Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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Collection

William Albright Papers, 1962-1998

52 linear feet (in 83 boxes)

William Albright--organist, composer, and University of Michigan faculty member--was born in Indiana in 1944 and died in 1998. Albright earned three music composition degrees from the University of Michigan before becoming a member of the composition faculty at the U. of M. School of Music. Albright is probably best known for his piano and organ performance. He helped to bring about a revival of ragtime, and sought inclusion of ragtime and other types of popular music in many of his compositions. He composed for many single instruments--especially the organ--and ensembles, and for orchestra. He also composed hymns, and was the music director for the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He studied composition with Ross Lee Finney, George Rochberg, and Olivier Messiaen, among others, at Michigan and at summer workshops, and organ with Marilyn Mason. The collection includes biographical materials, correspondence, programs, professional files, University of Michigan School of Music files, and scores and recordings of William Albright works (including notes, sketches, and manuscripts) and works by his friends, students, and teachers.

The William Hugh Albright Papers consist of 77 boxes of musical scores, recordings, and textual documents such as correspondence and lecture notes. Albright's extensive collection of scores and recordings by his friends, students, and mentors is also included. His own works are represented by recordings, original handwritten scores and published versions, and by penciled notes and sketches. The William Hugh Albright Papers are divided into ten series: Photographs, Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Programs, Professional Files, School of Music, The Magic City, Scores, Recordings, and Videocassettes.

Collection

School of Music, Theatre & Dance (University of Michigan) records, 1880-2021 (majority within 1940-2010)

43.5 linear feet — 7 oversize volumes — 688.97 GB (online) — 2 oversize boxes — 1 archived website

Online
Music, theatre, and dance education unit of the University of Michigan. Also represented in this collection are its predecessor organizations, the Ann Arbor School of Music and the University School of Music, and its departments. Includes records of students and instructors, correspondence, topical files, and materials related to student and faculty performance groups. Archived versions of the School's websites provide additional documentation of academic programs, research, events, people, and policies.

The School of Music, Theatre, & Dance (University of Michigan) records document music education in Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan and student and faculty musical production beginning in 1885. The records include student ledgers listing names, tuition, and instructors; correspondence and clippings, 1924-1953, concerning the University Band, including correspondence of William D. Revelli; files relating to musical programs, particularly the Michigan Singers' Spring Tour, the Union Opera, and Musket productions; minutes of the executive committee and faculty; and digitized audio and video recordings of performances, including performances at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, by the Michigan Youth Ensembles, and other groups associated with the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Also included are files associated the Department of Dance and Department of Theatre and Drama.

  1. Topical Files -- Boxes 1-5, 25-30, 35-41, online
  2. Student Ledgers -- Volumes 1-7
  3. Dean's Files -- Boxes 6-8, 30-31
  4. Faculty Records -- Boxes 9-24
  5. Donor Files -- Box 31
  6. Executive Committee -- Boxes 32, 34
  7. Department of Dance -- Boxes 44-46, online
  8. Department of Theatre and Dance -- Box 33
  9. Archived Website -- online
  10. Audio recordings (original audiotapes and digital recordings) -- Boxes 42-43, online
  11. Video recordings -- online
Collection

School of Music, Theatre & Dance (University of Michigan) publications, 1885-2015 (majority within 1970-2000)

6 linear feet — 57.3 GB (online) — 1 oversize box — 1 archived website

Online
Includes miscellaneous newsletters, bulletins, programs, brochures, articles, calendars, histories, sound recordings, video recordings, and posters produced by or for the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

The School of Music, Theatre & Dance Publications (8 linear feet, 57.3 GB, 1 oversize boxes, and 1 archived website) contains newsletters, bulletins, programs, sound recordings, video recordings, and other materials produced by the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Collection

Michigan Theater Foundation records, 1981-2002 (majority within 1984-1998)

4.5 linear feet (in 6 boxes)

Michigan Theater Foundation was formed in 1979 when it purchased the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Mich., a historic landmark built in 1928 and restored by the fundraising efforts of the Foundation. The record group comprises administrative records, including files of the Executive Director, Board of Trustees and administrative committees; grant proposals, materials related to fundraising, theater restoration, renovation, and membership campaigns; descriptions of programs, series, and individual events taken place at the theater; publicity photographs, audio- and video (VHS) recordings, and outsize posters and calendars of events.

The records date to the period of the Michigan Theater Foundation's intensive fundraising campaign to preserve the Michigan Theater and the first 15 years of its life after the theater reopened its doors in 1986.

Collection

Michael Ranville papers, 1953-2008

3.5 linear feet (in 4 boxes) — 2 oversize items — 869 MB (online)

Author and political consultant from Charlotte, Michigan who wrote a book on the Milo Radulovich Case; records include interviews, correspondence, newspaper clippings, Radulovich military records, research notes, and documentation relating to the writing and publication of To Strike at a King: The Turning Point in the McCarthy Witch-Hunt.

