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11.6 linear feet — 822 MB (online)

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.

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2 volumes

Between January 1851 and April 1852 David Barrows of Nicetown, Pennsylvania, kept these two paper-bound, stab-sewn diaries, which he labeled on their covers as "log books." He recorded his experiences working in his family's hosiery manufacturing business, providing many details of working with his siblings and mother on mitts, hose, stockings, and other products. Barrows frequently wrote about family dynamics, including content reflecting a troubled and abusive relationship with his father, who lapsed into bouts of drunkenness, verbal abuse, and absenteeism. In addition to these confrontations with his father, Barrows wrote other entries reflecting his efforts to secure his independent economic future and his struggling efforts to court Annie Rusby.

Between January 1851 and April 1852 David Barrows of Nicetown, Pennsylvania, kept these two paper-bound, stab-sewn diaries, which he labeled on their covers as "log books." He recorded his experiences working in his family's hosiery manufacturing business, providing many details of working with his siblings and mother on mitts, hose, stockings, and other products. He wrote about maintaining the ledger and dealing with bank accounts, receiving orders, repairing and sourcing tools, tracking wool prices, washing and tying stockings up, purchasing and getting yarn dyed various colors, contracting out the spinning of wool into yarn, working with the frame and loom, and other related business activities, providing insight into family-run manufacturing operations. Several entries reflect the broader economic environment, including a robbery of yarn from the family's shop (February 23, 1851) and a meeting of local stocking weavers to address some men "working under price" (March 10, 1851; March 12, 1851).

Barrows frequently wrote about family dynamics, including how he spearheaded business affairs during his father's trip to England, how his parents had to sleep in the front room due to stockings being hung in their chamber (April 1, 1852), working alongside his brothers and sisters on manufacturing tasks, and making fun of a young sibling whose fingers bled while winding yarn (March 11, 1852).

The diaries include content reflecting a troubled and abusive relationship with Barrows' father, who lapsed into bouts of drunkenness, verbal abuse, and absenteeism. Barrows wrote extensively about one particular episode where he and his mother followed his father, who responded with rage, saying, "he was not going to be watched & dictated to by a Prentice boy (he meant me)... & then he began to Dam us & said he would make the blood fly when he began & then he wished us all in hell & said he should do has he liked & he'd be Damed if any body should stop him he then said he would make a man of me... Oh! Lord I comit it all into thy care & keeping this might be with my Dear Mother keep her from being hurt or kiled by my Father..." (March 13, 1852). He recounted confronting his father about the episode, his father's apologetic response, and his retort "it was his actions that I took notice of more than his word" (March 15, 1852). In addition to these confrontations with his father, Barrows wrote other entries reflecting his efforts to secure his independent economic future. On March 11, 1852, he noted his idea to start his own manufacturing operation producing "some kind of goods, that Father did not make, and then let him sell them for me to his customers."

The desire to establish his own business was likely spurred by his struggling courtship with Annie Rusby, which Barrows wrote about throughout the two volumes. He recorded when he wrote and received letters, and one entry documents her efforts to break their betrothal, "she said a great deal to me about my poor situation in life," and his bristling at being "hen pecked by a person that I intend to have for my wife" (February 27, 1852). His mother approached him about a rumor circulating that he had been secretly wed, which he denied (March 28, 1851), providing further insights into a young adult's romantic pursuits and his interpersonal dynamics while entangled in a family business.

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1,191 items

The David Bates Douglass Papers contain 1,191 letters, documents, and manuscripts relating to many aspects of Douglass's family and professional life between approximately 1812 and 1873. The collection is broad, encompassing incoming letters from scientific and military associates of Douglass, with drafts and retained copies of some his responses; long love letters to his future wife, Ann Ellicott (later Douglass); letters between Ann and Douglass; letters between Ann, Douglass, and the children; correspondence to and from a larger extended family; and several letters pertaining to the scandal at Kenyon College. Douglass's interests in internal improvements, natural history, systems and theories of academic scientific exchange, the education of his daughters and sons, the complex and numerous relationships and family connections through which early nineteenth-century American communities were built, and the Military Academy at West Point are very well-documented. In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created two other research aids: a Correspondent Inventory and a Chronological Inventory.

