Collections

Graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A., 1876; Law, 1878), who practiced law in Detroit (Mich.) Consists of portraits and photos of the Ann Arbor High School class of 1873.

The collection consists of portraits and photos of the Ann Arbor High School class of 1873.

The collection consist of copies of the author's two published books; about a third of his estimated fifty essays; several pamphlets; a limited series of mostly email correspondence dating from the turn of the millennium; and a small set of papers documenting workplace policies and politics. Of special interest are the thorough correspondence with George Salzman; the hard-to-find Autonomous Marxism: An Annotated Course Syllabus and Bibliography, by Harry Cleaver; and the set of documents pertaining to the Lucy Parsons Center.

The collection consist of copies of the author's two published books; about a third of his estimated fifty essays; several pamphlets; a limited series of mostly email correspondence dating from the turn of the millennium; and a small set of papers documenting workplace policies and politics. Of special interest are the thorough correspondence with George Salzman; the hard-to-find Autonomous Marxism: An Annotated Course Syllabus and Bibliography , by Harry Cleaver; and the set of documents pertaining to the Lucy Parsons Center.

The subject matter is diverse: topics include the destruction of capitalism, radical democracy, play, anarchism, health, the politics of protest, HIV and AIDS, commercial films, sectarianism, revolution, indigenism, majority rule, and schooling.

Many of the materials represented in this collection have been published on Mr. Herod's website http://jamesherod.info. Additional essays appear there, along with notes on a variety of topics.

It is hoped that one day additional materials from the website will be included in this collection. Noticeably missing from both locations are photographs, older correspondence, and any supporting ephemera or newspaper documentation.

Many items in the collection have been edited or annotated by Mr. Herod. Some have been written under pen name Jared James.

The James Herod Papers are arranged in four series: CORRESPONDENCE; ESSAYS; PUBLICATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES; and WORKPLACE ACTIVISM.

CORRESPONDENCE. The Correspondence series consists of personal correspondence as well as general correspondence in the form of open letters or participation in online forums. It consists mostly of e-mail written between 1998 and 2001. Personal correspondence consists almost entirely of email exchanged with George Salzman. General Correspondence includes open letters and participation in online forums.

ESSAYS. The collection includes 17 of about fifty essays spanning the author's adult life from 1968 to the present.

PUBLICATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES include the privately published Papers from the Struggle (1987) and Getting Free (1998 and 2007). It also includes the author's pamphlets and book reviews from What's Left in Boston . The collection includes a copy of Harry Cleaver's Autonomous Marxism: An Annotated Course Syllabus and Bibliography.

WORKPLACE ACTIVISM documents the author's time spent with the Boston Typographical Union, Dorchester Community News, and, most notably, with the Lucy Parsons Center (formerly the Red Book Store).

Other publications were donated with the collection but have been cataloged in other parts of the Labadie Collection. These include:

The New York City Star (first two issues)

What's Left in Boston (set of twenty-five issues)

Jill Boskey's The Split at The Liberated Guardian

Pamphlets and other materials from The Committee of Returned Volunteers

The collection consists mainly of meeting minutes, interoffice memos, letters, and position papers on various topics of interest to the university, and a folder of biographical information.

The collection consists mainly of meeting minutes of several committees or councils on which Hageman served; interoffice memos, letters, and position papers on various topics of interest to the university, including Core Values, the Indigenous Working Group, and Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Program; and a 2001-2002 Annual Report of Facilities Management and supporting documentation. Also included is a folder of biographical information.

Processing Notes: During processing, a large number of CMU publications (.5 cubic ft.) was removed from the collection and interfiled into the CMU vertical files.

Detroit and Harbor Beach, Michigan, resident and Detroit city councilman and later Wayne County juvenile court judge. The collection documents his public career and his interest in family and local history.

The James H. Lincoln Papers document his role in public service and his active history in local, military and family history. The papers have been organized into four series: Biographical/Personal; Detroit Politics and City Council Activities; Probate Court, Juvenile Court Judge; Genealogy/Historical Research.

