Search

The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan was established in 1897 following a consolidation of the Society of Alumni with the alumni societies of the professional schools. The Michigan Alumnus became the association's official organ. As the organization grew, local chapters were established and provided greater structure. The records include files pertaining to the Alumni Association's administrative office and various chapters and interests groups. This includes national and international U-M alumni and alumnae clubs, the Alumnae Council, the Society of Alumni, the University of Michigan Black Alumni (UMBA-formerly the African American Alumni Council (AAC)), and the Reunion of Black Graduates (RBG). The records include but are not limited to correspondence, minutes, reports, and survey responses, audiovisual materials, digital files, photographs, and publications.

The collection spans 1845-2001. The textual records of the Alumni Association (boxes 1-133) are largely unprocessed, and are described in only general terms in this finding aid. Exceptions include files maintained by Marjorie Williams who served as the vice chair and chair of the Alumnae Council from 1960 to 1962, Class Reunion files, and Topical Files.

Additions to the collection (boxes 168-171) incorporate records, audiovisual materials, photographs, and publications pertaining to the University of Michigan Black Alumni (UMBA). To note are materials specifically related to the African American Alumni Council (AAAC)-formerly the UMBA, and the Reunion of Black Graduates (RBG). This includes information about the Dr. Leonard F. Sain Award, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. scholarship and symposium, the Camp Michigania retreat, and annual reunion for black graduates photographs, planning materials, and souvenir books.

Family papers of Amasa B. Watson are divided into the following series: Amasa B. Watson Papers, Amasa B. Watson Family and Associates Papers, Mrs. Martha A. (Brooks) Watson Papers, and Miscellaneous Papers The papers include: biographical materials; family correspondence; business correspondence, mostly related to lumber and timber, but also the Republic National Convention, 1888; education of his nephews at the Michigan Military Academy (Orchard Lake, Mich.); General Orders, 1861; and after his death, his wife's correspondence related to the building of his mausoleum and the Amasa B. Watson Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post No. 395.

Family Papers, 1854-1932 and undated. The collection is divided into the following series: Amasa B. Watson Papers, Amasa B. Watson Family and Associates Papers, Mrs. Martha A. (Brooks) Watson Papers, and Miscellaneous Papers. Most of the collection documents Watson's business interests in pine lands and lumber sales.There are five folders of lumber correspondence with Hull and Watson; later M. B. Hull and Company, and finally Hull, Ulrich, and Company, 1879-1888, and four folders of related receipts and land taxes, 1860-1888. Eventually, Hull became executor of Watson's estate.

Family correspondence often relates to pine and land interests inherited from Watson. Family correspondence from his siblings concerns lumber and shingle sales. Correspondence from Watson's adopted sons, James and John Mead, is more personal in nature, and quite warm. In the correspondence, the boys describe their lives and experiences at school.

In the family and associates papers, there is correspondence with the family lawyer (and son-in-law) Thomas F. Carroll, and Watson's Mississippi agent, D. D. Carter, concerning land and estate concerns, 1903-1923. Correspondence to James and John Mead also concerns these issues, 1892-1894. The papers of Philander J. Mead (d. 1853), paternal grandfather of the Mead children and father of William J. Mead, are of little interest except where they concern pine and land interests. The papers of William W. Mead, 1888-1932, cover mostly his and his aunt/ mother's business concerns, estates, and the building of Amasa Watson's mausoleum. William was his aunt/ mother's right hand man. Mrs. Watson's papers cover her husband's estate, mausoleum, and land and timber business concerns. The Amasa B. Watson Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) Post 395 correspondence documents Mrs. Watson's donations, both to Post 395 and to individual Civil War veterans. The G. A. R. letterhead has an illustration of Watson as an older man. Also included is a 1912 meeting booklet listing the Post's officers and regular meetings, held on the first and third Friday of each month at 325 Central Avenue. The booklet has an oval portrait of Amasa B. Watson on the title page.

Additional family and miscellaneous papers relate to land patents, mostly copies, 1884-1919, and abstracts of titles of Amasa B. Watson's land, created for his heirs and for legal purposes. Biographical information and a carte-de-visite of Amasa B. Watson in his Civil War uniform complete the collection.

American Baptist missionary organization. Consists of records likely collected by George N. Mills and includes a land grant as well as letters that relate to the dispersal of government lands in the Grand River area in Michigan.

The collection consists of records likely collected by George N. Mills and includes a land grant dated January 1850 that details how the proceeds from the sale of lands along the Grand River (probably near Grand Rapids, Mich.) under the provisions of a treaty between the United States and the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians should be divided between Baptist and Catholic missionary interests, both of whom had developed missions in the area. Also included are letters dated 1837-1838, bound with the land grant, that relate to the dispersal of government lands in the Grand River area, including letters concerning lands to be set aside for the University of Michigan, for the erection of public buildings, and for a salt spring.

