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Collection

Frank J. Hecker papers, 1868-1908 (majority within 1898-1905)

1.75 linear feet

The Frank J. Hecker papers are primarily made up of official letters and documents pertaining to his service during and following the Spanish-American war (1898-1899) as Chief of the Division of Transportation, Quartermaster's Department, and as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission (1904). The collection also contains scrapbooks and newspaper clippings related to his work in these capacities, plus miscellaneous photographs, printed items, and ephemera.

The Frank J. Hecker papers are primarily made up of official letters and documents pertaining to his service during and following the Spanish-American War (1898-1899) as Chief of the Division of Transportation, Quartermaster's Department, and as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission (1904). The collection also contains newspaper clippings related to his work in these capacities and miscellaneous photographs, printed items, and ephemera.

Frank Hecker's correspondence and documents begin in June 1898, as he began to manage the purchase of transport ships. Correspondents include Hecker, Russell Alexander Alger (Secretary of War), Charles Patrick Eagan (Commissary General of Subsistence), George D. Meiklejohn, Nelson A. Miles (Commander, U.S. Army), William Giles Harding Carter, and many representatives of companies in business with the government. The letters are all official, mostly regarding the purchase and charter of ships; the inspection of ships; and the procurement of laborers, construction materials, and equipment throughout the campaigns in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.

The letters and documents include Frank Hecker's appointment as Chief of the Division of Transportation within the Quartermaster Department; J. M. Ceballas and Company's report of expenses for the transportation of prisoners of war from Santiago de Cuba to Spanish ports, September 1898; correspondence regarding proposed stations for U.S. troops in Cuba and the construction of railways and piers; and other communications respecting transportation, supplies, and storage.

Frank Hecker's two letter books consist of retained copies of his official War Department letters to governmental and military personnel and various businesses. This correspondence contains additional detailed information on the purchase, charter, and maintenance of transport ships and equipment, as well as administrative and financial decisions related to them.

From 1899 to 1903, the collection's correspondence and documents follow up on Hecker's work during the Spanish-American War. Among these are legal documents regarding the John C. Calhoun v. Atlantic Transport Company case (including Hecker's testimony before the Supreme Court, New York County). John Calhoun brought suit with the transport company for commission related to the sale of several vessels to the U.S. government during the war. The correspondence and documents also include one small, undated, Spanish-American War-era notebook, marked "Col. F.J. Hecker. U.S. Vols." Each of approximately 50 pages in this volume contains a ship's name, owning company, tonnage, size, speed, claimed capacity, and cost of charter.

The correspondence and documents dated 1904ff. begin with President Theodore Roosevelt's appointment of Col. Hecker to the (second) Isthmian Canal Commission and a letter specifying the responsibilities of the Commission. The bulk of this material is made up of the proceedings of the Isthmian Canal Commission. The proceedings (meetings 1-49, 53-55, 60) consist of minutes and resolutions, awarded contracts, financial distributions, subcommittee appointments, and other administrative paperwork. Hecker's letter of resignation to Theodore Roosevelt (November 11, 1904) is present, as is the President's letter of acceptance and a series of letters to Hecker, lamenting his decision to leave the commission. Several of them (particularly Russell Alger's of December 1, 1904, and George W. Davis' of January 17, 1905) suggest that Hecker's resignation was in part the result of confusion and turmoil caused by the allegations made against him by the newspapers.

The collection also includes two scrapbooks with content largely related to Frank Hecker's unsuccessful run for Congress (Detroit, Michigan) in 1892, his service on the Isthmian Canal Commission (1904ff.), and the World War I service of his son Christian Henry Hecker, in the 338th Infantry. Other materials include loose clippings from Detroit and New York newspapers with content concerning Hecker's resignation from the Isthmian Canal board. Please see the detailed box and folder listing for a complete list of photographs, printed items, and ephemera.

Collection

George E. Boggs collection, ca. 1895-1947

1 photograph album, 1 letter, 1 box of ephemera

The George E. Boggs collection contains one photograph album, one letter, and one box of ephemera. These materials document the First World War service of George E. Boggs and to a lesser extent his brother Hamilton Irwin Boggs. Also included are numerous photographs of the Boggs family both prior to and after the war.

The George E. Boggs collection contains one photograph album, one letter, and one box of ephemera. These materials document the First World War service of George E. Boggs, and to a lesser extent his brother Hamilton Irwin Boggs. Also included are numerous photographs of the Boggs family both prior to and after the war.

The album does not have a strict order; many photographs from Boggs’ time in France are interspersed with images of family and at training camps in the United States prior to going to France. Captions are apparently written by both George Boggs and his mother Caroline. The majority of the images from France are of Châtillon-sur-Seine but other places are also represented. Please see the Subject Terms for a more complete list of locations.

Images of note include:
  • George and Hamilton Irwin Boggs in uniform with their Great-Uncle James P. Boggs, Civil War veteran who was wounded at Second Battle of Bull Run (loose photo in front of scrapbook, duplicate copy on page 46)
  • General Pershing awarding the Distinguished Service Cross to members of the 81st Division. (page 18)

The letter, written in France on December 28, 1918, is from Hamilton Irwin Boggs to an "Uncle Jim" (possibly his great-uncle James P. Boggs). In the letter, Hamilton Boggs gives a summary of his service in the army, and mentions George Boggs’ service.

