Collections

Executive Assistant to Governor George Romney, later Deputy Undersecretary to Romney, then secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, collection includes chronological correspondence files, campaign related files, topical files. HUD files, including chronological files and topical files relating to housing and urban policy.

The Orlebeke papers dating from 1962 to 1973 are divided into two series, Governor's Office and HUD Files. The files demonstrate the close relationship between Orlebeke and George Romney. The files also shed light on housing policy trends, civil rights issues, and Michigan politics. The papers reveal a great deal about Orlebeke's public service career before he began work as a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

The Dyer Papers contain approximately 1,000 letters written by Bostonian Charles J. Dyer while living in Europe as an aspiring singer, along with photographs, documents and newspaper clippings.

The Dyer Papers contain approximately 1,000 letters written by Bostonian Charles J. Dyer while living in Europe as an aspiring singer, along with photographs, documents, newspaper clippings, and sheet music. Nearly every week, Dyer wrote to his parents in long, descriptive letters, and the collection appears to be a nearly complete record of his days as a music student. His letters create an intimate running commentary on expatriate life, music, and travel.

Charles K. Adams (1835-1902) was a University of Michigan graduate (B.A. 1861, M.A. 1862) and a U-M professor of history. Adams later served as president of Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin. Portraits collected from various sources.

The collection consists of portraits collected from various sources.

This volume is a history of the USS Mount Vernon's service as a troop transport ship during World War I, written by United States Navy Lieutenant Charles K. Cummings, who served on the ship during the war. Cummings's narrative relates daily incidents as the Mount Vernon carried troops between New York City and Brest, France, during and after the war. Cummings noted the names of prominent passengers and included several diagrams and drawings depicting naval formations and the Mount Vernon.

This volume is a 137-page typed history of the USS Mount Vernon's service as a troop transport ship during World War I, written by United States Navy Lieutenant Charles K. Cummings, the ship's communications officer. Cummings presented this copy, entitled Voyages in the USS Mount Vernon, 1917-1919, to James Madison Doyle, the ship's gunnery officer, in December 1921. The title page has an intricate drawing of the ship by Harleston Parker.

The narrative is structured as a diary and opens with 4 pages of introductory material with information on the Mount Vernon's history prior to its first voyage as a United States Navy transport vessel. The daily entries cover the period between October 11, 1917, and April 24, 1919, during which time the ship made 12 round-trip voyages between New York City and Brest, France, carrying members of the American Expeditionary Forces. Many of the entries record the day's weather, compiled from the author's personal diaries and the ship's official logs; lists of military units being ferried across the Atlantic Ocean; and notable incidents or the names of distinguished passengers. The Mount Vernon traveled as part of a heavily guarded convoy and Cummings routinely noted the camouflage and deceptive sailing patterns employed to guard against German submarine and torpedo attacks, as well as news of other ships throughout the convoys. On February 11, 1918, he provided a list of distress calls the ship received on its most recent voyage (pp. 51-52). In addition to military officials and diplomats, the ship also carried a 13-year-old stowaway mascot of the 132nd Infantry Regiment (p. 89), a group of African American soldiers (pp. 101-102), and several wounded soldiers, including two Red Cross nurses suffering from shell shock (p. 117). On September 5, 1918, the Mount Vernon was struck by a torpedo, which killed 35 members of the ship's crew (pp. 126-129). Cummings frequently mentioned his activities while in port at Brest, Southampton, and Boston, which included social calls and spending leave time with his family.

• USS Mount Vernon (title page)
• "Collision Between Agamemnon and Von Steuben" (pp. 26-27)
• "Torpedoing of Finland" (pp. 26-27)
• "Torpedoing of Antilles" (pp. 26-27)
• "Intensive Lookout Station on Mount Vernon" (pp. 40-41)
• "Types of Camouflage on U.S. Destroyers" (pp. 60-61)
• "Manoeuvre for Practice with Submarine Target" (pp. 96-97)
• "Sinking of British S.S. Instructor, July 15, 1918 (pp. 96-97)
• "Torpedoing of U.S.S. Mount Vernon, September 5, 1918 (pp. 126-127)
• "Mount Vernon Showing Camouflage on Port Side" (pp. 128-129)
• "Diagrams of Mount Vernon Showing Effect of Torpedo Explosion (pp. 128-129)

Charles Khalil Alawan is a leader in the Arab American and American Muslim community of Southeastern Michigan, as well as a leader of the Michigan Republican Party. The collection documents the development of the Islamic Center of America, Dearborn, Michigan, of which Alawan is a founding member, as well as other community activities.

The papers of Charles Alawan document his work as a leader in the Arab American community in Southeastern Michigan as well as in the Republican Party of Michigan. The collection is divided into three series: Correspondence, Topical files, and Photographs.

