Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Photographs and sound recordings of Alston remarks at the dedication of the Robert Hayden Lounge in the University of Michigan Center for Afroamerican and African Studies in 1988. The Center was renamed the Department Afroamerican and African Studies in 2011. A 1988 discussion between Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Alston, William McAdoo, and member of the Bentley Historical Library staff about African American historical material housed at the Bentley. Interview conducted by William McAdoo (1990, includes transcript) relating to the Inventory of Negro Manuscripts project at the Bentley Historical Library.

Aviator, civilian personnel officer with the U.S. Air Force; chronological and topical files, audio-visual materials, and clippings and scrapbooks.

The Chauncey Spencer collection is an accumulation of personal materials - correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, sound and video recordings - relating to his lifelong interest in aviation, his career with the military, and the career of his mother, poetess Anne Spencer.

Graduate of Tuskegee Institute in 1909, later pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Correspondence, including letters from Mr. and Mrs. Booker T. Washington, 1909-1915; and miscellaneous sermons, prayers, church bulletins, reports of the Second Baptist Church and other materials concerning his work with the Ann Arbor Human Relations Commission, the Citizens Advisory Committee for a Workable Program, and the Ann Arbor Bus Committee.

The Carpenter collection includes correspondence, files relating to his community interests and involvements, sermons and prayers, files detailing his services with Second Baptist Church, and photographs.

Pastor of the First Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1934-1944, later Methodist Episcopal Bishop of the Des Moines, Iowa area and the Chicago, Illinois area. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and topical files, and miscellanea concerning his; and photographs.

The Brashares collection includes correspondence and topical files relating in part to his pastoral responsibilities, to his work as delegate to the 2nd Assembly of the World Council of Churches, and to his engagement with various social problems. There is some correspondence with G. Bromley Oxnam concerning his appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1953.

A bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and founder of the denomination's Sunday School Union

The papers of Charles Spencer Smith measure 4 linear feet and date from ca. 1875 to 1923. The correspondence, sermons, speeches, articles, and printed material in the collection relate primarily to Smith's work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church as secretary and treasurer of the Sunday School Union, and as a bishop. Of particular value is a manuscript history of the A.M.E. Church in the 1840's and 1850's written by Bishop Daniel A. Payne, D.D., LL.D, and edited by Smith. These manuscript chapters from A History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church point out that Smith may have eliminated some of the original manuscript's detail to make Payne's work more concise. Smith himself wrote A History of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. 2, which was printed by the Book Concern of the A.M.E. Church, Philadelphia, in 1922. This volume covers the history of the church during the years 1856-1922 and was intended as a sequel to Bishop Payne's work. The Bentley Library has reprints of both of these volumes.

Biographical information has been placed at the beginning of the collection. It is followed by Smith's correspondence; his speeches, articles, sermons, pamphlets, and other writings; and material pertaining to the Methodist Ecumenical Conferences he attended in London in 1901 and 1921. Then there are materials relating to the A.M.E. Church, both printed and manuscript, followed by newspaper clippings, memorabilia, and topical files. Papers of Christine Shoecraft Smith and Charles S. Smith, Jr. follow. Books (non-Smith) and photographs have been placed at the end of the collection.

The correspondence and writings of Smith pertain to the A.M.E. Church, to his visits to Africa, settlement of Liberia by American Blacks, the education of Blacks, and related topics. Minutes of annual conferences of the A.M.E. Church in districts served by Smith are included with the printed material.

In addition to Smith's papers, the collection contains papers of his wife, Christine Shoecraft Smith, and of their son, Charles Spencer Smith, Jr. Christine Smith's papers consist of condolence cards and letters upon the death of her husband, two autograph books, and copies of selected pages of a scrapbook which has been returned to the donor. The papers of C. S. Smith, Jr., consist of correspondence, notebooks, and technical material compiled by Smith while he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I.

Due to the rare and fragile nature of many of the materials in the collection, everything has been microfilmed except for the non-Smith books. The aforementioned book by Smith, Glimpses of Africa, and scattered issues of The Child's Recorder and Our Sunday School Review for the years 1889-1891 had been microfilmed previously. The microfilm is the only copy the Bentley Library has of these publications.

Detroit, Michigan, attorney and legal counselor; files reflecting his activity in the Michigan State NAACP

Mr. Holman's papers primarily reflect his activity in the Michigan State NAACP. The papers consist of 1.3 linear feet of material containing letters, memoranda, minutes, reports, and printed material documenting Holman's work in the state and national NAACP organizations.

The papers are organized in three series: Correspondence, arranged chronologically, 1973 and 1977-1986; NAACP Files, 1970-1986, arranged alphabetically; and Topical Files, 1978-1986, arranged alphabetically. Since the files are closely interrelated, the researcher is encouraged to review the files in all three series.

Dexter, Michigan, farmer and chairman of the Washtenaw County Committee of the Greenback Party. Correspondence concerning activities of Greenback Party in county, particularly relating to election of 1878, and other papers concerning the Bates family during the Civil War.

The Charles Franklin Bates collection consists of correspondence, clippings, and miscellaneous relating to his war-time service and to his activities with the Knights of Labor and the Greenback Party. The collection is arranged into three series: Correspondence, Correspondence - Family, and Topical Files. Of particular interest is the Greenback Party correspondence which discusses the party's strategies, meetings, and speakers in the Ann Arbor area, the 1878 election, and local figures in the party. A letter, November 2, 1878, includes comments on the potential black vote for the Greenback party in the coming election. Much of the correspondence conveys personal and business information about Bates, especially correspondence with Emma and DeForest Lichfield and Gilett Salmon. There is, however, also letters about the Knights of Labor, especially a letter, 1886, from T.V. Powderly.

The microfilm is a duplicate of Greenback's Party correspondence folder with additional correspondence of family and friends.

Student at the University of Michigan, collected materials relating to his interest in the radical causes and issues of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Bret Eynon collection consists of original and collected material relating to his interest in the radical causes and issues of the 1960s and 1970s. The files, arranged by topic, relate to the Black Action Movement (BAM) strike at the University of Michigan, John Sinclair, draft resistance, protests about the war in Vietnam, the Welfare Rights Organization, and feminism and the women's movement.

Battle Creek, Mich. historian and collector of rare books and manuscripts. Much of Lowe's research was devoted to the life and career of Black abolitionist Sojourner Truth. The collection contains material related to Sojourner Truth and includes biographies and bibliographies, book reviews, clippings, songs, images and photographs, etc. Other materials in the collection include letters of John G. Whittier, George W. Cable, correspondence of Lowe with writer Gerald Carson, diaries of Lowe's 1963 trip to Europe, as well as miscellanea and photographs.

The collection is arranged into two series. The Sojourner Truth (collected material) series includes biographies and compiled biographical information about Truth, bibliographies and book reviews, obituaries, tributes, newspaper articles, images of portraits, photographs, songs, and other information relating to the life of Sojourner Truth. Of special interest is a scrapbook that was kept by Frances Titus, Sojourner Truth's assistant.

Most of the Sojourner Truth files have been microfilmed except for a folder of material which came to the library after the 1965 filming. A few photographs that were microfilmed in 1965 were reported missing. These images are only available on the microfilm.

The Other Materials series contains items concerning Lowe's various activities and interests, including Battle Creek history and personalities, her travel diaries, and materials related to her friendship with writer Gerald Carson. Also included collected autographs and papers of individuals, including authors John Greenleaf Whittier and George Washington Cable. Also of note are letters of D. J. Van Schnell who wrote to members of the Oldfield family that contain watercolor drawings indicative of English life in the late 1930s and the early years of the World War II.

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.