The Safford Sunderland Family collection consists of the papers of Gertrude Sunderland Safford, her husband Homer E. Safford, his sister Ada M. Safford, and of two of the Sunderland Saffords' daughters, Helen Safford Toohy and Mildred H. Safford. The papers also contain information on and materials from Gertrude Sunderland Safford's parents, Jabez T. Sunderland and Eliza Jane Read Sunderland; her siblings, Edson Read Sunderland and Florence Sunderland; and the Sunderland Saffords' other two children, Truman Sunderland Safford and Virginia Safford Arnold. Additionally, there is some material from and on Helen Safford Toohy's husband (Clifford M. Toohy) and daughters (Janet Toohy Ferguson and Phyllis Toohy). Finally, the collection contains Ada Murray Safford's extensive genealogical materials on the Murray and Safford families.
The papers are organized into six series arranged by family member: Photographs, Gertrude Sunderland Safford, Homer Erwin Safford, Ada Murray Safford, Mildred Hortense Safford, and Helen Safford Toohy.
The Sunderland and Safford families have been an influential presence in Michigan history. The Safford family came to Michigan from the East Coast in the first half of the nineteenth century, and have deep roots in the Plymouth/Canton Township area. Several Safford cousins enlisted in the Michigan 24th Infantry during the Civil War; the collection includes the letters of Winfield Scott Safford to his brother Robert Crawford Safford. (Winfield Scott Safford was killed in action at Gettysburg, July 1st, 1863.) The Sunderlands, meanwhile, first came to Ann Arbor in 1878, as a result of the pastorate of prominent Unitarian Minister Jabez T. Sunderland (1846-1936). (Sunderland was pastor of the First Unitarian Church in Ann Arbor from 1878 to 1898.) During that period, the Sunderland's eldest daughter Gertrude (1873-1967) met Robert Crawford Safford's son, Homer Erwin Safford (1869-1933). Homer Safford and Gertrude Sunderland married in 1898.
This collection is comprised primarily of the papers of Homer E. and Gertrude S. Safford, their daughters Mildred H. Safford (1901-) and Helen Safford Toohy (1899-1997), and of Homer Safford's sister, Ada Murray Safford (1877-1951). Many of the Saffords and Sunderlands (and Sunderland Saffords) have connections to the University of Michigan: Gertrude Sunderland Safford received an AB in 1895, Homer E. Safford a PhB in 1892 and an MD in 1896, and Homer Safford's sister, Ada Murray Safford, attended UM from 1896 to 1900. Homer E. and Gertrude S. Safford's daughters Mildred H. Safford and Helen Safford (later Toohy) both received their AB degrees in 1923. Also, Truman Sunderland Safford attended UM with his sisters Mildred and Helen during 1920-1921, before moving on to Antioch College with Mildred. Finally, Clifford M. Toohy (Helen Safford Toohy's husband) attended Michigan for an AB in 1917 and for his law degree in 1920. Moreover, Gertrude's mother, Eliza Jane Read Sunderland (1839-1910), and siblings, Edson Sunderland (1874-1959) and Florence Sunderland (?-1925), received degrees from the University.
Gertrude Sunderland Safford was born in Northfield Massachusetts, but left in 1878 when the Sunderlands moved to Ann Arbor. Before her marriage, she studied under John Dewey at the University of Michigan, as did her mother. After graduation from the University, Gertrude Sunderland followed Dewey to Chicago, where she worked in his experimental school. After marrying Homer E. Safford, Sunderland Safford settled in Detroit. Following in her mother's distinguished footsteps, Sunderland Safford was also a prominent figure in women's activism. In addition to tenures in executive positions in several women's clubs in the first half of the Twentieth Century, Sunderland Safford also served as the founding president of the Wayne County League of Women Voters (an outgrowth of the Detroit League of Women Voters) in 1924. Continuing her interest in education, Sunderland Safford was the first female board member of the Merrill-Palmer School, a position she held for over forty years.
After marriage, Homer E. Safford was a general practitioner in Detroit. Among his works were efforts to reform the Detroit medical system, including a fact-finding tour with Dr. William Metcalf to European and U.S. hospitals as part of a project to plan the new Detroit General Hospital. (This project eventually became the Henry Ford Hospital, after Ford took over the project and threw out the original designs.) Safford left his practice to volunteer for the Army Medical Corps during World War I at Fort Leavenworth, where he served in the neuro-psychiatric division studying 'maladjusted' soldiers. (Among other topics, his letters home refer to the influenza epidemic of that time period.) Safford's experiences during WWI led him into psychiatry. Homer Safford's later work focused on helping 'problem children', especially in the Highland Park school system.
Safford's sister, Ada Murray Safford, was one of Detroit's first public health nurses. She was also an avid genealogist, and compiled historical information and genealogical charts on the Murray and Safford families reaching back to their pre-colonial pasts in England.
The collection also touches on the lives of Homer E. and Gertrude S. Safford's four children. Their eldest daughter, Helen Sunderland Safford, married Clifford M. Toohy (1895-1951), a Detroit attorney. Mildred H. Safford worked for many years at the Detroit Children's Museum, eventually becoming Assistant Director. The collection is much sparser on the lives of Truman Sunderland Safford (1903-), a lawyer, and of the Sunderland Saffords' youngest daughter, Virginia Safford Arnold (1908-).
