Collections : [University of Michigan Special Collections Research Center]

This collection contains material related to the Ann Arbor- and University of Michigan- based magazine the Leaping Lesbian, which grew from a local to national profile over the course of its publication. Although the records contain little information on the magazine's administrators, they provide a descriptive view of both the local and national lesbian community. The publications themselves reflect these communities through submitted articles, letters to the editor and news releases. Business correspondence vividly portrays the growing network of lesbian and women's enterprises in the late 1970s. And personal correspondence shows the emergence of a similar network within the social community.

The Leaping Lesbian Records are comprised of materials relating to the publication and the administration of the Leaping Lesbian publication, from 1977 until 1981. Although they adequately reflect the operations behind the publication, little information is present about the women who made up the collective. Meeting minutes hint at strained relationships and uneven workloads, but conclusive evidence as to why the collective disbanded is missing. The records do, however, provide a descriptive view of both the local and national lesbian community. The publications themselves reflect these communities through submitted articles, letters to the editor and news releases. Business correspondence vividly portrays the growing network of lesbian and women's enterprises in the late 1970s. And personal correspondence shows the emergence of a similar network within the social community. Overall, the records of the Leaping Lesbian collective display a lesbian community growing increasingly self-assured. Although an attempt has been made to follow the collective's original organizational system, a few changes have been made in order to make the records more easily accessible. File folders, most maintaining the originally designated titles, have been arranged alphabetically within series. Materials within files have been arranged chronologically. Records containing no identifying date have been placed in front of marked records with file folders. The records are organized into four series: Publication Materials, Organizational Materials, Financial and Legal Materials and Previously Unopened Incoming Correspondence. The Publication Materials Files contain all materials related to the publishing aspect of the organization. Included are contributed materials, press releases, and layouts of publications. The Organizational Materials Files contain all material related to the administration of the organization. Included are incoming correspondence from both businesses and patrons, mailing lists, meeting agendas and minutes, as well as advertising and sales information. The Miscellaneous Memorabilia folder in this series includes flyers and publicity photographs from various organizations and events. The Financial and Legal Materials Files contain all material related to the financial and legal operations of the organization. Included are financial and legal papers, receipts, account statements and records of subscriptions. The Previously Unopened Incoming Correspondence Files contain material that arrived at the Leaping Lesbian office after the final disbanding of the organization. This is the only series that does not reflect the collective's original organizational system. Included is correspondence from businesses, correspondence from patrons and national event notices and press releases.

The Lee Walp Family Juvenile Book Collection is the collection of the late Russell Lee Walp (1906-2003), an avid book-collector and Professor of Botany at Marietta College (Marietta, Ohio). Mr Walp, along with his wife, Esther "Sparkie" Walp, collected materials related to the best in 20th century children's literature, with an emphasis on well-known illustrators and their illustrations. He corresponded with many illustrators and authors, whose letters, manuscripts, and original artwork may be found in the collection. Ed Emberley and Robert Andrew Parker are the most well-represented, but Roger Duvoisin, Hardie Gramatky, Robert Lawson, and Shimin Symeon, as well as scores of other luminaries in the world of children's literature are also represented. Included in the collection are notes, bibliographies, and catalogues documenting how Mr. Walp built and used his collection to educate the public are included, along with a small amount of material related to the study and teaching of botany.

The Lee Walp Family Juvenile Book Collection contains two types of materials: information about the Walps and their collecting, and information about the illustrators and authors. Material related to Mr. Walp's collecting may be found in the following series: Personal, Book Collecting, Walp Library Catalog Cards, and Articles, Exhibits, and Lectures by the Walps. Information about the illustrators and authors is concentrated in the series Illustrators and Authors and Art, and also in Articles and Clippings, Audiovisual, Posters, and Realia. The approximately 5,000 books in the Walp Collection include a complete set of first editions of the Caldecott Medal Books, and first editions of all but three Newbery Medal-winning books. These books are cataloged separately.

