Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The Accreditation Inspection Reports (1871-1992), of which there are 163 linear feet, make up the bulk of the collection. These records include inspection reports, done by the Bureau and its predecessors, as well as reports submitted to the university's accreditation program by the individual schools. The files vary in size and content, but include information such as the following: student demographics, teacher education, curriculum, support facilities, class schedules, correspondence, population of city, enrollment, number of teachers, number of recitations, graduates attending higher education, employment practices, library facilities, laboratory facilities, school income, counseling standards, health programs, policies and objectives, guidance programs, administrator qualifications, and financial data. Some accreditation files of the North Central Association are also included.

The earliest accreditation inspection reports are located in two bound volumes at the beginning of the collection. These were part of the 1953 accession and span the dates 1892 to 1907, although reports of the North Central Association for 1905 are included with the unbound reports. Reports are in rough alphabetical order by city and primarily include information about the instructors, number of students, size of library, and other brief comments about the school. They are not filed alphabetically with the rest of the reports as they were not easily separable. The bound volumes also include early reports for schools outside of Michigan. Additionally, there is one folder of unbound accreditation reports done in 1905 for non-Michigan schools. See the folder listing for the names of the schools included in the 1905 reports. The remainder of the accreditation inspection reports are filed alphabetically by city and then alphabetically by school name. An attempt was made to list varying names that the school used during its history and to cross reference schools to other cities and/or schools as appropriate. There were a number of loose reports that were part of the 1953 accession that have been interfiled with the 1996 accession as a matter of convenience to the researcher. These were largely reports of the North Central Association.

Notes found within the collection indicate that university reports were not requested during the 1939/40 school year and that reports on school visits for the years 1879 to 1904 are available in the University of Michigan Registrar record group (box 11).

References to these school visits and reports can be found scattered throughout a variety of other University of Michigan record groups. There are also letters within the papers of university president James B. Angell pertaining to school visits. One should consult the volumes of calendars of Angell's letters for examples.