Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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.

Grand Rapids, Michigan-based environmental protection organization. Administrative, educational, legislative, and litigation files relating to various environmental issues, notably the Pigeon River Country State Forest oil drilling controversy, the problem of solid waste disposal, land and water use, and nuclear energy; contain files created during the tenures of executive directors Joan Wolfe, Roger Conner, Kenneth Sikkema, Frank Ruswick, Jr., Robert Newberry, Thomas Leonard, and Rachel Hood.

The records of the WMEAC, received in multiple accessions, but now melded together, have been retained in an order approximate to that maintained by the organization in its earlier years. The records include administrative, educational, legislative, and litigation files relating to various environmental issues, notably the Pigeon River Country State Forest oil drilling controversy, the problem of solid waste disposal, land and water use, and nuclear energy; contain files of executive directors Joan Wolfe, Roger Conner, Kenneth Sikkema, Frank Ruswick, Jr., Robert Newberry and Thomas Leonard. the records are organized into eight series: administrative files, educational files, legislative files, litigation files, chlordane ban efforts, WMEAC non-serial publications, WMEAC publicity and media coverage, and WMEAC serial publications.

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.

Pastor of the Grand Rapids A. M. E. First Community Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, city commissioner, acting mayor, and later mayor, 1971-1975. Mayoralty files, political materials, scrapbooks of career activities, and photographs.

The Lyman Parks collection consists mainly of files created and accumulated during the period of his mayoralty. Included are files on the many federal, state and local conferences that he attended. The correspondence files consist mainly of congratulatory letters. The best documentation of Parks' mayoralty will be found in his speech file and in the several scrapbooks from the years when he was in office. The collection also includes photographs, both portraits and photographs of public activities.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical and Personal; Correspondence; Mayoralty Files; A.M.E. Activities; Photographs; and Scrapbooks.

The JJR photographic slide collection relates solely to the firm's Michigan projects. The files are arranged into three series: Michigan; University of Michigan; and Other Michigan Universities. Included are slides of project sites (with some aerial images), site plans, and conceptual drawings. Although the collection covers the entire state, the bulk of the slides relate to southeast and lower Michigan, especially Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw. The files are in the order maintained by the organization. There is thus some overlap between the general Michigan series and the University of Michigan and Other Michigan Universities series. The researcher is advised to examine the finding aid closely.

David Giltrow was a student photographer for The Michigan Daily and Michiganensian from 1960 to 1961. The collection contains negatives and paper contact prints of photos taken by Giltrow. Subjects include John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign stop in Ann Arbor and whistle stop train trip in Michigan, campus visits by Pat Kennedy Lawford and Chester Bowles, a Pete Seeger concert, Americans Committed to World Responsibility Conference, and a 1961 Ann Arbor Civil Rights march.

The David Giltrow photograph collection documents a selection of Giltrow's work as a photographer for the Michigan Daily and the Michiganensian from 1960 to 1961. The collection consists of original 35mm negatives and paper contact prints. The negatives cover six notable campus visitors and events. The collection also contains a brief biography and a group portrait of Michiganensian photographers which includes Giltrow.

African American businesswoman from Grand Rapids, Michigan; correspondence, clippings, published materials, and photographs largely relating to her civic, political, fraternal, and church activities, especially her long-time involvement with the Order of the Eastern Star and with New Hope Baptist Church in Grand Rapids.

The Lillian Gill collection is comprised of the following series: Biographical and personal; Business career; Political and community interests; Order of Eastern Star, Free and Accepted Modern Masons; New Hope Baptist Church and other Baptist organizations; and Photographs. The great bulk of the collection details her Masonic responsibilities and her activities with her church and with her denomination's regional and state organization. Much of these series consist of printed material, including bulletins, brochures, programs, announcements, and the like. A smaller portion of the collection relates to her varied business endeavors as an insurance underwriters and as a salesperson with Amway. There is also slight material relating to her political and civil rights involvement with the local chapter of the NAACP.

Photographs (positive and negative), slides, and transparencies taken by the company's photographers to document company activities, products, services, employees at work and at leisure, company exhibits and commemorations, and the response of the company to natural disasters and civil disturbances.

In 1993, Michigan Bell as a corporate entity was subsumed within the Ameritech Corporation. As a by-product of this reorganization and the downsizing resulting from it, the company agreed to deposit with the Bentley Historical Library its extensive archive of photographic images. Totalling approximately one million images, the Michigan Bell Telephone Company photo archive consists of negatives, copy prints, and color transparencies taken in the period since World War II (the bulk beginning in 1949). The collection does not include photos taken since 1983; interspersed throughout, however, are numerous images from before 1949.

The collection has been maintained in the order received with two principal series: Positives and Negatives.

The content of the photographs in the two series varies considerably. Naturally the collection documents the products of the company (phones and other communication devices) and the services provided (e.g. employees at work or the company reacting to a specific customer need). These photos were taken both to inform the general public as accompaniment to press notices and advertising copy and as a communications vehicle within the company, informing employees through the company news publication, Tielines, of activities going on in other divisions of the company or among the various regional Bell offices.

