Collections

The Glen Sheppard Papers document the research and writing undertaken by Sheppard during his 40-year tenure as editor, publisher, and writer for the North Woods Call, a small conservation newspaper dedicated to the stewardship and protection of Northern Michigan's natural resources. The collection's three series contain Sheppard's articles and writings, press releases and newspaper articles written by others, government reports and publications, audio and visual materials.

The Glen Sheppard Papers comprises materials collected and maintained by Glen Sheppard over the course of his career as editor and writer for the North Woods Call. The collection is divided into three series entitled Topical Files (First Alphabet), Topical Files (Second Alphabet), and Visual Materials. The Topical Files (First Alphabet) series contains materials on a greater array of topics than the Second Alphabet, though the latter is the larger of the two series. The two Topical files have been kept separate in accordance with Sheppard's own filing system. Materials within topical headings have likewise been maintained largely as Sheppard had organized them. Photographs are found interspersed with other materials in various topical files throughout the collection. The Visual Materials series comprises photographs, negatives, and maps that have been filed separately from the rest of the collection. A large proportion of the photographs in this series are alphabetized according to topic. Such topics include wildlife (namely birds, fish, and game animals), hunting and fishing, people (mainly politicians and important figures involved in Michigan conservation), and landscape photographs.

The Topical Files are primarily composed of various drafts of articles, press releases and newspaper articles written by other environmental journalists, research materials and notes, correspondence (mainly faxes), and photographs. The collection also contains a great deal of material pertaining to various government agencies, including bills and acts of legislation, memoranda, interoffice communications, reports and research studies, and pamphlets and other literature published and distributed by said agencies. These agencies include government bodies devoted to conservation issues, chief among which is the DNR (Department of Natural Resources). Other government agencies represented in this collection include the NRC (Natural Resources Commission) and the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality). The collection also contains selected clippings from the North Woods Call along with logistical papers pertaining to the Call's operation.

The collection features materials on a broad array of topics of environmental import for the state of Michigan. The First Alphabet and Second Alphabet series feature articles, reports, environmental impact statements, and resource management plans pertaining to environmental issues impacting particular Michigan towns and counties. Such issues include the impact of corporations, factories, oil and gas resource exploitation, and pollution. The collection also includes files on the topics of land use management, water resource management, fisheries management, and Native American rights to Michigan's natural resources. The collection contains Sheppard's researches on Michigan flora and fauna (concentrated in the Second Alphabet series), with particular emphasis on deer, wolves, bears, and various species of fish. Sheppard's researches also include coverage of endangered wildlife, invasive species, and zoological diseases. The collection contains articles and research materials concerning hunting, fishing, tourism, and outdoorsmanship. Michigan's islands, rivers, lakes (particularly the Great Lakes), national and state parks, nature preserves and conservancies, wilderness areas, and wildlife refuges are all well represented in the collection (mainly in the Second Alphabet series). The collection also includes papers pertaining to the administrations of Michigan governors John Engler and Jennifer Granholm.

Jonathan W. Bulkley (1938-2019) was the University of Michigan's Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Peter M. Wege Endowed Professor Emeritus of Sustainable Systems in the School of Natural Resources and Environment (now the School for Environment and Sustainability). Bulkley's expertise in water resource management and water policy was sought in numerous lawsuits over the course of his career, most notably as special master (1978-1979) and monitor (1979-2009) in several cases regarding the failure of various Michigan organizations to comply with iterations of the 1972 Clean Water Act. He was also a member of the Ann Arbor, Mich. Housing Commission and served as its president in 1974-1976. This collection primarily documents Bulkley's legal and other professional activities and includes architectural drawings, clippings, correspondence, court proceedings and testimony, reports, legal documents, committee and meeting files, operating logs, notes, publications, and photographs. A small portion of records relates to Bulkley's work on the Ann Arbor Housing Commission. These records include records of meetings, policy statements, and staff materials documenting the work of the commission.

The Jonathan W. Bulkley papers primarily document Bulkley's involvement in several legal cases, including the 1977 lawsuit United States v. The City of Detroit (case number 77-71100) and the 1987 lawsuitU.S. v. Wayne County (case number 87-70992), both presided over by Judge John Feikens. These lawsuits concerned the failure of both the City of Detroit and Wayne County's wastewater treatment plants to adhere to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and Clean Water Act. Judge Feikens was lauded for his handling of these cases, as he focused on negotiation and settlement, rather than unilateral judgement; the cases were resolved through complex consent judgements that were amended over time.

This collection also documents Bulkley's involvement in the Ann Arbor Housing Commission as well as various other academic and professional work he undertook throughout his career. Examples include his work in various smaller lawsuits, including one brought against the City of Toledo, Ohio by the U.S. (civil action number 3:91:CV7646), his involvement in the controversy over the removal of the Huron River's Argo Dam, and his work with the Michigan Environmental Science Board (MESB).

