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MICHIGAN
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HISTORICAL COMMISSION
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
1915
LANSING, MICHIGAN
WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD CO., STATE PRINTERS
1916
56 /
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION.
Term Expires.
HON. WOODBRIDGE N. FERRIS, Governor of Michigan, ex officio.
RT. REV. MONSIGNOR FRANK A. O'BRIEN, LL. D., President,
Kalamazoo 1921
PROF. CLAUDE H. VAN TYNE, Ph. D., Vice President, Ann Arbor 1918
WILLIAM L. JENKS, M. A., Port Huron 1916
CLARENCE M. BURTON, M. A., Detroit 1917
HON. EDWIN 0. WOOD, Flint 1919
HON. LAWTON T. HEMANS, Mason 1920
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS.
CHARLES MOORE, Ph. D., Secretary and Editor,
MINA HUMPHREY VARNUM, Assistant Editor,
MARIE B. FERREY. Curator of the Museum.
A<**^> ^f'
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MICHIGAN HISTORICAL
COMMISSION.
The Honorable Woodbridge N. Ferris,
Governor of Michigan.
Sir: The Michigan Historical Commission respectfully submit their
third annual report, in accordance with section numbered nine of Act
No. 271, Public Acts of 1913, by virtue of which law the Commission
exists.
During the past year the Commission has consisted of the following
members :
Hon. Woodbridge N. Ferris, Governor of Michigan, ex officio,
Rt. Rev. Mgr. Frank A. O'Brien, LL. D.,
Prof. Claude H. Van Tyne,
William Lee Jenks, M. A.,
Clarence Munro Burton, M. A.,
Hon. Edwin 0. Wood,
Hon. Lawton T. Hemans.
In June, 1915, Monsignor O'Brien was elected president and Professor
Van Tyne was elected vice-president for the term of one year. The
Commission has held regular quarterly meetings in Lansing; two special
meetings on the Island of Mackinac, and a joint meeting with the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission.
*
A BUILDING FOR RECORDS.
The Michigan Historical Commission are authorized and empowered
"to collect from the State, county, city, village and township offices
such records, files, documents, books and papers as are not less than
thirty years old, and are not in current use, and are, in the opinion of
the Commission valuable only for historical purposes."
While the law contemplates the collection, preservation and arrange-
ment for the use of historical students, of State and municipal records,
no provision has been made as yet for the reception of such records.
The Commission is compelled repeatedly to decline to receive materials
because it had no place to put them; and the systematic gathering of
records and newspaper files cannot be undertaken for the lack of fire-
proof space in which to house them.
6 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
The State Library receives, catalogues and otherwise makes available
the books and documents received by the Commission, thereby render-
ing a service to the Commission and avoiding the unnecessary duplica-
tion of library effort. The cooperation existing between the two in-
stitutions suggests that when as must soon happen new quarters
shall be provided for the State Library, sufficient room for the activities
of the Historical Commission be provided in the same building.
OFFICES OF THE COMMISSION.
During the session of the Legislature the Historical Commission
occupied offices in a portion of the Museum room on the upper floor of
the Capitol. The space available was limited and work was interrupted
by the large numbers of visitors to the Museum. When the Legislature
adjourned^ offices adjoining the Senate were assigned to the Commission
and these rooms will be available until the Legislature again convenes.
One result of occupying quarters in the Museum was the restoration
of a capacious and fine desk and a number of chairs of much dignity
and distinction which had come down from Territorial times. This
old furniture will continue to be used by the Commission both because
of its suitability and also for the purpose of preserving it.
The Board of State Auditors have placed in the Commission offices
metal filing cases, asbestos lined and fire-proof, to care for the manu-
scripts, maps and photographs belonging to the Commission. While
the filing cases are not adequate to accommodate all the manuscripts
belonging to the Commission, nevertheless they enable a good start to
be made. In time they will be supplemented by larger resources and
the Commission will be able to provide with reasonable safety for the
constantly increasing number of manuscripts which come into its
possession.
THE MAILING LIST.
The mailing list, on permanent addressograph plates, comprises the
following divisions: First, libraries of universities, colleges, high
schools, private schools, parochial schools, and Granges in Michigan
and other States and in Canada, England, Sweden and South America,
which libraries contain the volumes of the Collections. Second, news-
papers in Michigan. Third, members of the Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Society. This list of members has been corrected during
the past year by sending a postal card to each member named in Bulletin
No. 3. The Secretary requests that he be notified of changes of address
and of the death of members of this Society, in order that the list may
be kept complete. Notices are also sent to State officers, members of
the Legislature, and others whose names are not on the permanent list.
