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The collection the Helen Newberry Residence contains administrative files and information relating to the history of the Helen Handy Newberry Residence at the University of Michigan.

This small 0.5 linear feet collection contains administrative records from the early years of Newberry Hall, 1915-1947. The first folder contains the minutes of the Board of Governors for the years, 1915 to 1925. The board was made up of five women. These women included the Dean of Women and at least two women who were University of Michigan graduates or who had been students. This board was appointed by the regents from those nominated by the Board of Trustees of the Students Christian Association. The second folder includes brief historical and financial records. These records give a brief financial history of the opening of the residence hall. This includes an interesting discussion of the separate roles of the university and the Student Christian Association in the upkeep of the building. There is a folder of budget summaries and a folder containing audits performed between 1927 and 1931. The Food Services records include the number of meals served and an example of the cost for guest meals. The last folder is the architectural contract from Kahn and Wilby for alterations to Newberry Hall

Naomi Long Madgett is a prominent poet, educator, and editor, recognized for her significant contribution to African-American letters. Since 1972 she has run, single-handedly, Lotus Press, which publishes poetry by African-Americans and others. The collection documents Madgett's career and the operation of Lotus Press, through correspondence, manuscripts (both by Madgett and by authors published by Lotus Press), ephemera, audiovisual material, and photographs.

The Naomi Long Madgett Papers document the prominent career of Ms. Madgett as a poet and a teacher, and her operation of Lotus Press, which Madgett has run single-handedly for more than 30 years. Thus, the collection makes a good source of insight both into Madgett's own writing and aesthetic sensibility, and into the cultures of lyric poetry and African-American letters in the latter decades of the 20th Century. The bulk of the material covers the 1980s, the 1990s, and the first few years of the 21st century, with Madgett's activities in the 1970s being fairly well represented as well. From the correspondence collected here a vivid picture emerges of Madgett's relationships with some of the authors whose work she published--such as James Emanuel and Gayl Jones--as well as with other authors, such as Gwendolyn Brooks. In addition, correspondence and ephemera evidence the growth of Madgett's own reputation, documenting her many professional activities, awards, and honors over the years. While manuscripts by Madgett herself do not comprise a large part of the collection, the fortunes of one of her most famous poems, "Midway," are documented in detail, and an unpublished autobiography ( Pilgrim Journey) provides an extensive synthesis by the author of her own influences and career (a section of which has been published by Gale's Contemporary Authors' Autobiography Series). Finally, the collection provides a close look at the daily operation, from its inception, of a small literary press.

The Naomi Long Madgett papers have been arranged into nine series: Personal, Writings, General Correspondence, Workshops and Events, Author Files, Business Records, Ephemera, Photographs, and Audiovisual. Books published by Lotus Press, as well as other books and periodicals from Madgett's library, have been catalogued individually and are shelved by call number in the Special Collections Library. Within the collection, however, much material is available from the production of certain Lotus Press books; see below Writings and Author Files.