Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The Life Sciences Institute (LSI) is a University of Michigan life sciences research and education organization dedicated to "advanc[ing] the understanding of the fundamental processes of life, and to pioneer new ideas to improve human health". The Life Sciences Institute records document the activities of the LSI and related organizations and includes reports, strategic planning documentation, photographs, publications, digital audio and video recordings, and print-outs of the LSI's 2003 website.

The Life Sciences and Institute records document the activities of the Life Sciences Institute (LSI). Materials are dated from 2001-2016 and include reports, strategic planning documentation, photographs, publications (such as newsletters and fliers), digital audio and video recordings, clippings, and print-outs of the LSI's 2003 website. Notable people and organizations in this collection include former LSI Director Dr. Alan R. Saltiel; Emerita Professor Rowena Mathews, a charter member of the LSI; and the Life Sciences, Values, and Society Program (LSVSP), a life sciences outreach organization founded alongside the LSI. Also prominently reflected in the collection are materials relating to LSI's annual symposium and the construction of the LSI building.

The Office of the President records group includes the records of University of Michigan Presidents Robben Fleming, 1968-1978 and 1988 (interim); Allan Smith, 1979 (interim); Harold T. Shapiro, 1980-1987; James J. Duderstadt, 1988-1996; Homer Neal, 1996-1997 (interim); Lee C. Bollinger, 1997-2001; B. Joseph White, 2002 (interim); Mary Sue Coleman (2002-2014); and Mark Schlissel (2014-present). The record group includes annual files from the Office of the President, which include topical files and schools and colleges files. Other series in the record group include supplemental files for each president, search files, committee appointment files, audio and visual materials, development files, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) files, and ephemera.

The records of the University of Michigan President contain the central files created and collected by the President and members of the President's staff. There is some content inherited from earlier presidents, but the record group effectively begins in 1967 with the administration of Robben W. Fleming and continues through successive administrations. (Records of Presidents prior to Fleming are cataloged under the name of the individual office holder).

The University of Michigan President's records are organized into the following series: Topical Files; Schools and Colleges Files; Supplemental Files; Search Files; Committee Appointment Files; Development; Facilities; Freedom of Information Act; Audio-Visual Material Files; Ephemera; Archived Website. Three first three series are major recurring series (Topical, Schools and Colleges, and Supplemental Files). The additional series (Committee Appointment; Searches; Development; Facilities; Freedom of Information Act; Audio-Visual Material Files; Ephemera; Archived Website) are not consistently created or predictably transferred.

Although the series are collectively described, the actual ordering of the boxes in the contents listing are not necessarily consecutive given the timing and sequence of transfers. For a summary bringing all boxes together under a particular series, see the Summary Contents list for a collective representation of boxes.

Nuclear engineer, professor and eleventh president of the University of Michigan (1988-1996), leader in efforts to transform the University of Michigan, and higher education generally, into a culturally diverse, financially secure, and technologically advanced institution. Collection consists of both paper and digital documents, including speeches, presentations, writings and images. Portions of the collection are restricted. This collection represents the "personal papers" of president Duderstadt. Other material relating to his presidency is located in the record group "University of Michigan. President."

The James J. Duderstadt papers span the years from 1963 to the present, although the bulk of the material covers 1970 to 1996. The collection, consisting mainly of Speeches, Position Papers, and Presentations, effectively documents Duderstadt's vision, agenda, and planning process. There are two subgroups in the collection: Paper Documents and Digital Documents.

The Paper Documents subgroup is comprised of thirteen series: Biographical / Background Material, Speeches and Accompanying Material, Computer Printouts of Speeches, Position Papers, Publications, Presentations, Correspondence, Research, Topical Files (Pre-Presidency), Teaching, Presidential Transition Files, Strategic Planning, and Diaries and Notebooks. It includes a few papers from his years as engineering dean and his term as provost, along with a substantial amount of material from his years as professor of nuclear engineering and as president of the university.

A second subgroup, Digital Documents, is comprised of material created and maintained in electronic form (utilizing a number of software programs), and is particularly strong for representing Duderstadt's entire term as president of the university. The subgroup includes eight series: Speeches, Idea Files, Strategy, Position Papers, Presentations, Write Files and Legacy Files. The digital files of speeches and position papers frequently contain various and well-organized iterations of key documents. Of particular note are the Strategy Files, which hold substantial planning documents, many designed to encourage and promote vigorous response to change at many levels within the university. The subgroup also contains a series of Digital Images, most of which appeared in the 1996 publication Rebuilding the University: 1986-1996.

Walter Pinkus was an Engineer in Research for the University of Michigan's Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences Department's Space Physics Research Laboratory from 1966 to 1996. At the lab he conducted design work on instruments built for various National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions. The collection contains correspondence, schematics, project books, and research reports relating to the projects Pinkus worked on. Included in the collection are papers related to the San Marco program, Galileo spacecraft, and the High Resolution Doppler Imager (HRDI).

