Collections : [Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library]

This collection includes images, newspaper clippings and articles, financial records, reports, pamphlets, recognition materials, letters, and newsletters.

This is an addition to the American National Red Cross Isabella County Chapter (Mich.) Organizational Records collection. This collection includes images, newspaper clippings and articles, financial records, reports, pamphlets, recognition materials, letters, and newsletters. Of particular interest are: materials related to the Mount Pleasant Indian School, a poem about soldiers who fought in the Iraq War, and Hurricane Hugo relief efforts. Except for one legal-size folder, everything else in the collection is letter-size.

Processing Note: Approximately .25 cubic foot of materials was withdrawn from the collection during processing, including national publications, general Michigan materials, duplicates, and originals which were acidic or damaged. Photocopies of acidic or damaged materials were added to the collection. Some objects were transferred to the CMU Museum, including: a framed display of Red Cross pins, three miniature Red Cross vehicles, a nursing uniform with top, pants, and hat, two metal first aid boxes with supplies within them, and a few national publications.

The collection includes records of Amos, Ebenezer (Civil War correspondence), and Fred H. Gould of New York (State) and Owosso (Michigan).

The collection includes a variety of family records.

Amos Gould’s records include: personal correspondence, 1828-1872, family correspondence, 1875-1912, Civil War correspondence mostly from Ebenezer to Amos or Ebenezer’s wife and children, 1862-1864, railroad business records, 1852-1881, lumber business correspondence and papers, 1867-1882, business correspondence, 1849-1915, receipts of business transactions, 1830-1883, legal papers, including briefs, trail records, contracts land contracts, mortgages, agreements, indentures, and deeds, 1832-1885 from New York and Michigan, and more legal records and tax receipts, 1848-1932, book receipts, 1870-1879, trial records of cases Amos and his associates tried, 1842-1877, railroad receipts, 1857-1864, and letter books, day books, and account books, 1839-1935. Also included are five eagle buttons. Additional Amos Gould buttons are in the Display Items collection.

Papers relating to Ebenezer include: Civil War correspondence mostly from Ebenezer to Amos or Ebenezer’s wife and children, 1862-1864, courtship and marriage correspondence from Ebenezer to his wife Irene Beach, 1845-1866, and business correspondence and miscellaneous, including a scrapbook of obituaries and family news, 1868-1936.

Papers relating to Fred H. Gould include his diaries, 1892-1931, and personal correspondence to/from Fred, 1870-1872, and undated.

Overall the collection provides a good look at life in a small Michigan town (Owosso), multiple business interests, especially land and lumber, and personal life before, during, and after the Civil War. There are also letters from Gould’s brother-in-law, Dr. J. N. Graham, on early medical practices, such as the use of chloroform in Michigan.

Processing Notes: Due to size differences among the boxes, some boxes are shelved out of numerical orders. Boxes # 74-75, 108-120 are cubic foot boxes, the rest are .5 cubic foot boxes. Folder level processing was completed, but the inventory is at box level. Some materials are still tri-folded in their original wrappings, not in folders, or in unlabeled folders.

The majority of the correspondence is between Andrew and his extended family and friends, 1862-1865, but other materials date to 2012, or are undated.

The collection is composed mainly of correspondence between Andrew and his extended family written mostly between 1862 and 1865. There is also a letter from 1867 and several which are undated. The majority of the correspondence is between Andrew and Eliza, with correspondence to/from Amara. The majority of the letters concerns farm life and what to do on the farm. Of particular note is a letter dated Sept. 17, 1864 from Seymour Clark to Amara Bachelder from a Camp near Atlanta, Georgia, describing the siege of Atlanta. There is one folder devoted to writings and poems written or copied by Andrew while he served during the Civil War. In the Miscellaneous No Name folder there is a poem called “Love Letter to a Soldier.” The Oversized folder includes newspaper clippings and a bounty form for Andrew. The first folder in the collection contains biographical information on the above mentioned people. Illustrations are limited to letterhead.