Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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Collection

Department of History (University of Michigan) student papers, 1930-1987

7 linear feet (263 papers)

Student papers, 1930-1987 prepared for classes in history at the University of Michigan (primarily Michigan history class taught by Lewis G. VanderVelde, but also including research papers for classes taught by Sidney Fine and others); topics concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; and local community history.

The student papers are organized alphabetically by author in two series, which are similar in date range and topics covered. Topics of papers concern Michigan social and political history; Michigan biography and bibliography; local community history and University of Michigan history. A topical index to the papers is available in the first box of the collection.

Collection

Don Binkowski papers, 1910-2013 (majority within 1958-1975)

11.4 linear feet (in 13 boxes) — 1 oversize folder — 122 MB (online)

Online
District judge from Warren, Michigan. Correspondence, campaign materials, and other papers concerning his work as delegate to Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, as Warren city councilman, and as attorney and judge; papers concerning local and state Democratic politics, and his activities with Polish-American organizations and his interest in Polish American history and personages. Also includes digital images.

The Don Binkowski collection consists of correspondence, campaign materials, and other papers concerning his work as a delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, as Warren city councilman, and as attorney and judge; also papers concerning local and state Democratic politics, and his activities with Polish-American organizations.

Collection

Douglas Ross Papers, 1967-2002

8 linear feet — 0.6 MB (online)

Online
Douglas Ross (1942- ) is a Michigan political figure. He has been active in many political organizations and the Democratic party and served as Michigan Director of Commerce and United States Assistant Secretary of Labor. He also ran, unsuccessfully, for governor of Michigan in 1998. Ross' main concerns are economic policy and education. He currently runs a charter school in Detroit, Michigan. The papers cover most of his career, especially as Michigan Senator and at the Department of Labor, and include his notes and articles, correspondence, publications, and videotapes.
Collection

Edward William Staebler papers, 1870-1952 (majority within 1922-1944)

4 linear feet

Ann Arbor, Michigan businessman and Democratic mayor of the city, 1927-1931. Mayoralty files; papers, 1922-1926, concerning the Ann Arbor Board of Education; also papers, 1922-1952, of Staebler and Son, automobile dealership.

The Edward W. Staebler papers consists primarily of correspondence and subject files from the period when he was mayor of Ann Arbor. Smaller portions of the papers concern the family automobile dealership, Staebler and Son, and his involvement with the Ann Arbor Board of Education.

Collection

Elizabeth Sparks Adams papers, 1861-2001 (majority within 1930-1970s)

9.25 linear feet — 1 oversize folder

Elizabeth Sparks Adams was a member of the Michigan Historical Commission from 1941 (when she was appointed as the first woman commissioner by Governor Murray D. Van Wagoner) until 1996. She and her husband, Judge Donald E. Adams, were also active in the Democratic Party, specifically in Oakland County and Waterford Township. Mrs. Adams also actively researched and collected materials on family and local history. The collection consists of files accumulated throughout her life, particularly during her service with the Michigan Historical Commission and the Michigan Democratic Party. Also included are clippings, correspondence, legal documents, and photographs related to family and local history.

The papers are divided into seven series: Personal Papers, Michigan Historical Commission, Michigan Historical Collections, Miscellaneous, Democratic Party, Compiled Information, and Collected Materials.

Collection

Eugene Gressman papers, 1935-1967

1 linear foot

Law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy, and Washington, D.C. attorney. Diary, 1943-1944, relating to the Supreme Court, and miscellaneous notes, correspondence and newspaper clippings; also papers of Justice Murphy collected by Gressman, including notes of cabinet meetings, and of conferences and telephone calls; and correspondence, 1937-1949, between Frank Murphy and Felix Frankfurter.

The collection consists of two kinds of materials: papers of Frank Murphy that Gressman accumulated as clerk to the Supreme Court Justice; and Gressman's own papers. The greater part of the collection are the papers of Frank Murphy, dating from 1935 to 1948, with the bulk of the files falling in the period of 1939 to 1941, when Murphy was US Attorney General and the first year of his tenure on the Supreme Court bench. Always conscious of history, Murphy made valuable notes on the cabinet meetings he attended and his meetings and conversations with various public figures. These individuals include Hugo Black, Louis Brandeis, William J. Donovan, Carter Glass, Charles E. Hughes, Cordell Hull, Joseph P. Kennedy, John L. Lewis, Sir Robert Menzies, Manuel Quezon, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Francis B. Sayre, Harlan F. Stone and Sumner Welles. Also of importance are the several files of letters exchanged between Frank Murphy and Justice Felix Frankfurter.