Materials in this collection include correspondence, maps, memos, reports, articles and clippings, notes, papers, court proceedings, testimony, and other legal materials, committee and meeting files, operating logs, course notes, architectural drawings, subject files, project plans, and photographs.

Researchers should note that due to the complex and intermingled nature of the various legal cases, some materials relating to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) may be found in the Rouge River Watershed (RRW) series, and vice versa. When possible, materials have been kept in Bulkley's original groupings, and have been arranged in a rough chronological order.

Joseph L. Sax was a Professor of law at the University of Michigan from 1966-1989. Collection includes material relating to the passage of the Michigan Environmental Protection Act of 1970, materials from his career as a legal consultant on environmental issues, course syllabi, lectures, research materials, and manuscripts of published materials.

The Joseph L. Sax papers comprise a comprehensive collection of legislative history and documentation on the enactment of the "Thomas J. Anderson, Gordon Rockwell Environmental Protection Act of 1970" (MEPA). MEPA was originally drafted by Professor Joseph L. Sax of the University of Michigan Law School and was one of the first projects undertaken by the Law School's Environmental Law Society.

The papers collected herein should be useful to several groups. Students of the environmental movement have herein a rich source of information on the early activities of the movement in Michigan and the philosophies behind various-approaches to environmental control. Lawyers interested in the legislative history of the MEPA will find an extensive collection of documents tracing the bill's movement through a number of committees of the Michigan House and Senate. Arguments about many of the issues that continue to be raised in MEPA litigation are presented in full detail in materials in these files. Students of government and political science may discover documentation of value in studies of interest group politics and the legislative process. Other uses, not imagined by those who assembled this collection, no doubt will be made.

The project was motivated in part by requests made of Professor Sax and others by lawyers, historians, and legislators in the United States and abroad about the background of the Michigan Act. Professor Sax feared that the documents that he had collected, many of which are unique and irreplaceable, might begin to be scattered and/or deteriorate. Later, it was decided to supplement Sax's papers by assembling all available documentation in the state on the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. Materials in this collection trace the history of the Act from the first correspondence between the West Michigan Environmental Action Council and Professor Sax requesting that he draft a model environmental law, through the passage of the law by the Michigan Legislature and its signing by Governor Milliken on July 27th, 1970. The collection also contains post-enactment materials, including attempts to amend the bill, through April 1976. Plans are underway to add to the collection all relevant legislative and judicial documents relating to the law, its interpretation and amendment.

Highlights of the collection include the following: the original correspondence between Professor Sax and Mrs. Joan Wolfe relating to the idea for the drafting of a model environmental law in Michigan; correspondence on MEPA from the files of Representative Thomas Anderson in which he indicates his early hopes for and concerns over the Act and his strategy for shepherding the bill through the Michigan Legislature; various versions and drafts of the bill; analyses of the bill by the Governor's office and state agencies; and testimony delivered at public hearings on the bill. Also in the collection is a tape of the Senate Debate on the bill. (A complete listing of materials in the collection is found at the end of this document.)

Several sources contributed to this collection. The great majority of the material comes from the papers of Professor Joseph L. Sax on the passage of the Act and attempts to amend it. In addition, papers of Mrs. Joan Wolfe (who also has another collection in the Bentley Historical Library) were solicited and added. These include communications of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council at various points in the legislative consideration of the Act. Attorney General Frank Kelley indicated in a reply to a request for MEPA materials that most of the relevant documentation of the Department of the Attorney General on the Act had already been forwarded (courtesy copies) to Professor Sax. Requests were also made of the Executive office of the Governor, the Secretary of the Michigan Senate, and the West Michigan Environmental Action Council; any contributions from them will be added to the files when received.

An important supplemental source of information on the Act was found in Representative Thomas J. Anderson's papers on the MEPA in the State Archives of the Michigan History Division, Michigan Department of State: Personal papers, Thomas J. Anderson, [74-22, Accession boxes 403, 404, 405(B)]. Other materials from the State Archives were reviewed to insure that the MEPA Collection would be complete for legislative history and research on the State's environmental movement. Of relevance were House of Representatives, Standing Committees' Public Hearings, 1969-1973, [RG79-37, Lot 43, Box 1.) and House Committee, 1969-70, Conservation and Recreation [72-34, Lot 21, Box 4 and Box 51.

The State Archives material was not duplicated in total for this collection. Rather, those materials which record a significant event in the movement of the bill through the Michigan Legislature or highlight an important position on the bill by an interest group or governmental entity were reproduced for inclusion here.[7]Representative Anderson, who was the prime legislative mover in the passage of MEPA, received over 8000 letters or petitions about H.B. 3055. Many of these are included in his papers and are not found herein. Our efforts aimed to add to the Bentley Collection documentation from the Archives that would be of major interest to legal and history scholars.

[Archive material is noted in the files by a penciled asterisk (*) on the upper right hand corner of the document.]

