Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Organization of mothers of servicemen who died in action. Minute books, scrapbooks, photographs, citations and certificate of service, and miscellanea.

The record group consists of minute books, 1950-1975; scrapbooks, 1950-1968; and miscellaneous other materials, including scattered photographs.

Township record books, 1845-1902; registers of births, 1906-1943; registers of deaths, 1897-1912; poll books, tally sheets, and statement of votes from polls within township; records relating to surveys, repairs, etc. of township roads; reports and compiled statistics pertaining to township schools; property assessment roll books; and other miscellaneous records.

The records of Ann Arbor Township include township record books, 1845-1902; registers of births, 1906-1943; registers of deaths, 1897-1912; poll books, tally sheets, and statement of votes from polls within township; records relating to surveys, repairs, etc. of township roads; reports and compiled statistics pertaining to township schools; property assessment roll books; and other miscellaneous records. The records are organized into nine series:

1. Township Record Books, 1845-1902
2. Registers of Births, 1906-1943
3. Registers of Deaths, 1897-1912
4. Election records
5. Highway Records, 1820s-1920s
6. Treasurer's records, 1830s-1923
7. School Records, 1840s-1930s
8. Miscellaneous, 1827-1920s
9. Assessment Roll Books, 1872-1996

Bulletins, minutes of committees, correspondence, news clippings, and other materials relating to the activities of the organization; also minutes, 1928-1953, of Ann Arbor Ministerial Association.

The record group is comprised of two series: Ann Arbor Ministerial Association and Ann Arbor-Washtenaw Council of Churches Yearly Files. The kinds of documents in the Ann Arbor Ministerial Association series includes minutes of meetings, scattered correspondence and financial reports. The Ann Arbor-Washtenaw Council of Churches Yearly Files also includes minutes as well as greater documentation of projects and services provided by the organization.

Architectural photographer based in Troy, Mich. Photoprints and copy negatives, chiefly a portfolio entitled "Man's Presence," a study of Michigan's manmade environment.

Representing but a tiny fraction of Korab's oeuvre, the collection held at the Bentley Library will nevertheless appeal to a broad range of researchers. Especially in a collective sense, Korab photographs are not only about architecture and architectural photography, but also about art, technology, modernism, photography's history, the environment, urbanism, ruralism, and the creative process itself. They also document one individual's spirited commitment to a life's work -- work expressed both analytically and emotionally.

The essence of the collection is a Korab portfolio entitled Man's Presence, a study of Michigan's man-made environment that drew him to dozens of towns, cities and rural areas in the upper and lower peninsulas. Photographs capture the quiet magnificence of silos and barns, the elegance of 19th century mansions, the utilitarian architecture of iron foundries and grain elevators. There are also pictures depicting ways man has wasted resources (an abandoned lumber mill, a barren tract of bulldozed land. A superb example of Korab's lifelong fascination with vernacular architecture, Man's Presence is a deliberate effort to capture on film Michigan worlds that otherwise might go unnoticed or become lost to future generations.

The collection is comprised of three series: Biographical Materials; Man's Presence Contact Sheets; and Man's Presence Copy Prints and Copy Negatives.

Ann Arbor chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; minutes and other organizational records.

The record group has been arranged into the following series: Minutes; Published Material; Yearly Files; Officers Files; Membership records; Topical Files; Genealogical records; Scrapbooks, Historians Albums; and Visual Materials. Of interest are files relating in part to the chapter's activities during the Spanish-American War and World War I. The genealogical records include cemetery records for various Washtenaw County cemeteries.

Collection of photographs and other material documenting various locations, communities, and organizations in Michigan.

Collection of materials (mostly photographs) that document social, cultural, religious, and daily life in the state of Michigan and at the University of Michigan. Photographs depict locations throughout the state and groups of people. Materials are in the following categories: graduating classes, social societies and clubs, University of Michigan, views and scenes.

Student papers, 1930-1987 prepared for classes in history at the University of Michigan (primarily Michigan history class taught by Lewis G. VanderVelde, but also including research papers for classes taught by Sidney Fine and others); topics concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; and local community history.

