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Collection

Stinchfield family papers, 1837-1999

6.25 linear feet

The Stinchfield family papers contain the correspondence, business records, financial and legal documents, photographs, and genealogical papers of the Stinchfield family, founders of a successful lumber business in Michigan in the mid-19th century. The collection also includes materials related to social and family events in Grosse Pointe and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, through the mid-20th century.

The Stinchfield family papers consist of the correspondence, business records, financial and legal documents, photographs, and genealogical papers of Jacob W. Stinchfield, his wife Maria Hammond Stinchfield, and their descendants. The collection's correspondence and documents are organized by generation, reflecting their original order. The earliest items in the collection (Generation I series) include real estate transactions involving Jacob Stinchfield of Lincoln, Maine, dating from 1837. Beginning in the 1860s, after the family’s move to Michigan, the records include correspondence, accounts, and other financial records relating to the lumber business, begun by Jacob and continued by his son Charles Stinchfield. The materials provide information respecting the management of men in lumber camps, logging in winter weather conditions, methods of transportation, the challenges of rafting logs downriver, and other lumber business operations in volatile market conditions. Jacob and Charles Stinchfield’s partner, and frequent correspondent, was David Whitney, Jr., a wealthy Detroit businessman.

The Stinchfields expanded their company to include railroads (to facilitate their logging operations) and mineral mines. Many documents in the Generation II series, including manuscript and printed maps, concern land development in Michigan, where the family owned a farm in Bloomfield Hills, and in the West, especially Wyoming. The family traveled extensively and corresponded about their experiences in Europe, Asia, and the western United States. The Civil War is represented with small but significant holdings -- among them, a September 21, 1864, note written and signed by President Abraham Lincoln, requesting a fair hearing for a furlough (probably for George Stinchfield), and a February 14, 1863, letter from Vice President Hannibal Hamlin to Jacob W. Stinchfield, assuring him that George McClellan would not be ordered back to the command of the army.

The collection's twentieth-century materials (Generation III and Generation IV series) consist largely of the personal correspondence of Jacob Stinchfield’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The life of Charles Stinchfield, Jr., is well documented, from his schooling at St. John’s Military Institute in Manlius, N.Y., and a brief time at Cornell University, through his roles in the family business, his marriage, and the raising of his three children. Interactions between Charles Stinchfield, Jr., and his father, Charles Stinchfield, a demanding and energetic businessman, are also well represented in the collection. The materials reveal relationships between family members and their servants, and spiritualists' attempts to contact Charles Stinchfield III, who died of appendicitis in 1933 at the age of 15. Later papers provide descriptions of the social life of a wealthy family in the early and mid-20th century, at their residence in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and at their country home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

The Genealogy series, compiled largely by Diane Stinchfield Klingenstein, contains extensive background research on family members, copies of Ira and George Stinchfield’s Civil War records, transcriptions of letters written by Charles Stinchfield on a journey west in 1871 (not otherwise represented in the collection), and a typewritten draft of Diane Klingenstein’s family history, "One bough from a branch of the tree: a Stinchfield variation."

In addition to materials organized by generation, the collection includes photographs, scrapbooks, pastels, realia, and books. Many of the photographs are individual and group portraits (both studio and candid) from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The images include many exterior views of the land and buildings of the family’s country home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (Stonycroft Farm, ca. 1910), and of the Stinchfield residence in Grosse Pointe, Michigan (ca. 1940s). Early 20th-century lumber camps and railroads in Oregon and mining camps in Nevada are represented in photographs and photograph albums. The collection contains photos from trips to Japan (ca. 1907), the American West, and Europe. The collection's scrapbooks include newspaper clippings, invitations, and photographs, mainly concerning the life of Diane Klingenstein in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, during the 1930s and 1940s.

The Stinchfield family papers contain three pastel portraits of unknown subjects. The Realia series includes a bone ring likely made by George Stinchfield when he was a prisoner on Belle Isle, Virginia; a ring bearing Ira Stinchfield's name and regiment, in case he died during the Civil War; hospital identification and five baby pins for Diane W. Stinchfield (1925); a variety of additional Stinchfield family jewelry; and several wooden, crotched rafting pins, apparently from Saginaw, Michigan.

