Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Republican State Highway Commissioner, 1943-1957. Correspondence, scrapbooks and other papers concerning the highway department, Republican politics, and his interest in the Michigan Republican League, the Michigan Indian Foundation, and the construction of the Mackinac Bridge; also photographs.

The collections includes the following series of papers: Correspondence; Campaign and Republican Party Activities; Michigan Highway Department; Topical files and miscellaneous; and Scrapbooks and clippings. Much of the correspondence relates to his first campaign in 1943 for Highway Commissioner.

Republican U.S. Senator from Michigan; advocate of the United Nations and bipartisan foreign policy. Correspondence, scrapbooks, diaries, and visual materials.

The Arthur H. Vandenberg collection consists of 8 linear feet of materials (available on microfilm), 25 volumes of scrapbook/journals, and assorted audio and visual materials. The collection covers Vandenberg's entire career with a few folders of papers post-dating his death in 1951 relating to the dedication of memorial rooms in his honor in the 1970s. The collection is divided into four major series: Correspondence; Speeches; Campaign and Miscellaneous Topical; Clippings, Articles, and Scrapbooks; Miscellaneous and Personal; Visual Materials; and Sound Recordings.

Republican member of the state house and the state senate; president of the University Musical Society. Legislative and campaign files, 1919-1935, detailing his election campaigns, his activities within the legislature, and his various responsibilities as a member of the Republican State Central Committee; general correspondence files, 1922-1960, largely pertaining to his work with the University Musical Society and other civic activities; topical files; family history and memoirs; diaries and appointment books; papers of wife Alva Gordon Sink; and visual materials.

This collection is comprised of business accounts, letterbooks, and correspondence relating to Republican politics, particularly election campaigns of 1912 and 1936, and enforcement of the Prohibition Amendment; and other papers concerning the career of Frank Knox and the coming of World War II. Correspondents include: Frank Knox (correspondence throughout), and Earl C. Michener, Mar. 23, 1936, Oct. 4 and Nov. 15, 1941; and photographs.

The photographs also include a black and white group photo of the members of the Washtenaw County Bar Association and of the Washtenaw County Courthouse staff.

University of Michigan professor of political science, special advisor to the U.S. Military Government in Germany after World War II, participant in numerous government commissions; papers include correspondence, working files, speeches, course materials, and visual and sound materials.

The James K. Pollock papers represent an accumulation of files from a lifetime of academic teaching and research and an extraordinary number of public service responsibilities to both his state and his nation. The files within the collection fall into two categories: types of document (such as correspondence, speeches and writings, visual materials, etc.) and files resulting from a specific activity or position (such as his work as delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention or his service with the Office of the Military Government in Germany after World War II).

The collection is large and of a complicated arrangement because of Pollock's many activities. When received in 1969, the files were maintained as received; very little processing was done to the collection so that an inventory to the papers could be quickly prepared. The order of material is that devised by James K. Pollock and his secretarial staff in the U-M Department of Political Science. Recognizing the anomalies within the order of the collection, the library made the decision to list the contents to the collection while at the same time preparing a detailed card file index (by box and folder number, i.e. 16-8) to significant correspondents and subjects. While there was much to be said for this method of preparing a finding aid expeditiously, it also covered up some problems in arrangement. Thus series and subseries of materials are not always grouped together as they were created by Pollock. Files on the Hoover Commission and the Michigan Constitutional Convention, for example, come before Pollock's work in Germany after the war. In 1999, effort was made to resolve some of the inconsistencies and obvious misfilings of the first inventory but because of the numbering system used in 1969 and the card index prepared for the files, there are still some problems. Researchers should be alert to these difficulties and take time to examine different parts of the collection for material on a similar topic.

Member of the Michigan State Legislature. Personal papers include correspondence, speeches and writings, a scrapbook, and photographs.

The collection has been arranged into a single series of Personal papers. Included are correspondence; two volumes of speeches and other writings concerning prohibition, woman suffrage, and other political and patriotic subjects; scrapbook, family materials, and miscellanea. Within the correspondence, there are collected letters of Michigan Senator Charles E. Townsend, 1913-1914, and a letter from Benjamin R. Tillman concerning smoking in the U.S. Senate. Other correspondents include J. G. Cannon, Secretary of State William J. Bryan, Booker T. Washington, James B. Angell, Frank Knox, Harry B. Hutchins, Charles E. Townsend, and Earl C. Michener.

Republican Governor of Michigan, 1927-1930, from Ionia. Correspondence and other papers, 1898-1936, concerning the Spanish-American War, Republican politics, and personal affairs; and scrapbooks, 1896-1929, covering his political career and election campaigns; and photographs.

The Fred W. Green collection is comprised of correspondence, scrapbooks, speeches, photographs, postcards, and miscellaneous other materials. Some of the correspondence covers the period when Green was at Santa Clara, Cuba in 1899, but the bulk of the letters fall within the period of his gubernatorial service.

Michigan Secretary of State, 1931-1935; Governor of Michigan, 1935-1936 and 1939; and chairman, 1936, of the Michigan delegation to the Republican National Convention. Correspondence, speeches, press releases, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous notebooks and printed materials concerning his political career.

The Fitzgerald papers date from 1928 to 1944 but the bulk of the collection falls within the period of 1930 to 1939, the year of Fitzgerald's death. Papers dated after 1939 are those of his wife Queena. The collection primarily concerns the mechanics of campaigning for office with little documentation of the administration of either the office of secretary of state or governor. The collection has been arranged into seven series: Correspondence; Biographical / Personal; Photographs; Speeches and Press Releases; Political Career; National Republican Party published material; and Scrapbooks.

The largest series in the collection - Correspondence - is important for showing the range of Fitzgerald's political acquaintances and his skill in achieving elective office. A selective index to those who corresponded with Fitzgerald is appended to this finding aid.

Prosecuting attorney, attorney general of Michigan, 1945-1946, and justice on the Michigan Supreme Court, 1946-1970. Correspondence and campaign material relating to his political interests, court agendas and topical files, and papers relating to the operation and activities of the state supreme court; also photographs.

This collection of John R. Dethmers papers, in addition to a few folders of correspondence and campaign materials from the 1930s, is comprised mainly of files from his service on the Michigan Supreme Court. Within the Correspondence series, there are letters from William W. Blackney, Mar. 19, 1942; Fred Bradley, Mar. 4, 1942; Albert J. Engel, Mar. 2, 1942; Bartel J. Jonkman, Mar. 6, 1942; Earl C. Michener, Mar. 2, 1942; Chase S. Osborn, Mar. 16, 1942; and Arthur H. Vandenberg, Mar. 4, 1942.

Owen J. Cleary was an attorney, president of Cleary College in Ypsilanti (1940-1960), Michigan secretary of state (1953-1954), and chairman of the Republican State Central Committee (1949-1953). The collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks and clippings, organizational files, and Republican Party files.

The collection documents the later period of Cleary's life, mainly from 1945 to 1959. The series include Correspondence; Scrapbooks and clippings; Organizational interests; and Political files.

The great bulk of the collection consists of correspondence dated from 1945 to 1959 and documenting his work as Republican State chairman (1949-1953), his tenure as Michigan secretary of state (1953-1954), and his various other civic, political, and business involvements. There is included with this finding aid a selective index to Cleary's correspondents.