Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

The Philippine History Small Manuscripts Collection consists of 27 individual manuscripts--each less than 0.25 linear feet--related to the history of the Philippines. The collection includes correspondence, books, diaries, photographs, and microfilm gathered from various sources covering a wide chronological span, from the 17th century through the mid-20th century, with the bulk of the material related to the U.S. occupation of the Philippines from the Spanish-American War (1898) through World War II (1939-1945).

The Philippine History Small Manuscripts Collection consists of 27 small collections (each less than 0.25 linear feet) related to the history of the Philippines. These collections have been compiled over time from various sources. The materials cover a wide span in chronology and content, from 17th century Spanish Jesuit ethnology to mid-20th century photographs of Filipino politicians. The bulk of the material covers the period from the Spanish-American War (1898) through World War II (1939-1945), primarily representing American perspectives and stories. For instance, there are many examples of U.S. soldiers' diaries, recording their military experiences in the Philippines, especially during the Philippine-American War. Of particular note are two collections authored by Emilio Aguinaldo and Manuel Quezon, both Filipino politicians and presidents who played important roles in shaping the history and governance of the Philippines following independence from Spain.

David Cope is a poet in the Objectivist tradition and the founder of Nada Press, a small press which publishes the literary magazine and other poetry. Cope, a University of Michigan graduate and lifelong Michigan resident, taught literature and writing at Grand Rapids Community College and Western Michigan University. The collection documents Cope's writing, editing, and to some extent teaching and other spheres of Cope's life, through correspondence, manuscripts, notes, printed material, photographs, and videotapes.

David Cope made his first donation of papers to the Special Collections Research Center in 1987. Since then he has continued to make frequent contributions. The David Cope Papers cover Cope's writing and correspondence from the 1970s to the present, as well as his editing and teaching activities. In addition to offering insight into Cope's work, the collection details some of the activities and thoughts of friends and fellow writers and poets; in particular, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Cohn, Antler, and Jeff Poniewaz. Not currently well-documented are the more personal aspects of Cope's life--especially his family life--except for those details made available through his writings and correspondence.

The David Cope Papers are divided into eight series: Correspondence and Name Files, Writings, Editing Materials, Teaching and Education Materials, Publicity Materials, Personal, Photographs, and Audio/Visual. A small selection of books from Cope's library have been removed from the collection and have been cataloged individually. They are shelved by call number in Special Collections and can be requested through the Library's catalog.

Hunchakian Party activist, member of the Central Executive, orator and field worker in Persia, Tsarist Russia, London, various American cities (Boston, Worcester, New York, Waukegan, East St. Louis, Detroit, etc.) and Brantford, Canada. The collection includes family documents and official papers and photographs, correspondence with family, party founders, members of the Central Executive, chapters and members in Persia, Russia, Europe, the US; party circulars, reports and communiqués registry of fighters and groups, minutes and agendas, poems, notes, print material, poster.

The first part of the Hamparzoum Arzoumanian Collection consists of family documents and official papers, birth, marriage, naturalization and death certificates, in memoriam notices, visas/passports, photographs, correspondence between Hamparzoum Arzoumanian, his wife Sona Arzoumanian and family members and other personal correspondence of Hamparzoum and Sona Arzoumanian with friends, students. These provide a sequence of events and dramatic circumstances in Hamparzoum Arzoumanian's personal life that begin in historic Armenia in 1866, through Persia, Russia, and Europe, and end in America in 1909.

The emphasis in the collection is in the Hunchakian Party Activities and Materials in the latter part of the collection. These emphasize the scope and content of Arzoumanian's involvement in the Hunchakian Party, his commitment to its socialist ideology and determination to help the cause of the liberation of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire. Correspondence with party members, party circulars, reports and communiqués refer to the organization of party chapters from the Caucasus to the US; the rift in the party between those dedicated to Socialism as part of the party ideology and those who insisted on eliminating the socialist ideology of the founders as irrelevant, even harmful, to the struggle of Ottoman Armenians; tensions between the party Center in London and the Regional Executive Committee in the US; party publications and content of official party organs in Geneva, Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts; fund raising for party operations, and the organization of volunteer detachments of fighters. This section also provides information about the life of Armenian immigrants in the US, their efforts to organize communities and their commitment to help liberate Armenians in Turkey.

A series of envelopes in the collection reflect the wide geographical area to which Arzoumanian was connected, including: Tabriz (Persia), Bucharest (Romania), London, Paris, New York, Boston, Rustchuk and Varna (Bulgaria), Montreal (England), Tbilisi (Republic of Georgia), Khazakh, Odessa and Novorossirsk (Tsarist Russia), Alexandria (Egypt), Malta and Berlin.

