Collections

The collection includes correspondence, meeting minutes, agendas, faculty announcements, historical marker materials, historical sketches, newspaper articles, publications, and souvenirs of Central Michigan University's 75th anniversary.

This collection consists, in part, of the correspondence, minutes, and agendas of the CMU 75th Anniversary Advisory Committee and CMU 75th Anniversary Awards Screening Committee, as well as materials they generated, including: faculty announcements, historical marker materials, a historical sketch of CMU, newspaper articles (copies), publications, correspondence with politicians about proclamations, and publications and souvenirs (Box 1). The committee's press releases and proclamations from the Governor of Michigan and Michigan Legislature are also included (2 Oversized Folders).

The majority of the collection, however, is composed of reference materials collected and text written by Prof. Rolland H. Maybee for a history of CMU. His extensive collection of notes, various drafts of chapters, note cards of CMU and Isabella County, Michigan, history, and audio visual materials complete the collection. (Boxes 1-5).

This collection is the organizational records of Central Michigan University (CMU) Athletics, collected by CMU Athletics, consisting mainly of documentation of CMU athletic teams, athletes, and athletic staff, publications, some photographic materials, and other materials.

This collection is the organizational records of Central Michigan University (CMU) Athletics, collected by CMU Athletics, consisting mainly of documentation of CMU athletic teams, athletes, and athletic staff, publications, some photographic materials, and other materials. Processing is ongoing. Materials are mainly in overall good condition. The collection is incomplete and some materials are faded, especially ditto copies, and are hard to read. Some materials, mostly scrapbooks or materials that were in binders, suffered water damage due to flooding in the Athletics basement. Water damage items are so noted in the Box and Folder Listing.

The two largest series in this collection are Team Sports and then Student and Staff folders. These series document, to varying degree of completeness, all sports that existed at CMU up to 2019, mostly as official sports teams and some on what we would now consider the intramural level.

Materials in the Team Sports series, 1896-2019, 50.5 cubic feet (in Boxes 1-51) usually includes statistics, publications, and historical materials as well as other materials. The Team Sports series is organized alphabetically by sport and materials are organized chronologically and alphabetically by folder label within each team. Statistics includes box scores or results and may include team and individual results or box scores. Publications in the series are mainly from CMU, regional and national events and athletic organizations such as programs, fliers, facts and other brochures, variously titled news releases, and media guides. Multiple sports were featured in some seasonal brochures. Usually there is a copy of each program and media guide in each Team's folders for that season. Please see the description of the Publication Series below for more information about CMU publications. Another predominate form of publications in the series is newspaper clippings, from the Mount Pleasant area, Michigan, and out-of-state newspapers. Audiovisual material in the series includes: photographs, negatives, and galley proofs, and scrapbooks. The majority of the photographic materials and moving images in multiple formats remains in the Athletics building as of 2022. Other materials often found in the series such as historical materials folders listing annual statistics and team members, memos; letters of intent; student athletes, and lists of potential team members. Early sports and early women's sports have far less documentation than later sports. For example, both Men’s and Women's Cross-Country materials are few and often easily contained for an academic year in one folder. In contrast, the amount of documentation of the main sports of football and men's basketball is vast. There are also missing years of materials in various Team folders. For example, both Men’s and Women's Cross-Country materials are few and often easily contained for an academic year in one folder. High school sports camps and events held on campus are also documented in the collection. In Box 20 there is a rare letter about the need to cut spending on athletics publications. The contents of the folders for team sports are organized according to the wishes of CMU. Athletics from front to back in folders: photographs, publications, statistics, clippings. Abbreviations in the finding aid are those used by Athletics. The first time the abbreviation appears in the Box and Folder Listing in Team Sports it is spelled out. Later boxes may include some Team Sports material. For example Box 66 includes Gymnastic Meets folders with additional Gymnastic materials.