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION. 7
ROUTINE WORK.
During the year the work of supplying the Collections to school and
public libraries, both in Michigan and in other States, as well as in
several foreign countries, has gone on at an increasing ratio. The
records showing the whereabouts of these volumes have been perfected
and are now reasonably complete.
The correspondence of the Commission is constantly on the increase
and with the aid of new filing cases this correspondence has been ar-
ranged systematical^. The cuts of maps, places and individuals used
to illustrate the published volumes now fill twenty-seven drawers, and
have a decided historical value. It is the practice of the Commission
to loan these cuts for historical purposes.
MARKING HISTORIC SPOTS.
The Commission gratefully acknowledges the receipt from various
sources (notably from the chapters of the Daughters of the American
Revolution) of photographs of memorials and monuments erected in
Michigan to mark historical places and events. These photographs,,
together with club papers and other records of like character, have been
alphabetically arranged by counties, towns, subjects, people, and
events, with sufficient cross-references to make them easily available.
These papers are now in fire-proof filing cases. The Commission
particularly requests that all such records be sent to their offices by the
clubs and individuals interested. In this way a large body of material
is being collected for the use of historical students. Many of the
counties of the State are now represented, and it is hoped that in time
there will be accumulated at Lansing material that will call to the
capital students who .find it desirable to consult original materials.
MICHIGAN HISTORY PRIZE ESSAY CONTEST.
The Daughters of the American Revolution and the Michigan Federa-
tion of Women's Clubs have arranged a prize essay contest open to
pupils in Michigan schools of the eighth grade in the high school or of
corresponding grade in any other school. The subject of the essays is
the settlement and development of the city or town in which the essay
is being written. The Daughters of the American Revolution take
charge of the contest in towns where there are chapters of that organiza-
tion, and the Women's Clubs have charge of the contest in towns where
there are clubs but no D. A. R. Chapters. The Superintendent of
Public Instruction looks after the contest in towns where there are
neither chapters nor clubs.
8 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
Arrangements have been made whereby the Historical Commission
will have the privilege of printing such essays as contain information
of value to the history of the State. The prizes are large size photo-
graphs of the statue of Lewis Cass in the Capitol at Washington and the
portrait of Stevens T. Mason, first Governor of Michigan, from the oil
painting in Memorial Hall, Ann Arbor.
This prize essay contest was suggested by a " History of Menominee"
prepared by the Class of 1910 of the Menominee High School, under
the supervision of Miss Frances D. Radford, teacher of history, with
the assistance of Mrs. A. L. Sawyer. This history consists of a pamphlet
of thirty-two printed pages and is a model of arrangement, research,
comprehensiveness, and effective presentation.
MICHIGAN BIBLIOGRAPHY.
During the past year a considerable amount of work has been done
on the Michigan Bibliography, which is one of the chief projects under-
taken by the Commission. The Michigan titles in the State Library
have been furnished through the courtesy of the State Librarian. The
Michigan titles in the Library of Congress have been purchased. The
librarians of Michigan University, the Agricultural College, and the
Detroit and Grand Rapids Public Libraries^ have furnished the cards
pertaining to their respective institutions or cities. A considerable
number of separate cards have been made and the work of collating
the cards has progressed as rapidly as possible under present service
conditions. The bibliographical cards are now filed in such manner
that they are of constant use in answering correspondence.
MICHIGAN CHRONOLOGY.
A chronology of leading events in Michigan history from the earliest
times to the present has been created and is now in working order.
This chronology is added to from time to time, and is regarded as one
of the regular divisions into which the work of the Commission falls.
The necrology of Michigan is reasonably complete for 1915. This
is supplemented by newspaper notices of noted people still living, of
historic characters, places and events from May 1915. These records
are available in the offices of the Commission.
NEWSPAPERS OF MICHIGAN.
During the past year material has been gathered and in part prepared
for a bulletin showing the location and condition of files of newspapers
throughout the State. Circular letters have been sent to all Michigan
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION. 9
newspapers and libraries and every effort has been made to secure in-
formation. This list, although at present incomplete, is valuable to
historical students who desire to locate the files of Michigan newspapers.
