Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Back to top

Search Constraints

Start Over You searched for: Repository University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library Remove constraint Repository: University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library Level Collection Remove constraint Level: Collection Places Detroit (Mich.) Remove constraint Places: Detroit (Mich.) Formats Motion pictures. Remove constraint Formats: Motion pictures.
Number of results to display per page
View results as:

Search Results

Collection

Carmen A. Roberts Papers, 1972-1981

0.5 linear feet — 1 volume

Member of the Detroit school board and a leader of the anti-busing movement in Detroit. Correspondence, speeches, clippings, legal brief, organizational miscellanea, and collected pro- and anti-busing materials; also photographs and motion picture film.

The Roberts papers document her activities in the anti-busing movement in the Detroit area in the mid-1970s. The papers include correspondence, speeches, clippings, legal brief, organizational miscellanea, and collected pro- and anti-busing materials. There are also photographs of anti-busing demonstrations and a motion picture film of 1976 anti-busing rally.

Collection

Detroit Urban League records, 1916-1992

96 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 5 digital video files

Online
Social Service organization serving the Detroit African American community, affiliate of the National Urban League; includes minutes of the Board of Directors, correspondence and topical files of Executive Directors and Presidents, budgets and financial records, and papers concerning National Urban League conferences and Green Pastures Camp; also departmental files relating to community services, housing, vocational services, health and welfare, job development and employment, and education and youth incentives; and photographs.

The records of the Detroit Urban League include minutes of the Board of Directors, correspondence and topical files of Executive Directors and Presidents, budgets and financial records, and papers concerning National Urban League conferences and Green Pastures Camp; also departmental files relating to community services, housing, vocational services, health and welfare, job development and employment, and education and youth incentives. The records also include photographs of chapter activities, meetings, and ceremonies; photos of buildings and staff (notably executive directors, John Dancy and Francis Kornegay); also films.

Collection

Episcopal Church. Diocese of Michigan records, 1830-2016

66.5 linear feet — 12 oversize volumes — 3 oversize folders

Bishops files, records of executive and administrative bodies and of diocesan organizations, staff files, parishes and mission's materials, and visual materials and sound recordings.

The records of the diocese of Michigan have been arranged into the following series: Bishops' files, Executive and administrative bodies, Diocesan organizations, Diocesan programs, Diocesan staff, Parishes and missions, Clergy, Audio and visual material, and Miscellaneous.

The record group is most valuable for its documentation of the history of the diocese and the individual churches within its administration, with a lesser amount of material pertaining to religious functions performed and to the operation of diocesan administrative groups and departments. For a number of reasons, there is scant material pertaining to the administration of the diocesan office or to the special programs that have been initiated by it over the years. Some of this material may be found in the papers of individual bishops whose papers have also come to the library and are separately cataloged. These include Samuel McCoskry, Samuel Smith Harris, Charles D. Williams, Herman Page, and Richard Emrich.

Collection

Frank and Peggy Bach Papers, 1964-2003

9 linear feet (in 10 boxes) — 2 oversize folders — 1.1 GB (online) — 1 phonograph record — 4 film reels — 1 artifact

Frank and Peggy Bach were involved with the counterculture in Detroit and Ann Arbor beginning in the 1960s as musicians, performers, graphic designers, promoters, and activists for area jazz, blues, and pop acts. Frank Bach was also involved in community organizations supporting housing and economic development activities in Detroit. The collection documents the Bach's numerous professional activities and organizations, groups, and individuals with whom they were associated, including Rainbow Corporation and Rainbow Multi-media, Allied Artists Association of America, Strata Associates, Detroit Jazz Center, Grande Graphics, Morda-Sinclair & Associates, and John Sinclair. Detroit community organizations documented in the collection include the Creekside Community Development Corporation, the Jefferson-Chalmers Citizens' District Council, and the Jefferson East Business Association.

The Frank and Peggy Bach collection consists of six series including Professional Ventures, Detroit Redevelopment, Arts and Culture, Newspaper Clippings, Visual Materials, and Audio Materials. These are in alphabetical order except for the Professional Ventures series, which follows its original chronological organization according to the Bachs' careers. The majority of the collection includes finished products of their graphic design and advertising careers and photographs of jazz musicians. Another substantial portion of the collection includes materials documenting the inner workings of Detroit community development organizations.

