Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Professor of botany at University of Michigan, curator of algae at the University Herbarium, and biologist with the atomic bomb test program in Marshall Islands in 1946. Correspondence and other papers relating to his scientific interests and activities.

The Taylor papers are arranged into two principal series; correspondence (1918-1980) and Topical and Subject Papers. Taylor corresponded with most of the significant figures in the field of cytology and algae. The papers do not date beyond 1980 when Taylor left Michigan and retired to the Farlow Herbarium at Harvard in Cambridge.

Charlevoix, Michigan resident, novelist and historian of Great Lakes shipwrecks, the Mackinac Bridge, folklore, and other subjects; correspondence, manuscripts of books, and research materials.

The William Ratigan collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts of his books, research and reference files on topics of interest to him, and photographs. There are letters in the collection from William B. Eerdmans, Marianne Moore, Milo Quaife, David B. Steinman, and folklorist Ivan Walton.

The photographs in the collection are of shipping and boating at Charlevoix, Michigan, of Charlevoix boat builder, Roy Ranger, of construction of the Mackinac Bridge, of the Sault Sainte Marie Canal, and of other topics related to Ratigan's writing interests.

University of Michigan alum (Ph.D. in Geology, 1960), University of Michigan professor of Geology (1965-2000), and curator at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology (1975-2000). Farrand's papers primarily document his career in geological archaeology through correspondence, field notes, research files, publications, and visual materials.

The William R. Farrand papers primarily document the research activities and career of William R. Farrand, an archeological geologist, educator, and scholar known for his work in the Near East and the Mediterranean. His papers mostly pertain to the various expeditions and excavations he conducted, including at Fontéchevade, France; Franchthi Cave, France; Karystos, Greece; Mt. Ararat, Turkey; Qafzeh Cave, Israel; Yabrud (Yabroud), Syria; and Yarimburgaz Cave, Turkey. Record types present include correspondence, field notes, research and reference materials, topical files organized by name, publications, slides, section maps, and photographs.

Remaining materials include materials that document his activities in professional organizations, publications, and topical files. Materials also include notes by Henry Wright, Curator of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology at the University of Michigan (as of May 2024).

Botany professor and Director of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens at the University of Michigan; records include administrative and research files related to his positions with the university.

The W. S. Benninghoff collection consists of three series: Botany Department, Matthaei Botanical Gardens, and University of Michigan Biological Station. The strength of the collection is its documentation of the administrative aspects of the Botany Department and Matthaei Botanical Gardens in the 1970s and 1980s.

Lawyer with the Bendix Corporation and the Ford Motor Company, and member of numerous legal and public service organizations. Speeches, articles and public statements; material relating to his activities with the American Bar Association, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and other legal groups; some files concern his interest in such topics as business ethics, campus government and student dissent in the 1960s, electoral college reform, and legal education; there is also material detailing his involvement in public service organizations concerned largely with civil rights and education; also contracts, agreements, and other documentation relating to reorganization of Wesco Corporation (later National Theatres Corporation), 1933-1936; and reorganization of Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures, July-August 1935.

The William T. Gossett collection chronicle his professional career as a lawyer and businessman as well as those many public service activities in which he was active. The collection was received in two accessions, 1981 and 1997. The 1981 accession, the largest of the two, consisted of the following series: Vita; Speeches, Articles, and Statements; Professional Activities; Topical Files; Public Service Files; Hospitals and Organizations; Colleges Universities, and Schools; and Personal Correspondence. The smaller 1997 accession included these series: Biographical and Personal Materials; Speeches, Articles, and Statements; Photographs; and Twentieth Century-Fox. There was some slight overlap in the content of the two accessions, particularly in Gossett's speeches and articles. No attempt was made, however, to intersperse this similar material.

This collection is comprised of correspondence and other papers relating to William Wallace Phillips' work and his calling as a hermit, as well as copies of his poetry.

