Collections

Agency established to develop recreational and community organizations in the Willow Run, Michigan, area as a means of improving home-front morale during World War II. Subject files relating to Project activities; and photographs.

This record group documents the development of the Willow Run Area Recreation Project with emphasis on several programs supported by the staff. Approximately half of the folders contain material that relate directly to the Project goals, staff, and finances. In addition, there are two files, the Detroit-Area Recreation Committee and the Civilian Defense Agency, that contain material relevant to the efforts of the Willow Run Project. Of particular note within the General Information file and Survey file are several summary reports. Each contains excellent overviews of the Project goals and accomplishments. There are also a number of statistical sheets concerning the population of the Ypsilanti community.

Within the remaining folders are documents from specific programs coordinated by the Willow Run Project staff. Several folders contain newsletters and support material for consumer cooperatives. Other folders outline recreational activities and social services such as daycare centers for children of working parents. There is also a small file of publicity photos.

Detroit, Michigan, police officer. Scrapbooks containing material concerning the Detroit Police Department and Ungermann's career; also photographs.

The collection consists of scrapbooks relating to his career, to the activities of the police department, and to civil defense activities. The photographs in the collection are of Detroit, Michigan buildings, streets, people, and activities, especially as they relate to the work of the Detroit Police Department; group and individual portraits and photographs of Detroit Police, and photos of police training; photos of war bond drives and other war work during World War II; and photos of WJR radio broadcasting during the 1930s.

Executive with the American Red Cross. Correspondence, diaries, reports, memoranda, and other materials relating to relief and refugee work during World War II in Italy, France, and Germany (Buchenwald), his work in re-establishing Red Cross societies in Austria, Hungary, and the Middle East after the war, and his survey of humanitarian problems resulting from the Palestinian conflict, 1948.

The Wilfrid de St. Aubin collection consists of seven feet of correspondence, reports, memoranda, and other official papers covering his Red Cross work during World War II and the immediate postwar period. Of special interest is a letter and report written by St. Aubin containing his impression and observations of the Buchenwald concentration camp. St. Aubin was one of the first to come to the camp after its liberation. There are also diaries which provide added background and detail of St. Aubin's varied career.

The Russell C. Shaul photograph album contains images and ephemera related to the life and career of photographer Russell Clifford Shaul, who owned a studio in Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s.

The Russell C. Shaul photograph album contains images and ephemera related to the life and career of photographer Russell Clifford Shaul, who owned a studio in Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s.

The album (36.5 x 28 cm) has string-bound brown covers with the words "Scrap Book" and a depiction of a boy and girl wearing wooden clogs embossed on the front; the covers and pages are in poor condition. The structure of the album is roughly chronological, with material from the 1920s appearing towards the beginning and material from the 1940s appearing towards the end. However, candid snapshots and studio portraits made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the early 1930s are scattered throughout and mixed in with photos from other periods. At least one page includes dated photos from the early 1930s and late 1940s that appear side by side. Certain names and people reappear often, but exactly how they relate to one another is not entirely clear. Many photographs document people drinking as well as posing in a humorous manner.

Photographer Russell Clifford Shaul appears to have been the compiler of this album. Shaul’s name appears on numerous images as the credited photographer, including portraits taken in Milwaukee in the early 1930s and a Chicago cityscape view from the mid-1940s. Several photos are also inscribed with messages to “Russell,” while snapshots arranged on a page captioned “The Shauls” show him and his third wife Sarah visiting various U. S. tourist destinations between 1944 and 1949. At some point during the 1930s it appears that Shaul relocated from Milwaukee to Chicago and set up a new photography business. Several pages in the album suggest that Shaul and his colleagues practiced door-to-door operations.

Two pages document a man’s World War II service. He is pictured driving a Jeep and wearing a uniform bearing an “Official U.S. War Photographer” patch, training on a shooting range, interacting with people on the streets “In India,” and taking photographs with both still and motion picture cameras. This man appears throughout the album (identified elsewhere as “Carl”), including in the earliest Milwaukee shots in 1927. He may have been Shaul’s friend and/or business partner.

Items placed toward the end of the album include some scrapbook materials including letterheads advertising a company called Chicago Thrill Tours and Chicago-based radio host called “The Nitehawk,” as well as business cards identifying a fellow photographer in Chicago named Charles Lonk and a trailer park in Eau Gallie, Florida.