CMU. Athletics Student and Staff series is the next largest series (originally approximately 20 cubic feet in 20 boxes). There are two subseries: CMU student athletes who played on CMU sports teams Box 80-forward) and CMU staff (Box 51-part of Box 54). CMU staff series includes: coaches, assistant coaches, graduate student assistants, CMU sports announcers, physicians, trainers, Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC) commissioners, SID (Sports Information Department, which generated newsletters), and even recognized CMU fans, such as Bob Kuck, the 1985 Baseball Fan of the Year (approximately 4 cubic feet in 4 boxes). The contents of each folder varies in amount, with prominent athletes and coaches having more material. In contrast most folders contain a single photograph or one to a few pieces of information, either text or photographic in nature. Types of materials typically found in these folders include photographs, usually mug shot-style, clippings, CMU news releases of various titles, statistics, and resumes, applications, and CMU’s Sports Information Background Form, all of which detail their biographical and sports history. The series is organized with coach boxes first, then students, alphabetically by surname. Labels include the name of the person, last name first, and the position/s they held or sport/s they played, and the dates spanning the contents of the material in the folder. In cases where there was no position specified, the processing students and the archivist researched through CMU publications to determine the person’s position. In a few cases where the label was entirely missing and the contents of the folder consisted of a single unidentified mug shot style photograph, we checked to see if the photograph included a negative number with a year. Most of the photographs in the collection were taken by CMU. University Communications staff or contract photographs who used a number sequence for negatives. For example, 77-23-4 means it is the fourth photograph on the 23rd reel of film taken in 1977. If we had a date, we researched through the sports teams programs for that year to identify the person. Sometimes there might be additional notes on a photograph that indicate which sport an unidentified athlete played or we could tell from an athlete’s physique which sports the athlete was most likely to play. We checked the specific sports programs for that year or years on either side of that date until we found a photograph which identified the athlete. Folders for some athletes were missing before the collection was transferred to the Clarke. Folders for some staff may also be missing. The contents of the folders for coaches/staff/student athletes are organized according to the wishes of CMU. Athletics from front to back in folders: photographs, publications, statistics, clippings. Abbreviations in the finding aid are those used by Athletics. Sports teams names were spelled out and not abbreviated on these folder labels since the folders are not organized by teams. The only abbreviation widely used in this series is GA for Graduate Assistant.

The Publications series is another smaller series. It includes issues of multiple CMU publications including programs, media guides, Courtside, Football Sidelines, and variously titled news releases, which were not interfiled by CMU. Athletics into the Teams series. Notes about CMU Sports publications in general: The earlier, minor male and women’s sports publications were thinner and fewer with no or few images compared to their later twentieth century publications and to the main sports of football and men’s basketball. A page or two of dittoed information for the cross-country men’s team annual information contrasts with the same year’s glossy media guide and individual game programs for football. But even early football and men’s basketball publications were not as large and complete as later versions. In the late 1970s, for example, few of the football team members’ photographs appear in the programs or media guides. Photographs and statistical information about CMU athletes and coaches, statistics, season final box scores, scheduled games, historical information about star athlete and notable coaches, team and individual records and statistics, and similar information for opponent teams, including photographs, is usually included in the thicker programs and media guides.

Lastly is the Miscellaneous Series, 1896-2019, and undated, which is processed, 22 cubic feet (in 25 boxes and 1 Oversized scrapbook volume). Currently these box numbers begin with S(Scrapbook), T(Top, found on top of cabinets and tables), or M(Miscellaneous folders), until we complete processing. Miscellaneous includes materials that were originally in binders and scrapbooks documenting sports and some publications, some of which were damaged by flooding. Other parts of the Miscellaneous were waiting in piles to be interfiled mostly into the Teams Sports or Publications series when it was transferred to the Clarke, and includes publications, materials documenting CMU Athletics advertising, social media, marking plans and policies, budgets, scholastic and other achievement awards, CMU Athletic Hall of Fame lists, certifications for various team sports, banquets, training, reports, special projects and events such as the construction or opening of Theunissen Stadium, the Rose Center, and Indoor Athletic Complex (IAC), statistics, and more galley proofs. Six boxes of photographic materials remain to be processed.

Researchers may also be interested in several other collections with CMU athletic historical information in them, for example CMU photographs, CMU Information Services, CMU Public Relations and Marketing, and CMU UComm (Communications) at the Clarke. A small series of the collection, focused on CMU Hall of Fame Nominees and Winners, one film and one plaque was transferred to the Clarke before this main collection, and is separately cataloged. Also, CMU. Women's Softball and CMU Cross Country, Track and Field donated their own collections separately to the Clarke. A sample of athletics artifacts, including helmets, jerseys, trophies, and plaques, were transferred from CMU Athletics to the CMU Museum of Cultural and Natural History. Most photographs and recordings remain in the CMU. Athletics complex as per the wishes of CMU. Athletics.

