Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Naturalist, professor of zoology and paleontology at the University of Michigan. Autobiography and biographical material; correspondence, diaries and travelogues, and writings concerning in part his collecting expeditions for the University Museum to South America, China, the Philippines, and other parts of the Far East; also papers reflecting his thoughts on science, religion, philosophy and evolution; and photographs.

The papers of Joseph Beal Steere consist of four feet of manuscript and visual material, one oversize volume, and one oversize folder covering the years 1861-1941. The collection is organized into seven series: Autobiography/Biography, Professional and Published Correspondence, Diaries and Travelogues, Writings, Photographs, and Correspondence with family and friends (1861-1926).

Director of Orientation and Counselor to New Students, Assistant Professor Emeritus of Romance Languages. Collection includes correspondence, research notes, photographs, and scrapbook related to birth places and resting places of early University of Michigan presidents.

This collection documents the personal research done by Philip Everette Bursley between 1939-1954 on the birth places and final resting places of five of the founders of the University of Michigan, as well as the first eight presidents of the university.

The Topical Files series contains research material including research correspondence, publication drafts, and hand drawn maps.

The Visual Material series consists of photographs of birth places and resting places of the founders and presidents, photographs of the founders and presidents or of paintings depicting the founders and presidents, and a scrapbook created by Bursley.

Notable individuals researched include University of Michigan founders General Lewis Cass, Governor William Woodbridge, Judge Augustus Brevoort Woodward, Reverend John Monteith, Father Gabriel Richard, as well as presidents Henry Philip Tappan, Reverend Erastus Otis Haven, Henry Simmons Frieze, James Burrill Angell, Harry Burns Hutchins, Marion LeRoy Burton, Alfred Henry Lloyd, Clarence Cook Little, Alexander Grant Ruthven, and Harlan H. Hatcher.