Collections

"A Dangerous Experiment," a play by Emma McGlashen. Directed by Emma McGlashen and Sophia Kaufman, produced by Kate Mendeloff at the University of Michigan Residential College in 2017, February 10-12, 2017 as part of the U-M Bicentennial.

"A Dangerous Experiment," a play by Emma McGlashen. Directed by Emma McGlashen and Sophia Kaufman, produced by Kate Mendeloff at the University of Michigan Residential College. The play concerns the lives of the first women students admitted to the university. Materials include the complete script and an image of the promotional poster.

The collection includes the Owsley family papers, both personal and business, of Ada, her siblings and their families, her parents, grandparents, and other relatives.

The collection includes the family papers of all of Ada’s relatives who are named above and her papers, 1856-1945. She also collected children’s art and display materials, 1950-1960 and undated (Boxes 3-7). Most of the materials document Ionia, Michigan, business records, including accounts of Angelo E. Tower when he was postmaster of Ionia, 1886-1890; Tower and Thompson Lumber Company, ledger and legal papers, 1868-1882; Webber Block (housing) papers, 1929-1936; Webber and Wilson (George W. Webber and H. J. Wilson’s mercantile business) ledger, 1866-1867; and Webber Road Construction Company, 1921-1937. There are also some legal records regarding the Topinabee Hotel, 1931, which was on Mullet Lake, near Cheboygan, Michigan. Unidentified land records are filed at the end of Box 2, and children’s art is housed in flat boxes 3-7.

This collection is made up of letters that Minerva Fox Skinner received from and about her husband, Addison D. Skinner of the 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment, in 1864. Skinner's letters describe his travels and discuss his homesickness; the remaining letters pertain to his death and burial.

This collection contains 9 letters that Minerva Fox Skinner of Parshallville, Michigan, received from and about her husband, Addison Dwight Skinner, in 1864. He wrote 6 letters to his wife while serving with the 8th Michigan Infantry Regiment from March 1, 1864-March 29, 1864. He described his travels to Flint, Michigan; Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and Annapolis, Maryland, and wrote of his homesickness and his love for his wife and children. In his letter of March 23, 1864, he complained that he had not yet been paid; on March 29, 1864, he reported on the spread of measles throughout the regiment and confided to his wife that the death of George Griswold, a soldier from his regiment, had been caused by a case of "clap."

Minerva Fox Sinner received 2 letters from her brother, Wells B. Fox, about her husband's failing health and death (April 24, 1864, and May 30, 1864). In his second letter, Fox expressed his sympathy and offered reassurances that Skinner had thought often of his family during his final days. He also noted his resolve for the army to march to Richmond. Helen M. Noye (later Hoyt), a nurse at the Naval Academy Hospital in Annapolis, Maryland, wrote to Minerva Skinner on May 11, 1864, offering condolences for the death of A. D. Skinner, and discussing his burial. Noye, who believed that Minerva Skinner had yet learned of her husband's death, informed Minerva that the remains could be exhumed, but advised against doing so.

This album contains autographs of the acquaintances of Adelaide Harris Davis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, collected between 1859 and 1864. Adelaide was a student at Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz's day school, and received autographs from Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, Louis Agassiz, and Alexander Agassiz, who taught at the school, as well as friends, primarily female. The volume also has several black-and-white engravings. A circular letter is laid in and a tuition receipt is housed separately.

This album (101 pages) contains autographs of the acquaintances of Adelaide Harris Davis of Cambridge, Massachusetts, collected between 1859 and 1864. The front and back covers are decorated with imprinted artistic details and text reading "Album of Remembrance;" the album was printed by Leavitt & Allen of New York. Charles F. D. wrote a note on the first page celebrating many of Adelaide's virtues and recording his presentation of the album to her on February 22, 1859. Most of the acquaintances who signed the album were female, and some noted their locations or the date. Adelaide collected a majority of the signatures between 1859 and 1861 and one in 1864. Most signers were from Cambridge, Massachusetts, but contributors also came from New York, Vermont, and Iowa, as well as other towns in Massachusetts. Some included short mottos, such as Augusta M. Stevens, who inscribed a Shakespeare quotation (p. 55).

