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The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan was established in 1897 following a consolidation of the Society of Alumni with the alumni societies of the professional schools. The Michigan Alumnus became the association's official organ. As the organization grew, local chapters were established and provided greater structure. The records include files pertaining to the Alumni Association's administrative office and various chapters and interests groups. This includes national and international U-M alumni and alumnae clubs, the Alumnae Council, the Society of Alumni, the University of Michigan Black Alumni (UMBA-formerly the African American Alumni Council (AAC)), and the Reunion of Black Graduates (RBG). The records include but are not limited to correspondence, minutes, reports, and survey responses, audiovisual materials, digital files, photographs, and publications.

The collection spans 1845-2001. The textual records of the Alumni Association (boxes 1-133) are largely unprocessed, and are described in only general terms in this finding aid. Exceptions include files maintained by Marjorie Williams who served as the vice chair and chair of the Alumnae Council from 1960 to 1962, Class Reunion files, and Topical Files.

Additions to the collection (boxes 168-171) incorporate records, audiovisual materials, photographs, and publications pertaining to the University of Michigan Black Alumni (UMBA). To note are materials specifically related to the African American Alumni Council (AAAC)-formerly the UMBA, and the Reunion of Black Graduates (RBG). This includes information about the Dr. Leonard F. Sain Award, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. scholarship and symposium, the Camp Michigania retreat, and annual reunion for black graduates photographs, planning materials, and souvenir books.

University of Michigan unit dedicated to serving university students, staff and faculty, community members, and others of all gender identities who are facing educational, employment, or other life issues. Minutes, correspondence, audiovisual materials, topical files, and other records documenting the founding, public programs, research projects, day-to-day administrative activities, and individual staff members of the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women.

The Center for Education of Women collection consist of minutes, correspondence, topical files, reports, audiovisual materials, and other records documenting the founding, public programs, research projects, day-to-day administrative activities, and individual staff members of the University of Michigan's Center for the Education of Women.

The current CEW collection is primarily the result of a major reprocessing project that combined several new accessions with the pre-existing record group--itself the accumulation of several accessions--and which has resulted in a re-figured collection nearly double the size of the original. The first three subgroups and their major series have been retained, but some of the lower-level organization has been updated to reflect the fuller picture of the Center that the combined set of materials affords.

Documents within folders may be arranged either chronologically or reverse chronologically, based on the existing arrangement of the majority of materials (in both the pre-existing collection and in the newer accessions), and in some cases may adhere to the original filing order. Also, some files (e.g. most correspondence) were filed by calendar year (Jan-Dec.), while others (notably budgets, staff meetings, and program files) were filed by fiscal year. Unless otherwise noted, files arranged by academic year (indicated in the box list by dates such as '1990/91') run from July of the first year through June of the second year.

Researchers examining the CEW collection may also be interested in related files in the following other record groups at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library: Institute on Gerontology, Michigan Initiative on Women's Health, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Additionally, researchers should note that there are overlaps between the 'Topical' series in the 'Central Office Files' subgroup and the files of CEW staff members in the 'Individual Staff Files' subgroup. Some examples are provided below:

1. Counseling: Myra Fabian, Dorothy McGuigan, Vivian Rogers, and Patricia Wulp
2. Evening Program (especially 1982 and later): Patricia Wulp
3. Group Counseling and Workshops (e.g., Career Decision Making, Assertiveness, the Step Before the Job Search, etc.): Myra Fabian, Barbara Anton, and Patricia Wulp
4. Programs by Academic Year: Patricia Wulp
5. Publicity: Louise Cain, Patricia Wulp and Dorothy McGuigan
6. Research (including: non-traditional student surveys, Women in Science (and Engineering) studies, participant data, and especially Ford Grants): Jean Campbell, Carol Hollenshead, Jean Manis, Hazel Markus, and Dorothy McGuigan
7. Sexual Harassment Implementation Team and other Sexual Harassment materials: Sue Kaufmann
8. Women's Initiative Group (WING): Myra Fabian, Sue Kaufmann, Vivian Rogers, and Patricia Wulp

Due to the decentralized nature of the CEW records, researchers are encouraged to check for headings in each of the subgroups and series, even for subjects not listed above.

Acronyms used frequently in the records and in this finding aid include:

1. CFW / COW -- UM Commission for Women (prior to 1972, the name was the Commission on Women)
2. CURIES -- Cross-University Research in Engineering and Science
3. GEO -- UM Graduate Employees' Organization
4. IOG -- Institute of Gerontology (Joint UM/Wayne State program)
5. LSA / LS&A -- UM College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
6. MAWDAC -- Michigan Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors
7. MSA -- Michigan Student Assembly (UM student government)
8. NAWDAC -- National Association of Women Deans, Administrators and Counselors
9. NACME -- National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
10. NSF -- National Science Foundation
11. OVPR -- UM Office of the Vice President for Research
12. UM -- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor campus unless otherwise noted)
13. WING -- UM Women's Initiative Group
14. WIS / WISE -- Women in Science / Women in Science and Engineering, originally a CEW project that later spun off into its own unit)

Instructional and research unit in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts of University of Michigan. Consists of annual reports; budget files; executive committee minutes as well as records of other department committees and meetings; course evaluations; correspondence files; files relating to the establishment, dissolution, and evaluations of programs; faculty evaluations; photographs; and topical files.