The Books series includes a copy of The Pictorial Bible, given to Charles and Mary from Father Fish, June 12, 1879, and a selection of 9 additional publications, which are cataloged individually. A comprehensive list of these books may be found by searching the University's online catalog for "Klingenstein."

Collection

St. Peter's Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (Detroit, Mich.) records, 1880-1980

5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Histories, minutes of meetings, treasurer's reports and minutes; records of youth and women's organizations; and yearbooks and church newspaper.

The records of St. Peter's Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, some of which are in Danish, have been organized into the following series: History / Organizational; Minute books of meetings; Financial records and miscellanea; Church organizations; Publications; and Photographs.

Collection

Tayler family papers, 1860s-1965 (majority within 1860s-1890s, 1942-1965)

1 linear foot — 1 oversize folder

Genealogy and other vital information found in family Bible; travel diaries of Josiah Clark of trips to Canada and New York city; portraits of Tayler, Clark and Farmer family members. Materials documenting the career of Theron C. Tayler, specifically, his rotary kilns research and patented innovations.

Collection

Tuomy Family papers, 1840-1966 (majority within 1905-1945)

3 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Pioneer Ann Arbor, Michigan family, involved in farming, then real estate, developed the Tuomy Hills area of the city. Papers include personal and business correspondence of Cornelius and Kathryn Tuomy and of other family members; ledger books, 1868-1890, 1911-1938, and diaries, 1920-1921, 1925, 1926, 1936 concerning business and personal affairs; also papers of Kathryn G. Tuomy as president of the Michigan Federation of Business and Professional Women; and photographs.

The Tuomy Family papers document the daily life of three generations of a pioneer Ann Arbor area family. The three linear feet of papers span the years 1840-1966 with the bulk of the material falling within the decades bound by 1905-1945. The papers have been divided into four series, a small set of documents with biographical information, a larger set of personal and business correspondence, and family material arranged as a set of topical files. There is also a box of unidentified family portraits

A strength of the Tuomy Family papers is the documentation of daily life for a prominent Ann Arbor family from 1900 until the 1960's. Kathryn G. Tuomy's materials provide good exposure to the life of an Ann Arbor woman who has a university education and a family business to maintain. The papers are weaker in their coverage of the Tuomy and Tuomy real estate business. There is only marginal documentation regarding Cornelius W. (Bill) Tuomy's time in political office as drain commissioner. The photographs are not strongly backed up by the written documentation regarding the Tuomy and Tuomy real estate office and properties.

Collection

United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Presbytery of Detroit records, 1828-1974

13 linear feet

Minutes, rosters of ministers, and statistical and financial records; also retired records of individual Presbyterian churches, including the; and miscellaneous synodical files.

The record group includes record books of defunct Presbyterian churches within the Presbytery. Most of these are Detroit churches: Cadillac Boulevard, Broadstreet United, Third Street Union Mission Sunday School, Church of the Redeemer, Forest Avenue, Marston Avenue, and the Welsh United. Also included are Hamtramck United Presbyterian Church, Waterford Center Presbyterian Church, and Ida Presbyterian Church. A valuable source of information about the churches of the Presbytery is the Church Files series which includes annual reports, membership directories, clippings, and other materials relating to church activities. The Administrative records and topical files is of value for evidence of the church's role in issues of race and poverty. The minutes of Presbytery meetings contain the earliest records of the organization dating back to 1828.

Collection

University of Michigan Club of Detroit records, 1913-1957

2 linear feet

Records, 1913-1957, of the University of Michigan Club of Detroit, an alumni group. Includes correspondence files and undated papers concerning the history of the club.

The records include correspondence files (1913, 1926-1957) and some undated papers concerning the history of the club.

Collection

Vittorio Re papers, 1921-2005

4.4 linear feet

Correspondence, writings, research, and collected materials of Vittorio Re, Chief Chancellor of the Italian Consulate in Detroit, and noted author and lecturer on the history and experiences of the Italian-American community in Detroit and the state of Michigan.

The Vittorio Re collection includes personal and professional papers, as well as collected materials, related to Mr. Re's position as Chief Chancellor of the Italian Consulate in Detroit, and his research and writings on the Italian community in Michigan and Detroit. The collection is especially rich with material about life and activities of Italian communities in Michigan, prominent Americans of Italian decent, as well as discrimination and stereotypes faced by the members of Italian American community. The papers are arranged in the following series: Correspondence and Notes; Papers, Speeches, and Research; and Collected Materials.