• [Miel] E. Berlancourt (poem in French) (p. 19)
• Alice C. Gates (p. 23)
• Francena Danforth ("Sweet be her dreams, the fair, the young," by Barry Cornwall) (p. 47)
• Lizzie Howe ("Watch and pray! The world deceiving…," by M. A. Dodd) (p. 57)
• "Belle" (p. 61)
• Sarah A. Manoun (p. 63)
• Sarah C. Fisher (p. 67)
• Carrie L. Fisher (p. 75)

• L. E. Agassiz (p. 79)
• E[lizabeth] C[abot Cary] Agassiz (p. 79)
• A[lexander] Agassiz (p. 83)
• Li. Agassiz (p. 93)

Several black-and-white engravings depict women at leisure and other scenes. An undated circular letter laid into the volume appeals to former students of the Agassiz day school to contribute to a gift prior to the school's having to close on June 26, 1862, because of the Civil War. A receipt, housed separately, records Eliphalet Davis's payment of $37.50 for one quarter's tuition at the Agassiz school (June 27, 1861).

Vice chairman of the Democratic Party State Central Committee, primarily during the gubernatorial administration of G. Mennen Williams. Office files concerning party conventions, election issues, and the work of the state central committee, particularly the role of women in the party and the Women for Humphrey organization during the election of 1968; and scrapbooks and photographs.

The Hart papers consist almost entirely of files created in her capacity as Democratic vice chairman and as member of the Democratic party 17th congressional district. The files have been maintained in their original order by topic. National Democratic Conventions; State Democratic Conventions; Election Campaigns; State Central Committee General; State Central Committee Women's Activities; Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner; Topical Files; Conferences; Program Service; Correspondence; Memoranda; and Scrapbooks and Photographs.

Papers include correspondence, photographs, including a diary and photographs of Foochow, China, 1899-1901, a biography of Michigan poet Will Carleton, and other materials.

The collection includes personal correspondence between Thompson and William R. Longstreet, a bookkeeper and religious leader in Saginaw, Michigan, 1891-1895, concerning the nursing of patients, social and religious affairs, a trip to New York, in 1892, and welfare work of the Jefferson Avenue Epwarth League. There is also a diary of Isabelle Longstreet, describing her missionary work in China, June 1899-October, 1901 and a brief biography of Will Carleton (1845-1912), a notable Michigan poet.

This volume consists of a pre-printed "Outfits for a Whaling Voyage" notebook kept for the whaling schooner Adelia Chase, likely maintained by Michael A. Ferreira, for a voyage out of New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1886.

This volume consists of a pre-printed "Outfits for a Whaling Voyage" notebook kept for the whaling schooner Adelia Chase, likely by Michael A. Ferreira, for a voyage out of New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1886.

The back inside cover of the volume features an advertisement for C. R. Sherman's New Bedford Navigation Store, with "all the various kinds of Nautical, Optical, and Mathematical Instruments. Nautical Books, Stationery, &c. . . . And as complete an assortment of Charts of all parts of the world visited by Whalesmen, as is required to make a complete Navigation Establishment."

The notebook entries record quantities of provisions and stores, tools and hardware, supplies, cordage and sails, clothing, stationery, and more. Several pages of notes at the end of the volume mention stops at Barbados and Fayal or St. Michaels, a list of repairs, and a list of various casks of provisions.

This commonplace book, journal, and recipe book was kept by Adeline Doty Connor from 1858-1865 while living in Detroit, Michigan. Connor copied passages on history, religion, and science, noted the Civil War service of her sons, and included medicinal and culinary recipes. The volume contains pasted or tipped in newspaper clippings.

Connor occasionally referenced national events, such as the discovery of the Fraser River passage and the admittance of states into the Union. Examples of recipes include pumpkin pudding, rhubarb wine, tomato catsup, preserved watermelon rinds, economical perfumes, "an excellent furniture polish," a balm for chapped hands, and more.