The Bachs are long-standing friends and business colleagues of John and Leni Sinclair. Therefore, the Bach collection closely compliments the John and Leni Sinclair Papers at the Bentley Historical Library, both containing extensive material regarding the 1960s and 1970s youth movement and later business ventures. Additional material about many topics within the Bach collection may be found with the Sinclair papers. Frank Bach was a journalist for the Sun, Fifth Estate, and Creem. Each of these publications is available for research at the Bentley Historical Library. Additional information about many topics within the Bach collection may be found with the Sinclair papers.

Collection

Frank Murphy papers, 1908-1949

166 microfilms — 24 linear feet (in 28 boxes) — 7 oversize volumes — 2 oversize folders — 474 MB (online) — 18 digital video files (online)

Online
Michigan-born lawyer, judge, politician and diplomat, served as Detroit Recorder's Court Judge, Mayor of Detroit, Governor General of the Philippines, Governor of Michigan, U. S. Attorney General and U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Papers include extensive correspondence, subject files, Supreme court case files, scrapbooks, photographs, newsreels and audio recordings, and other material.

The Frank Murphy Collection documents in detail the life and career of one of Michigan's most distinguished public servants. Through correspondence, subject files, scrapbooks, visual materials, and other documentation, the collection traces Murphy's life from his years as Detroit judge, later Mayor, to his service in the Philippines, his tenure as governor, his stint as U.S. Attorney General, and culminating in his final years as U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

The Frank Murphy Collection consists of eight series: Correspondence, Other Papers, Supreme Court Case Files, Speech File, Speech Material, Miscellaneous, Visual Material, and Newsclippings/Scrapbooks.

Collection

Immanuel United Church of Christ (Detroit, Mich.) records, 1894, 1912-1995 (majority within 1942-1978)

6 linear feet — 1 film reel

Church established by German immigrant workers to Detroit. The congregation was formerly associated with the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Series in the record group include Administrative files, Registers of Services, Historical Materials, records of Church Organizations, Yearly Files, Publications, and Visual Materials.

The records of Immanuel United Church of Christ have been arranged into seven series: Administrative, Register of Services, Historical Materials, Church Organizations, Yearly Files, Publications, and Visual Materials.

Collection

Julio Perazza visual materials, 1934-2004

6 linear feet (in 7 boxes) — 14.2 GB (online)

Online

The Julio Perazza collection includes three series: Visual, Printed, and Audiovisual. The collection offers significant visual documentation to researchers interested in artistic photography, the Detroit Latino community, Detroit Police Department, and the city of Detroit in general. Highlights of the collection include photographs of Latino community cultural events, daily police activities, and Perazza's "Demolished by Neglect" series, a photographic critique of Detroit's urban policies.

Collection

Philip A. Hart papers, 1949-1976 (majority within 1959-1976)

272 linear feet — 3 oversize volumes — 2 oversize folders — 19.4 GB

Online
U. S. Senator from Michigan, 1959-1976, a conscientious supporter of civil rights, consumer protection and environmentalism, Hart served as floor manager of the 1965 civil rights act and 1968 Open Housing Act, introduced legislation to create Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rock National Lakeshores and sponsored important consumer legislation. Papers include Legislative Files, Staff Files, Press Files, Subject Files, Constituent Correspondence, Office Files, Political Files, Miscellaneous, Sound Recordings, and Visual Materials.

The Philip A. Hart collection consists of those files maintained by Hart and his staff in Washington D.C. while serving as senator from Michigan in the period 1958-1976. A senate office in the 1960s and 1970s could employ as many as thirty staff and clerical workers. In 1975, Hart wrote: "My own office presently consists of 34 full-time people in Washington plus 4 in my Detroit office and one part-time employee each in Grand Rapids and Marquette." Received from Washington, the Hart collection documents the workings of his Capitol office. Excepting for a few files from the 1950s when Hart served in Michigan state government, the Hart papers relate exclusively to Senate activities and detail the variety and bulk of problems crossing the desk of a United States senator and his staff.

