL
• Close Friend Dr. Alonzo Henry - ISHL
• Robert Lincoln - ISHL
• Edwin Booth - NA
• John T. Ford - NPS
• Dr. Charles A. Leale - Nat. Lib. Medicine
• Kirkwood House - C.S.
• John Nicolay, Lincoln, John Hay - NPS
• The Fatal Deringer - NPS

• Rear of Ford's - NPS
• Escape from Theatre - NPS
• Area Behind Ford's - NPS
• Assumed Flight Through City - NPS
• Anacostia Bridge - NPS
• Distant View - LC
• Flight to Garrett's Farm - NPS
• Surratt House, Surrattsville - NPS
• Road from Surrattsville - NPS
• Dr. Mudd's House - NPS
• Bedroom at Dr. Mudd's, Dr. Mudd
• Path to Zekiah Swamp - C.S.
• St. Mary's Bryantown - C.S.
• Samuel Cox Residence - NPS
• Bryantown Hotel - NPS
• Thomas Jones - NPS
• Thomas Jones House - NPS
• Old Brawner House, Pt. Tobacco - NPS
• Pages from Booth's Diary - NPS
• Believed Departure Place Potomac - C.S.
• Dents Meadow - NPS
• Crossing the Potomac - Baker's Book
• Mrs. Quesenberry's House - NPS
• Dr. Stewart's Home - C.S.
• Remains of Dock, Port Conway - C.S.
• The William Lucas Cabin - NPS
• Historical Marker - C.S.
• A Controversial Poster - NPS
• Col. Baker, Lt. Baker, L. C. Conger - NYHS
• Lt. E. P. Doherty - NPS
• Col. Lafayette Baker - NA
• Boston Corbett, Lt. Doherty - NA
• Boston Corbett - LC
• Garrett's House - NPS
• Goldman Inn, Bowling Green - C.S.
• Highly Imaginative Sketch
• Contemporary Sketch - NPS
• Plan of Garrett's Yard - NPS
• Removal of Booth from Barn - CHS
• As above - from Frank Leslie's Ill. Mag.
• Booth's Death - from Baker's Book
• Booth's Guns Found in Barn - NPS
• Booth's Revolver - NPS
• Booth's Compass - NPS
• Keys Found on His Body - NPS
• Pictures on His Body - NPS
• " " " "
• " " " "
• Returning With Booth's Body - NPS
• Post-mortem on the Montauk - NPS
• Surious Burial - from F. Leslies Ill. Mag
• Burial of Booth - from Baker's Book
• Paine's Pickaxe - NPS
• Arrest of Paine at Mrs. Surratt's - NPS
• Boston Corbett - Boston U.

• Old Capitol Prison - NPS
• Monitor "Saugus" - NA
• Transferring the Prisoners - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-26-65
• Arrival at the Old Penitentiary - NPS
• Cell Block - Harper's Weekly 7-8-65
• Paine Hooded - F. Leslie's 5-27-65
• Lewis Paine - LC
• George Atzerodt - LC
• David Herold - LC
• Sam Arnold - LC
• Michael O'Luaghlin - LC
• Edmond Spangler - LC
• Dr. Samuel Mudd - NPS
• Mary Surratt - LC
• Sketch Surratt House - NPS
• Mrs. Surratt's House - LC
• Floor Plan Courtroom - from Pitman
• The Conspirators - LC
• Scene at the Trial - Harpers W. 6-10-65
• The Courtroom - LC
• The Military Commission - LC
• The Commission sketch - NPS
• Some Members of the Commission - NA
• " " " - NA
• " " " - NA
• Judge Joseph Holt - NA
• Reverdy Johnson - NA
• Maj. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr. - LC
• Attorneys John Clampitt, William E. Doster
• Benn Pitman - LC
• Louis Wiechmann - NPS
• Booth's Note for Andrew Johnson - NPS
• Spangler's Rope - NPS
• Howard's Livery Stable - LC
• Incriminating Picture from Surratt House - NPS
• Senator James Lane - NA
• Senator Preston King - NA
• President Andrew Johnson - NA
• Anna Surratt - NA
• Remodeled Old Penetentiary - C.S.
• Father Jacob A. Walter - NA
• Prison Scenes from Old Print
• Before the Execution - LC
• The Graves - LC
• Awaiting the Prisoners - LC
• Reading the Orders - LC
• Adjusting the Nooses - LC
• Final Scene - LC
• Mary Surratt Plaque - from Confederate Museum
• Mary Surratt's Grave - C.S.
• Fort Jefferson Dry Tortugas - NA
• Tunnel at Fort Jefferson - NPS
• Dr. Mudd Plaque at Fort Jefferson - NPS
• Old and New Gravestones for Dr. Mudd - C.S.
• Spangler's Grave at St. Peter's - C.S.
• Booth's Grave, Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore
• John Wilkes Booth - Mus. City of New York
• John Surratt as a Papal Guard - LC
• Joh[n] Surratt - LC
• Returning John Surratt for Trial - Harper's W. 2-19-67
• David Herold. an early photo - NA

