YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, Metropolitan Offices records, 1877-2012

Start Over Collection YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, Metropolitan Offices records, 1877-2012 Date range 1973

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YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, Metropolitan Offices records, 1877-2012

11 linear feet (in 13 boxes) — 21 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder — 1.1 GB (online)

Branch of the YMCA; Annual reports, clippings, correspondence, financial records, minutes of meetings, photographs, press releases, published materials, rosters, and scrapbooks; also includes collected branch records for the Railroad branch, 1877-1890, and the Downtown branch, 1890-1909; and publication, Detroit Young Men, 1911-1922.

The records of the Metropolitan Offices of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit consist of annual reports, correspondence, financial materials, minutes (Secretary's records), photographs, published brochures and pamphlets, and scrapbooks. The materials document, somewhat unevenly, the efforts of the YMCA to tend to the spiritual, physical, and social needs of the young men in Detroit. The strengths of this record group are in its minutes (Secretary's records) and photographs, each of which provides detailed and telling insight into the development of Detroit and the YMCA from the nineteenth century to 2006. The scrapbooks created by the YMCA, 1936-1973, are also of interest in that they accurately reflect all newspaper coverage of YMCA events and activities for this decade.

The records have been arranged in four series: Administration, Secretary's Records, Visual Materials, and Scrapbooks.

Brochures and pamphlets, 1970s-2009 (scattered)

2 folders

Box 2

(includes The Challenge to Detroit, 1970s)

Brochures and pamphlets (Camps Nissokone, Ohiyesa, Hiyo-went-ha, Man-go-tah-see, and Women's Fitness), 1937-2008 (scattered)

Box 2

(see also oversize brochure in box 10)

Camp Information, 1930-1983 (scattered)

Box 2

Financial Analysis of Proposed 150 site Recreational Vehicle Campground at Camp Nissokone, 1973

Box 2

Clippings, circa 1966-1998

5 folders

Box 11

Copeland, John and undated, 1952-1979

Box 11

Wayne-Westland Branch, 1943-2001

3 folders

Box 12

Secretary's Records (including Detroit Young Men), 1877-1975

The Secretary's Records (including Detroit Young Men) (1877-1975) series comprises over two linear feet of materials and primarily consists of the minutes of the executive board of the Metropolitan Offices of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit from 1921 to 1975. The materials created before 1921 consist of the minutes of the Railroad branch from 1877 to 1890, the minutes of the downtown branch of the Detroit YMCA from 1890 to 1909, and the publication, Detroit Young Men, for the years 1911 to 1922. These earlier records are treated as the official minutes and historical record by the present Metropolitan Offices of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, so they are included in this series. These Secretary's records provide an excellent week-by-week insight into the operations of the Detroit YMCA beginning in the early 1890s. They also serve to illuminate the changing faces of the city of Detroit. Of special interest are the minutes describing the closing of the St. Antoine branch of the YMCA. This branch had served as the "colored Y" from its inception in 1919, but changing attitudes, limited funds, and urban renewal prompted its closing in 1960. The Bentley Historical Library has copies of the Secretary's records after 1921, the originals are retained by the Metropolitan Offices of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit.