Jack Kausch collection, 1927-2002 (majority within 1976-1994)
5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 1 film reel — 5.6 GB (online)
5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 1 film reel — 5.6 GB (online)
This collection highlights a portion of the projects that Jack Kausch completed during his photographic career. A range of subjects is covered and both original and historical photography is included. The collection is divided into two series: Photographs and Other Visual Materials.
5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 1 film reel — 5.6 GB (online)
1 archived websites (online) — 1 portrait — 1 framed photograph — 40 laminated placards (36" x 36") — 1 oversize box — 8 linear feet — Digital files (online)
The Jack Kevorkian Papers are arranged into five series: Kevorkian Family, Research and Practice, Morganroth & Morganroth, Personal Interests, and Medicide Files.
The Kevorkian Family papers mostly include correspondence, recollections, photographs, and video and audio recordings of family gatherings. The Research and Practice series contains Kevorkian's correspondence on scientific subjects, his research files, and Kevorkian's articles on various medical, ethical, and bioethical topics. Also included are recorded interviews and media segments featuring Kevorkian as well as media reports about his activities and court trials. Materials in the Personal Interests series include sheet music of Kevorkian's musical compositions, recordings of Kevorkian playing music, reproductions of his paintings, publicity regarding exhibits of his art, and a sample of collected books. The Morganroth & Morganroth series includes materials used during the court trials, such as correspondence and Kevorkian's research as well as the script of the HBO film, You Don't Know Jack, annotated by Mayer Morganroth. The Medicide Files series contains the files of the terminally ill patients who had asked him assist in ending their lives and who he helped in doing so. Medicide files include correspondence between Kevorkian and his consulting "patients" and their families, photographs, and forms developed by Kevorkian as well as recordings of consultations.
1 archived websites (online) — 1 portrait — 1 framed photograph — 40 laminated placards (36" x 36") — 1 oversize box — 8 linear feet — Digital files (online)
0.75 Linear Feet — 3 manuscript boxes
This collection documents the activities of Jacques Girard, who was an activist, organizer, and researcher of LGTBQ issues in France from the 1970s to the late 1990s. The collection consists of three manuscript boxes of records relating to organizations that Girard was a part of, personal research papers. These documents include correspondence, meeting minutes and articles of incorporation, press releases, flyers, manuscripts, financial statements, and newspaper clippings from 1975 to 1999. Many of the materials are in original folders labeled by Girard. The collection contains three series: General Records, CUARH Records, and Research Records.
16.5 linear feet (in 17 boxes) — 1 oversize folder — 6 volumes
The Angell papers documents Angell's academic and diplomatic career. There is extensive material on all phases of University of Michigan business, particularly Angell's contacts with the state legislature, the board of regents, faculty relations, and the various schools, colleges, departments and divisions. Much of the correspondence and the Angell diaries relate to his diplomatic missions, higher education in the United States, and family matters.
3 linear feet — 974 KB (online)
The Harbour collection concerns his work as an analyst of the automobile industry. In addition to copies of The Harbour Report, the collection includes newspaper and magazine articles written by Harbour or containing references to him, and files pertaining to his participation at automobile related conferences. Also of interest are various promotional and related materials surrounding the publication of his book Factory Man.
179 pages (1 volume) and 1 letter
The James Furnis kept his letter book (179 pages) from July 23, 1755, to December 16, 1758, while serving as British commissary of stores and paymaster to the Royal Artillery and as army comptroller of ordnance in North America. The volume contains 114 letters, all official in nature. He communicated frequently with British officers, independent merchants, and the Board of Ordnance in London, revealing decision-making processes for supplying and managing the Royal Artillery in America. These letters also supply information on troop movements and estimates of dead and wounded.
Furnis wrote the bulk of the entries from Albany and New York City, but also wrote while on short trips to Philadelphia and Boston. Recipients are officers, engineers, and merchants at Albany, New York, Owsego, Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, Boston, and Philadelphia. His letters offer in-depth descriptions of fort upkeep and artillery management and activities. Of particular interest are 24 dispatches from Furnis to the Board of Ordnance in London, which detail the Braddock expedition, describe the poor state of order at Fort Edward, and provide a firsthand account of the siege and capture of Fort William Henry by the French army under Montcalm (August 3-26, 1757).
Furnis wrote the first entry from Fort Cumberland, Maryland, in August 1755, about a month after Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela.
An additional loose letter from John Bradstreet to James Furnis (September 2, 1759, Albany, New York) is located in the front of the volume. In it, Bradstreet asks if artillery, ammunition, and stores sent west have been stopped for want of carts.
37 photographs in 1 album
The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.