The Department of Sociology records document the administrative history of the department and include annual reports, budgets, committee and departmental meeting minutes, correspondence, course evaluations, photographs, publications, and topical files. Records prior to 1950 and research records of individual faculty members are not well represented. The annual reports and the committee records—particularly the records of the Executive Committee—provide significant information regarding the development of the department.

Professor of history at the University of Michigan, first distinguished visiting professor at Northern Michigan University. Correspondence and other papers concerning his research and writings on the anti-slavery movement in America. Also, analog and digitized recordings of 1965 interviews given to WNMR Northern Dimensions.

The Dumond collection contains professional correspondence, including letters received, ca. 1961-1970, reflecting prevailing attitudes towards race relations and the historiography of the American Civil War. There are also research materials, notebooks containing lecture notes and drafts of writings, reviews of his books, an audio-tape of a talk he gave, and a scattering of photographs.

Central administrative office responsible for financial management of the University of Michigan and fiscal policy with oversight for the general fund and trust budget. Unit has undergone several name changes: Vice President in Charge of Business and Finance (1935-1966); Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (1966-1993); Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (1993- ). Includes administrative records reflecting oversight of the university's financial assets, preparation of annual budgets, fiscal policy, investments and expenditures, and various financial issues. Documentation includes topical files, university budgets, and trust fund records. Includes files of office holders Shirley Wheeler Smith, Robert P. Briggs, Wilbur K. Pierpont, James Brinkerhoff, and Farris Womack, Chandler Matthews, Robert Kasdin, and Timothy Slottow.

Measuring 230 linear feet, 1 oversize folder, 51 oversize volumes, and 283 GB (online), the records of the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer document the fiscal history of the university beginning from 1909. At least since the 1950s, the vice president has taken responsibility for the creation of university policy in areas requiring special fiscal knowledge as well as for the preparation of the university's general fund and trust budgets. Other activities, such as policing actual expenditures or the day to day operations of specific service units within the university reporting to the vice president, have been delegated to subordinate offices.

Reflecting this division of responsibility, the records of the vice president document major fiscal issues facing the university and the preparation of the university's annual budgets. Some of the records are office files. However, the office also retained many key bound financial documents including an official set of the university's annual budgets.

The records are organized into seven series: Central Topical Files; Supplemental Files; Assistant to the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Associate Vice President for Finance; University Budgets, Accounts and Reports; Photographs; and Enterprise Financial Planning and Analysis. Most series are further divided into several subseries, reflecting different accessions. There is considerable overlap in date span of the topical files of the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Files created by one Vice President were sometimes retained for use by his successor(s) and transferred at a much later date than the bulk of his records.

Radio and television broadcaster; professor of speech at the University of Michigan; director of television, later director of broadcasting at the university. Biographical material, subject files relating to his career in broadcasting, published writings, speeches, scripts, and audio-visual materials; files document development of television at the University of Michigan, including various administrative and program changes.

The GRG papers span the years 1928-1990 and are divided into five series: Biographical Materials; Early Career; University of Michigan; Writings, Speeches, and Scripts; and Audio-Visual Materials. The collection traces Garrison's long and distinguished career in broadcasting, as well as his many years of teaching. The collection with few exceptions has been maintained in its original chronological order.

Professor of geography at the University of Michigan. Series include correspondence, subject files, professional societies, geography courses, reprints, manuscripts, notes as a student, and photographs; files relate to his professional interests and to the subject of geography.

The George Kish papers are divided into eight series: Correspondence, Subject Folders, Professional Societies, Geography Courses, Reprints, Manuscripts, Notes as a Student, and Photographs. These eight sections correspond, more or less, to the order that Kish maintained for his own files. The collection documents the academic career of Kish, from his Paris days as a student and his years at the U-M as a professor to his retirement and beyond. The collection's focus is not strictly on the university, as it also reflects Kish's prolific writings and his work in professional societies.

Michigan-based architect, founder of Gunnar Birkerts and Associates, professor in the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning. The collection is comprised of six series: Personal papers, Professional papers, Faculty papers, Project records, Personal Project Files and Personal Correspondence and Files. Personal papers includes biographical information, family photographs, early architectural drawings, and course notebooks and project drawings completed while a student at the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart. Professional papers includes transcripts and notes of speeches, lectures and seminars (many of these are also available on audiotapes; some are available on videocassettes). Also included are correspondence, awards, travel diaries with conceptual drawings, newspaper and journal articles and photographs. Faculty papers include course and other materials relating to his career as professor at the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Project files contains textual files, photographs, and conceptual drawings associated with 122 of the buildings and projects designed by Birkerts. Scanned images of some conceptual drawings are available online.

