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The Faculty and Staff files contain biographical and background information created and collected by the University of Michigan News and Information Services. News and Information Services is the media relations office of the university. The files represent more than 6,000 individual faculty and staff members. Some files contain photographs.

The Faculty and Staff Files (145 linear feet; 1944-2005) are arranged alphabetically by surname and contain academic and biographical information on nearly 6000 faculty and staff, including many who are inactive, retired or deceased. The files were maintained by the University of Michigan News and Information Service. Early on the files were working files holding ready reference biographical information and copies of press releases. Eventually the files came to include collected information such as copies of local and national newspaper articles where faculty or staff members were mentioned.

The amount of information per individual varies considerably, ranging from a single item to multiple folders. Files dating from around 1960-1995 tend to have more documentation than dates outside of this range, though there are some exceptions. Specific types of information include copies of news releases where the individual is mentioned, pages from Regents' meetings detailing appointments (resignations, faculty appointments, promotions, reassignments, sabbaticals, adoption of memoirs for retirements and deaths, etc.), newspaper clippings, magazine articles, preprints or reprints of publications, curricula vitae or other biographical summaries, and obituaries. In addition, some of the files contain photographs and negatives. (Photograph Series D of the News and Information Services records contains more than 4,000 faculty and staff portraits. A separate finding aid is available for that series.)

Files of University of Michigan presidents such as Alexander Ruthven and Harlan Hatcher are within the collection, as are files of various members of the Board of Regents. Distinguished alumni of the University of Michigan, including Nobel Prize winners Stanley Cohen and Raoul Wallenberg, also have files. The collection is of interest to researchers who desire a greater understanding of the professional interests and activities of faculty members in particular.

Portrait photographs of University of Michigan faculty, administrators and staff.

This collection contains portraits of about 750 University of Michigan faculty members. It is strongest for people who served on the faculty during the nineteenth century and in the 1930s, although a few portraits as late as about 1960 are included.

In addition to faculty, librarians, and research staff, the collection contains portraits of a few nineteenth-century campus characters, including Robert Howard, the bellringer, Jolly the Janitor, "Doc" Gregor Nagele, the Medical School janitor, and Jimmy Ottley, the campus postman.

The photos are arranged alphabetically. Outsize portraits listed in this finding aid are found in the medium-size photograph collection (UAm) under the name of the person.

Faculty portraits are also found in a number of other collections, including:

1. Rentschler's Studio (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
2. Shaw, Wilfred Byron.
3. Swain, George Robert.
4. University of Michigan class albums.
5. University of Michigan. Alumni Association.
6. University of Michigan. News and Information Service. Series D.

The original negatives of some prints in the Faculty Portrait collection may be found in the Rentschler, Swain, and News and Information Service collections. In addition to these collections, faculty portraits can be found in the records of many schools, colleges, and departments, as well as in the papers of individual faculty members.