In a press release describing his office, Hart stated that the work of a senator falls into three categories: legislative, participating in the discussion and formulation of public policy, and serving as "ambassador" between his constituents and the Federal Government. Beyond the study of legislation, public policy debates, and the relationship between a senator and the people of his state, the Hart collection is a reflection of the times in which Hart served, the sixties and seventies, years of the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, a time when public figures discussed issues of conscience and of war, matters of human rights and of public morality, areas where Hart's basic integrity and humaneness placed him in the forefront of public debate.

The collection falls into eleven principal series: Personal/Biographical, Legislative Files, Staff Files, Press Files, Subject Files, Constituent Correspondence, Office Files, Political Files, Miscellaneous, Sound Recordings, and Visual Materials. Except for Personal/Biographical and the series of audio-visual materials, the Hart collection is an office file and represents the activities of one senator and a dozen or so of his key staff members. To use the collection, the researcher after examining the "Series Description" (on the following pages) should note that for any topical study, information will usually be found in any number of series within the collection. The series represent functional divisions within the Hart office, legislation, press, or whatever. To study an issue such as consumer protection, therefore, the researcher should be prepared to examine the Hart finding aid under the series that might document that topic from different functional perspectives (Legislative Files, Staff Files, Subject Files, among others). The researcher interested in a narrower, more specific topic should recognize that the following inventory, for the most part, is not a folder-level description and thus specialized kinds of information will be filed first under a more general heading.

One more note: The Hart papers originally consisted of more than 700 linear feet of files. Hart himself and his staff had discarded certain types of files before donating them to the library, notably case files and constituent mail answered by form. In addition, the library discarded files of low research content - thank yous, invitations, and carbons of Hart correspondence duplicated in the other principal series of the collection. Furthermore, files containing similar types of correspondence from constituents have been sampled (the folders have "S" or "Samp" on them). Government publications, easily available in a government documents library, and unless heavily annotated, have been discarded. Researchers on any topic within the Hart collection should familiarize themselves with the standard sources on government documents (the indices to the Congressional Record for example). Topics on which Hart played a key legislative role or about which he was keenly interested have not been sampled. These topics include civil rights, the passage of various consumer legislation, the Sleeping Bear Dunes debate, his committee work, and the debate over the war in Vietnam to list a few.

Collection

Richard Nims papers, 1880s-1990s (majority within 1937-1954)

2.6 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Detroit-born, amateur photographer and Navy veteran who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1941. Nims’ photographs document student life in Ann Arbor during the late 1930s, with particular focus on the popular student hangout The Pretzel Bell; and life in the Navy and the South Pacific during 1944-1945 and 1951-1952. The collection consists primarily of photographs and negative with some mixed material such as diaries, newspaper clippings, correspondence and ephemera.

The collection consists primarily of photographs and negative taken by Richard Nims with some mixed material such as diaries, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and ephemera. The collection contains the following series: Photographs/Negatives, Other Papers, and Motion Pictures.

Collection

Robert F. Williams papers, 1948-2014

14.5 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 40.5 GB (online) — 6 digital audio files — 10 digital video files

Online
African American civil rights activist and Black militant leader in Monroe County North Carolina who came to advocate armed self-defense in response to violence, left the United States in 1961 and lived in Cuba and China until 1969 when he settled in Baldwin Michigan. Papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, audio-visual material, manuscripts, petitions, and government documents documenting the civil rights movement, black nationalism, radical politics in the United States and Williams's experiences in Cuba and China.

The Robert Williams papers, dating from 1951, include correspondence, notes, newspaper clippings, audio-visual material, manuscripts, petitions, and government documents. The collection documents a wide variety of subjects: the American civil rights movement, Black Nationalism, cold war politics, Castro's Cuba, Mao's China, and the radical left in the United States.

As Robert Williams continued to add to his collection following his initial donation in 1976, it was necessary to arrange and describe the materials based on groupings of dates of accessioning. Thus the bulk of the collection is divided into two subgroups: 1976-1979 Accessions and 1983-1997 Accessions with much overlapping of material. In addition, the collection contains a small series of papers collected by his son John C. Williams and a separate series of Audio-Visual Materials.