• Abraham Lincoln - LC
• The White House - LC
• The Capitol - LC
• The East Room - NPS
• Services in the East Room - Harper's W. 5-6-65
• Pass Funeral Service Contemporary sketch
• Draped Treasury Building - NYHS
• The Casket - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-13-65
• Washington Hearse - LC
• The Procession - F. Leslie's I.N. 5-6-65
• " "
• The Procession Forming - NPS
• " " - LC
• Turning Into Pennsylvania Ave. - Harper's W. 5-6-65
• The Procession - London Illustrated News
• Route of the Funeral Train - LNLF
• Willie Lincoln - ISHL
• The Funeral Coach - NPS
• Interior of Car - NPS
• At Harrisburg - ISHL
• The State House Harrisburg - CHS
• Train at Harrisburg - LNLF
• The Train at Philadelphia - ISHL
• The Philadelphia Hearse - LNLF
• Independence Hall - from Peterson
• Philadelphia - ISHL
• Philadelphia Scene - ISHL
• The Philadelphia Hearse - CHS
• Scenes at Philadelphia - NA
• " "
• Portion of Train in Railroad Yards - LNLF
• Crossing the Ferry to New York - from Valentine
• Arrival in New York - from Valentine
• The Procession Forming New York - NYHS
• " " " "
• New York City Hall - LNLF
• At the City Hall - LNLF
• The Body at City Hall - ISHL
• New York Procession - ISHL
• " " " "
• The New York Hearse - LC
• Death Certificate - NPS
• Scene at New York - NYHS
• Scenes in New York - from Valentine
• " " " " "
• Notice of Ceremony Lincoln, Illinois - ISHL
• The Arch at Sing Sing - NPS
• After the Procession at Albany - Albany Institute
• Buffalo Hearse - Buffalo & Erie Co. Hist. Soc.
• Procession at Buffalo " " " " "
• " " " " " " " "
• Monument Park Cleveland - CHS
• At Cleveland - CHS
• Scene at Cleveland Contemporary sketch
• Cleveland - LNLF
• Cleveland - LNLF
• Monument Park - LNLF
• At the State House Columbus ISHL
• Procession at Columbus - LNLF
• Funeral Arch Indianapolis - LNLF
• Hearse and Horses Indianapolis - LNLF
• Hearse and Casket Indianapolis - LNLF
• Hearse and Casket Indianapolis - LNLF
• Stop at Michigan City - LNLF
• Typical Smalltown Depot - ISHL
• Train at Chicago Illinois Cent. RR
• Removal of Coffin Chicago Cont. Sketch
• The Chicago Arch - LC
• Chicago Procession - Harper's Weekly 5-27-65
• Entering the City Hall - CHS
• The People at City Hall - CHS
• The Catafalque in City Hall - Harper's W. 5-20-65
• Chicago & Alton Locomotive No. 57. - ISHL
• Railroad Timetable, Chicago to Springfield - ISHL
• Notice of Observance Ilion
• Memorial Paradeat San Francisco - Soc. of Calif. Pioneers
• Memorial Service at Bloomington - CHS
• Services in London, England - London Ill. News May 1865

