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Seaman Family Collection

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MS-166

Collection Scope and Content Summary

Collection, 1881-2018, of the Seaman family, the majority created by Arthur Edmund Seaman and Wyllys Arthur Seaman. Includes correspondence to and from the Seamans, publications by the Seamans, poetry by A. E. Seaman, research notes on various topics, photographs, photograph albums, film reels, audiorecordings, and miscellaneous ephemera.

Dates

  • 1881-2018

Access

Available for use in the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

Various copying restrictions apply. Guidelines are available from Michigan Technological University Archives & Copper Country Historical Collections.

Biography

Arthur Edmund Seaman was born in Casnovia, Michigan in 1858. As a young boy he worked in the woods near his home; however, the white pine stands in southern Michigan were beginning to show signs of exhaustion and the loggers headed to the Upper Peninsula. Seaman went with them. He started work as a timberman but developed a knowledge of rocks and minerals on his own and was taken into the Michigan Geological Survey by C.E. Wright in 1885. After Wright died, Dr. Wadsworth of the geological survey and also director at the Michigan Mining School, retained Seaman. Between 1890 and 1893 Seaman became a fulltime instructor at the Michigan College of Mines (now Michigan Technological University). He was connected with the college until his death in 1937. Professor Seaman was a noted authority on the pre-Cambrian geology of the Lake Superior region, and conducted much research along these lines. He had the reputation among many educators of having a wider, first-hand knowledge of the geology of the Lake Superior region than any other man. He retired in 1928 with the title of professor emeritus of mineralogy and geology, and at the same time he was made curator of the mineralogy and geology museum. In June, 1932 the museum was named in his honor, "A. E. Seaman Museum" (now A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum). Seaman's son, Wyllys Arthur Seaman followed in his father's footsteps. He graduated from the Michigan College of Mines in 1907 with his bachelor's and mining engineer degrees and for forty years was a member of the faculty at the college. He was a professor in the Department of Geology, and in 1943 he was appointed curator of the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum. He retired from the college in 1948 and joined the public sector as the geologist and mineralogist for Republic Steel Corporation of Mexico, working in the titanium field in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. Wyllys Seaman passed away in 1972 in Oaxaca.

Extent

9.13 cubic feet ( (5 Paige boxes, 7 manuscript boxes, 5 flat boxes, and 8 film cans))

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection, 1881-2018, of the Seaman family, the majority created by Arthur Edmund Seaman and Wyllys Arthur Seaman. Includes correspondence to and from the Seamans, publications by the Seamans, poetry by A. E. Seaman, research notes on various topics and miscellaneous ephemera.

Processing History

Elizabeth Russell, updated by Lindsay Hiltunen 9/8/2014, updated by Allison Neely 11/30/2021, 08/30/2022, 11/23/2022, 04/19/2023

Title
Seaman Family Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Elizabeth Russell, revised by Lindsay Hiltunen, revised by Allison Neely
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections Repository

Contact:
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton 49931 U.S.A. US