Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

The television production studio and media services unit of the University of Michigan, commonly referred to as "Michigan Media." It was formed in 1978 through the merger of the university Television Center and the university Audio-Visual Education Center. The Television Center began producing educational programs for broadcast on commercial and public stations in 1950. The Audio-Visual Education Center produced films for the university and operated a film distribution library. The Media Resources Center closed in 1986. The record group consists of administrative records including Broadcasting Committee minutes, annual reports, unit review material, correspondence, and budget material; scripts for television programs and films; press releases; telecourse outlines and study guides; and brochures and catalogs; also photographs; and films.

The records of the University of Michigan Media Resources Center document the production of educational television programs and films at the University of Michigan, 1950-1988. The collection includes administrative records, scripts, press releases and program summaries, photographs, and films and videotapes. This finding aid describes in detail the paper and photograph portion of the collection and briefly describes the film and videotape. A companion finding aid entitled "University of Michigan. Michigan Media. Program Descriptions" provides detailed descriptions of the films and videotapes in the collection. The Program Description finding aid is stored at the reference desk in the reading room of the Bentley Historical Library.

The first classes in art at the University of Michigan were offered in 1906 by the Department of Architecture. In 1926, a program in decorative arts was housed in the College of Engineering and Architecture. Art evolved as a discipline, moving through the colleges of engineering and architecture to become the School of Art, an autonomous institution, in 1974. It became the School of Art & Design in 1996. The records focus on the evaluation and review of the program in the 1970s and early 1980s during the budget crisis faced by the university. The records also contain minutes of the Executive Committee and the Faculty Committee, from the mid-1970s to 1999.

The School of Art & Design records are composed of six series: Topical Files, 1970-1987; Committees; Correspondence; Topical Files, 1980-2000; Visual Materials; and Website. There is a separate collection of printed material. The majority of the records document the years from 1975 to 1999, a crucial period in the school's history as it was formally established as a school in its own right and later experienced serious budget reductions.

Ten series of negatives, slides and copy prints documenting all aspects of University of Michigan life and activities, includes prints used in the University Record.

The News and Information Services Photographs document many aspects of university and community life, particularly activities of the administration, faculty, departments, and students beginning in 1946 and continuing into the early 1980s. Photographs were, for the most part, made by the staff of the News Service (later Information Services and now News and Information Services) for use with university press releases, or upon request of individuals with the university, or for outside media with special interests in university personnel or activities.

The record group presently consists of 10 series (A-J).

The series are comprised primarily of black and white negatives and contact sheets, although Series E includes six linear feet and one oversize box of prints, most of which are 8" x 10" black and white images, and Series H includes color transparencies. There are also prints in Series I, Series J, slides in Series E and I, and a 16 mm film in Series I. Color negatives become more frequent in the late 1980s.

The original order and file headings created by News and Information Services have been retained wherever possible. Thus, the several lettered series reflect various organizational schemes used in the past.

The University Planner's Office oversees the master planning, site planning, and site design for the university. The records consist of correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, architectural drawings, and photographs spanning the years 1840 to 2014.

The records of the University Planner's Office consist of 48 linear feet, 72.3 GB of digital files, and one oversize volume. Records contain correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, architectural drawings, and photographs spanning the years 1840 to 2014. The records document the role of the University Planner's Office in campus planning on the University of Michigan campuses and in conjunction with the City of Ann Arbor.

Records of the School of Social Work (formerly the Institute of Social Work) include minutes, correspondence, curriculum records, and topical files, concerning the activities of the University's social work program under the direction of Robert Kelso, Arthur Dunham, Federle Fauri, Phillip Fellin, Harold R. Johnson, and Paula Allen-Meares.

The records document the founding and development of the School of Social Work from its inception as the Institute of Health and Social Sciences (later renamed as Institute of Public and Social Administration) in 1935, to its subsequent reorganization as the School of Social Work in 1951. The proposed merger with Wayne State University in 1950 is also well documented. The strength of this record group consists of 59 years of minutes (1935-1994), which include proceedings from executive, faculty, and curriculum committees.

Executive office at the University of Michigan serving as liaison between the Board of Regents and the executive officers of the university. Coordinates and manages policy and governance matters for and facilitates communication between the two bodies. Responsible for coordinating the business affairs of the Board of Regents and maintaining official Board records. Includes records from Secretaries Richard L. Kennedy, Roberta Palmer, Lisa Tedesco, and Sally Churchill.