• The Chicago Delegation - ISHL
• Lincoln Herndon Law Office - Georg Studio
• Illinois State House - ISHL
• The Unused Tomb - ISHL
• Draped Lincoln Home - ISHL
• Draped Lincoln Parlor - ISHL
• Official Pass - ISHL
• Just Completed Catafalque - ISHL
• Second View Catafalque - ISHL
• Filing Into State House - ISHL
• Waiting to Enter - ISHL
• Across from the State House - ISHL
• Filing Past the Catafalque - Harper's Weekly 5-27-65
• Front of Lincoln Home - NPS
• "Old Bob" - ISHL
• Draped House and Horse
• Order of Procession to Oak Ridge - ISHL
• The Borrowed St. Louis Hearse - ISHL
• The Forming Procession - LNLF
• Route of the Procession
• Plan of Oak Ridge - ISHL
• The Gate at Oak Ridge - ISHL
• General View of Oak Ridge - ISHL
• Awaiting the Procession - NYHS
• The Temporary Tomb - ISHL
• The Services - ISHL
• Contemporary Sketch
• Directors of the Monument Association - ISHL
• Closeup of the Vault - ISHL
• Interior of the Temporary Tomb - ISHL
• The Present Tomb - Ill. Inf. Ser.
• Exterior of Present Tomb - Georg Studio
• Mary Todd Lincoln - NPS
• Thomas (Tad) Lincoln - ISHL
• Bishop Simpson - ISHL
• Interior of Catacomb as left by Thieves (From John Carroll Power)
• Funeral Procession Entering Oak Ridge Cemetery - NYHS

This collection is made up of ten items, mostly correspondence, written by or about Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1835-1914) and Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (1900-1965).

This collection is made up of ten items, mostly correspondence, written by or about Adlai Ewing Stevenson (1835-1914) and Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (1900-1965).

Visual material includes one press photograph by Ed Walston of Adlai Ewing Stevenson II with President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and one woodblock print of Adlai E. Stevenson II by Jacob Steinhardt.

Please see the box and folder listing below for more details about each item in the collection.

The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised largely of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items relating to slavery, abolition movements, and aspects of African American life, largely dating between 1781 and 1865.

The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised largely of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items relating to slavery, abolition movements, and aspects of African American life, largely dating between 1781 and 1865. Topics addressed in the letters and documents include the experiences and work of enslaved persons in the North and South; the buying and selling of enslaved men, women, and children; participation in the French and Indian War, American Revolution, and Civil War of African descended persons; abolitionists and abolition societies; the American Colonization Society; the lives of formerly enslaved persons; African American education; and many other subjects. For details on each document, see the inventory located under "Detailed Box and Folder Listing"

The Albert E. St. Germain collection contains correspondence, military documents, and other items relating to the St. Germain family. The bulk of the collection pertains to Albert St. Germain's service in the United States Army's press service in Europe during and just after World War I.

The Albert E. St. Germain collection (over 190 items) contains correspondence, military documents, and other items relating to the St. Germain family. The bulk of the collection pertains to Albert St. Germain's service in the United States Army's press division in Europe during and just after World War I.

The Correspondence series (28 items) is made up of personal letters related to members of the St. Germain family. Sisters Clarinda (1 item) and M. Clementina (8 item) wrote French-language letters to their parents from the Convent of Mercy in Meriden, Connecticut, between 1894 and 1900. Other convent correspondents included Sister Teresa, who invited the St. Germain family to a ceremony (August 10, 1896), and Sister M. Augustine, who sent a telegram about Sister Clementina's death in November 1900. A woman named "Leontina" wrote 4 letters to Leon St. Germain from Québec in 1905.

Albert E. St. Germain wrote 6 letters to his mother and 2 letters to his brother Oscar while serving in the United States Army in France during and immediately after World War I. He described his travels in France and discussed some of his duties in the press section. In 1919, an acquaintance named J. Morgan wrote Albert St. Germain a personal letter and a letter of recommendation. Later correspondence includes a letter that one of Albert's children wrote to him in 1959, a letter about the 50 reunion of the Bulkeley High School class of 1914, and a World War II-era greeting card from the South Pacific.

The Documents series is divided into two subseries. Military Documents (97 items) are mostly comprised of news bulletins and intelligence summaries providing details about the Allied war effort in France from September 1918-November 1918, as well as 2 copies of Gerald Morgan's recollections about service as Chief Field Censor for the American Expeditionary Forces, written in February 1919. Department of Labor and Personal Documents (15 items) include intelligence tests, Albert St. Germain's employment history, a blank naturalization form, documents related to Leon St. German's estate, and documents regarding field stations during World War II.

