Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

University of Michigan inter-disciplinary, area studies and resource center. Records relating to the administration of and the programs supported by the Center, including information on funding, courses, exchange programs, publicity, and affiliated activity; audio and video tapes of presentation and lectures; and various publications.

The records for the Center for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) document an array of activities that the center has been involved with since its inception and includes administrative files, audio and visual material, clippings, press releases, proposals, publications, and subject files. Records from the 1980s to the 1990s make up the bulk of this record group. The documents reflect how the Center has grown and become active not just at the university level, but also at a global level. The financial, global, and business ties that CREES has worked hard to cultivate can be traced through this record group. The way those ties developed as well as the many other interests of the center will be of interest to researchers.

Republican member of the state house and the state senate; president of the University Musical Society. Legislative and campaign files, 1919-1935, detailing his election campaigns, his activities within the legislature, and his various responsibilities as a member of the Republican State Central Committee; general correspondence files, 1922-1960, largely pertaining to his work with the University Musical Society and other civic activities; topical files; family history and memoirs; diaries and appointment books; papers of wife Alva Gordon Sink; and visual materials.

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.

The Chrystal G. Tibbs Papers comprise over a half-century of documents pertaining to Tibbs's membership in various chapters of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and to the history of the sorority at large. Founded at Howard University in 1908, A.K.A. was the first sorority established by African-American women and currently has approximately 250,000 members. The collection's four series contain papers pertaining to Tibbs's personal participation in sorority activities (including those related to her tenure in various administrative posts), materials from several Michigan chapters, sorority publications, and audiovisual materials. In addition, the collection contains work done by Tibbs and family members to document the Powell, Webster, and Winchester family history.

The Chrystal G. Tibbs Papers comprise materials accumulated through Tibbs's participation in Alpha Kappa Alpha conferences, chapter meetings, and special interest groups at the local, state, regional, and national level over a span of fifty years. The activities of Michigan-based chapters are particularly well represented. Materials also include personal and professional documentation directly related to Tibbs and her immediate family. The collection is divided into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Career, Powell Family Papers, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

Environmental group formed in 1978 by landowners in Clare County, Michigan in resistance to government plan to use pesticide to control gypsy moth population. The organization has since broadened its focus to include other environmental issues such as solid waste management, wetlands protection, the use of herbicides, concerns about toxic waste, and problems of pollution in Michigan. Series in this record group include organizational files, Eco Conferences, subject files, and related organizations. Organizational files includes minutes, newsletters, reports, correspondence, grant proposals, and other materials relating to the work of the organization. The Eco Conferences series documents annual conference bringing together speakers to lead talks and workshops. This series includes annual planning files and audiocassettes and videocassettes of the conferences. Subject files contains correspondence, reports, background information, and other information on environmental issues. Related organizations consists of files on other Michigan and local environmental groups.

The Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination record group provides an in-depth look at the life of a very active and influential Michigan environmental organization, for a period of nearly two decades -- from 1978 to 1997. While describing in particular the activities of one individual organization, the collection also lends itself to research about environmental issues and Michigan environmental organizations in general. The collection is arranged into four record series: Organizational Files, Eco Conferences, Subject Files, and Related Organizations.

Attorney, student and investigator of different cults and cult activities, primarily focusing on the New Age Movement; published writings, collected topical files; cassette sound recordings, and videotapes.

The Constance Cumbey collection consists of her publications, research files and other material related to her investigations of alleged connections between New Age cults and the New World Order and various politicians, organizations and institutions. There are also files documenting her interest in Christian fundamentalism and prominent evangelists and their ties to cults. The collection has been divided into three series: Topical Files (three subseries), Personal Files, and Other Media.

Ann Arbor, Michigan businessman, Republican Regent of the University of Michigan, 1972-1996, candidate for office of United States Senator, 1976 and 1982. The collection includes Campaign and Political Files, 1964-1998, Personal Files, 1945-2004, Regental Files, 1975-1996, Photographs, and University of Michigan Presidential Search Files, 1978-1996.

The Deane Baker collection consists primarily of documentation of his campaigns for political office and his service as Regent of the University of Michigan. As the Bentley Library has a separate collection of Board of Regents records, the focus of the Deane Baker collection has been in those areas of university policy, procedure, and programs of most concern to him. The researcher is directed to the files of the Board of Regents and administrative offices of the university for the fullest description of Board of Regents history during the Baker years. Other portions of the collection relate to his various campaigns for public office. There is also a sampling of his other business and personal activities.

Files of state chairs, Neil Staebler, John J. Collins, Zolton Ferency, Sander Levin, James McNeely, Morley Winograd, Olivia Maynard, Richard Wiener, F. Thomas LeWand, and Gary Corbin; files of deputy state chair, Billie S. Farnum, vice chairs Adelaide Hart and Olivia Maynard, and vice chair Robert Mitchell; files relating to state constitutional convention, and to state and national political campaigns, since 1950; sound recordings and visual materials.

