Collections : [University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library]

Agency established to develop recreational and community organizations in the Willow Run, Michigan, area as a means of improving home-front morale during World War II. Subject files relating to Project activities; and photographs.

This record group documents the development of the Willow Run Area Recreation Project with emphasis on several programs supported by the staff. Approximately half of the folders contain material that relate directly to the Project goals, staff, and finances. In addition, there are two files, the Detroit-Area Recreation Committee and the Civilian Defense Agency, that contain material relevant to the efforts of the Willow Run Project. Of particular note within the General Information file and Survey file are several summary reports. Each contains excellent overviews of the Project goals and accomplishments. There are also a number of statistical sheets concerning the population of the Ypsilanti community.

Within the remaining folders are documents from specific programs coordinated by the Willow Run Project staff. Several folders contain newsletters and support material for consumer cooperatives. Other folders outline recreational activities and social services such as daycare centers for children of working parents. There is also a small file of publicity photos.

Battle Creek, Michigan, African American singer and music teacher, member of the Battle Creek Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other material relating to her professional career, diaries recording daily activities and personal thoughts, and photographs.

The collection has been arranged into the following series: Personal / Biographical; Writings, speech notes, compositions; Community activities; and Diaries.

University of Michigan physicist whose work concentrated in atomic physics, notably hydrogen parity experiments; also participated in astrophysics research with Arthur Rich, dean for research at the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and the Arts, 1985-1986. Grant proposal materials, correspondence, notes from experiments and research, course materials, papers pertaining to Williams' research at the University of Michigan.

The papers of William L. Williams are contained in four series: Biographical Information, Research Interests, Course Materials, and a Topical File.

Detroit businessman active in numerous minority business affairs and organizations. Williams was director of the Michigan Division of Minority Business Enterprise within the Michigan Department of Commerce, 1959-1978. Biographical information, correspondence, files relating to his activities on behalf of minority business development, especially with the Minority Technology Council of Michigan; also files relating to involvement with Detroit civic and cultural organizations, and photographs.

The Wallace C. Williams Papers document various professional and personal activities and concerns of Wallace C. Williams, most notably those during his career at the Michigan Department of Commerce, Office of Minority Business Enterprise. The collection is comprised of a wide variety of materials documenting Williams' activities in a number of organizations and occupations concerned primarily with minority business affairs. The collection is divided into four series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Michigan Department of Commerce, Office of Economic Expansion, Minority Business Development; and Miscellaneous/Organizations.

Of particular interest is the Michigan Department of Commerce series which documents Williams' activities during his tenure at the Michigan Department of Commerce, Office of Minority Business Enterprise. The material in that series reflects Williams' activities directly associated with his position in that office, and other projects in which Williams was active.

University of Michigan administrator; reports and other data relating to the budgetary and physical operation of University of Michigan.

The Williams collection consists entirely of reports, studies, and other documentation accumulated in his role as University of Michigan administrator. This includes notebooks containing reports and other data relating to the budgetary and physical operation of University of Michigan; reports with information on the financial status and characteristics of University faculty members; and statistical reports relating to students attending the University.

African American civil rights activist and Black militant leader in Monroe County North Carolina who came to advocate armed self-defense in response to violence, left the United States in 1961 and lived in Cuba and China until 1969 when he settled in Baldwin Michigan. Papers include correspondence, newspaper clippings, audio-visual material, manuscripts, petitions, and government documents documenting the civil rights movement, black nationalism, radical politics in the United States and Williams's experiences in Cuba and China.

The Robert Williams papers, dating from 1951, include correspondence, notes, newspaper clippings, audio-visual material, manuscripts, petitions, and government documents. The collection documents a wide variety of subjects: the American civil rights movement, Black Nationalism, cold war politics, Castro's Cuba, Mao's China, and the radical left in the United States.

As Robert Williams continued to add to his collection following his initial donation in 1976, it was necessary to arrange and describe the materials based on groupings of dates of accessioning. Thus the bulk of the collection is divided into two subgroups: 1976-1979 Accessions and 1983-1997 Accessions with much overlapping of material. In addition, the collection contains a small series of papers collected by his son John C. Williams and a separate series of Audio-Visual Materials.

