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Lester O. Kruger was a long-time 3M employee and a leader in the micrographics industry. As an active member of the National Micrographics Association and Association for Information and Image Management, Kruger helped develop national and international micrographic standards. This collection documents Kruger's career and involvement with Filmsort/3M, NMA, and AIIM.

The Lester O. Kruger Papers are divided into 8 series: National Micrographics Association (NMA), Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), 3M, Personal, Photographs, Microforms, Printed Material, and Realia. Largely consisting of professional papers, the collection documents Kruger's work in micrographics, imaging, and standards. Included are correspondence and memoranda between colleagues, organizational correspondence and information, meeting reports and resolutions, drafts of proposed standards, presentation drafts, photographs, and microfiche. The collection contains a smaller amount of more personal material, pertaining to Kruger's career and achievements. These include: awards, plaques, a scrapbook, photographs, ephemera, and a small quantity of personal correspondence with professional colleagues. Realia related to micrography, including microfilm viewers and a medallion from an NMA conference, make up the final series in the Kruger Papers.

Marge Piercy is an internationally recognized feminist poet and writer. A University of Michigan alumna, Piercy is the author of over thirty published works and a contributor to numerous journals and anthologies. The collection documents Piercy’s work as a writer, through manuscripts, literary correspondence, printed ephemera, videotapes, and audio material, as well as a small number of photographs and personal artifacts. Also present are works of others based on or relating to Piercy’s writings. The bulk of the collection is comprised of thirty-four feet of manuscripts and nine feet of correspondence.

The Marge Piercy Papers were deposited with the Special Collections Library by the author in 1987. Since then, she has continued to make frequent additions to the collection. The collection offers insight into Piercy’s literary career from the late 1950s through the present, primarily by way of manuscripts of nearly all of her works, present in early drafts through to production stages. Audiovisual material, photographs, artifacts, and artworks supplement the picture.

Besides documenting the professional life of one of America’s leading feminist writers and activists, the collection offers a glimpse at the literary magazine publishing scene of the 1960s and following, particularly the feminist presses and magazines (such as CALYX and 13th Moon) which Piercy wrote for and championed. Correspondence with other poets and writers, as well as to fans, reveals Piercy’s development as a writer, her views on important issues, and her influence on others. The collection also steps beyond the literary world (mainly through correspondence) to show Piercy’s collaborations with and support of artists, musicians, and activists (especially women in these fields)--thus reinforcing the fundamental connection for Piercy between her writing and all other aspects of her life.

With roughly fifty-four linear feet of materials, the Marge Piercy papers are divided into eight series: Writings; Correspondence; Other Activities; Personal; Ephemera; Works by Others; Photographs and Negatives; and Audiovisual. Researchers should note that books and serial publications by or from Piercy have been separated from the collection and cataloged individually.

William Reuben is an investigative reporter and author who wrote, most notably, about the Rosenberg espionage case and the Alger Hiss-Whitaker Chambers libel and perjury trials. The Collection includes correspondence, research and interview notes, drafts of books and articles, published and unpublished, on the trials of the "Trenton Six," Morton Sobell and Robert Soblen, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Alger Hiss, with much research on Whittaker Chambers.

In general, most of the series consist of similar kinds of material: Reuben's research notes, drafts of his writings, correspondence, clippings, and reviews of other writings about the case or individual. Some of the series have further value because they include Reuben's collection of printed material about the case. For example, Reuben was particularly active in the Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case, and the Rosenberg series includes some of the printed matter put out by this organization. Reuben also collected correspondence of the Civil Rights Congress, a major organization lobbying on behalf of the Trenton Six.

In many ways, the Reuben papers are an assemblage of secondary material. Reuben had little first-hand dealings with either the Rosenbergs or the Trenton Six. Nevertheless, the files have value for their documentation of the manner in which this one investigative reporter worked. Reuben was a meticulous and persistent researcher, who tracked down a variety of leads in a story, first analyzing the available court transcripts and other official records, then corresponding as much as he was able with the people involved in the case (including other writers like himself), and finally monitoring the amount and kind of press coverage given to the case. Unfortunately, Reuben did not gain as much first-hand contact with the principals in his investigations as he would have liked, and thus the collection is not as substantive as the researcher might like. Reuben 's correspondence, furthermore, is often superficial and anecdotal in character. Another disappointment of the collection are Reuben 's notes and drafts, which because they are fragmentary or unidentified, are difficult to use and of questionable research value.