In addition to the album there is also an envelope containing several loose photographs and ephemeral items including portraits of various people and groups; pictures of people drinking at bars; photographs of the man elsewhere identified as Carl drinking at a Milwaukee bar in 1927 as well as posing in a bathtub while another man bathes him; an image of a photo supply storefront with a cutout of an unidentified man pasted over the front door (possibly shop owner I. Dobkin); photography-related clippings; aerial images of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, taken in 1938; and a portrait by Acme Newspictures of a man in the radio studio of “The Nitehawk - WBBM” captioned “J. W. Clark.” Also present is an enveloped typed letter signed by “The Nitehawk” written to Shaul in 1948 asking him to be on the lookout for early copies of Reader’s Digest.

The Al Parker collection includes three envelopes of photographs, sheet music, and newspaper clippings as well as a scrapbook relating to the professional and personal life of Philadelphia-based photographer and photographic supplies salesman Alfred Parker.

The Al Parker collection includes three envelopes of photographs, sheet music, and newspaper clippings as well as a scrapbook relating to the professional and personal life of Philadelphia-based photographer and photographic supplies salesman Alfred Parker.

Envelope A (photographs): includes unmounted oval portraits of Parker’s children Eda and Ray from the early 1900s; studio portraits of Eda and his wife Alice from the 1910s, two of them from the Philadelphia studio of Gilbert and Bacon; an mounted school class photo (ca. 1890s?)

Envelope B (sheet music): includes three examples of World War I songs from the Eagle Publishing Company of Philadelphia with "music by Geo. L. Robertson and lyrics by Al. Parker."

Envelope C (letters, clippings, etc.): includes a letter appointing Dr. Ray Parker head of plastic surgery at a hospital in Johnstown, PA; a magazine article on “Flood Free Johnstown”; letters and clippings about Dr. Ray Parker; article on World War II factory workers; newspaper article on Theodore Roosevelt urging U.S. entry into World War I; and a note from Christmas 1926 from Parker’s grandson Donald addressed to “Ganco."

Scrapbook: The volume (37 x 28) is cloth-bound and has 66 pages total. Materials are not arranged in any chronological or thematic order and so unrelated items often appear together on the same page.

The album begins with photographs of Parker’s family members while the next few pages focus on scenes from his professional life, including a magazine cover from April 1900 and documentation of his break with Willis & Clements in 1910. Portraits of Parker at every stage of his life appear throughout the scrapbook, though not in any chronological order. The earliest is a tintype from the 1850s that shows him as a young boy with his brothers. Many portraits and casual snapshots of Parker's daughter Eda and son Ray from their early childhood into adulthood are included, while a collection of clippings reflects Parker’s pride in Ray's success as a doctor. His delight in playing the doting grandfather is clear from the drawings Parker made for Eda’s son Donald and in the notes that Donald wrote to Parker using the nickname “Ganco.”

A handful of portraits that were taken by Parker show that he was a capable studio photographer in addition to being a successful promoter of platinum photography products while working for Willis & Clements. Requests for his opinions from Eastman Kodak Company, Photo Era magazine, and the Photographers’ Association of New England testify to his recognized expertise. Numerous portraits of Parker in the company of other well-regarded photographers of the day confirm his acceptance in that professional circle.

Many ephemeral items also help illuminate the arc of Parker's career including programs from his minstrel show days; an advertisement for his Australian window blind company; the initial offer of employment from Willis and Clements; business cards from various stages of his career; and an ad for a new camera shutter he invented. Interspersed amongst these items are letters and photographs from various colleagues and employers along with miscellaneous poems, cartoons, programs, drawings, song lyrics, newspaper clippings, and so on.

Republican attorney general of Michigan, 1951-1954, general counsel of the Department of the Army. World War I letters, papers detailing work as chairman of the committee on emerging problems of the Michigan Constitutional Convention; miscellaneous genealogical material, and diaries and memoranda books; scrapbooks concerning political career, especially his service as state attorney general; and photographs.