The Gunnar Birkerts Collection offers researchers the opportunity to study the personal, professional and faculty papers and conceptual sketches of one of the masters of American modern architecture, whose career spans the second half of the twentieth century. The collection encompasses 15 linear feet of Birkerts' student work, notes and transcripts of speeches, lectures and interviews, video and audio tapes, writings, correspondence, awards, travel diaries, academic course materials, photographs and project records. Perhaps the greatest significance of this collection lies in its presentation of over 1900 drawings of 122 buildings and projects by the architect's own hand, many of which are valuable, early conceptual sketches.

In its pairing of narrative and visual documents, the Gunnar Birkerts Collection offers a rich perspective on the architect himself, illuminating his views on the creative process and the resulting conceptual designs which have defined his expressive architecture over his illustrious fifty-plus-year career. The Gunnar Birkerts Collection is the architect's deeply personal legacy. He recognizes that, while some of his buildings may be demolished over time, his original conceptual designs on paper are conserved here for future generations to study and enjoy. To this end, he has endowed the Gunnar Birkerts Collection to ensure that his drawings will be preserved and that his place in architectural history can be studied and understood.

The Gunnar Birkerts Collection is comprised of six series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Faculty Papers, Project Records, Personal Project Files and Personal Correspondence and Files. The narrative and visual documents in these series illuminate the full breadth of the architect's life and work, from his early years as a student at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart, Germany in the 1940s to his career in Michigan as an internationally acclaimed architect, esteemed design professor and global lecturer from the early 1950s to the present.

Graduate School of the University of Michigan. Records include dean's topical files, 1892-1996; files of associate deans; minutes of the executive board; project and grant files detailing faculty and student research; lists of degrees granted; records of fellowships and awards granted by the graduate school and university; and files relating to academic departments and programs, including reviews of degree programs.

The records of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies document the administration of the school, its academic programs and research projects and fellowships funded by the school and outside sources. The records include Dean's Files, minutes of the Executive Board and Administrative Council, Academic Unit and Program Evaluation files, and grants administration records.

Records of the Graduate School have been received by the library in numerous accessions, some large others quite small. Some accessions represent continuations or complements to previously received materials. This finding attempts to intellectually integrate continuing or similar record series received in multiple accessions.

The records are organized into a number of series. Among the more significant are:

1. Deans' Topical File
2. Research Records
3. University Units
4. Program Evaluations
5. Faculty Research Grants
6. Degree Lists
7. Faculty Fellowships, Grants and Awards
8. Graduate School Executive Board and Administrative Council

In 2008, the Rackham School of Graduate Studies announced that it would become a 'paperless' office and that future accessions to the Bentley Library would be electronic. The materials from 1990 to 2003 were thus digitized by Rackham staff (from the original paper records) and saved as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. As of 2012, these digital accessions comprise two subseries within the Graduate School Executive Board and Administrative Council series and Program Evaluation series.

University of Michigan professor of political science, special advisor to the U.S. Military Government in Germany after World War II, participant in numerous government commissions; papers include correspondence, working files, speeches, course materials, and visual and sound materials.

The James K. Pollock papers represent an accumulation of files from a lifetime of academic teaching and research and an extraordinary number of public service responsibilities to both his state and his nation. The files within the collection fall into two categories: types of document (such as correspondence, speeches and writings, visual materials, etc.) and files resulting from a specific activity or position (such as his work as delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention or his service with the Office of the Military Government in Germany after World War II).

The collection is large and of a complicated arrangement because of Pollock's many activities. When received in 1969, the files were maintained as received; very little processing was done to the collection so that an inventory to the papers could be quickly prepared. The order of material is that devised by James K. Pollock and his secretarial staff in the U-M Department of Political Science. Recognizing the anomalies within the order of the collection, the library made the decision to list the contents to the collection while at the same time preparing a detailed card file index (by box and folder number, i.e. 16-8) to significant correspondents and subjects. While there was much to be said for this method of preparing a finding aid expeditiously, it also covered up some problems in arrangement. Thus series and subseries of materials are not always grouped together as they were created by Pollock. Files on the Hoover Commission and the Michigan Constitutional Convention, for example, come before Pollock's work in Germany after the war. In 1999, effort was made to resolve some of the inconsistencies and obvious misfilings of the first inventory but because of the numbering system used in 1969 and the card index prepared for the files, there are still some problems. Researchers should be alert to these difficulties and take time to examine different parts of the collection for material on a similar topic.