Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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.

Project funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to document the health care experiences of African Americans in southeastern Michigan consisting primarily of oral history interviews with African American health care practitioners and administrators covering the period 1940-1969; background files relating to the project, and oral history interview transcripts and audio recordings. Interviews discuss biographical details, desegregation efforts in Detroit area hospitals, and social conditions facing African Americans.

The records of the Kellogg African American Health Care Project have been kept in the original order in which they were received and have been divided into two chronological series: Phase I and Phase II, reflecting the two separate accessions that were received. The interviews in the Phase I series were conducted in 1997 and accessioned by the Bentley Historical Library in 1998, while the interviews in Phase II were conducted from 1997 through 1999 and accessioned by the library in 2000. Both of these series have a similar order and arrangement, differing mainly in who was interviewed; in addition, there is some updating of administrative papers in the 2000 accession. Both series are divided into two subseries: Administrative Files and Interviews. A description of the subseries for both of the series is below.

The Administrative Files subseries contains the organizational and background materials for the project including copies of the signed consent forms. This subseries gives several access tools for the interview portion of the collection as well as detailed information regarding the interview methodology. A Master Index and a Tape Index allow access by topic to both the transcripts and the tape-recorded material. Material related to follow-up research and further studies is also available.

The Interviews subseries contains the transcripts and tape recordings of the individual interviews. This subseries is organized alphabetically by the name of each person interviewed. A biographical sketch is provided for each individual and in some cases, copies of publications, photographs or computer-generated images of the participant, resumes, and news clippings are also included. In the Phase I series, the cassette tapes containing the interviews are included within each person's file. In the Phase II series, the tapes are stored separately.

1. Anderson, William G.
2. Ayala, Reginald
3. Boddie, Arthur W.
4. Brakefield-Caldwell, Wilma
5. Bryant, Jr., Henry Clay
6. Burton, Alice
7. Cain, Waldo L.
8. Collins, James W.
9. Cooper, Claude H.
10. Cooper, Vivienne B.
11. Dillard, Gladys B.
12. Gaines, Jr., George D.
13. Gant, Leon
14. Glass, Herman J.
15. Goodwin, Della M.
16. Harris, Joseph B.
17. Iacobell, Frank P.
18. Jefferson, Horace L.
19. Jenkins, Sidney B.
20. Johnson, Arthur L.
21. Keith, Rachel B.
22. Lawson, William E.
23. Love, Josephine H.
24. McCree, Suesetta
25. Maben, Jr., Hayward C.
26. Mason, Berna
27. Mottley, Dorothy
28. Northcross, Jr., David C.
29. Northcross, Ophelia B.
30. Peebles-Meyers, Marjorie
31. Raiford, III, Frank P.
32. Roberson, Jr., Rev. Garther
33. Roberson, Rev. Dr. S.L.
34. Smith, Elsie
35. Starks, Fannie L.
36. Swan, Lionel F.
37. Tanner, Natalia M.
38. Todd, Oretta Mae
39. Webb, Irma Clara
40. Whitten, Charles F.
41. Wright, Charles H.
42. Young, Watson

The University of Michigan's first professional school; the Medical School record group includes historical and administrative records related to the school and its faculty and administrators, 1850-2010.

The records of the Medical School span over 160 years, beginning in 1850 and continuing through 2010. They include 389.7 linear feet of material, 10 oversize volumes, 9 oversize folders of miscellaneous documents, and 3.3 GB of digital material stored online. The records include dean's correspondence and subject files, executive committee minutes, faculty minutes, annual reports of departments, school accreditation and review files, a variety of special reports and studies, and extensive files on the Replacement Hospital Project (Taubman Center). The record group also contains photo prints depicting faculty, students and facilities, including a remarkable series of photographs taken by J. Jefferson Gibson circa 1893.

The Medical School records have been organized into five subgroups: Dean's Records, Subordinate Administrative Officers, Faculty Records, Audio-Visual Materials, and Miscellaneous records. Within each subgroup there are a number of series and these series may be further subdivided to reflect the date span of the records received in each accession.

The Medical School records have been received in several accessions and the physical arrangement of the records (the number order of the boxes) reflects the various installments in which they were received. The accessions sometimes reflected the tenure of a particular dean or other administrator, but frequently appear to have been somewhat arbitrary transfers of files. Records from individual subgroups, series and subseries often continue across multiple accessions--sometimes with consecutive date ranges, but often with overlapping date spans.

In this finding aid the records are described in their intellectual order -- subgroups and series are brought together irrespective of the particular accession in which they were received. As a result, in the detailed contents listing the box number order will not always be consecutive.

Professor of homoeopathic medicine at University of Michigan, mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, dean of the New York Homeopathic Medical College and director of Flower Hospital, New York City Commissioner of Public Health, and Democratic U. S. Senator from New York, 1923-1938. Personal and medical correspondence, speeches, scrapbooks containing food and health articles, photographs, and other papers concerning his medical and political interests. Correspondents include: Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Alfred E. Smith.

The Royal Copeland collection, consisting primarily of correspondence, speeches and writings, scrapbooks, and articles, relates primarily to Copeland's medical career as professor of homeopathic medicine at the University of Michigan, dean of the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Flower Hospital, and New York City Commissioner of Public Health, and as United States Senator.