The Photographs series (3 items) contains 2 formal card photograph portraits of an unidentified couple and of Albert E. St. Germain, as well as a photograph of Albert E. Saint Germain, in uniform, shaking hands with a French soldier. The latter photograph is enclosed with a copy of the New York newspaper that ran the photograph on August 4, 1918.

The Writings and Pencil Sketch series is comprised of 7 copies of stories that Albert E. St. Germain wrote around the World War I era. The writings include an account of his interactions with a French citizen during the war, a camping trip, and various other subjects; some of the drafts have manuscript notes. The collection has duplicate copies of 2 stories. The series includes a pencil drawing of "Le Vieux Moulin."

• The Cards and Currency subseries (4 items) consists of 3 business cards of Albert E. St. Germain and a French banknote.
• The Maps subseries (5 items) contains printed maps of the Moselle River, the Rhine River, and Bar-le-Duc, France; one of the Rhine River maps was produced for members of the army of occupation. Also included is a blueprint map of properties that Leon St. Germain owned in Waterford, Connecticut.
• The Pamphlets subseries (6 items) has the following items: a retrospective and commencement program related to the Bulkeley School class of 1914, a cover from a copy of The Louis Allis Messenger, a page from a printed recipe book, a pamphlet about the United States flag, and a copy of the United States Constitution with additional information for use in passing the country's citizenship examination.
• The Newspapers subseries (13 items) contains around 10 articles about World War I, the Bulkeley School, Albert E. St. Germain, and army censorship. The newspaper articles originate from papers in Connecticut and France. Three copies of The Stars and Stripes, dated 1918, are also present.

The Address Book and Fragments series (14 items) includes manuscript, typed, and printed fragments, and an address book that Albert St. Germain owned while working for the United States Department of Labor.

The Artifacts series consists of a brown leather satchel.

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 Allaire-Gibbons papers contain letters, receipts, and other material related to the early steamboat industry and, more specifically, to the 19th-century business affairs of James P. Allaire, Thomas Gibbons, and William Gibbons.

The Allaire-Gibbons papers contain letters, receipts, and other material related to the early steamboat industry and, more specifically, to the 19th-century business affairs of James P. Allaire, Thomas Gibbons, and William Gibbons.

The Correspondence series (16 items) consists primarily of business correspondence addressed to Thomas Gibbons, William Gibbons, and James P. Allaire. The earlier material in the series (1822-1837) is related to the Gibbons family's business affairs and often pertains to the legal disputes between Thomas Gibbons and Aaron Ogden. These include several letters from William Gibbons to his father, in which he discusses the impending court case as well as his own personal affairs. The majority of the series consists of later material (1837-1849) related to James P. Allaire's business interests, including the manufacture of steamboat engines. Interspersed with these items are receipts for parts related to Allaire's industrial operations.

The Documents series (12 items) contains receipts related to steamboats owned by James P. Allaire as well as 20th-century material about the early steamboat industry and the town of Allaire, New Jersey. The series includes 5 receipts for steamboat supplies (1828; 1856), including material for the Swan, the Thistle, and the Emerald, all Gibbons-owned ships whose engines were supplied by Allaire. The series also includes a document signed by the crew of the Swan affirming the receipt of their wages for April 1828. Later material in the collection includes two postcards of watercolor pictures of Allaire, New Jersey, and two articles, from the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society (January 1949) and American Heritage (October 1963), respectively. These relate to the early steamboat business, and to the role of Thomas Gibbons in its development.

The Aplin family papers consists mostly of letters to and from the three Aplin sons during their service in the Civil War.

The Aplin papers are most valuable not as a record of military service, for the news of battle and camp is meager and often second-hand, but as an expression of life on the home front, largely from a woman's point of view. Most of the letters (78) are from mother Elvira Aplin to son George. They are lengthy, colorful, and highly opinionated statements of her views on southerners, Copperheads, Union officers, the economic and political scene at home, the draft, war strategy, religion, and -- above all -- the behavior of her sons. On June 11, 1863 she writes, "I feel as tho I could bear any other trouble better than to hear my children have lost their good names," and admonishes George that "[y]our patriotism is all right, but you are apt to be a little tardy, and do not always render that obedience to superior officers that your oath requires." Of his journalistic efforts, she remarked that it was not proper to write "how many die there every week, and how the dead are buried after battle. I don't doubt the both of them, but it does no good to tell it, and it makes the friends of the sick and of those who die in battle feel very bad to read such accounts, while they cannot do anything to make it better." (1863 March 16) Elvira found fault with Tommy and George for not saving any of their money, as Tip did, and provoked her youngest son's fiery temper with such criticism.