The Walp Collection has material by or about over 250 children's book illustrators and authors. The two most well-represented are Ed Emberley and Robert Andrew Parker. There is also a significant amount on Roger Duvoisin, Hardie Gramatky, Robert Lawson, and Symeon Shimin.

The Leo and Mary Sarkisian Collection consists of recordings of the Music Time in Africa radio program (1966-2021), the contents of the Leo Sarkisian VOA Music Library, and related contextual documents and artifacts, including the personal papers of its creator Leo Sarkisian and his wife Mary Sarkisian. The bulk of the collection is source material for the production and broadcast of Music Time in Africa, including copies of the radio broadcasts and scripts, recordings of African music compiled for use in the show, and original field recordings made by Leo Sarkisian between approximately 1959 and 1975. Other recordings include commercially produced content in LP, 45 rpm and cassette tape formats. The collection documents the public diplomacy exercised by the United States through Voice of America programming in Africa and the wide variety of musical styles of newly independent African nations.

The Leo and Mary Sarkisian collection (220 linear feet) consists of recordings of the Voice of America's Music Time in Africa radio program (1965–2021), the contents of the Leo Sarkisian VOA Music Library, and related contextual documents, personal papers, artifacts, and musical instruments. The University of Michigan Library established the Leo and Mary Sarkisian Collection in 2018 by consolidating previous gifts and donations from the Sarkisians, long-term loans of archival materials from the Voice of America, and digital reproductions created by the University of Michigan. In 2004, Leo Sarkisian formally donated musical instruments from his personal collection to the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. He followed up in 2012 and 2015 with donations of personal papers and artifacts collected during travels in Africa, documented by a signed deed of gift. In 2008, the University of Michigan negotiated a Memo of Understanding with the Voice of America to digitize and make available for teaching and research 360 rare and unique audio recordings made by Leo Sarkisian in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2015, the Voice of America transferred the entire contents of the Leo Sarkisian Music Library to the University of Michigan for purposes of research and teaching. An extended Memo of Understanding between UM and VOA governs the archival processing of the loaned materials as well as permissions to digitize materials and make them available for teaching and research.

The bulk of the collection is source material for the production and broadcast of Music Time in Africa, including copies of the radio broadcasts and scripts, recordings of African music compiled for use in the show. Because Sarkisian had no mandate from VOA to create and retain an archival copy of every broadcast show, the completeness of the surviving MTIA radio shows varies. The most complete representation includes the audio recording of the full broadcast and the full script. Some instances of the show include only the musical inserts (without the host's voice) and the script. A number of complete show audio recordings lack associated scripts. Some individual scripts are not matched with surviving radio show recordings.

Among the VOA Music Library materials are recordings from Sarkisian's prior work with Tempo records, where he trained as a recording engineer. This small group of materials dates back as early as 1949, when Sarkisian began traveling in Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) making field recordings for the Hollywood-based label. In 1958, Irving "Colonel" Fogel, the president of Tempo sent Sarkisian to Ghana, where he made over 100 recordings and donated the tapes to Radio Ghana. He and Mary established a Tempo office in Conakry, Guinea. There in 1962, Leo met Edward R. Murrow, who was then head of the United States Information Agency. Murrow invited Sarkisian to join the Voice of America (VOA) as Music Director of VOA's Africa Program Center in Monrovia, Liberia.

Leo and Mary traveled extensively to make field recordings and launch a new radio show focused on traditional African music. Leo recounted that the Music Time in Africa radio show first broadcast in May1965; the earliest recorded broadcast of MTIA in the collection is from May 22, 1966. The geographical coverage of the collection includes 46 African countries, the US, and other locations where Sarkisian worked. The African countries represented in the collection are: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic, Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The collection contains evidence of Sarkisian's work through VOA's Program Center in Monrovia, Liberia, to train recording technicians and program directors at radio stations in several African countries. Notable among these were Radio Tanzania, Radio Comores, Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne (Chad), Radio Dahomey, Radio Rurale (Burkina Faso), Radio Burundi, and Radio Douala (Cameroon). The VOA Music Library Tape Recordings series includes tapes sent to the VOA from these stations.