The David Bates Douglass Papers contain 1,191 letters, documents, and manuscripts relating to many aspects of Douglass's family and professional life between approximately 1812 and 1873. The collection is broad, encompassing incoming letters from scientific and military associates of Douglass, with drafts and retained copies of some his responses; long love letters to his future wife, Ann Ellicott (later Douglass); letters between Ann and Douglass; letters between Ann, Douglass, and the children; correspondence to and from a larger extended family; and several letters pertaining to the scandal at Kenyon College. Douglass's interests in internal improvements, natural history, systems and theories of academic scientific exchange, the education of his daughters and sons, the complex and numerous relationships and family connections through which early nineteenth-century American communities were built, and the Military Academy at West Point are very well-documented.

The David Bates Douglass Papers include materials pertinent to the War of 1812 and British-American relations in the New Nation period (1789-1830). Many of the early letters (1812-1814) include Douglass's own accounts of the Siege of Fort Erie, the Battle of Lundy's Lane, the daily experiences of soldiers as they marched, the lack of provisions so frequently a problem in the Napoleonic Era, and the efforts to fortify various parts of Fort Erie during and after the end of the war. Several copies of Douglass's drafts of a memorial of the War of 1812, written later in his life, provide additional context to his published account, The Campaign of 1814 (Wales: Cromlech Press, 1958). A particularly notable part of the collection is the volume, Reminiscences of the War of 1812 -- a set of Douglass's lectures, copied letters, and copied war orders [written in pen and ink in what appears to be Andrew Douglass's hand]. Despite Douglass's service in the war, his letters show the still-interconnected nature of British and American people in this period, both in matters such as creating borders, but also in religious and intellectual life. Charles, Douglass's eldest son, went to Seminary at Oxford, served in the Anglican Church, and wrote and published in England. Douglass himself worked with British engineers on the U. S. Canada boundary project and corresponded with other scientists and intellectuals from England, sharing information, specimens, and equipment.

Douglass's papers showcase relationships in the development of intellectual, religious, and scientific communities in New Nation America. Douglass and his associates were instrumental in the foundation and growth of several lyceums, thus playing a role in public scientific education, and they were particularly avid in promoting the field of mineralogy. Thirty-six letters (1820-1825) in the collection detail Douglass' participation in the Lewis Cass Expedition of 1820, including its planning, findings, and importance to larger political issues of the time. Twenty-four letters (1820 -1825) from Cass include observations on Native Americans and on the natural history of the region. Valuable letters from Torrey (1820-1823), Barnes (1821-1823), Schoolcraft (1824), and Silliman (1820-1821) relate to the planning of the expedition and to the research carried out by its participants. Along with the correspondence concerning the establishment of lyceums and the exchange of specimens, the letters help to highlight certain communities engaged in early nineteenth-century networks of scientific communication in the U.S. Douglass also corresponded with other intellectuals of the time, including the geologist Mary Griffith (1821-1825) and the mineralogist Parker Cleaveland (1828). The collection also includes notes and correspondence regarding Douglass's work on the U.S.-Canadian boundary in Lake Erie (1819), his survey and assessment of New England coastal defenses (1815-1820), the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal (1824), his work on the Morris Canal (1829), discussions of linking the Ohio River and the Chesapeake, and his much-celebrated work on the Greenwood Cemetery (1839).

The collection contains materials pertinent to scholars of family, gender, and/or class in nineteenth-century America. The majority of the collection is tied together through the correspondence of Douglass and his family. Roughly 40 early letters from Douglass to Ann (1813-1815) show common epistolary courtship practices, such as choosing pen names from popular romantic literature, poetry, or plays, copying poems or excerpts from books, and Douglass's own expressions of romantic love. Ann's letters (105 of them, ranging from 1826 to 1849) display the wide range of women's responsibilities to the ever-changing nineteenth-century household, showing especially women's role in connecting the family to various social communities. Glimpses into early childhood education can be seen throughout this collection, first under Ann's stewardship and Douglass's long distance instruction through letter-writing, and later in the children's letters about their experiences of girls' and boys' boarding schools in New Jersey, New York, and Ohio. In one example (February 28, 1831), Douglass wrote to Andrew, giving him advice on how to pursue an education, but also on how to behave in virtuous ways. In another example (March 4, 1831), Andrew told his father about mean boys who bullied him. Letters from Charles and Andrew chronicle as well some of their experiences of higher education at Kenyon College. The Douglass family's letters provide evidence for examinations into the gender expectations placed on girls and boys, women and men, and the ways that those expectations changed over time. Many letters also provide material for examining family economies, revealing a family striving for middle class comforts while living with indebtedness, the constantly changing financial states of early nineteenth-century American families, and the reliance upon extended kinship networks to avoid the perilous position of penury. For example, in a letter from Ann, Ellen, and Mary to Douglass (October 18, 1844) Ellen discussed her desire to have more schooling, which they cannot afford, while Ann worried over providing winter clothing for all of the smaller children.

