Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Vice chairman of the Democratic Party State Central Committee, primarily during the gubernatorial administration of G. Mennen Williams. Office files concerning party conventions, election issues, and the work of the state central committee, particularly the role of women in the party and the Women for Humphrey organization during the election of 1968; and scrapbooks and photographs.

The Hart papers consist almost entirely of files created in her capacity as Democratic vice chairman and as member of the Democratic party 17th congressional district. The files have been maintained in their original order by topic. National Democratic Conventions; State Democratic Conventions; Election Campaigns; State Central Committee General; State Central Committee Women's Activities; Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner; Topical Files; Conferences; Program Service; Correspondence; Memoranda; and Scrapbooks and Photographs.

Republican Governor of Michigan, 1962-1969; Presidential candidate, 1968; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1969-1972. Papers consist of extensive correspondence and subject files from his tenure as governor, campaign material, and files relating to service at HUD and his other political activities, includes photographs, films and videotapes and sound recordings.

The papers of George Romney document the many faceted career of an automobile executive, governor of Michigan, candidate for President, cabinet officer, and activist on behalf of volunteerism. In this electronic version of the finding aid to the Romney papers, there are six subgroups of materials. These are Gubernatorial Papers covering the period of 1962 to 1969, Pre-gubernatorial Papers covering the period before taking office in 1963, Post-gubernatorial Papers covering the period after 1968, records of Romney Associates (a group established during his bid for the presidency), Visual Materials covering mainly the period up to 1969, and Sound Recordings also covering up to 1969. There is some overlapping of dates, particularly around the time when Romney was first elected governor in 1962 and the period when he joined the Nixon administration in 1969. The researcher should also note that the papers of Lenore Romney are not part of this finding aid.

John and Leni Sinclair were leaders of the counterculture movement in Michigan, organizers of radical social, political, and cultural endeavors primarily in the areas of music, poetry, graphic design, and community welfare projects. Papers and photographs (1957-1979) relating to all phases of their careers, including participation in the Artists' Workshop in Detroit, the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, the White Panther Party and its offshoot, the Rainbow Peoples Party; also materials concerning the legalization of marijuana, radical politics, and prison reform. Also material, 1979-2000, relating to John Sinclair's work as a writer, performer, radio show host and music promoter.

The John Sinclair papers came to the library in 1979. Jointly donated by John and Leni Sinclair, this initial accession, covering the period 1957-1979, included textual material, sound recordings, and photographs relating to all phases of their careers, including participation in the Artists' Workshop in Detroit, the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, the White Panther Party and its offshoot, the Rainbow Peoples Party; also materials concerning the legalization of marijuana, radical politics, prison reform, and rock and jazz music.

The Sinclair papers provide a rich and unique source for the study of America's radical movement in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Beginning with a remarkable series of correspondence that includes letters from Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and Jerry Rubin, and continuing on through extensive subject files, the collection details the cultural, political and business activities of a man whose energy and charisma made him a local and national leader of the counterculture. In addition, the collection documents the support and creativity of his wife and partner, who as writer, photographer and publicist helped to showcase the lifestyle which he symbolized.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, John Sinclair added to his papers with materials relating to his career as a writer and performer. In the winter of 2000, he donated a second large accession relating mainly to the period since leaving Detroit for New Orleans.

The Sinclair collection has been divided into four subgroups: Textual Files, Printed Material, Sound Recordings, and Visual Material.

Recording secretary of the Central Committee of the Michigan Democratic Party, 1962-1967. Correspondence, working files, printed material, photographs and audio-tapes dealing with the organization and management of the state Democratic Party, Lansing and Ingham County, Michigan, party politics, various political issues, Michigan participation in the national Democratic Conventions of 1960 and 1964, and the Michigan Senate Campaign of 1966.