The collection documents the production of Music Time in Africa as a pre-recorded analog program. Leo Sarkisian worked primarily with quarter-inch open reel magnetic audio tape. He assembled the musical selections for each Music Time in Africa program, and composed and typed the scripts for the host to read, almost verbatim. A recording engineer interspersed the musical selections on cue and simultaneously created a full recording of the 30-minute show. The show typically followed a format that book-ended field recordings of traditional music with several commercially recorded popular songs. Traditional musical content was drawn from Leo's field recordings and other sources.

The show's theme music was composed and performed by Geraldo Pino and the Heartbeats of Sierra Leone from an original recording that Leo made of the band. The shows are remarkable for the breadth of genres represented in the programming selections and the geographical coverage of the collection. Sarkisian collaborated with composers and scholars including J.H. Kwabena Nkeita, Duro Ladipo, Bai T. Moore, and representatives of the radio stations where he trained engineers and program directors. The Voice of America broadcast Sarkisian's pre-recorded shows on Sundays at 18:30 GMT across the African continent, via shortwave radio relays. Originally the VOA was broadcast only outside the United States. Legislation signed in 2013 made the broadcasts accessible to US audiences. Today the MTIA show is one hour long and encompasses a variety of social media content including blogs and videos of interviews with guest artists.

Four hosts gave voice to Music Time in Africa during the four decades that Leo Sarkisian produced the show. Bryn Poole, the spouse of a VOA station officer in Monrovia, Liberia, hosted the program between 1965 and 1967. Miatta Fahnbulleh, a Liberian musician, served as interim host in 1968 while the VOA broadcast facilities in Monrovia relocated permanently to Washington, DC. In 1968 VOA staff broadcaster Susan Moran assumed hosting responsibilities in Washington, DC and served continuously in this role until April 1978. Leo Sarkisian recruited experienced radio announcer Rita Rochelle in 1978 to be the host and public face of Music Time in Africa, a role she filled until April 2004. Occasionally, Leo Sarkisian, dubbed the Music Man in Africa, joined the formal host in the studio to narrate the context of particular musical selections or to regale the audience with stories of his recording trips to the African continent.

In addition to announcing the songs, the scripts provide contextual information. The hosts often explain the song lyrics and describe the places, peoples, and styles (e.g. dance, lullaby, or ceremonial), or musical instruments. The scripts also include announcements of birthdays, requests, and other responses to fan mail, especially during the height of the broadcast years coinciding with Rita Rochelle's tenure as host. The MTIA shows include occasional interviews with guest performers. Under the general direction of Leo Sarkisian, ethnomusicologist Matthew Lavoie assumed responsibility in April 2004 for producing and hosting Music Time in Africa. Recast as an hour-long program broadcast from Washington, DC to the African continent via shortwave and FM signals, Lavoie's MTIA also utilized digital recording technologies to assemble the audio portions of the program from the extensive analog resources in the Leo Sarkisian Music Library at VOA.

To supplement his hosting responsibilities, Lavoie wrote a blog, "African Music Treasures," for the VOA website. The 52 currently existing blog posts compare and contrast music from across the African continent, provide biographical background on musicians, describe musical genres and instruments, and highlight aspects of Leo Sarkisian's original field recordings. The blog posts also engage other contemporaneous bloggers from Europe and the US (e.g., Likembe, Awesome Tapes from Africa, Benn Loxo du Taccu, Worldservice) in a growing discussion on the topic of African musical recordings. The blogs represent Lavoie's areas of special interest. Matthew Lavoie's blog posts remain available through the VOA website and are preserved as fixed PDF files as part of this series. The Internet Archive preserves a small selection of Matthew Lavoie MTIA shows that were uploaded by an anonymous third-party user not affiliated with VOA.

