Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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.

Clinton County, Michigan, general store. Business financial records, family correspondence and history, diaries, photograph album of the Sickels-Bates family, and miscellanea.

The record group consists of financial records detailing the operation of the L. G. Bates General Store and its predecessor firm, J. F. Hasty and Co. As the dates of some of the records precede the opening of the Hasty store, it is possible that some of the accounts and ledgers are of a Sickel family member. In addition, the collection includes family correspondence, diaries and notebooks probably of Bates, family history and genealogy, photographs, and printed material.

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.

Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan resident. Glass negatives and prints of photographs of unidentified family groups and other people, of Palmer's Drugstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of people with bicycles, of a military unit and band, and of the Homoeopathic Hospital at the University of Michigan.

The collection consists of a single series of glass negatives relating to people, places, and events in Ann Arbor and at the University of Michigan. The glass negatives have been arranged into the following broad categories: Businesses and public places; Casual views of unidentified individuals - Ann Arbor area; Military scenes and marching bands; and Casual views of unidentified individuals. There is no information about the photographer of these images.

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.

The McCreery and Fenton families were prominent Genesee county, Michigan residents some of whose members distinguished themselves in local and state government, as soldiers during the Civil War, and in the United States diplomatic service. Papers include diaries, correspondence and other material relating to the Civil War, local and state politics and aspects of diplomatic service in Central and South America.

The McCreery-Fenton family collection documents the individual careers of family members who served their community and their nation in a variety of roles. Through correspondence, diaries and other materials, the researcher will find information pertaining to the Civil War, to the history of Flint and Fenton in Genesee County, Michigan, and to facets of America's diplomatic relations with some of the countries of Central and South America. Arranged by name of the three principal family members represented in the collection - William M. Fenton, William B. McCreery, and Fenton R. McCreery, the papers also include series of general family materials, business records, and photographs.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, archivist; collected materials relating to local Democratic Party politics; student papers; and photographs.

The McNitt papers consist of materials collected relating to his interest in, and activities with, the local Democratic Party. Included are newsletters, leaflets, campaign materials and newspaper clippings concerning state, county, and municipal politics, particularly the presidential campaigns of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972, Ann Arbor City Council and school board elections; the New Democratic Coalition of Michigan; the Human Rights Party; the state presidential primary in 1972; Democratic state conventions; state elections in 1968, 1970, 1972, and 1974; and the election campaign of Congressman Richard F. VanderVeen in 1974.

The collection also includes copies of student papers on topics relating to Michigan history. The titles of these papers are "The Library Extension Movement in Grand Rapids", "Journalism and the Republican Party of Michigan, 1890-1920; A Study of the Michigan Republican Newspaper Association", and "Peace and American Society : Rebecca Shelley and the Peace Movement."

Finally, there are many hundreds of photographs taken by McNitt relating to the construction of the Bentley Library and to the accessioning of the papers of Gerald R. Ford.

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).

The Michigan Historical Collections Topical Photograph Collection offer a broad and varied glimpse into nearly one hundred years of Michigan history, from the 1860s into the 1950s. The provenance of most of the photographs has been lost and therefore these images have been grouped together by subject into an artificial accumulation. Subjects depicted range from industry and transportation to clothing styles and social customs.

The photographs in this collection were received from various sources. Subjects include carriages, automobiles, Great Lakes shipping, railroads, and mass transit, especially street railroads. There are also images documenting activities within the mining, forestry, and lumber industries, mostly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Also included are photographs of various ethnic groups and their societies, notably of Native Americans (1870s-1930s) of the Manistee and Ludington, Michigan, areas. Some of the images are street views and private residences in various Michigan towns and cities. Of interest are photographs of Michigan units taking part in the Spanish-American War and the "Polar Bear Expedition" of World War I. There is also a series of bookplates, [acquired from?] William H. Bicknell, many of which relate to the University of Michigan.

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.