Detroit Observatory (University of Michigan) records, 1860-2004 (majority within 1994-2001)
29 linear feet (and oversize material) — 1.7 GB (online)
29 linear feet (and oversize material) — 1.7 GB (online)
The Detroit Observatory record group includes administrative materials of the Observatory's later years (post-1994), including documentation on the Observatory's restoration project and materials encompassing the Observatory's publicity and outreach efforts. The collection also contains various historical documents and artifacts such as logbooks and records, photographs and other visual materials, motion pictures, architectural drawings, and publications. The collection includes all of the documents, artifacts, and records transferred to the Bentley Historical Library in 2005. Materials not physically transferred to the Bentley that remain in the Observatory (such as telescopes, clocks, and associated astronomical devices) have not been identified here, but documentation can be found listed in the various inventories and databases found in the administrative series.
This collection contains the following series: Administrative, Publicity and Outreach, Research, Historical, and Publications.
29 linear feet (and oversize material) — 1.7 GB (online)
1 linear foot — 1 oversize folder
The collection largely documents Dewey Ames involvement in the Gay Games throughout the 1980's and 1990's. The emphasis of these sporting events was to help the LGBTQ+ community establish a global unity and strengthen their identity. The Papers of Dewey Ames are arranged into two series, Personal Records, and Other Materials.
7 linear feet — 0.8 GB (online)
The Dick Posthumus papers (1972-2002) consist of materials related to his political career as state senator, Senate Majority Leader, and Lieutenant Governor and his campaign for governor. The collection includes correspondence, campaign literature, media advisories, newspaper clippings, speeches, radio and television appearances and photographs. The papers are organized into eight series: materials related to his political career as a state senator, Senate Majority Leader, and Lieutenant Governor and his campaign for governor: Campaigns, Correspondence, Media Advisories, News clips, Speeches, Topical Files, Other Media, and Photographs.
1 volume
Dellon Marcus Dewey (1819-1889) was a bookseller, publisher, art patron, and illustrator based in Rochester, New York. In the mid-1850s, he became renowned for his stenciled watercolor bookplates of botanical products. He sold the illustrations to people involved in the floral and nursery trade for use as seed advertisements. Dewey employed many immigrant artists to create hundreds of illustrations that would be compiled into sample books.
Dewey utilized a multi-layer production process called “theorem painting” in which stenciled transparent watercolors were used to gradually construct layers of color before final touches were added by hand. However, in the 1870s Dewey began to transition into using the more cost-effective chromolithographic color printing process. By 1881, his company provided over 2,400 varieties of botanical illustrations. In 1888 Dewey's business was combined with the Rochester Lithographing and Printing Company before he passed away the following year.
The D. M. Dewey color printed nursery sample book contains over 50 pages of full color botanical illustrations that were marketed to individuals involved in the seed trade for use as advertisements.
The sample book (14 x 23 cm) contains a mixture of both stenciled watercolor and chromolithographic designs that depict a wide variety of fruits, flowers, and trees in vibrant color and exquisite detail. Also present is a printed list of flowers and crops with their prices as well as a newspaper clipping concerning the Colorado State Fair and its fruit and agriculture exhibits.
2 volumes
These two scrapbooks contain newspaper and magazine clippings of stories and poems pasted into 1873 and 1874 editions of German-language trade catalogs for D. M. Osborne & Co., manufacturers of farm equipment at Auburn, New York.
Clippings from the 1873 edition include "Sister Therese," a story about a prima donna and colonel in Paris, "A Miner's Love Story (from Temple Bar)," "A Fairy Gift," "The Story of a Valentine," and more. The volume features floral fabric lining around the cover's edges and spine.
The 1874 edition includes stories titled "The Wreck," by William H. Thomes, "The Doctor's Peril," "Alexander and the Africans," "A Short Fight," and more.
8 linear feet — 0.6 MB (online)
15 cubic ft. (in 30 boxes, 1 Oversized Folder)
This collection includes approximately 15 cubic feet (in 29 boxes and one oversized folder) of PBB-related material of Dr. Alpha “Doc” Clark. This significant collection is of critical national and international historical research importance of PBB related materials. The collection is in original order and includes: court documents, mostly depositions and exhibits for many court cases at various levels; correspondence and memorandum between Doc Clark and farmers, physicians, clinicians, lawyers, and state and other officials involved in the PBB crisis; human* and animal medical test results; publications, including magazine and academic journal articles, parts of books, reports, and numerous clippings (copies) from Michigan newspapers and magazines; and two VHS videotapes. There are also photographs in the collection, which are of particular importance as they document the results of the direct consumption of PBB on the bodies and internal organs of animals, mostly cows and calves, but also laboratory monkeys, fish, birds, pigs, beagles, family pet dogs, and other farm animals which either ate contaminated feed or were exposed to it through the manure of affected animals. (Note: *In 2021 Archivist Marian Matyn obtained permission from Hughston family members to retain and make available for public research the family’s medical test results, of living and deceased family members. Copies of the permission form are in the relevant Hughston family folders in Box 9.)