The collection consists of six series: Milo Radulovich Research materials, Writing and Publicity, Later Milo Radulovich materials, Other articles, Video materials, Sound materials, and Posters. The collection's strength lies in Ranville's interviews with Milo, his sister, and other's involved in Radulovich's Air Force Security Hearing, as well as in the other accumulated research materials.

Collection

Laurie Palazzolo Horn Man research materials collection, 1913-2004 (majority within 1940s-1980s)

10 linear feet (in 13 boxes) — 1 oversize folder — 5 GB (online) — 62 digital audio files

Online
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.

Collection

John and Leni Sinclair papers, 1957-2003

66.5 linear feet (in 82 boxes) — 1 oversize folder (UAl) — 1 oversize volume — 33 open reel videotapes — 727.7 GB (online)

Online
John and Leni Sinclair were leaders of the counterculture movement in Michigan, organizers of radical social, political, and cultural endeavors primarily in the areas of music, poetry, graphic design, and community welfare projects. Papers and photographs (1957-1979) relating to all phases of their careers, including participation in the Artists' Workshop in Detroit, the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, the White Panther Party and its offshoot, the Rainbow Peoples Party; also materials concerning the legalization of marijuana, radical politics, and prison reform. Also material, 1979-2000, relating to John Sinclair's work as a writer, performer, radio show host and music promoter.

The John Sinclair papers came to the library in 1979. Jointly donated by John and Leni Sinclair, this initial accession, covering the period 1957-1979, included textual material, sound recordings, and photographs relating to all phases of their careers, including participation in the Artists' Workshop in Detroit, the Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, the White Panther Party and its offshoot, the Rainbow Peoples Party; also materials concerning the legalization of marijuana, radical politics, prison reform, and rock and jazz music.

The Sinclair papers provide a rich and unique source for the study of America's radical movement in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Beginning with a remarkable series of correspondence that includes letters from Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and Jerry Rubin, and continuing on through extensive subject files, the collection details the cultural, political and business activities of a man whose energy and charisma made him a local and national leader of the counterculture. In addition, the collection documents the support and creativity of his wife and partner, who as writer, photographer and publicist helped to showcase the lifestyle which he symbolized.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, John Sinclair added to his papers with materials relating to his career as a writer and performer. In the winter of 2000, he donated a second large accession relating mainly to the period since leaving Detroit for New Orleans.

The Sinclair collection has been divided into four subgroups: Textual Files, Printed Material, Sound Recordings, and Visual Material.

Collection

Jeep Holland papers, 1943-1998

12 linear feet (in 13 boxes) — 1.5 GB (online) — 2 digital audiovisual files

Online
Hugh "Jeep" Holland was the founder of the A-Square Record label in Ann Arbor in 1967, and consequently became an integral part of the southeast Michigan music scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The collection documents, in papers, photographs and sound recordings, Jeep's personal life, interests, and career.

The Jeep Holland papers date from his youth in the late 1940s up to his death in 1998, and document his personal life, his education, and his career, particularly the record label and production company he founded, A-Square Records. The collection is comprised of the following series: Administrative, Artist Files, Personal Files, Realia, Sound Recordings, and Visual.

Collection

James Frederick Lawton papers, 1908-1969

2.5 linear feet — 3 oversize volumes — 1 oversize folder — 2 sound recording tapes — 4.3 GB (online)

Online
Berkley, Michigan insurance executive, poet and composer, and active alumnus of the University of Michigan; contain papers relating to activities of the class of 1911, to his involvement in the University of Michigan Club of Detroit, and to his interest in Michigan football, especially the career of coach Fielding H. Yost; also scrapbooks, and manuscripts of poetry and song lyrics.

The papers of J. Fred Lawton contain material relating to activities of the class of 1911, to his involvement in the University of Michigan Club of Detroit, and to his interest in Michigan football, especially the career of coach Fielding H. Yost; also scrapbooks, and manuscripts of poetry and song lyrics. The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Poetry, musical compositions, and other writings; University of Michigan Class of 1911; University of Michigan Club of Detroit; Topical files; Photographs; Scrapbooks; and Sound Recordings.

Collection

Gloria Bennish collection, 1946-1987

10 linear feet — 12 phonograph records

Founder of the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Sound recordings (tape and disc) of productions, videocassettes, scrapbooks, slides, and posters.

The Gloria Bennish collection consists of materials collected relating to the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. This includes photographic slides of productions, posters, sound tapes and sound discs of productions, and scrapbooks containing programs and photographs.

Collection

Gilbert and Sullivan Society (University of Michigan) records, 1947-2011

22.5 linear feet (in 26 boxes) — 9 oversize volumes

University of Michigan group established in 1946 devoted to production of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Records include production files with programs, photographs, reviews and newspaper clippings, and scattered production notes and memoranda; topical files relating to the Society, its friends organization, and its publication; slides of productions; Society newsletter, "Gasbag"; posters; phonorecords, tapes, and videos of productions.

