Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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Collection

Computer-Aided Engineering Network (University of Michigan) records, 1983-2008 (majority within 1986-2005)

2.5 linear feet — 12.5 GB

Online
Division of the University of Michigan College of Engineering; offers comprehensive information technology services and resources to faculty, staff, and students of the College. Includes visual materials documenting people, facilities, and events associated with the organization as well as content produced for its 25th anniversary celebration in 2008.

The Computer-Aided Engineering Network (CAEN) records give insight into the evolution of the division's facilities and infrastructure and document the various administrators, staff, and students who have contributed to its success. The materials will be particularly useful to those interested in computing in higher education and as well as in the development of academic IT infrastructure. The CAEN records are comprised of two series: Visual Materials and Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Materials.

Collection

Computing Center (University of Michigan) records, 1952-1996 (majority within 1959-1987)

42.5 linear feet — 1 GB (online)

Online
Established in 1959 to operate academic computing facility and provide computing services for faculty and students. Developed Michigan Terminal System (MTS) operating system and other software for mainframe computers. Merged into University of Michigan Information Technology Division in 1985. Administrative records including minutes, correspondence, budget material, and reports, documenting management of the center, purchase and operation of mainframe computers, development of MTS and other software, and computer networks. Also includes paper and digital MTS distribution documentation.

Records of the Computing Center have been received in three major accessions ? 1994, 1996, and 2011. Arrangement of the records in each accession is intended to reflect complimentary series. Each accession is described separately, and there is some overlap between the two.

The 1994 accession of the Computing Center record group primarily documents the founding and operation of the University of Michigan Computing Center from 1959 to 1987. It also includes some information on computing activities at the university prior to the founding of the Computing Center, dating back as far as 1952. Researchers should note that there is overlap between this accession and 1996 accessions. There is also overlap with the Information Technology Division record group, particularly after 1986 when ITD was created to bring together the Data Systems Center and the Computing Center under the purview of the Provost for Academic Affairs.

The records, which were in a very disorganized state when accessioned into the archives, were arranged into eight series: Historical Files, Administrative Records, Topical File, MTS (Michigan Terminal System), Word Processing Project, Vendors, and Photographs.

The 1996 accessions from the Computing Center add 32 feet of additional material to the record group. The records bring (in various formats) both breadth and depth to the earlier accessions, filling in major gaps and adding new documentation. The records are organized into nine series, generally corresponding to the arrangement of the earlier accession: Administrative Records, Computer Files, MTS (Michigan Terminal System), Merit Network, MAD (Michigan Algorithm Decoder), Word Processing Project, Vendors, Software Contracts, and Topical Files. Researchers should note that there is considerable overlap between Computing Center accessions and the Information Technology record group, particularly between 1985 and 1990 and especially for financial material and major committees.

Collection

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (University of Michigan) records, 1920-1997, 1970-1997

10 linear feet

Electrical engineering was established as a department in the College of Engineering in 1895. In 1971 it was renamed as the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Department of Computer and Communication Science was transferred from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts in 1984. The faculties and courses were merged under new designation Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Departmental records include administration material relating to policies and budget, annual reports and reviews, topical files, photographs, and personnel files of inactive faculty and research scientists. Records describe the facilities, curriculum, and teaching and research activities within the department.

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science records contain correspondence, departmental review reports, committee minutes, faculty and student surveys, personnel records and photographs. The records span the years 1920-1997.

The records are arranged in seven series: Administrative Budget/ Financial, Department Review and Report, Histories, Topical, Photographs, and Personnel.

Collection

Division of Research Development and Administration (University of Michigan) records, 1919-1996

42.5 linear feet

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations, including the Department of Engineering Research, the Engineering Research Institute, the University of Michigan Research Institute, and the Office of Research Administration. Record types include correspondence, topical subject files, research grant files, meeting minutes, financial records, and photographs.

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass both the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations. The papers have been divided into seven major series: Governing and Oversight Bodies (1919-1964), Staff and Committee Records (ca. 1922-1979), Administrative Files (1922-1972), Correspondence Files (1943-1972), Willow Run Laboratories (1946-1966), Directors' Files, and several boxes of Research Grant Files on microfilm. There are also four smaller series: the Engineering College Research Council (1959-1961), Review of the DRDA - Report to Harold Shapiro, 1980, Engineering Research Institute - miscellaneous research reports, Photographs, and Programmed Research Information System at Michigan (PRISM) Reports.

