Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Prosecuting attorney of Saginaw County, Michigan, attorney general of Michigan, 1929-1931, governor, 1931-1932, general counsel to the Department of Defense during the Army-McCarthy Hearing, 1954-1955, and Secretary of the Army, 1955-1961. Correspondence, speeches, tapes, appointment books, scrapbooks, photograph albums, newspaper clippings, and other materials concerning his political career.

The Wilber M. Brucker Collection consists of correspondence, subject files, scrapbooks, tape recordings, visual materials, political ephemera, and other materials from a lifelong career in public service. The collection provides significant, though not always extensive, material on his activities as state attorney general, governor, and secretary of the army. In addition, the papers include documentation from Brucker's private career: his law practice, his involvement in the preparation of a plan for the reapportionment of the Michigan Legislature, his devotion to Republican Party causes, his activities with the Knights Templar of Michigan, and as a member of the World War I Rainbow Division. With some exceptions, the early phases of Brucker's life are not as well represented as one might hope. There is really no body of Brucker gubernatorial materials extant. What remains are scattered items, largely concerning the election campaigns of 1930 and 1932.

The collection has been arranged into twelve series: Biographical; Correspondence; Family Papers; Subject Files; Knights Templar; Rainbow Division; Appointment Books; Speeches; Secretary of the Army; Newspaper Clippings; Personal: Albums, Scrapbooks, etc.; and Visual Materials.

Grand Rapids, Michigan family, involved in furniture making and other businesses, also active in local state and Republican Party politics and businessmen's associations. Papers include family papers and correspondence, business records, scrapbooks and visual materials.

The Sligh family collection consists of the personal and business papers of the four generations of Slighs mentioned in the biographical introduction: James W. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Charles R. Sligh, Jr., and Robert L. Sligh. Although there is some overlap, the files have been arranged into seven series, one for each of these three Slighs, one for the Sligh Furniture Company and related family businesses, and one each for Newspaper clippings and Scrapbooks, and Visual Materials.

The Robert Twining collection is comprised of photographs, scrapbooks, slides, negatives, and films of Camp Al-Gon-Quian. Located on Burt Lake, Michigan, the camp was founded in 1925 by Herbert H. Twining as a summer camp for boys. The materials in the collection detail activities of Camp Al-Gon-Quian, such as fishing, archery, and horseback riding. There are also materials relating to Camp Mississauga, which was a camp for older boys in Canada.

The collection contains two series: Photographs and Film.

Minutes, 1888-1919, including; correspondence, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks concerning party affairs; also papers, 1929-1970, concerning Prohibition Party in Michigan; papers, 1918-1930, concerning prohibition in Great Britain; papers, 1951-1958, concerning the National Temperance and Prohibition Council; and minutes, 1872, of the State Central Committee of the Prohibition Party of Michigan; also photographs and films.

The Prohibition National Committee record group is arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Minutes and other papers; Press and printed; Sound recordings; Other organizations; and Visual materials. Except for the significant minute books of the party's national executive committee in the 1880s, most of the record group dates from the 20th century after the passage of the 18th Amendment. Information regarding the earliest years of the Prohibition Party in unfortunately missing in this record group.

Construction engineer and Michigan Democratic politician; served terms as Oakland County Drain Commissioner, Michigan State Highway Commissioner, and as Governor, 1941-1942; include correspondence, scrapbooks, appointment books, and assorted miscellanea.

The series in the Van Wagoner collection are Correspondence (1933-1945); Newspaper clippings/Scrapbooks (1930-1933 and 1940-1949); Miscellaneous/Political; and Visual Materials. The collection is largely an accumulation of personal materials from his career as a public service. There is very little of these papers that might be classified as administrative or office files from his years as highway commissioner or his term as governor.

Parent organization of the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Interlochen Arts Camp (formerly the National Music Camp) founded by Joseph Maddy. Includes administrative records of the Center, the Academy and the Camp and personal papers of Maddy, photographs, sound recordings, and motion pictures.

The records of the Interlochen Center for the Arts were received in installments over many years. They came from several sources: the Camp office in Ann Arbor, the Tremaine family, an alumni leader, and various administrators at Interlochen, but the greatest proportion was assembled from Maddy's home and Interlochen offices, after his death, by Margaret (Peg) Stace, his long-time assistant.