In 2012, Heather Maxwell, an ethnomusicologist with a Ph.D. from Indiana University specializing in African music, took over producing and hosting the Music Time in Africa radio show. She continues to the present day. She has maintained the MTIA-VOA blog and expanded the format of the show to include video interviews (available on YouTube). Maxwell's shows (audio or audio/video only) since 2014 to the present and her blog posts are accessible through the VOA website.

Archival processing established thirteen archival series groupings on what was a richly organic working music library of audio recordings, program documentation, and personal artifacts. The organization of the collection reflects the processes that went into producing the Music Time in Africa radio show, the administrative functions and history of Leo Sarkisian's career, and the structure of the reference library that he built and maintained at the Voice of America's headquarters in Washington, DC.

The majority of the collection consists of audio recordings in analog and digital formats. Audio recordings include complete and incomplete copies of extant Music Time in Africa broadcasts, along with the audio source materials that Leo Sarkisian used to construct the radio broadcasts. The extant MTIA radio shows are compound objects of audio recordings and typed scripts, often existing in multiple copies and multiple versions. Source media range from a preponderance of open-reel quarter-inch magnetic tapes (acetate or polyester base) to LP and 45 rpm records, cassette tapes, digital minidiscs, and CD's. Complementing the extensive audio materials are small collections of supporting documents, personal papers, artifacts, and musical instruments.

The National Endowment for the Humanities supported the digitization of the most complete versions of Leo Sarkisian's MTIA broadcasts. MTIA broadcasts produced and hosted by Matthew Lavoie and Heather Maxwell are in born digital formats as separate parts of the collection. The University of Michigan digitized a selection of unique field recordings created by Leo Sarkisian during his travels in Africa, along with distinctive portions of the source materials that Sarkisian utilized in the MTIA shows. The Internet Archives contains a small portion of Matthew Lavoie's MTIA radio shows. Heather Maxwell's radio shows (also born-digital) broadcast since 2016 are available through the VOA News website. Blog posts on Music Time in Africa and its African musical heritage created by Matthew Lavoie and Heather Maxwell are available on the VOA website.

Lester O. Kruger was a long-time 3M employee and a leader in the micrographics industry. As an active member of the National Micrographics Association and Association for Information and Image Management, Kruger helped develop national and international micrographic standards. This collection documents Kruger's career and involvement with Filmsort/3M, NMA, and AIIM.

The Lester O. Kruger Papers are divided into 8 series: National Micrographics Association (NMA), Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), 3M, Personal, Photographs, Microforms, Printed Material, and Realia. Largely consisting of professional papers, the collection documents Kruger's work in micrographics, imaging, and standards. Included are correspondence and memoranda between colleagues, organizational correspondence and information, meeting reports and resolutions, drafts of proposed standards, presentation drafts, photographs, and microfiche. The collection contains a smaller amount of more personal material, pertaining to Kruger's career and achievements. These include: awards, plaques, a scrapbook, photographs, ephemera, and a small quantity of personal correspondence with professional colleagues. Realia related to micrography, including microfilm viewers and a medallion from an NMA conference, make up the final series in the Kruger Papers.

Formed in 1913 by Carl G. Fisher, Frank A. Seiberling, and Henry B. Joy, the Lincoln Highway Association was made up of representatives from the automobile, tire, and cement industries. The Association aimed to plan, fund, construct, and promote the first transcontinental highway in North America. The route ran from New York to San Francisco, and covered approximately 3,400 miles. The Detroit headquarters of the Association closed in 1928. This collection contains: correspondence, particularly between members of the Association and government officials; meeting minutes; reports, bulletins, and newsletters published by the Association; motorist maps of the route; and annotated editions of The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway. Photographs from the Lincoln Highway Association Records have been digitized and are accessible online at the Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/linchigh). The Digital Image Collection contains over 3,000 images including views of construction underway, towns and cities, markers, bridges, cars, camp sites, scenic views, and snapshots of Association directors and field secretaries traveling the route.

