John Bennitt was a physician from Centreville, Michigan. He joined the 19th Michigan Infantry Regiment as an assistant surgeon, and remained in military service until the end of the war. The collection consists of over 200 letters from John Bennitt...
The Honors Institute for Young Scientists provided a competitive scholarship to an advanced summer educational program in science and math for high school juniors and seniors in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. It expanded to include approximately...
Theodore Victor Peticolas, born 29 Feb. 1800 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was a fruit farmer in Union Township, Clermont County, Ohio at the time he maintained this diary. In it Peticolas details his farm work, crops, family, neighbors, and social...
This diary was kept by soldier Whitley Read detailing his last year of service in the 10th New York Heavy Artillery, Company H. It also focuses on his postwar service on a Great Lakes Schooner.
Russel Kirkhof was an inventor, mechanic, businessman in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The collection includes diaries, patents, personal correspondence, legal correspondence, business ledgers, and records of his philanthropy.
Correspondence from the 19th and early 20th century compiled by Robert Beasecker. Authors include a variety of individuals, businesses, and organizations throughout the United States.
Republican Congressman Harold (Hal) Sawyer represented Michigan's Fifth District in the U.S. Congress from 1977 to 1984. The California native worked in Grand Rapids law firm Warner, Norcross & Judd, and served on the Michigan Law Revision...
The Michigan’s Soldiers’ Home was established in 1885. The city of Grand Rapids established a post office on the grounds in 1892. The collection includes envelopes and postcards cancelled by the Michigan Soldiers’ Home post office, images of...
The GVSU Veterans History Project was established in 2006 to serve as a partner with the Library of Congress in its national effort to collect and preserve the stories of American veterans and other participants in, or witnesses to, the American...
Donald James Angus was born in Wisconsin and lived most of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana and Grand Haven, Michigan. He was self-educated and worked in the field of electrical engineering, specializing in electrical measuring and recording...
The Arnold Ott collection documents the life and work of Michigan-born chemist and entrepreneur Arnold Ott from 1940-2008. He worked at Dow Chemical Company and the Upjohn Company where he authored 55 domestic and foreign patents before starting...
Conrad Thornquist was a Michigan native who attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate and attended Harvard Law School in the Class of 1931. His papers include handwritten and bound class notes from his Harvard Law School coursework...
Sondra Mose-Ursery, community historian, founder of the Vandalia Underground Railroad Foundation, and former mayor of Vandalia, Michigan compiled this collection while researching the Underground Railroad in Cass County, Michigan. The collection...
Citizen Bee was an educational competition originated by Robert Clarke, a political science professor at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, to challenge high school students on their knowledge of American history, government,...
Documents and correspondence related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery from 1804. A selection of documents from 10 states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, 1805-1864; and correspondence and documents of the...
Edward V. Gillis worked in the tool and manufacturing business in Grand Rapids Michigan. Gillis was a collector whose focus was Native Americans. This collection includes magazines, posters, maps, other published and some unpublished materials. The...
Elizabeth Cecil was a writer from Baltimore, Maryland and wrote under the pseudonym Clarence Conway. Her correspondence with acquaintances and publishers document her efforts to publish her work. Writings include short stories, plays, poems, songs,...
Ella Koeze Weed was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was involved in Republican Party politics and participated in the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1961-1962. The collection includes her political files, convention materials, news...
F. W. (Francis "Frank" Wallace) Beasecker was born in 1917 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He joined the Army in August 1942 and was assigned to Company A, 411th Engineer Base Shop Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Engineer Amphibious Command. He served in...
Frank J. Schulte is known as the Father of Civil Service in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Schulte worked in civil service throughout Michigan and on the proposed personnel system for the royal government in Afghanistan in the early 1960s. The collection...