The student papers are organized alphabetically by author in two series, which are similar in date range and topics covered. Topics of papers concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; local community history and University of Michigan history. A topical index to the papers is available in the first box of the collection.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, attorney and local Democratic Party activist. Political files relating to his various campaigns for office (Ann Arbor city council, Michigan House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, and Michigan State Senate among others); papers relating to his service in the state House, 1955-1958; his activities with Washtenaw County, Michigan, and Second Congressional District Democratic affairs; also letters received from Lt. Lee M. Cecil, 1952-1954, describing his experiences as a soldier during the Korean War; and photographs.

The George Wahr Sallade papers, although limited in quantity (five linear feet), are of interest to the researcher of Michigan politics in the post-World War II era. They can be used to gather information on the "Young Turks," a group that in the 1950s foreshadowed the more moderate nature of the Michigan Republican party of the 1960s and 1970s. They provide insight into issues that were of concern to the Washtenaw County and Second Congressional District Democratic parties - including Vietnam, race, party reform, and the economy - in the troubled years of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The ideological positions of the two local parties, relative to the state party as a whole, can be determined by comparing the resolutions they passed with those of the state party and its platform. Finally Sallade's campaign files can be used to determine the issues of concern to the local electorate in the years in which he ran for public office. His 1968-1972 campaigns are fairly well documented from an issue standpoint (particularly his 1972 race for county prosecutor), and, therefore, can be used to determine whether and to what extent national events affected the conduct of state and county races. Sallade's papers should be supplemented by use of the Detroit News - Lansing Bureau index; the papers of Governor G. Mennen Williams; and those of the state central committees of the Michigan Democratic and Republican parties. All of these are at the Michigan Historical Collections. The Collections also has a complete run of both Good Morning Michigan and "Michigan Around and About."

The Sallade papers have been arranged in three series: Personal; Political: and Photographs.

Administrative files, including board and finance minutes, agendas, fund-raising and promotional materials, scrapbooks, articles of incorporation, and other miscellanea; also files of the Ypsilanti, Wayne, and Brighton, Michigan, councils of the Girl Scouts.

The Huron Valley Girl Scout Council record group documents the administration and activities of a growing Girl Scout Council in Michigan. It is comprised of such records as Board and Council minutes, by-laws, annual reports, newsletters, financial material, various committee minutes, district files, promotional material, annual agendas, membership information, and staff position descriptions. Included in the records are the files of the Ann Arbor, Plymouth and Washtenaw County Girl Scout Councils. In 1958 these agencies combined to form the Huron Valley Girl Scout Council. The records cover the years 1940 through 1965 with the bulk covering 1958-1962. Only a portion of the records have been processed. Those materials which have been processed consist of the following series: Ann Arbor Girl Scout Council, Plymouth Girl Scout Council, Girl Scout Council of Washtenaw County and Huron Valley Girl Scout Council.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, photography firm. Photonegatives, and some photoprints, of images largely relating to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, but including Ypsilanti and other Michigan cities: buildings, businesses, houses, street scenes, community activities, and organizations; also photos of automobiles, storm damage, etc. taken to support insurance claims.

The Ivory Photo collection consists of an impressive array of negatives and prints taken by Ann Arbor photographer Mel Ivory from the 1920s to the early 1970s. Most of the photographs were taken by Ivory for customers, whether the University of Michigan, local businesses, or private citizens. The collection is probably most valuable for its extensive documentation of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, the two areas in which it bulks largest. However, because it spans a relatively long time period, the collection is also useful for illustrating changes in photography as an art and as a business, and for documenting social trends in twentieth-century America. Finally, the collection documents the career of a commercial photographer.

As a photographer for the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s, Ivory took the standard pictures of campus events, buildings, and people, but the value of many photographs from this period is as much aesthetic as informational. Producing cover art for the Michigan Alumnus allowed him to experiment with unusual angles, lighting, and subject matter. (See, for example, photographs of the Clements Library and of students strolling through the Diag in the 1930s.) In stark contrast to these images is a large group of photographs of car wrecks that Ivory took for insurance companies between 1937 and 1969.

