Collections

The Charles Collins diary consists of accounts, both credit and debit, between Collins, a carpenter, and his customers and suppliers in frontier California during and after the gold rush. The volume also contains twelve pages of a fragmented diary describing travel from Iowa to California, and life as a prospector, farmer, and carpenter.

The Charles Collins diary and account table is a leather-bound notebook that was purchased in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1844. The bulk of the book is made up of accounts, both credit and debit, between Collins, a carpenter, and his customers and suppliers. The last twelve pages, written back-to-front, constitute a diary covering the dates June 11, [1852]-July 4, 1853. Several pages have been ripped from the volume and the diary resumes in July 1867.

The first eight pages of the account book contain accounts from 1846 to 1849, when Collins was a carpenter in the East. After a number of cut-out pages, the accounts pick up again in 1855, when Collins was in California after an unsuccessful attempt to profit from the gold rush. Starting in Fort "Desmoin" (Des Moines, Iowa) on June 11, [1852], he makes entries in the diary through July 23, as his group headed west in wagons. After leaving Des Moines, they traveled 12 to 18 miles a day, arriving at Council Bluffs on the Missouri River on June 24, where they joined 11 other wagons. Twenty wagons in all crossed the Elkhorn River on June 29th and headed for the Platte. They celebrated the 4th of July by raising a flag and firing 13 guns. Since they were in Indian country, they circled the wagons and posted guards at night. Approaching Grand Island, they found two graves of individuals who died of cholera. They sighted Buffalo on July 22, and the next day they lost their cattle, which halted their travels for nearly three weeks.

The next diary entry starts on November 13, 1852, when Collins and his companions agreed to rent 15 acres of land from the local priest in exchange for giving him 1/5 of any productions. He reported almost daily rain. They killed deer every few days, encountered many drunken Indians, and tried, unsuccessfully, to prospect for gold. On January 10, John Richardson killed two bears and wounded two others.

On February 5, 1853, Collins stated that their search for gold had been unsuccessful. That day, John Richardson took off secretly with the white horse, complete with saddle and bridle, a blanket, a dog, a gun, and shot. Collins made a coffin for an old lady who died; he and the remaining “John” planted wheat and barley, and on February 24, the priest gave them the vineyard in exchange for half of all fruit it produced. They grew potatoes, cucumbers, melons, and buckwheat and supplemented this work by repairing various appliances for the priest and other people in the area, such as wheels and buggies, doubletrees, and cheese presses. A doctor named Page lived with them for two or three days, taking notes on the Mission for publication. The last diary entry is dated July 4, 1853.

The collection includes 20,000 images, in various formats, of mostly Michigan railroad-related topics, as well as people, scenic views, bays, towns, fires, inside and exterior views, Camp Custer, World War I and II military, and lumber camps.

This is a collection of 41,1056images in various photographic formats, booklets, CDs, and databases of digital images and information. Most of the images were taken or collected by Mr. Conn although some small groupings of images were given to him by other senior railroad enthusiasts over time. The collection is physically organized by format and intellectually by topic. Most of the topics are railroad-related, engines, companies, lines, stations, and others are of people, scenic views, bays, towns, fires, inside and exterior views, Camp Custer, World War I and II military, lumber camps, notably, Day Lumber Company, Emmet Lumber Company, Yuill Brothers Lumber, and some unidentified lumber camps, the Cadillac Handle Company and the Antrim Iron Company.

The first part of the collection includes original images or scans (either positive or negative) that have been made into slides or negatives. This includes 13 boxes of slides (1 slide box), slide negatives and negatives (approximately 5.5 cubic feet in 6 boxes), a few photographs, glass-plate negatives of various sizes (2 cubic feet in 4 boxes), and booklets of reproduced images (approximately .5 cubic foot in 1 box). These materials are organized by format and then by alphabetically by topic. Most of the items are undated. Dates noted by the photographers are 1913-1914, 1916, and 1918. A few miscellaneous items, possibly related to the photographers have been retained in the collection (see Box 12, Photograph, 1918, and Letter, 1916.)

