Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Organization formed to coordinate support for abortion reform in Michigan in the 1972 statewide election. The record group includes position papers, surveys, mailings, press releases, correspondence, visual materials, and clippings relating to the campaign.

The papers of MARC have been organized both chronologically and by type of material. Papers from the drive for legislation (1969-1971) are followed by materials from the petition drive (1971-1972) and the referendum campaign (1972). Campaign materials include the publicity and press releases of MARC, organizing materials, publicity distributed by the group opposed to Proposition B, the Michigan Right to Life Committee, and correspondence.

Records of various officers of the Michigan Conference of the National Organization for Women collected by one-time state presidents Margot Duley-Morrow and Alicia Perez-Banuet. Presidential files of Duley-Morrow, Nan Frost-Welmers, Shirley Monson, Lynn Hierholzer, Gloria Woods, and Alicia Perez-Banuet; files of state chapter developer Rhonda Drinan, and Macomb County chapter president Doris Little; contain correspondence, newsletters, clippings, mass mailings, agendas and minutes, photographs, and other materials concerning the formal and personal aspects of this feminist organization. Topics covered include the Equal Rights Amendment, the Project for Equal Education Rights, Women's Assembly III, and other issues pertaining to women's rights.

The Michigan NOW record group includes administrative records, files of individual presidents, newsletters from local chapters, records of the Michigan NOW PAC (Political Action Committee), and topical files of subjects of interests to the Michigan Conference such as the ERA, educational equity, and abortion rights.

The organization of the collection is rather artificial, both because the documents were in extremely poor order upon their accession and because there is only the broadest unity to the collection's components. The records have been grouped under the name of the individual most responsible either for their creation or for their accumulation and preservation. There were two individuals primarily responsible for these records coming to the Bentley Library. They were Margot Duley-Morrow (two-term president, 1981-1983) who donated records in 1984 and Alicia Perez-Banuet (president, 1997-1998) who donated materials in three major accessions.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, businessman and attorney, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party State Central Committee, U. S. Congressman-at-large, 1963-1964, gubernatorial candidate in 1964, member of the U. S. Federal Election Commission, 1975-1978. Chronological, congressional and topical files relating to political and personal activities; include political files detailing state election campaigns 1948-1964, particularly the campaigns of G. Mennen Williams and John B. Swainson; also photographs and transcript of oral interview, 1979.

Neil Staebler first began donating his files to the Michigan Historical Collections of the University of Michigan in 1961 following his eleven year tenure as chairman of the Democratic Party State Central Committee. Periodically thereafter and continuing into the 1970s, Staebler continued to add to his collection with Congressional papers (1963-1964), campaign files when he ran for governor in 1964, topical records created from his years of service with the Democratic National Committee (see attached vita), and records from his term as commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (1975-1978).

This collection comprised of twelve series documents Staebler's career and the course of Democratic politics since World War II. Since Staebler was principally an organizer of campaigns, a behind-the-scenes manager who preferred to handle the details of an election rather than to step into the candidate's spotlight himself, the collection concerns all phases of a successful campaign not just the posturings of the party's candidates. There is, for example, much information relating to the day-to-day operations of the party, i.e. fund-raising activities, the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, the formulation of the party's platform and related resolutions at the Spring and Fall conventions, and the activities of party-related special interest organizations.

Detroit portrait painter and feminist activist. Correspondence, printed material, newspaper clippings, photographs, reports, speeches, articles and other papers documenting her career as an artist, and with the Michigan Women's Commission, the National Association of Commissions for Women, the National Organization for Women (NOW) and other civic, Republican, and feminist organizations.

While most of the material relates directly to Patricia Hill Burnett, the papers also relate to the more general women's movement during the 1970s and early 1980s.

Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives, 1979-1996; press/publicity files, correspondence, speeches, political campaign files, legislative files.

The Paul C. Hillegonds collection concerns the political and legislative career of Paul Hillegonds, a long-term member of the Michigan House of Representatives from western Michigan. The collection documents Hillegonds' campaigns for office and his activities within the state Republican Party as well as his duties within the legislature and his interest in certain key pieces of legislation.

U. S. Senator from Michigan, 1959-1976, a conscientious supporter of civil rights, consumer protection and environmentalism, Hart served as floor manager of the 1965 civil rights act and 1968 Open Housing Act, introduced legislation to create Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rock National Lakeshores and sponsored important consumer legislation. Papers include Legislative Files, Staff Files, Press Files, Subject Files, Constituent Correspondence, Office Files, Political Files, Miscellaneous, Sound Recordings, and Visual Materials.

The Philip A. Hart collection consists of those files maintained by Hart and his staff in Washington D.C. while serving as senator from Michigan in the period 1958-1976. A senate office in the 1960s and 1970s could employ as many as thirty staff and clerical workers. In 1975, Hart wrote: "My own office presently consists of 34 full-time people in Washington plus 4 in my Detroit office and one part-time employee each in Grand Rapids and Marquette." Received from Washington, the Hart collection documents the workings of his Capitol office. Excepting for a few files from the 1950s when Hart served in Michigan state government, the Hart papers relate exclusively to Senate activities and detail the variety and bulk of problems crossing the desk of a United States senator and his staff.

