3 cubic feet (in 2 boxes, 2 Oversized folder)
The collection mostly consists of the Clubs’ scrapbooks, photographs, and awards, and other records documenting the Club’s activities, programs, and members.
16.25 cubic feet (in 14 boxes, 25 Oversized volumes, 4 Oversized folders)
The Mount Pleasant Woman’s Club organizational records consist of materials from 1894 forward which document the activities of this community organization. The collection was originally subdivided into three series, Minutes, General Administration, and Scrapbooks.
The Minutes series contains Club meeting minutes from 1894 to 1996, and 1999-2003, which are part of the Recording Secretary’s Files. Both sets of minutes are arranged chronologically. These provide the richest source of information on club activities throughout the years. They are nearly complete with only two gaps, 1902-1905 and 1916-1917. Information from these time periods can be found in Scrapbook 1. Some of the bound volumes of minutes contain membership lists, attendance records, bills and receipts.
The General Administration series consists of materials from 1896 to 1998 which primarily document activities of club committees and divisions. Types of materials found here include: reports, committee minutes, histories of the Club, Mount Pleasant Community Calendars, the constitution and bylaws, correspondence, newspaper and magazine clippings, annual programs, certificates, awards, and a photograph. Major topics of this subgroup include; Club House Committee, Health Division, Home and Garden Division, and the Michigan State Federation of Women’s Clubs. A wide variety of information is present in the subgroup, but tends to be quite scattered and not comprehensive.
The Scrapbooks series includes Scrapbooks which primarily contain, and may include annual and specific meeting programs, reports, bylaws, photographs and recipes. It appears that the books were created by several different sources and seem to form a couple of different roughly chronological series: Volumes 1-5 cover the years 1895 to 1960 and Volumes 6-8 span the years 1939 to 1960. Volumes 9 and 10 are special cases; 9 contains only annual programs, while 10 is primarily made up of photographs which document a wide variety of Mount Pleasant area topics. Subjects covered in volume 10 include: schools, farming, barns, sports, agricultural extension service, oil and gas, girl scouts, Central Michigan College, churches, and recipes.
Several printed works pertaining specifically to the Michigan State Federation of Women’s Clubs were transferred from this collection to the Clarke book collection.
Portions of this collection were microfilmed by the Clarke Historical Library in 1994. The master negatives are on file in the microfilming department of CHL.
Additions to the collection since 1994 include various administrative materials, meeting minutes, guest books, photographic materials, and more oversized Scrapbooks.
The 2024 addition to the Mount Pleasant Women’s Club collection, mostly found in Boxes 13-14, is mostly composed of materials organized by year. Within these folders are newsletters, members’ volunteer hours, ESO (Epsilon Sigma Omicron) reports, yearbooks, awards, certificates, photographs, correspondence, handbooks, executive board meeting minutes, treasurer’s reports, budgets, dues reports, End of the Year reports and narratives, bylaws, new member’s handbook, Northeastern District newsletters, and GFWC Michigan statistical report forms. This addition also contains photographs of general gatherings, a club centennial event, the arts group, bird housebuilding, and nature walks; a trifold, handbook, programs, materials related to the ESO book reading club including yearly and cumulative statistics, scrapbook materials, photocopies of newspaper clippings, and correspondence with the Embers restaurant from whom the club rented out space for their meetings. Materials related to finances include audit reports, a general ledger, the treasurer’s book and reports. Included with the treasurer’s book are three Exchange Saving Bank account books and materials related to the leasing of a meeting place from St. John’s Episcopal Church. Box 10 contains membership cards that are sorted into active and inactive members as of 2024. They are arranged alphabetically. Some cards have notes about due payments or why the member is no longer active because they are deceased, moved away, or left the group. Behind some cards is correspondence from that member about why they are rescinding their membership. The cards date from approximately 1950 and 2010. Ten items were interfiled into Box 1-12.
Boxes 1-3, 6, 13-14 are cubic foot boxes. Boxes 4, 7, 9-12 are .5 cubic foot boxes. Box 5 is a flat scrapbook box, Box 8 is a .25 cubic foot box. The Oversized scrapbooks are unboxed, stored flat with flags in them. Most of the collection is in very good condition. The exceptions to this are a few scrapbooks and the guest book with wooden covers, the pages of which are quite acidic.
1 cubic foot (in 2 boxes, 2 Oversized folders)
The collection consists mostly of family correspondence to and from Louise, concerning family news and social or business matters, 1879-1979 and undated; diaries of Louise and other relatives, 1875-1960 (scattered); a journal of vacations at Lake Superior, 1971-1974; legal papers; genealogical materials; photographs, some of which document dead relatives in their coffins (necrophotography); and miscellaneous. The Letterbook of Burt L. Parkhill, 1894, was later made into a scrapbook of information about the affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in 1936. Oversized folders include Oversized Folder 1 Mount Pleasant High School diploma of Louise E. Parkhill, 1918, measures 16 x 21 inches on paper, signed by George E. Ganiard, Hannah S. Vowles and C.S. Larzelere, among others. The lower left edge is damaged. Oversized folder #2 includes sixteen pages from Louise E. Parkhill MacGillivray’s photograph album, 1913, 1918-1920, undated [1913-1919, 1923] with one page containing the 1960 obituary of Eleanor Parkhill, Louise’s mother.