The Vice President and Secretary of the University records group (36.5 linear feet) dates from 1935-2007, with the majority of records dating from 1987-2007, and starts with Secretary Richard L. Kennedy. The majority of the records are from secretaries Kennedy and Lisa Tedesco. The collection includes records related to the performance of the various functions of the Secretary and consists of four major series: Functions and Roles of the Secretary, Board of Regents, Secretaries of the University, and Topical Files.

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.

The television production studio and media services unit of the University of Michigan, commonly referred to as "Michigan Media." It was formed in 1978 through the merger of the university Television Center and the university Audio-Visual Education Center. The Television Center began producing educational programs for broadcast on commercial and public stations in 1950. The Audio-Visual Education Center produced films for the university and operated a film distribution library. The Media Resources Center closed in 1986. The collection consists of documentary type film and video and film and video of television programs produced by the Media Resources Center and its predecessors.

The University of Michigan Media Resources Center Films and Videotapes collection consists of "archives" film footage produced or collected by the Center and television programs and films produced by the Center. The "archives" films are divide into three series; Archives Film (Series AF), Film File (Series AF) and Audio-Visual Education Center Film File Series AVEC Film File. The television programs are organized based on the

Archives Films

The "archival films": consist of documentary style, 16mm film footage of a variety of University of Michigan events, buildings, and personalities. The series originated in 1959 when the Television Center began a project to create a "university film archives." Some of this footage was shot for the purpose of being incorporated into television programs, but much of the filming was done simply to create a film record of the university. Filming was done on a regular basis through about 1972. After that date the Michigan Media collection includes comparatively few "archival" films.

The subject matter of the archival films falls into several broad categories:

1. Series AF -- Archives Films and Series FF -- Film File
   • Ceremonial - including footage of awards ceremonies, inaugurations, graduations, building groundbreakings and dedications
   • Campus scenes - buildings and construction sites, students on the Diag, and general activity on campus
   • Athletic events and marching band performances
   • Student activities -- including protests, fraternity/sorority activities, homecoming, course registration, and social events.
   • Faculty and administrator interviews
   • Visiting dignitaries and participants in special programs and conferences on campus.
   • Films collected by the Television Center - these include several films from the 1920s and 1930s
2. Series AVEC Film File
   • Original footage shot for use in Audio-Visual Education Center films

Films in the three archival series range from a few minutes to more than an hour in length. The films may be negatives, original positives, or work prints. Some are identified as "trims," i.e. original footage edited out of finished productions. The work prints have often been cut and spliced and portions may be missing. Several titles were originally recorded on either two- or one-videotape reels or directly on 3/4-inch videotape cassette.

The early films, ca 1953-ca.1963, are generally black and white. After 1963 color film is more common. Many of the films, especially, from the early years, are silent. For some of these there are accompanying 16mm magnetic sound tracks or 1/4-inch reel-to-reel audio tapes.

The film description part of the finding aid is arranged by series film number or titles. Film numbers were assigned by the Television Center in an approximate chronological order. The description of individual films is based on a card File created by the Television Center and on a viewing of each film by Bentley staff.

The descriptive record for each film includes the film number; title; date; a brief summary of the content of the film; a listing of significant persons appearing in the film; and technical information on the color, sound, polarity, and length of the film.

The films are stored in canisters, usually on a core rather than a reel. A film number generally refers to an individual film title. There is sometimes more than one film number in a canister and occasionally more than one film number on a single reel or core. Alternate versions of a title are indicated by a lower case letter.

The Television Center gave the films titles which are more or less descriptive. These titles have been retained except for a few instances in which a more descriptive title was assigned or in which a uniform title was created for all parts of a multi-reel film. The individual reels of multi-part titles are designated by a lower case letter, e.g. 98a, 98b, 98c. For some titles the may be more than one film, possibly a negative, positive, work print, or other version. A few tittles have been digitized and are available on DVD and streaming files.