The Walter Pinkus papers encompasses Pinkus's time at the University of Michigan's Space Physics Research Laboratory. The papers date from 1965 to 1996and include correspondence, schematics, project books, and research reports on instruments built for various National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions. Included in the collection are notes from the Galileo space probe project, the San Marco program, Mars Upper Atmosphere Dynamics, Energetics, and Evaluation (MUADEE) project. The arrangement of the collection follows Pinkus's arrangement of the materials.

A cross-disciplinary center for the study of Chinese history, culture and contemporary Chinese society at the University of Michigan, includes administrative records of the Center and information on research, lecture series, exhibits and other activities of the center.

The Center for Chinese Studies record group consists primarily of material for the years 1962 to 1994. Overall strengths of the collection include documentation of PASE, records of the Asia Library (1962-1982), and course information from curriculum development (1960s). Yearly budget and financial records are fairly complete, except for the period from 1971 to 1976. The gap is unfortunate because it was during these years that the Ford Foundation grants ended and the center had to search for new funding sources. Other material is broadly illustrative of the diversity of the tasks undertaken by the center.

The record group, as received by the Bentley Library, mostly consisted of loose documents and random topical folders. It now consists of topical folders arranged alphabetically within five series. The series Directors Correspondence and the Asia Library are in their original order, as received by the library; Administrative Records, Activities, and Printed Materials are artificial groupings created to provide order and easy access to the records.

The Bentley Historical Library received another large transfer of records from the Center for Chinese Studies in 1997. Spanning the years 1966 through 1994, these consist primarily of administrative files and information pertaining to the activities which the Center for Chinese Studies organized or in which it participated. The records were relatively well organized when it was attained by the Bentley Library. The original order of the records was retained with the exception of some files pertaining to the East Asian Capital Campaign. These were reorganized so that they could be located in one series.

Inaugurated in 1967 as a living-learning community within the larger university, planning for the Residential College began in the early 1960s. Records relate to the planning and founding of the Residential College, 1962-1967, and include materials concerning curriculum, educational policies, governance and student attitudes from the College's opening in 1967 through 2010. Research papers produced by the Social Science Program's Student-Faculty Research Communities are also present

The records of the Residential College relate to the planning and founding of the Residential College, 1962-1967, and include materials concerning curriculum, educational policies, governance and student attitudes from the College's opening in 1967 through to the present. Research papers produced by the Social Science Program's Student-Faculty Research Communities are also present. The records are arranged into the following series: Planning and Organization, Administration, Executive Committee, Triennial Reviews, Social Science Program, Photographs, Topical Files, Audiovisual, and Archived Website.

Records of University of Michigan office (and its predecessor administrative offices) responsible for external fund raising and development activities, including subject files of development officials Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock; staff files; and photographs.

The records of the Vice President for Development date from 1948 to the present and measure 39.5 linear feet. They reflect the basic concerns of the office for these four decades: preserving and improving the university's public image and planning major fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, both activities are incompletely documented. In the area of public relations the records tend to discuss how immediate problems will be dealt with, rather than overall conceptions of the university's image. The thought behind the innovative fundraising devices created or employed by the office is sometimes recorded through consultant reports, but in general is not well documented.

The manuscript records have been divided into two subgroups, one representing the records of the vice president (or senior staff person, for those years in which there was no vice presidency), the other containing records created by the development office. The Vice Presidents subgroup has been divided by the name of each person who has held the office: Arthur Brandon, Lyle Nelson, and Michael Radock. Researchers should note that since Nelson and Radock used their predecessor's files for some time before inaugurating their own records, the relationship between office tenure and file dates is not an exact one. The Development Office subgroup contains records of that office and its subsidiary units. Several accessions of Development Office records received in 1989 and 1990 have been grouped together as Development Office subgroup: 1989-1990 accessions.

Intended as a living memorial to former students, faculty, and staff who died in World War II, the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project is dedicated to the study of peacetime applications of atomic energy. The records include significant material relating to the origins of the project and extensive documentation of research conducted over the course of nearly fifty years. In addition, the files include correspondence, minutes, reports, development and director topical files.

Records of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project were received in three major accessions and from three major donors: National Executive Chairman Chester Lang, 1958; Assistant Director Leonard Greenbaum, 1972; and Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project, 2000. In addition, one item, a copy of the Phoenix Project logo, was received from Jacqueline Kolle Haring in 2001. The material is described as two accessions and is primarily comprised of records related to fund-raising, research, and administrative functions. Series include files documenting the history of the project, prospects, donors, research grants, and outreach. Researchers tracking a particular topic should note that there is significant overlap between accessions.