More importantly perhaps, the collection has value for its documentation of events and activities that are common to all large companies. These include images relating to: 1. The activities of employees within the corporation at their work (office workers, repairmen, operators, various support personnel, managers, etc.); 2. The activities of employees outside their work routine as members of corporate social groups (i.e., the company baseball or ice hockey team), at home engaged in leisure time activities, or involved in company-sponsored charitable or public service functions; and 3. Commemorations of specific milestones or events (company parade floats, area office open houses, corporate displays at public events such as fairs, etc.).

In addition, the collection documents the extraordinary and unforeseen as the phone company reacts to events and emergencies not within its control (floods, tornadoes, fires, the 1967 Detroit riot, strikes, and the like) or as a participant in history-making events (the announcement in Ann Arbor of the success of the Salk polio vaccine or the preparation involved in the 1980 Republican National Convention that convened in Detroit).

Businessman and Republican mayor of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1950-1954 and 1956-1958, delegate to the 1961 constitutional convention, and regent of University of Michigan. Correspondence, mayoral topical files, campaign materials, and scrapbooks concerning his activities in opposition to the political leadership of Frank D. McKay and George Welsh, the Republican National Convention of 1960, the work of the constitutional convention, and the founding of WZZM-TV and photographs.

The Paul G. Goebel papers include correspondence, mayoral topical files, campaign materials, and scrapbooks concerning his activities in opposition to the political leadership of Frank D. McKay and George Welsh, the Republican National Convention of 1960, the work of the constitutional convention, and the founding of WZZM-TV. A small file of photographs consists of portraits, campaign photographs, and photos of Goebel at public functions The series in the collection include Correspondence; Mayoralty Papers; Personal and Political; Scrapbooks; Constitutional Convention; and Photographs.

Affiliate of the National Urban League. Records include historical information file, administrative files, topical files, and photographs.

The records of the Grand Rapids Urban League document its activities as a civil rights and social service organization serving the African-American community in Grand Rapids. The records have been arranged into four series: Historical/Background Material, Administration Records, Topical Files, and Photographs. The series date from the organization's founding in 1943 up to the mid-1980s. There are numerous gaps in the files with the bulk of the records dating before 1970.

Reports and administrative records of WPA project to survey historical records in Michigan; includes correspondence, drafts of guides to county archives, proceedings of county boards of supervisors, field reports of workers, and copies of land patents for some counties; also material relating to the history of Blacks in Michigan.

The Historical Records Survey record group documents the activities and the product of the legions of depression era workers who inventoried the records held in county courthouses, municipal offices some private repositories. The records include correspondence, drafts of guides to county archives, proceedings of county boards of supervisors, field reports of workers, and copies of land patents for some counties; also material relating to the history of Blacks in Michigan.

Originally the H.R.S. records transferred to the Michigan Historical Collections measured about 121 linear feet. After processing, the collection consisted of 26 feet of records relating to the H.R.S. and 65 feet of transcripts of county and municipal records. Of the remaining 30 feet, 29.5 feet of duplicate, extraneous, or insignificant materials were discarded (described in more detail further on) and approximately half of a linear foot of printed material was transferred to the library's printed collection.

The H.R.S. material has been divided into the following series:

1. Survey of County Records
2. Survey of Municipal Records
3. Survey of Federal Records
4. Survey of State Records
5. WPA Project Files
6. Manuscripts Survey
7. Inventory of Negro Manuscripts
8. Transcripts of County Records
9. Transcripts of Municipal Records
10. Photographs
11. Historical Records Survey Correspondence
12. Survey Forms of 1987 Survey of Records in Counties and Municipalities.

Editor and publisher of the Daily Tribune; scrapbooks of newspaper columns and editorials, and miscellaneous.

The collection consists of a miscellanea of correspondence, photographs, and biographical materials. There are also extensive files of his newspaper column "Personally Speaking" and the editorials he wrote for the newspaper.

Ed Beach was an amateur photographer whose photographs document his hometown of Howell, Michigan and historical sites in other Michigan communities. His collection consists of photographic negatives (with some prints) and albums with prints of historic plaques and markers, statues of famous statesmen and their gravesites, early school buildings, historic houses, gristmills, sawmills, and county courthouses.

The Ed Beach collection consists of photographic negatives (with some prints) and albums with prints of historic plaques and markers, statues of famous statesmen and their gravesites, early school buildings, historic houses, gristmills, sawmills, and county courthouses. Other subjects include tourist sites in Michigan (such as Greenfield Village or Mackinac Island) and state parks, especially those in the Upper Peninsula. His hometown of Howell, Michigan is also heavily documented.

The Beach collection is arranged into three series. In the Kodak series the negatives measure 2 3/4 by 4 1/2 inches in size and cover the years 1931 to 1948. The Leica series consists of 35-millimeter strips and were taken between the years 1936 and 1938. The third series consists of seven albums of carefully identified photographs.

