Collections : [Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library]

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.

The papers consist mainly of drawings, blueprints, tracings, elevations, building specifications, and biographical materials.

The collection is organized by format and size. Box 1 consists of tracings, Box 2 mostly of tracings. Boxes 3-8 are rolled blueprints and architectural drawings (8.5 cubic feet). Each rolled drawing may include: building blueprints, tracings, elevations, and other related architectural drawings. These are housed in large telescope style boxes. Box 9-10 include one folder of biographical materials and building specifications. All of the materials are in good condition. Some of the specifications suffer from being stored rolled around the blueprints and are somewhat bent out of shape. The strength of the collection is obviously the drawings and building specifications. Materials vary in size and were boxed by size to fit into as few boxes as possible.

Papers include mostly photographs, negatives and audiotapes of 19th century people, architecture, farms, churches, probably in rural Michigan, and 1960s Michigan politicians, political events and gatherings.

Most of the collection is photographs and negatives. The 19th century photographs have been reshot by a modern camera. Subject headings of photographs were ones used by Arnold Bransdorfer. Some photographs are quite faded. Almost all of the photographs are black and white.

Among these are images of what is presumably rural Michigan and many photographs of Michigan Republicans and Republican political gatherings in the 1960s. There is one photograph of Robert Kennedy at a political gathering.

Related Michigan Republican political publications, news releases, and a statement are among the paper materials. The correspondence discusses some of the photography work Arnold Bransdorfer did as Michigan Senate Photographer. Michigan Republicans documented here include William Milliken, G. Mennen Williams, George Romney, and Guy Vander Jagt, among others.

The audiotapes, mostly 1965-1968, and undated, relate largely to Michigan political press conferences, speeches, and advertisements, although Richard Nixon is documented at an unspecified time, as well as a speech by Walter Reuther in 1967. Different genres of music are also recorded on the audiotapes.