Gressman's own papers are much smaller, but these also relate to his association with Frank Murphy, including notes that he made preparatory to writing a proposed biography of Murphy. Gressman's diary on his time spent as Murphy clerk of the Supreme Court is dated July 1943 to April 1944.

Collection

G. Donald Kennedy Papers, 1928-1968

6 linear feet (in 7 boxes) — 14 oversize volumes

Civil engineer, served as Michigan state highway commissioner, chairman of the Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority and president of Portland Cement Company. Papers primarily document work with highway commission and Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority.

The papers, 1928-1968, of G. Donald Kennedy document his career in civil engineering, his participation in professional organizations, his activities as a state official, and as a supporter of the Michigan Democratic Party. The collection Includes correspondence, speeches, minutes, reports, articles, clippings, and photographs. The files relate to his work as municipal engineer in Pontiac, Michigan, with the Mackinac Straits Bridge Authority, the American Association of State Highway Officials, the Automotive Safety Foundation, and the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority. The collection also includes papers relating to highway and airport construction, to economic mobilization during World War II, the Willow Run Bomber Plant, state Democratic Party matters, particularly the campaign visits of President Roosevelt to Michigan in 1936.

Collection

George Murphy papers, 1911-1961

15 linear feet — 1 volume — 1 oversize folder

Judge of the Recorder's Court in Detroit and Frank Murphy's brother; contain correspondence, legal briefs, newspaper clippings, and other materials concerning Detroit politics, 1935-1961, the grand jury investigation of Detroit street railways, 1936, arbitration of labor disputes, 1936-1941, investigation of the Charles Street housing project, 1939-1940, as well as materials illuminating the careers and personal affairs of both George and Frank Murphy, especially in relation to Detroit and the Philippine Islands.

The George Murphy papers, which encompass the years 1911 to 1961, are most comprehensive for the decade following 1932. During this period - the most politically active in Murphy's career - the correspondence is especially useful in illustrating George Murphy's role in his brother's emergence as a politician, especially his role as dispenser of patronage in the depression years. The papers, of course, illuminate the social function performed by the Recorder's Court and contain voluminous correspondence with state and federal judges, attorneys, prisoners, prison officials, probation officers, etc. Judge Murphy also maintained close contact with affairs in his home town, Harbor Beach. Included in the collection are significant materials on affairs in the Philippines during his brother's governorship there, particularly correspondence during the years 1933 to 1936 with his sister, Marguerite, Eleanor Bumgardner, and with leading Filipinos concerning conditions there.

Collection

George Wahr Sallade papers, 1952-1993

5 linear feet

Ann Arbor, Michigan, attorney and local Democratic Party activist. Political files relating to his various campaigns for office (Ann Arbor city council, Michigan House of Representatives, U.S. Congress, and Michigan State Senate among others); papers relating to his service in the state House, 1955-1958; his activities with Washtenaw County, Michigan, and Second Congressional District Democratic affairs; also letters received from Lt. Lee M. Cecil, 1952-1954, describing his experiences as a soldier during the Korean War; and photographs.

The George Wahr Sallade papers, although limited in quantity (five linear feet), are of interest to the researcher of Michigan politics in the post-World War II era. They can be used to gather information on the "Young Turks," a group that in the 1950s foreshadowed the more moderate nature of the Michigan Republican party of the 1960s and 1970s. They provide insight into issues that were of concern to the Washtenaw County and Second Congressional District Democratic parties - including Vietnam, race, party reform, and the economy - in the troubled years of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The ideological positions of the two local parties, relative to the state party as a whole, can be determined by comparing the resolutions they passed with those of the state party and its platform. Finally Sallade's campaign files can be used to determine the issues of concern to the local electorate in the years in which he ran for public office. His 1968-1972 campaigns are fairly well documented from an issue standpoint (particularly his 1972 race for county prosecutor), and, therefore, can be used to determine whether and to what extent national events affected the conduct of state and county races. Sallade's papers should be supplemented by use of the Detroit News - Lansing Bureau index; the papers of Governor G. Mennen Williams; and those of the state central committees of the Michigan Democratic and Republican parties. All of these are at the Michigan Historical Collections. The Collections also has a complete run of both Good Morning Michigan and "Michigan Around and About."

The Sallade papers have been arranged in three series: Personal; Political: and Photographs.

Collection

Gerhard L. Weinberg papers, 1957-1973

7 linear feet — 1 phonograph record

Professor of history at University of Michigan; Democratic Party files and records of his University of Michigan activities.

The Gerhard L. Weinberg collection is comprised of two series: Democratic Party activities and interests, and University of Michigan activities. The Democratic Party papers concern Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, and state politics. Issues documented include the passage of a fair housing law in Ann Arbor, and his interest in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964-1965.