It is intended to publish a bulletin on the subject in the near future.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.
The Census of 1820. The United States census for Michigan of 1820,
which was discovered by Mr. C. M. Burton in going through the old
papers at the Capitol, has been placed in a fire-proof cabinet and is now
available to students. A copy of this census has been furnished to the
Census Bureau in Washington by the Commission.
The Schoolcraft Papers. The Schoolcraft Papers copied from the
originals in the Library of Congress have been arranged and as soon as
they can be edited will be published.
The Peter White Papers. Among the more notable acquisitions dur-
ing the past year are the addresses and public papers of the late Peter
White, of Marquette. The collection includes upwards of 130 items;
and it contains probably the most comprehensive records of the de-
velopment of the iron region of Michigan ever gathered. All of this
development Mr. White saw, and of much of it he was a constituent
part. He came to be regarded as the representative citizen of the Upper
Peninsula; his public spirit and generosity brought him in contact with
popular movements of various kinds; and his good-fellowship and
abundant humor caused him to be sought after as a speaker at cele-
brations and social gatherings throughout the State. He had been a
staunch churchman, a State Senator, a Regent of the University and a
member of various commissions. All of these activities are represented
in his papers and letters. He was a business man and a banker; and
the characteristic forms of financing adopted in a region 'remote from
financial centers but having large pay-rolls can be studied in his records
more fully and more satisfactorily than anywhere else.
The Peter White Papers comprise addresses and memoranda con-
cerning the Saint Mary's Canal Celebration of 1905, including letters
of Charles T. Harvey, the constructing engineer of the canal; the
Michigan- Wisconsin Boundary dispute; the University of Michigan,
while Mr. White was a member of the Board of Regents; the creation
of the Marquette diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church and the
appointment of the first bishop; the history of Ishpeming, of Marquette,
Escanaba, of the Mission Church at Mackinac, of the Lake Superior
region; the discovery of iron and the development of iron mining; the
establishment of mail service in the Upper Peninsula; the Northern
Normal School; churches in Northern Michigan; the murder of School-
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
craft at Sault Ste. Marie, (two versions); vessels on the Upper Lake
before the building of the Canal; mining taxation; the creation of the
Presque Isle breakwater and harbor of refuge; Presque Isle Park; the
Lake Superior Iron Company; the Marquette and Western, the Mar-
quette and Mackinac, the Lake Superior and Ishpeming, the Duluth
and Iron Range and the Marquette and Mineral Range Railroads.
There are manuscript dialect poems of the late William H. Drummond,
letters of Hiram A. Burt, Alfred Meads, Samuel Moody, S. P. Ely and
many other early settlers; a petition for the creation of the State of
Superior, a project now being revived; and descriptions of the Pictured
Rocks. The collection contains materials for a complete account of
what was known in the Upper Peninsula as "Iron Money," including
the part played by it in the Hayes-Tilden campaign, and in the defeat
of Senator Chandler. There is scarcely a topic relating to the history
of the iron region that is not touched upon in these valuable papers.
To Mr. Morgan W. Joplin, of Marquette, a grandson of Mr. White,
and one of his executors, the Commission is indebted for this valuable
material.
The Chandler Port. aits. Twelve portraits of Zachariah Chandler
and members of his family, copied from miniatures, daguerreotypes
and photographs in possession of his daughter, Mrs Eugene Hale of
Ellsworth, Me., have been added to the collections. These portraits
represent the young manhood, the early senatorial period and the
maturity of Senator Chandler; and there are portraits of his father and
mother as well. Supplementary to the portraits are photographs of
Mr. Chandler's birthplace, the schoolhouse where he was taught and
where James F. Joy was once a teacher, and a genealogy of the Chandler
family.
Autobiography of Austin Blair. Among the papers left by Governor
Blair was a sketch of his life. While it is not as extensive as could be
desired, it is much more full than anything now in print; and, more-
over, it contains much information in regard to political affairs in
Michigan. Governor Blair was a man of strong convictions and the
fact that he followed those convictions resolutely led to many political
changes in his career and to much misunderstanding as to his motives.
The autobiography throws light on these matters. It is hoped that the
remaining papers of Governor Blair will be deposited with the Com-
mission by Mrs. Charles Blair, who has made the gift of the Auto-
biography.