The collection consists of 474 items, spanning the years between 1896 and 1910; items vary from one page to 11 pages. All but the few newspaper clippings, printed matter and fragments are in manuscript form, in a variety of Armenian dialects.

J. Louis Engdahl (1884-1932), editor and journalist, was an advocate for labor, socialist, and communist causes. The collection includes letters Engdahl wrote to his wife and daughter, trial transcripts, photographs; Engdahl's original writings; and published works in various formats. Also included are memorabilia, clippings, pamphlets, and other printed material, and artwork.

The J. Louis Engdahl Papers (6.5 linear feet) are divided into seven series: Correspondence, Writings, Chicago Socialist Trial, Scottsboro Trial, Photographs and Artwork, Personal and Memorabilia, and Printed Material.

Highlights of the collection include the letters Engdahl wrote to his wife and daughter, in which loving epithets and stories of day-to-day life mingle with accounts of his work and that of other prominent labor, socialist, and communist figures. The collection contains several pieces of Engdahl's original writings, along with numerous published works in various formats. Causes for which Engdahl fought, both on his own behalf and that of others, are documented through letters, clippings, trial transcripts, and images. Over sixty photographs, as well as various pieces of personal memorabilia, depict both family life and professional associations. Also of note is a portrait of Engdahl by the artist Mitchell Siporin.

A note on names: Throughout the collection, certain individuals are referred to by various alternate names and nicknames. Engdahl himself went by "J. Louis" or more informally, "Louis," rather than his given name of "John." Sophia Levitin Rodriguez is addressed variously as "Sophia," "Sophie," "Sonia," and even by her middle name, "Vera." As mentioned in the biographical portion of this finding aid, Pauline and Louis Engdahl's daughter is also named Pauline. To avoid confusion, within this finding aid, Engdahl's wife is referred to as "Pauline Levitin Engdahl" and their daughter as "Pauline Engdahl." Pauline Engdahl had the family nickname of "Chootch," with variants "Chootchie," "Chuche," etc.

The papers contain extensive correspondence and numerous photographs of noted American poet, Robert Frost and members of his family. Also included is a collection of privately printed chapbooks and Christmas cards which contain poems by Frost.

The research value of this collection resides in the correspondence and the photographs. It appears that the letters at some point may have been consulted by various Frost biographers, but their depths may not have been fully plumbed. The photographs offer a candid glimpse into several generations of Frosts, but also include a number of posed studio portraits. The collection as a whole complements the Robert Frost papers already housed in the Special Collections Library, as well as those at the Bentley Historical Library.

Librarian and information scientist, pioneered library automation at Library of Congress,also worked at General Electric and National Library of Medicine and taught at Indiana University Library School. Papers include collection includes his correspondence, reports, meeting agendas and minutes, system proposals, teaching materials, professional writings, calendars, and collected publications.

The Cloyd Dake Gull Papers are an important resource for examining the development of the field of information science. The collection includes his correspondence, reports, meeting agendas and minutes, system proposals, teaching materials, professional writings, calendars, and collected publications. The materials cover virtually all aspects of his career.

Although the collection contains a few papers from his own career as a student in the 1930s, there is little else that dates before Gull joined the staff of the Library of Congress in 1945. His Library of Congress materials, while not complete, do document a number of specific projects and show his early interest in applying punched cards and other new techniques to library work.

The collection contains a limited amount of material on his work at Documentation, Inc. from 1952 to 1954 helping to develop early information retrieval systems, especially the uniterm system of coordinate indexing. Only a small amount of material concerns his service with the National Research Council, although other papers from this era and up to the mid-1960s concern the workshops on information science which he taught at the University of Michigan and elsewhere.

The papers are more extensive for the years 1958 to 1963, when he was an information systems analyst for General Electric. Much is included on the operation of the GE Information Systems Operation as well as specific automation proposals they made for such customers as the University of Illinois - Chicago, the Library of Congress, and the National Library of Medicine. Included in the latter file is information on the development of MEDLARS.

Gull's papers on the American Documentation Institute concern his year as President, plus subsequent work by the Council and Executive Director. They also show his involvement in most annual meetings, 1959-1967. His materials on the International Federation for Documentation primarily cover 1960 to 1967 and concern the work of the U.S. National Committee, plus specific working committees on mechanized storage and retrieval, operational machine techniques and systems, and the universal decimal classification.