Mrs. Aplin's disapproval focused on larger targets as well; as the war dragged on, she lost all patience with Union officers and developed a simmering hatred of Confederate leaders and sympathizers. A letter of March 28, 1865 tells of her fervent wish to hear that "the officers of the Southern empire army and navy have been suspended from the trees. Hunt the gurillas like wolves till the land is rid of them. Then I want the soldiers to come home and punish the northern Copperheads till they will never dare to sympathize with the south again." Southern culture also failed to impress; Elvira remarked of a magazine George had sent home "[i]f that is a specimen of southern literature I think almost any of our northern blockheads could write for periodicals in that country. ... They need a little more larnin as bad as I do." Behind Elvira's ornery criticisms lay a deep sadness and unease as she yearned for "this butchering of human beings be done away ... while there is a few left alive." She came to see herself and Sarah as perpetual wanderers who would "spend the rest of our lives alone, in this dreary world alone, without home or friend."

14 letters from Sarah Aplin to George also offer commentary on the home front, but are less detailed and expressive. School-teacher Sarah was clearly of milder temperament than her mother, but did indulge in good-natured teasing about her brother's southern girlfriends. Two brief comments in letters of her mother and of friend Ellen Johnson refer to Sarah being left a "grass widder." Since there are no references to a child being born, presumably this means she had been spurned by a suitor -- another of the many trials she and Elvira had to bear during these years.

Sister Helen [Aplin] Wheeler's 7 letters to George offer a contrast to Sarah's articulate and grammatical writing, revealing her prejudices and lack of education. Expressing the opinion that blacks are better off enslaved, she asks whether her brother went to war "to liberate them paltry slaves or for the constitution..." Helen teasingly requests that he send her "some collard girl that knows how to work," carefully noting that she prefers "a darkey girl ... that was quite good looking not one of the real black ones..." (1863 February 9, March 16)

An interesting subset of correspondence consists of 20 letters to George from Ellen Johnson, whom he later married. Some of the letters feature coy references to their courtship, while others remark on more substantive matters. "There is to be another draft and I hope they will take all the cowards and runaways that is in the country. And those that have gone to Canada have got to be branded so that we will know them in after days if they ever return," she writes on February 15, 1863. As the war drags on Ellen bitterly remarks that "some of our nigger loving friends say that the war will be ended in two months. I don't see what reason they have for thinking so." (1863 March 23)

23 letters to George and Sarah from brothers Tip and Tommy include some information on their war experiences and attitudes. Tommy's letters are particularly revealing, as he expresses resentment of his mother's criticisms, chafes with impatience to get back in the fighting, boasts that he does not fear death and has had a premonition of dying, and shows his disregard for military rules and regulations. On August 1, 1862 he writes of his dislike for guard duty: "I tell you this kind of guarding goes against the grain with me & when I am guarding a secesh orchard or cornfield I never see anything that is a going on if I can help it I never see any of the boys till they get their haversacks full & they always outrun me I never catched one yet..."

The collection contains just 8 wartime letters by George Aplin, who shows his journalistic bent in a long July 5, 1862 missive to "James" which chronicles his regiment's journey south and initial war experiences around Corinth, Mississippi, including colorful opinions on the people, houses, and landscape. One of 4 letters from George to Sarah Aplin includes a description and pencil sketch of Iuka, Mississippi, a watering place with mineral springs. (1862 July 27)

Although the bulk of the Aplin Family Papers date from the Civil War years, there is enough post-war material to round out the family saga. Tip fared reasonably well in business and politics, while George struggled. Elvira had a home once more, with George's family, but must have shared in the hardships. Post-war correspondence with lawyers, creditors, the War Dept., and Tip offers a sad picture of George's financial difficulties and failures, as he lost his farm and had to rely on his brother for money and help in getting work. His war experience was to be the highlight of George Aplin's life. The collection includes a photograph of him in military uniform at the age of 77, reliving past glories.

The Beeson family papers consist of genealogical notes, travel journals, business documents, and correspondence relating to several generations of the Beeson family, who settled in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in the 18th century, and later migrated to Michigan and Wisconsin.