Of particular importance are the several documents detailing the aftermath and remediation procedures undertaken by the state, insurance agencies, and other involved parties to clean up PBB contaminated sites. This includes documentation of the logistical operations of moving and slaughtering contaminated livestock and products to a secure dump site located in Kalkaska, Michigan. For example, Exhibit #356 in Box 10 is the State of Michigan Environmental Impact Study for disposal of PBB cattle in Kalkaska, 1974. There is additional information about the waste dump site located near the former Velsicol Chemical factory in St. Louis, Michigan.
The numerous letters, correspondence, and memorandums between farmers of McBain and Falmouth, Michigan, and Doc Clark prove the close personal connections and friendships he had with them. Many of the various documents and other pieces of evidence within the collection were sent to Doc Clark through these friendships, or from others involved in investigating the contamination and resulting litigation. It is through these correspondence, and the rich variety of materials in the collection, that researchers will gain an impression of the overall character Doc Clark’s character, as someone trustworthy and knowledgeable. Memos, notes, and other documentation in the collection in Marlene's handwriting, demonstrate her significant support and contributions to this history.
The exhibits within the collection were used to support some of the numerous claims and cases that were filed after the resulting PBB contamination. One case of vital importance to note was that of the Tacoma farm. Many other class-action lawsuits (of which the materials within this collection document and support) were comprised of several farmers filing on the same suit, in the hopes of receiving compensation for their loss of livelihoods, resulting from the forced destruction of thousands of animals and animal food products. Also included are papers from the State of Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission hearing of Wm. Oeverman v. Gary P. Schenk, File No. 3044183 (in Box 20.) Gary Schenk was a Grand Rapids attorney who represented the farm families.
Significantly, the collection includes PBB herd test results, organized alphabetically by each farmer’s name. (Boxes 23-25) These test results come from numerous sources with varying degrees of information. Additionally, many different publications which Doc Clark accumulated and retained for PBB reference purposes are also in the collection, including: conference proceedings and presentations, journal and magazine articles, newspaper clippings and political cartoons, and books. The collection also includes material related to PBB poisoning or testing in Montana, China, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, the Netherlands, and Scotland. Box 30 includes Veterinary Examinations from Robert Benson’s herd. Notably that two cows were autopsied at Purdue University.
Note: In 2021 the surviving Hughston family members signed a permission form allowing their and their deceased family members’ PBB test results to remain in this collection and be available for public research. Copies were filed in the front of each relevant folder.
The majority of the collection is in good, readable condition sans a bit of dust. Many papers had to be pulled from the collection and photocopied due to rust, water, staining, or other damage. Strategic decisions were made to retain documents that were mildly stained, ripped or torn due to the large volume of photocopying that would be necessary. Good quality photocopies were retained in the collection. All of the photographs in the collection were archivally sleeved to ensure their integrity, and damaged photographs were copied and sleeved.
The collection is organized by series, exhibit numbers in numerical order with Doc Clark’s reference information in the folder label; PBB herd test reports by farmer name, and newspaper clippings (to be copied).
Abbreviations on the folder labels include the following: FB for Farm Bureau Services; MCC for Michgian Chemical Company; MDA for Michigan Department of Agriculture; MDPH for Michigan Department of Public Health; MSU for Michigan State University; MDNR for Michigan Department of Natural Resources; and MDHEW for Michigan Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
The following court cases have at least some material in this collection: Box 1: U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, FB Bankruptcy Case #84-01478-G; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Wexford County, Roy and Marilyn Tacoma v. MCC No. 2933; Box 9: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, William C. Hughston v. MCC No. 77-000745; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, Will C. Hughston and Bonnie M. Hughston, individually and doing business as Bill Hughston and Sons v. MCC et al. Civil Action No. 77-000 745; Supreme Court of Michigan, PBB Litigation Case No. 60519; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Kent County, Ronald Creighton and Janette Creighton v. Northwest Industries, INC. et al. No. 77-23552NP Complaint for Damages; Box 13: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Kent County, Dale R. Sprik v. Farm Bureau Services Case No. 75-18562-NZ; Box 15: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Kalkaska County, Kalkaska Board of Commissioners v. State of MI Dept. of Agriculture Case #74-619 (testimony on the White Water site); Box 16: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, Gary and Lois Zuiderveen v. MCC #75-000580-NZ; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, Kenneth Zuiderveen v. MCC #75-000579-NZ; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Wexford County, Roy and Marilyn Tacoma v. MCC #76-2933-NZ; State of Michigan District Court, Western Division, District of Michigan, Southern Division, Ingham County, Michigan Farm Bureau v. New Hampshire Insurance Company #G74-372-CA5; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, Roy and Marilyn Tacoma v. MCC #75-000585-NZ; Box 17: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Chippewa County, Hale v. MCC No. 75-2402-NZ and 76-2537-NP; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, Tacoma v. MCC #75-000-585-NZ; U.S. District Court for Western District of Michigan, FB v. Northwest Industries, Inc. No.G-75-225 CA 5; U.S. District Court for Western District of Michigan, Eddington v. Northwest Industries, Inc., Civil Action No. M-75-74 CA 3; U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Michigan, Case NO. 82-0651-W, FB Debtor; Box 18: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Kent County, Kretzman v. FB File No. 74-16383-CE-NO; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, Tacoma v. MCC #75-000585-NZ; United States District Court, Western District of Michigan, Eddington v. Northwest Industries #M-75-74-CA 3; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Lenawee County, Knisel v. FBS #2684 NP; Court of Appeals Docket No. 43323; State of Michigan Circuit Court, Wexford County, No. 76-02933-NZ (Tacoma case); State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, No. 76-000585-NZ (Tacoma case); Michigan Eastern District North Division (Bay City), Bankruptcy Case #82-00651; Box 20: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Missaukee County, No. 77-000745 Hughston v. MCC; U.S. District Court for Western District of Michigan, Southern Division, FB v. New Hampshire Insurance Co., File No. G-74-372-C (counterclaim); Box 19: State of Michigan Circuit Court, Wexford County, Tacoma v. MCC #76-2933-NZ.
Processing Note: Approximately 1 cubic foot of duplicates were returned to Dr. Alpha Clark as per the donor form.
About 1.5 cubic feet of the collection consisted of newspaper clippings which were photocopied and are set to be returned to Dr. Alpha Clark as per his request in the donor form. These newspaper clippings were organized alphabetically, rather than by exhibit number, because not all of the provided newspapers had an associated exhibit number.
15 cubic ft. (in 30 boxes, 1 Oversized Folder)
3 linear feet
The DuBois-Ogden-McIlvaine papers (852 items) center on the writings and affairs of Sarah Platt Ogden DuBois, George Washington DuBois, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, and their extended families. The collection is comprised of 656 letters, six letter books, five diaries, four account books, one logbook, 29 genealogical records, and 46 poems, prayers, drawings, cards, and other miscellaneous items. The collection conists of items from family members in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Louisiana.
The Correspondence series (656 items) contains letters written by the extended DuBois-Ogden-McIlvaine families. The earliest letters concern Cornelius DuBois, Sr. (1786-1794), and Sarah "Sally" Ogden, and are from friends and family (1799-1807). Of interest are the letters that discuss the birth and death of Sarah’s son Robert (March 14, 1804, and September 6, 1804).
The series contains 25 letters between Sarah P. O. DuBois on Long Island and her husband Cornelius DuBois in New York City (1812 and 1813). In these, the couple discussed domestic matters such as childbirth, child rearing, and Sarah's poor health. The bulk of the letters between 1813 and 1836 are addressed to Sarah from friends and family members. These provide a glimpse into the family members’ personal lives as well as their views on religious matters, manners, and child rearing.
Many of the letters from 1835 to1845 concern Reverend Charles P. McIlvaine and his siblings Henry, George, and Mary Ann DuBois. Also throughout the 1840s are letters relating to George W. DuBois, including 16 letters from his father, 33 from his wife, and 71 letters written by DuBois to various family members. Of interest are several letters written by Dubois during a European sojourn in 1847-1848 in which he discussed the political turmoil afflicting the Continent. From 1846 through September 1848, many of the letters are between Dubois and his love interest Mamey McIlvaine, in Gambier, Ohio, as well as a few to Mamey from her father, Bishop Charles McIlvaine.
Of special interest are five letters written by George W. Dubois during his time as the chaplain of the 11th Ohio Regiment Volunteers in 1862. The collection also contains several Civil War era letters from the family members on the home front.
Between 1891 and 1892, the series contains 10 letters from George W. Dubois living in Redwood, Colorado, to his mother, father, and siblings. These relate to family health, crops, a new camera, the exercise of bicycling for health reasons (Victor Safety Bicycle model C.), and religious matters. Several items concern DuBois' management of the Marble Cemetery, and describe logistics on moving bodies and selling portions of the cemetery.
Many of the 20th-century items are personal and business letters from Cornelius DuBois, Jr., and Mary S. DuBois. The items from 1960 to 1983 relate to family genealogy collected by the ancestors of the DuBois, McIlvaine, and Ogden families. These also provide provenance information for items in this collection.
