3 linear feet
The Winter collection is comprised to six series: Correspondence, Institute of Fine Arts; Museum of Archaeology; Organizational Activities; Biographical / Miscellaneous; and Lectures, speeches, writings.
23.5 linear feet (in 25 boxes) — 1 oversize folder
The papers of Alexander Winchell are those of an orderly man who carefully documented his own life through well-organized correspondence, diaries, notebooks, and scrapbooks. Winchell kept thorough evidence of his activities, writings, lectures, and thoughts, for most of his life. The only area that seems poorly documented is his university teaching. The collection does not appear to include significant material relating to relationships with students in the classroom.
"Alexander Winchell, an editorial tribute," published in The American Geologist (Feb. 1892, MHC call number DB/2/W759/A512), includes a year-by-year account of Winchell's life, based on the papers, and probably written by his brother N. H. Winchell. Although there are no footnotes in this work, it provides a useful summary of Winchell's activities and clues to the existence of documentation in the collection.
The collection is divided into six major series: Biographical, Correspondence, Diaries and journals, Writings and lectures, Reference and research files, and Scrapbooks; and three smaller series: Visual materials, Processing notes, and Card files.
Winchell's bibliography is located in Box 1 (the most complete copy is in the "Permanent memoranda" volume), and drafts of many of his writings are found in Boxes 8-14. Copies of many, but not all, of Winchell's publications are found in the MHC printed collection. The card catalog includes details for all separately cataloged items. There are also three collections of pamphlets that are not inventoried: two slightly different bound sets prepared by N. H. Winchell after Alexander Winchell's death (MHC call numbers DA/2/W759/M678/Set A and DA/2/W759/M678/Set B) and a two-box collection of pamphlets collected by the University Library (MHC call number Univ. of Mich. Coll./J/17/W759).
11 linear feet — 1 oversize folder
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.
3.5 linear feet
The Van Tyne collection includes correspondence concerning the historical profession, publishing, current events, and personal matters; lecture notes, newspaper clippings concerning personal matters and Van Tyne's travels in Europe and India. The papers also include material concerning his activities during World War I, particularly with the National Security League. The papers are organized in two series: Correspondence and Professional and Personal Papers.
297.3 linear feet — 1 oversize volume — 1 oversize folder
The records of the library of the University of Michigan document the development and administration of the central library. The records include topical files, miscellaneous correspondence and reports, and business record books, 1886-1916; include files of librarians/directors/deans Theodore W. Koch, William W. Bishop, Warner G. Rice, Frederick H. Wagman, Richard Dougherty, Robert M. Warner, Don Riggs, William A. Gosling, and Paul Courant; also assorted papers of earlier librarians, Andrew Ten Brook and Raymond C. Davis.
7 linear feet (263 papers)
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.
4 linear feet — 1 oversize volume — 1 oversize folder
The papers of Joseph Beal Steere consist of four feet of manuscript and visual material, one oversize volume, and one oversize folder covering the years 1861-1941. The collection is organized into seven series: Autobiography/Biography, Professional and Published Correspondence, Diaries and Travelogues, Writings, Photographs, and Correspondence with family and friends (1861-1926).
15 linear feet — 1 oversize folder
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.
7 linear feet (in 12 boxes) — 1 oversize folder
The Shaw collection is an assemblage of personal materials such as correspondence, essays and student notebook, and of Shaw's work as an artists including drawings, etchings, and other examples of artistic expression that he used in connection with his work with the University's Alumni Association and its publications. Records of Shaw's activities with the university will be found in the record groups for the Alumni Association and the Bureau of Alumni Relations also located at the Bentley Library. The collection has been divided into five series: Correspondence, Essays, Drawings and Etchings, Miscellaneous, and Photographs and other Visual Materials.
3 linear feet — 1 oversize folder
The Fred Newton Scott collection includes correspondence, drafts of articles and reviews, diaries, daybooks, some personal materials, and photographs.
The correspondence is the core of the collection, consisting mainly of incoming letters to Scott from friends, colleagues, students, publishers, editors, authors, and learned societies. The letters deal mainly with literary and language questions and with Scott's lecture engagements, book reviewing, and other writings. The correspondence, arranged chronologically, is between Scott and four categories of individuals: Students; Journalists and publishers; Professional associates; and University colleagues and other.