The album (28 x 23.5 cm) has moiré fabric covers with "James S. Galloway" stamped on the front. The title page lists the photographer as J. W. Winder. The majority of images are studio portraits of members of the Class of 1860, most of which include the subjects’ signatures and hometowns. Of note is a portrait of suffragist Olympia Brown (1835-1926), the first woman to both graduate from theological school and become a full-time ordained minister. Also present is an image of the Antioch College campus, three photographs of co-educational classes, and a letter from one of Galloway's classmates describing the Class of 1860’s 50th reunion in 1910 which Galloway did not attend.
5 linear feet
The James G. Birney papers contain the personal, political, and professional letters of James Birney, a Kentucky slaveholder, Alabama politician, anti-slavery activist, and United States presidential candidate. The collection is particularly strong in Birney's political activities with the American Colonization Society, the American Anti-Slavery Society, and the Liberty Party; his role as an abolitionist writer and as the founder and editor of The Philanthropist; and his personal communications with his family and friends.
The Correspondence series (1909 items) is comprised of Birney's incoming letters, which span his entire career after 1818, with particularly full correspondence for the decade 1834-1844. Also present are 137 drafts of letters written by Birney. Birney corresponded with a wide variety of public figures in politics and in the anti-slavery movement in America and Great Britain, such as Gamaliel Bailey, Guy Beckley, James Buchanan, Theodore Foster, Seth Merrill Gates, William Goodell, Beriah Green, Ralph Randolph Gurley, Joshua Leavitt, Henry Brewster Stanton, Arthur Tappan, Lewis Tappan, Theodore D. Weld, Elizur Wright, Jr., and John Clark Young, among many others. In addition to business and political communications, the collection contains family and personal letters, including items to and from Birney's wife Agatha, his father James Birney, his father-in-law William MacDowell, and his siblings, children (particularly James, Jr., William, Dion, and David), and friends.
From 1818-1832, Birney was a lawyer and politician in Alabama, and a trustee of both Greene Academy in Huntsville and the University of Alabama. Much of the material from this period concerns personal and family news, and his nascent interest in anti-slavery. Birney received letters from many prominent Alabama politicians in Washington, including Clement Comer Clay, John McKinley, and Harry I. Thornton.
Between 1832 and 1834, Birney served as southern agent for the ACS. Letters from this period reveal Birney's changing views on slavery, as well as his personal struggles as an abolitionist in the south. Birney communicated with his fellow ACS agents, society leaders, and the Washington office, including 10 letters from ACS Secretary Ralph Randolph Gurley between 1832 and 1833. Many letters deal with sending former slaves to Liberia, such as Cyrus Chinn and his family (November 1, 1832); Elijah and Benjamin Collier from St. Louis, Missouri (November 12, 1832); a group of 80 African Americans from Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi (February 7, 1833); and Allen Bates and 15 others (March 10, 1833).
Though no longer a member of the ACS, Birney remained active in the abolitionist cause between 1834 and 1839, during which time he founded The Philanthropist and joined the American Anti-Slavery Society. Many of the 1836 letters relate to printing The Philanthropist, and contain details on funding, publication, and subscriptions, along with moral support from Birney's peers. During this time, Birney also maintained a close communication with Theodore Dwight Weld and Elizur Wright, Jr. Topics covered include Birney's anti-slavery speaking tour through several northern states, the growing divisions within the American Anti-Slavery Society, his relations with his family, and the death of his wife Agatha. A highlight of the collection is a letter from a slave named Milo Thompson, owned by Major George C. Thompson, to his fiancée Louisa Bethley, owned by James Birney, Sr., concerning their continued separation (October 15, 1834). Days later, Major Thompson wrote to James G. Birney explaining that he was uncomfortable with the situation and that hoped to purchase Louisa Bethley from his father so they could marry (October 18, 1834).
The period from 1839-1845 represents the height of Birney’s involvement in politics. On November 13, 1839, a Liberty Party convention at Warsaw, New York, nominated Birney to run for president. The letters from 1840 are dominated by news of presidential politics, including discussions of rivals Henry Clay and William Henry Harrison. Birney, however, did not campaign and instead spent the time from May to November 1840 attending an international anti-slavery convention in Great Britain. He received only a small percentage of national votes. In the fall of 1841, Birney and his family moved to Michigan, where he maintained close communications with his friends, children, the Fitzhugh family (relatives of his second wife Elizabeth), and abolitionist colleagues in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and throughout the South. Birney also received personal requests for assistance from those in need, such as the case of a Creek Indian mother named Susan, who had been sold into slavery with her children, and was attempting to sue for their freedom (March 8, 1843). The letters from 1844 concern Birney's second run as the Liberty Party's presidential candidate, and include frequent references to Henry Clay, James K. Polk, and the landscape of the race. Of particular interest is a group of letters, dating from the end of October through November, relating to the "Garland letter," a letter published in newspapers which falsely claimed that Birney was a secret Democrat trying to swing the election subversively
In the autumn of 1845, Birney fell off of a horse and suffered a severe injury, possibly related to a paralytic stroke, which forced him to retire from public service. He continued, however, to write on political and constitutional issues and kept up broad correspondence with his anti-slavery colleagues (such as Gerrit Smith, William Goodell, Sarah Grimké, and Theodore Weld) and his family. He also kept in contact with Michigan Anti-Slavery Society activists. The period between his forced retirement and his death (1845-1857) also contains the most concentrated number of draft letters written by Birney. These reveal his political opinions, thoughts on religion, academic interests, and his life in Michigan and later New Jersey. The last letters, from 1856-1857, document the state of Birney's accounts and land holdings.
