Department of Communication Studies (University of Michigan) records, 1926-1995
9.3 linear feet (in 10 boxes)
The Department of Communication record group consists of ten linear feet of records dating from 1926 to 1995 and processed in four accessions. The pre-1984 accessions document the Department of Journalism. The 1984 accession includes materials accumulated by professor Marion Marzolf. The 1986 accession represents records created through the merger of Journalism with Speech and the records of the new department's chairman after the merger was accomplished. The 1996 accession contains material similar to the earlier accessions with the exception of material relating to the graduate Master in Journalism degree program and the decision to suspend the program.
The original accession (Boxes 1-5) documents Department of Journalism activity from 1928 to 1981 (primarily 1950-1970). The accession has been divided into three series: Administrative Files; Faculty Personnel Records; and Internships, Fellowships and Scholarships.
The 1984 accession consists of three series of records: those from a 1977 conference, "Kerner Plus 10: Minorities and the Media," those from the University of Michigan student chapter of Kappa Tau Alpha, and those from the student chapter of Women in Communications, Inc. (WICI). Both the Kerner conference records and the WICI records reflect the involvement of Professor Marion T. Marzolf in the Department of Communication.
The 1986 accession dates from 1964 to 1986 (primarily 1975-1984). It represents the records kept by Peter Clarke, last chairman of the Department of Journalism and first chairman of the Department of Communication, the files of William E. Porter, who served as chair after Clarke's resignation in 1981, and a few documents of John D. Stevens, who succeeded Porter in 1984. The accession has been divided into two series, Chairman's Correspondence (1964-1985) and a Topical File (1949-1986).