Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Session minute books, 1831-1982; record books of women's and youth organizations; collected historical records used in preparation for 125th and 150th anniversary celebrations; and photographs.

The record group consists of meeting and session records, 1831-1982; a church register, dating approximately from 1940 to 1987; records of church women's societies and other church organizations; historical and church anniversary materials; and financial records.

Methodist Church established in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1825; church record books; records of Official Board and Quarterly Conferences; minutes and other materials of women’s groups; and subject files.

The record group has been arranged into the following series: Church records including lists of members and record of baptisms and marriages; Governance files, including Official Board minutes and Quarterly Conference reports; and records of church groups, especially Ladies Aid, Women's Society of Christian Service, and the Women's Foreign Missionary Society.

Presbyterian church established in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1829; Church registers, session minutes; records of woman's missionary society and ladies aid society; records, 1906-1940, of board of trustees; and records, 1830-1846, of the First Congregational Society.

The record group includes registers containing record of baptisms, marriages, and membership. In addition, there are early record books of the church, including session minutes. Many of the records relate to groups within the church, especially the Woman's Missionary Society and the Ladies Aid Society. The remainder of the record group is comprised of miscellaneous early documents, history and background information, and a scattering of photographs.

Family historian; collected materials relating to the Burt family and other related families.

Historical documents, family papers, and photographs accumulated and maintained by Flora Burt relating to the Burt family and to other family lines. Included are materials and information pertaining to James P. McKinstry, officer in the U.S. Navy in the 19th century, and to John R. Williams, 1st mayor of Detroit. The collection also contains letters, 1839-1846, to William A. Burt from his son Alvin Burt, then doing survey work in Iowa; also letter, 1845, from William Burt to Alvin Burt, describing the solar compass that he patented.

The Fox Island Lighthouse Association is a non-profit organization founded to preserve the South Fox Island light station in northern Lake Michigan. The collection contains both paper and digital records, and consists of materials created or collected by the association as part of their efforts to preserve the light station.

The collection contains both paper and digital records and consists of materials created or collected by the Fox Island Lighthouse Association as part of their efforts to preserve the South Fox Island light station. Collected material includes copies of U.S. Lighthouse Service and Coast Guard records from the National Archives, including photographs. The collection also includes the association's newsletters, newspaper articles about the association or the light station, a historic structures report developed for the association by U.P. Engineers & Architects, and a series of oral history interviews of former lighthouse personnel, conducted by association members.

The Fox Island Lighthouse Association records are organized into four series: Organizational Records, Collected Research Materials, Oral Histories, and Visual Materials. All but the Visual Materials series contain both print and digital records, and some documents exist in both formats.

Papers of Franklin L. Parker and the Parker family of New York (State) and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Family correspondence, business papers, diaries, 1850-1893, and other materials concerning land transactions.

The Franklin L. Parker collection relates mainly to land investments and other financial dealings, and family matters. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Letterpress books; Land records; and Personal and miscellaneous.

This collection is comprised of papers of John Geddes, an early Washtenaw Country settler. The highlight of the collection is the correspondence between John Geddes and his brother William from the first half of the nineteenth century, large portions of which were transcribed by the donor, Russell E. Bidlack. The collection also contains papers from John Geddes' daughter--Sarah Geddes Randall--and her family, as well as notes and correspondence regarding the collection and secondary source material compiled by Professor Bidlack.

The Geddes and Randall families collection is arranged into four series: Geddes Family, 1771-1889; Randall Family, 1860-1950; Rash Family, 1832-1924; and Historical Material Collected by Russell E. Bidlack. The collection is very much a product of Mr. Bidlack's research and archival processing. Not only does the collection contain copious photocopies, both of materials originally in the collection and of supporting materials, it also includes transcriptions and notes created by Mr. Bidlack. Besides extensive material on the Geddes and Randall families and the history of Washtenaw County, the collection also may be useful for researchers studying Nineteenth century mills and related manufacturing in the midwest. The researcher should note that the library has a second portion of the papers of the Geddes and Randall families which came from a different donor. This collection has been separately cataloged.

Dairy farmer in Willis, Michigan; personal and family correspondence and farm account books.

Personal and family correspondence, including letter 1865, of Matthew Day written from Joe Holt Hospital; letters, 1892-1935, concerning Holstein-Friesian cattle and the activities of the Holstein-Friesian Association, and Day's dairy farm; also bills, receipts, cattle transfer certificates, records of milk poundage, account books, poetry, recipe book, and other miscellaneous papers.

Resident in China from Farwell, Michigan; papers concern her family life in Farwell, and missionary activities; include letters, diaries, and accounts of father, Josiah L. Littlefield, Farwell lumber dealer and visitor to China, 1916-1917; letters, 1918-1928, of husband, Dr. Dennis V. Smith, medical missionary to China, describing in part Chinese politics and civil war, 1918-1920; letters and other papers of Hazel Littlefield Smith, including materials concerning various European travels, and manuscripts of writings about Irish author Lord Dunsany, her father, and Farwell, Michigan; and photographs. Other correspondents of Hazel Smith include world-renowed scientists (Edwin Hubble and William Beebe), from Chinese Princess Der Ling, and from distinguished European writers and actors (Pierre LaMure, Selma Lagerlof, Brian Aherne, and Ronald Colman).

This collection was accumulated by Hazel Littlefield Smith and consists of materials concerning her career and interests and those of her family, specifically her husband, Dr. Dennis Smith, and her father, Josiah Littlefield (1845-1935), a pioneer lumberman and businessman in Farwell, Michigan.

The collection is particularly valuable for three topics: early days (late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) in Farwell, Michigan; missionary life in China in the period ca. 1915-1928; and the travels and writings of Hazel Littlefield Smith. The materials include correspondence, compositions and business-related materials of Josiah Littlefield; correspondence and other materials of Dr. Dennis Smith, Hazel Littlefield Smith (and Josiah Littlefield) concerning conditions in early republican China; and correspondence and other materials of Hazel Littlefield Smith concerning her travels in Europe (1920s-1950s), her management of the family farm near Farwell, Michigan (1940s), and her essays, poetry and other publications, including Lord Dunsany: King of Dreams.

The three principal figures in the collection--Hazel Littlefield Smith, Dennis Smith and Josiah Littlefield--were highly perceptive observers of persons and events. Their letters are rich in detail, whether describing travel experiences or everyday life in rural northern Michigan.

The collection is arranged into six series: Littlefield Family, China-related materials, Hazel Littlefield Smith, Miscellanea, Dr. Dennis V. Smith, and Visual Materials.

The Henry B. Joy Historical Research (HBJHR) was an office established and funded by Detroit businessman Henry B. Joy in 1928 to do original research into the life and career of James F. Joy; the series in the collection are James F. Joy Papers, Railroad Enterprises, John W. Brooks Papers, Abraham Lincoln Research, and Office Correspondence.

The materials accumulated by The Henry B. Joy Historical Research organization consist largely of copied documents from historical repositories. The vast bulk of the collection was taken from the James Joy papers on file at the Burton Historical Collection. The source of other copied material is not readily apparent but might have come from the archives of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad which since 1943 has been at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The HBJHR must have had a considerable budget as the collection consists of many hundreds of photostatic copies (both positive and negative) as well as typescripts for many of the same materials.