1876 graduate of the University of Michigan, later teacher in Linden, Mich., homesteader in Windsor (later known as White Lake), Dakota Territory, and lawyer in Flint, Mich. Diary includes reminiscences of student activities at the University of Michigan; extensive description of homesteading (Aug. 1881-Mar. 1882 and Apr.-May 1883); and briefer descriptions of teaching. Collection also includes scattered financial records of the Flint Land Company; letterpress books, 1897-1902, of correspondence relating primarily to his law practice and to the dealings of the Flint Land Company.

The collections includes a diary, financial materials, and letterpress books. The diary, 1881-1885, includes a reminiscence of McFarlan's student activities at the University of Michigan, an extensive description of his 1881-1882 homesteading experience, and briefer descriptions of his teaching experiences in Linden, Mich. and other communities. The financial materials concerns his business activities in Flint, Mich. Included are a daybook (1899-1903) and journal (1914-1924) of the Flint Land Company. The letterpress books (1897-1902) contain copies of correspondence relating to his law practice, notably the activities of the law firm of McFarlan, Williams and Wilson, and to the dealings of the Flint Land Company. The collection also includes a transcript of a court case involving property in Flint, Michigan.

University of Michigan professor and administrator, director of the university's residential college, 1967-1973. Correspondence, 1956-1973, with students and colleagues; speech notes and various other writings; and photographs.

The Robertson papers are comprised largely of routine personal and professional correspondence. His interests in faculty-student counseling, university administrative policies (not specifically University of Michigan), and maintaining friendships with students are documented in this collection. Besides correspondence, this collection also includes notes from addresses given to high school students, university alumni, and Residential College students and parents. His writing is well represented through poems, casual descriptive essays about students, and his published articles. An interesting piece of Residential College paraphernalia, the mock diploma from the College's first graduating class (1971), may also be found in these papers. Included are photographic portraits of Dr. Robertson.

This collection is made up of 35 letters and 1 envelope, primarily consisting of the correspondence of James H. Starry, his wife Nancy, friends, and relatives. The letters span from 1840 to 1850 and discuss a variety of topics, predominantly family issues and local happenings, with content on gender relations and roles, courtship, alcohol use and temperance, African Americans, slavery, and other subjects.

This collection is made up of 35 letters and 1 envelope, primarily consisting of the correspondence of James H. Starry, his friends, and his relatives in Clarksville, Ohio, and Charlestown, Virginia (later West Virginia). The letters span from 1840 to 1850 and discuss a variety of topics, predominantly family issues and local happenings, with content on gender relations and roles, courtship, alcohol use and temperance, African Americans, slavery, and other subjects. Several letter-writers wrote with phonetic spelling.

The collection contains 23 letters to James Starry and 10 letters by him. James married Nancy Kelley and the two lived in Clarksville, Ohio. While in Ohio, he corresponded with siblings and others in Charlestown, and, while seeking work in Charlestown, James corresponded with his wife in Ohio. The bulk of the letters is between James and Nancy; other letters are between James, his sister Sally, his brothers Joseph and John, and his cousin Caroline.

One of the recurring discussions in the letters respects James Starry's drinking, his (and others') membership in the Sons of Temperance, and family distress about whether or not James abandoned or abused his wife Nancy. With long periods of silence from James and repeated delays in his returns home to Ohio, his family, the Wysongs, belabored Nancy with speculation about whether or not James abandoned her. She received letters in which James frustrated over what he felt were unfair accusations about him from the Wysongs and hoped that his wife would not interact with them. The letters between James and Nancy reveal a young mother's efforts and struggles to raise their child "Bub" (John Daniel Starry) while living with and near their families at times of James's absence. As a distant father, he regularly offered love to his son Bub, expressed firm disapproval of whipping him, and pleaded with Nancy to keep him safely away from the well and the street.

