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The Board for Student Publications was founded in 1903, as the Board in Control of The Michigan Daily, with the authority over all operations ofThe Michigan Daily, including content and editorial issues. Its authority was extended to all student publications in 1908, and its name changed to The Board in Control of Student Publications. In 1969, the Board name was changed to the Board for Student Publications. It retained financial control over student publications, but only serves in an advisory capacity on editorial issues. The records mostly consist of the Board's minutes, and also include correspondence of board chairmen and staff, materials pertaining to various student publications, financial materials, U-M directories, and blueprints and drawings of the Student Publications Building during its various renovations. The collection also contains numerous photographs and audiovisual materials focusing on alumni, staff, and events.

The records include minutes, topical files, photographs, and audiovisual materials. Includes materials related to events, applications for senior staff positions, and files relating to the operation of The Michigan Daily and other student publications. Also included is information on the renovation of the Student Publications Building.

Six linear feet of material was added in May of 2018:

Box 7: Board Documents 1919-2017, contains Board meeting materials including a Board in Control of Student Publications bound book of meeting minutes from 1956 to 1958; policies and procedures; legal documentation (Articles of Incorporation and bylaws); Year-End financial statements; Michigan Daily photographs; miscellneous publications; U-M directories; and Board appointment letters.

Box 8: Board Documents 1992-2002, contains Board meeting materials; Year-End financial statements; Board retreat packages; legal documentation (bylaws); reunion photographs; and Board reappointment letters.

Box 9: Board Documents 1997-2006, contains Board meeting materials; University Audits reports; Board nomination letters, photographs of the board; Board Retreat packages; and Student Publications building infrastructure reports.

Box 10: Board Documents 1945-2006, contains Board meeting materials; University Audits reports; photographs of the Gargoyle 90th Anniversary reunion and other Student Publications staff and alumni. Additional materials include a December 1945 Gargoyle cover and accompanying letter; and building renovation documents.

Box 11: Board Documents 1958-2014, contains Board meeting materials; building renovation documents; Year-End financial statements and outside audit reports from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The box also includes additional publications; Board retreat packages; notes and letters to incoming staff; Student Publications building as well as Michigan Daily alumni and staff photographs.

Box 12 contains one volume of Board meeting minutes, 1981-1992; a Photo album, undated; and the following VHS tapes:

1. Michigan Daily Centennial Celebration (1990).

2. Michigan Daily alumni and staff interviews (2003).

3. The Michigan Difference (2004).

Included in the collection is 12.52 GBs of digital images and interviews of Student Publications noteable alumni, staff (at the time the materials were created), and special events.

Paul Cutler Showers was a journalist and freelance writer. His writing and editing days began through involvement with The Gargoyle and The Michigan Daily while attending the University of Michigan. Showers's papers document his lengthy journalism career through his writings, recollections, and correspondence regarding the Detroit Free Press, the U.S. Army's Yank Magazine, and the Sunday New York Times. Family history played an important role in his life and can be seen through his collection of family photographs, recollections, and stories. In his later years, Showers became a prominent children's author known internationally for his work with the "Read and Find Out" series of science books for beginning readers.

The Paul Cutler Showers Papers document the life of a writer and editor, a University of Michigan alumni, an avid genealogist, a World War II veteran, and a prominent children's author.

The arrangement of the papers maintains their original order of four series including Correspondence, Family History, Personal and Professional Papers, and Visual Materials. These are in alphabetical order except for the Personal and Professional Papers series, which follows its original chronological organization according to Paul Showers's career. The papers contain very little information about his work as a children's non-fiction author. This portion of his papers are within the Kerlan Collection, which is part of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota.