Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection is made up of personal letters related to the immediate and extended family of Philip Mason Sears, including his wife, Zilla MacDougall; his children, Charlotte and Philip Sears; Zilla's sister, Charlotte MacDougall; and Zilla's brother-in-law, Danish diplomat Henrik Kauffmann. Family members wrote about foreign travel, service in the United States Navy, and daily life in the United States and abroad from the mid-1910s to the mid-1960s.

This collection is made up of personal letters related to the immediate and extended family of Philip Mason Sears, including his wife, Zilla MacDougall; his children, Charlotte and Philip Sears; Zilla's sister, Charlotte MacDougall; and Zilla's brother-in-law, Danish diplomat Henrik Kauffmann.

Much of the early correspondence revolves around Zilla MacDougall Sears, including letters that she wrote to her parents, grandparents, and sister about her foreign travels and life in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s. She visited London, England, in 1916 and 1917, and went to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Berlin, Germany, in the early and mid-1920s. In 1925, she described her travels in China, particularly her experiences in Peking (Beijing). Zilla also discussed her life in Syracuse, New York, and family life in Dedham, Massachusetts, after her marriage to Philip Mason Sears in 1924. In December 1924, the couple received congratulatory telegrams. The collection also contains many telegrams from the 1920s and 1930s concerning family health and family travels, including items sent by William MacDougall and Philip Mason Sears.

Additional early items include letters that Henrik Kauffmann wrote to Philip Mason Sears in the 1910s and 1920s, and letters that Charlotte MacDougall Kauffmann wrote to her parents and sister in the 1920s. Henrik and Charlotte's correspondence, often written on Danish stationery, concerns their travels and lives in China, India, Thailand, Japan, Denmark, and other locations. Prior to their marriage, Henrik discussed his excitement about Charlotte's upcoming visits and otherwise commented on their relationship. Correspondence from the 1930s includes additional travel letters and telegrams, and a group of letters to Zilla MacDougall Sears regarding her desire to purchase a Sicilian donkey from a company in Palermo in 1933. Zilla also wrote a letter to her mother on "swastika" stationery from Cuernavaca, Mexico (March 7, 1936).

Much of the material from the World War II era concerns the naval service of Philip Mason Sears and Philip Sears, Junior. The Sears children wrote a small number of V-mail letters to their father while he was stationed on the USS Fuller in the Pacific in 1942. From 1944 to 1946, Philip Mason Sears, Jr., wrote to his parents and sister about his experiences in the navy, including his participation in the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and his later experiences on a base in the Nevada desert. He often discussed his desire and attempts to gain entry into the aviation service and/or gunnery school. Additional correspondence from the early to mid-1940s includes letters that Charlotte Sears ("Poppin") wrote to her family about her studies and other experiences at the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia. Many of her letters feature cartoonish doodles and drawings. Zilla MacDougall Sears also received letters her nieces and nephews, including David and "Liza Jane" (who included colored drawings of horses in her letter postmarked from Lake Placid, New York, on July 18, 1942). The Sears children also received letters from their aunt, Charlotte MacDougall Kauffmann, then living in Washington, D.C.

After the war, the bulk of the collection is comprised of letters from Henrik and Charlotte MacDougall Kauffmann and Charlotte Sears (later Look) to Zilla MacDougall Sears. The Kauffmanns wrote to Zilla after returning to Denmark in 1946; among other topics, they discussed some of the lingering effects of the war. In the early 1950s, Charlotte Sears and her husband, David T. Look, wrote to Zilla about their experiences in Washington, D.C., including their work and leisure activities. In 1953, Charlotte described her travels in southern California and in Europe. The final items largely consist of Charlotte Kauffmann's letters to Zilla Sears from Switzerland and Denmark as late as 1963; while in Switzerland, she mentioned her participation in winter sports.

Additional materials include newspaper clippings about the death of Clinton MacDougall and the atomic bomb, the Sears children's school essays, and other miscellaneous manuscripts. A small number of picture postcards are present throughout the correspondence. The collection's photographs and negatives pertain to United States sailors and to people at leisure indoors and outdoors.

The Seth Tinkham diary contains a diary and orderly book entries covering 1758-1759, when Tinkham was a sergeant in Pratt's Company, Doty's Regiment, in the French and Indian War.