The letters also regard family issues, local happenings, births, marriages, and deaths in Clarksville and in Charlestown. Particularly compelling news included disputes that ended in gunfire (February 17, 1842) and stabbing (September 5, 1841; February 17, 1842); the hiring and sale of slaves in Charlestown (Undated, February 24); and perceptions of the holiday celebrations of black people in Charlestown (December 26, 1847). One letter to James from his mother-in-law Anna Kelley includes an anecdote about "old solsbery," who took a young woman "he raised" to a tavern. The young woman asked the landlord's daughters for the key to keep Salsberg out, but later the girls looked through the keyhole and saw the two of them in bed together; the landlord immediately demanded that they leave (January 30, 1848).

Blanchard was Democratic governor of Michigan from 1983 to 1991. The collection is arranged mainly by unit or functional responsibility within the governor's office. These series are chief of staff/executive assistants, correspondence office, government relations, issues development, legal department, operators, personnel, press office, Upper Peninsula office, Washington office, Lansing residence, and political and campaign files. The files document the Blanchard administration's efforts in areas of education, job creation, the state's economy, environmental protection, and the rebuilding of Michigan's infrastructure.

James J. Blanchard, as Governor of Michigan, was the chief executive of the state. He was vested with the power to execute the laws of the state and to issue executive orders. He supervised the nineteen departments of the executive branch, ran the executive office of the governor, and appointed members to state boards and commissions. The governor submitted messages to the state legislature and recommended measures considered necessary or desirable; in short, Blanchard set a legislative agenda. A key element of this agenda were the annual state budgets submitted to the legislature, recommending revenues to meet proposed expenditures. Although Blanchard had the power to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, he exercised this power with care. Blanchard also was empowered to seek extraditions and issue warrants on fugitives from justice. Finally, as governor, Blanchard was the commander-in-chief of the state's armed forces. In addition to these roles defined by law, custom, and practice, Blanchard used the governorship as a platform from which to champion Michigan.

In the course of completing the many tasks inhering in the office of governor, Blanchard and his executive office created and reviewed a welter of written documents. These records and papers provide an important source documenting the executive actions for the years of Blanchard's tenure, 1983-1990. Many are in the departmental files at the State Archives. This collection of papers at the Bentley Library constitutes that portion of executive documentation which Blanchard, upon leaving office, decreed personal in accordance with the traditional practice of recent governors of Michigan.

The materials came from geographically distinct offices (Lansing, Detroit, Upper Peninsula, and Washington), reflected the efforts of staff ranging from policy analysts to Blanchard himself, and were preserved in varying degrees of completeness. Among these records and papers retained are: correspondence, budgets, memoranda, reports, briefing books, minutes and agenda, press releases and public statements, legal briefs and decisions, legislative bills and analyses, clippings, photographs, audiotapes, and videotapes. These materials were especially strong in documenting the Blanchard administration's investment in human capital and education, efforts to promote economic development and create jobs, interest in rebuilding Michigan's infrastructure while preserving and restoring its environmental beauty, and generally reflecting its commitment to act to promote the commonweal. The collection sheds some light on affirmative action, citizens' protection, criminal justice, the Michigan Youth Corps, and attitudes of Michigan residents as reflected in letters to the governor. The collection is weak in its coverage of Blanchard's private life and his activities related to the Democratic party.

Researchers should note that Blanchard's executive office was not a rule-bound operation, restricted by strict adherence to hierarchical functions. There was considerable sharing of responsibilities, especially at the higher levels of the administration. One finds that roles filled by a chief of staff sometimes devolved to an executive assistant or to a staff member in the Legal or Government Relations Office. Work on large recurring projects, like the budget or the state of the state address, involved participation at many levels cutting across offices. Day to day functions, like responding to issue-oriented constituent correspondence, often entailed action by the chief of staff, counsel, or a policy analyst from the Washington Office, in addition to the expected responses from the Issues and Correspondence Offices. These sorts of overlap are noted when appropriate in the finding aid.