Edward Bruce Williamson was a noted entomologist and botanist in the early part of the 20th century. He spent most of his career as an amateur, but active and well-respected, scholar of odonata (dragon and damselflies) and served as the curator of odonata for the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology from 1916 to his retirement in 1933. He also owned and maintained the Longfield Iris Farm in Bluffton, Indiana where he propagated award-winning irises. The collection includes correspondence, drawing, field notes and reports from his collecting trips, and photographs.

The Edward Bruce Williamson collection contains material dating from 1891 and spanning the next forty years until his death in 1933. Most of the collection focuses on Williamson's activities as an entomologist, though also it includes some personal correspondence and photographs. The collection is divided into four series, Correspondence, 1891-1935, Drawings, Miscellaneous, Notes and Paper Drafts, and Photographs.

University of Michigan alumnae who served as president of the Alumnae Council of the University of Michigan. Consists of correspondence and other papers relating to alumnae activities.

The Marjorie R. Williams papers consists of correspondence and other papers relating to alumnae activities.

Governor of Michigan 1949 to 1960, under-secretary of state for African Affairs from 1961 to 1965, and Michigan Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1986 and leader in state and national Democratic Party. Papers document his public career and aspects of his personal and family life and include correspondence, subject files, staff files, speeches, press releases and news clippings, photographs, sound recordings, films and videotapes.

The G. Mennen Williams Papers consist of official and personal files arranged into six subgroups: 1) Gubernatorial papers, 1949-1960 (681 linear ft.); 2) Non-gubernatorial papers, 1883-1948 and 1958-1988 (107 linear ft.); 3) Visual materials, ca. 1911-1988 (ca. 25 linear ft.); 4) sound recordings, 1950-ca. 1988 (5 linear ft.) Scrapbooks, 1948-1987 (43 vols.) and State Department Microfilm, 1961-1966 (23 reels).

As part of its own control system, the governor's office maintained a card index to the correspondents in many of the subgroups and series within the gubernatorial papers. This card file is located in the library's reading room. In addition, Nancy Williams and her staff compiled an extensive and detailed run of scrapbooks covering the Williams years. There is a separate inventory to these scrapbooks in a separately bound volume.

Strategy for Use of the Gubernatorial Papers: Although the Williams gubernatorial collection consists of hundreds of linear feet of material, the file arrangement created by the governor's staff is a fairly simple one to understand and to use.

The bulk of the collection falls within specific functional groupings, corresponding to the various activities and responsibilities that Williams performed as governor. Thus, if the researcher is uncertain of what portions of the collection might be relevant to his/her research, he/she is advised to think in terms of gubernatorial function. Does the proposed research concern the workings or area responsibility of a state board? If so, the Boards and Commissions series would be the most likely place in which to find material. The election of 1954? Then Democratic Party/Campaign Papers should be first choice. The passage of a specific piece of legislation? Here, Legislative Files is an obvious choice. The possible choices (called subgroups and series) that the researcher has are listed in the Organization of the Collection section. A description of the contents of each of these subgroups/series is provided below.

If, at first, unsuccessful in finding material on any given topic, the researcher might consider these additional strategies:

1. Refer to the Williams card index (located in the library's reading room). Sometimes, the name of an individual associated with a subject provides the easiest point of access into the collection. This file is arranged alphabetically and lists the dates of letters between an individual and the governor's office. This file only indexes the larger series and subgroups in the collection. It does not index the staff files, or parts of the Democratic Party/Campaign subgroup. Nevertheless it is an invaluable tool, and can uncover important material otherwise buried.

2. Refer to the various series of staff papers. Staff members were often closely involved in a specific subject areas (Jordan Popkin and aging, for example) and thus their files are frequently rich in source material.