The volume's pastedown bears the text: "Adeline D. Connor / Detroit, 1854" and "Every moment of time is a monument of mercy / Few things are impossible to industry and skill / 1858 April 24th."

This collection contains 15 letters related to Adeline Chase Hart and Matthew Hart of Goshen, Connecticut. The Harts received 12 letters from family members and acquaintances between 1850 and 1859, and Adeline wrote 3 letters to Matthew while he sought gold in California in the early 1850s. The letters concern topics such as religious conversion, family health, local news, and Adeline's widowhood. The collection also includes a deed for land in Sullivan County, New Hampshire.

This collection (16 items) contains 15 letters related to Adeline Chase Hart and Matthew Hart of Goshen, Connecticut. The Harts received 12 letters from family members and acquaintances between 1850 and 1859, and Adeline wrote 3 letters to Matthew while he sought gold in California in the early 1850s. The letters concern topics such as religious conversion, family health, local news, and Adeline's widowhood. The collection also contains a deed between Dorothy Gilman and Emerson Gilman for land in Sullivan County, New Hampshire (April 1, 1837), witnessed by 2 members of the Chase family.

Adeline and Matthew Hart received 12 letters from their parents, siblings, and acquaintances, mostly from Connecticut and from Elmira, New York. Correspondents commented on family and local news, such as health issues, marriages, and funerals; Adeline's sister Lucy wrote about her visit to Hartford, Connecticut, and described a painting she viewed at City Hall (July 16, 1850). Letters from the Chase family often included contributions from several family members. Adeline Hart wrote 3 letters to her husband from October 19, 1850-December 19, 1851, pertaining to her health, their children, and her finances. Several letters in the collection concern religious revivals and conversions, including Adeline's description of her recent conversion to Christianity (October 19, 1850), Lucy Chase's affirmation that the family had become Millerites (February 5, 1851), and Reuben Chase's mention of "spirit rappers" (March 25, 1853).

Following Matthew Hart's death around early 1853, Adeline Hart received a condolence letter and 2 later personal letters from William K. Vaughan, an acquaintance in Big Flats, New York. Matthew Hart's brother, A. P. Hart, also reflected on Matthew's death (March 6, 1853). Another relative, H. E. Cooke, provided a description of her new home (April 29, 1853). Other later letters concern Hattie A. Hart's work teaching at a school and her intention to attend college (August 22, 1857), as well as property in Elmira, New York (October 24, 1859).

The Adelle Webber Gray photograph album contains 75 photographs and 14 photo-reproductions of scenes from Watkins Glen in New York, Yosemite, and Colorado as well as 13 newspaper clippings and two advertisements regarding travel in the western United States.

The album (21.5 x 26.5 cm) has read leather covers. Inside of the front cover are two of Gray's bookplates and a loose clipping from 1906 regarding the purchase of Watkins Glen. The album begins with a series of views of Watkins Glen (including some showing the stairs built around the waterfalls). Pages are mostly blank from pgs. 17 to 113 except for pg. 107 which includes 10 loose clippings about camping and traveling in the western United States mostly from Christian Life magazine. Other images of interest after pg. 113 include views of a man standing inside a tree in California's Redwood Forest; waterfalls at Yosemite; Denver, Colorado, scenes such as the train depot and Stout Street; Silver Plume, Colorado; the Loop between Manitou Springs and Georgetown; an 1884 photographic reproduction print by W. H. Bagley; a railroad going through Clear Creek canyon; Pikes Peak; Helen Hunt Jackson's grave in Colorado Springs; the Garden of the Gods; Manitou Springs; Williams Canyon; Ute Pass; and pictures of men and cows taken by W. H. Allen and William Henry Jackson. Also of note are advertisements for a print of Mount Holy Cross by Thomas Moran and for the caves at Manitou Springs, two photographic reproductions of views of Marshall Pass, and photographs of the peak of Sierra Blanca, taxidermy coyotes and a mountain lion, and a train snowplow in Ivanhoe, Colorado.