This collection consists of American Bible Society reports from agents, often located in rural or frontier areas, and Bible distribution orders from affiliate Bible societies. These letters provide evidence of American Bible Society activity in Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Maine, and several letters provide the names and officers of local Bible societies.

The bulk of this accession consists of orders from subsidiary or affiliate Bible societies, often located in rural or frontier areas, for Bibles for distribution and sale. These orders came from societies ranging in location from Farmington, Maine, in the east to Bainbridge, Georgia, in the south, to societies in the western states and territories. The great number of local societies represented as correspondents and the quantity, quality, and cost of Bibles they ordered can be used to reconstruct patterns of evangelical activity and success on the fringes of the country during the 1840's and '50's. This correspondence provides evidence of American Bible Society activity in Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Maine, and several letters provide the names and officers of local Bible societies.

Included in the correspondence are a few informal reports from local societies of their situation vis-à-vis the needs of the evangelist, their finances, and the success of their efforts to date. Some of these societies served ethnic communities (Welsh, French, German, Native American) or frontier areas where contact was difficult. "You would find that lonely rides with your own conveyance over extensive Prairies and through forrests, is somewhat different from visiting important points by public Conveyances" (April 26, 1842).

A series of correspondence from the Wisconsin Territory to John Brigham in the late 1830's and early 40's is particularly detailed in describing plans for evangelizing in Wisconsin and reveals something of the mentality of the evangelists. The reports, orders, and letters from this quarter are detailed in terms of the numbers and types of Bibles distributed, the means used to distribute them, the finances of the local society, and the clientele served. The correspondents paint a fairly thorough picture of evangelical activity in Wisconsin and their personal experiences as evangelists.

Among their clientele were substantial numbers of Oneida Indians, the 'remnants' of the Iroquois, whom the correspondent, Julius Field, suggests 'are a peacible, Moral, - Industrious, and enterprizing People, - And the best of all Many of them give Satisfactory evidence of conversion & ardent piety' (May 20, 1842). Field continues at some length on the Oneidas and, in other letters, on the Oneida West Mission, 12 miles west of Green Bay. His descriptions of evangelizing among the Oneida are among the most complete in this collection, and his opinions on their life style and future prospects are particularly notable.

This collection contains handwritten minutes, many with revisions and excisions, for 49 meetings of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions between 1848 and 1892. Written by multiple clerks, the minutes contain information on attendance, votes, resolutions, current and future missions, letters received, appointees, offers of service, reports from the field, salaries, grants, funding distribution, and other subjects.

This collection contains handwritten minutes, many with significant revisions and excisions, for 49 meetings of the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions between 1848 and 1892. Written by multiple clerks, the minutes contain information on attendance, votes, resolutions, current and future missions, letters received, appointees, offers of service, reports from the field, salaries, grants, and funding distribution. Other subjects referenced include Native American tribes, the Dakotas "in the new frontier," the need for missionaries to have wives, death or health concerns related to members, legal or domestic issues with foreign officials, and mission work in Hawaii.

Among the Mission Stations referenced are:

• Cape Town
• Constantinople
• Smyrna
• Beirut
• Oroomiah
• Ahmednuggur
• Canton
• Amoy
• Madras
• Fuh Chau
• Mosul
• Shanghai
• Aleppo
• Peking
• Guadalajara
• San Sebastian
• Prague
• and others

This collection contains ten letters written between 1835 and 1851 to American Home Missionary Society Secretary John A. Murray and Associate Secretary Milton Badger. The primary topics are missionaries' efforts in western and central New York, their quarterly and annual reports, appointment approvals, and the requesting of funds for pastors' salaries.

This collection contains ten letters written between 1835 and 1851 to American Home Missionary Society Secretary John A. Murray and Associate Secretary Milton Badger. The primary topics are missionaries' efforts in western and central New York, their quarterly and annual reports, appointment approvals, and the requesting of funds for pastors' salaries. See the Detailed Box and Folder Listing for more information about each item.

This collection contains letters that United States Army lieutenant (and later general) Amos Beebe Eaton wrote while training at the United States Military Academy and traveling in New York, Connecticut, Ohio, and Michigan. His early letters reflect the daily life of cadets at West Point in the mid-1820s, and his later letters to his wife provide family news, as well as information about the Army and contemporary politics.