Journal of Bela Hubbard. Through the good offices of Hon. R. C.
Allen, State Geologist, the Commission has secured from Mr. Bela
Hubbard the original journal and notebook of his grandfather, Bela
Hubbard, describing the latter's geologic field journeys and investiga-
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION. n
tions while employed on the first Geological Survey of Michigan under
Dr. Douglass Houghton. Mr. Hubbard's lively curiosity, his industry,
the charm of his style, and his broad cultivation have given to his
writings relating to the early days of this State a value surpassed by
those of no other man. Any new material from his pen is in the nature
of a rare find.
St. Joseph County Statistical Records and Pioneer History; compiled
by Abiel Fellows Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Dr.
B. M. Haines, Regent; Miss Sue I. Silliman, Editor. This volume con-
sists of county clerks' records of 1622 marriages in St. Joseph County
between 1832 and 1852; newspaper notices from the News Reporter,
1860 to 1869, and from the Western Chronicle from 1858 to 1859;
marriages in records of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of
Three Rivers and St. Edward's Church, Mendon; baptismal records
from the same churches; church membership records, death records
taken from cemeteries, historical sketches of churches, societies and
institutions, and the text of the Three Rivers first historical pageant.
These records are in excellent form, and are a rare example of patient
and intelligent research.
PUBLICATIONS IN PREPARATION.
The following manuscripts are in hand for publication at an early
date:
John Nicolet. Exercises at the unveiling of the tab'et commemo-
rating the discovery and exploration of the Northwest, on Mackinac
Island, July 12, 1915, under the auspices of the Michigan Historical
Commission and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. (In
Lewis Cass. Exercises at the unveiling of the tablet commemorating
the services of Lewis Cass as Governor of Michigan Territory and
Exp-orer of the Northwest, August 11, 1915, under the auspices of the
Michigan Historical Commission and the Mackinac Island State Park
Commission.
Names of P aces of Interest on Mackinac Island, Michigan, as es-
tablished, designated and adopted by the Mackinac Island State Park
Commission and the Michigan Historical Commission; and descriptive
and explanatory notes by the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Frank A. O'Brien,
LL. D., President of the Michigan Historical Commission, 1915. (In
press)
The Life of Stevens Thompson Mason; by Lawton T. Hemans. A
study of political conditions in Michigan during later Territorial and
early Statehood days.
12 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
University Series.
Economic and Social Beginnings of Michigan; a study of the settle-
ment of the Lower Peninsula during the Territorial Period 1805-1837;
by George Newman Fuller, Ph. D. About 800 pages of text; 24 plates
and 25 illustrations. A thesis submitted at the University of Michigan.
(In press)
The Public Life of Zachariah Chandler, 1851-1875; by Wilmer C.
Harris, Ph. D. A thesis submitted to the Department of History of
the University of Chicago. This monograph presents Mr. Chandler
as the representative in the United States Senate of the radical spirit
dominant among his constituents during the epoch of the War of Se-
cession and the Reconstruction period.
The Michigan Fur Trade; by Ida Amanda Johnson, Ph. D. A thesis
submitted at the University of Michigan. This study gives an account
of the fur trader's regime in Michigan; shows the trading policy of
the various nations which successively held sway over her territory
and its results; relates the story of the rise and growth of the various
posts and out-posts within Michigan borders; the influences to which
they were subjected and their fortunes in peace and war; depicts the
life of the traders, their relation to the Indians and to each other.
The Historical Geography of Detroit; by Almon Ernest Parkins, Ph.
D. A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Ogden Graduate
School of Science, University of Chicago, in candidacy for the degree
of doctor of philosophy. Mr. Parkins has made a study of the geo-
graphic influences that led to the establishment of Detroit and its
development from a trading-post to the manufacturing and commercial
metropolis of today.
The Evolution of the Counties of Michigan; by William Henry Hatha-
way , M. A., head of the History Department, Eastern Division High
School, Milwaukee.
