Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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Collection

Arthur H. Vandenberg papers, 1884-1974 (majority within 1915-1951)

8 linear feet (on 11 microfilm rolls) — 25 volumes — 20 phonograph records — 1 film reel — 1 audiotape (reel-to-reel tapes)

Online
Republican U.S. Senator from Michigan; advocate of the United Nations and bipartisan foreign policy. Correspondence, scrapbooks, diaries, and visual materials.

The Arthur H. Vandenberg collection consists of 8 linear feet of materials (available on microfilm), 25 volumes of scrapbook/journals, and assorted audio and visual materials. The collection covers Vandenberg's entire career with a few folders of papers post-dating his death in 1951 relating to the dedication of memorial rooms in his honor in the 1970s. The collection is divided into four major series: Correspondence; Speeches; Campaign and Miscellaneous Topical; Clippings, Articles, and Scrapbooks; Miscellaneous and Personal; Visual Materials; and Sound Recordings.

Collection

Charles A. Sink Papers, 1900-1996

21 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 2.22 GB

Online
Republican member of the state house and the state senate; president of the University Musical Society. Legislative and campaign files, 1919-1935, detailing his election campaigns, his activities within the legislature, and his various responsibilities as a member of the Republican State Central Committee; general correspondence files, 1922-1960, largely pertaining to his work with the University Musical Society and other civic activities; topical files; family history and memoirs; diaries and appointment books; papers of wife Alva Gordon Sink; and visual materials.
Collection

James K. Pollock papers, 1920-1968

87 linear feet — 3 oversize folders — 2 film reels — 6 phonograph records (oversize) — 16.3 GB — 19 digital audio files

Online
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.

Collection

Stellanova Osborn papers, 1907-1988

40 linear feet

Wife of Chase S. Osborn, leader in the Atlantic Union Movement, and officer in the Atlantic Union Conference, the International Movement for Atlantic Union, and Federal Union, Inc. Correspondence, diaries and other materials concerning her professional interests, especially her work for world peace through international cooperation.

The Stella Osborn collection was received in multiple accessions. The bulk of the papers were received from her home in Georgia (1958) and her office in Washington D.C. (1972). These materials documenting her entire career were organized into seven series: Biographical; Correspondence; Personal and miscellaneous; Atlantic Union Committee and related; Business and Professional Women's Club; Sound recordings; and Index card files. An extremely active woman with many interests and causes, Stella Osborn continued to add to her papers with a later accession in 1983. Following her death, the executor of her estate and other friends added to the collection with materials which she had retained for whatever reason or which had been in storage. There is obviously some overlap in these later materials and the files received previously. The purpose of the Summary Contents List (see below) is to draw like materials together.

The 1992 accession was more fully described than the earlier papers. This accession includes biographical notes and clippings about Stella Osborn and Chase Osborn. There is, in addition, personal and organizational correspondence, financial and estate records (1970-1988), land deeds for the Osborn holdings in Georgia and Michigan, organizational material for the Federal Union and the Atlantic Union Committee, manuscripts of poetry, prose, and political essays (including some material by Chase Osborn), and Stella Osborn's diaries (1982-87). The collection includes childhood photographs of Stella Osborn and photographs of her parents and grandparents. Two copies of a videotape about the Osborn farm in Georgia, Possum Poke, are included here as well.

Much of this accession documents the last few years of Stella Osborn's life, after her move to a retirement home in Sault St. Marie Michigan, years during which she maintained an interest in people and world peace organizations, and in documenting her own and Chase Osborn's place in history. While the bulk of correspondence here is for 1982, 1983, and 1987, some earlier correspondence is included as well. Of interest to university historians is the topical correspondence file on Robert Frost's visit to Michigan. Stella Osborn's lifelong friendship with Yuki Otsuki is documented by their extensive correspondence, a series of letters beautifully written and presented that recall earlier days, including student life.

The collection contains some material of interest to researchers interested in Chase Osborn, including the series of land transfers and deeds which document Chase and Stella Osborn's extensive holdings in Georgia and Michigan, and their gifts of land to various charities and institutions. Also included is some Chase Osborn correspondence and copies of articles he wrote about his extensive travels in Africa. Chase Osborn's 1938 "Longfellow Birthday Book" contains the birth dates of his ancestors. Several letters from 1936 pertain to Chase Osborn's involvement in the movement to build the Mackinac Bridge.

Of special interest to researchers interested in Stella Osborn and her role in various world peace organizations are her unpublished autobiographical manuscripts and files. Also of interest are her diaries, where she continued to record her ideas about politics and her memories.

