Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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.

Files of Professors John W. Bean, Robert Gesell, Warren P. Lombard, and Henry Sewall, 1925-1979; miscellaneous departmental papers relating to the Hyperbaric Chamber Committee, the Institute for Human Adjustment, the Lombard Library, research funds, and teaching assignments; and publications of physiological laboratory; and collection of physiology textbooks, manuals, and monographs, mainly written by University of Michigan faculty; also photographs and films.

The records of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology consist of 3 linear feet, 1 outsize box, and 1 outsize film, and cover the years 1884 to 1979. The records consist largely of the files of Professors John W. Bean, Robert Gesell, Warren P. Lombard, and Henry Sewall, 1925-1979. They include miscellaneous departmental papers relating to the Hyperbaric Chamber Committee, the Institute for Human Adjustment, the Lombard Library, research funds, and teaching assignments; and publications of physiological laboratory; and collection of physiology textbooks, manuals, and monographs, mainly written by University of Michigan faculty. The record group also includes photographs and films. The records are divided into three series: Topical Files, Faculty, and Audio and Visual Materials.

University of Michigan microbiologist; correspondence, student notebooks, San Francisco Plague Commission records, research files and laboratory notebooks, visual materials

The Frederick G. Novy collection documents the career and research interests of this noted bacteriologist, including information from the period of time when he was a member of the San Francisco Plague Commission (1901).

The collection has been divided into the following series:

1. Biographical/Personal
2. Correspondence
3. University of Michigan Student Notebooks
4. University of Michigan Medical School
5. San Francisco Plague Commission
6. Research Files/Laboratory Notebooks
7. Reprints and Writings
8. Miscellaneous; and Visual Materials.

Professor of botany at the University of Michigan. Correspondence and subject files relating to his professional activities, notably his specialization in mycology; and photographs.

The Frederick K. Sparrow Collection has been organized alphabetically by topic. Correspondence is filed under the letter "C" and is in chronological order. In the biographical folder, the researcher will find a summary of the disposition of Dr. Sparrow's botanical effects, listings of his personal mycological library and his holdings of rare mycological books and publications, and a detailed bibliography of his works.

Dr. Sparrow corresponded with friends, mentors, and fellow mycologists and botanists from around the world on a variety of topics. His correspondence comprises over one-half of the collection. The researcher should note that letters dealing with the Second International Mycological Congress are included with the rest of the materials from the Congress.

University of Michigan staff photographer, 1913-1947 and commercial photographer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Collection includes some manuscript material but is primarily photographic prints and negatives made by Swain. Photo subjects include university buildings, faculty, and student activities, archeological expeditions to the Near East and, Ann Arbor scenes and landscapes form his travels in the western United States and Canada.

The papers and photographs of George R. Swain mainly document Swain's accomplishments as university photographer at the University of Michigan from 1913 to 1947. Researchers should note, however, that this is only a sampling of the photographer's work during these years. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan has an extensive collection of Swain's archaeological negatives and prints, and researchers interested in his full career will want to also look at the Kelsey collection. The Bentley Library material, while including several folders of fine photographs Swain made on his travels with Professor Frances Kelsey, for the most part documents Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan.

The collection at the Bentley Library consists of three series: Miscellaneous Papers; Photographers Log; and Photographs (prints; negatives; and lantern slides. Since the bulk of the collection is comprised of early twentieth century images of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, the materials will be of most interest to researchers searching for visual documentation of this part of the state in that time period. There are very few materials beyond the visual, although the lengthy captions attached to many overseas images and the essays, diaries, and letters, are extremely interesting and offer insight into how Swain approached his craft, both as a professional photographer and in his personal work.

Professor Jack van der Velde is Professor Emeritus in the Physics Department of the University of Michigan. His papers focus on the IMB collaboration, which conducted underground experiments to detect proton decay from 1982-1991 in an effort to find experimental proof of the Grand Unified Theory of physics. They also observed neutrinos from a supernova for the first time. The papers mainly consist of meeting notes, research notes, the development of papers, and publications derived from the data.

The papers all pertain to the IMB Experiments. They are divided into seven subseries: Collaborative Meeting Notes, Student Theses, Talks, Publications, Proposals, Research Notes and Memos, and Scholarly Community.