In a press release describing his office, Hart stated that the work of a senator falls into three categories: legislative, participating in the discussion and formulation of public policy, and serving as "ambassador" between his constituents and the Federal Government. Beyond the study of legislation, public policy debates, and the relationship between a senator and the people of his state, the Hart collection is a reflection of the times in which Hart served, the sixties and seventies, years of the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford, a time when public figures discussed issues of conscience and of war, matters of human rights and of public morality, areas where Hart's basic integrity and humaneness placed him in the forefront of public debate.

The collection falls into eleven principal series: Personal/Biographical, Legislative Files, Staff Files, Press Files, Subject Files, Constituent Correspondence, Office Files, Political Files, Miscellaneous, Sound Recordings, and Visual Materials. Except for Personal/Biographical and the series of audio-visual materials, the Hart collection is an office file and represents the activities of one senator and a dozen or so of his key staff members. To use the collection, the researcher after examining the "Series Description" (on the following pages) should note that for any topical study, information will usually be found in any number of series within the collection. The series represent functional divisions within the Hart office, legislation, press, or whatever. To study an issue such as consumer protection, therefore, the researcher should be prepared to examine the Hart finding aid under the series that might document that topic from different functional perspectives (Legislative Files, Staff Files, Subject Files, among others). The researcher interested in a narrower, more specific topic should recognize that the following inventory, for the most part, is not a folder-level description and thus specialized kinds of information will be filed first under a more general heading.

One more note: The Hart papers originally consisted of more than 700 linear feet of files. Hart himself and his staff had discarded certain types of files before donating them to the library, notably case files and constituent mail answered by form. In addition, the library discarded files of low research content - thank yous, invitations, and carbons of Hart correspondence duplicated in the other principal series of the collection. Furthermore, files containing similar types of correspondence from constituents have been sampled (the folders have "S" or "Samp" on them). Government publications, easily available in a government documents library, and unless heavily annotated, have been discarded. Researchers on any topic within the Hart collection should familiarize themselves with the standard sources on government documents (the indices to the Congressional Record for example). Topics on which Hart played a key legislative role or about which he was keenly interested have not been sampled. These topics include civil rights, the passage of various consumer legislation, the Sleeping Bear Dunes debate, his committee work, and the debate over the war in Vietnam to list a few.

Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives. Legislative files, 1967-1974, concerning in part his interest in water pollution legislation; political files concerning election campaigns, and involvement in Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, Michigan, Republican Party activities; and photographs.

The Raymond Smit collection consists entirely of materials generated during his eight years in the Michigan House of Representatives, 1967-1974. The series in the collection are Legislative files which consists of subject files and bills files; Personal Materials; Political Files (1960-1975); Legislative Special Topics Files (1967-1974); and Photographs

Office files and papers of state chairpersons William F. McLaughlin, Arthur Elliott and Elly Peterson, executive director Jerry Roe, public relations director Hugh Humphrey, and Joseph Hunting, executive director of the Republican State Finance Committee. The principal series in this record group include: Annual reports/Executive Committee meetings; Chairperson's files; Staff/Departments; Topical Files; Campaign Files; Convention Files; Miscellaneous; Sound Recordings; and Photographs.

The records of the Michigan Republican State Central Committee (hereafter SCC) consist of files generated over a twenty-year period by the three chairpersons, William F. McLaughlin, Arthur Elliott and Elly Peterson, who served in this period and by different staff members and departments within the party organization including executive director Jerry Roe, public relations director Hugh Humphrey, and Joseph Hunting, executive director of the Republican State Finance Committee. Although an attempt was made to maintain and otherwise arrange the files into series according to the name of the individual or department within the party that created the record, this was not always possible with the papers of the SCC. Thus some of the larger series within the collection, notably Topical Files and Campaign Files, have been drawn from different sources when that source of origin was not apparent or the files contained materials from two or more individuals

Life insurance executive, leader of a citizens tax limitation movement in Michigan, officer of Taxpayers United for Tax Limitation. Subject files relating to the tax limitation movement in Michigan, especially the work of Taxpayers United for Tax Limitation and Taxpayers United Federation; includes photographs, video cassettes, and news clippings.

The Richard H. Headlee Papers document the activities of the principal leader of the "tax revolt" in Michigan in the 1970s and 1980s. The papers include material on the major organizations Headlee founded or was affiliated with, the voter initiative which resulted in passage of Proposal E (the "Headlee Amendment") restricting growth in property taxes, and Headlee's campaign for governor in 1988.

The papers were received in two major accessions. The first, received in 1988, has been arranged in three series: Taxpayers United for Tax Limitation, Taxpayers United Federation, and Topical Files. The second accession, received in 1994, has been divided into six series: Correspondence, Headlee for Governor (1988), Headlee Initiative, Taxpayers United for the Michigan Constitution, Visual Materials, and Clippings.

Ann Arbor, Michigan political activist and campaign worker on behalf of Human Rights Party and Democratic Party candidates. Files and photographs (circa 1970-1980) relating to the Fred Harris presidential campaign in 1976, the Ed Pierce campaigns for Michigan state office in 1976, 1978, 1980 and 1982, and the Zolton Ferency campaign for governor of Michigan in 1978.

The papers of Robert Alexander span the years 1970-1982. The primary focus of the collection is on Alexander's political activities in both the Human Rights Party and the Democratic Party. There is no personal material, nor is there documentation of Alexander's career. Even within the sections on his political activities there is only a moderate amount specifically relating to Alexander. The papers give a view of local politics, in which Alexander was a relatively minor figure.