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Professor of political science at Michigan State University and at the University of Michigan; director of the U-M Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies; specialist in communist ideology and the Soviet political system. The collection is composed of four series. The personal series consists of biographical information including autobiography detailing flight of his family from Nazi Germany, his education, and his academic career; the series also contains files relating to his education and to the history of his family; including extensive family correspondence, partially in German, primarily in the period of 1924-1945. The other, smaller, series in the collection pertain to his career and to his writings.

The Alfred G. Meyer Papers richly document both Meyer's personal and family history and his professional career, while providing considerable insight into the effects of Nazism and World War II on a German-Jewish family. The collection is arranged into four series: Personal (ca. 1860-1998); Professional (1956-1997); Writings (1952-1998); and Audio-Visual (1998).

Translations of letters, 1847-1850, of Gotthardt Bechtold describing his trip to, impressions of, and settlement in America; also diary, 1861-1865, of Frederick W. Bechtold, soldier in Co. B, 12th Missouri Volunteers during the Civil War (partially in German); typescript translations of Bechtold's diary and of his letters, 1862-1864; and miscellaneous other family letters (some in German).

Correspondence and other materials concerning life in Germany and Civil War service; and record book, 1868-1877, listing German settlers in the Dieckerill section of Niles brought to the United States by Brethschneider. Three letters written in July 1861 and one in November 1861 are chiefly love letters to his wife. But he also speculates on possible offensives and the end of the war; then writes of the casualties after the battles,saying: "It is sad to see thousands slaughtered through the ignorance of their leaders, but the Americans have to learn and pay for it. All our fancy officers here are sick or not worth the powder it would take to shoot them." However, he expresses a very high opinion of himself and his worth as an officer. The letters are written in German, and the collection contains the originals and translations, as well as his commission, dated April 25, 1861 and application for invalid corps dated June 23, 1863. The collection also includes a letter from Colonel Francis Quinn of the12th Michigan Infantry (May 2, 1862) and affidavits of James Vandemark and Robert Hardy, also of the 12th Infantry (June 4, 1862) relating to the Battle of Shiloh