The Jacob Ellsworth Reighard collection contains the papers and photographs of a noted professor of zoology, including his research, class lectures and correspondence. Jacob Reighard was responsible for the development of modern zoological teaching and research at the University of Michigan and a national leader in the field of zoology.

The Jacob Reighard collection consists of thirteen feet of correspondence, speeches, lectures, drafts of writings, University of Michigan lecture and course materials, and files of research materials and field notes. The collection covers the period of 1887 to 1942. The collection has been organized into four series; Correspondence, Writings and Speeches, University Lecture and Course Materials, and Research Materials and Field Notes. This finding aid also contains a selective inventory of correspondents found within the Reighard papers.

Professor of geology, and director of the Institute of Science and Technology at the University of Michigan. Files relating to his professional career, especially his interest in seismology and investigations into earthquake reduction; and photographs.

The papers of James Tinley Wilson consist of 1.5 linear feet of manuscript, photographic and printed material covering the years, 1940-1978. There is material from most aspects of Wilson's professional activities, but nothing relating to his private life.

The papers of James Tinley Wilson are most valuable as supplementary to other archival materials available at the Bentley Historical Library. Of most importance are the records of the Institute of Science and Technology. Unfortunately, as an independent research source, the usefulness of the collection is more limited. The full span of Wilson's professional life is documented, but not in any great depth. Researchers interested in the development of seismology as a field of scientific endeavor would possibly find Wilson's papers helpful, but those seeking information about any of the professional associations or the workings of the IST should be aware of the sparseness of these records.

The papers have been arranged in the following series: Biography, Associations, Conferences, Consulting, Correspondence, University of Michigan, Writings, Photographs.

The University of Michigan's first professional school; the Medical School record group includes historical and administrative records related to the school and its faculty and administrators, 1850-2010.

The records of the Medical School span over 160 years, beginning in 1850 and continuing through 2010. They include 389.7 linear feet of material, 10 oversize volumes, 9 oversize folders of miscellaneous documents, and 3.3 GB of digital material stored online. The records include dean's correspondence and subject files, executive committee minutes, faculty minutes, annual reports of departments, school accreditation and review files, a variety of special reports and studies, and extensive files on the Replacement Hospital Project (Taubman Center). The record group also contains photo prints depicting faculty, students and facilities, including a remarkable series of photographs taken by J. Jefferson Gibson circa 1893.

The Medical School records have been organized into five subgroups: Dean's Records, Subordinate Administrative Officers, Faculty Records, Audio-Visual Materials, and Miscellaneous records. Within each subgroup there are a number of series and these series may be further subdivided to reflect the date span of the records received in each accession.

The Medical School records have been received in several accessions and the physical arrangement of the records (the number order of the boxes) reflects the various installments in which they were received. The accessions sometimes reflected the tenure of a particular dean or other administrator, but frequently appear to have been somewhat arbitrary transfers of files. Records from individual subgroups, series and subseries often continue across multiple accessions--sometimes with consecutive date ranges, but often with overlapping date spans.

In this finding aid the records are described in their intellectual order -- subgroups and series are brought together irrespective of the particular accession in which they were received. As a result, in the detailed contents listing the box number order will not always be consecutive.

Bacteriologist with the laboratories of the Michigan Department of Health, 1920-1951, and resident lecturer in epidemiology at the School of Public Health of the University of Michigan. Files relate to her discovery and testing of a vaccine for whooping-cough; files concerning activities with the American Public Health Association and the Michigan Public Health Association; consultant's files relating to her work with vaccination programs in foreign countries under the auspices of the World Health Organization; correspondence, course and research materials; and photographs related to her career; also papers of her father, Milton Kendrick, a Free Methodist clergyman.

The Pearl L. Kendrick papers date from 1888 to 1979 and measure seven linear feet. The papers are arranged in nine series: Personal, Correspondence, Correspondence--Foreign, Michigan Department of Health, University of Michigan, Consultant Files, Professional Associations, Speeches and Articles, and Visual Materials. The collection is strongest in its documentation of the national and international network of public health practitioners, physicians, and scientists who corresponded with each other about their studies of various diseases and their prevention, in particular whooping cough. This voluminous correspondence reflects Kendrick's reputation as one of the world's foremost experts on pertussis. The collection is relatively weak in its documentation of Kendrick's work as an instructor at the University of Michigan.