Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Archives of folklore collected by students in the course "Survey of American Folklore" offered by the University of Michigan Program in American Culture and first taught by Bruce Conforth in 2005. Collected folklore reports compiled by students in American Folklore course based on oral interviews with informants. (Interviews are included on a variety of physical formats--cassettes, microcassettes, CDs, VHS tapes). Reports include essays, transcripts on topics ranging from popular folklore to campus legends and traditions.

The American Culture Folklore and Oral History Archives consists of folklore collection reports prepared by undergraduate students in the American Folklore course offered by the University of Michigan Program in American Culture. Prior to the transfer to the Bentley Historical Library, the folklore reports were organized according to general topics by students in the course and placed in archival folders and boxes under the direction of the professor. That order has been retained. Very often the media and objects included in the report have remained. The collection is meant to directly serve students who may take the Survey of American Folklore class in the future, and indirectly to those who, years from now, may re-discover and research aspects of American folklore that were pertinent during present day.

There is considerable overlap in subject matter between the categories of collecting topics. In the collection, folders for the first set of reports in a series are ordered according to their pre-assigned number (which can be found in the Administrative Files series) and not according to the last name of the student or title. For the second set, however, where no such number exists, the reports are ordered by surname of the student. In this finding aid, only the student's name and title of the report is listed. Further in the series names will appear to be in alphabetical order when the pre-assigned numbers were not continued.

The Arts of Citizenship Program at the University of Michigan fostered the role of the arts and humanities through collaborative cultural partnerships and community projects in the Ann Arbor and Detroit area. The program aimed to enrich public life and to enlarge the university's educational mission. These records contains notes, correspondence, publicity, audiovisual materials, presentations, and other material documenting the administration, public programming, and community partnerships undertaken by the Arts of Citizenship program. Also included is a website capture taken July 18, 2005.

The Arts of Citizenship (AOC) Program documentation consists of notes, correspondence, publicity, audiovisual materials (audiocassettes, digital materials, videotapes), and other material documenting the daily administrative activities, public programming, outreach, research, and community partnerships. The record group is divided into three series: Administration, Project Files, and Website. These series represent the original order of materials as received upon accession. The researcher should note that the records do not provide an in-depth portrayal of AOC, but rather information about the operation, functions, and details on specific projects undertaken by the program.

The University of Michigan committee appointed by president James Duderstadt to facilitate the preservation, promotion, and appreciation of the history and traditions. Material includes oral history interviews with university presidents and their wives, administrative and academic officers, regents and faculty members, as well as administrative records.

The bulk of the History and Traditions Committee records consists of interviews (recordings and transcripts) with University of Michigan presidents, wives of presidents, regents, and administrators. Also included materials pertaining to the University of Michigan history, and administrative records.

The Inter-Cooperative Council at Ann Arbor is an organization established to coordinate the activities of cooperative houses founded and operated by University of Michigan students. Their records are comprised of minutes, office files, and newsletters, as well as organization-level topices and related research. The collection also contains records of student cooperative, the Socialist House.

The records of the ICC at Ann Arbor cover the years 1932 to 2012 and are divided into ten series: Minutes, Office Files, Printed Materials, Events and Programs, Organizational Topical Files, Correspondence Files, Collected Research Materials, House Records, External Organizations, and Audio-Visual Materials.

Researchers should note that because of the differences between ICC office organizational systems and the individual processing archivists working on the collection, topics and materials might be found in multiple series.

Research materials used by Laurie Palazzolo in writing of her book Horn Man: the Polish-American Musician in Twentieth-Century Detroit (Detroit, Mich.: American-Polish Music Society, 2003). The collection sheds light on the history of 20th century Polish-American musical landscape of greater Detroit.

The collection documents the history and repertoire of Polish folk music bands in the greater Detroit area as well as professional careers of musicians. The records date primarily from the 1940's until 1980s. Materials dated 1990s-2000s are primarily transcripts of interviews taken by Gomulka Palazzolo. Records include correspondence, business contracts, performance schedules and programs, sheet music, scanned copies of photographs, copies of Keynote magazine, biographical information and interviews of musicians, performance advertisements, and recordings. The records are arranged into five series as follows: Research files, Detroit Federation of Musicians, Sheet music, Sound recordings, and Visual materials.

Sherwin T. Wine was the iconoclastic founder of Humanistic Judaism and an openly gay rabbi who established the Birmingham Temple and formed the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the Center for New Thinking (a community forum for discussion of current events and issues), and various groups devoted to free thought and humanism. Papers include biographical content, correspondence, writings, educational and worship materials, sound recordings, visual materials, and various organizational records.

The Sherwin T. Wine papers illustrate the intellectual traits and organizational acumen of a man who devoted his life to the establishment of a new branch of Judaism and the advancement of humanistic values and rationalism. The collection will be of value to those individuals who seek a deeper understanding of Wine as a person as well as the founder of Humanistic Judaism. Writings, correspondence, and clippings detail the process by which Wine broke free from the traditions of Reform Judaism to found a new denomination. Materials from the Birmingham Temple and other Secular Humanist Judaism organizations trace the development and expansion of the movement. Content related to the many other groups with which Wine was involved reveal an individual able to organize and inspire others to act at local, national, and international levels.