Search

The University of Michigan's first professional school; the Medical School record group includes historical and administrative records related to the school and its faculty and administrators, 1850-2010.

The records of the Medical School span over 160 years, beginning in 1850 and continuing through 2010. They include 389.7 linear feet of material, 10 oversize volumes, 9 oversize folders of miscellaneous documents, and 3.3 GB of digital material stored online. The records include dean's correspondence and subject files, executive committee minutes, faculty minutes, annual reports of departments, school accreditation and review files, a variety of special reports and studies, and extensive files on the Replacement Hospital Project (Taubman Center). The record group also contains photo prints depicting faculty, students and facilities, including a remarkable series of photographs taken by J. Jefferson Gibson circa 1893.

The Medical School records have been organized into five subgroups: Dean's Records, Subordinate Administrative Officers, Faculty Records, Audio-Visual Materials, and Miscellaneous records. Within each subgroup there are a number of series and these series may be further subdivided to reflect the date span of the records received in each accession.

The Medical School records have been received in several accessions and the physical arrangement of the records (the number order of the boxes) reflects the various installments in which they were received. The accessions sometimes reflected the tenure of a particular dean or other administrator, but frequently appear to have been somewhat arbitrary transfers of files. Records from individual subgroups, series and subseries often continue across multiple accessions--sometimes with consecutive date ranges, but often with overlapping date spans.

In this finding aid the records are described in their intellectual order -- subgroups and series are brought together irrespective of the particular accession in which they were received. As a result, in the detailed contents listing the box number order will not always be consecutive.

The Office of the President records group includes the records of University of Michigan Presidents Robben Fleming, 1968-1978 and 1988 (interim); Allan Smith, 1979 (interim); Harold T. Shapiro, 1980-1987; James J. Duderstadt, 1988-1996; Homer Neal, 1996-1997 (interim); Lee C. Bollinger, 1997-2001; B. Joseph White, 2002 (interim); Mary Sue Coleman (2002-2014); and Mark Schlissel (2014-present). The record group includes annual files from the Office of the President, which include topical files and schools and colleges files. Other series in the record group include supplemental files for each president, search files, committee appointment files, audio and visual materials, development files, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) files, and ephemera.

The records of the University of Michigan President contain the central files created and collected by the President and members of the President's staff. There is some content inherited from earlier presidents, but the record group effectively begins in 1967 with the administration of Robben W. Fleming and continues through successive administrations. (Records of Presidents prior to Fleming are cataloged under the name of the individual office holder).

The University of Michigan President's records are organized into the following series: Topical Files; Schools and Colleges Files; Supplemental Files; Search Files; Committee Appointment Files; Development; Facilities; Freedom of Information Act; Audio-Visual Material Files; Ephemera; Archived Website. Three first three series are major recurring series (Topical, Schools and Colleges, and Supplemental Files). The additional series (Committee Appointment; Searches; Development; Facilities; Freedom of Information Act; Audio-Visual Material Files; Ephemera; Archived Website) are not consistently created or predictably transferred.

Although the series are collectively described, the actual ordering of the boxes in the contents listing are not necessarily consecutive given the timing and sequence of transfers. For a summary bringing all boxes together under a particular series, see the Summary Contents list for a collective representation of boxes.

Established in 1891 as the University of Michigan Training School for Nurses, the School of Nursing offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees and continuing education in nursing specializations including medical-surgical nursing, psychiatric mental health nursing, and nursing administration. The record group includes administrative and topical files of the dean, committee and faculty records, photographs, and research area files.

The physical records of the School of Nursing measure 112 feet, 2 oversize folders, and 1.24 GB (online), with an additional 9 feet of material in records center storage. Physical records date from 1891 to 2010, although the great majority of the material was created after 1940 by the current School of Nursing; the School of Nursing website has been archived since the early 2000s.

Only fragmentary records of the school's two predecessor units are found in the collection. Reflecting the source of the material, the collection has been arranged into broad subgroups, the titles of which usually reflect the dean from whose office the records originated.

Records of the School of Social Work (formerly the Institute of Social Work) include minutes, correspondence, curriculum records, and topical files, concerning the activities of the University's social work program under the direction of Robert Kelso, Arthur Dunham, Federle Fauri, Phillip Fellin, Harold R. Johnson, and Paula Allen-Meares.

The records document the founding and development of the School of Social Work from its inception as the Institute of Health and Social Sciences (later renamed as Institute of Public and Social Administration) in 1935, to its subsequent reorganization as the School of Social Work in 1951. The proposed merger with Wayne State University in 1950 is also well documented. The strength of this record group consists of 59 years of minutes (1935-1994), which include proceedings from executive, faculty, and curriculum committees.

Records of the University Human Resources and its predecessors. University Human Resources plans, administers, and monitors the university policies regarding personnel and employee relations and nondiscrimination. This office coordinates with various executive officers and deans of the schools and colleges.

University Human Resources records (27.4 linear feet) are divided into three subgroups: Affirmative Action, Personnel, and Human Resources and Affirmative Action.

Two lawsuits filed in 1997 (Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger; and Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger) made the University of Michigan a focal point in the national debate over the value and legality of affirmative action in higher education. The lawsuits brought by non-minority applicants challenged the legality of the university's admissions process. Documentation includes briefs, judicial orders and opinions, expert reports, trial transcripts and exhibits, and amicus briefs from companies and organizations supporting the university's position in both the Gratz and Grutter case. Also included are snapshot of the university's admissions lawsuits website and clippings and media files.

The records are organized in four series, Grutter v. Bollinger, et al., Gratz v. Bollinger, et al., Admissions Lawsuits Website and News Media. The first three series contain briefs, judicial orders and opinions, experts' reports, amicus briefs from companies and organizations supporting the university's position in the lawsuits, and a limited number of press releases and documents printed from the website maintained by the university's News and Information Services regarding the lawsuits. The News Media series, however, is entirely comprised of news articles, editorials and press releases from newspapers across the country. Note that the record group currently contains only public documents. It does not contain internal General Counsel documents or correspondence regarding the lawsuits.