3. If only partially successful in locating desired material, the researcher should think of an alternative subgroup or series. The governor's office, for a variety of reasons, often filed related material in different locations depending upon the source of a document. Thus, information relating to a strike might be filed both under the Labor Mediation Board in Boards and Commissions, and Strikes in General Subjects. Furthermore, if the strike influenced a specific piece of legislation, there could be material in the Legislative Files.

Ann Arbor, Michigan based hydraulic engineer known for his multiple arch dams, hydroelectric plants, and for developing the Hazen-Williams hydraulic tables, designed and consulted on numerous water power and dam projects. Papers include biographical files, material relating to construction of dams and power plants on the Huron River and elsewhere, and papers relating to Michigan Engineering Society.

The papers of Gardner Williams, 1900-1931, include biographical material; papers relating to the history of Michigan Engineering Society; project files detailing construction of Huron River power plants and dams at Argo, Barton, Geddes, Superior, and French Landing; other Michigan project files for dams and plants in Sault Ste. Marie and elsewhere; Detroit Edison consultation materials; engineering reports by, or including comments of, Williams; and photographs.

The Williams papers came from the offices of Ayres, Lewis, Norris and May, Ann Arbor engineering firm. Obviously a fragment, they cover only the period of 1900 to 1931, with photographs spanning the dates 1900 to 1945.

The collection begins with a folder of biographical material and a folder regarding the history of the Michigan Engineering Society. Except for these, the collection divides into four series: Power Plants and Dams, the Detroit Edison Company, Engineering Reports, and Photographs.

A. L. Williams family of Owosso, Michigan. Personal and business correspondence of A. L. Williams, Owosso, Michigan pioneer, railroad entrepreneur, and spiritualist; and personal letters of other members of the family, including May Williams Dewey, wife of E. O. Dewey (Thomas E. Dewey family); and miscellaneous newspaper clippings, business ledgers, and personal and business diaries concerning business affairs and daily activities; "spirit messages" received from departed family and others; also photographs.

The Williams Family [Owosso] collection consists of 2 linear feet of material. It includes the personal and business papers of four generations of Williamses from 1838 to 1953. However, the bulk of the material relates to the family of Alfred Leonzo Williams between 1860 and 1890.

Bishop of the Michigan Diocese of the Episcopal Church, 1906-1923, and advocate of the "social gospel" views of Walter Rauschenbusch. Papers consist of correspondence, notebooks on labor and social issues, and biographical material.

The papers of Charles D. Williams, Episcopal bishop of Michigan, include correspondence concerning personal and church affairs and the social gospel movement, including correspondence with Walter Rauschenbush, Samuel Mather, and Lucretia Garfield; also sermons and addresses, 1885-1923, journals of European trips, 1896, 1917, and 1921, notebooks on social and labor problems, material on the 1908 forest fire at Metz, Michigan (Presque Isle County), and material on the Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio in 1898; biographical writings by his sons, Benedict Williams, his wife Lucy V. Williams, and his secretary, Charles O. Ford; letters of condolence from fellow clergy, including Reinhold Niebuhr; also photographs.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, protest march that was part of the 2017 Women's March. The collection consists of digital photographs of the march.

The collection consists of digital photographs from the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Women's March.

Engineer-manager of the Ionia County (Mich.) Road Commission. Speeches, articles, correspondence, press releases, newspaper clippings, photographs, and miscellanea relating to his work as county engineer; also contains material concerning the Ionia County Free Fair and the American Road Builders' Association.

The Allan M. Williams Collection includes much material dealing with Williams' professional interests and concerns. There are papers relating to the American Road Builders' Association and Michigan organizations, including articles and speeches written by Williams. In addition, there are materials relating to his unsuccessful primary campaigns for State Road Commissioner in 1941 and 1943 and for State Senator in 1962. Finally, materials relating to the Ionia County Free Fair are quite rich, including correspondence, financial information, and publicity dealing with far range planning and the day-to-day operations of the Ionia County Free Fair and its governing board.

The collections has been arranged into the following series: Biographical/Personal; Ionia County Free Fair; Speeches and writings; American Road Builders' Association; Other Organizations; Projects and related; Political file; Community projects; Photographs.