An item-level listing of the contents of the Kodak and Leica series is available at the library. To aid researchers a geographic and subject index has been created and is attached to this finding aid. These indices provide the best introduction to the collection.

Beach created the photograph albums around broad topics, and each has a title. The albums include: "Michigan Historic Places," "Around Lake Erie in Ontario. Trip to Chicago Century of Progress," "Michigan Courthouses," "Michigan Ships, Monuments, Historic Places, Buildings, Creek Scenes," "Indian and Trail Markers," "Around Michigan: Historic Places, Buildings, Mills, Dams, Bridges, Masonic Buildings," and "Michigan Governors' Homes, Michigan Trees, Old Buildings of Michigan." The photos in the albums include Beach's negative number.

President's correspondence, executive committee minutes, and minutes of annual conventions; also files on individual churches in the Synod, including clippings, reports, church histories and programs; and photographs.

The records of the Michigan Synod of the Lutheran Church in America include president's correspondence; executive committee minutes; and minutes of annual conventions; files on individual churches in the Synod, including clippings, reports, church histories and programs; and photographs. The records have been arranged into the following series: Organizational and Administrative Records; Archivist's files; Organizational units and programs; Lutheran Church Women; Printed material; Church files; Topical files; and Visual Materials. Most of the records prior to 1962 originally came from the archives of United Lutheran Church in America.

Grand Rapids, Michigan businessman and Republican politician. Correspondence, business records, speeches, and other papers relating to state politics, charitable and civic interests, banking issues, the Grand Rapids Varnish Corporation, the Michigan Trust Company of Grand Rapids, and the Ypsilanti-Reed Furniture Company of Ionia, Michigan; also materials on Albion College, the Methodist Church, the Ionia Free Fair, and Republican Party politics, especially the campaign of Arthur H, Vandenberg for the presidency in 1940.

The collection documents the business, civic, and political interests of Howard C. Lawrence. The series in the collection are: Correspondence; Speeches and speech material; Financial; Business Interests; Charitable and Civic Interests; Clippings; Miscellaneous; Photographs; and Notebooks.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, architect and planner. Correspondence, writings, working files, and photographs for out-of-state and Michigan projects, primarily in Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, and East Lansing; professional materials relating to problems of urban planning, the design of department stores and shopping centers, his general interest in lighting designs, traffic patterns, and parking areas, and to his work with the Lake Michigan Region Planning Committee, the American Institute of Architects and the Michigan Society of Architects; also Welch family materials, including record, 1915-1925, of the Welch Manufacturing Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Welch papers include a small amount of biographical and personal material, but the bulk of the collection documents his work on architectural, design and planning projects in Michigan and across the country - many having to do with shopping malls, business districts and urban redevelopment. The collection is arranged in eight series: biographical materials; correspondence; personal, financial, and family materials; professional information files; Michigan project files; out-of-state project files; articles and speeches; and photographs.

The papers of the Merriam family of Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan, reflect chiefly the business activities and leisure time interests of Warren Sturtevant Merriam, plant manager of Baker Furniture, Inc. of Holland and member of the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club. There is also some material concerning his father, the Reverend Charles Wolcott Merriam, his mother, Julia Sturtevant Merriam, and his wife, Helen Bell Merriam.

The papers have been divided into nine series: Baker Furniture, Inc., Macatawa Bay Yacht Club, Warren Sturtevant Merriam, Helen Bell Merriam, Charles Wolcott Merriam, Julia Sturtevant Merriam, Park Congregational Church, Grace Episcopal Church, and Photographs and Slides.

Soldier from Grand Rapids, Mich., member of 337th Ambulance Company who served in the Allied intervention in Russia, 1918-1920, the "Polar Bear Expedition." Collection includes diaries and reminiscences of his service in Russia and training at Fort Custer, Michigan; also his diaries of life in Grand Rapids, photographs, motion pictures, and miscellaneous.

The collection includes diaries and a reminiscence of his service in Russia, at Obozerskaya and Archangel, and his training at Fort Custer, Mich.; also clippings and miscellanea. The collection also includes views of Fort Custer, Mich., and photos taken in Russia (both U. S. Signal Corps photos and snapshots) of American and allied soldiers, cities and towns, Russian people, battle scenes, and means of transportation; also a motion picture (16 mm original with DVD and streaming file use copies) containing miscellaneous scenes of American troops in Archangel. Also included Smith's diaries dated 1910 and 1914-1916.

Son of a cook at Camp Bogardus (later renamed Camp Davis), the summer engineering camp of the University of Michigan located in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Includes group portraits of staff and students as well as views of the camp; photos of the construction of Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River, near Oxbow, Michigan; and a photo of a parade and Liberty Bond rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The collection includes group portraits of staff and students as well as views of the camp; photos of the construction of Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River, near Oxbow, Michigan; and a photo of a parade and Liberty Bond rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Grand Rapids, Michigan businessman and politician; correspondence, business papers; scrapbooks, and photographs.

The Frank D. McKay collection is divided into the following series: Correspondence; Topical Files; Business and financial papers; Newspaper clippings and scrapbooks; and Photographs.