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
During the past year Volume 39 of the Michigan Historical Col-
lections has been published, besides the records of the origin of the
Michigan Historical Commission and of the meetings of that Com-
mission and of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. The
volume contains papers on historical topics relating to Michigan and
a list of articles, authors, and illustrations in the thirty-nine volumes
of the series thus far published. This latter work covering 124 printed
pages forms a much needed guide to the Collections and will serve as a
finding-list until a consolidated index can be prepared. Materials for
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION. 13
Volume 40 have accumulated; among the more important articles are
Mr. Edward G. Holden's personal reminiscences of Carl Schurz during
the year he spent as editor of the Detroit Post. Mr. Schurz himself
does not cover this period in his autobiography. Mr. Holden was
associated with Mr. Schurz on the editorial staff of the Post and then
began a friendship that was continued until the death of the former.
Mr. H. Bedford-Jones has been led to check up Alexander Henry's
account of the massacre at Fort Michilimackinac in 1763, with the re-
sult of finding such discrepancies between the account and the facts
as to throw a new light on Henry's veracity as an historical writer.
There are papers by Mrs. Lillian Drake Avery of Pontiac, and Miss
Mary A. Goddard, assistant professor of Natural Sciences in the State
Normal College, which discuss the underground railroad in Oakland
and Washtenaw counties, respectively, both contributing valuable in-
formation in a field almost uncultivated. The entire period of the
War of Secession has received in the Collections scant and inadequate
attention on the historical side, and the attention of writers on Michigan
history is called to this very fruitful field of research and exploration.
Prof. John Cutler Shedd, of Olivet College, contributes a paper on
Ma.nassah Cutler's relations to higher education in the Northwest;
Andrew B. Dougherty, Esq., Deputy Attorney General, discusses
early State cases in the Supreme Court; Mr. John Fitzgibbon, of the
Detroit News staff, tells the story of the Government operations in
surveying and charting the Great Lakes from the beginning of the work
in 1841 to the present time; Hon. G. J. Diekema of Holland has a paper
on the Holland emigration to Michigan; Mr. Raymond Wyer, Director
of the Hackley Art Gallery, Muskegon, contributes a paper on Mr.
Hackley's benefaction.
CO-OPERATION WITH OTHER HISTORICAL COMMISSIONS.
Under the direction of Dr. J. Franklin Jameson, director of the de-
partment of historical research of the Carnegie Institution, a calendar
of the documents relating to the region of the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi Valley is being prepared by Mr. Waldo Leland, Secretary
of the American Historical Association. Mr. Leland has pursued his
researches among the archives of France; and his work was nearly
completed when it was interrupted by the war in 'Europe. The calendar,
however, is in such shape that it can be consulted by historical students.
The Michigan Historical Commission possesses in the Margry papers
a considerable portion of these original documents. The Illinois
Historical Society has been at work in the same field and has another
important fraction of the original material. By 'combining the papers
14 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
in the Michigan and Illinois Collections, and by using the Carnegie
Calendar to indicate the extent and nature of the omissions, publica-
tion of the papers in the possession of the two societies can be made to
contribute largely to genuine historical work in connection with the
old Northwest. It is proper to say that the Historical Societies of the
Middle West contributed to the preparation of the Carnegie Calendar;
so that it represents the co-operative work of these societies.
The combined efforts of the Historical Societies of Illinois, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan are now being directed to the prepara-
tion of a calendar of papers relating to the Middle West in Washington.
When this calendar has been prepared each State will be able to locate
and have reproduced for the use of its historical scholars the papers in
which it is particularly interested. Meanwhile Mr. C. M. Burton, at
his own expense, has had photographed and has placed in the Burton
Library of the Detroit Public Library some eight thousand copies of
papers in the War Department relating more or less directly to the
history of Michigan. These papers are available to students of history.
CO-OPERATION WITH THE PIONEER AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The Mid-winter meeting of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Society was held in the Hackley Art Gallery, Muskegon, in February.
The meeting was presided over by Mr. Clarence E. Bement, President
of the Society, and several representatives of the Commission were
present and took part in the proceedings. The historical activities of
the Daughters of the American Revolution were presented by Mrs.
William H. Wait, State Regent, and those of the Daughters of the
War of 1812 by the President, Mrs. James H. Campbell of Grand
Rapids. The hospitality of the people of Muskegon was shown in a
reception given to the members of the Pioneer and Historical Society
at the Hackley Gallery, and in the particularly interesting music, both
choral and orchestral.
