Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Professor of electrical engineering at the University of Michigan. Files documenting his scientific research and professional activities, notably his studies of high-frequency power welding, vacuum tube development, gas discharge plasma, microwave electron tubes, use of rockets and satellites in investigations of the upper atmosphere, missile guidance systems, and military electronics; files relating to his involvement with various University of Michigan research centers and institutes; and photographs.

The William G. Dow Papers document his career as a faculty member of the University of Michigan Department of Electrical Engineering, his scientific research, his participation in professional organizations, and his other professional interests and activities. The collection also contains copies of published and unpublished technical and professional papers written by Dow, and two unpublished books. The papers include lecture notes taken by Dow, texts of lectures given by Dow and others, course materials used in Dow's classes, correspondence, minutes, reports, raw data, photographs, and other material relating to Dow's research. The papers are composed of six series: University of Michigan Activities, Research, Professional Organizations, Articles, Books and Talks, Topical Files, Correspondence, and Photographs. There is a great deal of overlap between theses series, as Dow was often engaged in educational, research, publishing, and professional activities simultaneously. Researchers are advised to consult the entire collection. A small group of biographical and bibliographical materials begins the collection.

University of Michigan teacher and administrator, economist, labor mediator, and member of boards of various universities, Jewish educational, social, and welfare agencies, and public official. Series in collection include: Biographical/Personal, Correspondence, Jewish Organizations, University of Michigan, Other Organizational Activities, Appearances, Writings, Newspaper Clippings and Press Releases, and University of Wisconsin Student Notebooks and Papers, 1924-1926. Subjects covered in collection pertain to his activities as economist and authority on matters of labor economics, social security, and unemployment insurance. Also documented is his involvement with various Jewish social and philanthropic organizations, including ORT, B'nai B'rith, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Hebrew University, and to his work as Advisor on Jewish Affairs to General Lucius Clay. Correspondents in the collection include public figures from government, labor, universities, Jewish organizations, and philanthropic agencies.

The papers of William Haber, covering the period since his education at the University of Wisconsin in the 1920s until his death in 1988, have come to the library in several accessions beginning in 1978. Because of the fullness of Haber's career and the fact that he worked out of different offices, this half century of documentation was surprisingly well organized although somewhat broken up because files had been retired at different times. In 1992, the collection was reprocessed and the opportunity was taken to bring together sequences of files that had been separated. There are still some inconsistencies in the filing but these have been explained and described in the Series Description that follows.

The collection has been arranged into ten series. Although Haber and his secretarial staff never classified his files in these terms, the series headings were given to draw like materials together and to provide a rational framework for thinking about and using the various Haber files. The series are: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Jewish Organizations; University of Michigan; Other Organizational Activities; Appearances; Writings; Scrapbooks, clippings, etc.; Miscellaneous; and University of Wisconsin Files.

Professor of pedagogy at the University of Michigan; chancellor of University of Nashville and president of Peabody Normal College. Correspondence and other papers concerning his activities in education and family matters.

The collection has been arranged into two series: Correspondence and Other papers. The correspondence dates from 1853 to 1933 and includes many letters addressed to his second wife Elizabeth Clark prior to their marriage. The Other Papers series concerns his activities as an educator and college president. Materials in this series include addresses, lectures, autobiographical and biographical volumes, personal account books, visual material, and other miscellaneous notebooks.

Professor of Geology at the University of Michigan, also chairman of the Ann Arbor Branch of the National Security League during World War I. His papers contain correspondence and other materials concerning his activities with the National Security League, a dispute over the political views of Charles Lindbergh, polar expeditions, and his work in the fields of geology, seismology, and meteorology. The collection also includes manuscripts of published and unpublished books and articles, biographical material, scrapbooks and notebooks detailing the University of Michigan expeditions to the Pacific and Greenland, and travel notes of trips to the Near East, Spain, the West Indies, Switzerland, and Russia.