Only five letters post date Birney's death in 1857, all to or from his wife Elizabeth Birney and his daughter D. B. Birney, with the final item from George Clark of Oberlin to a Mr. Smith concerning studying under Henry Lloyd Garrison. The collection also contains eight undated letters, including six to Birney (one addressed to “Christianus," Birney's favorite pen name) and one letter to Florence Birney.
Many letters contain illustrated letterheads. Five items feature an image of a kneeling slave called, "A Colored Young Man of the City of New York, 1835," engraved by P. Reason: May 1, 1838 (invitation to Weld-Grimke wedding), June 1, 1840, August 15, 1840 ("Am I not a man and a brother"), December 4, 1840 (similar but different image), and January 2, 1841. Other items with illustrations include: June 10, 1839, containing a poem; April 26, 1847, depicting Astor House, New York; and June 28, 1853, depicting "Topsy, or the Slave girl's Appeal," along with a poem.
Dwight L. Dumond published many of Birney's letters related to abolition and anti-slavery in his book Letters of James Gillespie Birney, 1831-1857. See additional descriptive data for a full citation.
The Diaries and Journals series (4 items) contains volumes related to the American Colonization Society, to Birney's travels in Great Britain in 1840, to Birney's gardens, and his intellectual and personal life. The first item (8 pages) is entitled "Memorandum of Donations, Collections, Subscriptions, c&, c&, etc. for the American Colonization Society in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkinsas." It documents Birney's general accounts from June to December 1832, salary accounts for 1833, and general accounts for October 1833. The second item consists of brief entries during Birney's trip to England, Scotland, and Ireland from September to October 1840 (12 pages) and his meteorological observations for 1849 (30 pages). The third volume is a "Garden Memo" in which Birney recorded planting and harvesting details from November 1843 to July 1847.
The fourth volume is the personal journal that Birney kept between 1846 and 1850 while residing in Michigan. It includes essays or article drafts relating to pressing political affairs, predominantly the Mexican-American War; slavery and the expansion of slavery into new territories and states; and Congressional isues and political parties. Several of these drafts include notations of newspaper names next to them, indicating possible places where he submitted them for anonymous publication. He remarked regularly on what he was reading and how it spurred his thinking, including newspapers and specific articles, almanacs, Bible passages and religious works, presidential messages and Congressional reports, various history texts, and more. Birney frequently wrote religious reflections as well as essays relating to Catholicism and early Jewish history. He also kept meteorological and gardening records. The journal contains personal reflections, including analysis of the impacts strokes had on his physical and mental health, his reliance on his wife, comments about visitors, and news about various family matters. He wrote either on the day of his second stroke or shortly thereafter, as well as annual reflections on his birthday commenting on his disability. The journal interweaves various veins of thought, revealing how deep religious reflection, social and political engagement, daily labor, and physical ailment all combined in Birney’s intellectual world.
The Speeches, Essays, Notes, and Other Writings series (74 items) contains Birney's non-correspondence manuscript writings. The series is organized into three subseries: Speeches, Essays, and Drafts (1833-1852); Speech Notes (1836-1841); and Miscellaneous Notes (1832-1852). The Speeches, Essays, and Drafts subseries (22 items) reveals Birney's thoughts on social reform and slavery in American society, politics, and history.
The Speech Notes subseries (38 items) is comprised of the notes and note cards that Birney used during speeches. Most of the notes relate to Christianity, slavery, and abolition. The dated speech notes are from 1836 to 1841, however, many items are undated.
The Miscellaneous Notes subseries (13 items) contains manuscript fragments of speeches, essays, and articles, including a copy of an essay from the Vermont Chronicle on the abolition of slavery in Mexico (March 3, 1832), a report of cruelty of a young slave copied from the New Orleans Bee (June 25, 1834), and two pledges to give up drinking (December 1842 and January 19, 1845).
