Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Methodist church established in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1827; proceedings and minutes of various church boards and committees; baptism and marriage records, topical files relating to church activities and personalities; and photographs.

The records of the First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan include Church registers; Governance records; Topical Files; and Photographs. Included are proceedings and minutes of the Board of Stewards, Board of Trustees, Official Board, church committees, and quarterly and annual conferences; correspondence and reports of the Methodist Educational Advance; membership lists and directories; baptism and marriage records; financial information; missionary materials, including those about Ann Arbor native Judson Collins, first Methodist missionary to China; documents related to church history; and other church materials, including a limited number of photographs.

Ann Arbor, Michigan Episcopal Church; vestry and parish records, liturgical materials, Christian service and educational materials, administrative records, printed material, and photographs.

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church has created a rich body of material which documents both its own history and its place within the history of Ann Arbor. The records of the parish have been arranged into nine series: Vestry; Registers; Church Programs; Administrative Records; Scrapbooks; Diocese of Michigan and other non-parish material; Liturgical Materials; Publications; and Photographs.

St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church, founded in 1842 in Freedom Township, near Ann Arbor, Michigan; record group includes church registers, financial records, administrative materials, and other subject files.

The St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church record group includes church registers containing family and membership information; financial ledgers; constitutions and by-laws; anniversary and celebratory materials; files relating to church organizations; and photographs of church building.

Church originally established by German immigrant families to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Quarterly and annual reports of the church, records of church boards and commissions, Sunday School minutes and reports, subject files, publications, visual materials, and sound recordings.

The West Side United Methodist Church (Ann Arbor, Mich.) record group contains all extant records of the West Side United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor from its founding as the Erste Deutsche Methodisten Kirche in 1847 up to the 1990s. All records dating prior to World War I are in German, those from later time periods are in English.

Records from the German period are not complete, but do include quarterly conference meeting minutes (1847-1867 and 1883-1916), official board minutes (1897-1908), Sunday School board meeting minutes (1876-1915), Sunday School attendance and contribution records (1901-1918), a record of baptisms (1857-1901), minutes of meetings of the leaders (1901-1908), Epworth League minutes (1900-1917), and records on receipts and expenditures (1879-1893).

Records from the years since World War I vary in completeness depending on the time period. Records from the years prior to the move to the church on Seventh Street in 1952 are less complete than those for the most recent decades. For the period from World War I to 1952, the collection contains quarterly conference reports for most years; official board minutes (1922-1931 and 1944-1952); Board of Christian Education minutes and correspondence (1943-1952); Ladies Aid/Women's Society for Christian Service records (1935-1952); Sunday School board minutes and records on attendance, contributions, and expenditures (1923-1952 - incomplete); letters from former pastors and their wives upon celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Jefferson Street church (1934); photographs of the church building and activities of the congregation, yearbooks (1946-1952), and correspondence concerning the sale of the Jefferson Street church and the construction of the Seventh Street church (1949-1952).

The records for the years since 1952 are relatively complete and quite extensive. Included are quarterly (more recently annual) conference reports, minutes and correspondence of major boards and commissions (Administrative Council, Board of Trustees, Education, Evangelism, Finance, Memorials, Council on Ministries, Missions, Nominations, Outreach, Staff-Parish Relations, United Methodist Women, and Worship) plus various short-lived temporary committees and task forces, correspondence chronological files, subject files on special projects and events, church newsletters, Sunday bulletins, directories, and photographs of the church building and activities of the congregation.

The record group is arranged in six series: Quarterly and Annual Reports, Boards and Commissions File, Sunday School File, Topical File, Publications File, Photographs File, and Audiotapes, Films and Video.

Researchers interested in baptismal and marriage records should contact West Side United Methodist Church.

The First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was organized and established on March 23, 1847. Records include administrative files, subject files, published material, and both visual and audio-material.

The records of the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor have been divided into the following series: History/Background Information; Administration; Financial Records; Church Organizations; Topical Files; Miscellaneous later records; Photographs; Publications; Phonograph records; and Reverend Terry N. Smith. The records document church administration, membership activities, and the relationship of the church to its denomination and to other area churches. Included are records of communicants, baptisms and marriages (1873-1905); pew subscriptions and accounts (1878-1939) and other membership information; church bulletins and newsletters; minutes and reports of the board of trustees, board of deacons, church council, and various subcommittees; records of men's and women's church groups such as the King's Daughters, the Ladies Aid Society, the Women's Fellowship Society, and the Women's Foreign Missionary Society; records relating to the church's affiliation with the Ann Arbor-Washtenaw Council of Churches; files pertaining to the proposed merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church with the Congregational Church in the 1950s; and materials documenting the work of Reverend Terry N. Smith.

Edward H. Kraus (1875-1973) was a Professor of Mineralogy at the University of Michigan and also served as Dean of the Summer Session, 1915-1933, Dean of the College of Pharmacy, 1923-1933, and Dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, 1933-1945. The collection consists of correspondence, as well as speeches and other files related to his academic career and his association with the Ann Arbor First Methodist Church, the University Research Club, and Phi Kappa Phi fraternal organization.

The Edward Kraus papers document his career as professor of mineralogy and administrator at the University of Michigan; his activities in professional organizations, including g the University Research Club and the Mineralogical Society of America; and his involvement with the Ann Arbor First Methodist Episcopal Church and the Wesley Society. The collection is divided into two series, Correspondence and Other Activities and Interests.

Lifelong member of Zion Lutheran Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Aprill served for several years in the 1990s as a member of the Church's Executive Board. Papers include files relating to the history of Zion Lutheran Church, including a conflict within the church in the mid-1990s.

The Theophil Aprill collection contains two series relating to his activities with Zion Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. These series are Zion History and the Conflict at Zion.

Catholic chapel (later parish) ministering largely to University of Michigan students. Council minutes, correspondence, topical files, chapel bulletins, and financial records; also files relating to the Gabriel Richard Foundation, the Newman Club and the Newman Student Association; and photographs.

The records of St. Mary Student Parish are divided into seven series: (1) St. Mary Chapel administrative files; (2) Gabriel Richard Center records; (3) Newman Club records; (4) Topical files; (5) Newsletters; (6) Photographs, Scrapbooks, and Albums; and (7) 2011-2014 Accessions.

Papers,1918-1961,of Theodore R. Schmale, pastor of Bethlehem Evangelical Church [now Bethlehem United Church of Christ]; includes manuscripts of sermons (partially in German); and autobiography,1895,of father-in-law, Johann H. Dinkmeier, describing life in Germany, his immigration to the United States, and his experiences as a teacher and Evangelical pastor. [original and typescript of translation]

The Papers of Theodore R. Schmale consist primarily of his manuscript sermons, most of them dating from 1929 to 1961. These sermons are arranged in three separate sections: chronologically, by topic, and by scripture reference. In addition, the collection contains a small quantity of biographical material on Theodore Schmale, an 1895 autobiography of Schmale's father-in-law, Johann Heinrich Dinkmeier, and an English translation from the autobiography's original German. Dinkmeier's autobiography describes life in Germany, his immigration to the United States, and his experiences as a teacher and Evangelical pastor.

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