The William Herbert Hobbs papers, 1880-1955, is comprised of correspondence, scrapbooks, manuscripts, printed material, and photographs documenting Hobbs' professional, political, and personal activities. Correspondence and other materials concern his activities with the National Security League, a dispute over the political views of Charles Lindbergh, opinions and reviews of his writings and those of other scientists, communications with newspapers and colleagues regarding various expeditions, and his work in the fields of geology, polar exploration, seismology, and meteorology. The collection also includes manuscripts of published and unpublished books and articles, biographical material, scrapbooks and notebooks detailing the University of Michigan expeditions to the Pacific and Greenland, and travel notes of trips to the Near East, Spain, the West Indies, Switzerland, and Russia.

Landscape architect, University of Michigan Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture, and Dean Emeritus of the School of Natural Resources. Includes correspondence, photographic material, project files, publications, reports, reference and research files, teaching materials, topical files, and notes.

The William J. Johnson papers document the professional and academic career of U-M faculty member and landscape architect William J. Johnson. Material is dated from 1953-2015 and includes clippings, correspondence, notes, photographic material, project files, publications, reports, reference and research files, teaching materials, and topical files.

Modernist architect based in New York City, 1929-1950, and professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, 1950-1972, where he also carried on an active private practice until shortly before his death in 1990. A graduate of MIT, Muschenheim studied further with Peter Behrens at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and was strongly influenced both by a visit to the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany and by a period working in urban planning with Peter Korn in Berlin. Two major Muschenheim collections exist, one within the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University and another within the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. The Muschenheim collection at the Avery represents primarily his professional career from 1929 to 1957, and the Muschenheim collection at the Bentley concerns his later professional practice and teaching career at the University of Michigan, as of 1950. This finding aid describes both the Avery and Bentley collections.

Staffs of the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library and the Bentley Historical Library have prepared separate finding aids for their respective William Muschenheim collections. These have been merged to provide one integrated finding aid. This integrated finding aid lists all Muschenheim materials held by both repositories. All of the drawings, papers, photographs and other materials for each project are brought together in a single job-number/chronological sequence. The physical location of each item/folder is indicated by "A" for Avery and "B" for Bentley. The combined finding aid organizes the Muschenheim papers into four series:

1. Biographical and Professional Material [Bentley]
2. University of Michigan Teaching Career [Bentley]
3. Publications and research [Bentley]
4. Project Files [Avery and Bentley]

The project files of William Muschenheim are described according to Muschenheim's original filing system in which he interfiled the drawings, correspondence, specifications, and other papers for each job/client. Muschenheim typically assigned each client a single job number no matter how many projects he may have done for the client. There are a total of 130 numbered jobs in the Avery Collection (#1-130, with gaps between jobs 11-17, 25-26, 28-29) and 63 numbered jobs in the Bentley collection (#132-193, there are no materials for 22 of the jobs). There are also nine unnumbered projects (4 Avery and 5 Bentley) and several folders of miscellaneous material.

Each numbered job consists of one or more projects and each project is subdivided by format of material into Drawings, Papers, Photographs, and Presentation Boards as appropriate. There is some variance in the manner in which the two archives have arranged and described project material. The Avery has described its drawings at the item level while the Bentley provides only folder level descriptions for most projects. For this finding aid item level descriptions are provided for selected Bentley projects. Photographs are found in the "Papers" in some Avery project files but are listed separately in the Bentley finding aid.

At both the Avery and Bentley the oversize architectural drawings have been removed from their original folders and stored separately.

The William Muschenheim Architectural Drawings and Papers at the Avery Library span 1929-1957, with bulk dates 1931-1950. Muschenheim's papers document 130 separate jobs, and the visual material consists of 3081 sheets of drawings. The projects mainly represent Muschenheim's work in New York City, but also include work in Albany (NY), Amenia (NY),Bridgehampton (NY), Chappaqua (NY), Hampton Bays (NY), Malverne (NY), Massapequa (NY), Nassau Point (Long Island), Washington (CT), Washington DC, Westhampton Beach (NY), and Woodstock (NY), among other locations.