The Douglass Papers also concern Native American life in different parts of the U. S. and Black life in northern communities. For example, John Bliss wrote several letters to Douglass (1820-1834) discussing negotiations with the Sioux and Chippewa in Missouri. In a few letters to Ann during his survey of Lake Erie, and in his bundles of notes (1819), Douglass gave descriptions of his interactions with Native American tribes in upper Michigan. In another, Douglass tried to obtain dictionaries of Native American languages so that he could better communicate with people from Native American tribes. Cass's letters (1820) also give information regarding his observations of Native American tribes in the Detroit area. Sarah Douglass described a Black traveling preacher who gave sermons to the girls at her boarding school in New York and Ann told Douglass about a Black medicine woman who used her nursing skills to heal a group of people in New York during an outbreak of severe disease, another frequent topic displayed throughout the collection. In many ways, the everyday nature of the David Bates Douglass papers, filled with clothing orders, professions of familial love, the financial troubles of a growing family, the religious experiences and affiliations of middle class men and women, and letters from children practicing their penmanship makes this collection invaluable to the study of early U. S. history.

In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created two other research aids: a Correspondent Inventory and a Chronological Inventory.

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1 volume

This orderly book was kept by Major David Bradish during the Revolutionary War, when he was stationed in Providence, Rhode Island, at the headquarters of General John Sullivan.

Major David Bradish was stationed in Providence, Rhode Island, at the headquarters of General John Sullivan, from August 16, 1778, to April 3, 1779. The orderly book (210 pages) contains general orders, brigade orders, regimental orders, reports of courts-martial, punishments apportioned to soldiers, extracts from acts of congress, and other entries. Of note is the entry from January 15, 1779, which records General Washington's court-marshalling of Major General Lee, Major General St. Clair, and Major General Schuyler. Lee was charged for disobedience of orders in not attacking the enemy, for misbehaving (retreat) in front of the enemy June 28th, [1778], and for disrespect of the Commander-in-Chief, June 28 and July 1, 1778. He was found guilty and relieved of command for 12 months. St. Clair was charged for neglect of duty, treachery, in-attention to progress of the enemy, and for shamefully abandoning Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. He, however, was cleared of these charges, with honor. Schuyler was found not guilty of neglect of duty for not being at Fort Ticonderoga.

After the last orderly book entry, a number of pages are missing, following which are brief notes on loan payments from 1782-1786.

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26.5 Linear Feet — 26 records center boxes and 1 oversize flat file

David Cope is a poet in the Objectivist tradition and the founder of Nada Press, a small press which publishes the literary magazine and other poetry. Cope, a University of Michigan graduate and lifelong Michigan resident, taught literature and writing at Grand Rapids Community College and Western Michigan University. The collection documents Cope's writing, editing, and to some extent teaching and other spheres of Cope's life, through correspondence, manuscripts, notes, printed material, photographs, and videotapes.

David Cope made his first donation of papers to the Special Collections Research Center in 1987. Since then he has continued to make frequent contributions. The David Cope Papers cover Cope's writing and correspondence from the 1970s to the present, as well as his editing and teaching activities. In addition to offering insight into Cope's work, the collection details some of the activities and thoughts of friends and fellow writers and poets; in particular, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Cohn, Antler, and Jeff Poniewaz. Not currently well-documented are the more personal aspects of Cope's life--especially his family life--except for those details made available through his writings and correspondence.

The David Cope Papers are divided into eight series: Correspondence and Name Files, Writings, Editing Materials, Teaching and Education Materials, Publicity Materials, Personal, Photographs, and Audio/Visual. A small selection of books from Cope's library have been removed from the collection and have been cataloged individually. They are shelved by call number in Special Collections and can be requested through the Library's catalog.

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21 linear feet (in 22 boxes including 1 oversize box) — 6 film reels (16 mm and 35 mm) — 3.9 GB (online)

Automotive enthusiast writer who edited Car and Driver and founded Automobile Magazine. Also worked for advertising agencies and served as an industry consultant. Material include correspondence, business files, text of speeches, publicity items, photographs, bound issues of Automobile Magazine and audio-visual material.