The scrapbook pages are in chronological order. Each page measures approximately 12x16 inches. All pages have edge damage and some acidification. Each page has numerous black and white photographs glued on and handwritten notes. Some people, locations, and dates are identified. Undated photographs were dated from CMU publications. The 1913 photographs include identified members of the all-girl MGG Club, including Louise. Two pages of Spring-Summer 1918 photographs she titled “Up the Chippewa” are of friends, and family, including her identified sister, Vera, canoeing and enjoying the Chippewa River and each other’s company. There is one page of photographs of family and friends dated March 29, 1919. There is one page of photographs of family and friends dated April 3, 1919 titled “Down on the Farm,” meaning at home. No farm specific photographs are included. There is one page titled The [Ice] Storm of April 23, [1919] which refers to a well-documented local area ice storm. There is only one photograph of the ice, while the rest on the page are of family and friends. One photograph is titled “Mama and Bunty (the rooster), showing a woman holding a rooster. There is one page of the CNS Operetta “Little Snow White”, in which Louisa starred as Little Snow White, feature portraits of the cast in full costume, with several individual identified individual portraits, all identified. Louise was described as having “endeared herself to all with her pleasing voice and manner” (Central Normal Bulletin, May 1919). There are two pages of August 27, 1919 photographs showing Louise and friends, or family, visiting and swimming at Epworth Heights, a private Methodist summer community located near Ludington. There is one page of the Normalonians, a CSN performance group, presenting “A Night in Romany” with Louise and company in costume. This performance was announced in Central Normal Life, January 29, 1920 with Louise noted as a returning member, and it was performed on March 5, 1920 (Central Normal Life, March 9, 1920). There is one page of “a Rose” pageant with several of Louise and company in costume. “The Rose Maiden,” in which Louise had a solo role, was announced in Central Normal Life, December 8, 1920.) Based on the summery outside photographs, it was likely performed in late May 1920. There is one page that is a mix of undated photographs. There are several of Louise in mortarboard and gown. She is listed in the CNS commencement program of June 1920, thus dating those photographs. The remaining photographs are of young men and women, some in costumes, who are identified. Their names match those who performed the Music Dept.’s “Chimes of Nomrandy” opera in June 1919, thus dating those photographs (CN Bulletin, June 1919). Three pages of undated [1923] photographs show Louisa in a commencement mortarboard, gown, and academic robe in Ann Arbor. There are photographs of the Washtenaw County Court House and the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium and Angel Hall. There is one photograph of Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan. The obituary is for Louise’s mother, Mrs. Eleanor Parkhill who died at age 97 in Mount Pleasant in July 1960. The widow of the late Burt L. Parkhill, Eleanor was survived by her children: George B., Louise P.[arkhill] MacGillivray, and Miriam P. Affeldt.
1 cubic foot (in 3 boxes, 2 Oversized folders)
This collection contains papers, publications, and information concerning the Harris family and Milling Company. Boxes 1-2 include legal-size materials and Box 3 includes letter-size materials. There are three series in this collection; Harris business, personal, and Minnie Vroman Papers. Most of the materials were produced or collected by Richard O. Harris. The materials include adverting materials, inventories, price lists, product information, company publications, photographic materials, insurance and stock information, board of directors meeting minutes, correspondence, and company records and ledgers. The collection is organized by size, alphabetically and chronologically. Both boxes are legal-size.
Of special note are the Articles of Merger and Merger Agreement detailing how the Harris Milling Company was subsumed by the Nebraska Consolidated Mills Company, a badly damaged daguerreotype of an unknown white woman with a broach, who may be Jane Daniel Fulbright (see the last letter in Personal Correspondence folder), and papers for a milling course Richard O. completed.
Also in the collection are illustrative materials, including photographs and sketches of plans for transport trucks with the Harris Milling Company/FAMO logo in watercolor.
Related family materials include: miscellaneous items documenting Richard O. Harris’ daughter Mary Jane Harris (later Waterhouse)’s involvement with local stage events; papers of Minnie Vroman including a 1909 Chicago x-ray receipt and bills related to a week spent at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in 1917 for gastic issues. There are also papers and a photograph (with unidentified people, probably a Boy Scouts troop and leader) atop a submarine at the Beacon Institute of U.S. Submarine Base New London, Connecticut to which an unknown member of the Harris family was affiliated.