Collection

Information Technology Division (University of Michigan) records, 1956-1998 (majority within 1985-1997)

69 linear feet — 9.5 GB (online)

Online
The Information Technology Division, formed in 1985, consolidated academic and administrative computing at the University of Michigan. Douglas Van Houweling was named head of the unit and at the same time appointed to the new position of Vice Provost for Information Technology. During the 1980s, the unit oversaw a shift away from Michigan Terminal System (MTS) mainframe computing to a distributed, networked environment. The Information Technology Division record group documents the development of networked computing at the University of Michigan as it evolved from 1979 to 1995, mainly during the tenure of Douglas Van Houweling. The records include historical data, internal and external committee material, correspondence, and topical files and visual material.

The records of the Information Technology Division measure 23.5 linear feet and date from 1976 to 1998; the bulk of the material represents the years 1985 to 1997. The records consist of correspondence, meeting minutes, electronic mail, newspaper clippings, and reports. They document the administration of ITD, the development of computing on campus, UM's role in the development and management of local, regional, and national computer networks, and ITD's participation, largely in the person of Douglas Van Houweling, in a number of computing organizations, most notably EDUCOM and CIESIN (Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network).

The ITD record group is divided into fourteen series including Central Files, Divisions, Networks, University Files, Vendors, Organizations, Deputy Vice-Provost for Information Technology, Vice-Provost for Information Technology, Virginia Rezmerski Files, Computer Sales Program, Computing Sites, Dean's Partnership Program, Software, and Photographs.

Collection

Logic of Computers Group (University of Michigan) Records, 1950-1979

13 linear feet

Interdepartmental University of Michigan faculty group formed in 1956 and headed by Arthur Burks to investigate the use of computers in communication. Records include correspondence, project reports, grant proposals and some personal papers of Arthur Burks.

The Logic of Computers Group records (12 linear feet)document some of the earliest use of and research on computing on the University of Michigan campus. The records are divided into six series: CONCOMP; Correspondence; Grants and Proposals; Papers and Reports; Arthur Burks Personal files; and Photographs.

Collection

Michigan Bell Telephone Company Photographs, 1949-1983

63 linear feet (in 93 boxes)

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).

Collection

Office of Research (University of Michigan) records, 1911-2013 (majority within 1950-2010)

323.5 linear feet (In 324 boxes) — 1 oversize volume — 157 MB (online) — 4 digital video files

Online
Officially established in 1959, the Office of Research supports and administers large interdisciplinary projects called research centers and administers research institutes. The record group includes individual vice president's files, central office files, staff files, financial records, administrative files, committee and task force documents and reports, special event files, and project and institute files.

The records of the vice-president for research date from 1911 to 2013 and measure 323.5 linear feet, 1 oversize box and 157 MB of digital materials. The records document the activities of the office overseeing grant funded research at the University of Michigan and offer some insight into the range of research undertaken at the university. Records include administrative files of vice-presidents, including correspondence, memoranda, and budgetary material relating to research projects and grants of university units and departments; and photographs.

The organization of the records, particularly the early accessions, reflects the tenure of the successive vice presidents for research. Later accessions included files of associate vice-presidents and senior staff officers as well topically organized files that spanned the tenure of several vice presidents. The records are organized into the following series:

  1. A. Geoffrey Newman -- Boxes 1-15, 70-71
  2. Charles Overberger -- Boxes 15-69
  3. Charles Overberger/Warren Sussman -- Boxes 72-87
  4. Linda S. Wilson,-- Boxes 88-100
  5. William C. Kelly -- Boxes 102-105
  6. Central Files -- Boxes 108-127, 180-210, 266-275, Boxes 277-301, Boxes 311-322
  7. OVPR Staff Files -- Boxes 128-134
  8. Julie Ellison -- Boxes 135-136
  9. Marvin Parnes -- Boxes 137-146
  10. OVPR Financial and Administrative Files -- Boxes 147-148
  11. Administrative Files -- Boxes 149-150, Boxes 323-324
  12. Committees and Task forces -- 151-164
  13. Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project and Ford Nuclear Reactor -- Boxes 165 --166, 218-219
  14. Special Events, Symposiums, and Promotional -- Boxes 167-170, 275
  15. Presidential Initiatives Fund -- Boxes 171-179
  16. Contractual Restrictions Requests (PAF-R's) -- Boxes 213-216
  17. Michigan Life Science's Corridor -- Boxes 216-218
  18. Discretionary Fund -- Boxes 220-264
  19. Indirect Waivers -- Boxes 265
  20. Research Faculty Appointments -- Boxes 276, Box 322
  21. Washington D.C. Office -- Boxes 302-310