Abstract

Cadette Everett Fitch (1840-1927) was a teacher, artist and community leader. The collection contains sketches by Fitch, illustrating nature and a seven-day boat trip down the Grand River. The drawings detail natural features of the landscape and structures along the river. The journal's written descriptions of the flora and fauna, as well as human activity on the Grand River and in the Grand River Valley, give insight into the area just before the turn of the century.

Abstract The Richmond family was one of Grand Rapid's early pioneering families, settling in Western Michigan in the 1830s. The bulk of the collection is the William Almy Richmond (1809-1871) papers, dealing with Indian Affairs, 1845-1849. Richmond was Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Michigan and Wisconsin and in this position made treaty payments to the Indians at La Pointe on Lake Superior. Also included in this collection are the significant Civil War era diaries primarily of his...