A 2019 addition (Box 3) includes a 1938 Central State Teachers College (CSTC) football schedule of home games on a football shaped program, and a CSTC lecture course season ticket for Kathleen Ordway. Mount Pleasant High School materials include: a 1925 student and staff photograph by T. T. Mock, Battle Creek, Michigan, outside the old high school (photocopy 8 pp.); a 1925 commencement program, a black and white photograph of the 50th reunion of the class of 1925 in 1975; and acidic blue line revision drawings (4 pp.), each of which measures 18x24 inches, of the new Mount Pleasant High School by Louis C. Kingscott and Associates, Inc, Kalamazoo (architects and engineers), April 20, 1953 including a presentation drawing, floor plans for the English, Social Science and Language unit, a floor plan for the science unit with a sectional view of the unit, and a floor plan of the commercial unit (in 1 Oversized Folder). Also included is the October 27, 2000 invitation to the historic marker dedication for Harris Mill. Last is John A. Harris materials including his Civil War service records (copies, 10 pp.), a photograph (copy), presentation reading notes of Anne Harris Hunnewell for the Pasadena Civil War Round Table about John Harris (4 pp.), and letter and envelope (copy) about the John A. Harris materials from Anne Harris Hunnewell to her Grandpa Richard. Also included are 1999 copies from the Internet of a list of John’s unit members (4 pp.), and a map of Eureka, Michigan (1 p.).
Processing Note:
Much of this collection was heavily damaged and was infested with stinkbugs. The archivist and processing student met with the university insect exterminator and determined these bugs were not a threat to the collection. All stinkbugs were contained and removed from the collection. Items with mold, mildew, water, or fire damage, as well as acidic papers were photocopied and withdrawn from the collection during processing, about 1 cubic foot total. Also, during processing one general Mount Pleasant item was added to the Vertical Files.
Three-dimensional items transferred to the CMU Museum in February 2019 where they can receive expert curatorial care include: keychain, patch, matchbooks, product cards, dog food and flour bags, Harris Milling Company FAMO Dairy Feed 100 lbs Bag Sketches (24% and 16%, each measures 18x12 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company FAMO Broiler Ration 25 lbs Bag Sketches (1 is 20%, the other has no % indicated), each measures 18x12 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company FAMO 16% Dairy Feed 100 lbs White Bag Sketch, measures 18x12 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company FAMO Self-rising Bleached Flour Cloth 10lbs Bag, stamped “Emergency Quality Milled Under Gov’t. Order W.F.O. 144,” measures 16.5x10 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company FAMO Self-rising Bleached Flour Cloth 10lbs Bag, measures 17x10 inches, undated; Martha White’s FAMO Self-rising Enriched Bleached Flour .5lbs Bags, (1 plain, 1 with images), each measures 11.5x5.5 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company FAMO Self-rising Bleached Flour Paper 10lbs Bag, stamped “Emergency Quality Milled Under Gov’t. Order W.F.O. 144,” measures 19.25x10 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company Hi-Value Dog Food Paper 25lbs Bag, measures 31x11 inches, undated; Harris Milling Company FAMO Beef Builder Paper 50lbs Bag, measures 34.5x16 inches, undated; Harris Milling Sample Bag (linen) and Harris Ranch Almond Bag (cotton), undated; and a booklet: Michigan. Dept. of Agriculture. Selection…, 1961.
1 cubic foot (in 2 boxes)
The Secretaries’ Books, 1913-1995, include the Club’s meeting minutes, programs, and correspondence. In later years, some photographs are also attached inside the bound volumes. These books were bound by the Club.
The Treasurers’ Book, 1943-1968, a simple spiral bound notepad, includes the Club’s cash received and disbursements accounts.
The Christmas Books, 1931-1941 and 1961-1971, document various local, needy families that the Club helped at Christmas time. The 1931-1941 Book notes gifts given in 1929. The books list families who received Christmas gifts, food, clothing, and other household supplies from the Tourism Club and individual members of the Club. The names, ages, addresses of family members, income/employment information, if any, and gifts received, as well as their financial, medical, and other personal information are listed, such as what assistance, if any, that they received from government or other sources. Because of the personal information in these books and the fact that some of the people listed in them were infants in the 1970s, the Christmas Books are closed to researchers until 2040. To avoid inappropriate use of these books, they are housed separately from the other materials in the collection. The Christmas Books were also bound by the Club.
3 cubic feet (in 6 boxes, 3 Oversized volumes)
The collection documents the history of the Zonta Club of Mt. Pleasant, through meeting minutes, photographs, scrapbooks, and after 1992, scrapbook materials. The three oversized scrapbooks are acidic and brittle and should be handled with care. Later additions added mostly meeting minutes. The collection is organized alphabetically and chronologically. The collection is ongoing. The Zontian is separately cataloged.