Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Republican State Highway Commissioner, 1943-1957. Correspondence, scrapbooks and other papers concerning the highway department, Republican politics, and his interest in the Michigan Republican League, the Michigan Indian Foundation, and the construction of the Mackinac Bridge; also photographs.

The collections includes the following series of papers: Correspondence; Campaign and Republican Party Activities; Michigan Highway Department; Topical files and miscellaneous; and Scrapbooks and clippings. Much of the correspondence relates to his first campaign in 1943 for Highway Commissioner.

Prosecuting attorney, attorney general of Michigan, 1945-1946, and justice on the Michigan Supreme Court, 1946-1970. Correspondence and campaign material relating to his political interests, court agendas and topical files, and papers relating to the operation and activities of the state supreme court; also photographs.

This collection of John R. Dethmers papers, in addition to a few folders of correspondence and campaign materials from the 1930s, is comprised mainly of files from his service on the Michigan Supreme Court. Within the Correspondence series, there are letters from William W. Blackney, Mar. 19, 1942; Fred Bradley, Mar. 4, 1942; Albert J. Engel, Mar. 2, 1942; Bartel J. Jonkman, Mar. 6, 1942; Earl C. Michener, Mar. 2, 1942; Chase S. Osborn, Mar. 16, 1942; and Arthur H. Vandenberg, Mar. 4, 1942.

Owen J. Cleary was an attorney, president of Cleary College in Ypsilanti (1940-1960), Michigan secretary of state (1953-1954), and chairman of the Republican State Central Committee (1949-1953). The collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks and clippings, organizational files, and Republican Party files.

The collection documents the later period of Cleary's life, mainly from 1945 to 1959. The series include Correspondence; Scrapbooks and clippings; Organizational interests; and Political files.

The great bulk of the collection consists of correspondence dated from 1945 to 1959 and documenting his work as Republican State chairman (1949-1953), his tenure as Michigan secretary of state (1953-1954), and his various other civic, political, and business involvements. There is included with this finding aid a selective index to Cleary's correspondents.