The Letter books series (6 items) contains copy books of letters written by Sarah P. O. DuBois, Charles P. McIlvaine, and George W. DuBois. The Sarah P. O. DuBois letter book (92 pages) is comprised of letters to family members spanning 1782 to 1819. McIlvaine’s letter book (125 pages) contains autographs and letters from various prominent religious, government, military, and academic leaders from 1830 to1873. Also present is a binder of typed copies of letters to and from McIlvaine. Many of the original incoming letters are in the correspondence series.
The "Commercial Manifold" copybook (4 pages) contains a fragment of a letter by an anonymous author (October 1879). The final two letter books are both from George W. DuBois. The first (165 pages) spans January 1883 to April 1885, and includes letters, poems, prayers, music, and drawings. The second (99 pages) spans November 1886 to January 1887, and contains letters, a recipient index, and one poem written by DuBois' daughter Mary Cornelia DuBois.
The Diaries, Account Books, and Ships' Logs series (10 items) is comprised of bound volumes that contain personal and financial information on family members:
The Documents series (42 items) contains of 33 legal documents, George W. DuBois' commission in the Ohio Army as a chaplin in 1861, Cornelius DuBois’ war deeds, and the will of Charles P. McIlvaine. Twentieth-century items include wills and executor documents for Mary Cornelia DuBois, Henrietta DuBois Burnham (draft), Mary Constance DuBois, Peter DuBois, and a copy of Cornelius DuBois ' (father to George W. DuBois) will.
The Genealogy series (29 items) consists of several manuscript books and loose notes, documenting the genealogy of the families represented in the collection. Of interest are notes for the McIlvaine, Reed, and Coxe families beginning in the 14th century and following the line to the early 1700s (9 pages); a comb bound booklet containing "genealogical charts prepared for the decedents of Floyd Reading DuBois and Rosilla Marshall" with annotations; and a DuBois Family Album, which contains copied letters, biographies, and genealogical notes, including copies of letters between siblings Robert and Sarah Ogden and from Sarah to her son Henry Augustus Dubois.
The Photographs and Engravings series (10 items) contains an engraving of Charles P. McIlvaine and Robert J. Chichester, photographs of C.E. McIlvaine, Charles P. McIlvaine, and George Washington DuBois, and five photographs depicting rustic life on a lake.
The Miscellaneous and Ephemera series (46 items) is comprised of 12 poems, prayers, manuscript music, and drawings (undated); 23 printed holiday cards and calling cards (1904 and undated); 18 newspaper clippings, including family death and marriage announcements (February 4, 1910-July 1983 and undated); 14 religious announcements and pamphlets (1873-[1925]); and 10 writing fragments and ephemeral items, such as dried flowers and lace handmade coasters.
2 volumes
The collection consists of two volumes relating to the Dunwoody family of Marple Township, Pennsylvania, produced between 1807 and 1829. The first volume is a memoranda and expense book kept primarily by James Dunwoody, but with references to his sons John, William, and Joseph, between 1807 and 1815. It documents financial transactions for meat and livestock, crops, and farm labor, with several entries with women or notes about cash being provided to wives. Records also indicate when female laborers began their employment with the family, likely for domestic service, including one under-age girl who took up work with her parents' consent and one African American woman ("Black Hariott"). It lists the wages and expenses of Hannah Griffith, Anna Griffith, and Hanah Sithers, documenting the items they were acquiring while in the employ of the family. A recipe for making pills is present, as well as a page of household expenses. The volume has paper covers with woodcut illustrations of four scenes: "Two Sturdy Bull Dogs," "The Fox and the Goat," "An Ass and His Master," and "A Dog and his Shadow."
The second volume is a copybook kept by Jane B. Dunwoody in 1829 while attending the Marple Union Seminary, focusing on banking, business, legal, and real estate transactions. She studied document forms, such as indentures for apprentices, promissory and judgement notes, property leasing, proxy votes, bonds, bills of sale, mortgages, among others. The volume has illustrated, printed covers. The front cover is labelled "The Pet Lamb" and shows a man holding a lamb in his arms with pasted-on letters "JBD Book," and the back cover is labelled "The Pheasant" and shows a pheasant accompanied by a description of the bird by Goldsmith.
1 volume
The volume shifts from 1872 to 1875 on page 50, providing a location of Rochester and switching to sales of furniture. Pages contain names of patrons as well as their residences, which include Buffalo, Chicago, Boston, and Dunkirk. Several entries then seem to document purchases and sales of goods in Detroit in the summer of 1875: primarily flour and wheat, as well as "stationary and books for use of store."
In the 20th century, a child or children added content to the book, including a 1956 membership list of the "Roving Rabbits Club," an apparently girls-only club with a mascot of Peter Rabbit. Also, on page 81 in pink ink, is an illustration of rabbits with a small map indicating the location of "us" and the "Boy's Clubhouse."