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The Committee and Council Records Series (1930-1996) consists of various committees and councils that reported to the dean, were appointed by the dean, or on which the dean served or held an interest. The subseries is further subdivided by time spans reflecting materials received in various accessions. Records of a particular committee may extend over several of the accessions. Files of individual committees may include minutes correspondence and other material.

The arrangement, established by the Dean's office, of the 1930-1980 subseries (the original accessions) is a complicated one. Committees are arranged alphabetically by the source of their appointment. Thus committee records are divided by those committees appointed solely within the Medical School (Ad Hoc and Standing), committees appointed jointly by the Medical Center (Medical School and University Hospital), committees appointed by senior university administrators, and non-university committees, usually state or national committees in which the Medical School participated. In later accessions the distinguishing categories were abandoned. The records of the Executive Committee constitute a separate subseries.

Among the most informative records in the Committee and Council Series are minutes of the Dean's Advisory Council, filed under the Medical School Standing Committees. The Dean's Advisory Council is composed of the heads of the various departments. Its minutes are generally complete between 1959 and 1977 and are remarkably informative and frank. Other significant committee files include: Building Committee, Interim Review and Promotion Board, 1930-1975; the Bio-Medical Research Council, 1974-1984; the Computer Advisory Committee, 1977-1983; Michigan Association for Regional Medical Planning, 1972-1973; and the Wayne County General Hospital Senior Advisory Group, 1965-1972.

The records of the Medical School Executive Committee (69.5 linear feet and 10.4 MB) include a run of that body's minutes, from its founding in 1930 through 2003. The records also include two small files relating to appointments and promotions and committee retreats. The primary record of the school's governing body, the minutes provide documentation of a wide array of policies, programs and issues.

As the School's presumptive court of last appeal, the Medical School Executive Committee routinely decided whether students should be dismissed from the school, or allowed re-admittance after a dismissal. Moreover, it heard students' appeals of these decisions. Similarly, it had final say over faculty appointments, promotion, and tenure decisions, and also heard departmental chair appeals of negative decisions on any of these matters. Because all of the above issues were carefully documented with significant amounts of personal information, the Medical School Executive Committee records are under extended restrictions.

Records dated 1997 to 2003 contain other related documents regarding student issues, school issues, and faculty appointments. These records contain two groups of minutes that were added with the corresponding accession, digital office documents and paper copies. Both minutes cover the same meetings and have some overlap, but ultimately have some small discrepancies. The paper copies added in this accession specifically also includes correspondence regarding meeting topics, as well as the CVs of potential new faculty members or current faculty promotions.

The Correspondence Series served as the Medical School's general file from 1915 until 1959. It includes correspondence, committee records, and reports. Generally it is arranged alphabetically by calendar year, although variant filing schemes were used prior to 1921. Inconsistent rules for alphabetizing were used. For example, correspondence with university president Alexander Ruthven was filed under "P" in 1948, but "R" in 1950. Similar confusion over filing rules exist elsewhere in the correspondence series, although the years just after World War II is where this most often occurs. While filing generally was done by name of title of correspondent, or by the name of the internal committee, a few subject headings do exist. Most frequent are "Budget," "Promotions" (sometimes filed as "Promotions and Appointments" or simply "Appointments") and "Doctor Locations." Promotions is valuable for tracing the careers of individual faculty members. "Doctor Location" is an unusual file used for letters written to the Medical School by physicians wishing to sell their practice or seeking an assistant, or communities seeking to attract a doctor to their location.

The Dean's Correspondence Series, 1915-1959, was appraised at the item level. A written set of criteria was established to determine which material should be retained, and which eliminated. In general, all substantive correspondence, all minutes and reports, and re-occurring folders such as Budget and Promotions were retained. Material eliminated included requests for general information or specific forms, requests for interpretations of the admissions criteria, requests regarding the availability of particular courses (particularly during the summer session), announcements of available internships, non-substantive alumni correspondence particularly in regards to the mechanics of reunions, notices (of staff vacations, temporary vacancies, etc.), referral and consultation letters, invitations, regrets and acknowledgments, letters regarding travel information, particularly hotel reservations, train and plane schedules, and non-Michigan doctor location letters. In general non-substantive documents, including routine correspondence, as well as minor financial documentation or authorizations, were eliminated. Student records were separated from the collection at the request of the Medical School, and returned to them for inclusion in student files. Because the correspondence is arranged alphabetically, in general, there are no separate file folder headings by name of individual or title. Exceptions to this rule were made if the quantity of material was sufficient to justify a folder. All such folders are noted in the finding aid, but the absence of such a folder should not be taken to mean the absence of correspondence by a person.

An addition the Correspondence series (2.5 linear feet) was received as part of the 2002 accession of Medical School records. Covering the years 1990-1997, it is a chronological file of incoming and outgoing correspondence of dean Giles Bole (acting dean July-December, 1990, dean 1991-1996) and interim dean A. Lorris Betz (1996-1998). As it includes everything that required the dean's signature, including sensitive student and personnel matters, this series falls under those extended restrictions.