Professor of international law at the University of Michigan. Correspondence and other files relating to his professional and academic activities, including work with the American Bar Association Section of International and Comparative Law, the American Society of International Law, the International Law Association, and the Committee on International and Comparative Law of the State Bar of Michigan.

The papers of William Warner Bishop, Jr., covering the period from 1928 to 1987, consist of six linear feet of correspondence, course materials, addresses and professional papers. The collection has been arranged into six series: Biographical/Personal; Addresses, Papers, etc.; Associations; Professional Correspondence; and Course Materials. The collection relates mainly to Bishop's study and teaching of international law. Among the more personal files are materials relating to Bishop's lifelong activity with the local area Boy Scouts.

Willis C. Patterson, the first African American professor at the University of Michigan's School of Music, was an active faculty member from 1968 to 1999. He was a professor of voice and associate dean for academic affairs. Patterson directed the Men's Glee Club from 1969 and 1975 and spent summers as a faculty member at the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. While maintaining an active concert career and fulfilling teaching duties, Patterson organized a Black American Music Symposium and compiled several works on African American composers. Patterson played an active role in securing funding and mentorship for students of color and disadvantaged students both at Michigan and in the Ann Arbor community. The collection includes some biographical material, but focuses mainly on his professional career, musical career, and collection of works by African American composers. It includes correspondence, research, photographs, clippings, publications, and topical files.

The Willis C. Patterson papers include some biographical material, but focuses mainly on his professional career, musical career, and collection of works by African American composers. The collection includes correspondence, publications and research material, photographic material, posters, student records, clippings, and topical files.

Organization formed in 1983 to collect the history of African Americans in Willow Run, Michigan, produce a written history, and foster racial understanding. Records include administrative files, collected material, and audio-visual materials.

The records will interest researchers considering the history of Willow Run, the particular contributions and experiences of its African American citizens, and the evolution of a Michigan community with roots in wartime defense work. It is also an example of a grass-roots effort to address the lack of documentation of black residents' contributions to the expansion of a formerly rural area.

Gerontologist, faculty member at the University of Michigan, first with the Bureau of Psychological Services, later with the Institute for Human Adjustment, and as co-director of its successor unit, the Institute of Gerontology. Files detailing her participation at various meetings and conferences, her other professional activities and affiliations, research projects files, University of Michigan administrative and teaching materials, and videotapes of presentations at 1979 conference, "White House Conferences as Agents of Social Change", also photographs.

The Wilma T. Donahue papers document her career as a teacher, researcher, and administrator at the University of Michigan. The papers span the years 1945-1990 with the bulk of the material falling within the two decades bound by 1949-1969. The Donahue papers are a subset of the Michigan Historical Collections/Institute of Gerontology Joint Archives in Gerontology and can best be understood as an integral element of that larger set.

The Donahue papers provide a clear insight to the development of the field of gerontology as an academic discipline and as an area of concern for policy makers and the general public. The earliest files reflect Donahue's training as a psychologist as it relates to her research on testing, returning veterans, and the blind. In the late 1940s Donahue and Clark Tibbitts began to research and publish articles on the aging population in America. Donahue's papers reflect this new interest as the focus of her writings now turns to issues of aging: housing, mental and physical health, adult education, and the economics of retirement. These issues dominated Donahue's research for twenty years and her papers document her increasing stature as an influential figure in gerontology at the state and national levels, especially her involvement with the University of Michigan Annual Conferences on Gerontology, the Michigan Commission on Aging, and her "cutting edge" research on housing the aging.

The collection came to the library in different accessions and from different sources. Although there is some overlap, the files as received represent distinct series. These series are Articles, Conferences, Addresses and Meetings, 1949-1970; Professional Activities and Affiliations, 1953-1970; Research Projects, 1955-1971; University of Michigan: Administration and Teaching, 1946-1968; Videotapes: White House Conferences as Agents of Social Change, 1979; International Center for Social Gerontology; and Miscellaneous.