Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Grand Rapids, Michigan, family. Brief family history; letters to Clarence Brecken, also his journal, while stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison during World War I; journal of Jennie Brecken, 1965; legal documents; and photographs.

The majority of the correspondence in this Family papers series was received by Clarence Brecken from various members of his family during 1918 while in training at Fort Benjamin Harrison. The strengths of this correspondence are the descriptions of daily rural life during wartime and the concerns and fears of the families on the home-front. The letters include such topics as Jennie's first driving lessons, the evils of alcohol and tobacco use, hopes for the end of the war, Clarence's mother's fear of her other sons being drafted, and the spread of influenza. Also of interest are the Brown Family letters to Clarence which include discussions of the war as well as a letter from overseas.

The folders containing family photographs and World War I photographs comprise the bulk of the Photographs series; the photographs are generally identified. The World War I photographs include a number of photographs of Clarence and his brothers, Earl and Howard, in uniform and some of Clarence at his training camp. Most of the family photographs are group photographs taken outdoors and show aspects of rural life, such as the huge woodpiles for the mill in the background of many photographs in the "Bentley Family" folder. Of especial note is the interior photograph of Brecken's Ice Cream store in the "Grand Rapids Area" folder. The photograph was taken in 1934, and the various offerings and their prices can be seen in the background.

Michigan Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution; minutes of the state executive board, proceedings of the Michigan state conferences, publications, reports, and scrapbooks; also papers concerning their genealogical work, record of activities during World War I and II; historical files for individual chapters of the Michigan DAR; and photographs.

The records of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Michigan document its organization, history, and activities. As the state society of the DAR, the organization also collected material on the activities of the various local chapters. The records have been arranged into the following series: State Executive Board Minutes; State Conference Proceedings (original and published); Reports; Various Records of DAR State Historian; Miscellaneous; Chapter Records (original materials, collected material, and membership yearbooks); Publications; Scrapbooks; Topical files; and Photographs.

Professor of architecture at the University of Michigan; includes correspondence, professional organizational activities files, documentation, photographs, and architectural drawings accumulated during his work with the Michigan Historic Buildings Survey

The Emil Lorch papers are valuable for their documentation of the career of this important architectural educator and for that material about Michigan architecture and historic structures that Lorch accumulated in the course of his professional study and organizational involvement. The collection includes extensive correspondence with many of the country's leading architects, most notably members of the "Chicago School," and architectural educators, and manuscript and photographic documentation resulting from Lorch's involvement with the Michigan Historic Buildings Survey and various restoration projects, including Mackinac Island.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, archivist; collected materials relating to local Democratic Party politics; student papers; and photographs.

The McNitt papers consist of materials collected relating to his interest in, and activities with, the local Democratic Party. Included are newsletters, leaflets, campaign materials and newspaper clippings concerning state, county, and municipal politics, particularly the presidential campaigns of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972, Ann Arbor City Council and school board elections; the New Democratic Coalition of Michigan; the Human Rights Party; the state presidential primary in 1972; Democratic state conventions; state elections in 1968, 1970, 1972, and 1974; and the election campaign of Congressman Richard F. VanderVeen in 1974.

The collection also includes copies of student papers on topics relating to Michigan history. The titles of these papers are "The Library Extension Movement in Grand Rapids", "Journalism and the Republican Party of Michigan, 1890-1920; A Study of the Michigan Republican Newspaper Association", and "Peace and American Society : Rebecca Shelley and the Peace Movement."

Finally, there are many hundreds of photographs taken by McNitt relating to the construction of the Bentley Library and to the accessioning of the papers of Gerald R. Ford.

Son of a cook at Camp Bogardus (later renamed Camp Davis), the summer engineering camp of the University of Michigan located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Includes group portraits of staff and students as well as views of the camp; photos of the construction of Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River, near Oxbow, Michigan; and a photo of a parade and Liberty Bond rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The collection includes group portraits of staff and students as well as views of the camp; photos of the construction of Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River, near Oxbow, Michigan; and a photo of a parade and Liberty Bond rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Soldier from Grand Rapids, Mich., member of 337th Ambulance Company who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes diaries and reminiscences of his service in Russia and training at Fort Custer, Michigan; also his diaries of life in Grand Rapids, photographs, motion pictures, and miscellaneous.

The collection includes diaries and a reminiscence of his service in Russia, at Obozerskaya and Archangel, and his training at Fort Custer, Mich.; also clippings and miscellanea. The collection also includes views of Fort Custer, Mich., and photos taken in Russia (both U. S. Signal Corps photos and snapshots) of American and allied soldiers, cities and towns, Russian people, battle scenes, and means of transportation; also a motion picture (16 mm original with DVD and streaming file use copies) containing miscellaneous scenes of American troops in Archangel. Also included Smith's diaries dated 1910 and 1914-1916.

Grand Rapids, Michigan family, involved in furniture making and other businesses, also active in local state and Republican Party politics and businessmen's associations. Papers include family papers and correspondence, business records, scrapbooks and visual materials.

The Sligh family collection consists of the personal and business papers of the four generations of Slighs mentioned in the biographical introduction: James W. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Jr., and Robert L. Sligh. Although there is some overlap, the files have been arranged into seven series, one for each of these three Slighs, one for the Sligh Furniture Company and related family businesses, and one each for Newspaper clippings and Scrapbooks, and Visual Materials.

Professor of German at the University of Michigan and Columbia; mostly correspondence of Thomas with his family, professional colleagues, publisher, etc.; also some correspondence of his wife after his death; speeches, lecture notes, biographical sketches; papers include material on language studies at Michigan and Columbia, attitudes of academia toward Germans in World War I, accounts of European travels in 1877, 1896, and 1900; Civil War letter of Steven Thomas, Calvin's father.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/personal material; Correspondence; Lectures and addresses; Journals/diary; Scrapbooks; Other family members papers; and Publications.

Republican U.S. Senator from Michigan; advocate of the United Nations and bipartisan foreign policy. Correspondence, scrapbooks, diaries, and visual materials.

The Arthur H. Vandenberg collection consists of 8 linear feet of materials (available on microfilm), 25 volumes of scrapbook/journals, and assorted audio and visual materials. The collection covers Vandenberg's entire career with a few folders of papers post-dating his death in 1951 relating to the dedication of memorial rooms in his honor in the 1970s. The collection is divided into four major series: Correspondence; Speeches; Campaign and Miscellaneous Topical; Clippings, Articles, and Scrapbooks; Miscellaneous and Personal; Visual Materials; and Sound Recordings.