Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Records of the University of Michigan College of Engineering include histories, correspondence and topical files of deans; minutes of the executive and other committees; faculty records, including minutes of meetings and faculty biographies; miscellaneous student and alumni records; photographs, microfilm, digital files, and archived website.

The College of Engineering records date from 1860 to 2014 and measure 118.5 linear feet, 3 oversize folders, and 1,196 GB. The records document the internal activities of the College of Engineering, both administrative and academic, the role of the college as a unit of the University of Michigan, and research developments and trends over the years. Correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, financial records, and other material reflect changing research interests within the field of engineering as well as the curriculum development that has accompanied technological advances. Of particular interest are the files relating to outside work by faculty members, a question of enduring concern within the college. The records reflect the relations of the College of Engineering with private industry, especially through the documentation of funding from outside sources and the involvement of professors in outside research.

Background files with historical information and biographical data on college deans and faculty; chronological files, 1868-1994, including faculty and executive committee minutes, annual reports, and subject files, largely of deans Howard Lewis, Charles H. Stocking, Thomas D. Rowe, and Ara G. Paul; records of Prescott Club, organization of pharmacy students; and photographs.

The College of Pharmacy records (37 linear feet) cover the years 1864-2003, but primarily document the years after 1939. Series include: Background Files, Chronological Files, Photograph / Visual Material Files, Topical Files, Executive Committee, Adjunct and Clinical Faculty Appointments, and Website.

The records were received in a number of accessions beginning in 1955. Additions were received in 1992 (Topical files, 1953-1989), 1995 (Topical files 1972-1992 and Executive Committee files), 2000 (Topical files and Executive Committee), and 2004 (Topical files and Executive Committee) and 2008-2011 (Topical files and Executive Committee). The description of the records in part reflects these accessions.

The records accessioned before 1992 (8.7 linear feet) have been divided into three series: Background Files, Chronological Files, and Photograph / Visual Material Files

The 2000 accession includes additions to the Executive Committee Series (1.5 linear feet, 1980-1994) and Topical Files series (5.5 linear feet, 1963-1998). The 2004 accession includes additions to the Executive Committee series (2 linear feet, 1993 -- 1998) and the Topical Files series (2 linear feet, 1971 -- 1999, scattered).

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.

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.

University of Michigan scientific research center. Office files relating to the activities of the unit, and to the research divisions that IST administered, notably the Willow Run Laboratories, the Great Lakes and Marine Waters Center, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and others.

The records of the Institute of Science and Technology of the University of Michigan cover the period 1959 to 1987, from the establishment of the unit to the year of its regentally-approved reorganization. Scattered documents prior to 1959 and after 1987 will be found, but not in great quantity.

The record group consists of thirteen series. Except for some modifications and combining of similar materials, these are series that were maintained by the institute office. Types of documents present within these series include memoranda, reports, minutes of meetings, budgetary and financial papers, correspondence, proposal and grant documents, subject files, and photographs. The researcher should note that much material was retained by the IST office at the time of the 1989 transfer of records to the library. Thus, records for expected areas of interest might still be in the possession of IST. Periodic additions to this record group are expected.

Although of obvious value for its documentation of the history and activities of IST, the records of the institute have prime interest for the researcher interested in the study of research at a major educational institution. In particular, the records of IST document the development of the relationship between a university and state and national governments for the purpose of fostering research in areas deemed mutually advantageous. On the national level, especially in the 1960s, this research centered on areas of national defense and environmental study. On the state level, research was intended to improve the economy: to develop the state's technological and industrial base, thereby reducing the debilitating consequences of depression and unemployment that had periodically plagued Michigan's one-industry economy.

Of some value for the study of the content of research undertaken under IST auspices, the records here are of greater importance for the study of the environment required for research programs to be successful. The specifics of research will be found in scientific notebooks, laboratory experiments, and published studies. The IST records document a different story: the need to search out, administer, and balance competing requests for funding, space, equipment, and trained personnel. The IST files, in effect, document the management of research.

Beyond these research possibilities, the records of IST are illustrative of the changing patterns of technological research over the past thirty years. Founded with specific economic goals in mind, IST (with the administrative transfer of Willow Run Laboratories) managed programs having national defense implications. With the completion of these programs, and especially as the university ceased its responsibility for Willow Run, IST turned to areas of new research or areas of special significance to Michigan (perhaps the most notable examples being in the areas of highway safety and water-related research).

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 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.

Photographs collected from various sources, depicting buildings, faculty, students, and other topics relating to the University of Michigan.

The University of Michigan Photographs Vertical File represents a miscellaneous assemblage of U of M-related photographs from many different sources, mainly prior to 1950. The vertical file is especially strong on the earliest photographic images of the campus, university buildings, and class activities. While the vertical file contains many images of individuals, researchers should first consult the library's on-line catalog for images of faculty, administrators, and other University personalities. Most photographs originally accumulated by a University department or other unit are kept with that unit's records.

The arrangement of the photographic images was intended to parallel the classification used with University of Michigan published materials and with manuscript materials. Both of these used a classification system using letters of the alphabet (A through N only) for groupings of published or manuscript material. This system was carried over for use with the library's photographic images though there are certain categories for which images are unlikely to be found (Category A, for example, which pertains to legislation affecting the University or Category I which is reserved for university publications of a scientific or literary nature). The classification is further broken down under each letter by a number code which refers to a more specific subdivision. The heaviest concentration of images will be found under C (for U-M schools and colleges, departments, and other units), D (for university buildings and views), and F (for class pictures, photos of student organizations, and images detailing aspects of student life and customs).

Each heading in this finding aid includes the letter classification plus a numbered subdivision. In addition, the individual envelopes are numbered sequentially. Headings for which there are oversized images (usually larger than 8x10) will be indicated by reference to medium or large size photographs. When requesting material, researchers must specify the heading and the classification and folder number.

This finding aid describes only a small portion of the Bentley Library's U-M visual images. The on-line catalog will direct the researcher to additional images.

Records of University of Michigan office (and its predecessor administrative offices) responsible for external fund raising and development activities, including subject files of development officials Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock; staff files; and photographs.

The records of the Vice President for Development date from 1948 to the present and measure 39.5 linear feet. They reflect the basic concerns of the office for these four decades: preserving and improving the university's public image and planning major fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, both activities are incompletely documented. In the area of public relations the records tend to discuss how immediate problems will be dealt with, rather than overall conceptions of the university's image. The thought behind the innovative fundraising devices created or employed by the office is sometimes recorded through consultant reports, but in general is not well documented.

The manuscript records have been divided into two subgroups, one representing the records of the vice president (or senior staff person, for those years in which there was no vice presidency), the other containing records created by the development office. The Vice Presidents subgroup has been divided by the name of each person who has held the office: Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock. Researchers should note that since Nelson and Radock used their predecessor's files for some time before inaugurating their own records, the relationship between office tenure and file dates is not an exact one. The Development Office subgroup contains records of that office and its subsidiary units. Several accessions of Development Office records received in 1989 and 1990 have been grouped together as Development Office subgroup: 1989-1990 accessions.

Local historical society for Washtenaw County, Michigan Organizational records and collected historical materials.

The Washtenaw County Historical Society records include collected historical documents and photographs relating to the people, events, and history of the county, its cities and townships. There are also administrative records of the organization, including minutes of meetings, subjects relating to Society programs and projects, and financial miscellanea.