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The collection includes correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, reports, speeches, subject files and a plaque documenting Harold Abel's tenure as Central Michigan University's president, 1975-1985. There are very few personal materials in the collection. Of particular note are the materials documenting the Jane Fonda campus speech controversy, 1977-1978.

Except for some Biographical Information, 1975, 2002, undated (3 folders), the rest of the collection has no personal materials in it. The remaining series in the collection, all related to CMU or educational topics, include: Correspondence, 1972-1985 (approximately .5 cubic ft.); Meeting Minutes, 1976-1984 (approximately .5 cubic ft.); Photographs, 1981, undated (a few folders); Reports, 1964, 1985 (Approximately .5 cubic ft.); Speeches, 1976, 1985 (9 folders); most of the rest of the collection consists of Subject Files, 1973-1987. There is also one Plaque, 1977.

The collection includes a lot of financial, budget, fundraising, and Development Fund information in the collection because of the lean budget years experienced by CMU during President Abel’s tenure. Other topics documented at length in the collection include the Institute for Personal and Career Development (IPCD), commencements, December 1976-May 1985, the Jane Fonda Controversy, and Korean Hanyang University and Chung Ang University.

The only Photographs in the collection are in folders with Inauguration Materials, Development Board Meeting Minutes, and the Subject Files for the Perry Shorts Stadium Improvement and the Roscommon Property.

Oversized Michigan Senate Resolution No. 691, July 2, 1980, commending CMU administrators and deans for not taking a pay raise, is also included.

Abbreviations used in the finding aid include CMU for Central Michigan University, MI for Michigan, and Dept. for Department. Folder labels with acronyms used by President Abel are followed by the full organizational name, if known, in parenthesis at the end of the label.