Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Pastor of the Grand Rapids A. M. E. First Community Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, city commissioner, acting mayor, and later mayor, 1971-1975. Mayoralty files, political materials, scrapbooks of career activities, and photographs.

The Lyman Parks collection consists mainly of files created and accumulated during the period of his mayoralty. Included are files on the many federal, state and local conferences that he attended. The correspondence files consist mainly of congratulatory letters. The best documentation of Parks' mayoralty will be found in his speech file and in the several scrapbooks from the years when he was in office. The collection also includes photographs, both portraits and photographs of public activities.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Biographical and Personal; Correspondence; Mayoralty Files; A.M.E. Activities; Photographs; and Scrapbooks.

Educational administrator, Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1957-1965, and official with the Johnson administration. Correspondence, reports, and newspaper clippings concerning his public career, political campaigns for state office, work in the constitutional convention, and interest in educational topics.

The Lynn M. Bartlett papers have been arranged into six series. The first three series were accumulated in his capacity as State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Education, and Assistant Secretary for Education within the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The researcher should note that although these series have been designated with the title of the office that Bartlett held, these series do not include the official files from those agencies. Records for the state office will be found in the Michigan State Archives; and records for the two federal positions held either reside within the agency itself or have been transferred to the National Archives. These three series consist of personal materials, such as speeches, personal letters (e.g., letters of congratulation, and thank yous), and other files not deemed to be part of the agency's files.

The final three series consist of Biographical/Personal, the papers of Bartlett's wife Josephine, and Collected Material.

Professor of political science at University of Michigan, and Democratic city councilman for Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1961-1963. Material concerning his council activities, his work for the Michigan Advisory Committee on Reorganization of State Government, and the Michigan State Science Advisory Board.

The Lynn Eley collection documents his activities as secretary on the Governor's Advisory Committee on Reorganization of State Government, 1958-1963, and his term as Democratic Ann Arbor City Councilman, 1961-1963.

Democratic National Committeewoman from Michigan, Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee and Director of Women's Affairs of the Democratic Party. Extensive correspondence, speeches, press releases, political campaign materials, newspaper clippings, agendas, and assorted printed material relating to her work in the Democratic Party; material concerning Democratic politics, 1948-1967, and the activities of the Democratic National Committee and the Michigan State Central Committee.

The collection includes extensive correspondence, speeches, press releases, political campaign materials, newspaper clippings, agendas, and assorted printed material relating to her work in the Democratic Party; material concerning state and national Democratic politics, 1948-1967, and materials accumulated from her service with the Democratic National Committee and the Michigan State Central Committee.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Press Materials; Speeches; Miscellaneous Materials; Organizational Activities; State and Local Politics; National Politics; Printed Materials; and Photographs.

Detroit, Michigan, attorney, Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1955-1974, and member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Congressional papers, arranged by term, include legislative files, bills files, topical files, schedules, sound recordings, photographs, motion pictures, and scrapbooks. The collection details relationship with colleagues and constituents and pertains to committee activities, legislation sponsored, and issues of the day. Topics of interest include civil rights, the war in Vietnam, Sleeping Bear Dunes, the humane slaughtering of animals, the economy and the fiscal policy of the federal government, women's rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, economic problems of women, and the need for national health insurance legislation.

The Griffiths collection consists primarily of correspondence exchanged with constituents and lobbying groups on matters of pending or proposed legislation and on topics of current interest. The collection's great value is its documentation of the workings of this one congressional office and its perspective on the issues confronting the nation in the period of 1955 to 1974. With the Democrats in control of the Congress, these years witnessed legislative efforts to use the power of the Federal Government to rectify the ills of society on matters of civil rights, assistance to the poor, health care for the aged, environmental protection, and so forth. It was also a time of strife in society resulting from the war in Vietnam, tension among the races, and the Watergate crisis. The Griffiths collection documents these issues with letters from constituents and her response to the concerns of the people.

Beyond general issues, the Griffiths papers have importance for their documentation of the specific contribution of this one woman member of Congress, who served for twenty years, and who was rewarded by her colleagues with increasingly responsible committee positions. Especially significant was her appointment to the powerful Ways and Means Committee under the chairmanship of Wilbur Mills. Griffiths' files from her work on W and Means Committee detail the major pieces of tax reform legislation of the 1960s, notably Griffiths' efforts to legislate some equity into the benefits accorded to American women.

The Martha W. Griffiths papers, with few exceptions, have been maintained in the arrangement scheme used by the Griffiths office.

Editor of the Flint Journal. Correspondence and topical files concerning his newspaper career in Flint, the role of the Flint Journal in the development of the city, the General Motors sit-down strike of 1937, and the position of automobile industry to Flint; and photographs.

The Gorman papers reflect the relationship between a local newspaper and the community it served. The collection comprises two linear feet of correspondence and topical files from the period 1928 to 1958. Representing but a selection of Gorman's original files, this remnant appears to include correspondence which Gorman considered to be most important. The correspondence includes substantive material as well as letters of autograph value only.

Organization formed to coordinate support for abortion reform in Michigan in the 1972 statewide election. The record group includes position papers, surveys, mailings, press releases, correspondence, visual materials, and clippings relating to the campaign.

The papers of MARC have been organized both chronologically and by type of material. Papers from the drive for legislation (1969-1971) are followed by materials from the petition drive (1971-1972) and the referendum campaign (1972). Campaign materials include the publicity and press releases of MARC, organizing materials, publicity distributed by the group opposed to Proposition B, the Michigan Right to Life Committee, and correspondence.

Political organization supporting the Democratic ticket for President in 1968. Correspondence and financial records concerning the campaign; also papers and photographs concerning the pre-convention campaign for the nomination of Hubert Humphrey for President.

The record group consists of correspondence, memoranda, organizational papers, a financial report, and delegate material from the Democratic National Convention. There is, in addition, a folder of campaign photos and a reel-to-reel tape of a campaign message.

Records of the Michigan Interfaith Council on Alcohol Problems and affiliated organizations. MICAP is a Lansing based organization dedicated to “solving the alcohol problem.” The series in the record group are: the Executive Director’s Files, Topical Files related to alcohol and gambling, Audits and Financial Information, Publications, and Board meetings.

The MICAP record group contains material dating from as early as 1933, but the bulk of the collection is comprised of records from Rev. Allen B. Rice’s Executive Directorship 1972-1999. The collection has been divided into five series: Executive Director’s Files 1972-2005; Audits and Financial Information 1933-2000; Publications 1973-1999; Topical Files 1983-1991, and Board Meetings, 1974-1995.

The collection consists of digital materials for 28 oral history interviews with state political figures, most of them active in the period of 1950 to 2000. The interviews are conducted by individuals knowledgeable about state political history. The content of the interviews are both about the individual's career and about the issues and personalities of the time. These interviews are with political and labor leaders, past members of the state legislature, a Detroit mayor, and a member of the state constitutional convention of 1961-1962.