Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Files concerning honorary degree recipients, University commencements, the Honors Convocations, and various University fellowships and scholarships; topical files of Frank E. Robbins, Erich Walter, Robert N. Cross, Herbert Hildebrandt, Richard L. Kennedy, William Cash, Jr., and James Shortt; and photographs

The Assistant to the President records contain file related to university commencements (1930-1965), honors convocations (1922-1966), the sesquicentennial celebration of the founding of the university in 1817, university fellowships, gifts, and prizes; correspondence and biographical sketches related honorary degree recipients, and State of the University Addresses. Also included are minutes of the meetings of the university's executive officers (1968-1982), dean's conferences (1951-1985), presidents' conferences (1965-1968), and topical files generated by the office (1933-1980). These records were generated during the tenures of Frank Robbins, 1921-1953; Erich Walter, 1953-1966; Herbert Hildebrand, 1966-1970; Richard Kennedy, 1970-1974; and William Cash, 1970-1983.

Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides of university buildings, including photos of each building owned by the university in 1923, and detailed construction photos of Angell Hall, West Medical Building (later renamed C.C. Little Science Building), Central Heating Plant, University Hospital (Old Main). Also includes houses surrounding campus, heating tunnels, and Buildings and Grounds vehicles, horse teams, employees and equipment.

The record group for the Buildings and Grounds Department is primarily comprised of visual materials that document the construction projects which the department oversaw. The bulk of the records are from the 1920s, with the photographs composing the largest portion of the collection. Non-original images of some university buildings from the 1800s are also included.

The records are arranged into six series: Architectural Drawings, Photo Albums, Photographs, Lantern Slides, Glass Plate Negatives, and Topographical Maps.

Student papers written for courses in architectural history research, mainly about Michigan architects, buildings and communities.

The records consist of student papers prepared for courses in the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Design (later Architecture and Urban Planning), primarily for classes in architectural history research; topics concern the architecture of specific Michigan communities, the architecture of historical buildings and homes, and studies of types of structures in Michigan; papers include historical description and appended visual material. Many of the papers include photos, postcards, and other illustrations relating to the architecture of specific Michigan communities, prominent historical buildings and houses in the state, and types of structures

Newport, Oregon, physician and surgeon, alumnus of the University of Michigan. Consists of views of the University of Michigan campus, buildings, classrooms, faculty, employees, and various student activities.

The collection consists of views of the University of Michigan campus, buildings, classrooms, faculty, employees, and various student activities.

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations, including the Department of Engineering Research, the Engineering Research Institute, the University of Michigan Research Institute, and the Office of Research Administration. Record types include correspondence, topical subject files, research grant files, meeting minutes, financial records, and photographs.

The records of the Division of Research Development and Administration (1919-1996) encompass both the DRDA and all of its predecessor organizations. The papers have been divided into seven major series: Governing and Oversight Bodies (1919-1964), Staff and Committee Records (ca. 1922-1979), Administrative Files (1922-1972), Correspondence Files (1943-1972), Willow Run Laboratories (1946-1966), Directors' Files, and several boxes of Research Grant Files on microfilm. There are also four smaller series: the Engineering College Research Council (1959-1961), Review of the DRDA - Report to Harold Shapiro, 1980, Engineering Research Institute - miscellaneous research reports, Photographs, and Programmed Research Information System at Michigan (PRISM) Reports.

Member of University of Michigan Class of 1932. Negatives made in spring and summer, 1931, by Gary Muffly; include University of Michigan campus and buildings, construction of the Law Building, tug-of-war, and other student activities.

The Muffly collection consists of 43 photographic negatives (2 1/2 x 4 1/2") taken during the Spring and Summer of 1931.

President of Quarry Drugstore, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Pharmaceutical and soda fountain recipe books, account book of farm owned by Margaret Drake of Allentown, Michigan, and photographs.

The Drake collection consists of manuscripts and photographs largely relating to the Quarry drugstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Of interest are photographs of Quarry Drugstore, University of Michigan campus and buildings, a 1908 football game, and the Huron River.

University of Michigan staff photographer, 1913-1947 and commercial photographer in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Collection includes some manuscript material but is primarily photographic prints and negatives made by Swain. Photo subjects include university buildings, faculty, and student activities, archeological expeditions to the Near East and, Ann Arbor scenes and landscapes form his travels in the western United States and Canada.

The papers and photographs of George R. Swain mainly document Swain's accomplishments as university photographer at the University of Michigan from 1913 to 1947. Researchers should note, however, that this is only a sampling of the photographer's work during these years. The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan has an extensive collection of Swain's archaeological negatives and prints, and researchers interested in his full career will want to also look at the Kelsey collection. The Bentley Library material, while including several folders of fine photographs Swain made on his travels with Professor Frances Kelsey, for the most part documents Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan.

The collection at the Bentley Library consists of three series: Miscellaneous Papers; Photographers Log; and Photographs (prints; negatives; and lantern slides. Since the bulk of the collection is comprised of early twentieth century images of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, the materials will be of most interest to researchers searching for visual documentation of this part of the state in that time period. There are very few materials beyond the visual, although the lengthy captions attached to many overseas images and the essays, diaries, and letters, are extremely interesting and offer insight into how Swain approached his craft, both as a professional photographer and in his personal work.

