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The Church of Women United in Grand Rapids is a local chapter of the national women's ecumenical Christian organization. Scrapbooks and materials collected from the state and Battle Creek chapters detail the events and customs of the group.

The Church of Women United (CWU) in Grand Rapids is arranged in two series: Grand Rapids Chapter materials and Other Chapters. The Grand Rapids series contains scrapbooks dated from 1925 to 2003. The earlier materials are from church groups that would later become the Church of Women United in Grand Rapids. This series includes a 1951 letter signed by Gerald R. Ford, demonstrating his support of sending federal food aid to India.

The Other Chapters series includes collected materials from the Battle Creek and Michigan's state chapters.

Interdenominational church women's organization. Histories, programs, office files, scrapbooks, and photographs of activities.

The records of Church Women United in Michigan (CWUMI) reflect only a part of the organization's history. No primary materials exist prior to 1948, and the existing material created between 1948 and 1954 is very sketchy. Documentation is richest starting the 1960s. Material from this era includes minutes of CWUMI executive and annual meetings, material relating to committees and committee reports, bylaws, correspondence of CWUMI presidents, periodical publications, files relating to projects and activities, material related to CWUMI local groups, and lists of member organizations.

Active in numerous civic and charitable organization, Clara Brucker assisted her husband Wilber M. Brucker, who had served as both governor of Michigan and Secretary of the Army. The collection includes correspondence, speeches, travel briefs and diaries.

The Clara Brucker collection includes papers concerning her work with the Mock Republican Conventions and her interest in the prevention of sex crimes against women and children, the General Federation of Women's Clubs and miscellaneous other charities. One of Clara Brucker's correspondents was May-ling Soong Chiang (Mme. Chiang Kai-shek). The collection has been arranged into the following series: Personal and biographical; School of Government; Women's civic, political and service organizations; Clippings; Travel and trip briefings; Diaries; and Miscellaneous.

Grand Rapids, Michigan educator, principal of the Grand Rapids Kindergarten Training School, and advocate of kindergarten education. Correspondence, lecture and class notes, programs, photographs, and miscellaneous scrapbooks, ledgers, and account books.

The collection is comprised of correspondence and other papers largely concerning kindergarten education and her involvement in a parent and teacher organization. The series in the collection are Biographical / Personal materials, Correspondence; Kindergarten education; National Congress of Parents and Teachers; and Miscellaneous.

Republican congressman from Michigan's 4th Congressional District, 1934-1962, served on the Education and Labor Committee and the Government Operations Committee, known for his fiscal conservatism and opposition to much of the New Deal legislation, he was particularly concerned with the growing power of labor unions and worked to amend the Wagner Act, eventually becoming a key player in passage of the Taft-Hartley Act. As chair of special subcommittees, Hoffman conducted several investigations into labor racketeering, particularly by the Teamsters Union. Collection includes committee files, some constituent correspondence, topical files, investigation files, press releases, scrapbooks and a limited number of sound recordings and photographs.

The Clare E. Hoffman Papers consist of Congressional files detailing his work on the House Committee on Education and Labor, the House Committee on Government Operations, and various subcommittees, including investigating labor racketeering; files concern in part his sponsorship of labor-related legislation, bills unifying the armed services, and bills authorizing reorganization of the executive branch; and photographs.

The Hoffman collection of congressional papers covers the years 1934-1962. Unfortunately the first few terms of his service are not as adequately documented as might be hoped, as in 1942 Hoffman directed his staff to discard retired files. As a result, except for a few political files and subject files, the Hoffman collection bulks largest for the years 1943-1962.

Despite the fragmentary character of the documentation on Hoffman's early years in Congress, the collection provides a detailed view of the activities of a conservative congressman from western Michigan for a twenty-year period. In recent American history, the years 1943-1962 were important both for wartime politics and for the myriad problems that came after victory: the cooling of relations with the Soviet Union, the integration of returning veterans into the economy, shortages in housing and consumer goods, a renewed militancy among the nation's labor unions, the continuation of the struggle for civil rights for blacks, the fear of internal subversive activities; in short, problems of great importance and complexity, issues for which there were no easy answers.