The Chief of Staff had the primary responsibility for seeing to the efficient functioning of the executive office of the Governor. In fulfilling this responsibility, the Chief of Staff interacted with nearly every department in the executive branch of state government and with each unit within the executive office. The Chief of Staff served as a sort of gatekeeper for the Governor, apprising him of significant issues, informing him of how best to respond, and judging how effectively the response meets the issue. During Blanchard's two terms in office, he was served by four Chiefs of Staff: F. Thomas Lewand, Phillip Jourdan, Rick Cole, and Steve Weiss. Records are extant from each chief except Rick Cole; these range from the thin but rich records of Lewand to the more fulsome materials of Jourdan and Weiss.

The efforts of the Chief of Staff to facilitate frictionless functioning of state governance were augmented by able deputies, competent staff, and a cadre of Executive Assistants. Chief among these assistants were Nancy Austin-Schwartz, Bill Liebold, Carolyn Sparks, and Ron Thayer. Given that the Blanchard administration was democratic and decidedly non-hierarchical, these Executive Assistants often filled roles similar to the Chiefs of Staff. At these highest levels of administration, decisions were made and actions taken without much regard to hierarchy or job description strictures. In this free market of ideas and ability, whoever had the best idea or was best able to handle a situation attended to it. Sometimes this was the chief, sometimes one of the assistants, but just as often things were handled by other members of the executive office staff or by someone from an executive department.

The Correspondence Office was that division within the Executive Office which received, routed, and responded to constituent correspondence. In handling this task, staff in the Correspondence Office worked closely with the Issues Development Office, with head of executive branch departments, and with the Office Operations Division. Mail received by the unit was directed to specialists in Issues Development, to the appropriate state department, to the Governor's personal attention, or handled with a standard response. Given the volume of mail directed to the Governor's attention (at times reaching thousands of pieces per week) and its issues-oriented nature, one should not be surprised to find that most mail sparked a standard response. The bulk of the materials saved reflects the office's efforts to individually address constituent concerns in a timely fashion. This work originally was the domain of an autonomous Communications Unit, fell to the correspondence unit within the Operations Division for a time, until finally it was established as a separate office. Donna Kaufman oversaw this unit from 1983 until 1988 when Patrick Casey took charge.

The Government Relations Office was the unit which tracked the Governor's legislative agenda and the executive branch's reaction to bills coming out of the legislature. The Government Relations Office served as the Governor's interface with the Michigan House and Senate. In fulfilling this mission, the office had to rely upon the advice and consent of many within the executive office, specifically the Legal Division and the Issues Office (especially the intergovernmental relations unit). This reliance on diverse input was evident in Blanchard's first term as the Legal/ Legislative/Government Relations functions were all met by a single office, headed by Conrad Mallet, Jr. There exists little to document Mallet's tenure as head of this office, aside from transition files and enrolled house and senate bills. During Blanchard's second term the legislative functions fell to separate government relations, legal, and issues offices which then maintained a close working relationship. Stan Fedewa, and later, William Kandler, directed the work of the Government Relations Office at this time. The efforts of both of these men are well reflected in the extant materials.

The Issues Development Office was charged with delineating, articulating and disseminating the official Blanchard position on the topics of the day. These functions, central to the administration, insured that the issues office would be integral to the executive office. This is manifest in the myriad array of units heavily reliant on the Issues Development Office for their own operations; the Chief of Staff, Executive Assistants, Correspondence, Government Relations, Legal, and Press Offices all were in daily contact with Issues. Within the Issues Development Office, responsibilities were divided among analysts according to issue: agriculture, education, environment, human services, local government, and urban affairs. These analysts reported to the office manager, who in turn reported to the Deputy Chief of Staff, who checked that positions were consistent with the policy goals of the administration.