While most of the collection is in very good condition, a number of the slides suffer from peeling emulsions and cracks, as well as other damage, which are noted on each individual negative’s sleeve. Also, because of the damage the glass-plate negatives sustained, not all of them were scanned.

The second part of the collection includes databases of the digitized images and identifying information about the images. A copy of the database called Michigan Railroad.accdb is divided into Conn and Conn Neg, and a copy of the TIFF files, called MichiganRailroad, which is organized by subject, are both available in the Clarke reading room (as of October 2012) as well as on the archivist’s office computer. The TIFF files are organized by general subjects so the link between the two databases is not always obvious to a non-railroad enthusiast. Mr. Conn reused identifying numbers, so everything related to one location has the same number, which may mean multiple railroads in one city. There is also a hard drive for preservation purposes.

Processing Note: Only a few extremely badly damaged glass-plate negatives were withdrawn with Mr. Conn’s permission from the collection.

Charles Conn Michigan Railroad Collection Negatives includes negatives of Michigan railroads and other Michigan-related topics, as well as people, scenic views, and buildings in Michigan.

This collection, 3 cubic feet (in 3 boxes), undated, is the 2018 addition to Charles Conn’s Michigan Railroad Collection. As far as we know this material has not been digitized and therefore is not part of the Charles Conn Michigan Railroad Database. Box 1 of the collection includes negative pages with one page or more of a specific Michigan city or county with image subjects such as buildings, businesses, people, and scenic views. Box 2 is a continuation of city and county negatives, with multiple locations in each page of negatives. At the end of Box 2 begins negatives categorized by specific railways in Michigan. Lastly, Box 3 includes miscellaneous railroad negatives, logging negatives, and unidentified negatives of people and buildings. Two folders of interest are glass-plate negatives (2), undated, of a blacksmith and equipment on a flatbed car, and Railroad index, undated, which appears to index items in Conn’s other collection. The collection is organized alphabetically and by topic. It is housed mostly in the original negative sleeves provided by Conn.

The collection includes 3,100 black and white and colored slides of Michigan railroad companies, vehicles, tracks, wrecks, depots, workers, and Michigan towns.

The slide collection includes approximately 3,100 mostly black and white, but with some colored 35 mm slides of Michigan railroad companies, their cars, engines, tracks, wrecks, depots, workers; Michigan towns on railroad lines, and the people, organizations, events, and buildings in them; logging camps, their crews, trains, kitchens, big wheels, and river jams; ships and boats; special trains and train cars; and miscellaneous. Towns well documented in the collection include: Charlevoix, Deward, Ellsworth, Flint, Gaylord, Honor, Midland, Petoskey, and Traverse City, Michigan. Lumber companies well documented in the collection include: Stephan’s Lumber Company, Waters, Michigan, and Yuill Bros. Lumber Company, Vanderbilt (Mich.). Two negatives of an unidentified railroad depot and an inventory to the slides completes the collection.

Michigan is abbreviated “Mich.” in the box and folder listing.

The Charles Cornwallis orderly book (148 pages), contains orders from Cornwallis' moving headquarters in the southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. These document the British march across North Carolina, the aftermath of the Guilford Courthouse campaign, and Cornwallis' campaign in Virginia. The book contains lists of promotions and reports of courts martial, as well as general marching orders and information on supplies, transportation, and the sick and wounded.

The Charles Cornwallis orderly book (148 pages), written by an anonymous British officer, contains orders from a moving headquarters in the southern theater of the American Revolutionary War, covering November 10, 1780 through July 13, 1781. These document the British march across North Carolina, the aftermath of the Guilford Courthouse campaign, and Cornwallis' campaign in Virginia. The book contains lists of promotions and reports of courts martial, as well as general marching orders and information on supplies, transportation, and the sick and wounded.

The orderly book's entries are not ordered strictly chronologically. The bulk of the orders are from Cornwallis' army in North Carolina and Virginia; these entries run from February 8-July 13, 1781. However, orders from New York, dating from November 10, 1780-February 8, 1781, are periodically copied out of sequence. The Box and Folder Listing provides the page numbers of the different blocks of entries.

