Collections

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations, including the Department of Engineering Research, the Engineering Research Institute, the University of Michigan Research Institute, and the Office of Research Administration. Record types include correspondence, topical subject files, research grant files, meeting minutes, financial records, and photographs.

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass both the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations. The papers have been divided into seven major series: Governing and Oversight Bodies (1919-1964), Staff and Committee Records (ca. 1922-1979), Administrative Files (1922-1972), Correspondence Files (1943-1972), Willow Run Laboratories (1946-1966), Directors' Files, and several boxes of Research Grant Files on microfilm. There are also four smaller series: the Engineering College Research Council (1959-1961), Review of the DRDA - Report to Harold Shapiro, 1980, Engineering Research Institute - miscellaneous research reports, Photographs, and Programmed Research Information System at Michigan (PRISM) Reports.

The D. James Galbraith Photographic Collection reflects D. James (Jim) Galbraith's career as a photographer, covering more than five decades and containing thousands of pictures in the form of prints, negatives, and slides about everyday life in rural Michigan. The D. James Galbraith Photographic Collection is significant for its extensive photographic evidence of rural Michigan, particularly its emphasis on families, communities, and local institutions such as churches and schools. The collection is useful as a visual representation of late twentieth-century Michigan, capturing a wide array of social and cultural activities that highlight the daily experiences of Michigan residents.

The D. James Galbraith Photographic Collection is a selection of his work that primarily contains prints, negatives, and slides. The content of Galbraith's photographs is vast, but most reflect various aspects of everyday life throughout the state of Michigan. The collection is arranged into four series: Business Records, Hartland Project, and Private Photography, and Oversize.

Professor Emeritus of Chinese and former Chair of the University of Michigan's Department of Asian Languages and Cultures. Munro was part of an official United States delegation to China in 1973 whose purpose was to study the Chinese educational system. He also taught Chinese activist Chen Ziming when Ziming was a University of Michigan student. Includes notes documenting Munro's 1973 visit to the People's Republic of China, color photographs of views of different Chinese cities, and material related to the enrollment and education of Chen Ziming.

The Donald J. Munro papers (0.7 linear feet) include notes documenting Munro's 1973 visit to the People's Republic of China, color photographs of views of various Chinese cities (such as Guangzhou, Beijing, and Nanjing), and material related to the enrollment and education of Chen Ziming.

George H. Forsyth (1901-1991) was an archeologist, architectural, and art historian who led archeological expeditions to Angers, France, Mount Sinai, Egypt, and countries in the Near East including Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Forsyth was a professor at the University of Michigan, chairman of the History of Art Department and director of the Kelsey Museum. The collection is comprised of personal materials, teaching materials, and extensive documentation of George's personal travel and archeological expeditions to Europe and the Near East such as correspondence, field notes, and visual materials.

The George H. Forsyth papers primarily document Forsyth's career. The collection includes personal materials, biographical information, daybooks, family photographs, teaching and lecture notes, and extensive documentation of George's personal travel and archeological expeditions to Europe and the Near East. Material related to expeditions includes field notebooks, photographs, negatives, architectural drawings, correspondence, and manuscripts of various publication activities.

George Forsyth died prior to completing the publication of his landmark drawings of Saint Catherine's Monastery (Mount Sinai, Egypt). Publication efforts were continued posthumously by his wife, Dr. Ilene H. Forsyth, an art historian and professor at the University of Michigan.

Researchers should note that a scrapbook in this collection contains visual material with racist content; specific information is included at the item level.

University of Michigan graduate (BFA '74, MA '76, and Ph.D. '88) and artist, art historian, and educator with an emphasis in Latino art. Materials include artwork as well as research, teaching, and professional topical files.

The George Vargas papers present a look at the interests, work, and activities of artist and historian George Vargas. The material is dated from approximately 1933-2016 and includes topical files, artwork, and correspondence.

The strength of the collection is found in the numerous lectures written by Vargas, which reveal the depth of his research, the original artwork, and the broader view of multi-cultural and, particularly, Latino art activities in Michigan. Also of note are his extensive files of artists that were of interest to him as well as his own papers and publications.

The researcher should note that many items in the collection overlap various series. As a result, researchers should—in addition to reviewing multiple series—be sure to look for the "see also" notes that help identify some of these overlaps.

The Islamic Art Archives is composed of six collections, including those of Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu, Arthur Upham Pope, Donald Newton Wilber, Oleg Grabar, Marianna Shreve Simpson, and the Afghanistan Archaeological Remains Photographs Collection. The collection also includes photographic prints of the pages of the illustrated manuscripts Maqamat and Shah Nama, and additional photographs of Islamic architecture.

