Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Construction engineer and Michigan Democratic politician; served terms as Oakland County Drain Commissioner, Michigan State Highway Commissioner, and as Governor, 1941-1942; include correspondence, scrapbooks, appointment books, and assorted miscellanea.

The series in the Van Wagoner collection are Correspondence (1933-1945); Newspaper clippings/Scrapbooks (1930-1933 and 1940-1949); Miscellaneous/Political; and Visual Materials. The collection is largely an accumulation of personal materials from his career as a public service. There is very little of these papers that might be classified as administrative or office files from his years as highway commissioner or his term as governor.

Lieutenant Governor of Michigan, 1907-1911, and Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, speeches and scrapbook concerning his political career and private law practice. Correspondents include: Calvin Coolidge, Louis C. Cramton, Oramel B. Fuller, Chase S. Osborn, Arthur J. Tuttle, Arthur H. Vandenberg, and James E. Watson.

The collection is arranged into three series: Correspondence; U.S. House of Representatives, 1913-1923; and Photographs.

Marquette, Michigan businessman, Democratic state senator, and Republican regent of the University of Michigan. Letterbooks and correspondence relating to activities in the Democratic Party in Michigan, particularly in the Upper Peninsula, to his service within the state legislature, and to state and national elections, 1876-1896; also correspondence and other records concerning his extensive business interests that include Northern Michigan iron, insurance, banking, and general investments.

The collection documents the development of the economy of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from the perspective of one of its pioneer entrepreneurs. Through correspondence and other business records, there is documentation of White's extensive business interests in Northern Michigan iron, insurance, and banking. Other portions of the collection concern his service in the state legislature and his involvement in state and national elections, 1876-1896.

Peter White's correspondence, the largest portion of the collection, has been divided into two series: correspondence/business papers and insurance correspondence. The papers for 1850-1853 deal with White's activities as clerk for Robert Graveraet. Also discussed in this early period are legal matters with some material on his work as postmaster and various family matters. The correspondence for 1854-1862 deals with early mining companies with whom he had association and provides some information about the financial aspect of various organizations. White acted as a marketing agent for several companies and this aspect is covered well. The term served by White in the state legislature is covered very sparsely.

Beginning in 1863 White activities expand to encompass insurance and banking concerns. While the iron interest is well represent in the papers for 1863-1873, insurance and banking occupy an increasingly important place. After 1874, White's insurance business is heavily represented in the correspondence. Banking also continues to occupy an important place but the iron companies are far less frequently a subject of discussion. Local politics is also discussed in the correspondence for 1874-1891. As someone who had been actively engaged in politics and public service, White commented on state and national election campaigns from the 1870s to the 1890s. Most notable are letters exchanged pertaining to the campaign of Williams Jennings Bryan in the presidential election of1896. Beginning in 1902, the insurance correspondence decrease and the investment phase of White's career make itself evident. After 1900 correspondence with the University of Michigan and its history department becomes more important.

The remainder of the collection consists of Business Records, divided between folder records and bound records. Each of these series includes records of specific companies with whom Peter White was associated. These include the Phenix Iron Mining Company, the Michigan God Company, the Manhard-Jopling Company, the Lake Superior Leather Company, and the Schoolcraft Iron Company.

Michigan congressman and senator, head of the U.S. Office of Price Administration; papers include correspondence, legislative files, speeches, political files, business and legal records, diaries and scrapbooks, visual materials, and sound recordings.

The Prentiss M. Brown Collection is rich and full and offers researchers materials on a variety of local and national topics reflecting the diversity of the man's private and public life. The earliest item in the collection is a letter book dated 1902-04 of James J. Brown, like his son a prominent St. Ignace attorney. The collection then picks up Prentiss M. Brown's entrance to the legal profession in 1917, traces his rise to public office, his work in Congress and with the O.P.A., and then concludes with his later business interests and his crusade upon behalf of the Mackinac Bridge.

The Brown Collection comprises approximately twenty-eight feet of correspondence, letterbooks, scrapbooks, diaries, speeches, topical and legislative files, photographs and phonograph records, and legal case files and business records. Covering the period 1917 to 1973, the papers concentrate most heavily in the years 1932-1942 when Brown was in the U.S. Congress. The greatest gap in the collection is in the period of the 1920s when Brown was making his first bids for political office. Also missing are any extensive files for the time of Brown's O.P.A. directorship. What the collection has on the O.P.A. are largely speeches, scrapbooks, and congratulatory letters.

Detroit banker, alumnus and regent of the University of Michigan; contain correspondence and other papers largely concerning University affairs, including athletics, the Development Council, alumni activities, regental affairs; also papers concerning Detroit city government, Detroit Street Railways, affairs of the Alien Property Custodian in World War I, recollections of University life in 1890's,articles on Hazen S. Pingree and Chase S. Osborn; also scrapbooks, speeches, manuscripts, and genealogical material.

