The collection is arranged into two series. The Sojourner Truth (collected material) series includes biographies and compiled biographical information about Truth, bibliographies and book reviews, obituaries, tributes, newspaper articles, images of portraits, photographs, songs, and other information relating to the life of Sojourner Truth. Of special interest is a scrapbook that was kept by Frances Titus, Sojourner Truth's assistant.
Most of the Sojourner Truth files have been microfilmed except for a folder of material which came to the library after the 1965 filming. A few photographs that were microfilmed in 1965 were reported missing. These images are only available on the microfilm.
The Other Materials series contains items concerning Lowe's various activities and interests, including Battle Creek history and personalities, her travel diaries, and materials related to her friendship with writer Gerald Carson. Also included collected autographs and papers of individuals, including authors John Greenleaf Whittier and George Washington Cable. Also of note are letters of D. J. Van Schnell who wrote to members of the Oldfield family that contain watercolor drawings indicative of English life in the late 1930s and the early years of the World War II.
Berenice Bryant Lowe (1896-1983) was a local historian, collector of rare books and manuscripts, and local history writer from Battle Creek, Michigan. She was born Berenice Jones in Flint, Mich. and moved to Battle Creek in 1919 to teach drama and speech at Battle Creek High School. She received her BA and MA from the University of Michigan. Lowe was a teaching assistant at the university while her husband Stanley T. Lowe studied medicine at the UM Medical School. The couple moved to Battle Creek in 1928.
Lowe became interested in researching and writing about local history in the 1930s. In the early 1950s, she started actively collecting historic materials as part of her research. She also gave public talks and wrote historical essays on Battle Creek history and its famous residents, in particular, about Sojourner Truth. Truth lived in Michigan (mostly in Battle Creek) in 1857-1883. Lowe authored a number of newspaper articles dedicated to Truth and her life in Michigan. Lowe donated her Sojourner Truth research materials and collected items to Bentley Historical Library in 1962. Bentley has no evidence of any connection between Lowe and Sojourner Truth's descendants in Michigan or outside the state.
Lowe was a life member of the Kimball House Museum, newsletter writer and editor for the Battle Creek Historical Society, served on the Calhoun County Historical Commission, was a former trustee of the Michigan Historical Society and a past state fellowship chairman of the American Association of University Women. She has received awards from the American Association for State and Local History, Historical Society of Michigan, National Organization for Women, Daughters of the American Revolution, Battle Creek Chapter of The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Clubs; among other awards. In addition to numerous newspaper articles dedicated to Battle Creek history, Lowe authored books "Hello Michigan" (with Leland W. Singer, 1939) and "Tales of Battle Creek" (1976).