This collection consists of 137 items, including: 55 items relating to financial matters -- receipts, bank and stock records, subscription lists, etc.; 39 items relating to Beeson family history and genealogy, including handwritten notes, and a 33-page typed transcription; 11 letters written by members of the Beeson and Lukens family (related to the Beeson family by marriage); 2 travel journals; 1 daily diary; 1 oversized journal, containing entries on family history, genealogy, and travel; 6 maps, including one pasted onto the flyleaf of the oversized journal; 9 newspaper clippings; 6 legal documents; 7 miscellaneous items; and one unidentified photograph.

The majority of the financial documents consist of lists of stockholders and subscriptions for the Union Bank of Pennsylvania. One document, a receipt for glassware dated 9 August 1827, is written on the illustrated letterhead of the glass manufacturer Bakewell, Page & Bakewell, of Pittsburgh.

The history and genealogy notes concern the branch of the Beeson family that was instrumental in the founding and settling of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Two descendants of this branch, Edward Beeson and Jacob Beeson (b. 1807), contribute diaries and journals to the collection.

Jacob Beeson's 1829-1830 travel journal (with occasional notes in shorthand) relates, in brief but lively entries, a journey from Uniontown to New Orleans, to help an uncle in the mercantile business. While traveling by steamer down the Mississippi, Jacob Beeson gives colorful descriptions of his fellow passengers and shipboard events. "We had scarce went 500 yds. when we were rous'd by the cry of ‘a man overboard'--drop the Stern Boat, etc. I rais'd my eyes from the book & they were immediately fix'd on the face & arm of a Slave who had pitch'd himself from the Bow of the Boat. He was between the Steamer & her boat when I saw him. By the time he got to where I saw him, he appear'd tired of his sport. He gave a piercing scream & sunk amid the Billows. The Boat was dropped awhile for him but twas to no purpose." (27 March 1829) Jacob describes going to the theater in New Orleans (13 May 1829); the landscape and climate of the area east of New Orleans (8 September 1829); a visit to "Crabtown", at Bayou St. John, where Spaniards subsisted solely by fishing for crabs (23 May 1829); battling a forest fire (14 February 1829); and the inadequacy of his boarding house fare: "For dinner, we have the standby dish of bacon, venison, cornbreads and sour milk served in tea cups, handed round on a waiter that for aught I know to the contrary performed the same service prior to the Revolution. For Supper we have the remains of dinner with the addition of coffee that would be better off than on the table." (16 June 1829) He takes several business trips by boat along the gulf coast. The journal ends with a trip North up the Mississippi in early 1830. A later diary kept by Jacob Beeson in 1873 records the business and personal affairs of a now-settled business and family man living in Detroit Michigan.

Edward Beeson provides much of the family history and genealogy in the collection. His handwritten notes, both loose and in a large bound journal, chronicle Beeson family history and lore, and contain names, dates, and narratives of his direct ancestors, and sketchier details of the wider Beeson clan.

Edward Beeson is also the author of two interesting travelogues. The first is included in the journal he kept in an oversized volume, originally intended for shipping manifests for the shipping agent Monson Lockwood, each page headed with an illustration of ships and a lighthouse. In this journal, Edward recounts a trip he takes from Wisconsin west to Kansas in 1866. He describes the towns he visits on the way, and reflects on the scars left by the Civil War. In Aubry, on the Kansas/Missouri border, his Quaker sense of outrage at the violence perpetrated by both sides is aroused by the abandoned and burnt-out homesteads:

"At this place a cavalry camp was maintained during the greater part of the war. From here the lawless Jayhawkers often started on their thieving raids into Missouri and this was also made a place to be retaliated on by the equally desperate and thievish bushwackers and guerillas of Mo. …Here a voice raised for humanity, honor, mercy, justice or freedom of speech was made the occasion for suspicion, persecution, and defamation, often ending in the murder or robbery of the luckless men who dared to think or speak. These scenes of violence, and the always present danger of life and property, had the effect of almost depopulating the country. The graves of the victims of violence are scattered over the country. The bare chimneys of burned houses loom up on the prairie, monuments of vandalism and violence such as the world has seldom seen. They stand there in the desolate silence pointing upward to heaven -- upward ever -- as if to remind the victims of war who sleep in graves nearby, that mercy and justice alone is to be found above." (9 September 1866, p. 78).

