Collections

Research materials used by Laurie Palazzolo in writing of her book Horn Man: the Polish-American Musician in Twentieth-Century Detroit (Detroit, Mich.: American-Polish Music Society, 2003). The collection sheds light on the history of 20th century Polish-American musical landscape of greater Detroit.

The collection documents the history and repertoire of Polish folk music bands in the greater Detroit area as well as professional careers of musicians. The records date primarily from the 1940's until 1980s. Materials dated 1990s-2000s are primarily transcripts of interviews taken by Gomulka Palazzolo. Records include correspondence, business contracts, performance schedules and programs, sheet music, scanned copies of photographs, copies of Keynote magazine, biographical information and interviews of musicians, performance advertisements, and recordings. The records are arranged into five series as follows: Research files, Detroit Federation of Musicians, Sheet music, Sound recordings, and Visual materials.

Author and political consultant from Charlotte, Michigan who wrote a book on the Milo Radulovich Case; records include interviews, correspondence, newspaper clippings, Radulovich military records, research notes, and documentation relating to the writing and publication of To Strike at a King: The Turning Point in the McCarthy Witch-Hunt.

The collection consists of six series: Milo Radulovich Research materials, Writing and Publicity, Later Milo Radulovich materials, Other articles, Video materials, Sound materials, and Posters. The collection's strength lies in Ranville's interviews with Milo, his sister, and other's involved in Radulovich's Air Force Security Hearing, as well as in the other accumulated research materials.

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.