The Seth Tinkham diary has 138 pages of entries, covering May 29, 1758-October 28, 1759. The first few pages of the diary contain a list of officers in Colonel Thomas Doty's Regiment, recorded in 1758, followed by a list of officers in Colonel John Thomas' Regiment in 1759.

The pages numbered 1-18 make up a book of orders given June 28-September 27, 1758. The entries concern provisions, the repair of arms and artillery, the trying of prisoners, the delivery and outfitting of boats, courts martial and punishments for disobedience, and daily routines. They document an oar shortage, resulting in an order that "Each Battoo will be allowed from Coll Bradstreet only 5 oars" (p. 2); the banning of gambling and the instatement of a 300-lash punishment for violators, (p. 3); and the destruction of "Lines made by the French Last year" by a party of 400 men (p. 10). During June and most of July, Tinkham and his company camped at Lake George, near Fort Ticonderoga, but by late July, they moved to Loudoun Ferry and later, Schenectady, New York.

Pages 19-57 contain diary entries by Tinkham, covering May 29, 1758-October 28, 1759, with a gap between December 8, 1758 and April 9, 1759. In early entries, he described mustering and leaving Middleboro, camp activities, movements, battles, and notable incidents. On July 6-8, 1758, he wrote about the Battle of Ticonderoga (also known as the Battle of Carillon), describing the newly-built French defenses, the "hedious yelling of the Indians," and a piece of artillery that killed 18 grenadiers on the spot. He also referenced British losses and being "ordered back" for an unknown reason (pp. 23-24). On September 5, 1758, he recounted receiving advice and aid from three Oneida Indians, who warned of enemies in the area and gave the men corn and salmon. In several entries throughout, Tinkham described hunting and fishing, his health, the capture of prisoners, and travel by boat. The later entries, covering April-October 1759, recount a measles outbreak in late April, intelligence received from the Dutch (May 20, 1759), and daily duties and activities.

The second half of the volume is an orderly book for April 16-October 28, 1759. It contains basic orders, like requirements that soldiers remove their hats when speaking to officers (p. 73) and that they march two deep (p. 76), as well as calls for courts martial (p. 96), and restrictions on the use of ammunition (p. 105).

The collection consists of six penmanship and cypher books kept by William L. Shimer, Susanna M. Shimer, and Nathan M. Shimer of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the 1840s and 1850s and one alphabet card with lower-case and upper-case letters. The blank books include illustrated covers and several have calligraphic titles for their sections. Four of them are dated and range from 1846 to 1853. The cypher books include exercises for arithmetic, fractions, accounting, and weights and measures, with many examples relating to practical issues like farming, business, and estates. Penmanship exercises include the copying of moral proverbs, common business abbreviations, strings of letters, and phrases. Two of the penmanship books are associated with writing systems: George J. Becker's The American System of Penmanship, and Bayson, Dunton and Scribner's National System of Penmanship.

The collection consists of seven penmanship and cypher books kept by William L. Shimer, Susanna M. Shimer, and Nathan M. Shimer of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the 1840s and 1850s and one alphabet card with lower-case and upper-case letters. The blank books include illustrated covers and several have calligraphic titles for their sections. Five of them are dated and range from 1846 to 1853. The cypher books include exercises for arithmetic, fractions, practical geometry, accounting, and weights and measures, with many examples relating to practical issues like farming, business, and estates. Penmanship exercises include the copying of moral proverbs, common business abbreviations, strings of letters, and phrases. Two of the penmanship books are associated with writing systems: George J. Becker's The American System of Penmanship, and Bayson, Dunton and Scribner's National System of Penmanship.

• Uriah Hunt & Son, Booksellers, Philadelphia
• Leary's Cheap Book Store, Philadelphia
• Brower, Hayes & Co., Booksellers and Stationers, Philadelphia
• Henry J. Oerter's Cheap Book & Stationery Store, Bethlehem
• Crosby & Ainsworth, Publishers, Boston

The cover of William L. Shimer's 1848 exercise book includes an inscription "L. Shimer, Co. A 10 reg. Militia Pa." William L. Shimer's 1850-1852 cypher book includes notations that he was attending the Gen. Taylor school and was being instructed by A. Stout, as well as geometrical drawings, calligraphic headings, and a pen-and-ink drawing of an eagle's head holding a banner that reads, "Let teh Stars and Stripes proudly float over you."