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Serves as media relations office and disseminates information about university programs, research, events, and faculty activities. Includes correspondence, press releases, newspaper clippings, and other papers concerning the activities and work of the University, notable campus events, research, and teaching.

The News and Information holdings document how the university is portrayed in the media and the efforts of the university to promote itself. Although there is some correspondence from 1900-1903 and the 1930s, the bulk of the records date from 1946 to the present. The value of the files is as a source of ready information (on a yearly basis) about the activities and research accomplishments of university faculty and staff, departments, colleges and schools, libraries, centers, and other units. The records also chronicle notable events and visits by famous scholars and celebrities through yearly topical files, press releases, and correspondence. News and Information Service holdings also contain extensive photographic material (prints, negatives, slides, and transparencies) generated by the photography unit in addition to non-photographic records. The substantial photographic holdings are described in a separate finding aid.

The non-photographic News and Information Services records include some correspondence of the unit's administrators, although the bulk consists of news clippings, published materials, press releases, and other background information collected by NIS and arranged topically by year. The records are organized into eight series: CORRESPONDENCE, PRESS RELEASES, MISCELLANEOUS, TOPICAL FILES, GERALD R. FORD, UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS, and ARCHIVED WEBSITES.

The Thomas Francis Jr. collections consists of the personal and professional papers of one of the developers of the influenza and poliomyelitis vaccinations. Francis taught epidemiology at the School of Public Health and medical school from 1941 to 1969 and greatly influenced the direction of research in his field.

Important certainly for the study of influenza and poliomyelitis research, the Francis papers also document changes in the way scientific research, particularly medical research, was managed. In his correspondence files, the records from his work in combating influenza and poliomyelitis, and his participation in various professional societies, the researcher will find Francis interacting as a member of a scientific community, working with others, soliciting and exchanging views, and administering, when needed, vast programs of testing.

The Thomas Francis, Jr. papers have been arranged into seven series: General; Correspondence; Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center; Organizations; University of Michigan; Speeches, Articles, etc.; Topical Files; and Personal/Biographical. Specific topics covered in the collection are mentioned in the descriptions of individual series. In sum, the collection documents more thoroughly Francis' work since coming to the University of Michigan in 1941. Francis' fame rests upon his research and his heading-up of influenza and poliomyelitis testing programs. For some topics, use of the Francis papers will require of the researcher at least a basic level of knowledge of epidemiology or disease control. Other subjects, such as the administration of research projects and the ways in which information is transmitted within the scientific community are less specialized and capable of being understood by the informed layperson.

Parts of the Francis papers have not yet been completely processed. Most of these subseries pertain to Francis' organizational commitments and to his membership on various boards and commissions. Types of records in these unprocessed subseries consist of minutes of meetings and procedural records. These unprocessed records are indicated on the finding aid along with the bulk size of the subseries.