Collections : [Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library]

The papers include Augustus Gansser's biographical materials, speeches, correspondence, American Expeditionary Field materials, Michigan National Guard scrapbooks, Prohibition articles, and United Spartans of America materials. Also included are papers of his brother, Emil B. Gansser, and photographs of World War I, National Guard, and Spanish-American War veterans.

The collection richly documents Gansser’s experiences in the Michigan National Guard and veterans associations, as well as lists of Michigan soldiers killed in actions and troop rosters. The collection has a wide variety of photographs of encampments, officers, and units (group) photographs.

Michigan National Guard troops documented in this collection include: the 63rd Infantry; 125th Infantry; 32nd Division; 1st Battalion, 33rd Infantry, Company B; 119th and 120th Field Artillery, 32nd Division Band; and the 3rd Battalion, 125th Infantry. Camp MacArthur; Waco, Texas; the Division Headquarters for the 125th-128th infantries is also documented, as well as some general orders and circulars.

Gansser’s political career is documented in his Political Correspondence, 1905-1915, Correspondence and “Letters to the Editor,” 1911, and Correspondence from his Constituents, 1929. There is also Correspondence from Michigan Governor Fred M. Warner and Michigan Representative George A. Loud. A few drafts of his political Addresses (Speeches), 1911-1915, are also included in the collection.

Gansser’s activities in veterans groups, his non-political business interests, family correspondence, and two scrapbooks that belonged to his brother, Emil B. Gansser, complete the collection.

Law firm records include legal records of estates, divorces, chancery cases, and debt collection, correspondence, and numerous land records. McKee family records are also included.

The collection includes many types of legal records, including: Estates, Divorces, Chancery Cases, and debt collection papers. Correspondence is from clients, lawyers, legal firms, banks, and various land offices. Some of the larger case files include those of the Bank of Lansingburgh (New York) and the Indian Mill Creek Salt Company (Grand Rapids, Mich.). Numerous land records include: State Tax Deeds, Indentures, Mortgages, Bounty Lands for Veterans and their widows, Deeds, Plat Maps, and Receipts for land. The firm had many clients in Michigan and New York (State).

McKee family records include family correspondence, 1840s-1874, undated; legal cases, and Aaron McKee’s (father of James McKee) inheritance case, 1856-1864. Also included is the 1862 license for Ball and McKee and a letter of protest over the removal of the soldiers’ memorial in Grand Rapids, 1908.

Processing Note: Personal materials of John Ball were apparently removed when this collection first came to the Clarke and became the John Ball Family Papers.

Papers include consists of copies of Basil’s notes on his family, diaries from 1904, a bound version of Diary of a ninety-eighter, and the cover page and maps of Cumming’s book.

There are three versions of Basil’s diary. The first version is the handwritten original, which he kept in Alaska, along with a more legible 1904 version. The second version is a typescript that closely follows the original, probably written after 1910. The third version was published by John Cumming as Diary of a ninety-eighter. (Copies of this book are separately cataloged in the CMU libraries.)

The diary described Basil’s trip, mining experiences, companions, Nels Seaver and Ed Burmeister, and Alaska in detail.

The collection consists of copies of Basil’s notes on his family, diaries from 1904, a bound version of Diary of a ninety-eighter, and the cover page and maps of Cumming’s book.