The records of the Democratic Party of Michigan have come to the library in several accessions beginning in 1967 and periodically thereafter. The record group is comprised of files mainly from the Lansing office of the Democratic Party of Michigan. The files are of the officers of the party: state chair, vice chair, deputy chair, and secretary among others. As might be expected, the records relate to the day-to-day operation of the party, the management of political campaigns (i.e. selecting candidates, defining issues, raising funds, getting out the vote, etc.). In addition, much of the records concern the state organization's relationship with the National Democratic Party and its participation in the national convention to select a presidential nominee. Because of inconsistencies in how files were maintained and used, the files of one party officer might also include materials of his / her predecessor. Thus the researcher should be examine the entire finding aid for material on any given topic or time period.

The records of the Democratic Party of Michigan has been arranged into the following series: (1) Earlier records, prior to 1965; (2) State Chair, Democratic State Central Committee files; (3) Other Party Officers; (4) Headquarters files; (5) Detroit Office Files; (6) Topical Files; (7) State Central Committee Meeting Minutes; (8) State and National Convention files; (9) Appeals Committee; (10) Publications and miscellaneous; (11) Visual Materials; (12) Sound Recordings.

This record group pertains to the University of Michigan Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and to campus, regional, and national organizations devoted to political and civil rights causes from the 1960s to the 1990s. The collection includes print documents, photographs, and audio-visual material that document racial harassment incidents, political protests, scholarly conferences and symposia, MLK Day celebrations and black student life on the U-M campus. There are also materials about the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the anti-apartheid and divestment movements of the 1980s. Originally a Center, the unit was formally recognized as a department of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts in 2011.

The records of the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS; formerly known as the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, or CAAS) include correspondence, syllabi, clippings, publicity materials, photographs and audio and video recordings of campus speakers. The record group includes archival material that was originally collected and made available in DAAS's library relating to black activism and to organizations of interest to black students, faculty and staff, as well as DAAS's own organizational archives. Because these materials have been consulted and cited by researchers prior to their transfer to the Bentley in 2011, their original arrangement has been preserved so far as possible.

Paper and photographic records consist of three major series: Black student activism, 1969-2001 (5.5 linear feet), Blacks at U-M, 1969-2007 (4.5 linear feet) and Organizational archives of CAAS, 1962-2010 (17 linear feet) (formerly designated simply "Archives.") There is some overlap of subject matter. These categories reflect the organization of the materials imposed by CAAS librarians and archivists prior to transfer to the Bentley in 2011.

The following list identifies the greatest concentration of material relevant to some of the notable subjects in the collection:

1. The Black Action Movements (Boxes 1-2 and 55)
2. Incidents of on-campus harassment and responses (Boxes 1, 2, 4)
3. South Africa, apartheid, and divestment -- (Boxes 2, 3, 5)
4. Free South Africa Coordinating Committee (Box 3)
5. Washtenaw County Coalition Against Apartheid (Box 5)
6. United Coalition Against Racism and the Baker-Mandela Center (Boxes 1, 4, 5)
7. The Michigamua controversy (Box 3)
8. The Nelson Mandela Honorary Degree Petition (Boxes 3, 11)
9. Gulf War activism (Boxes 3, 4)

This record group also includes a large number of audio and video recordings of presentations, interviews, documentaries, and cultural performances from the 1970s to the 1990s. The recordings include several notable faculty members, visiting scholars, and activists, including Harold Cruse, Cornell West, Rita Dove, Jesse Jackson, Angela Davis, Marian Wright Edelman and Rosa Parks.

The audio-visual material in the collection is organized is organized in to six series by format: Audio recordings on cassettes, 1975-2001 (486 cassettes, 9 linear feet), U-Matic videotapes, 1971-1989 (91 videotapes, 9.1 linear ft.) VHS videotapes, 1971-2004 (131 videotapes, 7 linear feet), Open reel videotapes, 1971-1980 (12 videotapes, 1 linear feet), Reel-to-reel audiotape, 1971, 1980 and undated (4 audiotapes, 0.3 linear feet) and Mini DVDs, 1999-2000 and undated (24 Mini-DVDs, 0.2 linear feet).

Gerontologist at the Institute of Gerontology of the University of Michigan, specializing in Alzheimer's Disease and the training and education of people working with the elderly. Professional papers, including correspondence, subject files, papers and reports, and files relating to workshops and symposia attended; Alzheimer's Disease research files; photographs; and other audio-visual materials.

The Dorothy H. Coons Papers comprise five series: Professional Papers (1936-1987); Alzheimer's Disease Research Project (1982-1986); Photographs (1966-1972);Audio-visual Materials (1976-1986); and Personal Papers (1999). The records cover the years 1936 to 1999, but the bulk of the material falls between 1970 and 1983. Within each series, files are arranged alphabetically by topic.