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Correspondence and other Papers, 1879-1930
18.5 linear feet
The correspondence is arranged in strict chronological order according to the date of the letter received and the date of the reply to it. This means that the letter and its response are sometimes widely separated. However, the date of the reply was often noted on the incoming letter in blue pencil. Two indexes have been created to provide some access points to the chronological correspondence files.
A name index lists many of the most significant authors or recipients of letters. The alphabetical listing cites letters by the author by date. A second index provides access by broad topics and subjects. In the index notations, dates for original letters and responses are given. If the reply is in the same folder as the incoming letter, the dates in the index appear in order, separated by a comma. If the reply is in another folder, its notation is preceded by an R and the box, folder number, and date are given. Starting in 1913, copies of replies are sometimes on the back of the incoming letter itself so the researcher should check there also
President Hutchins continued the operation of the university as it had been under previous presidents, although with increasing expansion of course offerings and student numbers university management was beginning to become unwieldy. There was no organizational structure demarking administrative functions. This lack meant that a wide range of inquiries were addressed to the president -- including those regarding appointments, admissions, student financial aid, and medical care in the university hospitals. These were referred to the heads of the various departments and schools, to the secretary of the university, who oversaw financial affairs, or to the Student Christian Association, which arranged for student jobs.
An indication of how highly regarded the university was across the country may be found in the large number of inquiries from university or government officials in recently admitted states in the west where state systems of higher education were being developed. The range of topics on which they sought advice may be seen in the index listings under "Inquiries from other Educational Institutions".
Correspondence Files, 1900-1959
The CORRESPONDENCE series (11 linear feet, 1900-1903, 1929-1959) is arranged in four subseries: Correspondence, 1900-1903, 1929-1943; Director's Correspondence, 1946-1951; Editor's Correspondence, 1946-1951; and Director of University Relations Correspondence, 1950-1959. Most correspondence is with newspapers, magazine publishers, other universities, and radio and television broadcasting firms and associations.
The earliest correspondence, 1900-1903, includes letters written to Ralph Ellsworth relating to inquiries asking other universities about their information dissemination activities. Correspondence from 1929 to 1943 is chronologically arranged material sent and received by Roger Morrisey and Wilfred B. Shaw and reflects some of the alumni information activities once handled by the office as well as contact with press agencies and newspapers throughout Michigan and the nation
Director's Correspondence, 1946-1951, and Editor's Correspondence, 1946-1951, are similar in content. These two alphabetically arranged subseries comprise the correspondence of Arthur L. Brandon and Cleland B. Wyllie along with some other staff members. Wyllie served as editor but also handled other responsibilities within the office.
The most substantial subseries is the Director of University Relations Correspondence, 1950-1959, arranged alphabetically by topic. It is primarily the correspondence of Arthur L. Brandon. Topics include academic freedom and anti-communism activities (filed under "subversive activities"), the 250th anniversary of Detroit's founding, Harlan Hatcher's inauguration as president, controversy surrounding the renaming of Michigan State University, atomic research sponsored by the Phoenix Project, the 1955 Salk Polio vaccine testing and announcement, and radio and television broadcasting. General information on university activities and programs appears throughout the files, which also include scattered press releases, articles, and clippings in addition to the correspondence. Newspapers and magazines doing stories on the university, such as Life, are well represented within this subseries.
News and Information Services (University of Michigan) records, 1900-2008 (majority within 1943-2008)
164 linear feet — 1 oversize volume
Correspondence, undated, 1868-1936
Sunderland's correspondence consists of both professional and family correspondence.
The professional correspondence, especially for the years 1868-1887, delineates many of the problems and successes of the Unitarian church in the second half of the nineteenth century. Of interest is the correspondence for 1885 and 1886 when Sunderland served as general secretary of the Western Unitarian Conference and western agent of the American Unitarian Association. During this time the theological question known as "The Issue in the West" was debated heatedly in the annual church meetings. On this issue Sunderland differed with many of the other young ministers in the Western Unitarian Conference and supported the retention of a theistic basis for Unitarianism.
Some of Sunderland's correspondents during this period include J.H. Allen, Charles G. Ames, William H. Baldwin, John W. Chadwick, James Freeman Clarke, Robert Collyer, George W. Cooke, Joseph H. Crooker, James De Normandie, William C. Gannett, Edward Everett Hale, Brooke Herford, Robert G. Ingersoll, Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Minot J. Savage, Joseph Shippen, Rush R. Shippen and Charles W. Wendte.
In 1895 the British Unitarian Association sent Sunderland to India to report on the educational, social and religious conditions of the Indian people. As a result of this trip to India, Sunderland became a firm anti-imperialist, spending much of the rest of his career advocating independence for India. Sunderland made a subsequent trip to India in 1913. His correspondence files include exchanges with such Indians as Sir J.C. Bose, Sudhindra Bose, Ramananda Chatterjee, Taraknath Das, Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, Hajom Kissor Singh, and Rabindranath Tagore.
Among the Americans and Englishmen he corresponded with on the questions of India and anti-imperialism are Charles F. Andrews, Alice Stone Blackwell, W. Copeland Bowie, Will Durant, William Lloyd Garrison Jr., Richard B. Gregg, John Haynes Holmes, Myron H. Phelps, Oswald Garrison Villard and Erving Winslow. He also had contacts with such groups as the Society for the Advancement of India, the Hindustan Association of America and the American branch of the India National Congress.
In addition to Sunderland's professional correspondence, which is relatively weak for the periods 1888 to 1897, 1901 to 1906, and 1912 to 1926, the collection contains extensive family correspondence covering the years 1868 to 1910, with a few scattered letters after that time. Since the professional correspondence consists almost entirely of incoming letters, Sunderland's letters and postcards to his wife and children and the diaries which have been saved for some years are the only source for discovering his thoughts on various issues and events.
In addition to the personal correspondence in this collection, more of Sunderland's letters to his family can be in the papers of his wife, Eliza Jane Read Sunderland, his son Edson Read Sunderland, his daughter Florence Sunderland, and in the Sunderland-Safford family collection, which include the papers of Sunderland's first daughter, Gertrude Sunderland Safford. This last collection is especially rich in Sunderland family correspondence.