This collection (59 items) contains letters that United States Army lieutenant (and later general) Amos Beebe Eaton wrote to his grandmother, Tryphena Cady of Canaan, New York, and to his wife, Elizabeth Selden Eaton.

Eaton wrote 6 letters to his grandmother between September 14, 1822, and March 26, 1826, while attending the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He described cadets' daily lives at the academy, including their physical regimen, and discussed the possibility of remaining in the military after graduation. Though he considered applying for the marine corps or becoming a doctor, he stayed with the army, and wrote 3 letters to his grandmother between April 16, 1828, and October 21, 1830, while he served at the Hancock Barracks near Houlton, Maine. A group of 5 letters, written to his sister and grandmother from Fort Niagara, New York, between February 21, 1831, and November 8, 1833, concern his movements with the army and his family life, including news of his new wife and young daughters. He also described Fort Niagara and shared some of his opinions on enlisted men. He wrote to his grandmother from Fort Gratiot, Michigan Territory, on July 7, 1834, commenting on his distrust of the pursuit of recognition.

Between 1832 and 1836, Eaton wrote to his wife Elizabeth ("Betsy") while he traveled in New York, Connecticut, Ohio, and Michigan, on military and personal business. He often mentioned family members, religious sentiments, and general details of his daily life. Two letters were written from Detroit during the Black Hawk War, in which he briefly mentioned ill soldiers, his opinion about the mistreatment of Native Americans, and the military's pursuit of Black Hawk (July 24 and 30, 1832). In another he discussed foreign relations with France as well as abolitionism (February 12, 1836). The collection also contains 2 letters that Eaton wrote while serving as Commissary General of Subsistence in 1867.

Several letters are addressed to Amos Eaton. One, written by "Gordon" on August 10, 1832, comments on the public reaction to and possible consequences of a recently published letter of Amos's, wherein he attributes the cholera outbreak in the military during the Black Hawk War to the mistreatment of Native Americans. Also included is a letter that Amos Beebe Eaton's father wrote to his son with extracts of his communication with New York Senators about the motivations behind Eaton's statements, a partial copy of the offending letter, and the impact it had on his military career (September 21, 1838). Other material includes one letter addressed to Elizabeth Eaton from a sibling (July 3, 1836) and a copied document signed by several recruits, stating that they had recently received pay (June 9, 1835).

The Amos Bradbury papers contain letters largely from Amos Bradbury to his mother Miranda Stanhope and brother Samuel Bradbury, Jr., which provide a valuable account of life in central California during the Gold Rush era.

The Amos Bradbury papers contain 67 letters largely from Amos Bradbury to his mother Miranda Stanhope and brother Samuel Bradbury, Jr., written between 1848 and 1863. His letters provide a valuable account of life in central California during the Gold Rush era. The collection holds 51 letters from Bradbury, 2 early letters from his brother Samuel, 9 letters from his mother, and 4 letters from Bradbury's friend Joseph B. Leonard. The letters track Bradbury’s movements between San Francisco (1850), Stanislaus (1851), Mountain Ranch (1852), Indian Gulch (1853-1857), Stanislaus River (1856-1860), and Mokelumne City, California (1862).

Bradbury’s earliest letters were addressed from Boston, where he worked in the shipping trade as a first mate. He first mentioned the idea of going to California in a letter to his mother from July 11, 1849. By September 28 of that year, he was at sea on his way to California and, by the next letter, dated January 3, 1850, was in Valparaiso, Chile, after traveling around Cape Horn. In his letter of April 28, 1850, written from San Francisco, he stated his intention not to pan for gold, but to start a store near the mines.

Along with Bradbury’s letters from 1850 and 1851 are 4 items from Joseph B. Leonard, Captain of the Boston ship Grotius, who was in San Francisco at the same time as Bradbury. These letters a were addressed to Miranda Stanhope and, for the most part, reported the safety and well being of her son Amos, and described some of the dangers of California life. Leonard's son, and a man named George Moore, accompanied Bradbury to the mines.

Amos settled in Stanislaus, California, in early 1851. In his letter of March 13, 1851, he described women near the mines: "Excepting indian squaws they are very numerous, although not any handsome." By 1852, Amos was running a successful public house in Mountain Branch, California, with George Moore, though by the end of the year, their business partner had abandoned the establishment. By early 1853, Amos owned three claims around Indian Gulch, California, and expressed renewed confidence to his family that he would discover gold. In his letter to his brother Samuel, of February 10, 1853, he explained the work involved in prospecting. On February 22, 1853, however, he mentioned to his mother that he was finding little gold. He continued prospecting this plot for a number of years and in the November 5, 1854, letter wrote "the height of my ambition is to get gold enough to make us all comfortable."