The Nye papers, though containing virtually no personal material, is strong on state Democratic politics, especially as relates to her work as recording secretary and her involvement in party affairs in Lansing and Ingham County.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Personal / Biographical; Correspondence; Lansing and Ingham County Democratic Party; Michigan Democratic Party; Party Conventions; Miscellaneous Democratic Party materials. The collection documents her political activities on the local, county, and state level and includes memoranda and correspondence with three Democratic state chairmen: Neil Staebler, John Joe Collins, and Zolton Ferency. In addition, her files include State Central Committee minutes, directories and other information on party publications, such as the Democratic Digest. Her files also contain material on various political campaigns of the 1950's and 1960's, and on various national Democratic Conventions, including notes and tape recordings of the meetings of the Michigan caucus at the 1964 convention.

LeRoy Cappaert was a teacher and Democratic city councilman from Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1964-1970, delegate to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and member of the Coalition for Peace in Central America, and organization established to provide assistance to Ann Arbor's sister city, Juigalpa, Nicaragua. Lael Cappaert was a librarian, also active in political and community causes. Papers and notebooks concerning LeRoy's election campaigns for the city council, his council activities, his work as delegate at the Democratic National Conventions of 1964 and 1968, and the 1968 Presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy, his work with the Coalition for Peace in Central America; memoirs of his wife Lael Cappaert, pictorial history of their daughter Andrea Lael Cappaert; audio-visual material; and scrapbooks.

LeRoy and Lael Cappaert's papers are divided into the following series: Democratic Party politics; Ann Arbor City Council; Personal/Biographical; Family; Coalition for Peace in Central America; Visual Materials; Sound Recordings; and Scrapbooks. Most of the files relate to LeRoy Cappaert's career.

Republican state senator, state coordinator of the Anderson for President campaign in 1980. Papers and photographs relating to her public career and to her interest in women's issues, especially abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment; also relating to her involvement with the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, her political activities and in the state senate; and scrapbook, 1966-1970, detailing political career.

The collection concerns Beebe's public career and her interest in women's issues, especially abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment Also documented is her involvement with the President's Committee on Mental Retardation, her political activities and in the state senate. The papers of Lorraine Beebe have been arranged into biographical files; career files - private; career files - public; organizational files; speeches; correspondence; honors and awards/miscellaneous; and photographs.

Political organization supporting the Democratic ticket for President in 1968. Correspondence and financial records concerning the campaign; also papers and photographs concerning the pre-convention campaign for the nomination of Hubert Humphrey for President.

The record group consists of correspondence, memoranda, organizational papers, a financial report, and delegate material from the Democratic National Convention. There is, in addition, a folder of campaign photos and a reel-to-reel tape of a campaign message.

Socialist Labor Party member, later member of the League for Socialist Reconstruction. Correspondence, campaign files, audio-tapes, and other materials largely concerning his work with the State Central Committee of the Socialist Labor Party and Socialist Reconstruction, 1928-1992; and collected family materials including letters and memoirs of Levi Muncy, soldier during the Civil War; also photographs.

The Ralph Muncy collection consists primarily of papers relating to his interest in socialist political activities. A smaller portion of the collection documents the involvement of his wife, Lydia B. Muncy, in the socialist cause. Together they also collected materials relating to the history of their families (Muncy-Baird). Included is much original family material dating back into the nineteenth century. The Ralph Muncy papers have been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Topical Files; and Ralph Muncy and Lydia Baird Muncy Personal.

Democratic US Congressman from the 2nd Michigan Congressional District, 1965-1967. Campaign files, 1964, 1966 and 1968; files documenting his activities as member of the 89th Congress; subject files detailing views of constituents on such subjects as the Vietnam War, civil rights, Lyndon Johnson's anti-poverty program, and other issues of the 1960s; also clippings, photographs, and audio tapes.

The Weston E. Vivian papers document his three campaigns for the US House of Representatives in 1964, 1966, and 1968, and his service in the 89th Congress, 1965-1966. The papers include correspondence, speeches, campaign literature, texts of radio broadcasts and campaign advertisements, press releases and newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, and sound and video recordings. Also included in the Vivian papers are three University of Michigan student papers on the 1966 and 1968 Vivian congressional campaigns.

The collection is divided into several distinct series: biographical material, congressional campaigns, congressional service, subject files, clippings, photographs, and sound recordings and motion picture tapes. The additional material received in 1990 is located in boxes 11-12, but has been integrated into the appropriate place in the contents listing.

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.