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Student papers, 1930-1987 prepared for classes in history at the University of Michigan (primarily Michigan history class taught by Lewis G. VanderVelde, but also including research papers for classes taught by Sidney Fine and others); topics concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; and local community history.

The student papers are organized alphabetically by author in two series, which are similar in date range and topics covered. Topics of papers concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; local community history and University of Michigan history. A topical index to the papers is available in the first box of the collection.

John Harris Forster was a geologist, engineer, surveyor, farmer, and chronicler of life in the Americas in the mid-19th century. As he traveled about North and South America, surveying boundaries, inspecting copper mines, mining gold with the California Forty-Niners, or raising hogs, Forster wrote of his experiences in his journals and used them and his acute memory to describe his travels to family, friends, and an interested public. His journals, correspondence, and speeches are a rich source of social history and geographical and architectural information on life in the areas in which he traveled, including the Great Lakes (Michigan and Wisconsin), Far West, and Central and South America. Forster's papers are of considerable interest for their detailed descriptions of the culture and lifestyle of the native populations he encountered, the terrain and climate of the areas in which he camped and surveyed, and the hardships of life in unsettled or recently settled areas.

The John Harris Forster papers are arranged in seven series. Correspondence primarily contains letters written by Forster to various family members, and is arranged chronologically by year. The Thomas Forster series contains materials of John's father, chiefly correspondence and documents pertaining to family and financial matters. Journals and Manuscripts is arranged by year, with titles provided on the contents list. Scrapbook Materials consist of clippings from various newspapers (most of which are unidentified). Forster evidently was a journalist correspondent for these papers, and his columns seem to be excerpts from his journals, with slight modification. His Speeches and Addresses to various Michigan organizations also are based to a large extent on his journals, but there are exceptions, such as the very interesting one detailing life as a Swine-herd in California. Miscellaneous consists mostly of biographical materials and financial documents. Photographs includes portraits and view of the family farm near Williamston, Michigan. For related materials on Forster, including biographical clippings, correspondence to his wife, family documents, and other Forster writings, the researcher should consult the Mullett Family Papers.

Republican congressman and U.S. district judge from Lansing, Michigan. Correspondence, business and legal papers, manuscript addresses, photographs, and miscellaneous items; include material concerning Michigan politics and his Civil War activities as a member of Congress; journal, 1871 containing a few brief entries on business matters.

The papers of John Wesley Longyear spans the period from 1837 to 1875. The bulk of the collection covers two periods of Longyear's life: his two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863-1866) and his service as U.S. district court judge (1870-1875).

Williamston, Ingham County, Michigan, family. Financial records, clippings, and correspondence relating to Mullett Farm and John Mullett, surveyor; extract, 1864, from Meridian Township Register Book; letterpress book, journal, and correspondence, 1852-1893, of John H. Forster, surveyor, agent for Pewabic Mining Company, Hancock, Mich., and later owner of Springbrook Farm, Ingham County, Michigan; diary, 1840-1841, of Catherine Hall; and map, 1859, of Mullett Farm; and photographs.

The Mullett family collection contains many useful descriptions of the state, and is a good source of information for some of the state's economic and topographic conditions during the 19th century. The papers, 1825-1936, are broken down into four series.

Ocha Potter was a copper mining engineer and adventurer who also played an important role in the promotion of Keweenaw County, Michigan as a vacation destination during the 1930s and 1940s. Over the course of his career, Potter made important contributions to the field of copper mining, including the development of a safer, more efficient method of stoping and advocacy for the use of the lighter "one-man" alternative to the ubiquitous two-man drill. He also led and undertook many travels and expeditions both for work and leisure, which he documented in photographs. This collection contains three photo albums, documenting Potter's travels to Alaska (1905-1908), Africa and Europe (1930), and national parks in the American West (1923, 1934 and 1936). It also contains a manuscript of his autobiography, family correspondence about the manuscript, and newspaper clippings and ephemera related to Potter's life, career, and involvement with the Copper Country Vacationist League.

Collection contains three photo albums with photographs taken by Potter on his trips to Alaska, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Also newspaper clippings about Potter, ephemera related to Potter's involvement with the Copper Country Vacationist League, family correspondence, manuscript of Ocha's autobiography, and biographical information about him by his granddaughter Julia Fairchild.

Michigan State Police Commissioner, National Guard Commander and businessman; correspondence, clippings, diary, photographs, and other materials relating to his career.

The collection consists of a scattering of correspondence, photographs, and biographical material. Much of the collection is clippings and ephemera. There is, however, a diary for 1920 which includes Vandercook's notes on "red" raids of the 1920's and comment on Governor Alexander J. Groesbeck. Also of interest are some payrolls for Battery A of the First Field Artillery, also an Order Book.

Mine manager in the American west and northern Michigan. Letterpress books containing business correspondence detailing his work with the Quincy Copper Mine in Hancock, Michigan, as superintendent of the Detroit Bridge and Iron Works, and in Georgetown, New Mexico, and Twin River, Nevada; also include miscellaneous letters, and partial calendar to the letterpress books.

The collection consists primarily of letterpress books recording copies of outgoing correspondence. There is a partial calendar to some of the letters compiled by a descendant, Arney Robinson Childs in 1964 and a diary written in 1852-1853 while living in New England, with the last entry noting his departure for Michigan.

Many of the letters reflect the operations of his business enterprises and related matters--land speculation, dealing in mining stocks, the difficulties of procuring labor and supplies, shipping on the lakes, the almost insurmountable hardships of overland transportation into new country. But, since many of the letters are personal ones, they record much about the manners and customs of the day: in New England, where Robinson kept in touch with his childhood acquaintances; in the frontier west, described vividly in letters sent back east; and in Michigan, which remained home base for him and his family until his death on his farm at Pontiac in 1904.