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The papers include family correspondence before, during, and after the Civil War, photographs, muster rolls, lists of military supplies and men.

The Papers include his personal and family correspondence, 1854-1878 and 1882-1926, mostly with his parents, brother (Frank), sister (Maggie), and his bride, or soon to be wife (Fannie Spencer). There are four diaries, 1860-1864, which like his letters discuss marches, battles, General McClellan and General Hooker, the treatment of soldiers, and cadets shot for desertion. Letters prior to and after the Civil War discuss life and business in Detroit. Part of the collection includes eleven muster rolls of Company E, 7th Michigan Infantry, June 1861-August 1863, and nine monthly returns, October 1862-September 1863. These are now separately housed with the collection of oversized Civil War muster rolls. Lists of military supplies and men killed may be found in Curtiss’ 1864 diary. There are also photographs of Curtiss and one of Fannie, including one of her in a 1855 New Testament. An illustration of the Curtiss homestead is found in one April 1907 issue of the Huntington Hills (p.3). Lastly, item index cards are available to assist researchers.

The collection includes reports, brochures, bylaws, directory, and historical information.

The collection includes biographical materials, images of Rogers City and Belknap, Michigan, churches, a house in Presque Isle County, Michigan, and plumbing forms from World War II.

Collection includes organizational correspondence, membership cards, publications, forms, and photographic materials documenting the Ku Klux Klan of Mecosta County, Michigan.

In 1926, Lewis D. Capen of Millbrook, Mecosta County, Michigan, became the Exalted Cyclops of the Mecosta Klan No. 28. He served in the leadership position, an equivalent to chapter president, until 1929 when he became Great Kaliff or Grand Titan, a leadership position over Province # 4, which included the Klans of Ionia and Mecosta counties, and the towns of Petoskey, East Jordan, Hart, Manistee, Portland, and Muskegon, Michigan. Besides his Klan activities, Capen, born in Milbrook, Michigan, in 1892, he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Level Lodge 219 of Milbrook. Note: a large collection of these records is also available at the Clarke. Capen was also a veteran of World War I and postmaster of Milbrook. On October 14, 1935 he married Hilda Hill, a teacher.

Capen’s accumulated organizational correspondence, membership cards, publications, forms, and photographic materials constitute the bulk of this collection. The Klans of Mecosta, Osceola, and Shiawassee, as well as those in Province # 4, mostly in lists, and the Women of the Ku Klux Klan mostly in forms and publications, are documented in this collection.

The membership cards for the Mecosta Klan are photocopies. They are organized alphabetically by surname. Each card usually includes the member’s name, age, home county, city or township, and address. A few remarks and financial notes maybe included.

Used in conjunction with other Klan collections and newspapers at the Clarke, this collection provides an insider’s view of life in the Michigan Klan during the 1920s-1930s.

The collection contains financial ledgers, accounts books, minutes, reports, legal materials, founding documents, and related materials.

The collection consists mostly of financial ledgers and account books, 1906-1961, undated (scattered), and also includes: meeting minutes, 1906-1957; reports, 1936-1961 (scattered); hearing transcripts and legal materials, 1938-1963 (scattered); founding documents, 1939 and undated; and related materials.

The collection is organized alphabetically and chronologically

The papers include family and business correspondence, financial and legal papers related to logs and the lumber business.

The papers include business and family correspondence, financial and legal papers related to his logs and lumber business interests, biographical materials, and miscellaneous.