Collection

Frank D. Baker Papers

• 1882 - 1962 (Creation)

0.834 linear feet.

The breadth of records in this collection is expansive, covering many aspects of the life of Frank D. Baker and family members. Represented are correspondence, newsletters, newspaper clippings and pages, class yearbooks, meeting minutes, expense ledgers, and poems. Some of these were collected and produced by Baker, others by family members. Records reveal Baker had a varied career and life. The expense ledgers detail purchases made by customers of good in his store, notably pharmaceuticals. The ledgers represent purchases made in the early 1880s. All writing in them is in cursive. Baker served a single-year term as Mayor of Flint in 1889 and was subsequently elected twice as Sheriff of Genesee County. An opponent, William A. Garner, in 1893 accused Baker in a letter of illegally occupying the office, despite Baker have won a majority in the election. Baker is reported to have resigned the office to avoid a confrontation. He returned to his business but later joined the board of the Flint Building Corporation in the 1920s, which oversaw capital development in Flint. He also served as a delegate to the 1924 Democratic National Convention in New York City. He also served as postmaster of Flint between 1914 and 1922. He died in 1927.

Records relating to other family members largely represent those of a daughter, Mattie. Her school records compose most of what is present. These include yearbooks and composition books. She also undertook a long holiday in Europe in the early 1930s as evidenced from brochures and tickets.

The remaining records include minutes of the Genesee County Board of Supervisors from 1892 to 1893, handwritten poems by an unnamed author, and World War II-era ration cards. Another descending served as postmaster for the city in Flint in the late 1940s.

Past practices described the contents of this collection individually. Each item received an object ID number and was treated as a distinct artifact. Records have been reunited, but their original order may have been lost.

No restrictions. Contact the Collections Department to arrange use for research.

Excepting one of the ledgers, all records are housed in acid-free folders that are housed inside two legal-length full Hollinger boxes.

The overall condition of the collection is fair. Newspaper clippings and pages have yellowed considerably and are frail. Some are housed in Mylar sleeves to prevent further cracking and flaking. Handwriting in pencil and pen is faded on some pages, but most writing can be read with ease. Newsletters have tears along their edges. The yearbook is in good condition with faint signs of yellowing on its pages. The Proceedings of the Genesee County Board of Supervisors is in poor condition with its covers detached from the pages, which have yellowed. The covers had been held together with Scotch tape. The tape was removed.

No restrictions. Reproductions are done and charged in accordance with Sloan Museum Archives Fee Service Policy.

• English

A downloadable PDF finding aid is available.

Frank D. Baker collected and generated the records in this collection. Martha Baker donated them in 1962.

DACS, 2nd edition

Jonathan Kirkwood, Archivist, 2/2/2024

• Politics
• Letters
• Newspapers

• Kalamazoo, Michigan

• Baker, Frank D. (Subject)
• Baker, Fred P. (Subject)
• Baker, Gertrude (Subject)
• Baker, Margaret L. (Subject)
• Baker, Martha (Subject)
• Baker, Mattie (Subject)
• Davis, John W. (Subject)
• Day, Homer A. (Subject)
• Garner, William A. (Subject)
• Hetchler, Clarence O. (Subject)
• Klein, Philip C. (Subject)
• Mott, Charles Stewart (Subject)
• Murphy, Edward A. (Subject)
• Pengelly, J. Bradford (Subject)
• Thomas, Mrs. Fred Billiard (Subject)
• Wilson, Mark A. (Subject)