The listing for each film or program in includes a Title, date of production, and abstract/summary of the content of the film and ,when available, the names of persons or organizations featured in the film. University of Michigan faculty and staff are identified by departmental or administrative affiliation (e.g. Peter Gosling, UM-Geog. A list of abbreviations used is included in the Additional Descriptive Data Section of this finding aid.) Technical information for the films is provided in the format: Original: 16mm film, pos, b/w, sil, 343, 00:09:35. The order of the information is:

1. Format -- film / videotape / magnetic sound track
2. Polarity -- neg (negative) /. Pos (positive) / wp (work print)
3. Color -- b/w or color
4. Sound -- silent / sound / sof (sound on film)/ at (accompanying 1/4-inch audiotape)
5. Length -- expressed in feet (footage value is sometimes an estimate)
6. Running time -- in the form 01:33:25 (hours:minutes:seconds)
7. (in cases where there are several versions of a title, there may be multiple values for each category)

Television Programs and AVEC Films

The Television Programs consist of 16mm kinescope films and two-inch and 1-inch videotapes of programs produced by the Center for distribution to commercial and educational television stations. The collection represents only a portion of the television programs produced by the Center. There were no extant copies of some programs when the library acquired the collection.

The films and videotapes in the Michigan Media collection were appraised and only a portion have been selected for permanent retention by the Bentley Historical Library. A number of appraisal criteria were used in determining which television programs and films were retained:

1. subject matter relating to the University of Michigan;
2. subject matter relating to the state of Michigan;
3. subject matter of general, national interest;
4. participation of prominent UM faculty or staff;
5. participation of prominent Michigan personalities;
6. participation of persons of national or international significance;
7. programs marking significant technical or artistic developments at Michigan Media;
8. award winning programs.

The television programs are organized by series created by the Center. The series for the most part reflect different type of programming the Center produced, from the earliest "telecourses" to the independent programs produced under the title "Understanding Our World". to the multi-part programs that were the core of the "University of Michigan Television Hour. See the History section for details on the different series.

The description for individual programs includes the title and date of the program, a unique id number, and an abstract of the content of the program with listing of the host and guests on the program. A program may exist in one or more formats: kinescope negative, kinescope positive and 1-inch or 2-inch videotape. Technical information for each program is recorded in the format16mm kinescope film, neg. #511, Pos. #665, 2-inch video #458. (the negative number was treated as a production and for some programs recorded originally on videotape a negative was not actually produced). The television programs were generally either twelve, fifteen or thirty minutes in length Most are black and white and all have sound.

In 2009 a selection of television programs and films and tapes were digitized. for each tape or film selected a preservation Beta SP tape was made as well as a DVD use copy and a streaming file (mpeg4 and Flash). For some films a high resolution digital copy was made as well (mpeg2). The finding aid lists the original format(s) and the derivative formats for the digitized items.

Previous owner of this collection has been identified as "Mr. Cooper." Photos (and negatives) of various construction sites at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The Anonymous construction photographs collection is comprised of photos (and negatives) of various construction sites at the University of Michigan and elsewhere, including the West Quadrangle, Health Service, Victor Vaughan House, Stockwell Hall, Clinical Faculty Office Building, and others. Also included are gravel pit scenes.

The last will and testament of Horace H. Rackham provided for the establishment of a trust fund to provide for the health and welfare of individuals, particularly the sick, aged, the young, the poor, and other underprivileged. Much of the trust money went to the University of Michigan to be used for a building for the graduate school and an endowment to be used for different kinds of research. The Fund also awarded grants to agencies involved in child welfare, community culture, education, health, philanthropy, and science. The Fund distributed money from 1934 until about 1941. The series in this record group consist of administrative and executive files, and project applications and grant files.

The records of the Horace H. Rackham and Mary A. Rackham Fund document the continuing generosity of Horace Rackham and Mary Rackham to numerous charitable, educational, and scientific organizations and causes. The records contain the files of the Fund's trustees and directors and provide insight and information about such topics as the administration of a philanthropic fund-giving organization during the mid-1930s, the kinds of gifts made, the relationship among the Fund's trustees and officers, and the relationship between the Fund and the grant recipients. Because of the size of the gift, most of the documentation within the record group details the close ties between the Fund and the University of Michigan. These files concern not only the establishment of the Rackham endowment to the University, but also the different scientific and educational grants made. Additionally, these files detail the construction of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies building in Ann Arbor and the Rackham Educational Memorial building in Detroit.

The records of the Fund cover the period of 1929-1950 though they bulk largest for the period of the Fund's greatest activity, 1934-1940. The record group has been separated into two series: Combined Administrative and Executive Office Files and Project applications/grants.