The Financial Documents series (384 items) contains a plantation record book, bills and receipts for household expenditures, receipts for speaking engagements and other employment, tax records, estate records, and stock certificates. The plantation record book (139 pages) documents the 43 slaves working on Birney's father's plantation and the slave's cotton production from 1819 to 1821. Slave records include birth dates, previous owners, dates of purchase, buyers, dates of sale, prices, and deaths. The record book contains details on the following names: Tom, Billy Banks, Michael, Jesse, Ben, Sam, Hartwell, Jerry, Willis, Little Ben, Charles, Luke, Moses, Isham, Edwin, Wilson, George, Alfred, Henry, Charles, Anthony, William, Charles, Amy, Daphnie, Biddy, Hannah, Clara, Sarah, Kitty, Maria, Barbara, Mary, Margaret, Caroline, Betsey, Julianne, Viney, Silvia, Susan, Polly, Judy, and Lucy. The volume also contains records for the number of bales of cotton each slave picked in 1820 and 1821.
Also present are personal records for food, clothing, household goods, and medical assistance; certificates for shares of stocks; tax records concerning his land in Michigan; bundles of personal receipts from 1850, 1851, 1853, 1854; receipts for magazine subscriptions; payments for Birney's speaking engagements; and 19 undated items.
The Legal Documents series (123 items) consists primarily of deeds, leases, contracts, and sales of land in Kentucky, Alabama, New York, Michigan, and New Jersey, with the bulk of these related to land in Saginaw County, Michigan. This series also contains Birney's legal manumission papers for freeing his father's slaves (September 3, 1839).
The Genealogy series (11 items) is made up of various documents containing genealogical information primarily on Birney and his extended family. Included are: an item from William Birney to his cousin listing the decedents of Thomas Madison (April 3, 1882); a list of the birth and death dates of many members of the Birney family throughout the 19th century (undated); details on the births and deaths of Birney's children; and a report on the descendants of John J. Marshall and Anna Reed Birney (undated).
The Printed Material and Illustrations series (43 items) is composed of newspaper clippings, political broadsides, invitations to social events, and school report cards. Of note are a broadside entitled "Abolitionists Beware" (July 1836) and an 1852 broadside for the National Liberty Party. The collection holds 15 newspaper selections which contain articles by or about Birney. The series also includes a printed invitation to the burial of Arthur Hopkins Birney (March 8, 1833).
Also present are two clippings about Birney that post date his death: "No. 1 Abolitionist," Washington Post, October 30, 1938, and "Presidential Candidate," unknown source, February 38, 1937. Of the seven undated items, two are illustrations and the floor plan of a house, possibly in Bridgeport, Michigan. The collection also holds 27 broadsides, many integrated into the Correspondence series. For a complete list of broadsides see the additional descriptive data.
In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created a Contributor List (.pdf format). For additional information see the Clements Library card catalog.
87 linear feet — 3 oversize folders — 2 film reels — 6 phonograph records (oversize) — 16.3 GB — 19 digital audio files
The James K. Pollock papers represent an accumulation of files from a lifetime of academic teaching and research and an extraordinary number of public service responsibilities to both his state and his nation. The files within the collection fall into two categories: types of document (such as correspondence, speeches and writings, visual materials, etc.) and files resulting from a specific activity or position (such as his work as delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention or his service with the Office of the Military Government in Germany after World War II).
The collection is large and of a complicated arrangement because of Pollock's many activities. When received in 1969, the files were maintained as received; very little processing was done to the collection so that an inventory to the papers could be quickly prepared. The order of material is that devised by James K. Pollock and his secretarial staff in the U-M Department of Political Science. Recognizing the anomalies within the order of the collection, the library made the decision to list the contents to the collection while at the same time preparing a detailed card file index (by box and folder number, i.e. 16-8) to significant correspondents and subjects. While there was much to be said for this method of preparing a finding aid expeditiously, it also covered up some problems in arrangement. Thus series and subseries of materials are not always grouped together as they were created by Pollock. Files on the Hoover Commission and the Michigan Constitutional Convention, for example, come before Pollock's work in Germany after the war. In 1999, effort was made to resolve some of the inconsistencies and obvious misfilings of the first inventory but because of the numbering system used in 1969 and the card index prepared for the files, there are still some problems. Researchers should be alert to these difficulties and take time to examine different parts of the collection for material on a similar topic.
87 linear feet — 3 oversize folders — 2 film reels — 6 phonograph records (oversize) — 16.3 GB — 19 digital audio files
5 linear feet — 1 oversize item — 2.03 GB
Dr. James L. Curtis's personal papers contain materials related to Albion, Michigan, as well as correspondence, a diary, awards, his writings in prose, photographs, and materials related to his philanthropic work. His professional papers primarily document Dr. Curtis's dedication to affirmative action and advancing the healthcare field for both marginalized communities and practitioners. Record types include correspondence, research data and notes, publications, patient/client files, student counseling files, reports, topical and reference files, photographs, as well as manuscripts and speeches written by Dr. Curtis. The audio-visual series contains photographs, scanned photographic material, and an oral history. Photographs appear among both personal and professional papers. Folder titles in these series indicate the presence of photographs.