Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Student papers, 1930-1987 prepared for classes in history at the University of Michigan (primarily Michigan history class taught by Lewis G. VanderVelde, but also including research papers for classes taught by Sidney Fine and others); topics concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; and local community history.

The student papers are organized alphabetically by author in two series, which are similar in date range and topics covered. Topics of papers concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; local community history and University of Michigan history. A topical index to the papers is available in the first box of the collection.

Minutes, annual reports, presidents' letters, legislative programs, issue files concerning its involvement with such issues as child welfare, civil service, the Constitutional Convention of 1961-1962, election law reform, environmental quality, fair employment practices, human resources, reapportionment, taxation, and voters services; also include records of local branches.

The Michigan League of Women Voters was formed in the early 1920s. The records of the Michigan League of Women Voters cover the period from the 1940s to the 1990s. The issues series document such concerns as environmental quality (air pollution, pesticides, solid waste, and water) as well as human resources (teacher accountability, busing, the Equal Rights Amendment, housing, and social services). There are also large portions of material on taxation, reapportionment, international relations, election law reform, and on the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1961-1962.

Each local chapter of the LWV was required to send its annual reports to the state league. These reports summarized special programs, membership, and financial information. These, as well as correspondence, by-laws, and in some cases, minutes, bulletins, special reports, and voters guides reflect the concerns and issues which confronted the league on the local level.

In many cases local leagues were disbanded because of lack of interest or because the members joined with other local leagues. These discontinued leagues have been designated by the word defunct after their name. Individuals interested in the Farmington leagues should also consult the material under the heading of West Bloomfield - Farmington. Huntington Woods and Lathrup Village joined the league of Ferndale and Pleasant Ridge. For those interested in the League of Women Voters in the Upper Peninsula consult the local league series under each community as well as the heading of Copper Country.

State chapter of national temperance organization founded in 1874; records include correspondence of early W.C.T.U. workers, Alice E. H. Peters and Ella Eaton Kellogg; also minutes, scrapbooks, and other records of individual Michigan W.C.T.U. districts and chapters.

The Michigan Woman's Temperance Union records divide into seven series: Correspondence; Miscellaneous and Publicity; Printed Materials; District Records; County Union Records; Local Union Records; and Photographs. The records document the period of the Michigan WCTU's greatest influence, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the organization's gradual declining influence following the repeal of the prohibition amendment.

Records of various officers of the Michigan Conference of the National Organization for Women collected by one-time state presidents Margot Duley-Morrow and Alicia Perez-Banuet. Presidential files of Duley-Morrow, Nan Frost-Welmers, Shirley Monson, Lynn Hierholzer, Gloria Woods, and Alicia Perez-Banuet; files of state chapter developer Rhonda Drinan, and Macomb County chapter president Doris Little; contain correspondence, newsletters, clippings, mass mailings, agendas and minutes, photographs, and other materials concerning the formal and personal aspects of this feminist organization. Topics covered include the Equal Rights Amendment, the Project for Equal Education Rights, Women's Assembly III, and other issues pertaining to women's rights.

The Michigan NOW record group includes administrative records, files of individual presidents, newsletters from local chapters, records of the Michigan NOW PAC (Political Action Committee), and topical files of subjects of interests to the Michigan Conference such as the ERA, educational equity, and abortion rights.

The organization of the collection is rather artificial, both because the documents were in extremely poor order upon their accession and because there is only the broadest unity to the collection's components. The records have been grouped under the name of the individual most responsible either for their creation or for their accumulation and preservation. There were two individuals primarily responsible for these records coming to the Bentley Library. They were Margot Duley-Morrow (two-term president, 1981-1983) who donated records in 1984 and Alicia Perez-Banuet (president, 1997-1998) who donated materials in three major accessions.

Correspondence, minutes, newsletters and newspaper clippings concerning activities of the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti branch of this anti-war organization; also collected materials from the state chapter and from local branches in Detroit, Ingham County, Oakland County, Rouge Valley, and Traverse City, Michigan.

The records of the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom document the various causes espoused by the League, notably its opposition to the Vietnam conflict and to the Gulf War. Locally, the group promoted education with its Jane Addams Book Award, worked closely with UNICEF, and fought for fair housing practices. These activities are also documented within the files. The League records show the group's continuous community involvement. The records are arranged into three series, Alpha File, Michigan Branch and Other Michigan Branches.