Collections

This collection contains correspondence and newspaper clippings collected by Cora Clarke, a respected female botanist and entomologist.

This collection consists of 23 letters, five newspaper clippings, and six miscellaneous items. Nineteen of the letters are addressed to Cora Clarke, with four to her mother and one to her father. No single correspondent or time frame dominates the collection, nor are there themes which run through all the letters, except in the most general sense. Prominent people represented in the collection as correspondents include Grace Greenwood (a.k.a. Sarah Jane Clarke Lippincott), Jacob Abbott, James Freeman Clarke, Edward Sylvester Morse, Alpheus Spring Packard Jr., Robert Collyer, Samuel Eliot, Francis Parkman, and Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz.

The Clarke Papers appears to consist largely of letters retained for their autograph value, more than their substance. Clarke's botanical and entomological activities appear most clearly in letters from the Cambridge Entomological Club (1878 November 16) and Francis Parkman. However, only Charles Russell's letter discussing the anatomy of flowers (1870 December 19), provides anything approaching a lengthy or in-depth discussion. More typical are a letter dated 1875 May 25, mentioning the Boston Society of Natural History and the "Society to encourage studies at home," and a receipt for a summer botany course (1874 August 4) suggesting Clarke's commitment to continuing education. The value of the collection lies primarily in creating an impressionistic portrayal of a respected female scientist at a time when she was maturing into adulthood.

The Cora Smith photograph album contains approximately 214 photographs documenting the travels and daily life of a woman living in Cornwallville, New York, in the late 1890s.

The Cora Smith photograph album contains approximately 214 photographs documenting the travels and daily life of a woman living in Cornwallville, New York, in the late 1890s.

The album (26 x 22 cm) is a blank page scrapbook with "Cora M. Smith" written in pencil on the fly leaf. Photographs consist primarily of snapshots and cyanotypes, and many of the people represented in this album (including members of the Smith and Olcott families) are identified with captions. Several trips are documented including visits to New York State destinations such as the Catskills, Niagara Falls, and Cambridge as well as Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Virginia.

Images of note include views of the Brooklyn Bridge; an older African American woman captioned "Aunt Caroline, Virginia"; young girls on "Poverty Row"; scenes around Cambridge, New York, and Cornwallville; a wedding party; the Smith family home; “Dr. Carter” preparing to remove a tooth from the mouth of an African American man; a semi-domesticated bear; the 1899 Dewey Land and Naval Parade; and Niagara Falls. Cora Smith appears in photographs on pages 24 and 33. Also present is a note regarding a store display designed by Cora to advertise Payne’s Celery Compound.

This collection contains receipts, bills, accounts, court documents, and other materials related to the expenses and operations of the Corporation of the City of New York between 1798 and 1873.

This collection contains receipts, bills, accounts, court documents, and other materials related to the expenses and operations of the Corporation of the City of New York between 1798 and 1873. The first 6 documents, written in 1798 and 1799, are minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, concerning a bill to provide the city with fresh water in order to improve public health. The council's deliberations, with the input of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, focused on whether the water supply should be a municipal or a privately funded project. The council resolved to permit a private company, under direction of the city recorder, to provide the city with water on February 28, 1799 (paving the way for the unsuccessful waterworks enterprises of the Manhattan Company).

The bulk of the collection, dated between 1806 and 1865, pertains to the efforts of New York City's governing body to build and sustain a local infrastructure. Approximately 1,250 bills, receipts, requests for payments, and miscellaneous administrative documents provide financial information about the construction and repair of roads, wharves, piers, slips, and docks; the supply of fresh water; the employment of men for the night watch; the dredging of the river; purchase of printed forms; and the regulation of city lighting. Some of the items reflect broader city events, such as the May 14, 1849, check for janitorial services which likely relates to the aftermath of the Astor Place Riot. Some receipts and accounts reflect the Common Council's 1811 plan to fix block and lot sizes, which resulted in Manhattan's gridded street pattern, and many documents, bills, and accounts provide insight into the city's interactions with individuals for goods and labor. The collection illustrates the increasing responsibilities and expenditures of the city government in the first half of the 19th century.