The records of the first two accessions measure three linear feet and date from 1947 to 1959. They are primarily comprised of correspondence, speeches, minutes, financial reports, and research files and are arranged into four series: Chester Lang/National Executive Chairman Files; Fund-raising Campaign; Financial Reports; and Early Research.

The records accessioned between 2000 and 2001 range from 1948 to 1997 and add 46 feet of valuable and significant documentation to the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project record group. While large portions of the records relate to development and fund-raising aspects of the project, there are also important correspondence, research, and committee files. In addition, the accession includes a rich group of materials documenting the history of the project, as well as files regarding the national and international involvement of Phoenix administrators and scientists in the nuclear energy field.

The records are organized into the following series: History; Minutes of Meetings; Development Topical Files; Director's Topical Files; Ford Reactor; Organizations; Prospects; Donors; Research; and Audio Materials. It is important to note that since the years covered in the development topical files and director topical files series overlap, the researcher is advised to examine both runs for material on a given subject.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR), an interdisciplinary center for social science research, was created in 1949 when the Research Center for Group Dynamics (founded at Massachusetts Institute of Technology) joined the university's Survey Research Center. ISR houses the Center for Political Studies (CPS), Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Population Studies Center (PSC), Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD), and the Survey Research Center (SRC). Records document the founding and development of ISR and its related centers and programs and include audiovisual materials, minutes, correspondence, topical files, reports, and proposals. Administrative records include governance committees and director's files. Records of the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) consist of grant proposals, survey instruments, focus group transcriptions, correspondence, bulletins, and internal governance records created under the auspices of PRBA and its various projects. Records of the Research Center for Group Dynamics are primarily the papers of director Kurt Lewin, including manuscripts and talks. Survey Research Center records consist largely of proposal and project files, although they also include faculty oral histories. The records of the Population Studies Center consist of lectures from its founder, Dr. Ronald Freedman, while the Center for Political Studies contains one binder of material from the American National Election Survey conducted in 1980.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) records are dated from 1936-2017 (scattered) and consist of 143.8 linear feet (in 146 boxes) and digital files (online). Materials in this record group include audiovisual material, committee files (which include minutes and agendas), correspondence, directors' files, oral histories, publications, reports, and topical files. These records document the founding and subsequent development of ISR as well as its centers and programs, particularly the Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) and the Survey Research Center (SRC). The records also provide an overview of ISR's administration and the evolution of social science survey research methodology.

There are gaps in the records, which can be addressed in part through the papers of Rensis Likert, Angus Campbell, Dorwin P. Cartwright, and Philip E. Converse—all of which are held at the Bentley Historical Library (BHL). When viewed in conjunction with other ISR-related personal papers in the Bentley Historical Library, a rich and detailed picture of the growth of ISR as a center and the social science research discipline emerges.

Officially established in 1959, the Office of Research supports and administers large interdisciplinary projects called research centers and administers research institutes. The record group includes individual vice president's files, central office files, staff files, financial records, administrative files, committee and task force documents and reports, special event files, and project and institute files.

The records of the vice-president for research date from 1911 to 2013 and measure 323.5 linear feet, 1 oversize box and 157 MB of digital materials. The records document the activities of the office overseeing grant funded research at the University of Michigan and offer some insight into the range of research undertaken at the university. Records include administrative files of vice-presidents, including correspondence, memoranda, and budgetary material relating to research projects and grants of university units and departments; and photographs.

The organization of the records, particularly the early accessions, reflects the tenure of the successive vice presidents for research. Later accessions included files of associate vice-presidents and senior staff officers as well topically organized files that spanned the tenure of several vice presidents. The records are organized into the following series:

1. A. Geoffrey Newman -- Boxes 1-15, 70-71
2. Charles Overberger -- Boxes 15-69
3. Charles Overberger/Warren Sussman -- Boxes 72-87
4. Linda S. Wilson,-- Boxes 88-100
5. William C. Kelly -- Boxes 102-105
6. Central Files -- Boxes 108-127, 180-210, 266-275, Boxes 277-301, Boxes 311-322
7. OVPR Staff Files -- Boxes 128-134
8. Julie Ellison -- Boxes 135-136
9. Marvin Parnes -- Boxes 137-146
10. OVPR Financial and Administrative Files -- Boxes 147-148
11. Administrative Files -- Boxes 149-150, Boxes 323-324
12. Committees and Task forces -- 151-164
13. Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project and Ford Nuclear Reactor -- Boxes 165 --166, 218-219
14. Special Events, Symposiums, and Promotional -- Boxes 167-170, 275
15. Presidential Initiatives Fund -- Boxes 171-179
16. Contractual Restrictions Requests (PAF-R's) -- Boxes 213-216
17. Michigan Life Science's Corridor -- Boxes 216-218
18. Discretionary Fund -- Boxes 220-264
19. Indirect Waivers -- Boxes 265
20. Research Faculty Appointments -- Boxes 276, Box 322
21. Washington D.C. Office -- Boxes 302-310