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Zoologist, college professor, president of University of Michigan, 1929-1951. Professional files relating to his career with the University Museum and as a professor of zoology, and presidential files containing correspondence, reports, speeches, and other University materials, including budget and legislative files, material relating to changes in University administration, his relationship with faculty, students and alumni, and photographs.

The Alexander Ruthven papers consists of two series of records. The first is the papers of Ruthven as president of the University of Michigan, 1929 to 1951. The second, and smaller, series is the files maintained by Ruthven as a zoologist with the University Museum and as professor of zoology. This latter series dates largely from 1908 to 1929 but also includes collected earlier files from the 1870s.

Correspondence, reports, budgets, and other materials concerning the establishment of the Okayama Field Station and the subsequent publication of Village Japan, including correspondence with Douglas MacArthur; also records and minutes, 1947-1987, of the executive committee of the Center for Japanese Studies; also papers relating to the programs and financial operations of the center; and photographs and films.

The Center for Japanese Studies records document the founding and functioning of the center, covering the period from the late-1940s through the 1990s. The center's executive committee minutes and official correspondence cover most of this period evenly. Otherwise, documentation of the center's history is somewhat uneven. The center's first decade is well covered, with a considerable amount of field research notes and audio-visual material. From the early-1960s on, however, such documentation is sparse. This later period is documented in other ways, though. The records include a considerable amount of material concerning grants and fundraising, and these documents often describe the center's activities in detail. The records pertaining to special activities of the center also cover the later decades well.

The records are arranged in nine series: Administrative Files, Correspondence, Course Material, Faculty Files, Financial, Grants, Research Special Activities, and Audio-Visual Material.

Richard K. Beardsley was a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1978 who served several terms as the director of the Center for Japanese Studies. The papers document his anthropological fieldwork in Japan, Spain, and California, and include research and field notes, interviews, questionnaires and surveys in English and Japanese, photographs, and a small amount of correspondence.

The Richard K. Beardsley Papers document Beardsley's anthropological fieldwork in Japan, Spain, and California, and include research and field notes, questionnaires, interviews, photographs, and a small amount of correspondence. The papers consist of three series: Topical Files, Research Files, and Photographs.