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Battle Creek, Mich. historian and collector of rare books and manuscripts. Much of Lowe's research was devoted to the life and career of Black abolitionist Sojourner Truth. The collection contains material related to Sojourner Truth and includes biographies and bibliographies, book reviews, clippings, songs, images and photographs, etc. Other materials in the collection include letters of John G. Whittier, George W. Cable, correspondence of Lowe with writer Gerald Carson, diaries of Lowe's 1963 trip to Europe, as well as miscellanea and photographs.

The collection is arranged into two series. The Sojourner Truth (collected material) series includes biographies and compiled biographical information about Truth, bibliographies and book reviews, obituaries, tributes, newspaper articles, images of portraits, photographs, songs, and other information relating to the life of Sojourner Truth. Of special interest is a scrapbook that was kept by Frances Titus, Sojourner Truth's assistant.

Most of the Sojourner Truth files have been microfilmed except for a folder of material which came to the library after the 1965 filming. A few photographs that were microfilmed in 1965 were reported missing. These images are only available on the microfilm.

The Other Materials series contains items concerning Lowe's various activities and interests, including Battle Creek history and personalities, her travel diaries, and materials related to her friendship with writer Gerald Carson. Also included collected autographs and papers of individuals, including authors John Greenleaf Whittier and George Washington Cable. Also of note are letters of D. J. Van Schnell who wrote to members of the Oldfield family that contain watercolor drawings indicative of English life in the late 1930s and the early years of the World War II.

Dexter, Michigan, collector of materials relating to the history of railroading in Michigan. Correspondence, subject files, printed matter and photographs; contain material concerning the Ann Arbor Railroad, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, the Manistee and Northeastern Railway Company, the Michigan Central Railroad, the Pere Marquette Railroad, and Ephraim Shay.

The Stoner collection contains about 3,600 photographs and negatives collected by Stoner, relating primarily to Michigan railroads. The collection also contains related manuscript materials.

Stoner's major collecting interests were in the Ann Arbor, Grand Trunk Western, and Pere Marquette Railroads and their predecessors, and in logging railroads, especially Ephraim Shay's railroad and others using Shay locomotives. Along with these lines, the collection contains photos of dozens of other railroads, not all in Michigan.

The photographs most commonly depict locomotives, often with their crews posed beside. Other common subjects are railroad stations (exteriors only), train wrecks, trains in motion, logging operations, carferries, railroad bridges, the Detroit-Windsor railroad tunnel, and street railroads.

Dozens of Michigan cities and towns and a number of places in other states are represented in the collection. Places depicted most often in the photos include Ann Arbor, Cadillac, Detroit, Durand, Frankfort, Harbor Springs, and Howell, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.

The collection is organized into seven series: Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, Unclassified negatives, Papers, Classified negatives, and Duplicate material.

Appended to this finding aid are two indexes, one for railroads and company names, the other for subjects. The indexes contain references to all items in the Classified photos, Unclassified photos, Albums, and Unclassified negatives series.

The index to railroads and company names indexes logging and industrial companies that operated railroads, as well as railroad lines themselves. It does not index locomotive manufacturers, nor does it index the names of railroad museums where some of the photos were taken.

The index to subjects indexes place names and topical subjects. It does not index the term "locomotives" since the majority of the photos in the collection would be indexed under that heading. Place names are indexed if the photo includes a view of some part of the place or of some event at the place. Close-up views of locomotives that do not show any background are not indexed by place, even if the description of the photo identifies where it was taken.

Professor of architecture at the University of Michigan; includes correspondence, professional organizational activities files, documentation, photographs, and architectural drawings accumulated during his work with the Michigan Historic Buildings Survey

The Emil Lorch papers are valuable for their documentation of the career of this important architectural educator and for that material about Michigan architecture and historic structures that Lorch accumulated in the course of his professional study and organizational involvement. The collection includes extensive correspondence with many of the country's leading architects, most notably members of the "Chicago School," and architectural educators, and manuscript and photographic documentation resulting from Lorch's involvement with the Michigan Historic Buildings Survey and various restoration projects, including Mackinac Island.

Governing body of the Episcopal church in western Michigan, established in 1874; records include bishops' files, diocesan organization and committee files, photographs, scrapbooks, diocesan historian files.

The records of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan are a rich resource of material, not only for the programs and activities of the Episcopal Church in western Michigan, but also for their documentation of the role of the church in the life of the various communities served by the diocese.