Processing Notes:

We have followed requests for processing and withdrawing as per CMU. Athletics. The contents of the folders for team sports and coaches/staff/student athletes are organized according to the wishes of CMU. Athletics from front to back in folders: photographs, publications, statistics, clippings.

Abbreviations in the finding aid are those used by Athletics. The first time the abbreviation appears in the Box and Folder Listing it is spelled out.

The collection, as transferred to the Clarke, is incomplete. As of March 2024, 14 cubic feet of student folders and photographic materials remains to be processed in the Clarke. An additional 25 cubic feet of student folders and photographic materials remain in the Athletics building, awaiting transfer to the Clarke. 25 cubic feet of materials have been withdrawn from the collection during processing. Withdrawn materials include: duplicates and peripheral material, as well as acidic or thermal copies of materials which were photocopied and the copies retained in the collection. Due to resources, the massive number of clippings in the collection, clippings were not photocopied or scanned as this would have doubled the processing time. News articles for digitized newspapers, such as CMLife and its predecessors CSLife and CNormalLife, or those that only peripherally mentioned CMU, were withdrawn, the rest of the clippings were retained. The only time CMLife articles were retained in the collection was when it was necessary, due to an absence of other information, to explain who someone was, as in the case of MAC Commissioners when only a photograph with a name on it was in the original folder. Non-Michigan materials were retained only if they document CMU athletic history, athletes, or coaches beyond a mere mention such as "CMU plays [or played] here Tues night." Volumes, mostly scrapbooks that were entirely acidic were retained in their current state. Social security numbers on rosters and lists were blacked out with a marker and then photocopied, and the copies were retained in the collection. Also, galley proofs and large caches of photographs were not individually sleeved due to Clarke resources.

Vertical Files Collection, 1892-1998, and undated, includes materials which document the College of Education, Central State Normal School, Central State Teachers College, teachers, education, and teaching, in general.

Vertical Files Collection, 1892-1998, and undated, includes materials which document the College of Education, Central State Normal School, Central State Teachers College, teachers, education, and teaching, in general. The first part of the collection is organized alphabetically by the different names the College had over time. Materials that could be linked directly to the various names are organized alphabetically under the appropriate College name. Subject files composed the second part of the collection, and are also organized in alphabetical order. Of particular note are the many reports and materials relating to the Teacher Education Project, mostly 1960-1964, and a report on Rural School Management, a Class Project, 1952.

Processing Note: Some publications and quasi-published materials as well as newsletters are included in this collection for a variety of technical reasons, as well as staff limitations and demands.

Collection, 1881-1989, undated, includes textual materials, photographs, military publications and objects documenting Tip’s life in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, his World War I service in France, his family, and Central Michigan University.

Collection, 1881-1989, undated, includes textual materials, photographs, military publications and objects documenting Tip’s life in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, his World War I service in France, his family, and Central Michigan University. The first donation of materials includes two handwritten World War I letters, one a breakup letter to Tip from “Dutch”, 1918 (with matching enveloped attached to a scrapbook page; censor approved letter from Tip to his father, November 12, 1918 about the time directly before and after the Armistice, celebrating the Armistice; unidentified African Americans in an unspecified labor battalion whom he refers to several times in derogatory, racist terms, and his thoughts of friends and the future; two acidic, worn pages (Front and back) of an oversized scrapbook, with a published letter from Tip to his father, October 23, 1918, describing life in France, the artillery, and Boche lines; a French regulation artillery form, filled in in English, undated; published World War I song lyrics, October 11, 1919; and a page of miscellaneous including ration cards, a Paris postcard, and a newspaper article about the Armistice, undated (preservation copies of the scrapbook pages were added in color and black and white by the Archivist); four newspaper clippings include: an acidic image of Carnahan in his WWI uniform for his 90th birthday, 1984 (and preservation copies); and three long descriptive interviews with Carnahan by Burnie Bonnel, published in the Mount Pleasant (Mich.) Morning Sun, about his life at CMU, in Mount Pleasant, during and after WWI, and his opinions on various topics, January 23-24, 1986 and July 1, 1989. His obituary (1990, copy) is in the Hotel Chieftan scrapbook,1947-1971, which is also housed at the Clarke.