The Camp files for 1935-1945 comprise the major portion received in their original order, and they were in disarray because of frequent changes in Camp secretaries and the practice of moving the office (along with relevant files) from Ann Arbor to Interlochen and back each summer. Also, Maddy kept many items of a personal and confidential nature at home.

In processing the records, an attempt was made both to preserve the original order, where ascertainable, and to highlight major subjects and individuals, some of whose importance only became apparent with the passage of time. A separate name index is available for major correspondents. Where extant, explanatory historical and background information has been placed at the front of records categories. Because of Maddy's influence on the development of Interlochen both past and present, his correspondence with later administrators has been included if practical, under "Administration" in their papers.

The surviving records have been divided into nine series: Chronological, Subject, Post-Maddy Administrators, Boards, Closed, Printed, Visual Materials, Sound Recordings, and Scrapbooks. The Chronological focuses on Maddy and the Camp until 1966 while the Subject, is composed of two subseries. The first, mainly 1928-1989, though also heavily relating to Maddy, also includes much on developments through the '90s. The second subseries, 1930-2003, Later Acquisition represents a group of files that were acquired in 2005. Many files pertain to the early camp and Joesph Maddy. The Post-Maddy Administrators series begins in the late 1950's when Maddy expanded the staff in anticipation of making Interlochen a year-round institution and continues unto the most recent accession. Boards (governing bodies) starts with the Camp's founding in 1928 and ends in 1989 while the Closed series covers the Maddy, Haas, and Wilson administrations through 1971. Printed offers coverage to the present but is more complete for the early years through the 1980's. While the Visual Materials and Sound Recordings series extend from the 1920's into the 1980's, it offers best coverage from 1924 to 1942 Scrapbooks, with gaps in the early years, documents both Maddy and the Camp, beginning with the National High School Orchestra and ending with the Camp's 50th anniversary celebration in 1978.

Methodist clergyman, pastor of the Centre Methodist Church in Malden, Massachusetts, the Elm Park Methodist Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Central Methodist Church in Detroit, Michigan. Correspondence, 1938-1958, subject reference file, ca. 1902-1966, name reference file, 1938-1958, sermon file, 1925-1958, scrapbooks, 1928-1958, church bulletins and newsletters from church at which Crane pastored, sound tape recordings of messages preached by Crane, and visual materials consisting of photographs and motion picture film. The Crane papers document an interest in, and activities with, various liberal and progressive organizations, and his association and friendship with other clergy and individuals with similar pacifist and activist backgrounds.

The files of clergy are often narrow in scope encompassing only the activities of an individual within the setting of his/her own church. Henry Hitt Crane was more than the pastor of Central Methodist Church in Detroit. He was a nationally known speaker, eloquent in his advocacy of pacifism and civil rights. The Crane collection reflects the scope of his activities both within the churches he pastored, within the city of Detroit as an influential church leader, and nationally within larger Methodist circles and among other advocates of liberal causes similar to his own. Through his correspondence, articles, and published messages, we see Crane as representative of that class of nationally known clergymen, respected for their opinions, champion of progressive causes, and willing participants in the often contentious debates that followed World War I on matters of morality, politics, and social justice.

The Crane papers, with some exceptions, cover the period when Henry Hitt Crane first entered the ministry during the years of World War I and continuing past his retirement, until approximately 1964. There is decidedly less material from the years before his coming to Central Methodist Church in 1938; by far the largest bulk of documents date from 1938 to 1958 when Crane pastored this metropolitan church. The exceptions to the basic span dates of 1917 to 1958 are files collected by Crane of sermons, published pamphlets, and other materials of his father and uncle, also Methodist clergymen. There are also materials that date after 1958, mainly copies of messages received from other clergy with some correspondence.

The Crane papers have been maintained in the order as created by Crane and his secretarial staff at Central Methodist Church. The series in the collection are Correspondence, Subject Reference Files, Name Files, Sermon Files, Scrapbooks, Church Bulletins and Newsletters, Visual Materials, and Retirement Files.

Varsity athlete, 1921-1924, and head football coach, 1929-1937, at the University of Michigan. Papers include football playbooks, scrapbooks detailing his athletic career, and photograph album of Kipke, university scenes, and athletic events.