The Issues Development Office eventually came to house the papers of the Local Government Advisor. Connie Shorter was the senior staff member responsible for local government affairs and she moved with the unit from its original home in the Policy Department, through the Government Relations Office, back to Issues. The office also served as aegis for special projects ranging from the Cabinet Council on Human Investment, to Citizens' Protection, to the Public Investment Task Force. The issues office itself underwent numerous name changes over the years, beginning as the Policy Office, then to Planning and Program Development, before settling on Issues Development in 1987. In whatever guise, under whatever name, this office remained poised to build Blanchard's stance on any issue.

The Legal Division dealt with the many legal problems arising out of running a state government. These include, but are not limited to, issues related to administrative rules, bonds, local charters, corrections, crime, pardons, extraditions, legislation, and protection of civil rights. This rather broad array of issues eventually proved too disparate to be capably handled by the relatively small legal staff, so some duties were shunted to the Government Relations and Issues Offices. As with the government relations materials above, there are no materials from Conrad Mallet, Jr.'s tenure. Materials relating to administrative and emergency rules, bonds, local charters, pardons, and extraditions have not been retained with this collection; they are retained by the State Archives. What has been retained from the Legal Division are the papers of Mike Hodge, Legal Advisor and Special Counsel to the Governor from 1987 to 1990. Hodge's papers superbly document the legal concerns facing Blanchard during his second term.

The Operations Division's primary function within the Blanchard administration was scheduling the Governor's out-of-office events. This entailed handling the thousands of invitations for the Governor to appear, deciding which of these events merited Blanchard's presence, making local arrangements with the advance team, briefing Blanchard on the hot-button issues, and serving as liaison between local contacts and the executive office. Jill Pennington capably directed the scheduling unit for both of Blanchard's terms as governor. During one of the periodic reorganizations of the executive office, the Operations Division oversaw the correspondence unit and a speakers bureau. Both of these proved to be outside the scope of the scheduling mission and were dealt out of operations' hand in the next office restructuring. The division remained committed to placing a prepared Blanchard before congenial forums.

The Personnel Division was charged with filling all appointive positions in the executive and judicial branches of state government. These positions include all executive posts on boards, commissions, task forces and the executive office, as well as all court posts ranging from courts of appeals, to district courts, to the State Supreme Court. The Personnel Division was initially headed up by Ron Thayer. Shelby Solomon next ran the office. The papers related to personnel division during the tenure of both of these men was not forwarded with the Blanchard collection. All that remains are the papers of Gregory Morris, director of the division from 1987 to 1990. The materials Morris retained dealt exclusively with Blanchard's judicial appointments from 1983 to 1990. This narrow, but very important, stratum of information remains the only evidence on how and who Blanchard chose to extend his program.

The Press Office presented the public face for the Blanchard administration. This office coordinated press conferences, released policy statements and copies of Blanchard's speeches, arranged photo opportunities, mediated with local and state media, and generally put the best possible spin on the administration. The Press Office was the single point of fixity in the field of flux that was the Blanchard executive office. This office fell under the eye of only two directors, Rick Cole and Tom Scott, during the two gubernatorial terms. Scott was with the office almost from the outset and is largely responsible for the retention of much of the materials. He treated the Press Office as the archives of the executive office, saving newspaper clippings, press releases, speeches, audiotapes, videotapes, and photographs which document the public life of Blanchard. These materials provide the most comprehensive picture of Blanchard as politician, statesman, governor.

The Upper Peninsula Office was one of the regional offices established by the executive office to better serve a specific clientele, in this case the residents of the upper peninsula. This office brought the services of state government to the more immediate attention of upper peninsula citizens. It answered constituent correspondence, served as liaison between county officials and the state, and briefed the Governor for his trips to the upper peninsula. In short the Upper Peninsula Office provided a scaled-down version of the outreach functions offered by the executive office. Tom Baldini, director of the office, filled his post so competently that he was viewed by the executive office and citizens as the "governor" of the upper peninsula.