Materials concerning Gull's position as Professor at the Indiana University Library School include information on the courses which he taught, the overall program of the Library School, and his activities on various faculty committees, including the one which established a Ph.D. program. Some documents from this period also concern a number of outside consulting projects.

A significant amount of material concerns the work of the consulting firm Cloyd Dake Gull and Associates between 1969 and 1983, especially the automation studies and proposals which the company produced for various clients in the fields of information science and library science.

Ann Arbor, Michigan artist, invited to curate show on pornography and prostitution in conjunction with University of Michigan Law School on the subject. Speakers, including Catherine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin,, generally opposed pornography and prostitution while artists argued for freedom of expression legalization and legalization of prostitution. Removal of a videotape from the exhibit resulted in controversy and legal action. Includes materials from the exhibit, correspondence, conference files, photos and videotapes.

The records in the Carol Jacobsen Collection are compromised of materials documenting the "Porn'im'age'ry" exhibit, the controversy and negotiations surrounding the exhibit, and materials concerning the issues of prostitution, pornography, sex work, and censorship. The records are organized into six series: Correspondence Files, Press Clippings and Published Material Files, Original Conference Files, Photographs, Protest and Reinstallation Material, and Videotapes.

The Oakley Johnson Papers, 1926-1934, 1966-1969, include correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings and other documents relating to the Negro-Caucasian Club and the City College of New York Case which addresses Oakley Johnson's dismissal from the College.

The Oakley Johnson papers date from 1926 to 1934 and from 1966 to 1969, with nothing for the years 1935 to 1965. The collection totals 17 folders or eight inches of material and is arranged in three groupings: University of Michigan Negro-Caucasian Club; City College of New York Case; and Other Papers.

The papers contain Johnson's correspondence in the 1960's with members of the Negro-Caucasian Club, concerning in part a reunion of Club members in 1969. The papers also reflect the controversy surrounding Johnson's dismissal from City College of New York in 1932.

J. Herbert Newport was a designer of automobile bodies from the 1930s through the 1970s, employed designing custom bodies for Duesenberg automobiles as well as bodies and parts for companies such as DuPont, General Motors, Studebaker, and Nash. The collection documents his design work through drawings and photographs and the Duesenberg phenomenon, which continues to the present day with car collecting and restoration, through correspondence, photographs, advertisements, and ephemera, drawings, and various research materials.

The Newport collection has been divided into eleven series: J. Herbert Newport, Correspondence, The Duesenberg, Duesenberg Models, Ephemera and Print, Photographs, Albums, Drawings, Painting, Audio Materials and Realia.

The Lon G. Nungesser Hope for Humanity Papers, 1970-1989 comprise correspondence, drafts of unpublished and published manuscripts, ideas for research projects, family history material, publishers' contracts, placement files, and copies of his three books: Homosexual acts, actors and identities (Praeger, 1983), Epidemic of courage: facing AIDS in America (St. Martin's, 1986), and Notes on living until we say goodbye: a personal guide (St. Martin's, 1988). The papers reflect Nungesser's struggle against homophobia and particularly his battle with AIDS and coping with terminal illness. Correspondents include Dana H. Bramel, Stuart Kellogg, and Philip G. Zimbardo.

Although there is some memorabilia from his high school years and some personal mementoes, the bulk of this collection reflects Nungesser's struggle against homophobia, and particularly his battle with AIDS. The papers include published and unpublished writings, contracts with publishers, book reviews, drafts of research projects and grant proposals, correspondence, college placement files, articles and interviews, photographs, and clippings. There are two videocassettes, one of a call-in talk show with Nungesser as guest, and the other of Nungesser reading from Notes on Living until We Say Goodbye. In addition, there are two audio cassettes of radio interviews of Nungesser. The 1984 interview concerns Homosexual Acts, Actors and Identities and the 1988 interview discusses his battle with AIDS and Notes on Living until We Say Goodbye. These audio cassettes have been reformatted.

Nungesser is a prolific writer. There are several unpublished, book-length manuscripts in the papers, as well as dissertation and grant proposals and other writings. All relate to the social psychology of homosexuals, and several concern AIDS. Copies of Nungesser's three books have been cataloged for the Labadie Collection.

In April 1989, Lon began sending his correspondence and writings to the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections on computer disks. The files on these disks have been printed and those that did not duplicate materials already in the collection were interfiled. The disks are stored separately from the collection (in Case 2). Each of the printed files are labeled with the name of the file and its date of creation.

The papers have been divided into five series.