Collection

Walter I. McKenzie Papers, 1914-1962 (majority within 1918-1919, 1946-1947)

3 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Online
Detroit attorney, assistant U. S. Prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East following World War II; correspondence and official court materials largely relating to Japanese intervention in Manchuria; materials relating to service in Polar Expedition to northern Russian during World War I; miscellaneous papers relating to other political and legal activities; and photographs.

The Walter McKenzie Collection consists largely of materials created as a result of the Japanese War Crimes Trials. The collection has been arranged into eight series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Articles, Speeches, etc.; International Military Tribunal for the Far East, International Prosecution Section; University of Michigan; World War I (Polar Bear Expedition); Miscellaneous; and Photographs.

Collection

Walter I. McKenzie Polar Bear Expedition papers, 1918-1945

19 folders — 1 oversize folder

Detroit attorney who served in 1918 and 1919 with the 339th U.S. Infantry during the American intervention in Archangel, Russia, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Selections from McKenzie's papers including correspondence, photographs, and other items relating to service in Polar Bear Expedition to northern Russia.

The Walter McKenzie Collection consists largely of materials created as a result of the Japanese War Crimes Trials. The collection has been arranged into eight series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Articles, Speeches, etc.; International Military Tribunal for the Far East, International Prosecution Section; University of Michigan; World War I (Polar Bear Expedition); Miscellaneous; and Photographs. The Walter McKenzie Collection covers many aspects of McKenzie's life in addition to the Polar Bear expedition. The bulk of the collection consists largely of materials created as a result of the Japanese War Crimes Trials. The collection has been arranged into eight series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Articles, Speeches, etc.; International Military Tribunal for the Far East, International Prosecution Section; University of Michigan; World War I (Polar Bear Expedition); Miscellaneous; and Photographs. Only the Polar Bear material and some biographical material has been digitized and can be viewed here. Researchers must visit the library to view the rest of McKenzie's collection. The Polar Bear materials consist of a diary, June 1918-July 1919, describing his voyage to Russia, his stay in a Red Cross Hospital there, routine work at headquarters, life in Archangel, a supply trip up the Dvina River in a gunboat in June 1919, and the voyage home. Also included are correspondence, June 1918-July 1919, describing life at Camp Custer, the voyage to Russia, life in Archangel, civilian conditions there, his ambition to go to the front, and his boat trip up the river. Other materials include ca. 30 picture postcards of Archangel, Murmansk, and countryside scenes, an issue of The Call, an English-language Bolshevik newspaper published in Moscow, a copy of the constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, an issue of The Mess Kit and one of the Daily Communique, both published in France for American soldiers, consisting of poems, and miscellaneous programs, clippings, and rosters.

Collection

Warren S. Wilkinson papers, 1801-1991

1 linear foot (in 3 boxes) — 5 oversize volumes

Scrapbooks of Warren S. Wilkinson, member of the board of the Evening News Association, publisher of the Detroit News. Scrapbooks relate to the life and work of James E. Scripps, founder of the Detroit News, and to the struggle over the sale of the newspaper to Gannett Company in 1985.

The collection contains scrapbooks assembled by Wilkinson relating to the life and work of James E. Scripps, as well as the machinations surrounding the sale of the Evening News Association to Gannett Company in 1985. Most of the scrapbooks have been copied for the library and the originals returned to the donor. The collection consists of photocopies of the scrapbooks along with scanned images of many of the photographs. Scanned photos are identified by the scan number noted on the reverse of the page.

The family scrapbooks document James E. Scripps's personal life and his family, the history of the Detroit News, Scripps family interests including the Detroit Museum of Art, the Scripps home on Trumbull Avenue in Detroit, and Trinity Episcopal Church located at the corner of Trumbull and Grand River Avenues in Detroit one block from the family home.

Wilkinson's scrapbooks titled "The Twilight of the Evening News Association" contain photos, correspondence, trial transcripts, financial charts, and commentary documenting the company's struggle for profitability in the 1960s and 70s, and negotiations and lawsuits over the sale of the company in the 1980s. The first volume in this sequence contains many photos of News operations from the early part of the twentieth century.