The records of UMGASS have been divided into ten series: Slides, Topical Files, Production Files, Posters, Memorabilia Volumes, Magnetic Tape Recordings, Sound Recordings, Audiotapes, Videotapes, and Scrapbooks. Because materials on one production can include photographs, scrapbooks, recordings, or slides- all of which live within different boxes of the collection -- a directory has been compiled in the Production Files series. The directory lists the year and title of the UMGASS production for which the library has materials and a lettered key exists that denotes the physical existence and location of materials within the collection.

Collection

Frank Murphy papers, 1908-1949

166 microfilms — 24 linear feet (in 28 boxes) — 7 oversize volumes — 2 oversize folders — 474 MB (online) — 18 digital video files (online)

Online
Michigan-born lawyer, judge, politician and diplomat, served as Detroit Recorder's Court Judge, Mayor of Detroit, Governor General of the Philippines, Governor of Michigan, U. S. Attorney General and U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Papers include extensive correspondence, subject files, Supreme court case files, scrapbooks, photographs, newsreels and audio recordings, and other material.

The Frank Murphy Collection documents in detail the life and career of one of Michigan's most distinguished public servants. Through correspondence, subject files, scrapbooks, visual materials, and other documentation, the collection traces Murphy's life from his years as Detroit judge, later Mayor, to his service in the Philippines, his tenure as governor, his stint as U.S. Attorney General, and culminating in his final years as U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

The Frank Murphy Collection consists of eight series: Correspondence, Other Papers, Supreme Court Case Files, Speech File, Speech Material, Miscellaneous, Visual Material, and Newsclippings/Scrapbooks.

Collection

Felix J. Rogers papers, 1982-2005 (majority within 1987-2001)

7 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Physician involved with peace organizations, notably Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization opposed to nuclear weapons testing and the construction of nuclear power plants. Files relating to activities with the Physicians for Social Responsibility - Detroit, and with the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

The Felix J. Rogers papers document Rogers' activities in local peace movements from the 1980s until 2005. The collection has been divided into four series of material which document aspects of Rogers' personal life and the three peace organizations with which Rogers was most closely associated: Physicians for Social Responsibility-Detroit, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and the Cranbrook Peace Foundation.

Collection

Eclipse Jazz (University of Michigan) records, 1975-1987

2.5 linear feet — 31 GB (online)

Online
University of Michigan student organization founded to promote interest in jazz through concert and lecture series. Audio-tapes of lectures, photographs, posters, announcements of concerts, newsletters, grant files, and scattered correspondence.

The Eclipse Jazz records include photographs, sound records of the various lectures and concerts, posters and flyer notices of concerts, and miscellaneous administrative materials, such as grant applications, correspondence, and newsletters of their activities.

Collection

Dave Siglin papers, 1967-2008

35 linear feet (in 37 boxes) — 1 oversize volume

Program Director at the Ark, Ann Arbor, Michigan music club. The collection includes the Ark's financial records and select correspondence, printed materials such as concert calendars, flyers, and posters, sound recordings, photographs of Ark performances, informal snapshots and publicity photos of performers.

The Dave Siglin papers date from 1968-2008 and primarily document Siglin's management role at the Ark, an Ann Arbor music club. The papers have been arranged into four series: Administrative Records; Printed Materials; Photographs; Sound Recordings.

Collection

Chauncey E. Spencer Papers, 1914-2006

4.2 linear feet — 1 oversize folder — 6.98 GB (online) — 9 digital audio files — 1 digital video file

Online
Aviator, civilian personnel officer with the U.S. Air Force; chronological and topical files, audio-visual materials, and clippings and scrapbooks.

The Chauncey Spencer collection is an accumulation of personal materials - correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, sound and video recordings - relating to his lifelong interest in aviation, his career with the military, and the career of his mother, poetess Anne Spencer.

Collection

American Citizens for Justice records, 1983-2013, 2017, undated

22.8 linear feet (in 24 boxes) — 7 digital audiovisual files — 3 oversize folders

Online
The American Citizens for Justice, (or the Asian American Center for Justice), is a Detroit-based Asian American civil rights group founded in reaction to the fatal beating of Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American man. The ACJ later evolved into an organization advocating for the rights of Asian-Americans in general. Records consist of meeting minutes, financial reports, correspondence, publications and grants, Vincent Chin related information, legal case files, health project files, as well as topical files and audiovisual material.

The American Citizens for Justice record group details the administrative functions as well as the activities and goals of the organization. Records consist of meeting minutes, financial reports, correspondence, publications and grants, Vincent Chin related information, legal case files, health project files, as well as topical files.

Researchers should be aware that there is significant overlap between the Roland Hwang Files and the other series in this collection, and so should consult all appropriate groupings as needed.