Besides providing thorough documentation of the physical plant of the University of Michigan, the Ivory collection evokes the flavor of life on campus in the 1930s and 1940s through photographs of football games and crowds, dance bands, social events, professors at work in laboratories, the Michigan Daily staff at work, and students in classrooms, libraries, and dormitories.

The Ann Arbor subseries includes numerous photographs of houses and businesses, filed by address to facilitate research into a particular building or site, as well as a rich assortment of photographs depicting life in Ann Arbor through more than four decades. There are numerous photographs of men and women at work in factories, stores, and other settings. Some show women at work in unusual settings (as cab drivers for Ace Cab Company, for example) while others depict women in stereotypically female occupations (as secretaries, store clerks, and ditto machine operators). Photographs of drug and department store display windows and of products in grocery stores illustrate trends in merchandising.

The Ivory collection is also remarkable for its documentation of social mores. Wedding photographs taken from the 1930s to the 1960s depict a variety of settings, fashions, wedding rituals, and even fads, such as a 1940 wedding at a roller rink. There is also a small group of photographs of funerals and an extensive series of portraits of children, families, and individuals.

Photographs of a depression-era hobo cooking near a railroad car, of lawn parties and country clubs, of the soap box derby and sports teams reflect diverse aspects of life in Ann Arbor. The home front during World War II is documented in views of an aluminum drive, a blitzkrieg game in a local tavern, a commuter bus with a female conductor, and the Judge Advocate General's school exercises in the Law Quad.

Although the Ypsilanti subseries is considerably smaller than the Ann Arbor and University of Michigan subseries, it contains a number of valuable photographs, such as the Cleary College photographs showing rows of students at typewriters, students relaxing on boarding house steps and in Cleary lounges and recreation rooms, and annual graduation processions. The Washtenaw County subseries contains rural scenes such as farms, country roads, and a county fair. The remaining subseries consist of businesses, street scenes, railroad stations, and a variety of other photographs representing Michigan towns and counties.

A few copy negatives made by Ivory from existing photographs are scattered throughout the collection. A late nineteenth or early twentieth-century anatomy lesson in the Medical School, for example, is filed in the "Colleges, Schools, and other Divisions" section of University of Michigan 5"x7" negatives.

The contents of the various subseries and sub-subseries are for the most part self-evident, but a few words of explanation about the Ann Arbor subseries are in order. "Buildings and Views" consists largely of exterior views of buildings. However, there are many interior scenes of people and activities in the "Churches," "Hospitals," and "Schools" sections. For example, photographs of Ann Arbor churches include views of the pastor and congregation, choirs, recreation rooms, meetings, and athletic teams in addition to interior and exterior views of the buildings. "Schools" contains photographs of sports teams, classroom scenes, social events, and buildings representing Ann Arbor public and parochial schools, but also Ann Arbor Secretarial School and Concordia College.

Researchers seeking images of commercial enterprises will find material in the "Buildings and Views" sub-subseries (listed under the street address in the "Houses and Businesses" section) and in the "Businesses" sub-subseries (under the name of the enterprise).

The "Houses and Businesses" negatives within the "Buildings and Views" sub-subseries are arranged alphabetically by street name and then numerically by address. Most of these photographs are exterior views, but interior scenes of businesses have been filed here in order to keep exterior and interior views of a particular business together. Photographs of products, equipment, people at work, and special events are filed in the "Businesses" sub-subseries when no building exteriors exist or when the address of the business was unknown. Researchers should look both places for photographs of businesses. Although some "see also" references have been added, they are by no means exhaustive. Researchers may also wish to examine the "Motor Vehicles" sub-subseries, which contains photographs of trucks owned by Ann Arbor businesses.

In the University of Michigan subseries, "Buildings and Views" consists of exterior and interior views of buildings, whereas "Colleges, Schools, and Other Divisions" contains photographs of professors and students in laboratories and classrooms as well as group photographs of staff and students.