Search

Back to top
Number of results to display per page
View results as:

Search Results

Collection

Department of Physics (University of Michigan) records, 1873-2004

1 oversize folder — 14.5 linear feet

Correspondence and other papers dealing with departmental plans, reviews and organization, buildings and laboratories, staff recruitment, research, impact of World War I and personal affairs of various staff members especially when they were studying in Europe. Correspondence includes letters of John W. Langley, Robert A. Millikan, Harrison Randall, James M. Cork, Ernest Lawrence, Walter Stevens, John O. Reed, Henry Carhart, Karl Guthe, Fred Hodges, Horace R. Crane, and others. Also includes correspondence of chairmen Daniel Sinclair, Richard H. Sands, and Lawrence W. Jones. Efforts to locate a superconducting super collider in Michigan in the 1980s are well documented in these records.

The Department of Physics records contain budget sheets, clippings, committee minutes, correspondence, departmental review reports, organizational charts, personnel records, and photographs. The records are most informative in the administrative proceedings of the department. They are least informative in curricular and research areas. The records span the years 1873-1995 and are arranged into four series: Administrative Files, Undergraduate and Graduate Programs, Research, and Awards and Special Events and L3 Project. Although there are 19th century records present, the bulk of the records cover the period from 1954 to 1991.

Folder

Correspondence, 1889-1932, 1964-1991

The Correspondence subseries (1889-1932, 1964-1991, 2 linear feet) contains Departmental Correspondence, 1889-1932; and Chairman's Correspondence, 1964-1991. The early departmental correspondence includes letters of John W. Langley, Robert A. Millikan, Harrison M. Randall, James M. Cork, Ernest Lawrence, Walter Stevens, John O. Reed, Henry Carhart, Karl Guthe, H. R. Crane, and others. Correspondence from 1917 and 1918 documents World War I submarine detection research done under Harrison M. Randall. The Chairman's Correspondence is dominated by the papers of Lawrence W. Jones, chairman from 1982 to 1987, and covers the daily affairs of the department. The Jones correspondence also includes material predating his tenure as chairman.

Folder

Facilities and Equipment, 1886-1919, 1953-1991

The Facilities and Equipment subseries (1886-1919, 1953-1992, 2.8 linear feet) contains files on departmental equipment, shops, and buildings. Of note are the space planning files, which document the move to the Dennison Building and the Randall Bridge Proposal; and the department's efforts to build a Superconducting Super Collider near Ann Arbor. For cyclotron files, see the Research series. The 2006 accession added two linear feet to this subseries. The documentation is mainly additional Superconducting Super Collider reports for the Dundee and Stockbridge, Michigan sites.