Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Ann Arbor, Michigan, archivist; collected materials relating to local Democratic Party politics; student papers; and photographs.

The McNitt papers consist of materials collected relating to his interest in, and activities with, the local Democratic Party. Included are newsletters, leaflets, campaign materials and newspaper clippings concerning state, county, and municipal politics, particularly the presidential campaigns of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972, Ann Arbor City Council and school board elections; the New Democratic Coalition of Michigan; the Human Rights Party; the state presidential primary in 1972; Democratic state conventions; state elections in 1968, 1970, 1972, and 1974; and the election campaign of Congressman Richard F. VanderVeen in 1974.

The collection also includes copies of student papers on topics relating to Michigan history. The titles of these papers are "The Library Extension Movement in Grand Rapids", "Journalism and the Republican Party of Michigan, 1890-1920; A Study of the Michigan Republican Newspaper Association", and "Peace and American Society : Rebecca Shelley and the Peace Movement."

Finally, there are many hundreds of photographs taken by McNitt relating to the construction of the Bentley Library and to the accessioning of the papers of Gerald R. Ford.

Presbyterian clergyman, longtime pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1934-1951; correspondence, copies of essays and book reviews written for religious periodicals, sermons and addresses, mimeographed study notes of talks given in Detroit before the Men's Club for the Study of Religion, religious and literary notebooks, and travel journals.

The series in the collection are: Biographical; Correspondence; Writings; Speeches, sermons, lectures; Miscellaneous notes; Scriptures; Literary Studies; and Scrapbooks, journals, etc.

Labor relations specialist for the Lamar Pipe Company and the Michigan Concrete Pipe Association. Materials relating to his dealings with the Teamster's union; also papers concerning his work with an Ann Arbor, Michigan, citizens group formed to oppose proposed building on Stadium Blvd.

The William T. Brownson Papers comprise two series: Labor and Union (1949-75) and the New Southeast Property Owners Committee (1957-59). The second series offers a valuable look at how a local citizens' group fought organized government and corporate developers.

The Woodruffs were a lumbering family from Ludington, Michigan. The collection includes clippings, correspondence and photographs. The Woodruff family materials contain photo books and prints of the University of Michigan area during the 1890s, and correspondence home to the family from U-M students. The Marin family materials include information on Axel Marin's career as a University of Michigan professor, and photographs of Michigan football, ca. 1940.

The Woodruff-Marin papers contain information about Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan, and greater Michigan. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs taken by Eugene C. Woodruff between 1890 and 1896. The collection is arranged into two series, the Woodruff Family Papers and the Marin Family Papers.

Instructor at Kalamazoo College, later professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan; correspondence, mathematical papers; and miscellaneous topical files.

The Beman collection includes correspondence concerning in part general University activities and specifically relating to the University of Michigan Department of Mathematics. Some of his correspondents include Marion L. Burton, Thomas M. Cooley, Edgar J. Goodspeed, William R. Harper, William J. Hussey, Harry B. Hutchins, Volney M. Spalding, William W. Campbell, Arthur G. Hall, E. R. Hedrick, and W. F. Osgood. In the collection, there are also miscellaneous mathematical papers; biographical sketches of James B. Angell, Edward Olney, and Volney M. Spalding; religious addresses; papers (1885-1898) relating to gambling, prostitution, and selling liquor on Sunday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, memoranda on various trips, and a memorial on his death.

History, administrative and financial records, files of church organizations, publications, and papers of individual pastors; also record books (prior to 1875) of Frederick Schmid, formerly pastor of the Bethlehem Church, now Bethlehem United Church of Christ; and photographs.

The records of Zion Lutheran Church of Ann Arbor span the years 1875-1981. Those records in the collection which date before 1875 were kept by the Rev. Frederick Schmid probably when he was minister of the Bethlehem Church. These record books (in box 12) include two volumes of baptismal records, a family register, and a record book of marriages performed. These four volumes date from 1833 to approximately 1875 when Zion was established. The volumes are in German.

Except for these volumes, the records in the collection are of Zion Lutheran Church. Included are historical materials, administrative and financial records, records of church organizations, church bulletins and newsletters, membership records, and sermons and collected materials of the church's pastors. The earlier records of the church are usually in German.