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The First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Detroit Records comprise over 150 years of records documenting the activities of the church's ministers, administrative bodies, committees and interest groups, and members. The first such denomination in the Detroit area, First U-U traces its history to the mid-nineteenth century and represents the convergence of two like-minded denominations founded on principles of humanism, social consciousness, and civic responsibility. The collection's five series contain materials pertaining to the church's history and development, administration, religious services, educational programs, and community engagement.

The First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Detroit Records comprise the collected documentation of the activities of the church's administrative bodies, committees, and congregation members. The collection contains materials pertaining to the church's history and development, governance, and religious, educational, and community service activities. The collection is divided into five series: Ministry and Membership, Church Administration, Church Committees and Organizations, Church Activities, and Newsletters and Orders of Service.

Methodist Church established in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1825; church record books; records of Official Board and Quarterly Conferences; minutes and other materials of women’s groups; and subject files.

The record group has been arranged into the following series: Church records including lists of members and record of baptisms and marriages; Governance files, including Official Board minutes and Quarterly Conference reports; and records of church groups, especially Ladies Aid, Women's Society of Christian Service, and the Women's Foreign Missionary Society.

The Florence Romaine collection is comprised of correspondence, documents, genealogies, photographs, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings related to the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and to the acting career of Florence Smith Romaine.

The Florence Romaine collection (1 linear foot) is comprised of correspondence, documents, genealogies, photographs, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings related to the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and to the acting career of Florence Smith Romaine.

The Correspondence series (59 items) contains personal letters between members of the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families; many are written in French. Most of the material is dated from 1843-1907; the collection also includes 3 early letters to members of the Brossard family, as well as postcards that Florence Smith Romaine wrote to Grace Maxwell from 1962-1963. The series includes letters to Claude Ferdinand de Brossard from various correspondents; to Ferdinand de Brossard and Jenny de Brossard Draper from their mother, Elizabeth de Brossard; to Elizabeth Brossard from her sister-in-law, Julie de Brossard; to Jenny de Brossard Draper from Seth Enos Smith; and to Florence Smith Romaine from her mother, Jenny Draper Smith, and grandmother, Jenny de Brossard Draper. Other items include 6 letters to C. C. Randall.

The Writings series consists of 3 items by Florence Smith Romaine: a rumination on night written around 1905, a play entitled "The Silver Bell of Hat-Shep-Sut's Cat," and Whistling Bill, a children's book published in 1937.

Documents are divided into three subseries: Legal Documents (7 items), Business Documents (3 items), and Awards and Diplomas (2 items). Legal documents include birth certificates, marriage certificates, and passports related to Claude and Elisabeth Brossard and their descendants, as well as a copy of Florence Smith Romaine's will. Business documents are related to Brossard family accounts. The award and diploma concern Jenny Draper's academic achievements at the Chegaray Institute and a Brossard family member's receipt of the Fleur de Lys.

The Photographs series has two subseries: Photograph Album and Loose Photographs. The photograph album (26 pages) contains 104 cartes-de-visite and tintype studio portraits, including portraits of members of the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families. Two pages from a photograph album of the Romaine family are housed separately. Loose photographs (32 items), including 2 cased items (one housed in the Graphics Division), mostly show Florence Romaine in theatrical costumes; several photographs show members of the Smith and Draper families.

Two Scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, programs, notes, and other items regarding Florence Romaine's acting career, as well as articles, children's stories, and puzzles that she wrote for The Christian Science Monitor in 1924 and 1925. The Newspaper Clippings (3 items) concern the career of Worthington L. Romaine and the deaths of Seth and Seth E. Smith.

Genealogies and Family Histories consist of a pamphlet about the descendants of Henry and Elizabeth Smith, including Seth Enos Smith and Florence Smith Romaine; manuscript and typed notes pertaining to the Draper and Stull families and to the life of Florence Romaine; and pages from Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper's 1892 genealogy The Drapers in America.

Miscellaneous Items and Fragments (17 items) include notes and poetry (in French), 2 invitations, a copy of a recommendation letter for Father Marie-Joseph de Geramb to the governor of Cairo, and a promotional pamphlet for "Florence May Smith."

Frederick Moncrieff worked as an editor, writer, photographer, and manager for the University of Michigan News and Information Services between 1946 and 1966. He accompanied the University of Michigan Symphony Band on its 1961 tour of the Soviet Union and the Near East. The majority of the collection is materials relating to this tour. Other items pertain to historic buildings in Ann Arbor and Camp Michigania

The Frederick E. Moncrieff papers primarily document Moncrieff's work with the University of Michigan. These papers are divided into three series: University of Michigan Band Tour Papers; Other Materials; and Audiovisual Materials.