The 2020 addition includes photographs of Tip and his family; and Tip’s family history written and pasted onto a piece of cardboard. His service materials include: two service patches; his veteran’s bonuses and insurance materials; official war correspondence including his embarkation orders, his official papers of promotion, several associated manuals, discharge papers; personal notes and other materials that he used while discharging his duty. Published works include: a book on cavalry drill regulations for the US Army, 1916; a booklet on the by-laws of Union Prisoners of War Association, 1881; a French phrase book for American soldiers, 1918; and a book on the 329th Barrage which was the unit that Tip served with in France, 1919. One oversized folder includes a selection of mostly American piano sheet music, 1911-1945, and undated, which were retained in the collection due to the images on their covers and/or inscriptions from members of the Carnahan family. The collection is organized by format, size, and alphabetically. Overall, the collection is in good condition although two folders are fragile and one piece of cardboard with family history pasted and written on it is acidic.

Researchers may also be interested in the Hotel Chieftain scrapbook.

The collection includes Powers' personal papers, correspondence with genealogists, legal records, clippings, drafts of her stories, lists of Civil War Soldiers, including Isabella County, Michigan, native American soldiers, mid-Michigan historical materials and photographs.

Personal Papers include correspondence and legal and financial records as well as records from organizations to which she belonged.

Research Materials include Powers’ correspondence with genealogists, legal records, and newspaper clippings. This series also contains a draft of The Indians of Isabella County by Ella V. Powers as well as notes, stories, maps, and illustrations. The bulk of the research material is raw data. The data includes genealogies, a listing of Civil War soldiers (including Indians) from Isabella County, a listing of early post offices and postmasters, treaties, records of original landowners, and a small collection of Fraser Family papers.

The third series consists of Photographs of Isabella County residents and pioneers as well as some unidentified photographs.

The Ephemera series contains items such as jewelry, eyeglasses, and a billfold; in most cases the items are undated and the owner is unknown.

There are four Scrapbooks which include recipes, cards, pictures, and letters.

The Genealogy Note Cards supplement and often repeat the information on the genealogy sheets in the Research Materials series.

Collection consists mostly of diaries, papers, and financial accounts of Mrs. Robinson, some papers of Mr. Robinson and their sons, and family photographs and correspondence, mostly about family concerns.

The collection includes mostly diaries, papers, and financial accounts of Mrs. Robinson, some papers of Mr. Robinson and their sons, family photographs, and family correspondence, mostly about family concerns.

The family papers, 18801-1969 (Scattered) and undated, documents the lives of Anna, Julia and Mary M., all of whom were Michigan teachers, with a focus on Mary's nursing experience, during which she served as a Red Cross and U.S. Nursing Corps member with the American Expeditionary Forces in France.

The family papers, 18801-1969 (Scattered) and undated, documents the lives of Anna, Julia and Mary M., all of whom were Michigan teachers, with a focus on Mary's nursing experience, during which she served as a Red Cross and U.S. Nursing Corps member with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. The collection is organized by format: Papers including obituary of Mary’s mother, also named Mary who died in 1944, various correspondence, pins, poem, and Mary’s AEF card from Siberia, vaccination record and wallet in the front of Box 1. Amongst the pins is a 1908 President Taft brass campagna swastika, to attach to a watch fob. Photographs of men, women, school children at schools where Mary or her sisters taught, nurses, nursing, nursing school, an operation, family, friends, colleagues, families, animals, some buildings, and vacations fill the rest of Box 1 through Box 3. In the 1940s-1960s Mary vacationed in Florida where she and friends and family visited various tourist cities including Tarpon Springs and Orlando. There are photographs of diverse animals and birds including elephants of an unidentified circus. Mike the cat predominates in the animal photographs. There are photographs of a man and woman in wheelchairs. There is an oversized folder of teaching and nursing certificates and high school diplomas and two oversized volumes of Mary’s nursing experience in France in World War I, one of which is very artistically organized with AEF on the front cover made from photographs of AEF nurses and soldiers. Most of the materials are undated.

Court records include annulments, chancery cases, chattle mortgages, debt cases, divorces, estate settlements, foreclosures, gas and oil cases, guardianship cases, indentures, injunctions, calendars and proceedings, mortgages, prartnerships, pensions, petitions, poll lists, tally sheets, election returns, school reports, censuses, etc., support cases, tax assessments, other records, a tintype, miscellaneous.

The collection is one of the government records collections that came to the Clarke as part of a regional archives depository agreement with the State Archives. The collection was not processed at the State Archives.

Processing Note: Duplicate printed materials, miscellaneous and illegible items, and those non-permanent records that had far surpassed their records retention schedule were withdrawn from the collection during processing.