The Washington Office served as a clearinghouse for information on federal proposals, congressional legislation, and national policy developments. It also lobbied for the interests of the state. In pursuing these ambitious, if amorphous, interests, the Washington Office employed a staff of five to ten people over the years of Blanchard's tenure. The staff of the office worked with Blanchard, the executive office, and Michigan agency directors to develop responses to federal activity, to initiate timely communication between federal and state officials, and to arrange and conduct meetings and conferences when appropriate. Aside from the director of the Washington Office, E. Douglas Frost, who focused on budgets, taxes, and overall policy planning, each of the staff members in the office was responsible for broadly defined issues. Rosemary Freeman, who preceded Frost as office director, served as deputy director and handled issues related to training, labor, and education. James Callow was the legislative analyst charged with keeping abreast of economic and trade issues. Maura Cullen was responsible for social services, health and human services, and child welfare. Peter Kyriacopolous was the last of three analysts (Charlie Moses and Jo Ellen D'Arcy preceded him) who handled concerns related to the environment and transportation.

Nuclear engineer, professor and eleventh president of the University of Michigan (1988-1996), leader in efforts to transform the University of Michigan, and higher education generally, into a culturally diverse, financially secure, and technologically advanced institution. Collection consists of both paper and digital documents, including speeches, presentations, writings and images. Portions of the collection are restricted. This collection represents the "personal papers" of president Duderstadt. Other material relating to his presidency is located in the record group "University of Michigan. President."

The James J. Duderstadt papers span the years from 1963 to the present, although the bulk of the material covers 1970 to 1996. The collection, consisting mainly of Speeches, Position Papers, and Presentations, effectively documents Duderstadt's vision, agenda, and planning process. There are two subgroups in the collection: Paper Documents and Digital Documents.

The Paper Documents subgroup is comprised of thirteen series: Biographical / Background Material, Speeches and Accompanying Material, Computer Printouts of Speeches, Position Papers, Publications, Presentations, Correspondence, Research, Topical Files (Pre-Presidency), Teaching, Presidential Transition Files, Strategic Planning, and Diaries and Notebooks. It includes a few papers from his years as engineering dean and his term as provost, along with a substantial amount of material from his years as professor of nuclear engineering and as president of the university.

A second subgroup, Digital Documents, is comprised of material created and maintained in electronic form (utilizing a number of software programs), and is particularly strong for representing Duderstadt's entire term as president of the university. The subgroup includes eight series: Speeches, Idea Files, Strategy, Position Papers, Presentations, Write Files and Legacy Files. The digital files of speeches and position papers frequently contain various and well-organized iterations of key documents. Of particular note are the Strategy Files, which hold substantial planning documents, many designed to encourage and promote vigorous response to change at many levels within the university. The subgroup also contains a series of Digital Images, most of which appeared in the 1996 publication Rebuilding the University: 1986-1996.

The Hurley collection is primarily made up of the letters of James J. Hurley, an Irish Catholic working class man from Troy, New York. He and his family moved to Oneonta, New York after the Delaware & Hudson railroad shops were transferred there. Several photographs are also included in this collection.

The Hurley papers document the life of a blue collar worker, an underrepresented figure in historical manuscript collections. James Hurley proudly defined himself as a father, husband, an Irish Catholic, and a member of the working class. In reply to a letter from a relative which he regarded as insulting, Hurley asserts that "a workingman has as much pride and spirit about him as any rich man." Referring to an Oneonta landlady who discovered that he was Catholic, he writes "I found she was liberal in her yankee views as such people are and you should have heard me trim those bigots. She found out after I got through that the Catholics are not people that have horns on them, she thinks I am a perfect gentleman, the mighty dollar catches those people out here."

Hurley wrote home frequently while away at work during 1904-1906, and the letters make it clear that he placed family above all else in his life, taking an active part in child-raising, worrying about Jennie's health, recognizing the stress and overwork she had to endure in caring for the children while he lived apart from them. He understood why she had no time to write, "as you are just about worked off your feet" having to be "both father and mother to them until this thing is settled..." In a February, 1904, letter he asks Leo to wait up for him on Saturday, to do as Mamma says, and to be "a perfect little gentleman," addressing the letter to him "to make him feel big and proud." In September, as Leo starts school, his father writes that "a great many things" are now expected of him, for he is not a baby anymore. He asks his son to keep this letter so that he will have it "to look at in after years and see if you have fulfilled the expectations of a loving Father and Mother."