The forty-first annual meeting of the Society was he'd in the Senate
Chamber, Lansing, June 2 and 3, and besides the papers presented,
one session was occupied with a conference on the methods of co-
operation on the part of public libraries, patriotic societies and county
historical societies, with the Michigan Historical Commission, in
gathering and publishing materials relating to the history of the State.
More than twenty persons, representing county and local historical
societies, patriotic societies and public libraries, participated in the
Conference. The Michigan Federation of Women's Clubs was repre-
sented by the president, Mrs. R. H. Ashbaugh, and the Daughters of
the American Revolution and the War of 1812 took part. The papers
MICHIGAN HISTORICAL COMMISSION. 15
presented at these two meetings, together with the report of the pro-
ceedings will appear in Volume 40 of the Collections.
'CO-OPERATION WITH THE MACKINAC ISLAND STATE PARK COMMISSION.
The Michigan Historical Commission accepted the invitation of the
Mackinac Island State Park Commission to participate in the unveiling
of a tablet to Jean Nicolet, which tablet was erected on Mackinac
Island near Arch Rock. At the exercises which took place on July 13,
the orator was the Rev. T. J. Campbell, S. J., of New York City. The
address on the unveiling was made by Mgr. O'Brien on behalf of the
Michigan Historical Commission. The acceptance on the part of the
State was made by Hon. Lawton T. Hemans, and Hon. Edwin O.
Wood responded to the address of welcome made by the Mayor of
Mackinac Is'and.
On July 12, a joint meeting of the Mackinac Island State Park Com-
mission and the Michigan Historical Commission was held at Mackinac
and the two Commissions visited the site of the Fort of 1763 and made
suggestions looking toward the restoration of the old lines of the fort.
They also visited the building set apart for a historic museum on Mack-
inac Island and arranged for co-operation in furnishing materials for
the museum. The list of names and places agreed upon by the two
Commissions was presented at the meeting by Monsignor O'Brien, was
approved and ordered printed as a bulletin of the Historical Com-
mission.
On August 28, the Historical Commission again co-operated with the
Park Commission in the unveiling of a tablet to Lewis Cass. At this
meeting Hon. Edwin 0. Wood presided; the principal address was made
by Hon. Edwin Henderson of the Detroit bar, and addresses were made
by Governor Ferris, Senator Atlee Power of Ohio and Monsignor O'Brien.
THE HISTORICAL MUSEUMS.
The Museum continues to grow in its usual desultory way. The
first need of the Museum is an expert-made catalogue, and until this
shall have been achieved the Museum will minister rather to the curiosity
than to the information of visitors. The Museum is supposed to
represent pioneer conditions in Michigan, but it is impossible to devise
any means adequately to represent those conditions in the corridors
of the Capitol. The Commission has recommended to the patriotic
societies of Michigan that they undertake to build in Lansing a log-cabin,
wherein may be arranged the furniture and utensils used by the pioneers
of Michigan. In no other way can the materials now collected be
made to yield a value commensurate with their cost and care.
16 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
The Mackinac Island State Park Commission has set apart for a
museum a historic and commodious building situated where it over-
looks the Straits of Mackinac, and the Historical Commission has
agreed to co-operate with the Park Commission in the gathering and
arrangement of collections for the museum. This new museum has an
opportunity to illustrate in chronological order the history of Michigan,
beginning with prehistoric times as represented in the works of the
Ancient Miners of Lake Superior and the makers of the Garden Beds of
Kalamazoo County; the life of the Indians at the time of the discovery
of this region by the whites; the French and the English periods at
Michilimackinac ; the methods of the fur trade; and the life at a frontier
Army post.
FINANCIAL.
The Legislature of 1915 increased the appropriation of the Com-
mission from $5,000 to $6,000, the latter amount becoming available
July 1, 1915. Of this increase $400 has been used to pay to B. F.
Stevens & Brown of London, England, the remainder of the amount
due them for transcribing and translating the Margry papers.
The receipts and expenditures paid from the appropriation for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, are as follows:
Salaries of staff officers, clerks and extra service $4,085 30
Travelling expenses 635 41
Office supplies 139 41
Express, freight and cartage 2 75
Telephone and telegraph 53 77
Miscellaneous . . 57 55
Total disbursements $4,794 19
Deficit from preceding year 6 89
Total $4,981 08
Balance from appropriation of $5,000.00 to be carried over to
coming ye&r $18 92
F Michigan. Historical Commission
561 Report
M52
1915
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