The ephemera includes George E. Boggs' dog tags, an embroidered souvenir French handkerchief, an United States Army Air Service insignia pin, and a piece of "trench art" made from a French 75mm shell casing. Also present are eleven track and field ribbons and two medals, all from 1913-14.

Collection

George S. Patton family papers, 1789-1938 (majority within 1876-1919, 1934-1938)

0.75 linear feet

This collection is made up of correspondence, speeches, a travel diary, and a published history related to the family of General George S. Patton. The bulk pertains to Patton's parents, George S. Patton, Jr., and Ruth Wilson Patton, and to his sister, Anne W. Patton ("Nita"), though items written by and addressed to General Patton are also present.

This collection (0.75 linear feet) is made up of correspondence, speeches, a travel diary, and a published history related to the family of General George S. Patton.

The largest selection of correspondence pertains to George S. Patton, Jr., and Ruth Wilson Patton. Letters written by Patton to Wilson during their courtship and after their marriage provide news of his life, work, and travels. Some items mention their son Georgie (George S. Patton III). Patton also wrote letters to his family, including five to his mother while participating in the punitive expedition to Mexico in 1916. Letters written by Nita Patton largely concern her experiences while living in London, England, in 1919. Some of her letters refer directly to her acquaintance and relationship with John J. Pershing, whom she met during a visit to New Mexico after the punitive expedition of 1916.

Multiple letters written by George S. Patton, Jr., relate to the future general's admission to and studies at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the 1900s. Patton provided his son with personal advice and encouragement, and news from home. The collection includes miscellaneous family letters, addressed to and exchanged between numerous family members between the 1870s and 1890s.

The Patton family papers contain a daily diary of Nelly Davenport and her father's trip to Antigua from December 1789-1790, taken in an attempt to improve Nelly's ailing health. The diary and an accompanying description relate Nelly Davenport's final illness, medical treatments, and death.

A selection of George S. Patton, Jr.'s, speeches is included in the collection. Most were delivered while Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute in the late 1870s, including his valedictorian speech. The speeches concern topics such as the Civil War, the Battle of New Market, and politics. One later item, the text of a speech delivered before the Sunset Club on November 25, 1904, concerns interactions between African Americans and Europeans, particularly with regard to black slavery and suffrage in the United States.

Collection

Harry H. Bandholtz Papers (Microform), 1890-1937 (majority within 1899-1925)

12 microfilms — 1 map — 2 oversize folders — 10 folders

Career military officer, served in the Philippines ca. 1900-1913, chief of the Philippine Constabulary, 1907-1913; papers include correspondence, constabulary reports, diaries, topical files, visual materials, and scrapbooks.

The Bandholtz collection, covering the period of ca. 1890 to 1925 (with some later papers of his wife Inez Bandholtz), consists mainly of materials accumulated while Bandholtz was stationed in the Philippines, 1900-1913. Except for this time in the Far East, Bandholtz was always on the move with ever changing assignments, and consequently his files covering his work on the Mexican border, for example, or the 1921 West Virginia coal miners strike (also known as the Battle of Blair Mountain) are substantially thinner. But in the Philippines, because he was a provincial governor and head of the indigenous military force, Bandholtz was at the center of affairs in this period of Philippine history. And beyond that, he made an effort to maintain and preserve as much documentation from his service here as he could.

The Bandholtz papers came to the library in three separate accessions in 1965, 1994 and 2005. The first accession includes the following series: Correspondence (1899-1913), Invitations, Miscellaneous, Published Materials, and Philippine Constabulary Reports (1906-1913). The second accession includes the following series: Biographical-Personal, Correspondence (1895-1925), Diaries (1900-1923), Topical Files, Visual Materials, Scrapbooks, and Inez Bandholtz papers. Although there is some overlap (especially in the two Correspondence series), the two accessions have been kept separate, and not interfiled, so that researchers who examined the first accession might read from the new material without having to go through the entire collection. This encoded finding aid treats the correspondence as a single series although it has not been interfiled. the third accession consists of correspondence (1903-1912), chiefly confidential letters between Bandholtz and Luke Wright and Leonard Wood, concerning major military an political issues in the Philippines.

Collection

Roy Dikeman Chapin Papers, 1886-1945 (majority within 1910-1936)

32 linear feet (in 33 boxes) — 7 oversize volumes

Online
Lansing, Michigan businessman, founder of the Hudson Motor car Company, Secretary of Commerce in the Hoover Administration, leader of the "good roads movement" and the Lincoln Highway Association. Collection includes correspondence, speeches, business papers, clippings and scrapbooks and photographs.

The Roy D. Chapin papers include correspondence, speeches, articles, interviews, business papers, receipts, scrapbooks, photographs, and miscellaneous notes and files of Chapin's wife, and his biographer, John C. Long, concerning family matters, highway transportation, the automobile industry, general economic conditions, foreign trade, World War I, national defense, state and national politics, the Republican Party, and the University of Michigan. The collection also contains extensive papers concerning the Hudson Motor Car Company, including information on management policies, production, and labor organizing.