Edward Beeson's second travel journal is an account of a trip to Italy, taken by Edward Beeson and his family in 1877-1878. While his daughter, Abbie Beeson Carrington, takes voice lessons, Edward observes Italian life and customs, largely in and around Milan, and is particularly struck by the overall poverty of the region. Edward reports on the Italian diet, domestic arrangements, attitudes toward religion, and local funeral customs. He is present in Rome for the funeral of King Victor Emmanuel II, and attends celebrations commemorating the 1848 Italian Revolution against Austrian rule.

Five of the maps in the collection are hand-drawn survey maps, likely of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, dated from 1830-1850, with one undated. The sixth map, an undated, hand-drawn map of Uniontown, labeling buildings of significance to the Beeson family, is pasted onto the flyleaf of Edward Beeson's oversized journal.

The Benjamin Brown collection is made up of correspondence, documents, and artifacts related to the showman's career as a circus owner in the early 1800s. Many of the letters relate to his journey to Egypt between 1838 and 1840, as he attempted to procure giraffes for an American menagerie company; to his other travels; and to the contemporary American circus industry.

The Benjamin Brown collection is made up of correspondence, documents, and artifacts related to the showman's career as a circus owner in the early 1800s.

Letters, documents, and printed materials concern Brown's early ventures as a show owner, including correspondence and financial records pertaining to his travels in the Caribbean and to the northeast coast of South America in the early 1830s. These materials document the difficulties of transporting exotic animals by sea, the type of equipment necessary to run a circus, and other logistical issues.

A later group of letters and documents reflects Brown's experiences in Egypt, where he traveled as an agent of the June, Titus, Angevine & Company, attempting to purchase giraffes. Many of these letters are from Stebbins B. June, who was also in Egypt at the time, and several items relate to George R. Gliddon, United States consul in Cairo. Brown's friend Gerard Crane wrote about Brown's business affairs in New York, and frequently reported the increasingly frail health of Brown's father. Benjamin Brown received a letter from P. T. Barnum, who asked him to find a pair of fortune tellers for Barnum's museum. He also inquired about locating a pony small enough to accommodate his performer Tom Thumb (June 29, 1843). While in London, Brown frequently received letters from his sister, Eudocia Brown Noyes, who wrote of the Brown family farm and provided other news from Somers, New York.

The collection includes playbills and broadsides advertising Brown's circus; Brown's marriage license (March 20, 1841); a pencil sketch of Brown; two passports; and three fragments of an Arabic-language scroll, offering protection to the bearer. Later material includes newspaper clippings from 1879, 1880, and 1931, on Brown's life and career, as well as an audio tape of an interview with his grandson, Benjamin Brown.

Box 2 of the collection includes correspondence, documents, printed items, photographs, and audio recordings related to the history of Benjamin Brown, the circus, and Somers, New York. Principally organized around the career and research of Carrie Brown Rorer (1903-1969), President of the Somers Historical Society and Benjamin F. Brown's great-grandaughter, the material provides insight into public history, memory, and research on the circus. Included is a typed document, "Circus History: Recollections by Benjamin Brown (1877-1962) as told to Carrie Brown Roher, (1903-1969), who was one of his three daughters," which details memories of Benjamin F. Brown and family stories about him.

• Two shoes, [1800s]
• Burnoose, [1800s]
• Black circus jacket, [1800s]
• Pipe stem and bowl
• Two rocks
• Fragments from an ostrich eggshell
• Canopic jar lid
• Two small boxes
• Ushabti figure
• Harpocrates figure

The Egyptian figures may date to around 600 BCE.

The Bing Crosby collection includes 21 letters and documents from Crosby's professional and personal life, three photographs or photograph reproductions, and one autograph musical quotation. Most letters and documents are in regards to Crosby's film projects during the 1940s and 1950s, especially White Christmas (1954).

The Bing Crosby collection includes 21 letters and documents from Crosby's professional and personal life, three photographs or photograph reproductions, and one autograph musical quotation. Most letters and documents are in regards to Crosby's film projects during the 1940s and 1950s. Multiple documents pertain to the film White Christmas, including a letter confirming the early script approval by the Paramount Picture Company, and a planning document for the presentation of names in the credits.

See the box and folder listing below for details about each item in the collection.