Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Architect, inventor and educator, director of the Brooklyn Museum, and dean of the College of Architecture and Design of the University of Michigan. Notebooks, articles and reports relating to his work as museum director in Brooklyn, New York, and at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, articles and notebooks, 1922-1924, concerning his work as Home Secretary of the Canton Christian College, Canton, China, and other materials relating to his work with the War Production Board during World War II, his architectural projects and inventions; and photographs.

The Youtz papers consist of notebooks, articles and reports relating to his work as museum director in Brooklyn, New York, and at the Pennsylvania Museum of Art, articles and notebooks, 1922-1924, concerning his work as Home Secretary of the Canton Christian College, Canton, China. Other papers include materials relating to his work with the War Production Board during World War II, his architectural projects and inventions, and photographs. The papers are arranged into three series: Biographical/Personal; Career Materials; and Published Materials.

Professor of English at University of Michigan. Correspondence, diaries, and topical files relating to his interest in English grammar and usage, his evaluation of various dictionaries, his interest in Polish-American relations, and the controversy surrounding Henshaw Ward's denial of Peary's discovery of the North Pole.

The Wells collection is comprised of the following series: Subject file; Personal diaries; Robert E. Peary; and Other papers.

Research papers, 1967-1979, of students in journalism at the University of Michigan; contain essays relating to the history of Michigan newspapers and journalists, and the development of radio and television broadcasting; include papers concerning newspapers in Adrian, Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Grand Rapids, and the journalistic efforts of Father Charles Coughlin, Henry Ford, and Gerald L. K. Smith.

The Department of Journalism research papers collection measures 2 linear feet and consists solely of student research papers written between 1967 and 1979. The papers contain essays written regarding the history of various newspapers -- many in Michigan cities such as Adrian, Ann Arbor, Detroit and Grand Rapids; journalists and the journalistic efforts of individuals such as Father Charles Coughlin, Henry Ford, and Gerald L.K. Smith; and the development of radio and television broadcasting.

The surviving administrative records of the Department of Journalism were retained by its successor unit, the Department of Communication, and can be found in that department's records.

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.

Journalist, free-lance writer, radio commentator, and professor of journalism, University of Michigan, 1956-1969. The collection contains copies of newspaper clippings, correspondence, articles by and about Stowe, and photographs of Stowe and his wife. The materials document Stowe's coverage of the Spanish Civil War and the resulting FBI surveillance of him, his coverage of World War II, his work for Reader's Digest, and his career as a University of Michigan journalism professor. The collection also includes poetry and biographical prose by Stowe.

This collection contains copies and clippings of Stowe's writings, articles about Stowe and his career, and documentation of Stowe's years as a University of Michigan professor. Stowe pulled these materials together for the Bentley quite self-consciously. Although most of Stowe's original papers are maintained in a collection at the Mass Communications History Center of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, this collection is notable for the annotations made by Stowe and for his selection process. It also contains small amounts of original correspondence.

Physicist, University of Michigan professor, dean of the graduate school; correspondence, writings, speeches, organizational files, audio-visual materials.

Although the Ralph A. Sawyer collection includes materials relating to all phases of his career, beginning with his studies at the University of Chicago in 1918-1919, the strength of the files are for those activities outside of the University of Michigan, notably his work with the U.S. Navy laboratories, Joint Task Force One, the American Institute of Physics, and the Optical Society of America. Files dealing with his University of Michigan activities are less complete as these materials will be found with the records of those units which Sawyer headed.

Zoologist, college professor, president of University of Michigan, 1929-1951. Professional files relating to his career with the University Museum and as a professor of zoology, and presidential files containing correspondence, reports, speeches, and other University materials, including budget and legislative files, material relating to changes in University administration, his relationship with faculty, students and alumni, and photographs.

The Alexander Ruthven papers consists of two series of records. The first is the papers of Ruthven as president of the University of Michigan, 1929 to 1951. The second, and smaller, series is the files maintained by Ruthven as a zoologist with the University Museum and as professor of zoology. This latter series dates largely from 1908 to 1929 but also includes collected earlier files from the 1870s.

Professor of drama at University of Michigan, chairman of the Committee on War Activities of the American Educational Theatre Association, and secretary of the Theatre for Victory Council during World War II. Files concerning his war activities, including correspondence, scripts, course materials and printed matter; and photographs.

The Kenneth Rowe Collection, though covering the period 1940-1953, largely concerns the years of World War II and the activities of Rove as chairman of the Committee on War Activities for the American Educational Theatre Association (AETA); as secretary of the Theatre for Victory Council; as consultant to the National Theatre Conference (NTC), official agency for all dramatic activities of the Combined Armed Forces; and as drama consultant to the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Office of Civil Defense, and the Office of Education. Rowe's work in all of these efforts concerned the use of drama as a propaganda tool to raise morale and to define America's goals.

The Rowe collection consists of two linear feet of correspondence, reports, newsletters, play scripts, and printed material. The collection begins with general correspondence followed by files which have been arranged by the name of theatre organizations in which Rove was involved.

University of Michigan professor of political science, special advisor to the U.S. Military Government in Germany after World War II, participant in numerous government commissions; papers include correspondence, working files, speeches, course materials, and visual and sound materials.

The James K. Pollock papers represent an accumulation of files from a lifetime of academic teaching and research and an extraordinary number of public service responsibilities to both his state and his nation. The files within the collection fall into two categories: types of document (such as correspondence, speeches and writings, visual materials, etc.) and files resulting from a specific activity or position (such as his work as delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention or his service with the Office of the Military Government in Germany after World War II).

The collection is large and of a complicated arrangement because of Pollock's many activities. When received in 1969, the files were maintained as received; very little processing was done to the collection so that an inventory to the papers could be quickly prepared. The order of material is that devised by James K. Pollock and his secretarial staff in the U-M Department of Political Science. Recognizing the anomalies within the order of the collection, the library made the decision to list the contents to the collection while at the same time preparing a detailed card file index (by box and folder number, i.e. 16-8) to significant correspondents and subjects. While there was much to be said for this method of preparing a finding aid expeditiously, it also covered up some problems in arrangement. Thus series and subseries of materials are not always grouped together as they were created by Pollock. Files on the Hoover Commission and the Michigan Constitutional Convention, for example, come before Pollock's work in Germany after the war. In 1999, effort was made to resolve some of the inconsistencies and obvious misfilings of the first inventory but because of the numbering system used in 1969 and the card index prepared for the files, there are still some problems. Researchers should be alert to these difficulties and take time to examine different parts of the collection for material on a similar topic.

Professor of sociology and psychology at the University of Michigan. Biographical material, professional correspondence, research projects files, University of Michigan files, papers detailing professional activities, and miscellaneous; also photographs.

The Theodore Mead Newcomb papers document the career of one of America's foremost social psychologists and pioneer of survey research. The papers which arrived in the 1985 accession were organized into six series: Biographical, Correspondence, Research Projects, University of Michigan, Professional Activities, and Miscellaneous.