Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Correspondence consists of general correspondence with friends and colleagues; family correspondence, primarily letters between Robben and Sally and their children, ca. 1950-1990, and letters of congratulations and regrets. There is finally the letters from Robben Fleming to his wife and to other family members while serving in World War II. This includes both regular mail and V-mail [letters photocopied and reduced by the Army for easier transmission home to the states].

Personal correspondence, 1842-1941; Civil War letters, 1862-1865, of C. V. DeLand of Co. C, Ninth Michigan Infantry, later Colonel of the First Sharpshooters during the Civil War; and correspondence concerning early Jackson (Mich.) history and other matters.

Civil War correspondence includes six letters (1862-1865) written by Charles Victor DeLand to his parents. They are concerned with runaway slaves in camp; the beauties of the country near Nashville; the battle of Petersburg in which his brother James was wounded; and the death of Lincoln. There is one letter from his mother about McClellan. The collection also includes two letters from other soldiers relating to James S. DeLand, who was wounded at Petersburg, Va. One letter (Apr. 12, 1865) from Charles Allen (postmaster, Second Corps Hospital, City Point, Va.) to judge William R. DeLand concerns James's condition after being wounded at Petersburg, April 2, 1865. Another letter (Apr. 2, 1865), written by Edward J. Buckbee (an adjutant with the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters from Ypsilanti, Mich.) to Colonel Charles DeLand, gives an account of the engagement before Petersburg in which Captain James DeLand was wounded and of DeLand's condition.

The Correspondence series, 1930-1979 (2 linear feet), contains Jones' incoming and outgoing personal and professional correspondence, spanning from 1930 to 1979. The files are arranged alphabetically by correspondent, with files of miscellaneous correspondence at the end of each letter range.

Much of Jones' professional correspondence consists of discussions with other ethnobotanists and anthropologists about their laboratory research, field work, and analysis of organic samples. Jones' correspondence also serves as documentation of the beginnings of the field of paleoethnobotany. Correspondents of note include Edward Castetter (Jones' mentor at the University of New Mexico) and Leslie White. The files for Theodore (Ted) Bank include substantial information on a University of Michigan expedition to the Aleutians in the late 1940s. The dating of material from Sandia Cave is discussed in correspondence with Frank Hibben and Alex Krieger. Correspondence with Chase S. Osborn, Stellanova B. Osborn, and Milo M. Quaife concerning a project to establish a Friends of the Michigan Indian organization can be found in the Stellanova Osborn folder.