The Stone collection is arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Speeches and Articles; Subject Files; and Clipping and Scrapbooks.

Professor of philosophy at Glasgow University and University of Michigan. Extensive correspondence, scrapbooks, lecture notes, addresses, newspaper clippings and other papers relating to questions of philosophy and to his activities at University of Michigan; diaries, 1896-1927, relating to his European travels and career at the University; and photographs.

The Wenley papers have been divided into the following series: Correspondence; University of Glasgow/Queen Margaret College; Biographical and personal; Notes from University of Michigan and other courses and lectures; Speeches and addresses; Miscellaneous; and Scrapbooks.

Attorney General of Michigan, 1912. Briefs and other legal papers relating to the Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railroad case and the Grand Rapids Gas Company case; correspondence, 1907-1908, on his campaign and activities in the Michigan Constitutional Convention; scrapbooks on the Constitutional Convention and Michigan politics, 1907-1920.

The Roger Irving Wykes papers are comprised of four series: Correspondence; Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1907-1908; Miscellaneous; and Litigation Case Files. Most of the correspondence relates to his campaign for delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The great bulk of the Litigation series relates to his participation in the Duluth South Shore and Atlantic Railroad Company Rate Case.

Lansing, Michigan businessman, founder of the Hudson Motor car Company, Secretary of Commerce in the Hoover Administration, leader of the "good roads movement" and the Lincoln Highway Association. Collection includes correspondence, speeches, business papers, clippings and scrapbooks and photographs.

The Roy D. Chapin papers include correspondence, speeches, articles, interviews, business papers, receipts, scrapbooks, photographs, and miscellaneous notes and files of Chapin's wife, and his biographer, John C. Long, concerning family matters, highway transportation, the automobile industry, general economic conditions, foreign trade, World War I, national defense, state and national politics, the Republican Party, and the University of Michigan. The collection also contains extensive papers concerning the Hudson Motor Car Company, including information on management policies, production, and labor organizing.

Ann Arbor, Michigan banker and commissioner of the Michigan Banking Department during the depression. Correspondence and other papers concerning his activities as banking commissioner and officer of the Michigan Bankers Association; includes letters from Mrs. Christine Reichert to her children while touring Europe, mainly Germany, on the eve of World War II, 1939; also letters between Reichert and British manufacturer in which British-American foreign policy is discussed, 1939-1945; and photographs.

The Reichert papers span the period 1907-1965 but bulk largest for the years 1927-1936. The collection deals with Reichert's career as Commissioner of the State Banking Department of Michigan, his activities as a local bank president in Ann Arbor, an officer in the Michigan Bankers Association, and a stockholder in the Argus Corporation. There are a few scattered items of a personal nature, in short, such personal correspondence as was handled through his business office.

The papers are rich in materials on the financial crisis in Michigan during the Great Depression when he was Banking Commissioner. Reichert was also active until the early 1950's in the framing of both state and federal legislation dealing with banks, federal deposit insurance, etc., and he carried on a full correspondence with Congressman Earl Michener and Senator Arthur Vandenberg on these legislative matters. Considerable material exists on the Michigan Bankers Association, especially for the years 1941-1944, when he was an officer of the group. There is some material on Republican party matters, but it is not very full.

Ann Arbor's business and financial life is well covered for the whole period, including material on Argus, Inc. for the post-war period. The effect of both the depression and the war on small town economic life is particularly well documented. There is an interesting series of letters, 1939-1945, between Reichert and a British rope manufacturer named Hendy, in which British and American policy in foreign affairs and the conduct of the war is argued at length.

The collection has been divided into the following series: Professional Papers; State Banking Department and related; Biographical/Personal; and Photographs.

Vice-president and secretary of the University of Michigan; correspondence; research materials for his biographies of university presidents; files relating to activities on the Ann Arbor City Council; course notes from classes at the University of Michigan; and photographs.

The Shirley Wheeler Smith papers include a combination of personal and professional materials. Much of Smith's career with the U-M is documented in the official records of the University, most notably in the records of the Secretary's Office and the papers of the presidents under whom he served (Angell, Hutchins, Burton, Little, and Ruthven). Even so, these papers contain much material relating to the business affairs of the U-M. The extensive correspondence files (with partial index) demonstrate wide influence in all phases of University operations as he corresponded with presidents, faculty, members of the board of regents, and other university personnel. Also documented in the collection is Smith's activities with the city of Ann Arbor and with other community organizations.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Research for writings; Topical files; Ann Arbor City Council; Papers (by date); Personal and miscellaneous; and Photographs.