Veteran of World War II, later commander of Erwin Prieskorn Post No. 46 of the American Legion, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Subject files relating to veterans activities and his involvement in issues of concern to veterans; minutes of meetings of Ann Arbor, Michigan, post of the American Legion; and scrapbook of American Legion Post No. 46 containing letters from servicemen in Vietnam and photographs of post activities; also other photographs and videotapes.

The George W. Harms collection has been arranged into four series: Biographical; Topical Files; American Legion Post No. 46; and Visual Materials. Most of the collection relates to his activities with the Ann Arbor American Legion post and with veterans affairs in general. Post No. 46 materials includes minutes, correspondence, a scrapbook, and some newspaper clippings dating from 1968 to 1988. The issues of concern to veterans and to Harms included government policies and procedures concerning soldiers listed as missing in action and relationships with their families, Veterans Administration policies toward disabled soldiers, veterans' benefits for survivors of soldiers killed in action, and anti-war protests in Ann Arbor in the 1960s.

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.

Ecumenical Christian campus ministry at the University of Michigan. Records include correspondence, minutes, financial reports, annual reports, newsletters, photographs, audio-tapes; materials concerning University of Michigan religious organizations, including Office of Religious Affairs, the Association of Religious Counselors, Student Religious Association, the Interfaith Center, and the Protestant Foundation for International Students; also files on other religious organizations, especially the Ann Arbor Bible Chair, the Michigan Christian Foundation of the Disciples of Christ; and papers concerning Ann Arbor churches, particularly the Bethlehem Evangelical Church, the First Congregational Church, and the Memorial Christian Church.

The records of Guild House have come to the library in different accessions dating from the 1970s. Covering the period from the 1920s to the 2000s, the records document the different roots of the modern Guild House. Besides correspondence, financial reports and annual reports, the record group includes the student newsletter The Microphone, as well as various reports of retreats, banquets, luncheons, and discussion sessions.

Because the members of the Guild House were so active, the record group includes materials on social issues such as civil rights, disarmament, diplomatic recognition of China, apartheid, and social and political issues in Central America. For a view of the Vietnam War peace movement and other political issues the collection of J. Edgar Edwards, director and campus minister of the Guild House from 1957 to 1973, should be consulted. This collection has been separately cataloged.

There are also numerous sound tape recordings of Guild House programs and meetings, a microfilm copy of the record book of the Upper Room membership under H.L. Pickerill's predecessor Thomas Iden, photographs, and scrapbooks.

More specifically, the record group has been arranged into the following series: Church Campus Ministries; Guild House Organizational Records; Related Organizations; Publications and related; Directors; Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Sound Recordings. The strength of the collection is its documentation of Guild House's involvement in significant social and political issues of the 1950s-2000s.

Holly Fine was a dancer and performer with the traveling vaudeville production, the Marcus Show, in the 1930s. The collection documents Fine’s relationship with entertainer Danny Kaye, as well as the Marcus Show itself. Includes correspondence, vaudeville programs and promotional material, photographs, scrapbooks, printed material and drawings. The correspondence includes approximately 0.5 linear feet of letters written from Kaye to Fine.

The Holly Fine and Danny Kaye Papers document the relationship between Fine and Kaye, as well as the 1930s traveling vaudeville production, The Marcus Show. The papers have been divided into six series: Correspondence, Vaudeville, Printed Material, Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Drawings and Artwork.

Genealogical collection for the Houck, Kibler, and Smith families, whose ancestors settled Michigan between the 1840s and 1900s. Includes correspondence, estate records, diaries, photographs, scrapbooks, war records, and other materials.

This genealogical collection traces the roots of three Michigan families. The papers include correspondence, estate records, visual materials, and war records.

Grand Rapids nonprofit organization working to achieve peace and social justice through education and outreach; records include administrative files, clippings, correspondence, event materials, publications, photographs and scrapbooks.

The Institute for Global Education records illustrate how community organizations coalesce, expand, and evolve to become agents of positive change. It will be of interest to persons researching social movements in Michigan and abroad from the 1970s through 2008. The record group consists of six series: Administrative and Related Records, Events, Publications, Affiliated Groups and Committees, Photographs, and Scrapbooks.