The Islamic Art Archives is composed of six collections, including those of Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu, Arthur Upham Pope, Donald Newton Wilber, Oleg Grabar, Marianna Shreve Simpson, and the Afghanistan Archaeological Remains Photograph. The Mehmet Ağa-Oğlu collection documents the Islamic and pre-Islamic art and architecture of the Middle East, Persia, the Caucasus, Western Asia, North Africa, and Southern Spain. Arthur Upham Pope focused primarily on Persian architecture and monuments, but his collection also includes photographs of Persian ceramics, textiles, and illustrated manuscripts. Wilber, Pope's colleague, also primarily studied Iranian monuments but he focused on those built during the Achaemenid and Sasanian empires. Oleg Grabar's work focused on the architecture of the seventh and eighth centuries of the Umayyad dynasty, the architecture of Jerusalem under Islamic rule, Arabic and Persian illustrated manuscripts and ornaments, and contemporary Islamic architecture. On the other hand, the Afghanistan Archaeological Remains Photograph collection depicts Afghanistan sculptures, statues, figural reliefs, pottery, and other archaeological remains, the majority of which are from the Kabul Museum in Afghanistan. Finally, Dr. Simpson's collection documents her work and her notes from her study of Islamic manuscripts around the world. The collection also includes photographic prints of the pages of the illustrated manuscripts Maqamat and Shah Nama.

Jeffrey R. Parsons was Curator of Latin American Archaeology and Director of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He was a professor at the same institution for over forty years starting in 1966 and carried out extensive research on settlement patterns in the basin of Mexico, in Peru, and in many other countries. Parsons is known for his role in the development of systematic settlement survey methods in archaeology, a methodology which has become common in archaeological work around the world. Material includes papers, maps, site surveys, photo negatives, aerial photographs and digital scans of the negatives.

The Jeffrey R. Parsons papers document the archaeologist's research in the Basin of Mexico, his work at the University of Michigan as professor, Curator of Latin American Archaeology, and Director of the Museum of Anthropology, and his work with colleagues and institutions around the world. Materials date from 1960 to 2009 while the bulk of it is from 1966 to 1973. The majority is related to his fieldwork in the Valley of Mexico and includes paper, photographic material, maps, and documentation about materials collected as part of the surveys, such as information on ceramic sherds. The collection is arranged in nine series: Personal Files, Correspondence 1966-2005, Archaeological Sites and Projects, Topical Files, Publications, Student Years, Visual Materials Series, and Maps.

Professor of paleontology and director of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. Includes correspondence and topical files.

The Lewis Burnett Kellum papers (5.8 linear feet and 1 oversized folder) primarily documents Kellum's professional life. The material is dated from 1837-1995 and consists of correspondence and topical files. Significant subjects in the collection include Kellum's fieldwork in Mexico as well as his involvement in 20th International Geological Congress that was held in Mexico. Also included in the Topical Files series is a small amount of material relating to his wife Gail Kellum Curtis (married in 1949).

Michigan Theater Foundation was formed in 1979 when it purchased the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Mich., a historic landmark built in 1928 and restored by the fundraising efforts of the Foundation. The record group comprises administrative records, including files of the Executive Director, Board of Trustees and administrative committees; grant proposals, materials related to fundraising, theater restoration, renovation, and membership campaigns; descriptions of programs, series, and individual events taken place at the theater; publicity photographs, audio- and video (VHS) recordings, and outsize posters and calendars of events.

The records date to the period of the Michigan Theater Foundation's intensive fundraising campaign to preserve the Michigan Theater and the first 15 years of its life after the theater reopened its doors in 1986.

A race desegregation assistance center based at the University of Michigan, the Program for Educational Opportunity (PEO) was established by funding through the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The program was expanded to encompass race, gender, and national origin equity in public schools in the Great Lakes region. The PEO ceased operation in 2011. Administrative files, topical files, workshop and task force material, handbooks, and material pertaining to desegregation and equality in public schools in Ann Arbor, Detroit, and elsewhere in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Materials include reports from school districts, histories of desegregation, and recordings of conferences/workshops (1970-1993) including speakers Charles D. Moody, Junious Williams, Edward H. Steinman, and other notable individuals.

The records for the Program for Educational Opportunity, 1969-2002, (36.2 linear feet) are divided into twenty-two series: Administrative, Correspondence, Committees and Task Forces, Conferences and Workshops, Handbooks, Reports, Desegregation, Project for Fair Administration of School Discipline (PFASD), Public Schools, Topical Files, Administrative, Conferences, Center for Sex Equality in Schools (CSES), Desegregation Assistance Center, PFASD, Public Schools, Topical Files, Programs, Reports, CSES, Topical Files, and Recordings of Conferences and Workshops. All folders within series are arranged alphabetically. Series titles repeat due to multiple transfers of material received at different times.

Researchers of desegregation efforts and the controversy of school discipline will find many valuable resources in the record group such as research reports, case studies, and conference materials. Also well documented is the Ann Arbor Area School District within the general Public Schools series which includes information on various programs within the district, records from the Board of Education, community surveys, and statistical data on staff and students. The Conferences and Workshops and Committees and Task Forces are also series that are particularly well documented; included are conference and workshop materials, reports, and in some cases, evaluations. The Recordings of Conferences and Workshops (1970-1993) includes 515 audiovisual recordings and covers topics such as human relations training, recruiting minority staff, combating racism and sexism in the curriculum, multi-cultural education, student rights and discipline, and the development of staff counseling skills.