The collection also includes approximately 90 documents produced by the Marine Court of New York between 1872 and 1873. These summonses, affidavits of merit, and other court documents primarily regard individual complaints related to unpaid debts.

Gay rights activist of Ferndale, Mich. Files relating to his involvement with AIDS prevention and gay rights; include minutes of the board and other materials of the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project, 1988-2001; files accumulated from his work with the Michigan Organization for Human Rights; and miscellanea relating to his campaigns for Ferndale City Council in 1995, 1999, 2003, for mayor in 2007, and for Oakland County Commissioner in 2010.

The Craig Covey collection is arranged into two series: Topical Files and Audio-Visual Materials. The topical files are especially important for their documentation of his work in various education and prevention study programs. These include the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project (MAPP for short) and the Michigan AIDS High Risk Education program. Also of important are files documenting his participation in the political and civic life of Ferndale, both within the gay community and as a member of the city council and as Mayor. There is documentation of his campaign for office and his participation in a gay and lesbian neighborhood association, Friends and Neighbors of Ferndale (FANS for short). The Audio-Visual series is comprised mainly of video recordings relating to gay pride ceremonies and activities.

The Crime clippings scrapbook contains newspaper clippings compiled between 1891 and 1893 that are related to various criminals, court proceedings, and executions.

The Crime clippings scrapbook contains newspaper clippings compiled between 1891 and 1893 that are related to various criminals, court proceedings, and executions.

The volume (23 x 15 cm) has brown paper covers and appears to have originally been a copy of Joseph Emerson Worcester’s A Pronouncing, Explanatory, and Synonymous Dictionary of the English Language. Containing 210 pages total, the volume begins with a clipped engraving of New York City Police Department Superintendent Thomas F. Byrnes pasted on the inside of the front cover. Byrnes’ portrait is accompanied by an inscribed caption reading “of New York City April 22 1892.” An additional inscription states that the volume was “Presented to the officers and Men of the 13th street Police station - Chicago Ills. by Wm. H. [Benton?] - 126 Fleming St., Aug 22d 1903.”

Subsequent clippings highlight numerous criminals, trials, and executions, many of which were highly publicized incidents involving crimes such as murder, robbery, swindling, and kidnapping. Many of the clippings include engravings that depict portraits of criminals, courtroom scenes, and crime scenes. Stories of crime and punishment in the eastern United States are most frequent, but transnational and international stories are also included.

Clippings are arranged in a chronological sequence with the first dated December 7th 1891 and the last dated September 4th 1893; as a result, many clippings that pertain to certain long-running criminal trials appear in multiple places throughout the volume.

