Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

University of Michigan professor of Greek; Assistant to the President; papers include correspondence, writings, pencil sketches and photographs, topical files.

The papers of Frank Egleston Robbins consist of materials from his work as the assistant to the university president, and his other activities within the university. The series are: Correspondence, Miscellaneous, Writings, Visual Materials and Assistant to the President Topical Files.

European correspondent for Time and Fortune magazines, 1945-1985. Letters to his parents concerning in part his student life at the University of Michigan in the 1940s, his war-time experiences as a naval officer in the Pacific theatre during World War II, and his career as a journalist in Europe from the late 1940s to the mid-1970s; student writings; dispatches written for Time and Fortune; and photographs.

The Robert Ball papers are roughly divided into two subgroups according to the focus of material, personal or professional. Within this framework, the personal papers are arranged in series by type then by chronological order. The professional papers are arrayed in strict chronological order regardless of type, except for the cassette tapes which stand as a distinct series. Ball's organization of the materials in binders both necessitated and facilitated strict adherence to chronology in ordering the professional papers. The researcher should note that the division of materials into personal and professional groups can not be absolute given the dual nature of reportorial writing. Such writing is both personal and professional. Some blurring of the categories is evident, especially for the years 1948 to 1951 when Ball's nascent career did not permit rigid distinctions to be drawn in the materials.