Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and other items concerning several generations of the Lee family of New York and New Jersey from the early 18th century to the late 19th century.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and other items concerning several generations of the Lee family of New York and New Jersey from the early 18th century to the late 19th century.

The earliest items (1701-1840) largely consist of legal and financial documents, receipts, accounts, and other financial records related to Thomas Lee, his nephew Thomas (ca. 1728-1804), his grandnephew William (1763-1839), and, to a lesser extent, other members of the Lee family. Many pertain to land ownership in New York and New Jersey. Some legal documents, such as Thomas Lee's will (May 16, 1767), concern decedents' estates. In the 1820s and 1830s, the Lee siblings, including Henry, William, Cyrus, and Phebe, began writing personal letters to one another. Cyrus Lee and his wife Emily Fisher received letters from her mother, E. Fisher of Humphreysville, Connecticut. One letter contains teacher Samuel Squier's response to accusations of drunkenness and inappropriate behavior (February 25, 1774). Additional early materials include a contract related to the establishment of a singing school in Boston, Massachusetts (ca. 1745), medicinal recipes (October 31, 1789), poetry (undated), articles of apprenticeship (February 25, 1796), a daybook reflecting construction costs for a school house in Littleton, New Jersey (October 2, 1797-May 1, 1799), records of William and Isaac Lee's labor at a forge (September 5, 1809-October 24, 1914), and a manuscript copy of an act to incorporate part of Derby, Connecticut, as Humphreysville (May [4], 1836).

After 1840, the bulk of the collection is made up of personal letters between members of the Lee family. Incoming correspondence to Cyrus and Emily Fisher Lee makes up the largest portion of these letters. Emily's mother wrote about life in Humphreysville, Connecticut, frequently discussing her health and that of other family members. Emily's sister Elizabeth discussed her travels in Indiana and Ohio and her life in Ogden, Indiana. After the mid-1850s, many of the letters pertain to Cyrus and Emily's son Robert. He received letters from his grandmother, aunt, and cousins. He sent letters to his sister Emily while he lived in Ogden, Indiana, in the late 1850s and early 1860s. A cousin, also named Emily, wrote to Robert about African-American and white churches in Princeton, New Jersey, and her work as a schoolteacher (February 15, 1858).

Robert Lee wrote one letter about camp life and his poor dental health while serving in the 3rd Indiana Cavalry Regiment (October 3, 1861), and Emily shared news of Littleton, New Jersey, while he was away. Cyrus's sister Phebe wrote to her brother's family during this period. After the war, Cyrus and Emily Fisher Lee continued to receive letters from Emily's mother and sister. Elizabeth Benjamin, living in Lecompton, Kansas, sent letters on January 22, 1871, and March 13, 1871, discussing the death of her son Theodore, who died of a gunshot wound. The final letters, dated as late as 1903, are addressed to Elizabeth M. Lee, likely Cyrus and Emily's daughter. Later items also include a calling cards and a lock of hair.

The collection includes five photographs of unidentified individuals, including cased tintypes of a man and a young child, each with an ornate oval matte and preserver, as well as a third similar tintype portrait of a young boy which no longer has a case. A photograph of a United States soldier is housed in a hard metal frame that includes a fold-out stand; the frame bears the insignia of the United States Army infantry. The final item is a photographic print of a man, woman, and young child posing beside a house.

The collection contains a group of 13 printed and ephemeral items, including sections of the New-Jersey Journal and Political Intelligencer (April 21, 1790), True Democratic Banner (October 9, 1850), and New York Sun (May 9, 1936). Other items of note are a colored drawing of a house (1861 or 1867), printed poems ("Napoleon Is Coming" and "The Lass of Richmond Hill," undated), a price list for the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Hungarian Fund bond, and an advertisement for men's shirts and shorts with attached fabric samples. Three additional items pertain to births, deaths, and marriages in the Lee family.

The Letters, Documents, and Other Manuscripts of the Duane Norman Diedrich Collection is a selection of individual items compiled by manuscript collector Duane Norman Diedrich (1935-2018) and the William L. Clements Library. The content of these materials reflect the life and interests of D. N. Diedrich, most prominently subjects pertinent to intellectual, artistic, and social history, education, speech and elocution, the securing of speakers for events, advice from elders to younger persons, and many others.

The Letters, Documents, and Other Manuscripts of the Duane Norman Diedrich Collection is a selection of individual items compiled by manuscript collector Duane Norman Diedrich (1935-2018) and the William L. Clements Library. The content of these materials reflect the life and interests of D. N. Diedrich, most prominently subjects pertinent to intellectual, artistic, and social history, education, speech and elocution, the securing of speakers for events, advice from elders to younger persons, and many others.

For an item-level description of the collection, with information about each manuscript, please see the box and folder listing below.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The content of these letters, sermons, documents, and other materials reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich (1903-1996), most prominently subjects pertinent to Christianity, home, and the family.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The manuscripts reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich, most prominently Christianity, home, and the family. Items include sermons from prominent ministers or preachers of different Protestant denominations, documents related to church operations and discipline, letters by prominent and everyday persons respecting their faith and beliefs, correspondence of missionaries, and reflections on religion's role in all manner of human endeavor.

The collection is comprised of over 260 letters, manuscript sermons and hymns, documents, and other items. For a comprehensive inventory and details about each item in the collection, please see the box and folder listing below.

The Lindsley Family papers consist primarily of letters from and relating to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr., and his son-in-law, James Ford, early settlers of Lindley, NY and local politicians.

The Lindsley Family papers consist primarily of letters from and relating to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr., and his son-in-law, James Ford, with much of the collection relating to local politics. Of particular interest are five letters written to Ford by Samuel Wells Morris (1786-1847), who later served in the 25th and 26th congress as a Democrat from Pennsylvania. In these letters Ford discusses the political, social and economic benefits of internal improvement schemes (primarily canals), and includes some interesting comments on the election of 1824 and the strong political tensions between the adjacent counties in New York and Pennsylvania. A few letters contain information on the early political life of Lindley, however these are comparatively scant and do not cover the earliest years of the settlement.

• Five documents relating to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr.'s appointment as post master, including the certificate of appointment (1804). The certificate of appointment and two letters bearing early post marks from Lindsleytown have been transferred to the Postal History Collection.
• Six letters written to Eleazer Lindsley's daughters while they were resident at Miss Pierce's School. These contain some information on the education of girls during the period and on family relationships.
• Two items relating to slavery in New York: a letter from Stephen Ross to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr., 1798 May 7, requesting assistance with a troublesome slave he wishes to sell, and a manumission contract dated 1808 August 1 from Lois Lindsley for her slave, Jack.
• Six items relating to religious life and revivals. Two of Eleazer Jr.'s daughters, Maria and Jerusha, appear to have been very pious. During the upsurge in revival activity in the 1830's, the family helped form a Bible Study class and the women formed a prayer circle.

Family and business papers of Loammi Baldwin and his son Loammi Baldwin, Jr., engineers of Woburn, Massachusetts.

Family and business papers of Loammi Baldwin and his son Loammi Baldwin, Jr., engineers of Woburn, Massachusetts.

This collection contains family deeds dating to the seventeenth century, but the bulk of the materials lies between 1785 and 1835. The papers include 479 maps and considerable correspondence between members of the Baldwin family. James Fowle Baldwin was superintendent for construction of the Boston and Lowell Railroad and, as a state senator, served on a commission to investigate sources of pure water for Boston. George Rumford Baldwin (b. 1798) constructed the canal between the Alatamaha and Turtle Rivers in Georgia. The correspondence of Loammi Baldwin, Jr., contains letters from Secretaries of the Navy, governors of Massachusetts, Boston officials, and incorporators of the early canals and railroads. Drafts of his replies, reports, engineering estimates, printed materials, and accounts are among the papers.

The Louisbourg Siege collection documents the New Hampshire contingent of the Louisbourg expedition led by Sir William Pepperrell and Sir Peter Warren in 1745 and 1746. The collection includes eyewitness accounts of the siege, a contemporaneous copy of the articles of capitulation, and maps of the city and fort at Louisbourg.

The Louisbourg Siege collection (25 items) consists of 19 letters, 2 receipts for goods, 1 memorandum, 1 excerpt from a journal, 2 printed maps, and one engraving. These items all concern the British siege and occupation of Louisbourg from 1745 to 1746. The writers were all part of the New Hampshire contingent of the Louisbourg expedition led by Sir William Pepperrell and Sir Peter Warren. Of note are a series of nine letters, written by Captain Thomas Westbrooke Waldron (d. 1785), to his father, Richard Waldron, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. These letters form a running narrative of the siege and include a contemporaneous copy of the articles of capitulation. The collection contains two replies from Richard Waldron. Fellow New Hampshire officers and soldiers wrote the remaining letters, including officer Nathaniel Weare, Colonel Samuel Moore, who commanded the New Hampshire troops during the siege, and Colonel William Vaughan.

The maps depict the Harbor of Louisbourg and a plan for the city and fortifications there. The engraving is "A View of the Taking of Louisbourg in North America, by Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst," 1758, printed in London. This represents the second siege of Louisbourg.

Joseph Sabin compiled the collection into a single volume. The final seven pages contain notes on the collection, written by Victor H. Paltsits (1867-1952), the State Archivist of New York and the Chief of the American History Division and Keeper of Manuscripts at the New York Public Library.