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Collection

Abel Bingham Family Papers, 1817-1910 (majority within 1828-1866)

2 linear feet

Missionary family to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; correspondence, sermons of Abel Bingham, diaries of Hannah Bingham reflecting her daily activities and religious convictions.

The collection documents the lives of a missionary family to the Ojibwa Indians of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The papers have been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Abel Bingham ministerial papers; Miscellaneous; and Bound Account Books and Diaries. The collection is of value for the family correspondence, for the sermons of Abel Bingham, and for the diaries of Hannah Bingham reflecting her daily activities and religious convictions (1817-1868). There are also papers concerning Fountain Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids in the 1850s.

Collection

Alpheus Felch Papers, 1817-1896

6 linear feet — 6 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder

Lawyer, Member of Michigan Supreme Court, 1842-1846, Democratic Governor of Michigan, 1846-1847, and holder of numerous other public offices; papers include correspondence and other papers documenting his career in public service.

The Alpheus Felch papers details the active life of this nineteenth century Michigan public servant. Not only are public issues discussed in the correspondence files but the researcher will also gain an understanding of some of the personal problems associated with public service. The collection also includes several files of other family members.

Collection

Bela Hubbard papers, 1837-1893

0.75 linear feet (in 2 boxes) — 1 oversize folder

Pioneer Michigan geologist, assistant to state geologist Douglass Houghton on the Michigan Geological Survey, 1837-1842, completed portions of U.S. Land Survey of the Upper Peninsula begun by Douglass Houghton, 1845-1846. Later active in family's land business and lumber trade. Papers consist of notebooks containing field notes, sketches and maps; private journals covering Michigan geological expeditions and other trips, including the peninsula coast survey, Lake Superior and Upper Peninsula surveys and surveys of Wayne, Monroe and other counties; also weather memoranda, 1835-1864; miscellaneous accounts; and other papers largely relating to geology.

The collection consists primarily of Hubbard's pocket-size field notebooks. The notebooks are arranged, for the most part, chronologically for the period 1837 to 1893. Several notebooks that do not fit the chronological sequence are placed at the end of the series of notebooks. The notebooks for the years 1837 to 1840 have been bound, probably by Hubbard, into larger volumes. For convenience the later notebooks have been grouped into "volumes" by the library. Each "volume" is in a separate case. The notebooks contain personal journals, geological notes, and meteorological registers, along with sketches of landforms, scenery, and people, geological sections, and maps.

A few loose papers are found at the end of the collection.

The most extensive notebooks are those written between 1837 and 1840, when Hubbard was working for the Michigan Geological Survey, and in 1845 and 1846, when he was conducting the combined land and geological survey of the Upper Peninsula. In addition to the main sequence of notebooks for those years (volumes 1-8 and 10-12), that period is represented by separate meteorological registers (volumes 18 and 22), separate geological field notes for the 1840 expedition to the Lake Superior region (volume 21), and three reports on Hubbard's 1846 surveys (volumes 23-24 and loose papers).

This finding aid contains two appendixes. The first, compiled by the initial cataloger of the collection in 1958, specifies where many of the topics indexed in the card catalog for this collection can be found in the series of notebooks. The second contains an inventory of the maps found in the collection.

Several portions of the collection have been published.

The notebooks for May 23-August 8, 1840 (volumes 7-9 and parts of 21) have been published as Lake Superior Journal: Bela Hubbard's Account of the 1840 Houghton Expedition}, edited by Bernard C. Peters. Marquette, Mich.: Northern Michigan University Press, 1983. [MHC call number EA/91/H875/L192]

The "Catalogue of the Geological Specimens, Hubbard & Ives Survey, 1846" (volume 23), the "Report on the Geology &c. of District Surveyed by Messrs. Higgins & Hubbard, 1846, Lake Superior, with Catalogue of Minerals, Sections, etc." (volume 24), and the "Report upon the Geology & Topography of the District on L. Superior Subdivided in 1846 by Hubbard & Ives" (loose material) have been published in Report on the Geological and Mineralogical Survey of the Mineral Lands of the United States in the State of Michigan .., by Charles T. Jackson. Washington, D.C.: Printed for the House of Representatives, 1849. (31st Congress, 1st Session, House Executive Document 5, Part 3) [MHC call number EA/153/U58/M583]

The reports of Hubbard's surveys for the Michigan Geological Survey, based on his notes have been published in Geological Reports of Douglass Houghton: First State Geologist of Michigan, 1837-1845. Lansing, Mich.: Michigan Historical Commission, 1928. [MHC call number EA/153/MG345/G345]

Hubbard's autobiography has been published as Memorials of a Half-Century. New York: Putnam's, 1887. [MHC call number EA/60/H875/M533]

Other Bela Hubbard papers are found at the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.

Collection

Chase S. Osborn Papers, circa 1870-1949 (majority within 1889-1949)

149.9 linear feet ((in 152 boxes)) — 3 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder

Governor of Michigan, writer, businessman; papers include correspondence, business records, speeches, writings, visual materials, diaries.