Only a few papers survived Millard. Correspondence, most interesting for his letters written in France during 1917, and a small body of papers from his committee chairmanship at the 1961 state constitutional convention, highlight the collection. A large number of newspaper clippings about his career, and many awards and citations he received, are also available. A few items regarding his military career, his political activities and his membership in the Masons can also be found.

A large number of photographs and albums are also found in the collection. Included are five scrapbooks, 1955-1961, covering the period when Frank Millard was general counsel in the Department of the Army. These scrapbooks are 70-80 percent photographic, and the remainder consist of clippings, programs, correspondence, schedules and itineraries. Another scrapbook covers the years 1912-1914 when Millard was a student at the University of Michigan. It also contains three pages of earlier material dated 1901-1910. This scrapbook is more than half photographic in content with the rest consisting of programs, clippings, and memorabilia.

The Ludwig Family Papers document the lives of members of the Ludwig family from the time of their arrival in the United States of America in 1733, through 1985. This collection includes family histories, scrapbooks, and family photographs. Also included in the collection are both personal and professional papers of Claud Cecil Ludwig, Frederick E. Ludwig, and Ruby Newman Ludwig.

The Ludwig Family record group covers a period of time from the 1850s to the 1980s. The collection of information documenting the history of the Ludwig family includes family histories, ancestral charts, and a large collection of photographic materials. The diaries and scrapbooks included in the collection describe everyday life during the periods covered. The collection is particularly strong in documenting the lives of Claud Cecil Ludwig and Frederick E. Ludwig.

Ironwood, Michigan businessman and local historian; include correspondence, research notes and writings largely concerning the history of Gogebic County and Upper Peninsula iron mining; also papers concerning his work with the Gogebic Industrial Bureau.

The Victor Lemmer Papers concerns the history of the western portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, particularly Gogebic County, as well as his work as the agent for the Gogebic Industrial Bureau. The collection has been divided into the following series: Correspondence; Photographs; Personal/Miscellaneous; Gogebic Industrial Bureau Files; Research Files; Collected Materials; and Writings/Speeches.

Ninth president of the University of Michigan, 1967-1978, later president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, chairman of the National Institute for Dispute Resolution, and member of the boards of the MacArthur and Johnson Foundations. Personal files, including general and family correspondence, papers detailing service with the U. S. Army military police in Europe during World War II, records concerning activities as labor arbitrator, topical files relating to work at universities of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan; files relating to activities with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting concerning in part the Annenberg/CPB project; and photographs relating to his life and career.

The Robben Fleming collection documents a career marked by diversity in the areas of his public service. The cornerstone of his life is no doubt his years as ninth president of The University of Michigan. While this role is certainly documented in these papers, there is considerable other materials relating to his service in World War II, his work as a labor arbitrator and law professor, his work with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and his advocacy in other arenas of the importance of higher education. As Fleming worked in various educational and corporate settings, the records of that service properly belonged to those agencies. This collection, by and large, consists of personal materials retained by Fleming or copies of records given to Fleming as his own. Thus, for example, while this collection includes speeches, invitations, and personal correspondence, maintained while he was President of The University of Michigan, the records of the Office of the President for Fleming's tenure have been received and cataloged separately. Even so, the content of these materials is highly valuable on any number of topics, but specifically higher education broadly defined.

The series in the collection are Correspondence; World War II service; School materials; Labor Arbitration files; Career Activities to 1967; University of Michigan President, 1967-1978; Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Other Organizational Activities; Topical Files, 1978-2000; Knight v. State of Alabama; Publications, speeches, and reports; Personal and Autobiographical Materials; Travel Records; Clippings and Scrapbooks; Photographs; and Other visual and audio materials.

Michigan Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution; minutes of the state executive board, proceedings of the Michigan state conferences, publications, reports, and scrapbooks; also papers concerning their genealogical work, record of activities during World War I and II; historical files for individual chapters of the Michigan DAR; and photographs.

The records of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Michigan document its organization, history, and activities. As the state society of the DAR, the organization also collected material on the activities of the various local chapters. The records have been arranged into the following series: State Executive Board Minutes; State Conference Proceedings (original and published); Reports; Various Records of DAR State Historian; Miscellaneous; Chapter Records (original materials, collected material, and membership yearbooks); Publications; Scrapbooks; Topical files; and Photographs.