Archive materials relating to MEPA after its passage were not searched for this study; there are several folders of post enactment materials and other relevant files in the Archives (e.g. 74-22 B405 FL "Newsclippings relating to H.B. 305511).

In 1982, the library received additional materials regarding the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. This new material collected by Professor Joseph Sax largely concerns similar kinds of legislation enacted in other states. Included are correspondence and legislative materials

In 1986, the library received an additional 13 feet of material, mainly case files detailing litigation arising out of the Act. The most important of these cases was perhaps the so-called Pigeon River case (West Michigan, Environmental Action Council v. Natural Resources Commission).

In 2014, the library received an additional 16 feet of material. This addition is organized into four series: Case Files, Teaching Materials, Travels and Lectures, and Publications and Research. Each series is further arranged in chronological order by year. Additional material related to this accession has been added to the Correspondence and Related Materials series, which includes correspondence from 1986-1998, a diary from a 1979 visit to Japan, and a copy of the finding aid from the American Heritage Center's Joseph L. Sax papers.

Lana Pollack served as state senator for Michigan's Eighteenth District from 1982 to 1994. The collection documents her legislative and political activities and include subject files, campaign materials, and audio-visual materials.

The Lana Pollack collection documents diverse aspects of Pollack's legislative and political activities. The papers have been divided into seven series: Ann Arbor Board of Education; Michigan Senate; Campaigns; Photographs; Audiotapes; Videotapes; and Other Projects.

The Lansing-based Michigan Environmental Council (MEC) formed in 1980 to coordinate lobbying and other member activities, distribute information, and monitor the environmental policies of state government. More recently, the council has focused almost exclusively on distributing information, directing funding, and building broad consensus on land use issues. The MEC records include information on significant environmental issues in Michigan as well as administrative papers pertaining to the council's operation.

The Michigan Environmental Council records depict the incremental growth of one of Michigan's pre-eminent environmental organizations. In addition to administrative records dealing with the council's operation, the record group also contain information on key environmental issues, major council initiatives, and MEC members. These records therefore will be of value to those interested in the environmental movement, Michigan legislative process, and the development of non-profit organizations.

Records of the Michigan Land Use Institute, a northern-Michigan based environmental and regional planning organization. The Institute uses local programming and local and statewide political lobbying to establish an approach to economic and physical development that strengthens communities, limits suburban sprawl, and protects Michigan’s natural resources. This record group contains correspondence, reports, conference papers, and publications related to the organization and its goals.

The Michigan land Use Institute Records contain materials dating from the Institute's inception in 1995 through 2006 and originating from a number of different offices and administrative units. The collection has been divided into five series, Legal, Library, Policy Files, Program Files, and Visual and Electronic Materials.

The Michigan Nature Association is a non-profit organization concerned with nature education and the purchase and maintenance of land throughout the state for the establishment of natural sanctuaries. The record group includes early papers of the organization, administrative files, correspondence, property and land files, topical files, publications, some visual materials, and legal materials associated with their opposition to the construction of transmission lines in a nature sanctuary.

The Michigan Nature Association records include early papers of the organization, administrative files, correspondence, property and land files, topical files, publications, some visual materials, and legal materials associated with their opposition to the construction of transmission lines in a nature sanctuary. The record group has been arranged into the following series: Early papers, Administrative, Correspondence, Topical files, Publications, Visual Materials, Bertha Daubendiek personal papers, and Litigation files. Most of these files were maintained by Bertha Daubendiek, a founder and secretary-treasurer of the organization.

Environmental conservation and protection advocacy group founded in 1967 as the Mackinac Chapter of the Sierra Club, name later changed to Michigan Chapter; administrative, legislative, and topical files.

The records of the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club document the activities of this state affiliate of the national organization as well as the general environmental movement in Michigan. The series in the record group are: Executive Committee Records, Administrative Records, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Health Issues, Land Issues, Legislation, Topical, and Audio/Visual Materials.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based environmental protection organization. Administrative, educational, legislative, and litigation files relating to various environmental issues, notably the Pigeon River Country State Forest oil drilling controversy, the problem of solid waste disposal, land and water use, and nuclear energy; contain files created during the tenures of executive directors Joan Wolfe, Roger Conner, Kenneth Sikkema, Frank Ruswick, Jr., Robert Newberry, Thomas Leonard, and Rachel Hood.

The records of the WMEAC, received in multiple accessions, but now melded together, have been retained in an order approximate to that maintained by the organization in its earlier years. The records include administrative, educational, legislative, and litigation files relating to various environmental issues, notably the Pigeon River Country State Forest oil drilling controversy, the problem of solid waste disposal, land and water use, and nuclear energy; contain files of executive directors Joan Wolfe, Roger Conner, Kenneth Sikkema, Frank Ruswick, Jr., Robert Newberry and Thomas Leonard. the records are organized into eight series: administrative files, educational files, legislative files, litigation files, chlordane ban efforts, WMEAC non-serial publications, WMEAC publicity and media coverage, and WMEAC serial publications.