The Osborn collection consists of correspondence, diaries, business papers, scrapbooks, photographs, and other materials accumulated during his life. Materials prior to 1889 are scarce possibly because of a fire which destroyed Osborn's home; thereafter and up to the time of his death in 1949, the Osborn papers are voluminous, documenting each of this man's varied activities. Although his career as elected public official was limited to one term as governor, the collection reflects the importance of his life in areas beyond politics alone. His voice was heard, in letters and speeches and monographs, speaking out on the issues of the day - prohibition, conservation, the New Deal, and of course his life-long interest in the development of Michigan's Upper Peninsula economy and natural resources.

Collection

Claude Thomas Stoner Photographs and Papers, 1870s-1977

9 linear feet (in 13 boxes)

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.

Collection

Emerson R. Smith papers, 1859-1964 (majority within 1956-1962)

3 linear feet

St. Ignace, Michigan local historian; correspondence, genealogical and historical materials concerning Native Americans and the French in and around the Straits of Mackinac, particularly in St. Ignace and on Mackinac Island.

The Emerson R. Smith papers mostly consist of correspondence and reference materials pertaining to the history of the Straits area of Michigan (St. Ignace, Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island).

Collection

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Michigan records, 1830-2016

66.5 linear feet — 12 oversize volumes — 3 oversize folders

Bishops files, records of executive and administrative bodies and of diocesan organizations, staff files, parishes and mission's materials, and visual materials and sound recordings.

The records of the diocese of Michigan have been arranged into the following series: Bishops' files, Executive and administrative bodies, Diocesan organizations, Diocesan programs, Diocesan staff, Parishes and missions, Clergy, Audio and visual material, and Miscellaneous.

The record group is most valuable for its documentation of the history of the diocese and the individual churches within its administration, with a lesser amount of material pertaining to religious functions performed and to the operation of diocesan administrative groups and departments. For a number of reasons, there is scant material pertaining to the administration of the diocesan office or to the special programs that have been initiated by it over the years. Some of this material may be found in the papers of individual bishops whose papers have also come to the library and are separately cataloged. These include Samuel McCoskry, Samuel Smith Harris, Charles D. Williams, Herman Page, and Richard Emrich.

Collection

John M. Johnston collection, 1820-1939 (majority within 1820-1892)

0.25 linear feet

This collection contains 65 letters, financial records, and legal documents related to John M. Johnston, a Native American language interpreter who lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and to Native Americans in Michigan during the 19th century. Henry R. Schoolcraft and Ramsay Crooks contributed letters and documents to the collection.

This collection contains 65 items related to John M. Johnston, a Native American language interpreter from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and to the history of Native Americans in Michigan during the 19th century. Included are 21 letters, 32 documents, and 12 notes and other items; most material is dated between 1820 and 1892.

John M. Johnston received personal letters from family members throughout the 19th century, including a letter from his sisters written during his time at school in New York (1831) and a letter his brother William wrote about the death of his son in the Civil War (January 23, 1863). Other items directly related to the Johnston family include 5 appointments for military positions in the 16th Regiment, Michigan State Militia; Eliza Johnston's stock certificates for the St. Joseph Manufacturing Company; an early receipt addressed to Johnston's father in Dublin, Ireland; and items regarding the division of John and Susan Johnston's property following their deaths. Also included are a printed proclamation of the United States' declaration of war on Mexico, May 13, 1846; a picture postcard of the Johnston family home in Sault Ste. Marie; and manuscript notes on the Johnston family.

The bulk of the remaining material directly concerns Native Americans in Michigan, particularly the Ojibwa (Chippewa) tribe, including 7 letters from Henry Schoolcraft to Johnston and Major W. V. Cobbs, 1835-1844; 4 letters by American Fur Company president Ramsay Crooks, 1835 and 1839; a document signed with the marks of 10 Native Americans regarding hunting and fishing rights and white persons trespassing on their lands, October 2, 1837; a letter from five natives, July 1839; one temperance pledge signed by 46 persons at the Point Iroquois Mission, October 20, 1877, with another blank, partially printed pledge; and additional items related to the economic relationship between European settlers and Native Americans in the Upper Peninsula.

Collection

Johnston Family Papers, 1822-1936

0.75 linear feet

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, family. Correspondence, photographs, and other papers of John Johnston, fur trader, son John McDouall Johnston, Indian interpreter for Henry R. Schoolcraft, and other family members; including letters containing impressions of Indian life and historical materials concerning Indian grammar and folklore, and the history of the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, region. Includes letter, Jan. 24, 1822, from John Johnston to Lewis Cass discussing Indian affairs.

The Johnston family papers contains approximately seven inches of correspondence, writings, clippings, and photographs. The collection falls into three series: Johnston family papers, Collected historical and Indian materials, and Photographs.

Collection

Martha Mullett collection, circa 1865-1880

0.2 linear feet

Collection of stereograph images of views of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the late nineteenth century.

This collection consists of six envelopes of stereographs published by Bailey & Whitesides, C. B. Brubaker, and A. G. Emergy, and some photographed by B. F. Childs. The images are scenes of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the late nineteenth century, including Michigamme, Houghton, Hancock, and Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan and the Pictured Rocks.