Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

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.

Republican regent of the University of Michigan. Files and photographs relating to his election campaigns, his regental activities, especially as member of the Association of Governing Boards of State Universities and Allied Institutions; also papers concerning his work as price specialist with the Office of Price Administration during World War II, and as Michigan campaign manager for Wendell Willkie, 1943-1944.

The papers in the Alfred B. Connable collection, covering the years 1925-1992, document Connable's political and business careers, and also include biographical information. Included in the collection are newspaper clippings, correspondence, a diary, and photographs. The collection is organized into six series: Biographical Information, Board of Regents, Business Career, Political Career, Miscellaneous, and Photographs.

Editor and publisher, with his brother, William Randolph Cook, of the Hastings Banner in Hastings, Michigan. Correspondence, 1893-1941, relating to operations of their paper and other business enterprises, including material concerning Republican politics, the temperance movement, their activities and interest in the Rotary Club, the Salvation Army, and the Young Men's Christian Association.

The collection has been arranged into three series: Correspondence; Hasting Rotary Club; and Miscellaneous. The correspondence has been arranged chronologically with separate folders when needed for specific kinds of activities of the two brothers: political, business, church activities, and other professional responsibilities.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, businessman; scrapbooks relating to business and Masonic activities and to his civic activities.

The collection consists of photocopies of letters exchanged with Michigan Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, 1927-1951, and four scrapbooks, 1910-1933, concerning his business and Masonic activities and his chairmanship of Grand Rapids Welfare Union fund-raising drive during the depression.

State Representative from Lapeer, Michigan; U.S. Congressman, 1913-1931, and special attorney to the Secretary of the Interior, 1931-1932; correspondence, speeches, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, campaign materials, and other items relating to his advocacy of the national park system, the concept of historic preservation, fair employment practices legislation, increased support for Howard University and all other aspects of his career.

The Louis C. Cramton papers came to the Bentley Historical Library in three separate accessions (1948-1950; 1971; 1987). The collection has been arranged into six series: Correspondence, Miscellaneous Papers, Topical Files, Newspaper clippings/Scrapbooks, Photographs, and Louis Kay Cramton Papers.

Professor of English history at University of Michigan. Correspondence with European and American historians, publishing houses, editors of learned journals, members of his family, and friends; also manuscripts of books and articles, lecture notes, student records, business papers, personal account books, diaries, 1938-1940, with comments on world events, and miscellaneous papers; and photographs.

The Cross papers are divided into the following series: Correspondence; Miscellaneous and undated papers; Personal/Biographical; University of Michigan; Publications, articles, and related; Research and lecture materials, and Photographs.

Detroit, Michigan, attorney, Republican regent of University of Michigan; regent’s files; political materials; and personal miscellanea.

The Cudlip collection contains files relating to his activities as regent of the University of Michigan, 1963-1972, to his work as delegate to Michigan's Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962, and as general counsel for the Michigan Bankers Association, 1932-1953. In addition, there is personal and political correspondence, 1922-1985, detailing in part with his involvement in Republican Party affairs, especially his friendship with Michigan Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg and his support of Vandenberg's candidacy for the Republican nomination for president in1940. Other files include speeches relating mainly to banking during the depression; an essay, entitled, "Pages from the diary of a lumberjack"; and notebooks from his University of Michigan Law School classes, 1923-1926.

Michigan based author of adventure stories set in Alaska and Canada, screen writer and motion picture executive, and conservationist, a founding member of Izaak Walton League and member of Michigan Conservation Commission. Papers documenting his literary, film and conservation activities include manuscripts of books, screenplays and other writing and correspondence and photographs.

The James Oliver Curwood papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, manuscripts of publications, copies of books, and miscellanea; include material concerning his literary activities, the writing and production of motion pictures, his promotion of conservation causes, especially forest fire prevention, deer herd management, and the campaign against water pollution, and his work with the Conservation Commission, particularly his disputes with the Michigan Department of Conservation, Governor Alexander J. Groesbeck, and state director of conservation, John Baird; also copies of correspondence collected by Ivan Conger.

Photographs include pictures taken on hunting and fishing trips to British Columbia, the Canadian Northwest, and other areas of Canada; portraits; and photos of the Saginaw River (Michigan), and of pollution caused by the Michigan Sugar Company; also one film (two videotape copies), including scenes from God's Country and the Law.

News editor and vice president of Detroit, Michigan, radio station, WJR, moderator of radio program, "In Our Opinion". Correspondence, radio transcripts, scrapbooks, broadcast discs, and audio-tapes of discs; include material concerning career of Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, the senatorial campaign of 1942 between Prentiss Brown and Homer Ferguson, and radio broadcasting in general.

The Cushing collection consists largely of sound recordings of a selection of the "In Our Opinion" radio program. There are also additional textual materials: clippings and other documents pertaining to the program and some transcriptions of particular programs.

The sound recordings of the "In Our Opinion" program were originally phonograph transmission discs. Nearly impossible to listen to because of their oversize format and the absence of appropriate players, the library applied for and received a grant in 1977 from the NHPRC to transfer a selection of the more than 600 discs onto reel-to-reel tapes. Many of the discs already showed signs of deterioration. The selection of what discs to preserve was based on the significance of the topics discussed and the importance of the interviewees. Among the guests were Senators Arthur Vandenberg and Homer Ferguson, automobile executive (later governor) George Romney, Congressman George Dondero, military historian General S.L.A. Marshall, political science Professor James K, Pollock, Governor Kim Sigler, Lowell Thomas, Thor Heyerdahl, Edward R. Murrow, and Episcopal Bishop Richard S. Emrich, among many others. Topics ranged from state and national politics, the impact of the war, foreign affairs, post-war re-conversion of the economy, and issues specific to Detroit and Michigan.

United States Representative and Secretary of the Navy; collection includes correspondence, 1880-1927, concerning personal matters, business affairs, and political activities; letters to Mrs. Denby regarding Denby’s death; articles, speeches, notes and memoranda on various topics including the Teapot Dome Scandal, Panama Canal, relations with China, and the United States Navy; photostats of letters exchanged between Nathaniel Denby and George Bancroft, 1845-1846; and photographs.

The Edwin Denby papers, dating from 1845-1846 and 1880-1929, are organized into five series: Correspondence, Articles and Speeches, Topical Files, Personal/Biographical, and Photographs. Denby's papers document his political career as United States Representative and Secretary of the Navy, and include relevant information on such topics as the United States Navy, the Panama Canal and the Teapot Dome Scandal.