The Kipke papers document his career as a high school athlete in Lansing, Michigan; as a varsity football, basketball and baseball player at the University of Michigan; and as head football coach at the University of Michigan. The collection include football playbooks, scrapbooks detailing his athletic career, game films from the 1933 season, a football instructional film, and photograph album of Kipke, university scenes, and athletic events. The papers have been organized into the following series: Scrapbooks, Football Playbooks, and Visual Materials.

Governor of Michigan 1949 to 1960, under-secretary of state for African Affairs from 1961 to 1965, and Michigan Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1986 and leader in state and national Democratic Party. Papers document his public career and aspects of his personal and family life and include correspondence, subject files, staff files, speeches, press releases and news clippings, photographs, sound recordings, films and videotapes.

The G. Mennen Williams Papers consist of official and personal files arranged into six subgroups: 1) Gubernatorial papers, 1949-1960 (681 linear ft.); 2) Non-gubernatorial papers, 1883-1948 and 1958-1988 (107 linear ft.); 3) Visual materials, ca. 1911-1988 (ca. 25 linear ft.); 4) sound recordings, 1950-ca. 1988 (5 linear ft.) Scrapbooks, 1948-1987 (43 vols.) and State Department Microfilm, 1961-1966 (23 reels).

As part of its own control system, the governor's office maintained a card index to the correspondents in many of the subgroups and series within the gubernatorial papers. This card file is located in the library's reading room. In addition, Nancy Williams and her staff compiled an extensive and detailed run of scrapbooks covering the Williams years. There is a separate inventory to these scrapbooks in a separately bound volume.

Strategy for Use of the Gubernatorial Papers: Although the Williams gubernatorial collection consists of hundreds of linear feet of material, the file arrangement created by the governor's staff is a fairly simple one to understand and to use.

The bulk of the collection falls within specific functional groupings, corresponding to the various activities and responsibilities that Williams performed as governor. Thus, if the researcher is uncertain of what portions of the collection might be relevant to his/her research, he/she is advised to think in terms of gubernatorial function. Does the proposed research concern the workings or area responsibility of a state board? If so, the Boards and Commissions series would be the most likely place in which to find material. The election of 1954? Then Democratic Party/Campaign Papers should be first choice. The passage of a specific piece of legislation? Here, Legislative Files is an obvious choice. The possible choices (called subgroups and series) that the researcher has are listed in the Organization of the Collection section. A description of the contents of each of these subgroups/series is provided below.

If, at first, unsuccessful in finding material on any given topic, the researcher might consider these additional strategies:

1. Refer to the Williams card index (located in the library's reading room). Sometimes, the name of an individual associated with a subject provides the easiest point of access into the collection. This file is arranged alphabetically and lists the dates of letters between an individual and the governor's office. This file only indexes the larger series and subgroups in the collection. It does not index the staff files, or parts of the Democratic Party/Campaign subgroup. Nevertheless it is an invaluable tool, and can uncover important material otherwise buried.

2. Refer to the various series of staff papers. Staff members were often closely involved in a specific subject areas (Jordan Popkin and aging, for example) and thus their files are frequently rich in source material.

3. If only partially successful in locating desired material, the researcher should think of an alternative subgroup or series. The governor's office, for a variety of reasons, often filed related material in different locations depending upon the source of a document. Thus, information relating to a strike might be filed both under the Labor Mediation Board in Boards and Commissions, and Strikes in General Subjects. Furthermore, if the strike influenced a specific piece of legislation, there could be material in the Legislative Files.

Justice on the Philippine Supreme Court, founder of the Law School of the University of the Philippines, and attorney general of Puerto Rico. Correspondence, scrapbooks, printed reports, articles, and legal opinions, diplomas, citations, memorabilia, manuscript of book, 1956, entitled, "Sunset of Colonialism: memoirs of an American Colonial Careerist": decisions, 1909-1939, made while a jurist in the Philippines; copies of addresses and legal articles; and photographs.

The Malcolm papers have been arranged into the following series: Personal and biographical; Scrapbooks; Philippine Supreme Court; Assistant Legal Adviser to United States High Commissioner; Puerto Rico Attorney General; Occasional addresses and articles: Historical topics, Philippines; Sound recordings; Visual Material; and Realia.