Search Results
Correspondence
The Correspondence series includes letters from fellow members of Congress, cabinet officers, Michigan political figures and some constituent mail. The correspondence is arranged chronologically. A select index to correspondents lists letters from some of the more prominent individuals represented in the series.
Personal files
The Personal files series contains Gitzen's correspondence, diaries, military papers that include Gitzen's enlistment cards and field passes, two poems (one signed by Gitzen), and five photographs.
Albert J. Schimpke collection of R.G. Peters materials, 1890-circa 1970
4 linear feet (in 6 boxes) — 1 oversize folder — 173 GB
Collected Papers
The first series, Collected Papers, contains four folders. Included is a collection of newspaper clippings of a series called "Manistee Yesteryears," which appeared in the Manistee newspaper during the 1950s. There is also in this series a list of locomotives of the Manistee and Northeastern Railway Company. This list specifies original owners, builders, dates built, dates of purchase, cylinder sizes, engine weight, numbers of flues and sizes, wheel bases, tractive power, diameters of driving wheel centers, and remarks. The folder also contains a history of the Manistee and Northeastern Railway. This pamphlet is largely illegible but does contain a good map of the railroad and its connections.
Albert Kahn Associates records, 1825-2014 (majority within 1900-1945)
166 linear feet (in 180 boxes; textual materials, photographs, and audiovisual materials) — 90 portfolios (photographs) — 22 scrapbooks (sample architectural materials) — 131 oversize volumes (books) — 12,731 drawings (in 45 drawers and 114 tubes; architectural drawings) — 111 MB (online)
Albert Kahn's Personal Papers
The Albert Kahn's Personal Papers series (1 linear foot, 1917-1970) contains correspondence to and from Albert Kahn from 1917 to 1942 and to a few principals of his firm through 1970. These documents were probably saved in a special file by Kahn because they are letters of appreciation, commendation and reference from admiring clients and government officials, including such historic figures as Henry Ford, George G. Booth, James C. Couzens, Henry B. Joy, William L. Clements, C. S. Mott, Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. and The Honorable Ferry K. Heath, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The letters have been described at the item-level in this finding aid because of the importance of the authors and their own contributions to American industrial and political history.
Kahn Family Papers, Carol Kahn, collector
The first series, Carol Kahn, collector, encompasses four sub-series, related to the lives of Albert and Ernestine Kahn, Mollie Kahn Fuchs, Edgar A. Kahn and Carol Kahn. Researchers will find a number of interesting early letters within the Albert and Ernestine Kahn Correspondence sub-series. While the letters from Albert number only four, his letter to his sister-in-law Amy of 11/9/1900 is of particular interest. In this hand-written piece of correspondence, Kahn recounts his delight in visiting Paris, Genoa, and Florence in 1891 and includes a sketch of an Italian arch. He also expresses pride and delight in his baby son, Edgar. Two late letters of 6/26/1940 and 7/17/1942 to Edgar, who was posted for military duty in Spain and Little Rock, Arkansas, are also significant. In these documents, Kahn describes his own war defense work and expresses concern for his son's welfare. He gives us a glimpse of paternal emotion when he ends the 1940 letter with these words to Eddie: "You mean everything to all of us." The four letters to Kahn in this sub-series include two from his brother Julius (one dated 1/14/1900), with whom he collaborated on the use of reinforced concrete in structural design. And a letter from his first partner Alexander Buel Trowbridge (10/17/1898), who had recently become the dean of the Cornell University College of Architecture, documents this early professional relationship.
Albert and Ernestine Kahn
Within the Albert and Ernestine Correspondence sub-series, the letters written by Kahn's future wife Ernestine Krolik, at the age of 16, give researchers a view of the personality of this intelligent, young woman, who shows herself to be cultured, confident and family-oriented. Twenty-one letters were written by Ernestine during her summer visit in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 6/29/1885 to 9/1/1885. They were addressed to her mother, sister Bell, brother Day and father Adolph Krolik, a dry goods merchant who would later become a client of Albert Kahn. In addition to her descriptions of her train trips to such tourist destinations as Lake Johanna, White Bear Lake and Lake St. Croix, she provides detailed walking-tour portraits of the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1885. Her letters show her to have a game sense of adventure, as well as a strong devotion to her parents, whose "kindness and warm-heartedness" she praises. Included in the letters to Ernestine is a 1942 Western Union telegram from V. A. Vernin, a Russian architect-academician, expressing "sympathy in connection with the death of your husband Mr. Albert Kahn, who rendered us great service in designing a number of large plants and helped us to assimilate the American experience in the sphere of [the] building industry."
A Kahn family tree gives researchers an understanding of the legacy of Albert and Ernestine Kahn, as well as that of Kahn's siblings, Julius, Felix, Louis, Gus, Moritz, Mollie, and Paula. Materials related to the dedication of the William L. Clements Library and the nomination of Albert Kahn's residence to the National Register of Historic Places are also of significance. The Albert and Ernestine photographs are arranged chronologically and include images of the family ranging from Ernestine's childhood in the 1870s to her granddaughter Carol Kahn's Ontario canoe trip in 1989. Five photographs depict Albert's and Ernestine's children between 1901 and 1908, and three images show Albert and Ernestine together in their later years.
Correspondence
The Correspondence series [1.1 linear ft.; 1905-1937] contains letters and memoranda, most of which relate to Barrett's duties as director of the Psychopathic Hospital. There is extensive correspondence with national mental health organizations, staff of state and federal agencies, and other medical practitioners. Topics covered include administration and staffing of the hospital and teaching programs, as well as Barrett's own research. The latter is interspersed through the "Miscellaneous Correspondence, chronological" files in box 1.