The David E. Davis Papers document various aspects of Davis's work and personal life. The materials have been divided into fifteen series: Personal and Biographical, Correspondence, Business files, Writing, Speeches, Events, Awards, Publicity, Collected materials, Topical files/Miscellaneous, Visual and Audio materials, Digital Materials, Oversized materials, Bound Magazines, and Film. With a few exceptions, folder contents reflect original order. Similar documents may be in different folders.

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Collection

David E. Davis papers, 1960-2009

21 linear feet (in 22 boxes including 1 oversize box) — 6 film reels (16 mm and 35 mm) — 3.9 GB (online)

Online

1 Linear Foot

The David Herreshoff Papers (1960 - 1972) consists of police intelligence reports, photographs, and personal correspondence from the life and activities of David Herreshoff. Much of the material concerns his work with the Socialist Worker's Party and Anti-War efforts during the Vietnam Era while he was employed as faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. Documents the life and activities of David Sprague Herreshoff, a notable socialist and Anti-War activist living and working in Detroit, MI during the Vietnam War era. These papers include documents, reports, photographs, articles, and correspondence related to Herreshoff's activist activities.

Box 1: Photographs, correspondence, police/intelligence reports. Box 2: Police/intelligence reports, Two published monographs.

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25 letters

In 1845, John Manning of Lebanon, Conn., brought charges against Dr. David Holmes for medical malpractice. This collection contains letters concerning the trial, which was held by the First Ecclesiastical Church of Lebanon.

The David Holmes papers contain 10 letters written by Holmes to church members, primarily Nichols and Wetmore in Lebanon, and 2 letters written by his wife, Betsy Holmes, to Nichols and Calhoun, pastors at the Lebanon church. Nine letters were written by Nichols to Holmes regarding his trial by the church committee. The collection also includes two letters were written by Manning, the instigator of the case, and one letter by written by the church committee to Holmes. The bulk of the correspondence is concentrated in 1845-1847.

There are two main areas of interest in the Holmes papers. First, the letters between Holmes and members of the church illustrate church discipline and the relationship of the church with its members. An individual brought initial charges against Holmes to the church for justice. The church had the authority to charge and try individuals. Nichols tells Holmes that he can appeal the outcome of his case to the New London county council. The prominence of the church in public and private life is apparent in this collection.

The second area of interest in the collection relates to medical practice. The charges against Holmes are finally revealed as malpractice. The malpractice charges are sustained by the church, but no disciplinary action resulted other than suspension. "I think it much cheaper and easier to live down suspicion and prejudice than to quarrel about the matter" Holmes wrote to Wetmore. Holmes wrote a compelling article about pharmacists who dispense medicine carelessly in his newsletter dated nine years after the case with the church was settled: "Most druggists have fallen into the foolish and dangerous practice of preparing different qualities of the same medicine to suit the taste of their customers, the consequence is that no reliance can be placed in their preparations."

While this collection is small, the case against Holmes is fully documented, providing information about church discipline and medical practice in the 1840s.

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13.5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 4 oversize folders — 4.7 GB (online)

Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Comerica Bank, author of the bank's monthly business brochure, regular commentator on local and national radio and TV programs. The collection includes publications, speeches, and correspondence.

Through writings and speeches, the David Littmann collection provides a look into the state of Michigan's economy, especially as it relates to tax policy and the automobile industry, from 1974 to 2014. The collection is divided into eight series: Biographical, Correspondence, Manuscripts, Publications, Press, Speeches, Audio Visual, and Publications/Press Additions.

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4 linear feet

David Porter and David Dixon Porter papers (4 linear feet) contain the letters and writings of two American naval officers who served in the 1st Barbary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Included are official and family letters, as well as David D. Porter's manuscript drafts of his history and fiction works.

David Porter and David Dixon Porter papers (4 linear feet) contain the letters and writings of two American naval officers who served in the 1st Barbary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Included are official and family letters, as well as David D. Porter's manuscript drafts of his history and fiction works.