Summary Contents Lists
  1. Accessions, 1958 and 1971-1972 [boxes 1-27]
    • Biographical material [box 1]
    • Correspondence, 1916-1982 [boxes 1-13]
    • Personal and miscellaneous
      • Schedules, notes on telephone conversations, various writings [box 14]
      • Personal press releases [box 15]
      • Speeches [box 15]
      • Clippings [box 15]
      • Poetry [box 15]
      • Income tax files [box 15]
      • Diaries [box 16]
      • Student notebooks, account books, etc. (U-M and others) [box 16]
    • Atlantic Union Committee and related [boxes 17-24]
    • Business and Professional Women's Club activities [box 24]
    • Sound tapes [box 25]
    • Card files [boxes 25-27]
  2. 1983 Accession [boxes 28-34]
    • Biographical material [box 28]
    • Correspondence, 1918-1983 [boxes 28-31]
    • Organizations [box 31]
    • Topical file [boxes 31-32]
    • Writings (autobiography, poetry, prose) [box 32]
    • Diaries [box 33]
    • Visual materials [box 34]
  3. 1992 Accession [boxes 35-38]
    • Biographical and Autobiographical Material (including Chase Osborn) [box 35]
    • Correspondence, 1960-1987 [box 35]
    • Financial and Business Affairs, 1920-1985 [boxes 35-36]
    • Peace Organizations, 1970-1983 [box 36]
    • Manuscripts and Research Notes [box 36]
    • Chase Osborn materials, 1913-1949 [box 37]
    • Diaries, account books, day books, 1930-1987 [box 37-38]
    • Card Indices [box 38]
Collection

Houck, Kibler, and Smith families papers, 1853-2012 (majority within 1910-1946)

5.0 linear feet — 1 oversize box

Genealogical collection for the Houck, Kibler, and Smith families, whose ancestors settled Michigan between the 1840s and 1900s. Includes correspondence, estate records, diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, war records, and other materials.

This genealogical collection traces the roots of three Michigan families. The papers include correspondence, estate records, visual materials, and war records.

Collection

Pearl L. Kendrick Papers, 1888-1979 (majority within 1930-1970)

7 linear feet — 1 digital video file

Online
Bacteriologist with the laboratories of the Michigan Department of Health, 1920-1951, and resident lecturer in epidemiology at the School of Public Health of the University of Michigan. Files relate to her discovery and testing of a vaccine for whooping-cough; files concerning activities with the American Public Health Association and the Michigan Public Health Association; consultant's files relating to her work with vaccination programs in foreign countries under the auspices of the World Health Organization; correspondence, course and research materials; and photographs related to her career; also papers of her father, Milton Kendrick, a Free Methodist clergyman.

The Pearl L. Kendrick papers date from 1888 to 1979 and measure seven linear feet. The papers are arranged in nine series: Personal, Correspondence, Correspondence--Foreign, Michigan Department of Health, University of Michigan, Consultant Files, Professional Associations, Speeches and Articles, and Visual Materials. The collection is strongest in its documentation of the national and international network of public health practitioners, physicians, and scientists who corresponded with each other about their studies of various diseases and their prevention, in particular whooping cough. This voluminous correspondence reflects Kendrick's reputation as one of the world's foremost experts on pertussis. The collection is relatively weak in its documentation of Kendrick's work as an instructor at the University of Michigan.

Collection

Harold Studley Gray Papers, 1896-1972

12.5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 2 oversize volumes — 6 film reels — 2 digital audio files

Online
Conscientious objector during World Wars I and II and founder of the farming cooperative Saline Valley Farms. Correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and other materials relating to all phases of his career, including his work as Y.M.C.A. worker in England, 1916-1917, and as teacher at Central China University, Wuchang, China, 1922-1926; also family correspondence of Philip H. and Almena S. Gray, 1874-1926; also photographs and motion pictures.

The Harold Gray papers have been divided into seven series: Correspondence; World War I era activities; Personal and Miscellaneous; Printed, clippings, and miscellanea; Family and genealogical; Saline Valley Farms; and Visual Materials (photographs and motion pictures). The great strength of the collection are correspondence, administrative files, diaries, and visual materials documenting the operation of the Saline Valley Farms. There is significant, though smaller quantities of papers detailing Gray's opposition to serving in the military during World War I and his career as a teacher in China in the 1920s.

Collection

Robert W. Fletcher papers, 1950-2004

0.4 linear feet — 3 digital video files

Online

Papers include correspondence, diary, clippings, and photographs relating to his experience as a prisoner; correspondence relating to his Purple Heart award and the Prisoner of War medal. Also included a memoir by Sidney Esensten about his experience as an American P.O.W. during the Korean War.

Visual materials include photos relating to his experience as a prisoner; videotape entitled "P.O.W.--Americans in Enemy Hands" (1986), which includes interview with Fletcher; videotape of 1990 presentation by Fletcher and three Tuskegee Airmen, African American World War II aviators, describing their military experiences, and an undated videotape "Priority: P.O.W."

Collection

Gordon Charles papers, 1934-2005 (majority within 1953-1998)

16 linear feet

Gordon Charles wrote syndicated columns on travel and outdoor activities for local Michigan newspapers. His collection contains his journals, copies and clippings of his articles, his books, subject files, slides, photographs, and correspondence.

The Gordon Charles papers contain his journals, copies and clippings of his articles, his books, subject files, slides, photographs, and correspondence related to his work as travel and outdoor activities writer for local Michigan newspapers. The papers are divided up into three series: Personal, Articles, and Subject Files.

Collection

Cavanagh Family papers, 1857-2006

1.5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 31.1 MB (online)

Online
Members of the Cavanagh family have resided in Yale, St. Clair County, Michigan since 1857. The collection was accumulated by Martha Cavanagh Cameron and consists of original and copied materials of various Cavanagh and Johnston family members.

The Cavanagh family papers have been arranged into an alphabetical series. The files have been arranged by name of family member with a few exceptions for general family and Yale related files. Of special note are the diaries of George Cavanagh, who was proprietor of the Princess movie theater in Yale, Michigan beginning in 1915.