Many of Cornwallis' orders concern disciplinary matters such as courts martial and guidelines for enforcing authority. For example, the order of May 11, 1781, states: "Lord Cornwallis has had several Complaints of Soldiers going out of camp in the night & plundering the Inhabitants of the Country. Commanding Officers of Corps are desired to use every means to prevent such Shameful Irregularities in future" (p.69). Other Cornwallis orders praise the army for bravery on the battlefield, and send news to the troops. For example, the May 8, 1781, entry states that: "Lord Cornwallis has the pleasure to inform the Army that he has the greatest Reason to believe that Lord Rawdon has gained a Signal Victory over the Rebel Army near Camden" (p.68). To celebrate, he ordered a double allowance of rum for the troops. The orders also reveal information on other important military subjects, such as the use of horses and the practice of recruiting loyalists (see the subject index). Of note are several entries on African Americans' role in the British side of the conflict.

Among other entry types, the book contains 81 marching orders. Roughly half specify the order in which participating units would be marching; the other half simply mention that battery horses and wagons were to be loaded and troops ready to march the following morning. Two directly state that the regiments would not be marching. These orders typically specify the daily parole and countersign, and the location of the army. Entries in the orderly book terminate before Cornwallis's defeat and surrender at Yorktown in October 1781.

The volume documents the promotions of 32 British regiments between 1779 and 1781. The book lists promotions by regiment (see the General Subject Index), and pages 148 to 152 contain lists of promotions by rank. The book documents the promotions of the following regiments:

• 7th foot
• 17th foot
• 17th light dragoons
• 7th regiment
• 9th regiment
• 16th regiment
• 17th regiment
• 21st regiment
• 22nd regiment
• 23rd regiment
• 24th regiment
• 33rd regiment
• 37th regiment
• 38th regiment
• 42nd regiment
• 43rd regiment
• 44th regiment
• 54th regiment
• 57th regiment
• 60th regiment/2nd battalion
• 60th regiment/3rd battalion
• 60th regiment/4th battalion
• 62nd regiment
• 63rd regiment
• 64th regiment
• 70th regiment
• 71st regiment
• 71st regiment/2nd battalion
• 76th regiment
• 80th regiment
• 82nd regiment
• 84th regiment

The Charles C. Pratt papers contain incoming letters to Pratt about two of his political campaigns: his unsuccessful bid for the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1902 and his election to the United States House of Representatives in 1908.

The Charles C. Pratt papers (859 items) contain incoming letters to Pratt about two of his political campaigns: his unsuccessful bid for the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1902 and his election to the United States House of Representatives in 1908.

Pratt's incoming Correspondence (837 letters) pertains to state-level politics in early 20th century Pennsylvania. Many letters written during the early stages of Pratt's 1902 campaign were optimistic, and some writers already considered the election effectively settled in Pratt's favor, particularly due to his affiliation with the Republican Party. Others exercised more caution. The collection also has telegrams from the night of the election (November 4, 1902) and letters from Pratt's friends expressing their disappointment in the outcome.

The second group of letters, apart from one 1905 item, documents Pratt's campaign for the United States House of Representatives in 1908. The Republican Congressional Committee sent letters prior to the election, but most items are congratulatory letters to Pratt written from November 4-6, 1908. Later items include requests for official appointments and recommendations of friends or family for particular positions. Some items have illustrated letterheads, including one with an illustration of whiskey bottles and a distillery (November 2, 1902) and one for the Beach Sanitarium, "Famous for the cure of cancer without the use of knife or plasters" (November 4, 1908).

• Completed but unsigned survey about the potential abolition of direct primaries
• Petition for "legislation providing for a system of parcels delivery on the rural mail delivery routes, and for the establishment of postal savings banks" (4 copies)
• Petition for creation of a National Highways Commission
• Typed list of "Republican Voters, New Milford Twp."
• Typed election results from two Pennsylvania elections (November 1902), with notes on the 1908 United States House of Representatives election