The David Porter Correspondence series (232 items) contains Porter's incoming and outgoing letters covering 1805 to 1840, most of which deal with his naval service during the War of 1812, and his West Indian patrol duty, with some items documenting his time in the Mexican Navy and his diplomatic career. Present are seven items related to his time in the Mediterranean during the First Barbary War, eight letters from Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith during Porter's service in command of the United States Gun Boats at New Orleans prior to the War of 1812, and 15 War of 1812 era letters from Isaac Hull concerning his interest in administrative improvements in the navy. Other topics include the release of officers and crew of the U.S. Essex, Porter's relationship with the Carrera brothers and support for Chilean independence, and Porter's command of the West India Squadron (1823-1825).

Items of note include:
  • March 10, 1809: Edward Livingston to David Porter requesting an opinion of his proposed improvements to the harbor of New Orleans
  • September 21, 1812: John Stricker to David Porter announcing the safe arrival of the Prize brig Lamprey, captured by Porter on July 13, 1812
  • May 3, 1824: Cecilio Ayllon, military governor of Cuba, to Porter concerning the disrespectful and damaging conduct of American sailors at a woman's property near Matanzas, Cuba
  • June 23, 1826: Partial letter from David Porter describing the terms under which he was accepting command of the Mexican navy
  • January 1843: George Read's naval order and an order of the procession, with diagram, for David Porter's funeral
  • April 24, 1843: Abel P. Upshaw's general order concerning the death of David Porter

The David D. Porter Correspondence series contains Porter's incoming and outgoing letters between 1834 and 1889. These include few letters from early in his naval career, 26 Civil War era letters, and many peacetime letters with fellow naval officers and government officials. Also of importance are 24 letters dealing with the 1889 Benjamin Butler controversy, along with typescripts of material related to the court. Other family papers include 3 items to Evelina Porter and a small number of late 19th and 20th century material concerning the naval career of Theodoric Porter.

Items of note include:
  • January 10, 1847: David P. Porter's "Last will and testament"
  • June 18, 1854: C.J. Latrobe to David D. Porter, Bay of Panama, concerning gratitude to Porter from the passengers on the Golden Age, the first steam ship crossing of the pacific to Panama
  • March 23, 1855: Harry S. Wayne to David D. Porter, concerning introducing camels for use in U.S.
  • August 25, 1861: G.H. Heap to his brother-in-law David D. Porter describing pre-war excitement in Washington D.C.
  • June 1, 1862: Letter to David D. Porter planning an assault on the mouth of the Mississippi River
  • September 6, 1862: Edward Hooker to David D. Porter recounting the naval engagement of the Louisiana
  • June 5, 1863-May 30, 1865: 11 letters to or regarding David Dixon Porter and the Mississippi Squadron. Two of these letters refer to African Americans, including contraband (December 1, 1863) and "peddlers" (April 23, 1864).
  • September 28, 1864: David D. Porter's general order for the Mississippi Squadron announcing his leave of office
  • January 7, 1879 and April 21, 1889: William Tecumseh Sherman to David D. Porter discussing memories of Sherman's brother, Porter's current naval activities, and social engagements
  • August 8, 1879: Fragment report on the construction of the Danish ironclad Helgoland
  • March 3, 1884: Ulysses S. Grant to David Porter describing the state of Grant's health

The David D. Porter Manuscript Writings series is comprised of drafts and fragments of Porter's literary and historical works, novels, essays, speeches, and biographical notes.

These include:
  • Two autobiographical manuscripts, parts 1, 2, and 3 of My Career in the Navy Department and portions of a journal describing his Civil War experiences
  • Draft of an adventure story
  • Pages 353-474 of a novel
  • Notes on the Civil War, in particular the Vicksburg campaign and the Red River Expedition, and Sherman and Lincoln, for his book The Naval History of the Civil War
  • "Extracts from my Journal made for General Badeau, when he was writing the life of General Grant. These are a little fuller than the Journal"
  • Sketch of the career of D. D. Porter in the Mexican War (1870s)
  • Report concerning a 1873 North Western Texas Land and Copper Expedition
  • Various naval reports: Fleet Tactics, Report of the Board on injuries received by the Hyascar in the action of October 8, 1879, a "List of Vessels of the Chinese Navy and Custom Service" with details on class, tonnage, guns, carriages, number of men, horse power, location built, and construction material (1864-1877)

The Miscellaneous Documents series consists of newspaper clippings, a David D. Porter article entitled "The Opening of the Lower Mississippi, April 1862," a color map of Fort Jackson, and a schematic diagram of torpedo machinery designed for the tugboat Nina (May 1869).

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