The Mount Pleasant Mission Organizational Records, 1892-1969, undated, document the history of the Countryside United Methodist Church (CUMC) and mid-Michigan Evangelicals.

The Mount Pleasant Mission Organizational Records, 1892-1969, undated, documents the history of the Countryside United Methodist Church (CUMC) and mid-Michigan Evangelicals. The collection is organized by size and chronologically and alphabetically. Boxes 1 and 2 include annual reports of the Evangelical Sunday School Secretary’s Records, detailing how many people attended, the name of teachers, and weekly donation amounts during each meeting 1937-1950. There are two records of Ladies Aid congregations within the church, Bethel Ladies Aid 1938-1945, and Union Evangelical Church Ladies Aid, 1921-1924. Also included are records of the Mount Pleasant Mission Michigan Conference of the Evangelical Association and Evangelical Association Chippewa Trustees, 1893-1950. Lastly, there is a memorial booklet for the foundation of the organization Memorial Booklet, October 8, 1933.

Evangelical Association Chippewa Trustees, 1893-1950, contains records during the first meeting in the new church building, led by Reverend Warren Brown. The entries that continue the year 1903 in Mount Pleasant Mission Michigan Conference of the Evangelical Association, 1903-1921, are placed in the back of the book.

Material in Union Evangelical Secretary Report, 1926-1929 is very acidic. Otherwise, the collection is in good physical condition.

The oversized material contains the organization’s record book which details the church’s organizational history and changes made during each pastorate, previous members, and records of life events such as marriages, deaths, and baptisms. Also included in oversized material is a printed poster on paper of the 50th Anniversary Jubilee Session of the Michigan Conference Evangelical Association. Lastly, there is a photograph of the First Women’s Society Chippewa Evangelical Church, with members’ names listed on the back.

This collection of family papers includes photographic materials, papers, family trees, and newspaper or magazine clippings of the Copeman and Reimer families and their friends and family from the Mount Pleasant, Michigan area.

This collection of family papers includes photographic materials, papers, family trees, and newspaper or magazine clippings of the Copeman and Reimer families and their friends and family from the Mount Pleasant, Michigan area. The collection is organized by series, alphabetically, and chronologically. Overall, the collection is in very good condition with some acidification, one glass plate negative with a broken corner, and tintypes which are a bit warped with minor edge damage. The major series of this collection are Copeman, Reimer, and Simonds. Nina Copeman is the main person in connection in the Copeman papers due to her historical family research. Much of the series consists of photographic materials including multiple formats of photographs from ambrotypes and tintypes through color photography. Papers consist of family correspondence, including about family history, materials related to their relative Linda Ronstadt, and the Henry Baldwin Copeman family farm in Crawford, Michigan. The Reimer series also consists of family photographs and materials, with photographs of reunions and family headstones in Palo and Mount Pleasant cemeteries. The Simonds series consists of photographs of family and their grocery store located in Mount Pleasant. The rest of the collection consist of family photographs and materials from the related Brownell, Ettinger, and Preston Families, as well as materials related to Palo Schools, Central State Teachers College, later Central Michigan University, history, and postcards with substantive notes between family members and photographic postcards of family members. The Oversized folder contains photographs of the Henry Baldwin Copeman Farm and Copeman and Reimer family trees.

Researchers should note that materials related to the family’s homestead in Idaho, Kenneth and Taimie Preston’s college photographs, Kenneth Preston’s work with the Civilian Conservation Corp, and Henry B. Copeman’s remaining diaries (including all Ku Klux Klan entries) were donated to the University of Idaho by the donor. The remaining material related to the family’s lives in Idaho were donated to Coeur d’Alene Museum and the Kellogg Museum by the donor.

Processing Note: .75 cubic feet of photographic materials, miscellaneous, and duplicates were withdrawn during processing. Acidic news clippings and materials were photocopied and the copies retained within the collection. Interfiled into other collections in the Clarke were seventeen postcards, two Michigan vertical file items, and a CMU commencement program. In August 2023, a 1852 wedding bedspread from Centreville, Pennsylvania, two Michigan friendship pillows, and miscellaneous family jewelry were transferred to the Ionia County Historical Society, and an Almont, Michigan, miniature tourist creamer or pitcher was transferred to the Almont Michigan Historical Society. Other miscellaneous items without a definite family provenance were withdrawn during processing.