William Muschenheim had numerous clients which included the following family members: Carl Muschenheim, Elsa Muschenheim, and Frederick A. Muschenheim. In addition to the many clients for whom Muschenheim did alteration work, he also worked with a wide variety of companies. Some of the companies include Bigelow Carpet Company, C.G. Flygare Inc., Excel Metal Cabinet Co., Inc., F. Schumacher & Co., Famaes Development, Hans Knoll, Howard & Schaffer, Inc., Kurt Versen Lamps, Inc., Ledlin Light Designers, Portland Cement Association, and Thonet Brothers, among many others.

The papers and drawings in the William E. Muschenheim collection at the Bentley Library span the years 1923 to 2004, however the bulk of the collection covers the years 1951 to 1985. The papers are primarily comprised of material documenting Muschenheim's research and teaching career from 1950 to 1973 at the University of Michigan, and the private practice he continued in Ann Arbor after leaving New York City. There are limited papers and drawings related to his life and professional work prior to 1950, although the Photographs Series includes beautiful black and white images of many of his important New York projects, and the Publications and Research Series is valuable for articles published in the thirties and the forties showcasing his work. Papers and drawings spanning the years 1929-1957 (bulk dates 1931-1950) are held at the Avery Library, Columbia University.

Muschenheim's early and lasting commitment to the modern movement and to an international view of architecture and architectural education is reflected in the collection, which consists of biographical and professional materials, research and course materials, publications related to his work, project files and drawings, and photographs and slides. The Muschenheim collection will interest researchers drawn to study the work of a pioneering modernist, well known for originality in working with color as an integral part of contemporary design, and those interested in the generation of architects involved in the fifties and sixties with legitimizing the modern period in an academic environment. Additionally, Muschenheim's efforts to illuminate the art of architecture as an important element and expression of culture to a broader segment of society renders the collection important to a wide range of disciplines and interests.

The papers are largely organized according to Muschenheim's original filing scheme, in which he interfiled material related to projects (including drawings) with professional papers, correspondence, and other documents, numbering them sequentially. The Bentley Library collection consists of material numbered 132 to 192. Many large original drawings were removed from folders, flattened, and are stored in drawers. Five series make up the collection: Biographical and Professional Materials; University of Michigan Teaching Career, College of Architecture and Design; Publications and Research; Project Files; and Digitization Project. Users should note that material related to a single project is often scattered throughout the collection. A Supplemental Guide to work produced after 1950 in the additional descriptive data portion of this finding aid. Also appended is Muschenheim's list of projects (numbered 1-189).

Professor of speech communication and theatre at the University of Michigan. Correspondence and other materials relating in part to his interest in university theatre productions.

The William P. Halstead papers consist of correspondence, clippings, theater programs and other materials relating to his work in the Speech Department and to his interest in university theater productions. (Halstead bound most of his papers in chronological order. The bound volumes and additional unbound materials are separated into five series: Personal, Production Materials, University of Michigan, Department of Speech, Miscellaneous, and Photographs.

Professor of civil engineering and specialist in soil mechanics at the University of Michigan. Correspondence, daily logs of activities, class materials, conference and lecture files, and professional reports and soil investigation studies; and photographs.

The Housel papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, lectures, conference materials, class materials, and various reports and studies of soil investigations. Of interest is a series of daily logs kept by Housel in the period 1962-1968 and which concern some of his consulting projects.

Internationally recognized librarian; director of the University of Michigan Library. Correspondence and subject files relating to professional activities.

The Bishop papers consist of personal and professional files documenting William Warner Bishop's activities apart from his work as librarian at the University of Michigan. The librarian's files were separately received and continue to be maintained as part of the records of the University of Michigan Library.

Professor of international law at the University of Michigan. Correspondence and other files relating to his professional and academic activities, including work with the American Bar Association Section of International and Comparative Law, the American Society of International Law, the International Law Association, and the Committee on International and Comparative Law of the State Bar of Michigan.

The papers of William Warner Bishop, Jr., covering the period from 1928 to 1987, consist of six linear feet of correspondence, course materials, addresses and professional papers. The collection has been arranged into six series: Biographical/Personal; Addresses, Papers, etc.; Associations; Professional Correspondence; and Course Materials. The collection relates mainly to Bishop's study and teaching of international law. Among the more personal files are materials relating to Bishop's lifelong activity with the local area Boy Scouts.