Gay activist from Ypsilanti, Michigan, who helped lead the fight for Ypsilanti's anti-discrimination ordinance. Correspondence and agenda and meeting minutes of Ypsilanti city council and other city agencies at which anti-discrimination ordinance was debated; newspaper clippings; and papers of Citizens for Community, a lesbian-gay-bisexual activist group.

The Charles L. Duty Papers mainly document the activities of an energetic gay and civil rights activist. The bulk of the materials span two years, 1997 and 1998, which correspond to Duty's fight for the passage of the Ypsilanti's anti-discrimination ordinance. The rest of the materials document Duty's association with Citizens for Community and its relations with various other advocacy and community groups. The materials are arranged into two distinct series: Anti-Discrimination Ordinance and Citizens for Community.

The Charles Lederer Papers contain drafts of various screenplays, revisions, and notes from selected produced, and unproduced, projects from Lederer's career between 1949 and 1964. This collection is separated into three series, with each respective title/project acting as a subseries (when necessary).

The Charles Lederer Papers consist of scripts, synopses, and notes for a selection of Lederer's produced and unproduced works from 1949-1964. Housed in two records center boxes, this collection contains records from many of Lederer's projects; however, it does not contain references to all of his projects within the aforementioned timeframe. Notable ommissions include, but are not limited to: "The Thing from Another World" (dir. Christian Nyby and Howard Hawls, 1951), "Gentlement Prefer Blondes" (dir. Howard Hawks, 1953), and the Tony Award-winning musical Kismet. For specific inclusions, refer to the Container List. There are three series within this collection: "Produced/Published", "Unproduced/Unpublished", and "Miscellaneous". The first two series contain relevant subseries based on specific projects, further elaborated on in the respective Series-level notes.

Delegate to the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1961-1962; diary, correspondence, and topical files from his work as delegate; Human Resources Council of the Upper Peninsula Committee for Area Programs chairman’s files.

The collection consists of three series: Constitutional Convention Delegate File; Upper Peninsula Committee for Area Progress (UPCAP) Human Resources Council papers; and University of Michigan Extension Service. The bulk of the collection relates to the constitutional convention and includes a diary of his convention experiences, correspondence with constituents and interest groups, and subject files on the issues discussed at the convention. Some of his correspondents included Alvin M. Bentley, Prentiss M. Brown, and Neil Staebler.

Papers, 1925-1979, of Charles L. Stevenson, professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, and his wife, Louise Destler Stevenson. Correspondence with philosophers George E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein; Stevenson-Destler courtship letters; student letters from Yale in the 1920's; also manuscripts and lecture notes on philosophy; diaries of Louise Stevenson; draft of her novel; and sermon books 1841, 1845-1846 of his great grandfather, the Rev. Isaac D. Williamson, New York state clergyman.

The Charles L. Stevenson papers consist of his student notebooks from Yale, Cambridge and Harvard Universities; course materials and notes for his lectures in philosophy courses at the University of Michigan and professional correspondence, including letters with Ludwig Wittgenstein and George E. Moore; professional writings; and personal and family papers. The collection is divided into the following series: Personal/biographical; Correspondence; Education: Yale, Cambridge, Harvard; Course materials and lecture notes: Yale, University of Michigan; Writings and Research Notes; Miscellaneous; Louise Destler Stevenson Papers; and Other Family Members.

The Charles Machin memoir - in narrative form - documents the personal, financial, and business-related trials of an early 19th century trader of a variety of goods, including cotton, slaves, and mahogany.

The Charles Machin memoir was written in an engaging, literary style, its strength lying in its ability to put the reader into the mind of an early 19th-century trans-Atlantic merchant. It is possible that Machin embellished the truth to make for better reading.

English in origin, Machin lived and traded in Savannah, Charleston, New York, Philadelphia, Jamaica, Havana, and England, moving easily among the port cities, raising capital and stores for trading voyages that inevitably went sour. Through his adventures, Machin emerges as a likable, but not always reputable man who beat and threatened the lives of his debtors and was willing to engage in smuggling cotton and slaves. At the same time, he was constantly surprised by the unethical behavior of his partners and their willingness to hurt others in the name of profit. Machin was repeatedly caught up in the machinations of other, more ruthless merchants.

The memoir provides insight into the financial wrangling, legal and extralegal, of merchants and entrepreneurs. The networks of friendships and false-friendships, the schemes to raise money, and the ideas about profit and risk are all important in situating the mind of the early American merchant. In some ways, Machin was the proverbial man without a country who either easily switched identities or whose identity changed with the context: an Englishman, a some-time resident of Savannah, and a trader in any port or enterprise that promised a good return.

Machin's memoir also includes some excellent descriptions of life in the several ports and countries he visited, most notably of Havana and other locations in Cuba, but also of Jamaica, Cartagena, and the far interior of Georgia and South Carolina.