• Martin D. Loppy [murderer; executed by electric chair] (pgs. 1-3)
• Darwin J. Messerole [murderer] (pg. 3)
• Isaac B. Sawtelle [murderer] (pg. 4)
• Henry L. Norcross [blackmailer, attempted murderer] (pgs. 5-9)
• Carlyle W. Harris [murderer; condemned to execution by electric chair] (pgs. 12-15, 22, 25, 30-35, 40, 54-58)
• Charles E. Waterbury [kidnapper] (pgs. 17-21, 26-29, 37-40)
• August Lentz [murderer] (pgs. 11, 12, 21, 24, 35, 36)
• Alfred Parkes [murderer] (pg. 23)
• Nicola Trezza and Charles McElvaine [murderers; latter executed by electric chair] (pgs. 23, 24, 40)
• Edward W. Hallinger [African American man; murderer] (pgs. 35, 145)
• Alice Jessie Mitchell [lesbian woman; murderer] (pgs. 35, 41, 147, 158)
• Thomas “Buncoer” O’Brien [conman] (pg. 37, 105-107, 125, 126, 129-131, 133-136, 139)
• Maurice Curtis aka Maurice B. Strelinger [accused murderer; acquitted] (pgs. 41, 42)
• Oliver Curtis Perry [train robber] (pgs. 42-53, 126-129)
• Burton C. Webster [accused murderer; hung jury] (pgs. 47, 58-83)
• John Francis [Native American man; murderer] (pgs. 53, 54)
• Louis Harriot [murderer; hanged] (pgs. 81, 82, 101-104)
• Jim Lyons and Mickey Sliney [murderers] (pgs. 84, 86, 87, 124, 125)
• Death of George C. Searing (pgs. 84, 85)
• F. B. Deeming [murderer and one-time Jack the Ripper suspect; hanged] (pgs. 87, 88-93, 114, 115, 131-133, 140, 141, 145, 146, 151-153)
• Jack the Ripper, “The Nine Bad Jacks” (pgs. 89-93)
• Jeremiah Cotto [murderer; executed by electric chair] (pgs. 93-95)
• Frank C. Almy aka George Abbott [murderer] (pgs. 95, 96, 120, 121, 206-208)
• James Alexander Farmer [accused murderer] (pg. 95, 96)
• William Myer [murderer] (pg. 97)
• “Origin of Lynch Law” (pgs. 97-99)
• John Lewis Osmond [murderer] (pgs. 99-101)
• Annie Walden [murderer] (pgs. 107-114, 136, 139, 153-155)
• Fred McGuire [murderer; executed by electric chair] (pgs. 116-119)
• Ferdinand Ward [Banker/Ponzi scheme runner] (pgs. 121-123, 141-145)
• Henry W. Jaehne [corrupt politician] (pgs. 121-123)
• Lieut. James Henry Hetherington [U.S. Navy officer; murderer] (pgs. 136-139)
• Charles Reilly [murderer] (pg. 139)
• Murder of Lizzie Farrell [African American man falsely implicated] (pgs. 139, 140, 143, 144)
• Capt. Chris Rath [recounting of execution of Lincoln’s assassins] (pgs. 146, 147)
• “The Murderer’s Hand” [story regarding supposedly distinct features of hands of killers] (pg. 148)
• Guillotine history and contemporary usage (pgs. 148-151, 155-158)
• Col. H. Clay King [murderer] (pgs. 158, 159, 161)
• Lizzie Borden [accused murderer; acquitted] (pgs. 158-170, 172-180, 187-189, 191-205)
• Dr. T. Thatcher Graves [accused murderer; hanged himself while incarcerated] (pg. 159, 191, 208-210)
• Murder of Luigi Barri (pgs. 167, 168)
• Frank Glowinski [murderer] (pgs. 168-171)
• James Nolan [murderer] (pgs. 171, 172)
• J. M. Brown shootout (pgs. 180-187)
• George Craig [murderer] (pgs. 190, 191)

The Cuba collection contains around 91 individual manuscripts (mostly documents) related to the economic, racial, and political history of Cuba largely from the early to the late 19th century. The collection primarily focuses on the indentured servitude of Chinese workers, as well as Cuba's enslavement, trade, and manumission of largely African people. Another subset of the materials relates to 19th century insurrections and filibusters on the Island, including the López Expedition and Cuban resistance pertinent to the Ten Years' War.

The Cuba collection contains around 91 individual manuscripts (mostly documents) related to the economic, racial, and political history of Cuba largely from the early to the late 19th century. The collection primarily focuses on the indentured servitude of Chinese workers, as well as Cuba's enslavement, slave trading, and manumission of largely African people. Another subset of the materials relates to 19th century insurrections and filibusters on the Island, including the López Expedition and Cuban resistance pertinent to the Ten Years' War. The collection includes correspondence, documents, business records, citizenship certificates, death records, and contracts. The bulk of the materials were created in or relate to activities or people in Havana. Others relate to Santiago de Cuba.

