Insurance records compose most of the collections. Other records include correspondence, bills, receipts, and brochures related to Oak Grove Sanitarium.

The collection varies in its scope and content. The most prominent item in it is a book entitled “Building on Faith in Flint.” Arthur Pound wrote it with funding from Union Industrial Trust and Savings Bank. It was published in 1930. The book tracks the history of two banks founded in Flint: Union Trust & Savings Bank (founded 1893) and Industrial Savings Bank (founded 1909). Both banks merged in 1929 to form Union Trust & Industrial Savings Bank. This bank failed one year later. Pound began as far back as 1615 with the early history of Michigan after the arrival of the first Europeans. Native Americans never received any coverage. He wrote of the need for both banks to provide better than “wildcat” banking in Flint and to assist labor and industry. Illustrations of the banks and their branches accompany histories of both banks.

Other items in this collection include a pamphlet issued by the Industrial Workers of the World in response to the Flint Police Force arresting two labor activists, programs from First Baptist Church, including one for the church’s fiftieth anniversary (1903), and photostatic copies of an unidentified Civil War-era diary and the Pierson family. The I.W.W. pamphlet represents the cause of Joseph H. Downer and Daniel Atcheff, who were arrested for criminal syndicalism by Flint police during a labor rally. The I.W.W. argued that both men preached non-violence as the path forward for labor. Articles from the Flint Journal reported that both men had advocated for violence. The Flint Journal also spelled Atcheff’s last name as Acheff. The fiftieth anniversary program for First Baptist Church provides the names of prominent members and a timeline of the church’s first year, 1853. The diary was written in 1865 by an unidentified Union soldier who served in Tennessee and later Washington, D.C. From the entries, he may have been present for the Hampton Roads Conference and while never seeing Abraham Lincoln did catch sight of the three Confederate commissioners who attended.

The collection contains clippings of Addison, Cook, Frazer, and Walker families from 1879 to 1950 and a marriage certificate between Delos Cook and Jane Walker.

The collection is largely composed to records created by the Genesee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution over the course of conducting its activities. A minority of the collection is composed of newspaper clippings and other items collected by members that came into possession of the chapter. Some of these contents are related to the chapter and the DAR; others are not.

Records reflecting its activities come in many forms, but predominantly in chapter rosters, a treasurer’s journal, and minutes recorded by various secretaries between 1897 and 1929. These reflect that the chapter focused more on contributing money to charitable and educational causes due to other women’s groups in Flint taking on duties similar to other chapters of the DAR in other American cities.

Contents collected the by that are related to the DAR include multiple scrapbooks with cards, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Indexes were created for some of these scrapbooks and printed out from computers. No electronic copies are known to exist. These reflect events and stories about the DAR, both local and national. Some coverage is given to the Flint Ladies’ Library Association.

Contents unrelated to the DAR have unknown provenance, but do not reflect any connection to the chapter or the DAR. Many precede the chapter’s establishment by several decades. A number of ledgers document purchases from the 1840s to 1850s. How they were included in the collection is unknown.

The scrapbook contains clippings from Barron’s Weekly that record business dealings and personal episodes from the life of William C. Durant. The clippings come from articles written from January to February 1926.

Sales catalogs of three Whiting automobile models and carriages for the Flint Wagon Works.

The collection consists of a single autograph booklet owned by Sarah A. (Emmons) Miller. The date range is approximately 1887 to 1888. Miller, at the time, lived in Cass City, which is located in Tuscola County, Michigan. Miller used the booklet to collect autographs and messages from women friends, explicitly stating in the booklet that it was her intention. Friends signed their names and wrote messages hoping Miller enjoyed a long and happy life.

Butler Funeral Home was the first black-owned funeral home in the city of Flint. It first opened its doors in 1932 as Robinson & Chandler Funeral Home by owners Charles H. Robinson and Robert C. Chandler at the address 3115 St. John St. With the death of both Robinson and Chandler in 1956, the funeral home came under the ownership of Robinson’s widow, Ailene R. Butler.

Robinson & Chandler Funeral Home was renamed Butler Funeral Home in 1957. Likely due to the looming land acquisitions by the State of Michigan for the construction of I-475, Butler Funeral Home moved out of the St. John St. building and relocated 2 miles northwest to address 4915 N. Saginaw St. in 1964. In 1970, Butler Funeral Home relocated 1.5 miles West to 906 W. Park Blvd, replacing the Lenczycki Funeral Home that previously occupied the property. Butler Funeral Home remained at this location until its closure in 1986. In 1987 the property was purchased, renovated and reopened as Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home which remains at this location as of the date of this finding aid.

Fourteen box collection with two different sets of boxes, a numbered set and lettered set. The collection’s first eleven boxes are numbered and individual files in these boxes are listed alphabetically by surname of the deceased. The boxes are listed in the order as follows: 1-57, 58-119, 120-178, 179-193, 225-280, 281-304, 305-348, 349-383, 394-440, 441-482, 483-507.

The collection’s additional three boxes are listed by letters: A-H, J-M, N-Z. Individual files are listed in these boxes alphabetically by surname of the deceased along with their date of death. Files in this collection include various documents necessary for funeral services and burial: Obituaries published by Butler Funeral Home, funeral home receipts/billing for services offered, obituaries written by family of the deceased for the funeral home to produce funeral programs, funeral notice order forms for publication in the Flint Journal obituary section, death certificates, funeral memorial service cards/programs produced by Butler Funeral Home. Consistent features in each file are funeral home internal purchase orders and invoices, newspaper clippings of obituaries, copies of life insurance policies, correspondence in cases of non-payment between the funeral home director/owner Ailene R. Butler and clients. Some files also contain I.D. or insurance cards of the deceased and photographs provided for reproduction on funeral programs.

These documents represent the academic and career accomplishments of Beatrice Welzel who worked for the Central Foundry Division of the General Motors Corporation.

Bea Munson was born in 1910 in Flushing, Michigan. She graduated from Flushing High School in 1927. She began working at the General Motors Corporation the same year. According to census records, she married George Welzel, a salesman in the hardware industry. Their son, George P. Welzel, was born in October of 1949. The family resided in Saginaw. She celebrated 25 years at General Motors in 1952. She died in 2008.

The collection includes letters from the General Manager J.H. Smith, a history of the Central Foundry Division written by the Public Affairs office, a certificate of achievement and a booklet explaining employee benefits document life as a General Motors employee in the Central Foundry Division-Financial Department. The collection also features pamphlets, photographs, souvenir programs, seating charts for the Annual Quarter Century Banquet, buttons, a souvenir coin, a ruler and a GM branded Table of Frequently Used Units card.

Records of the collection primarily reflect the business activities of members of the Atwood family, and of them mostly J.B. Atwood and Island Mill Lumber. These predominantly come in the form of correspondence written to Atwood and the mill and reflect transactions, negotiations, and other matters. Little correspondence comes from Atwood. Correspondence that is personal shows relations between family members and that they were often lending money between one another. The correspondence and other records stretch from 1867 to 1911, but the bulk of it is from between 1869 to 1876, which may have been a very active time for J.B. Atwood and Island Mill Lumber.

An unrelated document is a small booklet printed by General Motors in 1911 about its operations.

Unrelated to the other contents is a yellow legal pad with previous processing notes written on its pages. These notes offer details on specific letters. It has been retained because of its potential value to researchers and staff alike.