Hoffman was eyewitness and participant to the politics of these issues. As a representative of increasing seniority, he was a powerful conservative voice within the Congress. Because of his position on the Education and Labor committee, he helped shape the bulk of legislation passed in the postwar period, notably the Taft-Hartley Act. And because of his position on the Expenditures Committee, Hoffman was instrumental in passage of the National Security Act of 1947 that unified the administration of the armed services and enlarge their responsibilities.

Apart from these major pieces of legislation, the Hoffman collection documents the service of a congressman who was attuned to the concerns and politics of his largely rural and small-town district, with constituents economically conservative and ever distrustful of federal encroachments upon their lives. Of special interest are various files of correspondence with the businessmen and small manufacturers of his district. As a good politician, Hoffman was especially mindful of maintaining good relations with these people, and helping them when he could with their labor-related problems.

Like many congressional collections, the Hoffman papers consist in large part of communications with constituents and out-of-district citizens. But because of his power within the Congress, Hoffman's files (letters received and sent) are often substantive in content and a valuable complement to the work of the House, as published in the Congressional Record and other printed sources.

Family papers include correspondence, account books, autograph albums, records of Dean Creek Threshing Company, state tax land deeds, and miscellaneous.

The collection includes the correspondence between Clarence and Lucy before they married, 1890-1896, and later correspondence with friends and relatives. Also included are Autograph Albums, Clarence’s Account Books, and records of the Dean Creek Threshing Company. The deeds in the collection do not name a Beardslee as a seller or owner. Miscellaneous materials include a program for a Detroit Provisional Imperial Klanvocational, June 30-July 9, 1923, with handwritten notes on speakers and officers, and the words to a Klan song based on the melody of “Michigan, My Michigan,” on the inside back cover.

Professor of English at the University of Michigan; correspondence, teaching and course materials, and photographs.

The collection contains Thorpe's personal and professional correspondence between 1921 and 1959. The collection also includes some letters to his wife after Thorpe's death. Within the correspondence are materials relating to the Fred Newton Scott Anniversary Papers. Also included is A list of books in Thorpe's personal library, teaching materials and course evaluations, notes for lectures and notes and typescripts of articles on Addison, Coleridge, Hunt, Hazlitt, Keats, and other Romantic poets and critics. There are also works on other topics and figures in English literature.

Other materials relating primarily to Thorpe's literary activities are retained by the Rare Book Room of the University of Michigan Graduate Library. These include correspondence relating to John Keats: The Complete Poems and Selected Letters which Thorpe edited, and materials relating to activities of the Modern Language Association's Joint Bibliography Committee for the groups designated as General Topics II and English IX involving nationally and internationally known scholars of the Romantic movement.

Pioneer in the public recreation movement, Detroit (Mich.) Recreation Commissioner. Correspondence, memoranda, and printed matter relating to the work of the War Camp Community Service program in the 1920's.

The Clarence Brewer collection is valuable for anyone doing research on the development of the community recreation movement in the United States during the early twentieth century. Unfortunately, the Brewer collection contains very little material relating to the development of community recreation in Detroit. This is strange considering Brewer's long association with the City (1920-1941), first as Commissioner of Recreation and later as General Superintendent of Parks and Recreation. His personal papers do contain frequent reference to Detroit; the bulk of these, however, are concerned with such things as salary negotiations and civil service examinations. The extant material falls into three distinct series: Personal papers; other recreation and related organizations; and War Camp Community Service.

Papers of a soldier with the 339th Infantry in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1919, the "Polar Bear Expedition."

Teh Primm Papers include a typed reminiscence (titled "Polar Bear Tales") with transcribed copies of letters written from Russia describing Primm's experiences. Also contains a digitized copy of the reminiscence and letters supplemented by photos and maps.

This collection contains digital reproductions; the original papers and/or photographs are owned by the donor. The digital items in this collection were digitized from originals by the individual donors before being received by the Bentley Historical Library. Preservation copies of these files with their original file names and CD-ROM file structures intact have been submitted to Deep Blue. Access copies of these digital files can be viewed by clicking on the links next to the individual folders in the Content List below.