The Delaware & Hudson workers hoped that the Oneonta move would be temporary, that the company would eventually decide not to build new shops in this "dismal hole," so different from urban, ethnic, and religiously diverse Troy. Hurley hated to bring his family to a place with such bad winter weather, questionable attitudes toward Catholics, and lack of school and work opportunities for the children. But the company stuck by its decision, and the Hurleys finally moved to Oneonta in the fall of 1906. The decision was probably prompted by the strain of the separation on Jennie Hurley, for her husband makes frequent references to his concern about her "nervousness" and ill health.

We learn little of Jennie's life except through her husband's letters. Her stressful life as a single parent evidently caused such depression and anxiety that her health deteriorated. Even after the family was reunited in Oneonta, Jennie seemingly did not do well, and James wrote to a cousin in May 1908 that his wife "does not enjoy good health at all I think that she is lonesome out here because it is not like good ol Troy." The one letter in the collection written by her seems to indicate that she was less well-educated and articulate than her husband, but the fact that it was written in a condition of extreme emotional distress should be taken into account. In 1906 a boarder renting part of their Troy house evidently made advances toward her, accused her of drinking and said the two of them would drink whiskey together. She ordered him out, he returned, she screamed, then threatened to break a bottle of whiskey in his face. "Jim I am not able too do my work I am all broke up and jest as nervis as I can be," she writes, signing her letter "from a hart broken wife." Hurley fumed at the "yellow cur of a loafer and scoundrel of a liar" who had abused her, telling her he is sure "the poor mean miserable God forsaken wretch" will end up in a poor house. The situation ended when the boarder and his family moved out -- Hurley expressing his hopes that they were relocating to the "wrong side of the tracks." This incident probably contributed to the final decision to move his family to Oneonta.

The papers document Hurley's work life to some extent, specifying piece-work rates for the jobs within the upholstery department, giving some sense of the kinds of materials which were routinely used, the range of tasks performed. They also reveal that Hurley took his responsibility as foreman seriously, while disliking the stress involved with that responsibility. Even though it was evidently not his nature to speak up to authority, in March 1905 he went to bat for his men concerning wage rates when he felt they were being unfairly treated. He argued against cutting piece-work rates, defending the workers as diligent and skilled tradesmen who had to work in "filth dirt and all kinds of diseases that is in this branch of business," and asking to see comparison with other companies' wages for the same sort of work.

The collection contains 16 letters to Hurley from men who formerly worked with him, thanking him for help in finding jobs elsewhere or telling him about their new circumstances. Included are 10 from John Carlon, dating from 1907-1910, which tell an interesting tale -- although in frustratingly little detail -- of a man who deserted his supposedly unfaithful wife and unsupportive family, moved to Boston to begin a new life, and managed to keep his location secret from them. Carlon repeatedly, in barely literate language, expresses his anger and resentment toward his wife, whom he insists he would not have back, "not if all the Priests in whole world and the Pope came with." A lengthy July 28, 1908, letter from W. J. Blake describes travel from New York City through Panama to the mines of Ecuador, and includes extensive commentary on construction of the Panama Canal and the startling amount of valuable machinery abandoned by the French.

The letters in the Hurley Papers hint at blue collar/white collar distinctions which are effectively portrayed in 9 fine photographs made of Delaware & Hudson employees ca. 1900-1905. Differences in setting, attire, and body language are striking, and these images, although not individually identified, bring the men and workplace depicted in letters to life. This small collection is not rich in detail on either home or shop, but it presents a rough sketch of working class life at the turn of the century, focusing on a segment of society which all too often remains historically anonymous.