The Lincoln Highway Association Records date from 1911 to 1993 with the bulk of materials concentrated before 1930. The records are divided into five series: Official Business (1912-1941), Correspondence (1912-1929), Planning (1914-1940), Publicity (1911-1993), Publications (1915-1935), Jens Jensen Drawings (1922-1924) and Miscellaneous.

The Lincoln Highway Association archive was donated to the University of Michigan's Transportation Library in 1937. The archive was transferred to the Special Collections Library in 1992.

Communication was frequent between members of the Association as well as with officials from towns, counties, states, and the federal government. Correspondence and meeting minutes make up an important part of the collection. The Association published reports, bulletins, and newsletters to keep board members and the public aware of the Highway's progress. Maps of the driving route along with mileages were provided for motorists for navigation as were five editions of The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway .

Photographs from the Lincoln Highway Association Records have been digitized and are accessible online at the Lincoln Highway Digital Image Collection (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/linchigh). The Digital Image Collection contains over 3,000 images including views of construction underway, towns and cities, markers, bridges, cars, camp sites, scenic views, and snapshots of Association directors and field secretaries traveling the route.

This collection contains materials about the gay communities of Ann Arbor and San Francisco, primarily in the 1970s and early 1980s. The materials were collected by Lionel Biron, who as a graduate student in Ann Arbor was instrumental in the founding of the Graduate Employees Organization and the Gay Community Services Center. The bulk of this collection relates to gay and artistic life and political activity in Ann Arbor, but San Francisco is also represented. The final series includes Biron's books of photography.

The bulk of the material deals with Biron's political and artistic activities in Ann Arbor. These include documents and correspondence related to the founding of the Gay Community Services Center (GCS), as well as flyers (many designed by Biron) for events and handouts from consciousness-raising sessions. The Ann Arbor series also includes folders related to Tristain Tzara (about whom Biron curated an exhibit in Hatcher Graduate Library) and Fernando Arrabal (whom Biron interviewed in Ann Arbor). The San Francisco series consists primarily of posters and flyers for events. Another highlight is a folder of materials related to the magazine Gay Sunshine, including correspondence between Biron and Winston Leyland. Although some of the collection dates from the early 80s, there is no material related to HIV/AIDS. Biron's own books of photography, and some of his work published elsewhere, comprise the last series.

Papers of Ann Arbor artist, writer, and musician who specialized in artwork involving bondage, fetishism, sadomasochism, cross-dressing, and transsexuality. Included are correspondence, personal items, original artwork, original writings, photographs, scrapbooks, and audiovisual materials.

The Personal series contains various personal effects of Middlesex, including driver's licenses, yearbooks, journals, a coffee mug, a pair of high-heeled shoes, and a false eyelash. Photographs of Middlesex and others in her life are included in this series, including a limited number of projector slides.

The Name and Topical series contains a wide variety of materials from across the course of Middlesex's life. This series contains all correspondence between Middlesex and others which ranges from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s. The correspondence files are organized based on the last name of the correspondent. Correspondence range varies, from some folders only containing one letter to other files which contain letters mailed over a period of years. Where a photograph was found with a particular letter, it is in the same folder as that letter. Some folders, such as those of Bill Johnson and John Anton Lang, contain original artwork and collages by those people. An Unidentified folder contains letters to Middlesex that were either not signed at all or not signed legibly. Other than personal correspondence, a couple of folders, including Jeri, Versatile Productions, Inc., and Smoke Signals, involve her business dealings with the magazines in which she published. The Name and Topical series also contains magazine and newspaper clippings organized thematically. This series also includes documentation of a presentation that Middlesex gave to a University of Michigan psychology class about cross-dressing. This particular subseries includes many photographs, papers written by students based on the presentation, and Middlesex's own recounting of the experience.

The Writings series contains writings by Lisa Middlesex. These include fictional short stories, some previously organized into a series by Middlesex. There are also a range of songs written by Middlesex, some including musical notation. The Jokes subseries includes jokes written by Middlesex, most likely for future publication. The Autobiography subseries consists of the first few pages of a planned autobiography by Middlesex. Three issues of the magazine "Reflections" in which Middlesex published her art are also included in this series.

The Scrapbooks series is comprised of twelve scrapbooks constructed by Middlesex out of bound sketchbooks. The Scrapbooks are fairly uniform in their content, in that they include magazine and newspaper clippings and Middlesex's own writings, drawings, and sketches. Scrapbook 12, filled with magazine, comic book, and newspaper clippings, appears to have been used for the purpose of illustrated models for Middlesex's artwork.

The Photographs series contains photographs of unidentified people other than Lisa Middlesex. Most of these photographs were sent to Middlesex along with correspondence from people responding to personal advertisements she placed in magazines, though they did not accompany particular letters in the collection and are not signed. Many are of an erotic or sexual nature.

The Photograph Albums series consists of albums of photographs of Middlesex and other individuals in her life. In the first subseries, half of the albums contain photographs of a primarily sexual and erotic nature. The other half of the albums in the second subseries contains various non-sexual photographs. One of the albums, Album 10, appears to have been the only one assembled by someone other than Middlesex and given to her as a gift.

The Audiovisual series contains both videotapes and musical audiocassette tapes. The videotapes are primarily of an erotic or sexual nature, most featuring transgender individuals and/or sadomasochistic and bondage themes. A few videotapes are mainstream films and television shows.

The Artwork series is the largest series in the Lisa Middlesex Papers. Her artwork spans a wide variety of genres and formats. She made sketches, drawings, paintings, and collages. Her themes include bondage, sadomasochism, smoking fetishism, other erotic drawings, cross-dressing, transsexuality, comic books, superheroes, and science fiction and fantasy. She also created art and promotional materials for musical acts, including her own band, The Wild Prayers. A subseries includes a wide variety of original artwork by others. This series is organized by topic and then by size within each topic. Some subseries, though, were created by Middlesex while still in her possession. Many of the subseries also include photocopies of the original artwork.

The Lon G. Nungesser Hope for Humanity Papers, 1970-1989 comprise correspondence, drafts of unpublished and published manuscripts, ideas for research projects, family history material, publishers' contracts, placement files, and copies of his three books: Homosexual acts, actors and identities (Praeger, 1983), Epidemic of courage: facing AIDS in America (St. Martin's, 1986), and Notes on living until we say goodbye: a personal guide (St. Martin's, 1988). The papers reflect Nungesser's struggle against homophobia and particularly his battle with AIDS and coping with terminal illness. Correspondents include Dana H. Bramel, Stuart Kellogg, and Philip G. Zimbardo.

Although there is some memorabilia from his high school years and some personal mementoes, the bulk of this collection reflects Nungesser's struggle against homophobia, and particularly his battle with AIDS. The papers include published and unpublished writings, contracts with publishers, book reviews, drafts of research projects and grant proposals, correspondence, college placement files, articles and interviews, photographs, and clippings. There are two videocassettes, one of a call-in talk show with Nungesser as guest, and the other of Nungesser reading from Notes on Living until We Say Goodbye. In addition, there are two audio cassettes of radio interviews of Nungesser. The 1984 interview concerns Homosexual Acts, Actors and Identities and the 1988 interview discusses his battle with AIDS and Notes on Living until We Say Goodbye. These audio cassettes have been reformatted.

Nungesser is a prolific writer. There are several unpublished, book-length manuscripts in the papers, as well as dissertation and grant proposals and other writings. All relate to the social psychology of homosexuals, and several concern AIDS. Copies of Nungesser's three books have been cataloged for the Labadie Collection.

