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Business records of Ruggles' lumber, gas, oil, railroads, salt and real estate business interests. Most are accounts, although financial records, leases, legal contracts, court cases and testimonies are included as well as a few personal family materials.

The business records document Ruggles’ vast business interests including: lumber, gas, oil, railroads, and real estate. Most of the records are some form of accounts, payment information, leases, or legal contracts. Also included are numerous published court cases or trial testimonies of his lengthy legal case against Buckley and Douglas Lumber Company and other legal concerns. The collection provides a solid look at his complex business dealings and the shrewdness with which he amassed his wealth and made numerous enemies. The only personal information is some family photographs and his will.

The papers consists mostly Hodskin's Civil War letters and diary, and a 2003 student term paper based on the collection.

The collection includes correspondence between Charles and his wife and their friends. Charles’ diary and four Civil War era letters describe the weather, military drills, skirmishes with the enemy, the failures of General A. E. Burnside, heavy federal losses, many prisoners being taken, Negro troops, fighting, and marches to Bardston, Lebanon, Jamestown, and Memphis, Tennessee.

Also included is a 2003 CMU student term paper (74 pages) by Kathryn S. Anderson entitled “The 1863 Civil War Journal of Charles Horace Hodskin, 1836-1905,” which is a transcription of his diary.

Papers include his handwritten journals, written after and concerning the American civil war, especially the 30th Ohio Infantry, transcriptions, and other materials.

The collection is mostly composed of his handwritten (Personal Journal) volumes, documenting his life and the 30th Ohio Infantry, which were written after the war. Some volumes note the miles he traveled by railroad and steam boat (v. 4, v. 3). The early volumes note elections, his opinions and ideas about slavery, and pro- and anti-slave states politics. Also noted here are his trips back from Keokuk, Iowa, 1856, a trip to Wyandot, Kansas, 1858, and trips between Millersburg and Mount Vernon, Ohio, 1850-1860. The typed transcriptions are twentieth century and may have been done by past Clarke staff. The provenance of the collection is unknown. V. 2 Military History includes a history of Company I, 30th Ohio Infantry, handwritten addresses he gave in 1908-1909, and stories about Manistee County, Missionary Ridge, and the 36th and 4th Ohio Infantries. Two of his letters (1862, 1864) to his father were published in newspapers and are in the folder with newspaper clippings. Also in this folder are speeches he wrote for veterans reunions at Bear Lake, Michigan, 1909-1910, a speech about the Labor Question, 1892, and articles about soldiers and reunions of the 98th, 126th, and 30th Ohio Infantry regiments. His recopied early 1850 essays are also included.

Papers and a plethora of photographic materials of Dick Moehl, documenting his interest in, preservation, restoration and tourism projects and successes with Michigan lighthouses, lighthouse groups and related organizations, Boy Scouts of Troop 4, Ann Arbor, and the Mackinaw area. Some of these materials continue or expand the GLLKA organizational records collection, which is separately cataloged and housed at the Clarke.

The collection consists of papers and a plethora of photographic materials of Dick Moehl, 1902-2017, and undated, documenting his interest in, preservation, restoration and tourism projects and successes with Michigan lighthouses, lighthouse groups and related organizations, Boy Scouts of Troop 4, Ann Arbor, and the Mackinaw area. The collection is organized by size and format, then alphabetically by topic within series. Some of these materials continue or expand the GLLKA organizational records collection, which is separately cataloged and housed at the Clarke. The major series of the collection include: Dick Moehl materials (mostly in Box 1); Subject files; Slides of Michigan lighthouses; and Oversized materials.

The Subject Files include: extensive documentation of Dick’s activities, allied organizations, and interests, including: Troop 4 Boy Scouts, awards, honors, history and lighthouse work, Eagle Scout projects and programs, GLLKA organizational records, records of the many historic, preservation, and tourism organizations Dick was associated with, St. Helena and Round Island light station projects and history, lighthouses (Michigan, national) preservation, restoration, dedication or re-dedication or re-opening events, Mackinaw/c city, Island, and County history, tourism, and current events, and general Michigan history or tourism topics or events.

Slides of Michigan lighthouses and Boy and Girl Scouts helping preserve and restore lighthouses, cruising, Michigan tourism, nature, Soo Locks, Mackinac Bridge, 1981, 2009, and undated.

There is also a slide box (Box 29) of thirteen Sony8 videocassettes, mostly of events at St. Helena Lighthouse, undated, 1989-1991, perhaps as late as 1993. These video cassettes can be viewed by connecting a Sony 8 or high 8 camera to a television screen.

Oversized Materials include: two lighthouse photograph albums, 1985 and 1986; and five Oversized folders of posters, notably a color photograph poster of the Boy Scouts at St. Helena Light with a pile of collected trash, 1993, drawings, including children’s art, a pennant, and architectural drawings of Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse Barn, by Northwest Design Group, Richard Newman, Architect, Preliminary Drawings A1.1-A1.3, S1.2, prepared for Mackinac State Historic Park, September 2004.

The 2018 addition to the Richard Moehl Collection, Acc# 76135, Boxes #30-34 and Oversized Folder #6, 1942, 2016, and undated includes: paper awards and certificates, notebooks and logs, correspondence concerning Moehl’s achievements and certifications, and photographs; five plaques awarded to Moehl; four trophies, The oversized folder includes a special tribute and a certificate.

Processing Note: During processing numerous duplicates and peripheral materials were removed from the collection (29.5 cubic feet). Over 3 cubic feet of personal materials and camera equipment were returned to Mrs. Moehl. Over 75 catalog entries were created for monographs and serials that were added to the Clarke’s collection. Also, some postcards and miscellaneous newsletters were added to the Michigan postcards collection and vertical files.