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Bay City, Michigan. Personal letters, primarily of Susie Holmes living in New York from family members in Michigan detaining daily activities and family matters.

The Holmes papers, dating ca. 1883 to 1957, have been divided into four major series: Susie Holmes Papers, Harry Holmes Papers, Other Holmes Papers, and Miscellaneous. For the most part, the Holmes Family collection documents events and concerns of a middle-class family running a family business and socializing with other middle-class business families. The family enjoyed good hotels when they traveled, they worried about profits and losses, and they commented occasionally on national events of the times. But in sum, their work ethic, comments about life and death in general, and concern for family and friends are the themes that distinguish this collection of family letters.

The bulk of the papers consists of letters from the family to Susie Holmes. From 1897 to 1903, Susie was living near, and working in, Buffalo New York for Charles G. Butts. In addition to family correspondence, business correspondence from her boss, and personal business material such as her insurance notices, the Susie Holmes series includes church activity announcements, a few wedding invitations, a batch of 3 x 5 cards with English and American literary references, and letters to and from other members of her family which were subsequently forwarded on to Susie.