Records from the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan first came to the Bentley Historical Library in 1972. Since then, the diocese has made several significant additions to their records. In 1999 the record group was reprocessed with the aim of drawing together like materials. The record group now consists of twenty-two separate series. These are: Bishop's Files, Chancellor, Treasurer, Diocesan Historiographer, Standing Committee Files, Miscellaneous Files, Diocesan Record Books, Publicity Files, Defunct Parish and Mission Churches Files, Diocesan Committee Files, Diocesan Organization Files, Diocesan Financial Records, Visual Materials, Sound Recordings, Scrapbooks, Western Michigan University (WMU) Ministry Files, Women's Organizations, Miscellaneous office and staff files Bulletins of Church Services, Church of Christ the King, Miscellaneous parish materials, and Miscellaneous diocesan materials.

Managing editor of the Detroit Free Press, president of the Michigan Press Association, 1969, and national treasurer of Sigma Delta Chi, professional journalism society. Activities and topical files; speeches; papers concerning work on Cooley High School Community Council, Detroit, Michigan, files concerning Detroit race relations and the Detroit riot of 1967; papers relating to Detroit Press Club; and photographs.

The Frank Angelo papers document his career in journalism, as editor of the Detroit Free Press, his professional and community activities. The Angelo papers came to the library in several accession which have been integrated in this description.

Employee with the Postum Cereal Company, Battle Creek, Michigan. Jones was responsible for efficiency studies on routine processes at the plant. Diaries, 1923-1992, of Jones; diaries, 1932-1936, of his wife Marjorie Hallobaugh Jones; and transcript of oral history interview, 1992.

The collection consists of the diaries of Frank Jones from the years 1923 to 1992. Also included are the diaries of his wife, Majorie Hollabaugh Jones, for the years 1932 to 1936, and an oral history that was conducted by the Kraft General Foods archives in 1992. The diaries are of two types: originals and recopying of originals. The first type, diaries for 1923 to 1930, 1932 to 1933 and 1948 to 1952 are originals. The second type, diaries dating from 1923 to 1992, are either a handwritten recopying of the originals or the original volumes themselves. While the recopied volumes are more legible, they do not include the photographs, newspaper clippings and other scrapbook type of material found only in the older, original volumes. The only year that did not get copied into the larger recopied volumes was 1932. Within the diaries, there is a small volume labeled My Five Years. This volume contains the entries for Jones from 1932 to 1933. The remainder of this volume was taken over by Marjorie Hollabaugh Jones who made the entries for the years 1934 to 1936. Marjorie Hollabaugh Jones had her own diaries for the years 1932 and 1933.

All of the diaries contain more than just written entries. They were also used as a scrapbook and contain photographs, newspaper clippings, marriage announcements and obituaries. These items are found throughout the diaries, although the photographs are usually found on the inside of the front and back covers.

The diaries are arranged in chronological order with the larger volumes containing more than one year. The diaries were kept continually since 1923 and an entry was made for every day. They give a glimpse of a young man's life in the 1920's and 1930's and his impressions of his world. For the most part, the early entries are a brief recounting of the day's events. The entries from his later life become more reflective and detailed. The diaries provide good description of Jones' working life at the Postum Cereal Company and exactly what his job entailed and some of his reactions as he lived through changing management styles and techniques. The diaries provide a good insight into the working, social, and home life of Jones and his wife.

The diaries of Majorie Hallobaugh Jones consist of two separate volumes and entries in the volume labeled My Five Years for the years 193 to 1936. Her diaries provide good insight into her life as a schoolteacher in Indiana prior to her marriage and her life as a young housewife in Battle Creek from 1933 to 1936.

Landscape architect, professor of landscape architecture at the University of Michigan. Files relating to various Michigan projects, notably in Ann Arbor, Hartland, Hillsdale, and Highland Park; subject files on professional activities; and photographs.

The papers of Harlow O. Whittemore have been divided into the following series: Projects; Topical Files; Family Papers; and Photographs.

President's correspondence, executive committee minutes, and minutes of annual conventions; also files on individual churches in the Synod, including clippings, reports, church histories and programs; and photographs.

The records of the Michigan Synod of the Lutheran Church in America include president's correspondence; executive committee minutes; and minutes of annual conventions; files on individual churches in the Synod, including clippings, reports, church histories and programs; and photographs. The records have been arranged into the following series: Organizational and Administrative Records; Archivist's files; Organizational units and programs; Lutheran Church Women; Printed material; Church files; Topical files; and Visual Materials. Most of the records prior to 1962 originally came from the archives of United Lutheran Church in America.

Battle Creek, Michigan, African American singer and music teacher, member of the Battle Creek Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other material relating to her professional career, diaries recording daily activities and personal thoughts, and photographs.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Personal / Biographical; Writings, speech notes, compositions; Community activities; and Diaries.

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).