In April 1989, Lon began sending his correspondence and writings to the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections on computer disks. The files on these disks have been printed and those that did not duplicate materials already in the collection were interfiled. The disks are stored separately from the collection (in Case 2). Each of the printed files are labeled with the name of the file and its date of creation.

The papers have been divided into five series.

Volantini (flyers), publications, manuscripts, and flyers relating to the activities of Lotta Continua and other elements of the Italian Workerist movement at the Pirelli tire factory in Milan's Bicocca district.

The bulk of the Publications Series consists of flyers, pamphlets, and periodicals created by Lotta Continua or other leftist groups to address events at the Pirelli factory.

The Research Materials Series includes drafts of documents analyzing the Pirelli factory struggle, as well as class struggle more generally. These drafts were likely written by the anonymous collector of these materials. Also included are miscellaneous ephemera and news clippings that appear to have served as research for the draft documents.

The Louie Crew Papers document the life and writings of Louie Crew Clay (1936-2019): a gay activist, Episcopalian minister, professor, and poet. He founded Integrity, an Episcopal forum for gay rights, and best known as an advocate for the acceptance of gay people within the Episcopal Church and the academic community. Papers consist of correspondence, publications and writings, professional materials such as teaching and committee work, Episcopal church and Integrity records, and personal materials.

Louie Crew Papers has been divided into 6 series:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1947-2006: divided into outgoing and incoming correspondence, arranged by correspondent or by date. Incoming correspondence from 1962 to 1985 is arranged by correspondent and then date, while correspondence from 1986 to 2005 is arranged by date. Incoming correspondence aquired in later accretions is arranged by date.

Series 2: Publications and Writings, 1958-2015: includes articles, prose, poems and poetry volumes, sermons, manuscripts, essays, dissertations, and materials written and/or edited by Crew. Materials are arranged by publication type and then by date.

Series 3: Professional Materials, 1959-2015: documents related to Crew's career as an English professor, gay activism outside of the church, and his involvement in various organizations and conferences. The series is divided into 3 subseries: (1) Teaching Materials, (2) Organizations, Conferences, and Research, and (3) News Clippings and Secondary Materials. All are arranged by date.

Materials include Crew's involvement with the Gay Academic Union, National Council of Teachers of English Gay Caucus, National Gay Task Force, Gay People's Union, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Black and White Men Together, as well as Crew's development of open-source software programs for writing. Materials of particular significance include Crew's "Gay Bibliography,"which is a collection of pamphlets, brochures, articles, and other research on a variety of gay organizations and subjects.

Series 4: Episcopal Church and Integrity Records, 1974-2006: documents related to Crew's involvement in the Episcopal Church, including his service on the Executive Council, House of Bishops, Council for the Diocese of Newark, and General Conventions. Also included are materials related to Episcopal conferences, talks, and mission trips. Integrity Records documents Crew's founding of Integrity, a non-profit Episcopal Forum for gay rights, and includes board reports and correspondence, bylaws, and the Integrity newsletter. Also included are news articles, reports, newsletters, correspondence, and other materials sent to Crew from presidents and board members.

Series 5: Personal Materials, 1936-2014: contains diaries and appointment books, baby and wedding scrapbooks, artwork, awards and honorary degrees, family genealogy materials, and legal documents. Also included are graphs showing statistics Crew collected on himself related to manuscript publications and rejections, correspondence sent, time spent asleep, computer activity, and other personal data.

Significant materials include Crew's lawsuits regarding housing discrimination, a sexual discrimination suit against American University, and a same sex domestic partner health benefits case against Rutgers University.

Series 6: Photographs and Audiovisual Materials, 1937-2011. Photographs contain headshots and candid photos of Louie Crew and his husband, Ernest Clay. Also included are Crew's theater photos and candid shots of friends and family. Audiovisual Materials contain audiocassettes, floppy disks, VHS, and CDs of interviews, poetry readings, sermons and talks, published poems, and pdfs of Crew's websites and YouTube videos.