This collection consists of photographs of campus buildings, the interior of a dental lab, and an image of temperance advocate Carry Nation during a visit to Ann Arbor in 1902.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, photography firm. Photonegatives, and some photoprints, of images largely relating to Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, but including Ypsilanti and other Michigan cities: buildings, businesses, houses, street scenes, community activities, and organizations; also photos of automobiles, storm damage, etc. taken to support insurance claims.

The Ivory Photo collection consists of an impressive array of negatives and prints taken by Ann Arbor photographer Mel Ivory from the 1920s to the early 1970s. Most of the photographs were taken by Ivory for customers, whether the University of Michigan, local businesses, or private citizens. The collection is probably most valuable for its extensive documentation of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, the two areas in which it bulks largest. However, because it spans a relatively long time period, the collection is also useful for illustrating changes in photography as an art and as a business, and for documenting social trends in twentieth-century America. Finally, the collection documents the career of a commercial photographer.

As a photographer for the University of Michigan in the 1920s and 1930s, Ivory took the standard pictures of campus events, buildings, and people, but the value of many photographs from this period is as much aesthetic as informational. Producing cover art for the Michigan Alumnus allowed him to experiment with unusual angles, lighting, and subject matter. (See, for example, photographs of the Clements Library and of students strolling through the Diag in the 1930s.) In stark contrast to these images is a large group of photographs of car wrecks that Ivory took for insurance companies between 1937 and 1969.

Besides providing thorough documentation of the physical plant of the University of Michigan, the Ivory collection evokes the flavor of life on campus in the 1930s and 1940s through photographs of football games and crowds, dance bands, social events, professors at work in laboratories, the Michigan Daily staff at work, and students in classrooms, libraries, and dormitories.

The Ann Arbor subseries includes numerous photographs of houses and businesses, filed by address to facilitate research into a particular building or site, as well as a rich assortment of photographs depicting life in Ann Arbor through more than four decades. There are numerous photographs of men and women at work in factories, stores, and other settings. Some show women at work in unusual settings (as cab drivers for Ace Cab Company, for example) while others depict women in stereotypically female occupations (as secretaries, store clerks, and ditto machine operators). Photographs of drug and department store display windows and of products in grocery stores illustrate trends in merchandising.

The Ivory collection is also remarkable for its documentation of social mores. Wedding photographs taken from the 1930s to the 1960s depict a variety of settings, fashions, wedding rituals, and even fads, such as a 1940 wedding at a roller rink. There is also a small group of photographs of funerals and an extensive series of portraits of children, families, and individuals.

Photographs of a depression-era hobo cooking near a railroad car, of lawn parties and country clubs, of the soap box derby and sports teams reflect diverse aspects of life in Ann Arbor. The home front during World War II is documented in views of an aluminum drive, a blitzkrieg game in a local tavern, a commuter bus with a female conductor, and the Judge Advocate General's school exercises in the Law Quad.

Although the Ypsilanti subseries is considerably smaller than the Ann Arbor and University of Michigan subseries, it contains a number of valuable photographs, such as the Cleary College photographs showing rows of students at typewriters, students relaxing on boarding house steps and in Cleary lounges and recreation rooms, and annual graduation processions. The Washtenaw County subseries contains rural scenes such as farms, country roads, and a county fair. The remaining subseries consist of businesses, street scenes, railroad stations, and a variety of other photographs representing Michigan towns and counties.

A few copy negatives made by Ivory from existing photographs are scattered throughout the collection. A late nineteenth or early twentieth-century anatomy lesson in the Medical School, for example, is filed in the "Colleges, Schools, and other Divisions" section of University of Michigan 5"x7" negatives.

The contents of the various subseries and sub-subseries are for the most part self-evident, but a few words of explanation about the Ann Arbor subseries are in order. "Buildings and Views" consists largely of exterior views of buildings. However, there are many interior scenes of people and activities in the "Churches," "Hospitals," and "Schools" sections. For example, photographs of Ann Arbor churches include views of the pastor and congregation, choirs, recreation rooms, meetings, and athletic teams in addition to interior and exterior views of the buildings. "Schools" contains photographs of sports teams, classroom scenes, social events, and buildings representing Ann Arbor public and parochial schools, but also Ann Arbor Secretarial School and Concordia College.

Researchers seeking images of commercial enterprises will find material in the "Buildings and Views" sub-subseries (listed under the street address in the "Houses and Businesses" section) and in the "Businesses" sub-subseries (under the name of the enterprise).

The "Houses and Businesses" negatives within the "Buildings and Views" sub-subseries are arranged alphabetically by street name and then numerically by address. Most of these photographs are exterior views, but interior scenes of businesses have been filed here in order to keep exterior and interior views of a particular business together. Photographs of products, equipment, people at work, and special events are filed in the "Businesses" sub-subseries when no building exteriors exist or when the address of the business was unknown. Researchers should look both places for photographs of businesses. Although some "see also" references have been added, they are by no means exhaustive. Researchers may also wish to examine the "Motor Vehicles" sub-subseries, which contains photographs of trucks owned by Ann Arbor businesses.

In the University of Michigan subseries, "Buildings and Views" consists of exterior and interior views of buildings, whereas "Colleges, Schools, and Other Divisions" contains photographs of professors and students in laboratories and classrooms as well as group photographs of staff and students.