George M. Bitzer records
Scope and Contents
The collection is divided into eleven series:
FARM INCOME TAX RECORDS. 1942-1966. This series contains accounting information for federal income taxes and farm business analyses.
JOURNALS. 1948-1965. This series contains journals consisting of income and expense accounts with some subsidiary ledgers.
DIARIES. 1931-1979. This series contains mainly diaries of George Bitzer and one diary of Tula Bitzer.
MISCELLANEOUS. 1921-1968. This series contains various items such as correspondence, federal income tax forms, Michigan Sugar Company Contracts, Road Maps, Farmer's Bulletins, Worker's Compensation Forms plus many others.
RECEIPTS. 1942-1967. This series contains insurance, investment and property tax receipts.
ESTATE RECORDS. 1868-1953. This series contains estate records between George Bitzer and Hermann and Martha Bizter.
LUTHERAN BUND RECORDS. 1917-1938, undated. This series contains records of the Lutheran Bund of Michigan which was a fraternal beneficiary association organization. The organization would provide aide to its members in the event of illness or death. These records contain the constitution of the Bund, annual reports, memos, meeting minutes, and death notices and payment slips.
OVERSIZED MATERIALS. 1905-1961. This series contains records a Tuscola County (Mich.) road map, confirmation certificate, and marriage certificate.
POSTCARDS.
PHOTOGRAPHS.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES. This series includes digitized photographs, scans of hand written documents, and digital text documents about the Bitzer family.
Dates
- Creation: 1905 - 1967
Language of Materials
Some materials are in German.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.
Biographical Note
George M. Bitzer was raised in Unionville, Michigan. He attended school in Unionville and graduated from the eight grade. When his father promised him land in exchange for his labor, he decided to leave school and return to the family farm. After a few years, he was given seventy acres of land on French Road in Unionville. In addition to this land, George and his brother, Herman, acquired eighty acres of land on Forestville Road (also in Unionville) which they farmed together until Herman's death in 1953. After his brother's death, George continued to own both parcels of land, renting part of it to other farmers.
Bitzer raised a variety of crops, including wheat and beans, in addition to producing milk and eggs. His largest cash crop was sugar beets which he produced for the Michigan Sugar Company. He also worked for hourly wages in the company's plant in Sebewaing for several years. Bitzer farmed actively until he was over seventy years of age, at which time he began to sharecrop his land.
Extent
5.5 Cubic Feet
Arrangement
Arranged into eleven series.
Preservica Internal URL
https://us.preservica.com/explorer/explorer.html#prop:4&5ed5bb42-b708-4a8b-a04d-12092516bfe5
Preservica Public URL
https://msu.access.preservica.com/archive/sdb%3Acollection|5ed5bb42-b708-4a8b-a04d-12092516bfe5/
Custodial History
Gift of Carol Gregory Wright.
Gift of Eileen Trott.
Legal Status
Copyright: Michigan State University. Property Rights: Michigan State University.
Subject
- United States. Department of Agriculture (Organization)
- Michigan Farm Bureau (Organization)
- Lutheran Bund of Michigan (Organization)
- Detroit Edison Company (Organization)
- Title
- George M. Bitzer Records
- Status
- 4 Published And Cataloged
- Author
- C. Williams
- Date
- December 1985
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- TypeCollection
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives and Historical Collections Repository
Conrad Hall
943 Conrad Road, Room 101
East Lansing MI 48824 US
517-355-2330
archives@msu.edu