Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Newsletters and minutes of executive committee of the Dav-Joy-Lin-Dex Community Council; newsletters of area block clubs; files relating to her community and organizational involvement; published materials; and photographs.

The McCauley collection consists of the records of the Dav-Joy-Lin-Dex Community Council but including as well files documenting McCauley's other community activities. Of most importance in understanding the work of the Council are its News Bulletins which date from 1960 to 1989. In addition to neighborhood news, the bulletins included notes about city government, particularly as they related to this local neighborhood. The News Bulletins were also the place where McCauley informed the community about the Council's various petition drives.

As executive secretary of the Council, McCauley wanted her group to act as a clearinghouse of information about matters of neighborhood concern. Her collection reflects this interest. Besides material about the Council, McCauley also preserved records about the various block clubs that made up the Council. The great bulk of these relate to the Dexter-Elmhurst Advisory Board, but there are also newsletters for the Glynn Court Block Club and the Calvert Civic Block Club.

Social Service organization serving the Detroit African American community, affiliate of the National Urban League; includes minutes of the Board of Directors, correspondence and topical files of Executive Directors and Presidents, budgets and financial records, and papers concerning National Urban League conferences and Green Pastures Camp; also departmental files relating to community services, housing, vocational services, health and welfare, job development and employment, and education and youth incentives; and photographs.

The records of the Detroit Urban League include minutes of the Board of Directors, correspondence and topical files of Executive Directors and Presidents, budgets and financial records, and papers concerning National Urban League conferences and Green Pastures Camp; also departmental files relating to community services, housing, vocational services, health and welfare, job development and employment, and education and youth incentives. The records also include photographs of chapter activities, meetings, and ceremonies; photos of buildings and staff (notably executive directors, John Dancy and Francis Kornegay); also films.

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.

Assistant to George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute, later a Detroit, Michigan, businessman. Correspondence and other papers of G. W. Carver relating primarily to experiments with soil improvement and the discovery of new applications for the peanut and other Southern agricultural products; newspaper clippings and memos relating to Curtis' campaign for Congress in 1958 and his work with Carver; and photographs.

The Curtis collection has two parts: papers of George Washington Carver that Curtis collected while in Carver's employ; and papers of Curtis mainly relating to his business activities with A.W. Curtis Laboratories of Detroit, Michigan, and also his unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1958. The Carver papers are of the most significance, relating to Carver's experiments with soil improvement and his discovery of new applications for the peanut and other agricultural products of the South.