Bradbury scraped by on meager findings over the next five years. As early as July 13, 1860, in a letter to his brother, he mentioned the idea of running a ferry on the Stanislaus River, and by April 22, 1862, Bradbury reported to his mother that he had, in fact, pursued this line of work in Mokelumne City, California. By then he had made two trips up to Lockeford, California, which was 60 miles further up stream than any steamer had gone before. In his next letter, he mentioned that he had been made master of the Pert and intended to travel to San Francisco on a weekly basis. Bradbury was also master of the steamer the Fanny Ann (August 14, 1863). By February 25, 1863, he discussed buying a store, and that he had chopped off his "little toe."

This collection also includes 9 letters from Miranda Stanhope, Amos's mother, who expressed relief at hearing of her son’s good health, and shared news from Old Town, Maine. Her letters are emotional and demonstrate deeply-held religious beliefs. These letters may be unsent drafts, since they rarely contain signatures or addresses, and some of them are unfinished and two are undated. Of note is her letter to Amos of June 15, 1863, in which she discussed "the beautiful war" and the effect it has had on "the poor Negroes…[who] tear with their teeth, when deprived of their arms. Their very instinct, prompts to liberty or death." She went on at length about the desire of the Southerners to "perpetuate slavery...the worst system the world ever knew" and described slavery as an eternal sin: "Yes greatly have they injured us; but theirs is infinite, not ours."

The lone item in the Miscellaneous series is a two-page document written by Bradbury, which is possibly a fragment or draft of a letter, which is dated but not directed to a specific person.

This 108-page orderly book belonged to Major General Amos Hall, who commanded a New York militia unit near Buffalo, New York, during the War of 1812. The volume contains general orders and communications between Hall and other commanding officers stationed in western New York between December 24, 1813, and April 10, 1814. Two newspaper articles, published as late as 1893, are pasted on the book's final pages. The orderly book is accompanied by 4 copies of 2 reports of the United States House of Representatives in the 1840s, concerning financial claims John R. Williams made for property lost during the Niagara campaign of the War of 1812. Also included are a belt and attached buckle.

This 108-page orderly book belonged to Major General Amos Hall, who commanded a New York militia unit near Buffalo, New York, during the War of 1812. The volume contains general orders and communications between Hall and other commanding officers stationed in western New York between December 24, 1813, and April 10, 1814. Two newspaper articles, published as late as 1893, are pasted on the book's final pages. The orderly book is accompanied by 4 copies of 2 reports of the United States House of Representatives in the 1840s, concerning financial claims John R. Williams made for property lost during the Niagara campaign of the War of 1812. Also included are a belt and attached buckle.

The Orderly Book contains copies of general orders and correspondence issued daily between December 24, 1813, and December 29, 1813 (pp. 1-20), as well as orders and correspondence issued less regularly between January 10, 1814, and April 10, 1814 (pp. 20-108). Entries are composed in a number of different hands. Most orders were issued at American headquarters in Batavia, Buffalo, and Williamsville, New York, and from other unnamed posts in the Niagara region. The first order pertains to Hall's assumption of command of troops assembled near Buffalo. Throughout the following months, he issued and received orders about several aspects of the campaign in western New York, such as troop movements, troop numbers, and developments in the war. Other topics include the transfer of prisoners of war (January 10, 1814, pp. 40-41) and the hire of local Native Americans (December 27, 1813, pp. 11-12).

A copy of Amos Hall's certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati is laid into the volume (July 4, 1786), and 2 newspaper clippings are pasted on its final pages: "In Olden Times. Robert Sutcliff's Travels in the Genesee Country" (Stephen B. Ayers, Post-Express, February 28, 1893) and "Interesting Sketch of Gen. Amos Hall" (Myron S. Hall, the Journal, undated).

The Government Publications series is comprised of 2 copies each of 2 printed reports issued by the United States House of Representatives, concerning claims John R. Williams made against the United States government for property destroyed by the British Army in December 1813 (Report No. 102, February 7, 1845) and for land near Detroit, Michigan (Report No. 5, December 20, 1847).

The Realia item is a belt with its original buckle still attached. The buckle depicts a grenade over the number "100," and originally belonged to a member of the British Army's 100th Regiment of Foot grenadiers.

Letters to relatives discussing his studies at the University from 1857 to 1859, and his subsequent service in the Ninth Michigan Infantry during the Civil War. In the latter six letters, he describes the train trip from Fort Wayne, Detroit, to Kentucky, with special mention of the good treatment accorded the soldiers by Jackson, Mich., residents. He tells a bit about camp life, especially how Christmas, 1861 was spent.