Collections

This manuscript, titled "615 Books" is an inventory of the library of C. F. Lyman. Each entry includes the number of volumes and title of the work. The entries appear to be organized by subject. A broad list of subjects includes math, geology, travel, Napoleon, literature, history, art, religion, and chemistry.

The inventory was written in a printed blank book "Specimens of Penmanship, written by..." sold by S. G. Simpkins, 21 Tremont Row, Boston. The cover bears a printed image of two children, one on a swing set up inside a barn, and the phrase "Every thing must be done at the time" (emphasizing a lack of idleness in favor of personal development and the pursuit of success). The back cover bears a printed tables of coins, weights, measures, time, and more.

This volume contains C. G. Bush's manuscript musical score for his two-act opera "Miles Standish," composed in 1865 and 1866, and adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem of the same name. The score was written in ink but includes additional notes and corrections in pencil. The volume includes the libretto, act and scene titles, lyrics, and musical notations.

This volume contains C. G. Bush's manuscript music score for his two-act opera "Miles Standish," composed in 1865 and 1866 and adapted from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem of the same name. The score was written in ink but includes additional notes and corrections in pencil. The volume includes the libretto, act and scene titles, lyrics, and musical notations. A manuscript note at the bottom of page 109 reads "Jan. 9th, 1866."

The complete title for this work is "Miles Standish. Opera in Two Acts 1865. Words By H. W. Longfellow. Music By C. G. Bush." It was written for four solo characters: Miles Standish, Bass; John Alden, Tenor; Priscilla, Soprano; and Messenger, Bass. An additional chorus of "Sailors, Villagers &c &c" is also included.

The front cover bears a gold embossed leather nameplate that reads, "MILES STANDISH. COMPOSED BY C.G.B."

This collections is comprised of brief essays written about the Ciechanowski family (variously spelled Chinoski or Chase), Polish immigrants to Parisville in Huron County, Michigan.

The Charles and Ida Humphreys diary (140 pages) chronicles the newlywed couple's vacation along the Mississippi River between March and June 1874. The diary, which contains entries composed by both Humphreys, contains commentary on life in the South during Reconstruction.

The Charles and Ida Humphreys diary (140 pages) chronicles the newlywed couple's vacation along the Mississippi River between March and June 1874. The diary, which contains entries composed by both Humphreys, contains commentary on life in the South during Reconstruction. While traveling onboard the steamer Glencoe, Charles and Ida Humphrey recorded their observations about the landscape and about the people they encountered, including black plantation workers. They also noted the region's declining economy. The Mississippi River region faced substantial flooding, and, as a consequence, the Humphreys were forced to remain in Greenville, Mississippi, for much of their trip.

The Charles Caldwell lectures are manuscript notes taken by an observer of Caldwell's medical lectures - most likely in Lexington, Kentucky in 1825.

The manuscript lectures in this collection are unsigned, but are circumstantially attributed to Caldwell on the basis of internal references to a 30 year career in medicine, including an association with the Pennsylvania Hospital, to experience and research in pestilential epidemics, and to the author's "timely investigation of the sanguiniferous system." The manuscript probably represents a student's notes taken during a series of Caldwell's lectures in about 1825. They are not in Caldwell's hand.

The lecture series represented by this manuscript comprises an introductory course in medicine, covering nutrition, blood and the circulatory system, pathology, the nervous system, etc. Of particular interest are lectures on dreams, pleasure, memory and understanding, and differences between the sexes

Charles Child of New York, New York, filled out this pre-printed daily diary from January 1 through August 21, 1860, recording his social visits, correspondence relating to matrimonial newspaper advertisements, activities with the Cadets of Temperance, and his work as an engraver. The back of the volume includes "Cash Accounts" and "Bills Payable" filled out for the entire year.

Charles Child of New York, New York, filled out this pre-printed daily diary from January 1 through August 21, 1860, recording his social visits, correspondence relating to matrimonial newspaper advertisements, activities with the Cadets of Temperance, and his work as an engraver. The back of the volume includes "Cash Accounts" and "Bills Payable" filled out for the entire year.

Child recorded his social engagements, visits, and conversations with both men and women, and he commonly used slang terms in his entries. He noted his attendance at parties, dances, skating excursions, card games, picnics, and performances, providing a glimpse into the social life of a young New Yorker. Charles Child was an active member of "Excelsior Section No. 7" and the "Mount Vernon Section" of the Cadets of Temperance, and he wrote about the meetings and work he undertook on their behalf.

Beginning in March, Child referenced "insert[ing] matrimonial advertisements" in local newspapers (March 15), receiving letters in response, and writing replies. He joked with his peers about the endeavor and discussed responses. It appears in some of his ads he may have been posing as a woman as he notes receiving letters "directed to 'Minnie' " (March 17) and "Emma Gray" (May 12 and 29) and replying "in a feminine hand" (March 20). He appears to have taken up a substantive correspondence with a woman named Nellie.

In addition to daily affairs, Child commented on events like fires (January 13), a suicide (January 28), and referenced the Japanese delegation in New York City (June 16, June 23, June 25). He made occasional references to the sectional conflict and political events (see January 15, February 27, March 1). On August 6, he joined the New York Zouaves, and several pages at the back of the volume list out members of Company A of the First Regiment of the New York Zouaves. A note written on the back flyleaf by Charles Child's mother, Sarah O'Dell Child Willets, reads, "gone to the war[.] June 5th 1861 started for fortress Monroe as 1st Lieut. Co A. 9th Regt New York Zouaves."

Child's entries also document his professional life as he took up engraving under Jacob Hyatt. On January 16, Child noted that he "engraved the first card plate I ever did," and throughout the volume noted jobs he took on, including engraving cards, utensils, a "brass plate for a fiddle-box" (April 2), a watch, a door plate, a wedding card plate, a seal, a diploma plate, and others. On May 9, he noted getting a copy of "the History of the US. for the purpose of placing the plates correctly." On June 6, his uncle provided him with a steel plate "to try my hand on," and Child noted when he tried new scripts, providing glimpses into how he was learning the art.

The Cash Accounts and Bills Payable sections at the end of the volume include details about his personal expenses, financial affairs with the Cadets of Temperance, and his salary for engraving.

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 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)