Scope and Contents This collection consists primarily of letters from Alanson Royce to his family, describing his farm in New Buffalo, Michigan, and his migration to Mornington, Missouri, where he also farmed. In his letters home Royce discusses Missouri's economy and agricultural prospects, as well as education and social conditions. There are very few references to slavery. Royce farmed in Missouri until 1862, when his pro-Union views angered local Confederate sympathizers and forced him to flee to Illinois....

Scope and Contents The collection contains a mimeographed transcription of Halliday's "Journal of a trip on the Missouri River." It is a day-by-day account of his trip taken in 1868 from his home in Fountain Prairie, Wisconsin, to Montana and back again. He traveled by train from his home to St. Louis, Missouri, and from there to Ft. Benton, Montana, by steamboat. While in Montana, he took a side trip by horse from Ft. Benton to Virginia City, Montana. He comments on weather and travel conditions and describes...