Collections : [Central Michigan University Clarke Historical Library]

The collection includes publications, meeting minutes, and photographs related to the American bicentennial.

The collection consists largely of publications regarding the American Revolution bicentennial, the celebration of the bicentennial in Michigan, and Michigan Week before and during the bicentennial, 1963-1968 and 1971-1989. Materials include magazine and newspaper articles (copies), newsletters, reports, a few photographs and meeting minutes, and other materials from federal, Michigan, and local bicentennial councils and commissions. A large, although incomplete, run of the Bicentennial Times [Wash.: American Revolution Bicentennial Administration], 1974-1976 (Scattered) is also included, as are a number of special or collectors’ editions of bicentennial newspapers, fliers, bulletins, a calendar, and an issue of Superman Salutes the Bicentennial, 1976. Most of the materials were mailed to John Cumming, who later donated them to the Clarke.

Processing Note: Numerous, miscellaneous generic advertising fliers were withdrawn from the collection during processing because they were of minimal importance in documenting the bicentennial.

The papers include biographical materials, miscellaneous, photographs, postcards, and an autograph album.

The collection includes biographical materials, miscellaneous, photographs, postcards, and an autograph album. An inventory is available to assist researchers.

Collection includes love letters, postcards, notes, and telegrams sent between Kenneth Blass and his future wife Marie F. Kleiner, 1922-1927. Kenneth's letters document his membership in and activities with the Ku Klux Klan.

The collection consists of love letters, postcards, notes, and telegrams sent between Kenneth and Marie during their four year courtship, 1922-1927. Materials are organized chronologically, with a typed transcript of the correspondence on the front and the original materials (often a letter and envelope) on the back of a polyester page. The pages are organized chronologically into binders. One folder of press releases about the collection is included in the front of Box #1.

The letters provide a view of courtship, life, one-room schoolhouses, teaching, the daily struggles of a working man, and love in the 1920s. Kenneth was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. His letters notes his attitudes about and various social activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Michigan in the 1920s. He wanted to be married in a Ku Klux Klan ceremony, but Marie declined this idea.