Records, 1923-1964, of the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan; contain official correspondence and other materials.

The records of the William L. Clements Library contain correspondence regarding the operation of the library, acquisitions by gift or purchase, and a topical file maintained by the directors. The records are organized into two series: Topical Files circa 1923-1964, and Correspondence.

The Topical Files circa 1923-1949 series was transferred to the William L. Clements Library in July 2022.

Cincinnati and Detroit based architect. Major commissions include the Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan residence for Oscar Webber, the Fordson Village Development, and the Goulburn Avenue and Dresden Avenue Defense Houses in Detroit. The collection consists primarily of project files, correspondence, personal diaries, photographs, commission accounts, and architectural drawings.

The Willeke papers are organized into three series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, and Defense Housing. The collection encompasses eleven linear feet of correspondence, photographs, journals, sketches, commission notebooks and accounts, as well as architectural drawings in eight flat file drawers, and twenty-four tubes.

Scrapbooks of Warren S. Wilkinson, member of the board of the Evening News Association, publisher of the Detroit News. Scrapbooks relate to the life and work of James E. Scripps, founder of the Detroit News, and to the struggle over the sale of the newspaper to Gannett Company in 1985.

The collection contains scrapbooks assembled by Wilkinson relating to the life and work of James E. Scripps, as well as the machinations surrounding the sale of the Evening News Association to Gannett Company in 1985. Most of the scrapbooks have been copied for the library and the originals returned to the donor. The collection consists of photocopies of the scrapbooks along with scanned images of many of the photographs. Scanned photos are identified by the scan number noted on the reverse of the page.

The family scrapbooks document James E. Scripps's personal life and his family, the history of the Detroit News, Scripps family interests including the Detroit Museum of Art, the Scripps home on Trumbull Avenue in Detroit, and Trinity Episcopal Church located at the corner of Trumbull and Grand River Avenues in Detroit one block from the family home.

Wilkinson's scrapbooks titled "The Twilight of the Evening News Association" contain photos, correspondence, trial transcripts, financial charts, and commentary documenting the company's struggle for profitability in the 1960s and 70s, and negotiations and lawsuits over the sale of the company in the 1980s. The first volume in this sequence contains many photos of News operations from the early part of the twentieth century.

Professor of business economics in the University of Michigan School of Business Administration. Copies of radio commentaries, "Business Review," 1960-1981; papers relating to newspaper column, "Inside Business"; speeches and essays; correspondence, 1971-1982; and photographs and miscellaneous.

The Ross Wilhelm papers (1925-1982) date principally from 1960 to 1982 and measure three linear feet. The papers document Wilhelm's radio program "Business Review" and other aspects of his professional career.

Professor of law at University of Michigan, and specialist in corporation law. Correspondence, speeches, newspaper clippings, notes, and manuscripts of books and articles, relating to his professional career, Ann Arbor, Michigan organizations and issues, particularly progressive political movements and prohibition, including the Michigan Anti-Saloon League, the anti-trust movement, and the 1912 Progressive Party; also photographs.

The Horace L. Wilgus papers include correspondence, speeches, clippings, notes, manuscripts of books and articles dealing with his professional career, the many Ann Arbor organizations and issues in which he was interested: particularly progressive political movements and prohibition, including the Michigan Anti-Saloon League, the anti-trust movement, and the 1912 Progressive Party. The collection also includes University of Michigan Law School course materials, family genealogical information, and a small series of photographs, many of them of his home on Washtenaw Ave. in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Missionary to China, ca. 1900-1939. Letters, 1911-1932, to family members describing in detail missionary life, the political situation in China, and family matters; diary, 1942-1943, describing internment in Peking by the Japanese Army; letter of son, Theodore Stanley Wilder, to his grandmother concerning China experiences; reminiscences of T. S. Wilder, and photographs and other materials.

The collection consists of two series of papers. First there are letters that Wilder wrote to family members describing his life as a missionary in China. The next series of other papers includes a diary describing his internment by the Japanese during World War II and a remembrance of the life and work of his missionary parents written by Theodore S. Wilder.