• Newspaper clipping about George W. Kipp's expenditures during a congressional campaign
• "A Toast" ending with the lines "Here's champagne to your real friends/And real pain to your sham friends"
• Wedding announcement for Frederick W. Poten and Mary Belle Cross (February 11, 1909)
• Printed text of "An Act. Punishing the Printing, Posting and Distributing of Any Libelous Circular or Poster or Other Written or Printed Paper" (June 26, 1895)
• Printed pamphlet entitled "Another Bank Cashier in Politics. Another Bank Gone to Smash! Startling Instance of Misplaced Public Confidence"
• Printed circular from Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association
• Printed speech of Charles Morningstar & Co., of New York, before the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means
• Charles C. Pratt speech notes (3 items)
• Notes and fragments (4 items)

Bishop of the Michigan Diocese of the Episcopal Church, 1906-1923, and advocate of the "social gospel" views of Walter Rauschenbusch. Papers consist of correspondence, notebooks on labor and social issues, and biographical material.

The papers of Charles D. Williams, Episcopal bishop of Michigan, include correspondence concerning personal and church affairs and the social gospel movement, including correspondence with Walter Rauschenbush, Samuel Mather, and Lucretia Garfield; also sermons and addresses, 1885-1923, journals of European trips, 1896, 1917, and 1921, notebooks on social and labor problems, material on the 1908 forest fire at Metz, Michigan (Presque Isle County), and material on the Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio in 1898; biographical writings by his sons, Benedict Williams, his wife Lucy V. Williams, and his secretary, Charles O. Ford; letters of condolence from fellow clergy, including Reinhold Niebuhr; also photographs.

This collection contains correspondence that Charles Deane, a merchant and historian based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received in the mid-19th century. Deane's correspondents included ministers, historians, and politicians, who discussed American history, contemporary historiography, and the activities of historical societies in the Boston area.

This collection contains correspondence, gift acknowledgements, engraved portraits, and photographs related to Charles Deane, a merchant and historian based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Deane's correspondents included ministers, historians, and politicians, who discussed American history, contemporary historiography, and the activities of Boston-area historical societies.

The Correspondence series (165 items) contains 146 letters to Charles Deane, 5 letters to Robert C. Waterston, 4 letters to Helen Waterston Deane, and 10 letters to Deane's children and other recipients. Charles Deane's correspondents provided news of social events in Boston and Cambridge, particularly related to local historical and antiquarian societies. Many writers offered opinions on Deane's writings, acknowledged the receipt of his publications, or thanked Deane for reviewing their own material. Others discussed topics in American history. One partially printed invitation regards a "Popham Celebration" in honor of the founding of the first English colony in North America (August 10, 1869). Additional items include a condolence letter from Thomas Wentworth to Helen Deane after Charles Deane's death (November 14, 1889).

Charles Deane received 8 Gift Acknowledgements between April 17, 1845, and October 13, 1864, thanking him for contributions to the Harvard University Library (6 items), the Boston Public Library (1 item), and the Boston Athenaeum (1 item). The documents are signed by Josiah Quincy, John Langdon Sibley, and other library affiliates. Two Engraved Portraits depict William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) and Amos Lawrence (1786-1852).

The Photographs series contains 3 carte-de-visite studio portraits depicting William Ellery Channing, Ezra Stiles Gannett, and George Livermore.

The papers include legal papers of circuit court cases from Saginaw and Genesee counties, Michigan, his service records while Quartermaster of the Michigan Infantry, 23rd Regiment during the Civil War, and biographical materials.

Lists of other Littles are found in the deeds. Legal papers include circuit court cases from Saginaw and Genesee counties. His service records as Quartermaster to the Michigan Infantry, 23rd Regiment are likely to be of the most interest to patrons.

A number of the legal papers have blurred ink due to water damage.

The Charles Merriman papers consist of military forms and letters dating principally from Merriman's captaincy of Company F, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters.

Unlike most set of soldiers' letters, the Charles Merriman papers do not consist of personal correspondence, but rather of military forms and letters dating principally from Merriman's captaincy of Co. F, 1st U.S. Sharpshooters. The collection is valuable for gaining an appreciation of the paperwork required of a unit in the field, and of the close accounting practices required of officers to track military property and stores issued to their care. The last item in the collection, chronologically (folder 7), is dated at Merriman's home in New Hampshire, suggesting that nearly three months after mustering out, Merriman was still filing reports and forms to help the government track down some missing tents.