Search

University of Michigan office established in 1973 to counsel students in matters of faith and morality, successor to several organizations concerned with student religious activity. Records are mainly of predecessor organizations, the Student Christian Association (1860-1937) and the Student Religious Association (1937- 1956), but does include some records of the Office of Religious Affairs (1956- 1973) and of successor organization, the Office of Ethics and Religion (1973- 1991); also records of component and related organizations, including the University of Michigan chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association and the Association of Religious Counselors.

Although the name given to this group of records is the University of Michigan Office of Ethics and Religion, the researcher should note that the records consist primarily of predecessor organizations, the Student Christian Association (SCA), the Student Religious Association (SRA), and the Office of Religious Affairs, as well as component and ancillary organizations such as the University of Michigan Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Association of Religious Counselors, and the Christian Federation Advisors.

The record group begins with a summary history of the organization written by C. Grey Austin and entitled A Century of Religion at the University of Michigan (1957). Covering the period up to the establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs, this history provides solid information about the role of religion at the university and the activities and restructuring of the SCA and the SRA. Written by the same individual who wrote the sections on the two organizations in The University of Michigan; An Encyclopedic Survey, this volume is more detailed than those summaries and should be consulted first for background information.

Author and social and religious commentator. Papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks and drafts of articles and books, and other papers, including material concerning his student years at the University of Michigan, as Congregational minister, educational director of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America, assistant editor of The Nation, chief of the New York City Department of Investigations and Accounts under Fiorello La Guardia in the 1930's, economic analyst for the Caribbean Committee of the U.S. State Department during World War II, and free lance writer noted for his observations on the Catholic Church in America and abroad.

The Paul Blanshard papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, drafts of articles and books, and speeches. The papers covering the period of 1912 to 1974 document the variety of Blanshard's life: his student years at the University of Michigan (1910-1914), his career as Congregational minister in East Boston, Massachusetts and Tampa, Florida (1917-1918), his work as educational director of the Amalgamated Textile and Clothing Workers of America in Rochester and Utica, New York (1900-1924), as secretary and lecturer of the League for Industrial Democracy (1924-1933), as correspondent and associate editor of The Nation (1928-1929), as director of the City Affairs Committee of New York (1930-1933) and head of the New York Department of Investigations and Accounts under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1934-1938), as director of the Society for the Prevention of Crime (1941-1942), as senior economic analyst and consultant to the director of the Caribbean Commission of the U.S. Department of State; and as freelance writer and critic of the Roman Catholic Church in America and abroad. The Blanshard collection also includes papers of his first wife Julia Blanshard and his second wife Mary Hillyer Blanshard.

The collection has been arranged into seven series: Correspondence; Writings and Related Materials; Biographical Information; Sound Recordings; Photographs; Julia Anderson Blanshard papers; and Mary Hillyer Blanshard papers.

Professor of philosophy at Glasgow University and University of Michigan. Extensive correspondence, scrapbooks, lecture notes, addresses, newspaper clippings and other papers relating to questions of philosophy and to his activities at University of Michigan; diaries, 1896-1927, relating to his European travels and career at the University; and photographs.

The Wenley papers have been divided into the following series: Correspondence; University of Glasgow/Queen Margaret College; Biographical and personal; Notes from University of Michigan and other courses and lectures; Speeches and addresses; Miscellaneous; and Scrapbooks.