Please see the box and folder listing below for details about each item in the collection.

The Cuba photograph album contains 40 photographs of buildings, monuments, and other sights in Havana, Cuba, taken by an unidentified American tourist around 1901.

The Cuba photograph album contains 40 photographs of buildings, monuments, and other sights in Havana, Cuba, taken by an unidentified American tourist around 1901.

The album (14 x 18 cm) has grey cloth covers and is in fragile condition, with some early pages possibly missing. All 40 photographs are in good condition and include detailed inscribed captions. Most images are of major buildings and monuments such as the Cathedral Havana, Tacon Market, and Morro Castle.

• The wall where Spanish soldiers executed eight medical students falsely accused of desecrating a cemetery in 1871.
• Hotel Inglaterra (still in operation) with the empty pedestal in front where a statue of Queen Isabella II of Spain stood until 1899.
• The remains of the USS Maine, sunk in Havana Harbor in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.
• Tourists looking through the fence at General Fitzhugh Lee’s Marianao headquarters where he served as a commander of occupation forces from January 1899 until November 1900. Gen. Lee was a popular consul general in Havana from 1895 until the Spanish-American War broke out in April 1898, and he was the last American to leave Cuba. During the war, he trained a group of volunteer soldiers in Jacksonville, Florida, but never saw combat. He was appointed commander of occupation forces in the Havana District and returned to Cuba on January 1st, 1899, the day the Spanish evacuated the island

The records in this collection relate to the Peter Sparling Dance Company (PSDC) and the Dance Gallery Studio. The Dance Gallery Foundation was founded in 1984 and sponsored three professional modern dance companies during its history; J Parker Copley Dance Company (1986-1990); Dance Gallery with Alan Lommasson (1990-1991) and the Peter Sparling Dance Company with Artistic Director Peter Sparling (1993-2008). The Dance Gallery Studio closed its doors in August 2008. The records in this collection date primarily from 1993, although the collection does also include some material from Sparling's work in the 1980s. Records in the collection include promotional materials, photographs, video tapes, class schedules, administrative files, programs, production notes, and press clippings.

The Dance gallery Foundation records measure 5.25 linear feet, including oversized materials, and date from, 1980 to 2008, with the majority of the records from the period 1993-2007. The records are primarily comprised of press clippings, programs, promotional materials, administrative files, photographs, and video, and are arranged into ten series: Administrative; Bookings; Dance Gallery Studio; Development; Press Clippings; Productions; Programs; Promotional Materials; Audio-Visual Materials, and Website.

Dance Marathon at the University of Michigan is a student organization that raises funding for rehabilitation programs at children's hospitals of southeast Michigan. The collection includes yearbooks, scrapbooks, videos, and event guides.

The records of Dance Marathon have been divided into three series: Event Material, Audiovisual Material, and Scrapbooks. These records document the organization's activities from 1998 to 2010.

The Event Material series consists of a dance captain's manual, news articles, promotional materials, sponsor packets, visitor's guides, and yearbooks. These files give a sense of Dance Marathon's mission and how its events were organized.

The Audiovisual Material series includes digital materials and a VHS tape documenting its activities.

The Scrapbook series contains scrapbooks filled with photos of the events, student volunteers, and children with whom the organization has worked.

Vice President for Research Cyberinfrastructure at the University of Michigan, dean of the School of Information, Interim Dean and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Engineering. Papers include materials relating to research in technologically-based collaboration, institutional leadership, teaching and service.

The Daniel E. Atkins papers document his research and administrative roes at the University of Michigan. The papers include materials relating to research in technologically-based collaboration, institutional leadership, teaching and service,including meetings and activities as Dean of the School of Information. The papers comprise 11.6 linear feet in three major series: University of Illinois, U-M College of Engineering, and U-M School of Information. In addition, there is a series of digital material related to Atkins' work on the U-M IT Council.