I. Students
The wide-ranging influence of Scott's philosophy and teaching is amply illustrated through letters from his former students. They kept him informed of how they were putting his principles into practice as journalists or in academic teaching, and sought his advice on further developments in their work. The accomplishments of women students who had studied with him are particularly noteworthy. Gertrude Buck, whose dissertation on metaphor was considered a definitive study at the time, became a professor at Vassar College. In 1898, she had received the first Ph.D. in Rhetoric awarded by the University of Michigan. Other women students who went on to distinguished careers included Marjorie Nicolson, English professor and dean of Smith College; Helen Mahin, professor of journalism, University of Kansas; Ada Snell, Wellesley College; and Phyllis Povah Drayton, actress. Georgia Jackson was one of the first women to serve on the editorial staff of The American Boy magazine and later became editor of the Literary Digest. Other students of Scott were Frank Mitchell, Katherine Reed, Alice D. Snyder, Katherine Taylor, and Joseph M. Thomas.
Perhaps the most locally prominent among men graduates was Lee A. White who became editor of The Detroit News. Scott also numbered among his accomplished students, Avery Hopwood, playwright and donor of the Hopwood prizes; Wilfred B. Shaw, author and editor, and Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Michigan; Paul Osborn, playwright; Edgar A. and Paul Scott Mowrer, journalists; Joseph Thomas, Dean of the Senior College, University of Minnesota; James O. Bennett, journalist, The Chicago Tribune and Walter A. Donnelly, editor and Director of the University of Michigan Press.
II. Journalists and Publishers
As Scott developed courses in journalism he called on editors and publishers, some of whom had been his students, to lecture on the practical side of newspaper work. Much of this correspondence concerns arrangements for, and contents and evaluations of, these lectures. Since he was also concerned with improving journalistic writing, some letters deal with projects he undertook in cooperation with editors to raise the standards and styles of reportorial work. These professionals included James O. Bennett, Edmund Booth, George Booth, Frank Cobb, J.W. Cunliffe, Willard B. Gore, W.W. Harris, Roy Howard, Frank G. Kane, James M. Lee, Louis Ling, Milton A. McRae, C.M. Marstow, Robert Mountsier, Edgar Ansel Mowrer, Paul Scott Mowrer, Chases S. Osborn, E.G. Pipp, Arthur C. Pound, James Schermerhorn, James E. Scripps, Edwin E. Slosson, and Lee A. White.
III. Professional associates
Many of the letters in F. N. Scott's papers deal with his work on the National Council of Teachers of English and other professional organizations in which he played an active role. These are scattered throughout the collection but are not listed here. The largest amount of correspondence is that related to his interest in setting up an academy for the improvement of the English language. A British organization, the Society for Pure English, had been founded in 1913. In early 1922, a committee was organized, with Scott as chairman, to work with a British committee consisting of Robert Bridges, Henry Newbolt, and J. Dover Wilson, to form an international academy of English. The members of the American committee were: Henry Seidel Canby, Charles M. Gayley, Charles H. Grandgent, John L. Lowes, and John M. Manley. Other correspondents within organizations with whom Scott corresponded included John W. Bright, C.G. Hoag, F.P. Keppel, and Louise Pound. There also letters exchanged with Henry Ford.
IV. University colleagues and others
Included here are letters of Professor Thomas E. Rankin dealing with departmental affairs when he was acting chairman of the department in Scott's absence, and also his reactions to the later merging of the department with the Department of English. Aside from departmental and university concerns, the collection includes extensive correspondence with Jean Paul Slusser who became director of the Museum of Art following a long career teaching design and painting at the university. There is also correspondence with Regent Lucius Hubbard who shared Scott's interest in good English usage and in rare books. In addition, Scott was attracted to the health teachings of John Harvey Kellogg, stayed at his sanitarium in Battle Creek, and exchanged letters with him regarding his health regimen. Other correspondents include John Effinger, Peter Monro Jack, Clarence Cook Little, and Charles E. Whitman.
